Altered Arts and Creativity Workshops

I love being able to hold life close, to savor the moment, to process the wonder that is all around. The exciting new world of altered books and visual journals allows all of this and more. No rules, great fun and endless possibilities for very personal creations. Jump right in and enjoy the magic!

Click on the links at left under Altered Arts & Creativity Workshops or scroll down the page.

Believe in Yourself Creativity Retreat
September 9-12, 2009

Believe 2008 was a sparkling, energizing, creative
success. Plans are already underway for
BELIEVE 2009. The dates are September 9-12
and our theme is Field Guide to Your Creativity.
Check our new website,
www.BelieveInYourselfRetreat.com
to see photos of all the beautiful work done by
our talented 2008 participants as well the latest
news for 2009.

To register for this empowering event of creative
inspiration, click here. We can only take 50
people in order to maintain the unique
atmosphere of intimate sweet sharing.
Don't delay. Sign up now!
We can't wait to meet you.

Kristin Steiner and Susan Edmonson
Creative Spirits and co-founders of
Believe in Yourself Retreats

I Am A Woman Who - An Altered Fabric Adventure
*Featured in premier issue of Sew Somerset Magazine!

This class is a collage of creative ideas for altering fabric, perfect for quilters or for those who love altered art. Learn how to distress and age commercial fabric for a vintage look, to paint, stamp, etch, and texture fabric in innovative ways.

Once our fabric is altered,
we will use it to create an
accordian fabric book
based on the theme “I Am
A Woman Who...” The
longings, delights, hopes and dreams of our hearts are featured on each section of this two sided book. A terrific class for all skill levels. 6 hours.

Kit fee of $5.00 includes fusible web and fleece for book foundation and layering, transparency sheet and use of gesso, daubers and dyes.

Fabric Booklace
Take some of your favorite fabrics, add bits of old papers, mix them together in a fanciful collage, top off with your own hand embellishments, bind all into a beautiful book, wire on a wonderful chain and you have a captivating booklace!

Learn how to use new fusible products to create your booklace base. Tips for striking collage combinations and thorough adhesive information are demonstrated.

You will be proudly wearing your dear creation home with ideas dancing in your head for the more enchanted booklaces.

Bloom - An Inspiration Journal
This class introduces you to the endless
possibilities of the exciting new technique Kristin
calls Collage-Applique. You will squeal with delight
when you see the countless ways you can
implement fused fabric appliques in your journals
and mixed media art.

Design your own sassy blooms or pick from several provided, then jump right into the fusing fun. Hand embroidery stitches accent each applique, adding texture and dimension.

Tips and ideas for effective fiber collage are offered as you build the covers of this gated fabric journal on an exciting fusible base. Learn how to dye lace, trim and watercolor paper for your own custom colors. All skill levels are warmly welcome!

A kit fee of $10.00 includes 3 fusible products, lace, trim, and embroidery needle.

Fabulous Fabric Book of Whimsy
One of the hottest trends is altered and collaged books. You've seen exciting examples of this new art form in Quilt Art Magazine. Let's do ours in our favorite thing - FABRIC! Kristin guides you in constructing a set of pages. Then learn to print words onto fabric, construct fun
                     pockets for all your secrets, and to use a variety of
                     attachment methods for adding dimension to your book.
                     Finally see how to "bind" your luscious pages into a
                     textural treat. The best part is Kristin will provide a
                                              component kit for your first set of pages.
                                              Warning! This might be addictive!

                                              All levels. 6 hours. Kit fee $5.00. No
                                               sewing machine needed. Basic hand
                                               sewing kit.

Unfolding
A Tiny Triptych of Self Knowing
“The treasure of my unfolding” is the theme of this little
vertical fabric book. Learn Kristin's recipe for constructing
stable page foundations. Collage techniques using paper,
metal and transparencies are demonstrated and favorite
adhesives are explained. Stitching methods for combining
pages and attaching pockets are explored. See the many uses
of new, iron-on fusible webbings as you complete a set of
pages. The triptych is hinged together with fabric hinges and
“unfolds” to reveal its secrets.

This class is perfect for all skill levels and you'll leave spilling                    over with ideas for more fabricbooks. 6 hours.
Kit fee $5.00 includes a page of transparencies,embroidery
needle, 3 pieces each fusible web, fleece and deco bond.

Luscious Fabric Book
The yearnings of the heart fill the pages of this
luscious fabric book. Let Kristin introduce you
to the possibilities of fabric and embellishment
in this class. Learn to construct page backgrounds
using some of the newest products on the market.
Create fabric frames around any of your artwork
                                    using easy fusible web and an
                                    iron. Add a secret pocket to
                                    house your heart's desire. Simple binding
                                    technique for assembling the book are demonstrated.
                                    This is a gentle class, perfect for all levels...sewers
                                    and non-sewers and those new to altered art!
                                    All levels. 6 hours. Kit fee $5.00 for fusible and
                                    interfacing

Write it on My Heart - To My Creativity Be True
Come play in this unique heart shaped fabric book as you
discover the wealth of natural gifts and abilities just waiting
to be beautifully expressed. You'll learn Kristin's terrific
recipe for fabric page foundations. Then create the pages of
this layered heart book using fabric and paper collage,
including techniques for all kinds of secret bundles, pockets,
photo transfers and so much more. Edge
finishing for each page and the final book
construction is demonstrated.
This is a comprehensive class, perfect for all
skill levels. 6 hours.
Kit fee of $10.00 includes fusible web and
interfacings for page foundations, transparency
and fabric for transfers, canvas, lace and tags.

Altered Apron Addictions
Get your giggle going in this freewheeling class.
We'll start with an old pair of jeans but we'll quickly
whack off legs and lift off pockets to form our apron
base. Decorator style fabric becomes the apron skirt
and sashes. Then the giggles really begin. We'll
ruffle and gather and fluff and stamp and embellish
until we feel done! This is the perfect place for
vintage laces, pompoms, velvet and bling! We'll
make tiny affirmation buttons to dangle along one
side and a bonus is making a charming button
bracelet to match. We'll finish it all up by the end of
class, just in time for an Altered Apron parade, each
one guaranteed to be unique. Start your apron
addiction right here with this fun filled class.

To Map the Treasures of My Heart - an altered book
an adventure in creative discovery with Kristin Steiner
Our creativity is most authentic when it comes from the heart
of who we are. Do you know what provides the source of your
most genuine creative impulses? With a few simple, non-scary
writing exercises, you will come to clearly see what lies at the
core of your creative treasure chest. Uncover the themes, colors,
collections and longings residing deep within. Then document
each discovery in this tiny altered board book.

Together we will prepare a board book for altering.
Learn how to apply fabric, old text and letters, maps
and tissue as you collage the “treasures from your
heart”. Experiment with dyes to tint fabric and canvas
for your pages or the cover of your book. Make a tiny
alter devoted to the creative person living inside of
you. The result is the delight of working small; in capturing forever the ingredients leading to your most soulful work.
No kit fee.

ArtFiberNest
Art workshops fill us up with energy, inspiration, friendships and lavish support. If only we could sustain these magical ingredients once we return home to our studios. That's the theme for this 3 dimensional birdhouse, a collaged shelter for an ArfiberNest, reminding us of the ingredients so necessary to nurture and protect our creativity.

In this energetic workshop you will learn how to dye and
distress fabric, lace and paper for custom colors to make you
swoon! Next you'll learn three new techniques to add
texture and age to anything - Kristin calls it “crusting”. Such
fun and oh the possibilities for future projects!

Finally, you will build your birdhouse on an new fusible
product for the base, all ready to accept your imaginative
collage. The crowning glory is the sassy roof, made from
“wholey paper”. Bring your feathers, eggs, and nests and
we'll play together building our ArtfiberNest!

A kit with 3 fusible products, wholey paper, rayon ribbon, lace, transparencies, and other treats is provided for a $10.00 fee.

Journey With Your Senses
There, patiently waiting to be called upon, lies the most powerful tool we own for authentic journaling, collage, and creativity. It is our senses! We will make “flashcards” for each potent sense from a new
sturdy fusible product and meaningful collage. We will
pack these in a “suitcase” fashioned from a metal tabbed
file fold - ready for any journey.

A wide variety of textures are explored including bonding
processes, painting and over painting, dyeing, tinting, the
use of Shiva Sticks, stamping and more. Your head will be
spinning with ideas for delicious backgrounds. Leave
class with this valuable reminder of the most powerful
tool for vibrant creativity, your five senses.

Passport to Creative Play
As we create and play in our work, we eventually come to realize creativity is a process. It can go beautifully, with ideas sparking at full speed or it can go poorly with frustration, self-doubt and hardly an inch of progress. Welcome to the journey of your creativity.

This class offers discussion and tools to understand the challenges of the creative process...of making the pilgrimage to the heart of our creative voice. Fun, easy writing “experiments” lead us gently to discover the passions, the obsessions, the yearnings forming our creative identity.

Projects made in class build on the information gleaned from our sharing and discussions. Any major trip requires a passport, a document of who we are. We'll create our passport photo using a clear gesso transfer. Get your tickets for the journey, with the destination being one's authentic creative voice. Finally, store both travel documents in a handsome canvas travel folio. Learn how to use fusible web, to dye fabric with luscious fluid dyes, then embellish your folio to your liking.

Won't you join us in this most important journey...this journey to the heart of our creative potential?
Kit fee $10.00

It's All Inside - A Tool Kit for Creativity
Imagine having a delectable kit filled with helpful tools
just waiting to aide you in any creative emergency.
That's exactly the mission of this class!

Our tool kit is cigar box, which we will alter, complete
with paint brush handle. The first tool is an Owner's
Manual – a small booklet made from a metal label file
folder with luscious textured pages inside. A series of
Permission Slip Bundles remind us to play, to mess-up,
and to experiment. An altered match box houses
Inspiration Seeds for times when ideas falter. And
lastly we remind ourselves to Handle Gently the
flowering of any new venture. Not only is our Tool Kit
a visual treat, it is filled with helpful “power tools” for
YOUR creativity!