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Whether we work at home or away, our creative lives often center on House and Home. In this class we will build a cottage from felted wool pieces. These fabrics can be recycled from old clothing or purchased anew, but should be a mix and match of colors in your style/favorite palette. (Could be some sharing with other students too.) After constructing the dwelling with simple hand stitches and shapes, we will begin an artistic adventure embellishing the walls with scrap materials and decorative pieces. This is the place to use all the small treasures you have kept for yourself- the broken jewelry, bits of trim and cherished buttons. Here they become part of your collaged house, suddenly rich with personal meaning and sentiment. You may be inspired to add to it long after the class packs up. The finished piece is sturdy enough to function as an art piece, bookend or jewelry holder.
Charlotte Lyons’s career as a writer, designer, and artist began when she left teaching to raise her three daughters. In an effort to stay creatively connected and to find activities that would be fun for her and her children, she immersed herself in the home arts – and discovered her true vocation. Her skills and imagination with domestic crafts, repurposed materials – and her firsthand understanding of how creative activities can form a wonderful personal bond – have informed her professional work with magazines, books, manufacturers and arts events.
She is the author of Mothers and Daughters at Home: 35 Projects to Make Together and Between Friends: Craft Projects to Share (Simon and Schuster). Additionally, she co-authored the Home Companion series of eight decorating and craft titles with Mary Engelbreit and Barbara Martin (Andrews and McMeel). She has appeared on the CBS Early Show, DIY Scrapbooking and HGTV.
Inspired by the humble designs of traditional art and craft and the inventive use of everyday materials, Charlotte’s work has been featured in Country Living, Victoria, Rosie, Romantic Homes, Woman’s Day, Better Homes and Gardens, Where Women Create, Cloth-Paper-Scissors, Somerset Life and Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion. Presently, her artwork is also licensed to a growing list of companies for sale in the marketplace including Midwest Seasons of Cannon Falls, Bethany Lowe and Oopsy Daisy. She teaches locally in New York (Manhattan and lower Westchester) and nationally at arts events for creative women (Silver Bella).
