Jen Starr - My Creative Journey

Studio Store...KITS on sale now!!

Just added a new feature here on the blog to order some of my class kits...just click on "Studio Store" above to see what's available!

On the road again...

Spring is always the busy season for classes and this year is no exception!  Just in the last few months I have taught in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Toronto, and I just had a fabulous weekend celebrating National Scrapbook Day with my friends in West Virginia at Almost Heaven Scrapbooking!  Lots of fun ladies, 5 classes and as usual lots of laughs and memories...thanks again for having me back Beverly!

I have a busy day of last minute details and I'm heading out on one of my biggest road trips of the year!  I will be driving from New Jersey...all the way out to Nebraska, then down to Arkansas and back...teaching all along the way for most of this month.  The schedule is updated on the right side of my blog with all of the fabulous stores I will be visiting along the way.  I'm so excited to see the many friends I have made on previous trips out that way...it's going to be a crazy busy trip - wish me luck that I find lots of Starbucks (or some Tim Hortons!) every day : )

Good things for April!

I've got several fun creative weekends planned for April...starting with 3 classes at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly, Virginia this weekend!  I'll be teaching my Artful Anthology Flip Book Saturday from 2-5, then on Saturday from 11-1 is the Viva Diva Techniques class and the new Memory Art Journaling Class...my current favorite : )

  

 

 

The following weekend I will be heading up to Toronto, Canada for a REALLY fun few days!  I'll be teaching at one of my favorite stores Bizzy Bs Stamp & Scrap...FABULOUS store (with even more fabulous owners!)

I will be teaching at the store Thursday night (4/11) the Viva Diva Class, then on Sunday (4/14) the Artful Anthology Flip Book as well as the Butterfly Pennant.

In between (Friday and Saturday) I will be "bizzy" getting all painty at their booth at SCRAPFEST in Kitchener, Ontario.  I will be demoing Art Anthology as well as Viva Decor and have lots of fun techniques to share!!  Can't wait to see all of my creative Canadian friends!

 

More info coming on the rest of my schedule : )

jen 

 

 

New kits for sale!

I've been getting a lot of e-mails from ladies who can't make it to one of my classes or just don't live close enough to any of the independent stores i will be teaching at...I usually don't put up my new classes right away but because I've had so many requests I just added 3 kits to my Studio Store...2 of them are brand new!  if you can't make it to a class in your area...go ahead and grab a kit!  I e-mail complete step by step instructions for each kit once its mailed out and i'm always available via e-mail or facebook if you have any questions along the way!  

New kits in the store are as follows...

Canvas Butterfly Pennant (which is 3 feet long!!)  $35

 

Artful Anthology Flip Book $35

 

Texturized Cards - on sale for $20

New Classes

I got home late Saturday night from my first teaching road trip of the year and it was just awesome!!

I spent time with one of my best friends and lots of family along the way. I taught at some of my favorite stores...Whimsodoodle in St Petersburg, FL, Scrapdoodles in Virginia and Altered Angel in Georgia.  FUN classes with some wonderful ladies (and one great guy!)  

I was also able to teach in 3 stores that were new for me...Kat & June Bugs in Alabama, Everything Scrapbooks & Stamps in Lake Worth, FL and The Paper Trail in Fayetteville, NC.  As always, I made new friends and had a lot of laughs along the way.  

I taught several brand new classes over the last 2 weeks...lots of Art Anthology and Viva Decor in my new line up.  Here's a peek at 3 of the new classes I will be teaching this year (OH! and I started updating my teaching schedule on the right side of my blog so you can see where you can take these classes : )

 

ARTFUL ANTHOLOGY FLIP BOOK

 

and here's a different color combo (I do it differently every time I make one!)

 

 

CANVAS BUTTERFLY PENNANT

(this is 3 feet long!)

here's a close up...

 

 

VIVA DIVA TECHNIQUES!

 

 

I will be showing more classes soon and also will be putting up kits for sale for the Butterfly Pennant and the Artful Anthology in my Studio Store...so check back soon : )

 

Jen

All GOOD things!!

So many wonderful things have been happening over the past several months and I feel like I have been in such a transition and finally starting to feel like i am settled and seeing results of a lot of hard work.

First things first...I am simply giddy to update you on my weight loss journey.

I have officially lost 100 pounds !!!!!

It seems completely surreal saying it out loud. I truly never thought I would get this far and my only goal was to be out pain...and guess what...still NO back pain!  I still have a long way to go but it's an amazing feeling to be out of pain and I have never been happier or felt better.  

 

CHA was awesome!  I spent the show at the ART ANTHOLOGY Booth and we had an amazing response.  Aside from being the Creative Director, which has been SO much fun...I was so excited to debut my own signature line of DIMENSIONAL CRYSTAL Paints at the show along with 6 colors for the Coloration mists.  I am thrilled with the way they came out!

They are an ultra blingy dimensional paint that can be applied with a brush, palette knife or used with the detail tip fron the bottle...SO much fun!!!

The paints at the top are Sorbet, Dimensional Crystal in the tall bottles in the middle and the awesome Velvet paints at the bottom.  I have several brand new classes that I will start teaching with my March road trip down south...Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and North Carolina.  I will be updating my teaching schedule on the right side of my blog in the next few days as all of the details are decided.  Lots of Viva Decor in my new classes as well as Unity Stamps!

I'm so excited about all of the changes, transitions and additions I have made and can't wait to share it all with you...ALL GOOD THINGS!!

 

jen

New Creative Opportunities!

I'm excited to share with you some fun new opportunities I've been given over the past few months!  First I am proud to be involved with a wonderful new company called Art Anthology.  

My roll with them will be as Creative Director which means I'll have a lot of responsibilities with developing new product (I'll even have my own signature line with AA being released at CHA in January - YAY!) I'll also be running the Design Team, which we are calling our "Dream Team" because we have some amazing and talented ladies working with us.  I'll be developing techniques and an education program but most importantly, I will be taking it on the road and working with the full line of Art Anthology products in my in-store classes as well as some on-line classes Im working up to.  I'm so grateful for this fabulous opportunity with so many creative possibilities and I can't wait to share it with you all!!

My second new little adventure is that I will also be working with Viva Decor USA!!!  I have loved playing with their products in my own stash, but was recently asked to spend a day with them in Philly to become their first Certified Educator!  They were calling me their "Viva Diva" LOL...I kinda like the sound of that : )  

I love working with companies that have wonderful people and diverse products that I can really get creative with...Viva fits in in perfectly and the education possibilities combined with the other companies I work with are amazing!  They have so many great things to play with and I can't wait to get started!!   

2013 is going to be a great year and I can't wait to share these new adventures with you all!!!!

A new me : )

I know it's been a while since I've updated...to be honest I am much more active on Facebook (so much faster and easier! LOL) so if you haven't friended me yet, click the link on the left sidebar and go right ahead : )

I am back in full swing after having Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery March 12th.  I've had an unbelievable amount of support from my family and friends and was so grateful for all of the e-mails I've received from people who I didn't really even know to tell me I have inspired them.  Making the difficult decision to have such a drastic surgery was something I struggled with for years but now I can say that it was the best thing I have ever done for myself! I feel like I finally have my life back!!  

To date, I have lost 93 pounds....something I never in a million years would believe I might be able to say.  I still have a long way to go but I feel amazing!  High Blood pressure is GONE, "pre-diabetic" status is GONE, my energy is higher than I can ever remember it, I am at the lowest weight I can remember and most importantly...MY BACK PAIN IS TOTALLY GONE!!!!  No more herniated discs at all and I smile constantly and giggle every day now.  I feel like I had been in a bad mood for years! LOL   I guess that much pain would probably make anyone grouchy.

I have had absolutely no side effects or issues after surgery.  I can still eat just about anything I want, just tiny portions. I don't eat bread anymore (by choice mainly) or much pasta and the one thing I ave to admit has made me a bit nausious is McDonalds (but that is definitely a good thing that I dont like it anymore! LOL).

I am still limping a little and have had more tests done since I was on a health roll this year.  They discovered that the leg pain we blamed on one of the discs for years is actually moderate to severe osteoartritis in my right hip and knee.  Annoying, but fixable.  The way I'm choosing to look at that is with all of that weight, it could have been so much worse.  Of all of the medical issues in my family genes, arthritis is not the worst thing that could have happened...it easily could have had a stroke, heart attack, etc.  So I'm grateful that its all it is and I am working on that too.  I have steroid injections to my hip scheduled for next week and will start Physical Therapy right after.  That should help get me moving even better.  They expect that I may be looking at a hip replacement within 10 years...but like I said, fixable and could have been worse : )

So here are the visuals...

This picture is from last October during the trip to Germany when my back and weight was at their worst.

And this was yesterday...

I am still only about half way to what I would ultimately like to lose, but the most important thing to me is that I finally have no more back pain and I'm feeling great!!

Classes in Jersey this weekend!

Staying close to home this week and teaching at two different stores in New Jersey...

Click the store links below for class descriptions and prices 

Saturday, September 8th  Paper Anthology in Kenvil.

10:00 - 1:00   Memories of the Beach Canvas Flip Book

 

2:00 - 5:00  Life is Beautiful Gate Book

 

 

Sunday, September 9th  SCRAPPER'S COVE - Milltown, NJ

10:00 - 1:00   Memories of the Beach Canvas Flip Book

(picture above)

 

2:00 - 5:00  Steampunk Montage

 

new classes

I'm crazy busy prepping away for my first big roadtrip in a while and I'm SO excited to head back out on the road to do what I love!

I wanted to pop in and get a few pictures up of some more new classes...and I've updated my class schedule through October on the sidebar here with all of the stores I have booked for classes. 

First class up is Steampunk Montage.  It's a double canvas panel wall hanging with that fun steampunk style.  Lots of Tim Holtz goodies in this one...plus I was able to finally do something special with my 2 favorite pictures of me and my Dad....he was just the coolest!

I added a new card class.  4 different "Textured Cards" 6x6"...also lots of Ranger goodies, but mixed this one up with some Tattered Angels too.  If you aren't a card maker, you could always incorporate these in to a mini-book.  It's all about the technique with me so you know I won't be insulted if you want to do your own thing with them : )

here's 2 of the 4 cards we'll make in class...

The third one is a class that I've done a few different versions of.  it's always been one of my most popular classes so I thought it was time to revamp it again.  The Memories of the Beach Canvas Flip Book.  I've worked in some of my favorite techniques from several different canvas classes to make this one.  We'll be using some of the 2012 Summer Limited Edition Glimmer Mist that I designed for Tattered Angels (totally jersey shore inspired colors - WITHOUT SNOOKY or the Situration! - ugh)  The title is stamped so will totally be up to you to customize for your own beachy memories.

Also, if you haven't friended me on Facebook yet, go ahead and click that link on the left sidebar...I don't blog that often because I am ALWAYS on Facebook!! LOL

 

jen

Lots of classes coming up!

Life is Beautiful...New class!

Just a quick post to let you know I updated my class schedule through October on the sidebar here...I'll be teaching in 22 different states between now and Halloween.  Crazy, but very very fun and I am SO happy to get back to teaching!  

I'll be adding a road trip in November and updating the schedule again as soon as the details of the itinerary are all figured out....this time I'm headed to Arizona, Nevada and Utah and have some fabulous stores lined up already!!

And yes, of course I am taking a day in there to see Sedona, another for the Grand Canyon and definitely a drive through Vegas too along the way : )

 

jen