January 2017 – LaClaire Creations

Zentangle Coloring Pages

January 24, 2017 Lady LaClaireLeave a comment

And so it begins! Yesterday I managed to get many of my new Zentangle Coloring Pages scanned in and uploaded to our Etsy Shop. It’s a wonderful feeling for such an accomplishment. I’ve had this goal for a while now, to setup downloadable coloring pages for sale. I’ve got 2 collections on there currently with more in the works.

The 2 sets I have up for sale include the featured image along with some of my other pieces that I have revamped recently to better suit coloring. I hope to have another collection up soon specifically for kids that feature hidden letters and numbers for the kids to find as they color.

In the future I am looking to do other themes and hopefully slightly larger collections to be made available through my Etsy store: LaClaire Creations. Possible collections might include mythical creatures, fairy tales, landscapes, animals in general. If you have any suggestions for a collection, I would love to read them in the comments section!

Just a quick update

January 20, 2017 Lady LaClaireLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Just taking a moment to catch you up though not much has happened since my last post. I have been working on the new coloring pages for my first commission and will post some pictures soon. However, I hit a snag at the end of last week when I started having extreme pain throughout my back. I seem to be on the upswing now and will be seeing the doctor soon I think. I’m afraid of what I might find out, but I can’t keep trying to doctor myself.

Sorry there isn’t anything more for now, but I promise a better update soon! Take care everyone!

First commission!

January 10, 2017 Lady LaClaireLeave a comment

So good news! As the title implies, I have stumbled upon my first commission! Shortly before our school’s winter break we were informed that our BIST room person was transferring schools and we would start the process of finding someone to fill the position.

Fast forward to last Thursday morning as I’m helping settle our new person in and it was mentioned that she wanted some coloring pages to use with students visiting her room. I offered to create some for her and she offered to pay me. These days being what they are, I told her I wouldn’t turn it down.

Now comes the fun of what to create since I will be creating pages for various ages ranging from Pre-K (yes, some visit our BIST room even at that age) all the way to 5th graders. I want to do a mix too of some that are somewhat educational, but still fun to do. I’m thinking some snowflakes and winter things are in order for this time of year to start with. If you have any suggestions, please let me know down in the comments section. Of course, please keeps a look out to see what I end up creating and I will welcome constructive criticisms along the way too!

A new beginning

January 2, 2017January 2, 2017 Lady LaClaireLeave a comment

I love my job. I really do. I’m not big on politics though which tends to frustrate me a lot and sours things for me. In case you don’t know me already, my name is Heather Fusilier. My regular job that pays the bills is teaching music at the elementary level. As I said before, I love my job. I don’t even mind having people stop in and watch as I work with students. It’s when people who are not trained in my job decide they know better and critique what I do that I take issue. However, that job is not what this blog will mainly be about. It does affect things connect to this blog because what I will be discussing and sharing all started with the students that I teach.

LaClaire Creations got its start when I noticed projects being displayed at our school using Zentangles. Now there are those whom think poorly of Zentangles as if they are just fancy doodles. Maybe so, however I loved the look of what I was seeing and wanted to try my hand at it desperately needing a stress reliever besides video games. I took to it pretty naturally I guess, but I do have a tendency to be kind of concrete when getting started with my pieces. Fortunately, there are tons of resources out there and once I found some patterns I liked it was as if a fire had been lit.

Fast forward a bit to one Thursday or Friday morning while I’m hanging out in our school’s library during a class. No I am not full time, though I should be. That’s a whole other story. However, while I was hanging out, I was working on some Zentangle sketches when a student noticed and asked if I could make him/her a bookmark. I said sure and others started asking from the same class of 5th graders. So that year I focused on making personalized bookmarks as graduation presents based on things they told me they enjoyed such as extracurricular activites, games, characters, etc.

Since then, I’ve made other bookmarks and a few larger personal designs. I even created something special for Penn & Teller when my husband and I went to Vegas for a few days during a summer. I also tried my hand at creating a portrait of them that I actually got them to sign. (Squee!) I still can’t help smiling having met them in person. Anyways…

Last year I added crocheting hats and scarves upon request from various students. This year I formally let the students know that they can leave requests in a basket on my desk or hand it to me in the mornings before class or if they see me in the library Thursday & Friday mornings. I’ve also expanded from bookmarks, hats, and scarves to gloves and OT covers (were an AVID school). So this is a little about how I got started creating things you’ll see on here and my various other sites. If you like what you see, have questions/requests, please email me at laclairecreations@gmail.com!