Happy Labor Day! I am so happy to announce our upcoming craft club season at East Pass Coffee Co. We have a fun lineup of activities and I can’t wait to craft with y’all. This year we added an extra night of ornaments, including a night where kids are welcome to come paint too. Ticket links will go out here on the newsletter first for the following month and then they’ll be offered to the public. Club nights usually sell out so if you want to join and you’re reading this here, go ahead and snag your tickets now!
Next month’s event - October 2nd, I’ll be leading us in painting pumpkins! Tickets are $75, which includes all your supplies. Beverages will be available for purchase. I’ll have a few preset designs if you need a guide, but this is truly your project so if you have a vision for what you want your pumpkin to look like, I’ll be there to help you every step of the way!
Snag your ticket now - click here!
A few things I made this last month….
A fishy bottle for the Harbor Docks Take a Kid Fishing Auction. I love client work, but every once in a while it’s nice to create something just for the fun of it. Fish are some of my favorite subjects, so I included a few Destin local residents - red snapper, gulf grouper, sheepshead, and a mess of sargassum seaweed.
A pop up card for our beloved babysitter who got into a car accident (she is ok! thank goodness!!). I used to make pop up cards all the time as a kid, and making this one reminded me how fun they are to create.
Some colorful temporary tattoos for a client’s birthday goodie bags. I love when my client is the child of the family. So I’m texting my client’s mom, saying, “what does Sloane think of this dinosaur?” and she responds, “she wants to see what it would look like with a shark tail!” Truly a joy.
Some miniature Destin coloring books! I’ve had this idea on my mind for awhile and finally got around to drawing them, but they are taking me awhile to fold. I put the printable up for free on my website here (just print and fold it “zine style”) but if you don’t want to go to all that trouble, I’ll have them stocked in my vending machine at Local Market in the next week or two.
Canvas stockings came in for my Painted Stocking Workshop for kids (ages 5-18) at the Alys Beach Crafted event on Sunday, November 16. Tickets are now available for Alys Beach Homeowners, but for everyone else, they go on sale on their website on Sept 2nd (tomorrow if you’re reading this the day this email goes out!). Would love to see you there!
Update on Kids Art Class: I mentioned on Instagram stories that I am thinking about holding an evening art class for elementary age kids in light of the news that Destin Elementary has no art program this year. Due to my kids’ activity schedules and my #1 job as chauffeur to my children, I’m planning to start this up AFTER soccer season. I’m envisioning 6 week sessions, each with a theme (so possibly a holiday theme for the first one). That way you can opt in or out of each art “season” based on your family’s activity schedules. Sign ups will go out to this newsletter list first, so stay tuned for future emails. I appreciate y’all’s interest and encouragement with this idea - it’s something I’m definitely excited about!!
A few things I’ve been up to this month:
Mahjong!! I finally learned from my friend and mahjong guru Morgan Smith and had a blast! I can see why so many people have caught the mahjong bug - it’s nice to have a social activity that requires so much focus and concentration that you simply cannot pick up your dang phone - you must stay in the moment with your friends or you will miss something!!
Crafting with my kids using this cute book we found at the library - The Happiest Kids Crafts in the World! All the activities are super easy and you probably have materials at the house to make most of them so there’s no upfront planning required, which I love.
Becoming really invested in the message of The Anxious Generation. I encourage everyone to read this book!! I learned so many practical ways I can help my kids live happier lives, primarily by delaying smartphones and social media and (this is the part everyone misses) giving them more independence and freedom through unsupervised unstructured “risky” play with mixed age kids. Jonathan Haidt backs everything up with research and studies and made me feel a lot more confident with some of my parenting choices. Anyone want to put a landline back in with me?
Finding reasons to keep listening to What Kind of Paradise, which is my favorite book I’ve read this year. The audiobook is exceptional, and the story is so compelling. I’ve been telling people it’s like Room x The Great Alone x Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I can’t stop thinking about it!
Some things I’ve been inspired by lately: seashells, the Forgotten Coast, cousin belly laughs, my oldest daughter’s knack for capturing photos of bugs, seeing my husband out catching critters with the kids
P.S. If you’re interested in a custom Christmas ornament, stay tuned! I’ll open up my first round of commissions here in the next few weeks.
Thanks for being here!!
xo Marilu