Learn to Paint Your Own Holiday Cards! (plus the bloopers)

Paint Your Own Watercolor Holiday Cards (Bloopers)

Watercolor Greetings -the bloopers from Courtney Khail on Vimeo.

Good morning everybody!!I hope your past two days of the week have gone wonderfully and that you've adjusted to daylight savings. I've heard a lot of griping about it lately, but personally, I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep. Now the whole it getting dark super early thing? Well that's a little bit of a bummer I guess.

So the big news for today is that my holiday card class is now live! It launched today and when you sign up you'll learn how to make six different cards as well as get tips and techniques to use throughout the season. The classes are available for a full year when you order the class, so in case you are like me and sometimes get really behind on sending out Christmas cards (I just add in Happy New Year! and call it a day) then you can always just get a head start on next years. And then you can pat yourself on the back for being so on top of everything!

And of course, for your enjoyment, I've included my bloopers. Or some of them. It's amazing how many takes I have to do sometimes!

I hope to see you all there! 

Blooper Reel (Have you signed up yet?)

Creatively Made Watercolors with Courtney Khail (The Blooper Reel) from Courtney Khail on Vimeo.

My parents are in town visiting for the week (yay!) so I've been spending some quality time with them instead of the computer. BUT I wanted to wish you all a happy Monday as well as share a video I created last week.

While taping for my Creatively Made Watercolors class, I realized three big things. One- Always make sure the camera is filming. (I don't want to admit how many times I had to redo an entire lesson because the camera just shut off and I didn't realize it. Luckily, practice makes perfect. Or kind of perfect.) Two- talking to yourself all day makes you a little crazy. So crazy that you may just start singing to the camera despite not having the best singing voice. And three- watching yourself on video is incredibly funny. So entertaining in fact, that I thought I'd create a "blooper reel" of sorts and share it with you all. There were so many other bits I couldn't fit in this video without it becoming super long, but hopefully this gives a little insight into what goes on "behind the scenes." (and let's you see just how much I talk with my hands. I mean seriously. I'm going to poke someone's eye out one of these days.) 

One "slip up" in particular- which has long since been edited out to protect those with fragile ears- was during the last lesson. I was trying to say "pull UP method" and I accidentally said "pull OUT method." Ever awkward, I tried to cover it up (and give some advice?) by saying something like "Oh that's inappropriate. And definitely doesn't work so don't do that."  I think I then realized I was making the situation even worse, which then of course proceeded to my laughing hysterically for like 2 minutes. But like I said, it's been edited out, though even the best editing couldn't hide the laughter in my voice.

So yep. I can't wait for the class to launch (August 5th!!) and hope to see you all there. If you haven't signed up yet, but want to learn how to watercolor or get a refresher, get on that! It's super easy. And inexpensive. And awesome.

Creatively Made Summer Series- I'm teaching you to paint!

Mornin' everyone! (or technically, afternoon...) so fun and exciting news! I mentioned it briefly on Facebook a little while ago, but I will be teaching a watercolor class this summer with Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made Home Summer Series! I met Jeanne in 2012 at Alt and was immediately taken by how real she was. She just seemed content and happy with who she was, where she was, and what she had to offer the world- which was incredibly refreshing. As our friendship grew, I was able to learn more about her passions, her goals, met her awesome husband, and pretty much just discovered how amazing of a person she was. Fast forward to a few months ago when I checked my email and found one from her asking if I'd be up for teaching a class this summer. Of course, you already know I said yes (hence this whole post. Wouldn't that be anticlimactic if I was just like "and I passed. the end. Happy Tuesday.") and I am so so so excited to do this. I absolutely love teaching people how to paint (I mean come on, I get to combine what I love doing most with talking. And by now you should all know how much I love to talk) so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity.

So, if you've always wanted to learn watercolors but never had the time, or the money, or you were embarrassed about your skill level (which is ridiculous. You rock) or whatever else, now is your chance to learn! The class is only $10ish dollars (I say "ish" because it maybe like $11) which is an absolute steal, it's an online video class that is pre-recorded so you can start and stop at your leisure, and dudes, you get to paint for fun. That alone should make you run to sign up. So don't stress about your skill level- I'm starting at the very very beginning- and will walk you all the way through to a finished painting. I'll even make up a hashtag so you can take awesome photos of it and share it on facebook and instagram so I can see your pretty pieces and tell you just how awesome you are at watercolors.

So here's the deal-

1. Go to http://jeanneoliver.ning.com and sign up for the network (this part is completely free!)

2. Browse the courses (you may have to click view all) and pick Watercolors and Flowers

3. Do a happy dance to show how excited you are. Post about it. Tell all your friends how much fun this will be. Hey maybe get them to join and y'all can take it together and have a big ol' party! Like one of those drinking and painting classes except you'll all have different unique paintings :) The possibilities are endless, people!

4. Check back often for sneak peeks, giveaways, etc. (You can also "like" my facebook page and get updates that way if you prefer.)