Hello everyone! I was chatting with the team the other day about how we each stay inspired, practice new skills, and challenge ourselves creatively.  I was inspired to share some of this goodness with you and thought that we might try a monthly craft challenge and creative practice. What do you think?

July Craft Challenge and Creative Practice

JULY CRAFT CHALLENGE: Fly Your Craft to Another Planet

For our very first challenge, I thought I would make it easy and, yes, fun!

  1. Make a craft from our huge library that are different from your usual go-to picks. For example, if you are a paper flower artist, make a felt flower instead. If you normally work in fiber, make something from paper. Extra credit if you make a set of alien dolls from spun cotton eggs and felt. 😉 They are out-of-this-world fun!
  2. Post a photo of your complete project using the hashtags #julycraftchallenge and #madewithlia on either Instagram or Facebook along with a short paragraph of how you were challenged to try a different type of craft.
  3. The deadline to enter the challenge is July 23 when we will pick a winner and announce your name in the Hello August video. The winner will also receive a box of craft goodies!

JULY CREATIVE PRACTICE: Become a Smartphone Photographer

Our first mini course in our Craft Academy is 3 Simple Steps to Great Photos (on your smartphone). In this course, I teach my tips and tricks for lighting, styling, and composition. The mini course is focused on photographing your own crafts so that your photos are a gorgeous as your projects. For our July creative practice:

  1. Watch or rewatch the mini course 3 Simple Steps to Great Photos (on your smartphone).
  2. Take four different photos of one craft project (see the sample image below).
    • Flat lay: a shot taken overhead with all items laying on surface
    • Lifestyle: styled as you would use your project in your home
    • Include hands: your hands or someone else holding your project (added bonus is that it shows scale)
    • Process photo: a styled photo using the 3 steps (light, styling and composition) of your project as it is the process of being crafted
  3. Post your four photos on social and use the hashtags #julycreativepractice and #madewithlia

As I mentioned in our Hello July video (on the homepage), I am using my iPhone for almost all of the photos on our site now. I am finding the quality of the photos to be as good as I can shoot with my DSLR, and I love the ease of being able to see my photos immediately. Just like I am encouraging you, I practice every week and work to improve my own photos.

Looking forward to seeing your July craft challenge and creative practice photos!

Check out our Frosted Paper Lilac Spoon Daisy here!