August 2025 is "Class Reunion". Our challenge for the month is to send in a picture of a completed project from a past Create class that you have taken.
To participate, please send in your picture(s) and a brief description to Barb Antol at antolb@att.net and we will post it HERE. Don’t forget to include your mailing address. After the end of the monthly challenge, you will receive a small thank you gift for participating.
This month’s sample challenge comes from Barb Antol
This month’s “Class Reunion” theme gave me chance to reminisce on all the Create classes I’ve taken. I enjoyed all of them and learned so much!
One of the first was the Pirate Book Nook class taught by Bonnie Helterhoff. I thought it would be the perfect setting for a Captain Jack Sparrow action figure I had in my collection. It was the first book nook I built plus I learned some great aging techniques and using different fabrics to dress the window and bed. It turned out to be the perfect space for my little Captain Jack and this will always be one of my favorite mini projects.
Often I’m inspired to create far beyond the initial scope of the class. Another early class I took was a folk art painting workshop taught by Ginger Landon Siegel. I had always admired this style of art but had never tried it on my own. The class included techniques for hand painting some shelves as well as decoupage techniques for some wooden boxes and plates. I had such fun that I went on to create additional furnishings and accessory pieces to fill a little roombox. Here’s my folk art shop:
A recent class I attended was taught by Andi Vinciquerra and demonstrated how to create red string boards. This was something totally different that I had never thought about doing in miniature. However, I had so much fun that I went on to create multiple roomboxes with different themed red string boards. One of my favorites is this cat mystery board:
Often the new techniques learned in a class can be applied to many other projects. One example was a fairy lighting technique I learned in the Enchanted Forest Book Nook class, also taught by Andi Vinciquerra. I really enjoyed that one and some months later, I took another class where Pat Jackson taught us how to dress a little porcelain fairy doll. The techniques of wigging and cutting, draping and beading the beautiful silk fabrics were all new to me. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. Pat was a very good and patient instructor and my little fairy turned out way better than I had hoped for. I decided to use the fairy lighting technique from Andi’s class to make a special little woodland scene in a lantern where my beautiful little fairy Iris lives happily.
Some of my other favorite classes included the Christmas Elf and Fancy Witch Hats classes taught by Cat Wingler. I had so much fun and again, they’ve inspired me with more ideas. I’m looking forward to making more of those wonderful hats and I’d love to create a leprechaun using the Elf techniques learned from Cat. I have the fabric and the red beard, but I haven’t gotten around to doing the figure. Some day 😊
Another favorite was Ester Marker’s stained glass lamp class. I love how my first lamp turned out and incorporated it into this little library roombox. BTW, I created the library steps using a great technique learned in another Create class taught by Wanda Waterfield. She showed us how to create spiral stairs from a bamboo folding fan.
Lastly, not all the classes are “traditional” miniature projects. Last year, Tammy Witthaus taught a great workshop on making mini scenes in a locket. I loved this class and was thrilled with how my locket turned out. I enjoyed wearing it throughout the Christmas and Winter season. I’d love to do more of these to wear other times of the year 😊
Create has lots more fun classes coming up in the months ahead. We hope you’ll join us. If you’ve never taken a Create class, I’d encourage you to try one. You’ll be glad you did.
