The Whimsy House

I’m a mom, a wife, a friend and a daughter and I work full time. For a non-profit that I believe in. I’m busy. And one of the first things that I will cast aside when I go into survival mode, is creativity. It still leaks out, right? I cook, I organize, I look at Pinterest to get ideas, and sometimes out of desperation - I sign up for a class.




I love learning something new, but even more than that, it forces me to be creative for an allocated time each week. Sometimes classes are expensive. Or run for a longer period that I can commit to, because let’s face it… those kids are driving themselves to soccer practice.


But here’s something I learned. My creative friends… they were starving their creative spirits too. So we had an idea. What if we got together like a book club, but instead, had an “Art Night”. Where we shared skills. We didn’t even have to limit it to art, really. What if we made povitica one night? Or tried our hand at handmade soy candles? So, “Skill Share” was born.


We could trade off each month and teach the group something. The first get together one of our gals hosted and worked with clay and hand building. The time after that, we made wine charms with everyone’s spare beads and another time we played around with alcohol inks. The possibilities are endless.


I’ll try to keep better track of our Skill Shares and post ideas here. And/Or you could just make your own?


Want to try setting up a Skill Share of your own? It’s easy.

The hardest part: Find a night that works for everyone. This is a priority night. Everyone MUST make time for themselves. Next. Hold each other accountable.

Figure out who is hosting which months. Draw names, let folks choose, or really show off your mad, mad org skills with a Sign Up Genius. You start though. First, time’s free, right?


Hosting Tips:
Don’t clean your whole house. This isn’t about judging someone’s housekeeping. If you worry that people will judge you – don’t invite those people. You shouldn’t be hanging out with them anyway. Clean your bathrooms.


Vinyl or Plastic Table Cloths. You can get some nice ones here. Put them on the floor if you want or just put them on the table. It makes everyone feel better too, because then they aren’t worrying about wrecking your stuff.


Have everyone bring a snack or a bottle of wine. The easier you make it on yourself, the more fun it will be. If everyone brings a bottle of wine, well – surely there’s half a bag of stale tortilla chips in your pantry somewhere right? Pro tip: Don’t break them out until everyone has had at least two glasses. OMG. Best. Chips. Ever.


That’s it. See, I didn’t need to tell you how to have a get together did I? You got this.