Happy New Year!
One year ago Dave and I had not even planned to retire yet, let alone un-retire and open a whole new shop. Isn’t it funny how everything can change—and then change again—all in the course of 365 days?
Yes, 2013 was a momentous year for us! We are grateful for all of the changes because they brought us to where we are now.
God’s plans for us are always greater than our own, aren’t they?
We are really looking forward to 2014. We are working on many new and exciting things to make All Things New Again the gathering place for creativity and fun that we envision.
We are off to a great start, but we still have a lot of work to do!
Here are some of the projects we are working on bringing to you in 2014:
Artist Studio and Classroom
Our first order of business is to complete the renovations on our new Artist Studio and Classroom located in the back room at the shop. We recently painted and hung several cabinets we saved from the kitchen renovation project at our home last summer to provide needed storage space for paint and supplies.
These were 1980’s wood cabinets given a bright new life thanks to the American Paint Company’s rainbow of all-natural clay, chalk and mineral paints. A splash of color on the walls, a worktable and a new floor were all we needed to make this space functional.
Then we got the great idea to add a sink! That plumbing project is going to take some time, but it will be so much nicer to be able to rinse brushes right here in the studio.
Paint Classes and Workshops
We are so excited about offering classes that we won’t even wait for the sink! We have a great Intro to American Paint Company class planned for beginning painters or others who want to give this new product line a try. We will share different application techniques, distressing, waxes, and lots of other tips and techniques to help you create your own works of art.
We also have a lot of fun workshops planned where you will work on and complete a specific project that you can take home and enjoy. We are flexible on time and projects so if you have a group of friends who are looking for a fun night out or you see a neat DIY project that you would like to try but don’t know where to begin, let us know and we will work with you to tailor our programs to suit your schedule and interests.
Social Media
We will work extra hard to bring you a new article every week here on our All Things New Again blog. We try to write about a mix of shop news and DIY tutorials as well as projects we are working on in our own homes.
We also have plans to launch our own YouTube channel this year to bring you video tutorials of paint techniques and other DIY projects. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
Here’s where we need YOUR help!
If you like our blog, please follow it. Just enter your email address in the little box up there on the right side of the page and you will get our weekly posts delivered directly to your inbox so you never miss an article. If you see an article you like, please share it on your Facebook page. If you see a photo you like, please pin it on Pinterest. If you have a blog or Facebook business page you think we would be interested in, let us know and we’ll check it out!
We are working really hard to grow All Things New Again—and we need your help to do it!
Speaking of Facebook … if you haven’t already, please like our Facebook page and then share it with all of your friends! We need you to get the word out.
Pinterest is new territory for us. We are just getting started and still learning the ropes, but here is a link to our stuff. If you like it, please tell your friends!
If you have ideas for ways we can make any of these better, please let us know. If there is something else out there that we aren’t doing or don’t know about yet, please tell us and we’ll check it out.
We’re totally social—we just aren’t always the most technology-savvy people in the world. 🙂 Good thing we have friends who are!
That’s about it for our list! (OK—there’s more. We are total over-achievers, but these are the biggies.) What are your New Year’s Resolutions for 2014? Please share them in the comments section.
We wish you lots of love, laughter, peace and prosperity.
2014 is going to be a great year for us all!
Love,
Cathy, Dave and Courtney
