stars and circles pot holders

I was thrilled when my creative friend Julie Fei-Fan Balzer asked me to be a part of her spring stencil hop! She has a super cool line of stencils with Crafters Workshop and I selected the stars and circles stencil to work with! In our house we cook and bake around the clock SO I am a bit of a pot holder junkie and when I was brainstorming projects to create with the stencil I just couldn't resist a pair of graphic black and cream canvas pot holders to add to my collection!

1. I started with the 6x6 stars and circles stencil and decided this size would be perfect for my pot holders. 2. Next I pulled out my Tulip Fabric Paint Cannon- fully loaded with black fabric paint. 3. I placed my stencil on top of a piece of canvas and sprayed with black paint.

Who needs to buy fabric when you can make your own!?!?

4. I created two pieces- one for the front and one for the back.

5. Next I backed each square with a piece of fleece and then sewed free motion circles around the stencils pattern. 6. When both squares were finished I placed the backsides together and sewed them together using a straight stitch in white thread. 6. Last I zig zag stitched the edges of the two sides with black thread and added a piece of black ribbon in between two corners and stitched down. (PLEASE excuse my dirty painty fingers and dusty sewing foot in this photo!!)

And there you have it! SUPER simple and graphic pot holders all ready to keep my hands safe!

Hop on over to see what other lovely creatives are doing with the Stars and Circles stencil!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Diana Trout

Christine Urias

May Flaum

Ali Edwards

in the studio

new class DOODLE DELIGHT and a giveaway!

After lots of requests from many of you out there- I am super excited to announce my new online class Doodle Delight! While I touch on doodling in many of my classes I have yet to dedicate a class just to the art of doodling. While I believe ANYONE (despite experience) can create great doodles I have put together this little class to share my own process, demonstrate techniques, ideas, prompts and inspiration to keep your doodling authentic and unique! Well explore how to use lines, shading, how to create unique doodles, how to use and apply inspiration, play with scale and more! All you need is a pen and paper and you are ready to go!

The structure of this class is a little different from my others and it is reflected in the price- $40.00

(It is not large enough to be a 5 lesson class and not small enough to be a mini class- it is somewhere in between!)

Also different from many of my classes- the lessons are posted all at once and ready for you to dive into. And just like the rest of my online classes you have unlimited access to come and go as you please for as long as you want.

For all the details and to register hop over to my online shop!

GIVEAWAY!

And last I will be giving away 4 free spots in the class!

Leave me a comment and tell me you favorite thing to doodle!

I will pick and announce the winners on SATURDAY!

fashion friday- black, white & green

more updates- classes!

I've got a few more things to share on the business front-we are about to start packing and prepping for our move so I want to get all the business updates done before things get wild over here!

I've got my next online class coming soon- details and a giveaway coming Monday!

I am excited to roll out a couple more events at my new Seaside, Oregon Art Studio! I will planning and adding a variety of fun things in the months to come!

My most popular "live" class and I will be teaching it my personal studio!

There is nothing more liberating than working big, and this class will introduce you to working larger than life with canvas and paint. Forget about being confined by the size of your surface and start embracing what it feels like to get inside your paintings. We will experiment with working on the floor and on the wall, as well as reaching, crawling, and stretching around our large canvas to get up close and personal with the creative process. You will learn a variety of messy and beautiful painting and collage techniques to use on a large surface.

For all of the details please visit my online shop!

My 3 day September retreat- You, Me and the Sea is just about filled (two more spots left). I am beyond thrilled at the feedback and interest and that is why I have decided to get another retreat on the calendar for 2013. You can find all the details in my online shop!

Today is the last day to receive $10 off any of my online classes!

InstaLOVE

I am addicted to Instragram! If you haven't heard of it yet- its time you did! Its a free photo sharing program that allows users to take a photo, apply a filter and then share it- its kind of like a visual twitter but instead of words you use images! For those of us who ALWAYS have our phones handy- it is a quick and fun way to get creative with photography.

Its great for social networking and a fabulous tool for connecting with others but I have been enjoying using it as a way to document my everyday moments- I use it to take photos of Lucy and simple things throughout the week. Over time I've compiled this amazing little "visual history" of our life.

I discovered there are a number of resources out there to print the photos from your account. I used Prinstragram- a great site with lots of neat options for printing photos. The prints are 8.5 cm x 5.5 cm and just about as cute as can be!

Recently I ordered prints of all the Lucy photos from my Instagram account and when they arrived I spread them out on the table. Maybe it was my "new mama hormones" but seeing all of these tiny (literally) little moments spread out before me got me emotional and took my breath away! I never could have imagined a silly little phone application could inspire and capture my journey in the last 7 months so perfectly.

Of course I have some creative ideas of how I will be using all my photos but in the meantime you can find me completely addicted and LOVING Instagram!

you can find me on Instragram @alisakburke

bloom

fashion friday-geometric skirt

updates from the studio- studio sale and online class sale!

So its time for a few business updates over here-

As I shared a while back, I have started packing up my studio and I need to organize and get rid of stuff which inspired me to have a studio sale! The sale went live early this morning in my online shop! This section in my shop will stay live and get updated over time with all kinds of fun stuff on sale!

And since I am in a sale kind of mood I also am offering $10 off all online classes for 1 week! Head on over to the online shop to check out all of my offerings. Since all of my online classes have unlimited access you can register at any time and create at your own pace. And I've got more online classes coming your way soon!

don't forget I have a free online mini class that you can access at any time here- Finding Your Muse

I am so excited about the amazing response I've had for my You, Me and the Sea Retreat! We only have four more spots left which has inspired me get to planning another one for not so distant future! In addition I will be rolling out some 1 day classes at my new studio very soon.

In the meantime the lovely people at the Sandy Cove Inn are now offering retreat participants 10% off your stay with the discount code of ab10%!

The CREATE Retreat in Irvine, CA is coming up soon- May 30- June 3 so if you are interested in taking a live class from me- here is your chance! Head on over to the CREATE website for all of the details!

ok...now back to regular scheduled programming!