Winter is Coming

Winter is coming quicker than I would like it too. I keep telling my husband I'd be happy if we could find a place to live that was 70-75 degrees year round. Of course, reality doesn't work that way!

We are looking to make some changes this winter in our small studio. We are going to close from Dcember 3-April 2. We will do by appointment during this time frame. I will still do winter art camp and the half day school camps in those months as well. We will do Spring Break Art Camp March 26-29 which is when Canton School has their spring break. We are closing in attempt to save some money on heating and electric bill mainly. This summer has been slow and we haven't had a lot of participation for our camps. Last summer we were booked almost every weekend with birthday parties. This year we haven't had but 2 all summer. We do not want to close our doors. We look around town and see closings everywhere and several empty buildings. We don't want to join them. Call for reservations at 309-338-6508.

So this summer we had His Little Children day care attend our Summer Art Camp in June. We made lots of neat things and painted on pottery too. We had 13-16 kids each day and had 3-4 in the 10 and over group. The older group got to make some more in depth projects and we all had a great time. We posted pictures of the projects we made on our facebook page for everyone to see what projects we did.

We also went to Salvation Army for their lunch program and painted with the participants there. We had 11 children from 5-16 years old that painted pieces. We hope to go back in August and do a weaving project with them before the program ends. We look forward to being able to go again next summer. They held a car wash on July 18 to raise funds to be able to have us and other vendors come in and do activities with the kids. Such a great program for our small town. If you are looking to donate money or even food somewhere local they would be a good one. My kids participate in their program so they don't have to sit at the studio each day. They good a great lunch (provided by the YWCA) and several kids to play games and do activities with and build friendships. This year they have brought home a snack bag with items like fruit snacks and pop tarts and cheese dippers, crackers, small cookie packages etc. They don't eat some of the items so we simply pass them on to other families or share them when we attend ball games or just playing at the park when we get the chance. They also have a food pantry that is open to those in need Mon- Fri and it has been running low or a while now.

We participated in the annual Kids Fest at Jones Park. The theme was castles and princes(s) etc so we made Hand Castles by painting their hand and then they got to decorate their handprint on the paper to add tundrals and flags an windows etc. The boys got to make dragons that flew like a paper airplane. We had so many kids I lost count. I'd guess around 100 that stopped to craft.

We have been clearing out our storage shed of molds and finding some great new ones. We have poured some and have added them to our facebook shop tab. A few are: Bull dog, small heart plate, soap dishes, bushel baskets, fruit basket box, just to name a few. I'm excited to continue moving out and hopefully have lots of new pieces come spring. We are also getting pieces poured to sell by the case and will do a case of 6 or 12 pieces that you can choose. That way if you like to paint pottery but rather do it at home or on your own time, you can still do so. The cost of that will depend on pieces chosen and number. Also would be helpful for scouts, groups, classrooms, or home parties. So if you like this option, view our shop tab on facebook, pick your pieces and number of each and shoot us a message for a quote.

Lots of changes and ideas to stay open to service our small community. Please stay tuned and if you haven't liked us on facebook, please do so and follow and sign up for camps/classes on there too. facebook.com/createitdrawpaintfire.