Check here for the latest

refreshingly fabulous and fun…

* Events

• Soirees

• Playshops

• Field Trips

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EVENTS

The Premiere

Operation Girl Scout Dropout Soiree!

Meet your fellow dropouts. Be entertained. Bring your best stories. Earn your first badge.

This is serious business, ladies!

Date to be announced for the Spring Soiree, 2010.  Meanwhile, thanks for your patience.

To ask about details for this event, email me here.

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PLAYSHOPS

because who needs more work!

Playful Workshops that inspire, heal, entertain…and make you feel good.

(Think “group therapy” but with more laughter and less Ph.D.)

Come in and Play…Laugh…Create!  Make new friends and have some fun. You don’t need to be an “artist” to participate. Actually, we are all artists…we just grow up and forget that fact.  Think back to how fearless and creative  you were in kindergarten!  All of those glorious construction paper daffodils and clouds made of cotton balls!

Along with sharing my own personal stories, artwork and vignettes …I’ll be  guiding you to express yourself via art, storytelling, writings and sometimes even videos. I believe that objects hold great energy and touch our hearts and souls on the deepest of levels. I am lover of vintage items and found objects…and we’ll incorporate those into the collage style pieces we’ll be creating.

Some “playshops” culminate in a collaborative showing of the pieces we create, which will be on exhibit as part of the following month’s First Friday Art Walk.  Participation is encouraged and can be anonymous (you don’t have to sign your work if you’re shy)! You’ll receive invitations so that you can impress your friends, family… or maybe that hot new person you’re dating.   After we take down the show, you’ll be able to bring your creative masterpiece home with you.  It might eventually hang on your wall and put a smile on your face and inspire you…it may live under your bed with the dust bunnies…or  it may be something you decide to bring into the basement and smash with a hammer. Whatever makes you feel good.

Instructor:  Sandi Amorello

Is she qualified? We’ve already done the work for you. View Sandi’s BACKGROUND CHECK!

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Playshop 1.

CATHARTIC ART.

Because moving on can be messy.

Life never goes quite as we plan, now does it?

Whether you’ve gone through a major life crisis, broken up with your latest boyfriend, or are feeling lost and just need to rediscover what lights you up inside… a little cathartic art can go a long way.  Memories and objects that are meaningful to us hold the key to our happiness. If  you want to honor your past, put memories in their place and use them to define who you are today while moving confidently and joyfully into the future…I’m the woman to help you do it.

I’m an expert on memories, healing, moving on and staying true to yourself.  When my husband died of cancer, I was 41.  I was left with 3  young children, an aching heart and a lifetime of memories I didn’t know what to do with.  I was also left with a brand new life stretched out before me.  It was a difficult line to walk.  One foot in the past and one in the future. I used my art and my words to help heal my heart and create the life I have today.

I’m here to  help you move forward, heal and celebrate your life, bumps and all.  The only constant in life is CHANGE. Moving on is messy.  But messy can be good for the soul.

Where: Silver Crayon Studios, 75 Oak St , Portland

How much?  $ ___   (materials, snacks & wine included!)

How many?  Participation limited to 8 people

When: April-May/June *  (official dates & details coming soon!)

*Participation in group exhibit at Silver Crayon Studios for the June “First Friday Art Walk” is encouraged.

To sign up or ask about details for this workshop, email me here.

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Playshop 2.

Sandi’s “Show and Tell”

…just like in the 4th grade, but better!

Do you remember Show and Tell?  I remember it fondly.  I once brought in wooden shoes that my grandparents had brought back for me after a trip to Holland.  Not to brag, but my Show and Tell presentation was apparently so impressive that I was asked to visit the 4th grade classroom down the hall for an encore performance.  Do you know the noise a pair of wooden shoes make when you’re walking down a long, empty elementary school hallway?  It was a bit embarrassing, yet my realization that I was standing on the precipice of fame seemed to overshadow any self-consciousness.

This PLAYSHOP is about celebrating and sharing our quirky personal stories and memories.  Some are funny, some are touching…all are important.  By sharing our stories, we define who we are, celebrate our own lives, connect with people and touch other lives in ways we never anticipated.

We all have  objects that spark the stories that tell who we are….and I’m here to help you tell them. We’ll be using props and found objects from my studio, as well as personal objects you can bring along from home.   Videotaping or recording will be available….but optional. Meaning: You won’t end up on my web site unless you want to be there!

I’ll start the ball rolling and then it’s anyone’s guess what might happen.  You can SHOW, TELL, LISTEN….or do a bit of all three.

Where:  Silver Crayon Studios, 75 Oak St, Portland

When: spring 2010, date to be announced

Limited to 8 people. The very shy should probably not apply…but then again, we only live once!

*Bring an object from home that holds some special memory for you if you feel so inclined!

Participation fee:

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Playshop 3.

Mid-life Dating is not for Sissies.

Ok, ladies.  Are you divorced, widowed…single? Has your match dot com profile been viewed 21,013 times??  If you are over age 40 and out there searching for Mr. Wonderful…again…I understand your pain.  But mid-life dating does have its joys, as well as its sorrows.  Join us for an evening of stories, stories …and more fabulous stories.Listen to them, tell them, share them.  The agony and the ecstasy.

I’ll be sharing my own post-widowhood dating tales, and encourage you to join in the fun!

Where:  Silver Crayon Studios, 75 Oak St, Portland

When: spring 2010, date to be announced

Limited to 12 people.

Participation fee:

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Playshop 4.

LEADING LADY.

“If you aren’t  the star of your own life story, who’s getting your Oscar?!”

Have you ever felt as if you’re only the “best friend” and not the leading lady?  Come to our “Leading Lady” Playshop and find out how to take charge of your life. We’re going to talk about how to rediscover your  passions and how to  use tangible (visual) reminders to stay true to your path.  How to be a shining star!   We’ll also be doing some short interviews and videotaping them …participation is optional. You don’t have to be in front of the camera to be part the action…but you do have to want to be the star of your own life! You’ll leave with a meaningful, artistic creation to keep the flame of inspiration burning after you’re home, a motivational video…or both!

Where:  Silver Crayon Studios, 75 Oak St, Portland

When: spring 2010, date to be announced

Limited to 8 people. The very shy should probably not apply…but then again, it might be time to stretch your wings!

Participation fee:

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