How to Take a One-time Guided Painting Lesson: Girls Night Out ...

Sips n Strokes is a great way to spend a girls' night out or an artist date . The concept is simple: solo painters or groups can take a bottle of wine and a few munchies to the studio. Sips n Strokes supplies everything from aprons to canvas and instruction to create painted masterpieces that customers take home with them at the end of the evening.

After a few "sips" of a favorite Cabernet, a few hours with friends "stroking" the canvas with paint and brush, and everyone goes home feeling creative and accomplished.

Painter and Founder, Wendy LoVoy opened the first Sips 'n' Strokes location in Birmingham, Alabama in 2002. While teaching children's art classes, Wendy discovered that anyone could be an artist. She came to believe that anyone could create great art if given the proper tools.

"The parents wanted to learn to paint too, without committing to typical art class schedules." says Stacy Abston, President of the Atlanta branch of Sips n Strokes and LoVoy's sister.

After inspiring countless customers, there are now ten Sips n Strokes locations in the Southeastern US. Seven are in LoVoy's home state of Alabama, her sister Stacy operates two location in the Atlanta metro area in Georgia, and there is one location in Franklin, Tennessee. However, more locations are opening soon, because LoVoy offers franchise opportunities in other cities and states.

"... people are very scared at first." says Abston. "We teach step by step and most are amazed at their inner Picasso by the end of the night or next day."

The classes are taught in a way that will benefit someone who has never touched paint to canvas (or who has not done so since elementary school). The instructor goes over every brush stroke, taking time to walk amongst students and show them tricks to help their personal creativity take flight. For more experienced painters, there is plenty of lee-way to express their own individual flair. Students can mix up the color palette to match their home decor, or take things in a completely different direction from the original.

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Upsizing and downsizing your living space

07.11.09

MANILA, Philippines - Home decorating requires imagination as well as ingenuity. As the experts say, add too much to a small room and it will appear crowded; don’t put enough and it will not be inviting.

Many of today’s new homes are designed for Filipino families with need for ample floor space for their growing children to move around or to combine their living and work spaces. Though there is a natural tendency to equate comfort with more space, experts advise designing a cozy rather than a simply cavernous home.

“Decorating one’s house should not be a scary concept, even for those on a tight budget. It’s a matter of keeping in mind what you want to do in a certain space, and you’ll be amazed at how using the proper paint color or putting shelves in an empty space can give the interior a new, refreshing look,” says interior designer Alex Balistoy, who worked in Manila for five years and is now affiliated with a Singapore-based firm.

Source: Philippine Star

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