Craft Consultant

With each step you take, new opportunities come from unexpected places...

Chicago Botanic Garden

That is how I feel about my new Wednesday night position as Craft Consultant at our church.  The responsibilities for this title include designing or creating various crafts that pertain to the classes curriculum.  Many crafts are given along with the lesson, but for a few I may need to design another venue for the teachers to take.  I am also planning crafts for the special occasions throughout the year, such as Christmas and Easter.  

I am very excited and have already experienced joy through this opportunity.  I wanted to share this with you because I will be using this blog to share my craft designs and various experiments I will do through this position.

Chicago Botanic Garden

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My hope is for you to find something useful you can apply to your own life.

I encourage you to share if you are able to use any of what I present here.  That is my only way of knowing!

Chicago Botanic Garden

My Craft Philosophy

My craft philosophy is to create a lasting memory and in most cases a cherished craft for each child to feel represents their creative time spent discussing God's love and many biblical stories.  I believe a cherished craft holds together for more than 24 hours and does not feel like a waste of time for the child or the teacher.  Though every week, every craft may not appeal to each child the same, I do believe the collection we create over the year will instill visual memories for the children to recall the parable or moral lesson at a later time.

I created a philosophy for this position so not only would the teachers know my position, but it would create perimeters for me I could refer to when needed.  

Millennium Park - Chicago

"The Bean"

I have my backpack on ready to explore and continue to grow personally through my love of creating arts and crafts!

Standing inside "The Bean" and looking up.

Chicago

It is when we search inside ourselves, that we really find the answers we were looking for.  

I learn this again and again..

Praying for a season full of creativity and self awareness on this artist holiday,

hannah

Kindness Chronicles August

It is when you bless someone else that you get many more blessings in return.  I realized this again very recently...

A dear friend and my art mentor just recently had surgery.  I decided to send her a small boutique of flowers.  She lives a couple hours away and this was just a small gesture to say I am thinking of you and to feel better real soon.  As with any gesture of kindness you feel good and though I would have loved to visit her personally, sending flowers was what I could do at the time.

It wasn't very long before she sent me one of the coolest thank you cards....

A vegetable fabric postcard!!!

She found them at a farmer's market!!

Beautiful deep shades of purple and metallic thread really set it off!

She wrote on the back with a thin pen!

That was awesome, but then something else happened...

I received another fabric postcard from her!

Lovely batik and commercial fabrics!

I just love how the artist used the pattern of the batik for such texture on the veggie!

I will cherish this beautiful mail art for many years to come!  

I actually want to find a way to hang them in my kitchen!

I thought, that's pretty cool!  2 fabric postcards!!  And then she sent me another one!!!

This was created with vintage linen!  I am enjoying the bright oranges with the subtle background.

Fun patterns on the fabric!

Embroidery work!!!  Very nice!!!

Each came wrapped in a plastic sleeve, protected and with the stamps on the plastic.  Such a cool way to send mail!

Do you see what I mean?  She should be getting the mail, the get-well-soon cards and instead she is sending kindness and smiles back my way!  

Thank you L.R. for your kindness and continual guidance in my artistic endeavors!

thankful for beauty from a friend on this artist holiday,

hannah