CreativeLive: #28toMake, Project 1 and 2

I've been a big fan of CreativeLive for awhile now. I had the amazing experience of being one of six people in the studio audience for Lain Ehmann's 'Scrapbook Your Story' in 2014. Over the past two years, I've taken probably a dozen CreativeLive classes (all excellent). Each time they send me an email about upcoming classes, I check them out and make time for the ones that are the best fit for me. 

The most recent email was advertising a completely different format of class than their usual live weekday workshops. The class is called 28 to Make, inspired by the belief that it takes 28 days to make or break a habit. It consists of 28 daily creative projects. The assignments are sent by email to complete at your leisure. The projects are designed to be quick and doable (20 minutes max) and are presented by five different teachers (including Lara McCormick, author of the Playing with Type book I love).

You might be thinking, "What is the cost for this month-long class? Surely I can't afford it." You can. It's free. Seriously. No catch. There are over 12,000 students right now and that number keeps growing. If this even remotely interests you, head over there and sign up. You have nothing to lose.

I'll be sharing my projects in batches, starting with the first two today. The Day 1 assignment was to draw your drink. I've been drinking Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice Herbal Tea obsessively for about a year, after my doctor said I needed to dramatically increase my liquids. At first, I drank more milk, juice, lemonade, cocoa and other drinks I love, but the caloric implications of that caught up with me. (Sigh.) I had to find a tolerable zero-calorie option that I'd like enough to actually voluntarily drink. After trying practically everything on the market, I found this tea.

Rather than drawing my mug, I chose to draw the box with one tea bag underneath it. I used black pens and a Strathmore sketch pad that were in my Michaels swag bag from CHA (thanks Michaels!). I added a title, the date and the 28toMake hashtag, then made a border using the ingredients in the tea. It took about 15 minutes.

The assignment on Day 2 was to sketch a houseplant. My favorite houseplant is one we call the Umbrella Plant. I don't know what it actually is, but it droops slightly when it needs water (like an umbrella starting to close). It's a great reminder to me to water all the houseplants. Since getting the umbrella plant, I haven't lost a single houseplant to thirst because it is so good about telling me exactly when it wants water. This sketch took about 10 minutes.

Neither sketch is a masterpiece, but they're at least recognizable and a good step outside my comfort zone. Best of all, it was a lot of fun.

Have I convinced any of you to sign up?