(Oh, and by mamas I mean any woman at all – be you mama or the female (grown up) child of a mama.)

Who doesn’t love a handwritten card in the mail???? Whose heart doesn’t burst when the mailbox is opened and there’s an actual letter, written with love and addressed with good old fashioned penmanship? And who doesn’t love a night of making stuff with mamas with a little beer and wine in the mix??!

Just in time for Mother’s Day, come celebrate a night out and the ancient art of the letter. Drink a little drink. Eat a little nosh. And make and talk all night long. (well, til 10 anyway.)

We’ll start with a person in mind. Someone you love and miss and want to write to. Then w’ll cut/stamp/draw/collage/fold up a custom card full of love and specifically for that lucky recipient. We’ll make cards and stationery using piles of beautiful recycled/reclaimed and repurposed materials and other fun stuff you won’t even believe.

Maybe it’s a letter to your grandma to thank her for the socks she made you. Remember she sent them four months ago and you still haven’t said thanks?

Or maybe a note to your mom to tell her what an amazing mom she’s been.

Or maybe you’ve been itching to write a letter to a long lost college pal who is such a Luddite you can’t find her on Facebook.

We’ll start with the question, Who do you need/want to write to?

And from there we’ll get making. With custom cards specific to your needs.

We’ll have all the materials necessary to create your very own pile of handmade cards and stationery. We’ll introduce the back and forth card ala Round Robin Press

And together we’ll work to revive the lost art and reinvigorate your love and desire for the handwritten letter.

Oh, and once again we’ll be in the amazing atrium of the Austin Children’s Museum (at night when the building is closed to all small beings.) Parking is free in the nearby parking garage.

Details in bullet form:

• Thursday May 3rd
• 7:30pm – 10:00pm
• $22.00
• Bring your own wine/beer
• All materials provided for as many cards as your little heart desires!
• Austin Children’s Museum
• Click here to register! (you must register in advance)

In collaboration with the Austin Children’s Museum, I’ll be holding a one day craft camp for kids ages 8-11.

• From 9am -4pm on Monday, February 20th (school holiday!)
• $70.00* Click here to register
  
• space is limited

We’ll play, craft, write, eat lunch along the shores of Ladybird lake (weather permitting of course) and craft and play some more!

It should be a great day and I’m excited about holding it downtown.

Stay tuned for sign up information. Email me if you have any questions!

Here’s what we’ll be doing…

Art of the Letter Camp

While communication has increased a thousand fold in the last 20 years  – with email, Facebook, and video chats so easily accessed – the amount of letters one writes and receives has diminished significantly. Which has made the value of a hand crafted letter showing up in your mailbox increase beyond measure. Just think of that moment when you realize there is a hand written note embellished with drawings and messages and other amazing artistry.

In this class we’ll cover both angles – the stationery making and the letter writing.

We’ll make personalized note cards using stitching, collage and stamps – with lots of reclaimed materials of course.

We’ll fold up some cool origami envelopes and note cards and make our very own box of stationery.

We’ll read through old letters from the twenties and thirties when letter writing was a daily task and just about the only communication a person had with a distant relative. We’ll examine the language used and the messages sent. We’ll ponder what life might have been like then – in another time and place. And we’ll discuss just how that letter might have gotten from point A to point B

Then we’ll craft our own letters, using writing prompts and tips and we’ll work to reinvigorate this ancient art that is at once craft, communication and connection.

*If cost is an issue, please email me. I’m happy to work something out.

Mamas Crafty Night Out!!!

Want to spread the love you feel for your partner, your kids, your friends far and wide? Are you in need of a girls’ crafty night out with a bunch of other amazing women in a setting that is sure to set your heart a flutter?

Come to this half-day Valentine workshop on February 4th in a beautiful South Austin get-away in the middle of it all, where we’ll spend 4 hours cutting and making. I’ll have writing prompts for you to get to the heart of the love you feel. We’ll make beautiful love letters and maybe even a Valentine riddle or two. We’ll stitch, fold, glue, cut and fold some more. We’ll work on haikus too because what Valentine is complete without a haiku or two??

The Writing Barn is the perfect place to spend time crafting, collaging, cutting out paper hearts and writing love letters to the people in your life. Maybe you’ll even make one for yourself! Everything you need will be provided for you to make as many cards as you need!

We’ll drink and nosh while we craft and talk of love and family and partnership and children. We’ll focus on appreciation and admiration. We’ll figure out ways to feel more love and get more love and I’m hoping too that I’ll have some of Ginger Webb’s Love Elixirs on hand for you to try and buy.

Save the date and come craft with us!

• Saturday, February 4th 4:30pm-9:30pm
• 35.00 per person* CANCELED
• come with a friend for $60.00* CANCELED
• Snacks provided – BYOB
• South Austin just off Slaughter near Manchaca

Click the links above to register.

*If money is an issue, please don’t let that stop you. I’m happy to make it work for anyone that wants to attend. Just email me and we’ll figure it out.

• create, make, and explore art,
• discuss joy and appreciation,
• learn how to tune into our own selves– body, mind and spirit
• look at the families and communities in which we live
• explore the earth on which we live and how we can minimize our impact
• ponder and investigate what makes us, us.

And we will come away with a better sense of what it means to let our own lights shine their very brightest, all the while building the greatest connection we possibly can.

•  When: 9 Wednesday afternoons from 3:00-5:15 + 1  community service project day (date to be determined!)
• Dates: September 28, October 5, 12, 19 (no meeting on 10/26) and November 2, 9, 16, 30 and December 14 (no meeting on 12/7)
• Where: Zilker Elementary School
• Cost: $200.00* Can be paid with cash, check or paypal.
• Questions: Contact Bernadette via email or call 512-627-0652
• To Register please make a $50.00 deposit here and a form will be sent to you.

*If money is an issue, perhaps we can work something out

We’ll kick off this series with a fun appliqué project from our new book, Make Stuff Together. Bring your favorite beverage and a garment to embellish and we’ll have what you need to appliqué and hand-stitch your own crafty design – for your child, for you, or, bring a garment for each member of the family and create your own family insignia! Who doesn’t need a family logo???

While we craft and share a drink, we’ll discuss the highs, lows and how-tos of creative time with our children. We’ll explore when it’s best to step in and when it’s best to just back off and let them have their own experience.  We’ll share with you our own lessons learned and hopefully hear some from you too! By evening’s end we’ll (hopefully) have figured out how to make your family’s creative and crafty time more satisfying for you, your child and your family as a whole.

Join us downtown! Come craft. Come meet other mamas. And come have some fun, creative time of your own.

DETAILS:

• What: Mamas Crafty Night Out
• When: Thursday, September 29^th  7:30-10pm
• Where:Austin Children’s Museum
• Why: Because it’s super fun to make stuff and hang out with other mamas
• Cost: $22.00 per person – REGISTER HERE!
• Bring: your beverage of choice and a garment (or more) to embellish

Free Slow Family Living sticker for anyone who bikes, carpools or takes the bus!! Check out Cap Metro for a stop near you.

Taught at Kathie’s home studio, near Barton Springs pool in south Austin

Photo by Katherine O'Brien

Intermediate Garment Sewing Intensive for 12-18 year olds

sept 5- dec 12

mondays 9:30am till 12:30pm*

*i’m willing to move the class to a different day if i can find 4 students who need that.

class dates:

sept 5,12,19,26

oct 3,10,17,24 (skipping halloween)

nov 7, 14, 21, 28

dec 5, 12,

min/max 4 students

what we’ll cover:  

*working with commercial patterns

*tailoring patterns to fit

*fabric manipulations (block printing, freezer paper stencils, dying, embroidery, trims)

*working with both woven and knit fabrics

*up-cycling and repurposing used materials

i will be encouraging students to place an emphasis on creatively and mindfully sourcing materials.  we’ll talk about the use of gently used fabrics versus when it’s more appropriate to find well made, sustainable materials.

the class will be working from a set of commercial patterns that i will be choosing, in order to try keep everyone on basically the same page in terms of what methods and skills we’ll be covering, and when.  the patterns will be chosen in order to cover a wide base of garment making skills, but all will be open to the students interpretation and manipulation.

this class will be taught as a semester-long series, so i ask that you keep this in mind when signing up an interested student.  i will refund tuition within the first two weeks as long as we have a replacement student willing to start late.

interested students must have a basic understanding of machine sewing.

payment options:  i can accept payment either monthly or, 10% discount if tuition is paid in full by our first class meeting.

sept/oct/nov $160 per month

dec $80

semester tuition: $560**

*this does not include materials.  i’ll let you know what you need, you’ll need to get it on your own and be able to bring it to class on appointed class days.

To register or to ask a question, please email Kathie: ramonsterwear at gmail dot com

for 3-5 year olds…with a little something creative for the parents too

What do you get when you cross the awesome art teacher from Primavera Montessori School and Andrea’s Art Class and combine her with the co-founder of both Future Craft Collective and Slow Family Living?

An incredible new art class for your child and an opportunity for you as a parent to have a little relaxing, creative time of your own!

 In this brand new offering from Andrea Fiore and Bernadette Noll, we’ll offer art exploration for your 3-5 year old, 1 morning a week for one hour. While your child learns, you’ll be encouraged to settle in, relax and create – in an outdoor space with other parents, where there will be a craft offered, writing prompts about family life or art supplies made available. Or, if you’d rather, you can walk the short block toS. Congress Avenuefor a coffee or a bite, knowing your child is learning to explore his own creativity in an art experience like no other. Either way, you win! And so does your child.

We’ll be exploring the different elements of art through painting, sculpting, textile, collage, and more, using innovative materials and mediums. All offered in the most creative, inventive, original, and thoughtful way possible.

We’re going to have fun. So will your child. And so can you!!!

Photo by Katherine O'Brien

• The first session is 10 weeks starting September 16^th.
• Classes are Fridays 9:30-10:30am.
• Classes held at 212 E. Monroe at Christ Lutheran Church
• $265. for one day option

Stay afterward on the outdoor playground to connect and play or plan a picnic lunch just down the street at Little Stacy Park!

Hold your spot today! With a $25.00 deposit. Or email us with questions.

I was working with my afterschool Girls’ group yesterday making a flag for our Collective. It’s a pretty simple process of cutting the fabric and laying it out on the banner and then ironing it into place. Really quite fun. Unless. It’s not.

One of the girls was really struggling with the process of cutting the fabric. Partly because it was a teeny-tiny piece. Partly because it was windy and we were outside. Partly too because it was 4:00 in the afternoon and she was tired. I could see she was getting frustrated but let her go a little bit thinking she’d figure it out.  I never want to intervene too early. Too late I realized it was too late and she slammed her scissors and her fabric down on the table and burst into tears. “My fabric’s too small and these scissors are wrong and my nose is driving me crazy and this is just too hard!” (you know that feeling don’t you?)  We hugged. I held her. She cried. And we talked about how in the problem is the information needed.  She laughed when she realized she had stated all the problems she was having.

She hula hooped for a couple minutes. She got a new piece of fabric. She found another pair of scissors. She wiped her nose. And was right back at it. Cutting and crafting.

It made me wonder how often the problem and solution are so simple and yet we make them somehow complicated. It made me wonder how if I just tuned into the feeling of frustration I would actually find the tools for solution. I don’t know for sure yet but something tells me it just might work.

Did I learn this lesson already? Probably but it won’t be the first lesson I’ve had to learn again and again.

As we craft, explore, play and discuss, we’ll ponder our own creativity, material choices and availability and our connection to each other and to nature too with a day full of discussion, crafting, hiking and exploring.

Each morning we will spend a few hours crafting on a two day project using all re-usable/recycled/reclaimed materials of course. We will then hike to  Nicholas Dawson Park on East Bouldin Creek for lunch, exploration and an outdoor art project.

This three day camp is $185.00 for three days. All materials included.  You may pay in full now via paypal. Or pay here with a $50.00 deposit to hold your reservation. Balance is due the morning of camp

Email Bernadette at: nollanderson at sbcglobal dot net if you have any questions.

Girls will need to bring their own lunch and water bottle and a towel or yoga mat. A healthy snack will be provided.

Who: Girls ages 7-10

What: Three-day Future Craft Camp

Where: 411 W. Monroe Austin AMP (Austin Artists and Musicians Partnership)

When: Monday, Wednesday, Friday June 6, 8 and 10th

Time: 9:30-3:30pm (late pick up available)

Come  play and celebrate with Bernadette as we spend the morning talking and crafting, sharing and exploring the many things that make us, us. We will ponder our own creativity, material choices and availability and our connection to each other and to nature too.

In the morning we will spend a few hours crafting using all re-usable/recycled/reclaimed materials of course! Weather permitting we will have lunch and play and exploration time on the creek at Nicholas Dawson Park on Bouldin Creek. Time permitting we will return to Austin AMP for some games in the beautiful backyard under the giant live oak trees.

This one day camp is $65.00 for the day*. All materials included.  You may pay in full now via paypal. Or pay here with a $35.00 deposit to hold your reservation. Balance is due the morning of camp

Email Bernadette at: nollanderson at sbcglobal dot net if you have any questions.

Girls will need to bring their own lunch and water bottle and a towel or yoga mat. A healthy snack will be provided.

Who: Girls ages 7-10

What: One-day craft workshop

Where: 411 W. Monroe Austin AMP (Austin Artists and Musicians Partnership)

When: Friday, April 22^nd 9:00am – 4:30pm

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to AAMP – Austin Artists and Musicians Partnership.

 See also our Mother’s Day Craft Workshop for girls and boys ages 6-10! And check back soon for summer camps starting as early at June 2nd!

*If tuition is an issue, please let me know as I’m happy to work something out