I have a fun valentine activity for you! Stop by the Thousand Oaks or Newbury Park libraries to get one of my simply curated, embroidered heart kits that you can sew at home-your way!

Enjoy learning a new skill or build on the skill you have with my little d.i.y. kits in the comfort of your home or on the go!
Pick up your FREE kit, one per teen while supplies last.

Enjoy!
Jemma

This reuse of the material cork is sure to be a fun project to try!
Check out my YouTube video to create cork fun!

For the month of January, I spotlight the material- cork. It’s a mighty material!

I primarily use it in the studio in the form of wine corks but it’s a truely amazing, natural material. It is naturally the outer bark of a cork tree that uniquely sustainable because the cork bark can be harvested (by hand) from the trunk of the tree. The tree will then grow a new protective layer of cork bark! This process can happen again in another 7-10 years.

Cork is not just for wine bottles, it’s used for a host of other useful items like cork boards, insoles, linings for sports balls, sea buoys, furniture and so much more!

Since most of us see cork as stoppers for wine we’re seeing lots of imitation corks, even screw tops on wine bottles but due to corks unique, porous nature some wines need a cork stopper to allow the right amount air to circulate through, no imitation will do!

Cork is quite versatile and fun to create with, just cruise around Pinterest for a while! It is recyclable and reusable and it’s mightiest feet..cork trees are also dynamos in nature because they are fire resistant and can be planted to help create fire barriers.

Did you know that Styrofoam is no longer in rotation in the City of Thousand Oaks recyclable line-up!
Three cheers!
Although it was a material I collected and reused for years, the more I looked into it and how it is made, where it comes from in my spotlight program, the more I felt it is a concern for kids to work with. Even though it came from the earth as crude oil, it goes through chemically enhanced processes to become a material the earth can’t take back.
I am please to be in alignment with the City’s practices and look forward to seeing less and less of it in our world.

Learn more about the City’s break-up plan here.

-Jemma

Let’s CReATE together this summer for hands-on imagination exercising with wood working, eco art, jewelry making, doll and critter house creating and more… all summer long!

I have a variety of camp options- all with a connection to each kid’s creative flow and my love of re-using recycled materials! I can’t wait to explore with kids and community partners like the City of Agoura Hills and Conejo Recreation and Parks District to help kids imagine big!

Visit my camps page to sign-up here.

;-} Jemma

An easy way to honor earth day, anytime, is to reuse the things we have. These can be things like containers which are often the holders for things we really wanted. Cookies, mints, candles are all things I have wanted, which to buy, come in metal containers.

Metal is my spotlight material for April so theres a connection to one of the questions I ask in my spotlighting. Where do we see this material used? Metal is part of many things around us. Its a strong material that can be used again and again. It is also a material that is painstakingly mined from the earth so a way to honor that effort and care for our planet is to reuse it.

Next time you come across a tin from mints or a colorful tin from cookies- try asking yourself, what else can this be? The answer can be fun to explore!

-Jemma

Metal is the material I am exploring this month so I start off wondering where does it come from and Where do we find it in our lives?
Metal items can be found just about everywhere; from paper clips to Staples and twist ties, coins, steel gutters, and even containers. These items can be made of different kinds of metals. I look to PBS Kids to help me understand and share what I learn.
Check out this short video then explore where you see metal in your daily life.

Thanks for learning with me.
Jemma

A thing that gets broken can be even more amazing when put into a new vision. Ceramics are certainly fun, interesting as they’ve been made to be but take on another vibrancy as a mosaic.

Have you see the Watts Towers? People usually keep their ceramic items if they carry meaning or donate them for someone else to enjoy but broken ceramics- they often find their way to…the trash.
If something you love breaks- rethink it, then turn it into something that can last, a stepping stone, a fancy mosaic frame or.. art right in your own backyard.

Last week I hosted a Spring Break Sampler Camp at the Agoura Hills Rec Center. The kids and I had a great week creating together. We had projects to explore like CD Spinners, Egg Carton Animal Portraits and Cardboard Houses and of course, open-ended art which always takes top billing.
Riley summed up our week with the highest compliment of all when she said, ” I like this art camp the best, we don’t have to make stuff”. I knew just what she meant- everything is there to explore, they did what they liked, each of them. There were collaborations, solo creations, and drawing competitions. There were as many ways to go as there were kids to make. A gaggle of kids inspired one another to make fuzzy cats and squirrels from an old scrap of cozy material. Creativity is an infinite source when in the hands of a child.
I look forward to a fun-filled summer with all my camps where we’ll create again! Check out my camp line-up here.

As of March 6, CReATE STUDIO is 15 years old.
Thinking back, I smile at the varied iterations of the studio, all the wonderful families I have met and gotten to know. I beam at the thought of the kids who have created with me since 2009.

I am proud of what I’ve created, this space to express ones own ideas and imaginings through the reuse of recycled materials. Mixing recycling and reusing with creativity. It’s a natural partnership and yet a unique to approach to art. As a child of the 70’s, this was how I have experienced art myself-ever teetering on the verge of play.

Saying yes to kid ideas and queries is empowering for them. Encouraging parents to say yes to kid ideas is success for all of us. Here’s to many more years of creating to come. I can’t wait.

Happy Birthday CReATE!

-Jemma