Recently I attended Brother's Annual Dealer Conference called B2B. It's several days of education and information for all of the Brother dealers. The dealers get to see the new products and learn how to use them. There's a big fancy show to kick off the event... ...and an area for the dealers to wander through to touch everything new... ...and then lots and lots of classes! I was there to teach a ScanNCut class showcasing many of the new features of ScanNCut as well as some of the new accessories. My classroom was filled with beautiful ScanNCut quilts by Anna... Read more →

My friend Riv is getting married in October. Her whole wedding has a literary theme, with a special emphasis on Jane Austen. This past weekend I hosted a bachelorette weekend for her. We spent much of the weekend crafting a fabulous paper flower bouquet for her. The flowers were made from pages of Jane Austen's novels. Take a peek at the process (and try to ignore the fact that I'm in my pajamas): We mixed the paper flowers with faux greenery from the craft store and voila: Riv couldn't be happier with her huge, fabulous, personalized, hand crafted wedding bouquet!... Read more →

Art is absolutely everywhere. You just have to look for it! I thought I'd share some recent photos from San Francisco with that thought in mind. First up, a literal art exhibit. These beautiful bowls and pots were on display at the San Francisco Airport. Believe it or not, the San Francisco airport has a highly curated collection of constantly changing exhibits in every single terminal. I was lucky enough to catch A Potter's Life: Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm. Here is a small sampling -- I mostly took photos of the bowls and pots with faces because...well, I love... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. This is a journal page blast from the past. In 2012 I shared... Read more →

I'm delighted to bring you another episode of the Adventures in Arting Podcast! If you do not see the podcast player above, please click on this link. You can listen to a podcast anywhere and at any time. It is a recording that is available to you whenever you'd like to listen. If you'd like to download it to your iTunes library, click here. You can also pause and rewind or fast forward as you desire. I like to listen to podcasts while I'm making art. It's a little like hanging out with friends while you art. Today's episode is... Read more →

When my Mom suggested going to the San Francisco Exploratorium my Brother and I were very skeptical. It didn't sound like something three grown-ups would go and do, but she really wanted to see the Strandbeests, so off we went! Our visit reminded me how much science and art are interlinked. If you google "science and art" you get a ton of articles, lectures, and podcasts based on the idea that science and art are inseparably linked. A lot of what I explored at The Exploratorium (cheesy, but true) was about vision -- color relationship, fooling the eye, distortion, etc.... Read more →

Some exciting news! ScanNCut is hiring! If you've got a background in marketing, I encourage you to apply for the job of Product Marketing Manager. I think Brother is a great company and I really enjoy the work I do with them! Now, let's get to the crafting! I've got two ScanNCut technique tutorials for you today! I hope you enjoy them. This first tutorial is all about how to etch balsa wood. Here are the pieces from the video: And here, as I mentioned in the video, you can see what happens if you set the blade too deep:... Read more →

I'm super excited to share that I'm going to be teaching at CRAFT in Austin, TX September 16-18, 2016! I'm teaching two classes that are meant to go together to create a three-day art workshop. However you can take the two parts separately. Friday, September 16 is Paint Print Stack: We will be making stacks and stacks of colorful printed and painted papers, perfect for collage. I will share a multitude of techniques for monoprinting, stamping, stenciling, and painting patterns. We’ll develop a complete rainbow palette of collage papers for you to use in your artwork. My biggest art secret... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek. Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. The other day, I got an e-mail out of the blue from Ashli... Read more →

In the bargain area of Target I found a cardboard reindeer head that you punch out and assemble. It came in four parts: Anything blank like that cries out to be painted, right?! So, Suzanne (my assistant) and I set out to cover up some of that blank cardboard with stamping! We used Art Foamies and did it assembly-line-style: It was tempting to want to cover the entire cardboard, but you only need to go over the edges of the pieces that are going to get punched out: Because this was going to be put together into a 3-D piece,... Read more →