Ew! A Social-Media Year in Review

Marketing with social media is exciting with its pace and potential. The speed at which we think and "speak" is astounding, and with that velocity comes some....atrocity. I like to tell myself that I do my best work under pressure (and I like to instruct my teenaged daughter to do the opposite despite her realization of the same), but upon a year-of-social-media-in-review, I could be, gasp, wrong. I found some gems on this memory lane of Facebook and Twitter snippets. And also laughed out loud at some of the silliness. What lives lovingly behind every single post is a sincere desire to share an incredible confidence-building creative experience with every child and adult we are fortunate enough to meet, but......

Wisdom

• I bet for a kid it feels neat to be your own curator, with no grown-up to tell you if your art is wall-worthy. It's why our walls are busy busy.
• Libraries=Knowledge=Progress=Peace.
• WISH is a 4-letter word. So are RISK, TIME, CASH. And so are GLEE, HOPE, LOVE...
• I ♥ giraffes- looks like they move slowly while they're actually making tremendous progress with an eye to the long-view...
• Typing an email and iPhone auto-correct changed "join our mailing list?" to "smiling list". Smart phone.
• Learned a great phrase yesterday that resonates with how we approach being an inclusive studio: "presume competence".
• It's really cool when a camper with special needs has a special day. Don't we all have a need that makes us special?
• Did you know that we grow artists? Not train. Not make. Not test. Grow.
• Hi Planet. Keep up the good work and we'll be better about doing the same. Love, Wishcraft.
• Who needs a coloring book?
• There is big wisdom in this hand-written note by one of our after-school students: "You can draw anything. You can paint anything. You can make anything. You can play anything. You can make projects. We have snack at 3:00."

Fun

• A sewing camper sang our safety instructions. Someone finally took us up on the offer. ♥ ♥ ♥
• How fun is it to have a barefoot dance party ON paint? Like grape
stomping for kids.
• Overheard today: "we're messy, like artists are supposed to be".
• Overheard today: "this girl? I never met her before but we're already friends".
• So much fun to work somewhere in which sparkly things like sequins show up in places like the inside of the radiator. I left it there, by the way.
• Sweetest question from a 1st grader- "how many pounds of fabric do I need for my pajama pants project?"
• Such a happy-house of fun at the workshop today. Giggles galore. We're lucky to do what we do each day, so thank you.
• Seriously? The "Google Punks Me" show goes on with a call today asking if we are wiccan or...just pagan? We didn't realize that allowing children to create spontaneous dances of joy would go so far. I wonder what channel this show will be on once the cameras are revealed.
• Ok fine. The jeweled moustaches are much classier.

Humility

• My laptop case is humiliating.
• Rob told me he was moving one of my books to the "read" (past tense)
 section. I thought he said "red", which was thrilling.
• Have you ever had a thought-bubble hovering over your head, ready to take flight, only to have it ruptured by .....nothing at all? Just. Gone.
• Someone faux-vampire-hissed at me today. Hilarious. Kids today.
• ps- who else feels powerful when they change the huge water cooler bottle? I do.
• OK seamsters, where's the silliest place you've found an errant thread clipping? Today I found one in my coffee cup..but not in the sewing room or even sewing yet today.
• Can you help us rename the Project Hall of Shame? Hall of Try? Hall of Why? Hall of _________?
• I just heard a bird chirp and I'm not even meditating. This is big.

Gratitude

• So neat when students come in for a class and another student tells them how cool their class will be based on their previous experience. Love.
• Student: "Wishcraft should have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Me: 'Why?" Student: "Because you deserve it."
• "Oh Mom! Already?" Glad to hear this all afternoon as students were picked up from Crafter-School. Even when it was closing time.
• One of our campers is so giddy to be with us for another camp next week that she suggested we name it "Sew Excited" instead.
• Ha! We were just called the "hardest working women in sew business". Guess I'm not the only one with a silly turn of phrase.
• And for service above and beyond the call of duty, the award goes to Rob, who delivered not just emergency clean underwear, but rockin' cool skull undies, too. You know you're getting crafty Candice when you sign up for CrAfter School, but did you know you also get 3 other kind and silly Cumminseseses too? My boys ♥ every cotton-pickin' Cummins in that joint.
• This morning a Dad that was dropping off his 3 kids to FUNordinary Art Camp pulled me aside to tell me-- "You do really good work. I mean it." Wow. Happy Friday.
• Another fun note from an after-schooler found while cleaning my office. My fave: "They have createful minds (that temt you)".

Ew

• I'm blue for you. Or for whomever you gift me to. I can be whatever you want me to be.
• I wanna be Like(d) by you, just you, and nobody else but you. I wanna be Like(d) by you alo-oh-one. Boop boop be-do.
• Does your expired workshop voucher have legs?
• Recess is still the only good thing about "recession"- we've kept class prices flat for 3 years.
• Dear Soccer Coaches, please advise practice schedules asap so families can choose their creative Wishcraft class. Love, Us.
• 5 spots remain and only 1 one of them will go on to become America's Next Top Camper for Friday 11/18.
• Feed your child's creative confidence and feed someone that needs it. Turn Cyber Monday into food for Common Pantry with our Fiber Funday.
• How convenient for 7/11! Give your kid a big gulp of summer fun with 64 fluid dollar savings off Camp.
• WANTED- shady quick-change artists for recycling magic. Starts tomorrow. Shade of green preferred.
• What has stripes, loves the planet, is fun to be around and isn't a zebra?
• We know a Viking (sewing machine) interested in meeting young fashion designers. The needles, thread and scissors are lonely, too.

Ew, right? 2012 promises to be even more amazing. She told me so this morning.

From your friends at the Wishcraft workshop, our wishes for the happiest and healthiest year yet for you, your friends and your family. Cheers.

Because You're Worth It

A cosmetic conglomerate has been using the line for years.  Yesterday I saw a quote that reminded me-- the people that we love are worth it. You are worth it. It is a crazy time of year. Crazy. There are moments of great kindness and moments of....craziness (drivers in particular.) But there is a reason that we do this every year. We all have our very personal sentiments about the reason for the season and, for some, very strong sentiments about the reason to forgo it altogether. Could it be like tax deductions?  Hurry and get in the last gesture of loving kindness, in the form of a gift, before the new year arrives?  No, it couldn't be.  

Holidays are funny in their predictable way of bringing out the best and worst in us. Someone may disappoint you this year. Some of of us may disappoint others. But really, the point is that we care, and if we were to take that caring into everything that we do, what a wonderful world this would be. 

“As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.”
Donald Westlake (1933-2008);
American writer