flower pot bells

With a few simple supplies, a flower pot can be transformed into holiday decor!

happy thanksgiving

I am signing off for the rest of the week to celebrate Thanksgiving and take a little time to rest! 

I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for supporting this little creative business over here. For taking time everyday to stop by, for leaving the kindest comments, for believing in the things that I share and products that I sell, for giving me a place to be myself and for being part of this crazy and creative journey. I am so very grateful for all of you!

Wishing you a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend.

gratitude stones

When it comes to entertaining, I love having something that my guests can take away. Since I love all things handmade, my little gifts are always creative. This year I made what I am calling "gratitude stones". They are flat painted stones with a quote about gratitude. 

While I wish I could have hand lettered all of the stones, we have a huge Thanksgiving feast to prepare this week so I took a short cut and printed out my gratitude quotes.

Next, using Mod Podge I glued the quotes to the stones.

Then I painted them.

And added a few small embellishments.

These colorful little stones will be in a bowl as part of my Thanksgiving table setting. Guests can grab a stone to take home with them and be a great reminder to embrace gratitude every day!

last day of sale!

I've extended my early Black Friday Sale one more day! Today is the last day to receive sale prices on online classes and coloring pages!

a peek inside my latest class ART JOURNAL BLISS!

My next online class Art Journal Bliss starts on Monday, November 23rd and today I have a little preview! This class and the rest of my online classes are on sale all week so you can grab Art Journal Bliss for just $20.

art journal bliss from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

Art Journal Delight has been one of my most popular classes to date so I have created another fun classes dedicated to art journaling called Art Journal Bliss. 

I spend  A LOT of time sketching but I probably spend just as much time working in an art journal. For me there is really a fine line between an art journal and a sketchbook. For my sketching process I limit my supplies- But when I work in my art journal, I explore all kinds of mixed media techniques like painting, collage, sewing (with paper), stamping, doodling, drawing and printmaking. My art journal is a small and accessible place for me to practice, explore and brainstorm all kinds of techniques. 

In this class I will be sharing more of my favorite simple art journal techniques, tricks, and prompts that anyone, any age or experience will be able to create! 

beachcombing season is here!

While most people enjoy heading to the beach when it's warm and sunny, this time of year on the Oregon Coast is my favorite! We get back to back storms with crazy weather. There will be a day or two when the sun comes out but overall, it's wet and stormy. If you are an avid beachcomber like me (I am obsessed with it), you will know that these storms wash all kinds of treasure ashore. So far there has been lots of treasure and I am loving every minute of it!

tree place cards

When it comes to entertaining at the holidays, I love using simple, everyday materials to create fun decorations! For our upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, I thought it would be fun to make little tree place card holders for each place setting.

For this project, I gathered things that I already had around the house and the yard- hand painted paper,  twigs and tiny plastic cups.

As much as I wanted to use tiny terracotta flower pots, I just couldn't find them anywhere around town so I grabbed some tiny plastic cups and I painted them orange. 

I used the painted paper and cut out little leaves.

Next, I glued the paper leaves to the twigs

I created little flags with guest names.

I added pebbles to the cups. 

And placed the twigs into the pebbles.

The last step was to add the flags to each little flower pot.

I love how cute and colorful these little trees are. The best part is that they cost me nothing but a little time to make!