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OPINION

Crafty During Quarantine Local craft, art shops offering creative kits to go

by Kateri Wozny

Kelley Hanson recently posted a photo on her Instagram page of a wooden backdrop with the name of her business, The Craft House. Instead of it being filled with customers holding up their works of art, it was empty.

“Missing all of your smiling faces in our photo booth . . . I love seeing all of the projects you are creating at home!” Hanson wrote.

Hanson temporarily closed her Moorpark business on March 16 due to the Ventura County COVID-19 “Stay Well at Home” public health order. Businesses like hers under the order are considered non-essential. Until then, she is keeping positive and making craft kits to go for her customers.

“These are trying times for everybody with a lot of unknowns,” Hanson said. “I’m more of an optimistic type of person; I ran with it.”

The Craft House offers craft kits for adults and children. Available for purchase on the website are wooden message signs in a variety of styles ($28 each) that can be assembled at home. Kits contain a board, lasercut letters or other pieces, decorations and (for some kits) a paint

The Craft House

tray and super glue. Kids’ projects feature paint-by-numbers designs (dinosaur, magical unicorn, beach scene or monster truck) laser-etched on wood for $12 each. (Paints and brushes are not included.) Customers can pick up kits on the porch at the craft bar, or have them delivered to their residences (for a small fee) or shipped elsewhere (costs will vary depending on location).

NASH Exchange Incorporated

“I’m being very flexible and trying to give people things to make at home,” Hanson said. “I’m trying to help provide people fun things to do with their family. It’s a way of bonding and keeping busy.”

The Craft House will also soon be hosting a virtual monthly comedy and crafts class.

For more information, visit www. crafthouse805.com.

NASH Exchange Incorporated

NASH Exchange Incorporated in Ventura holds a special place in Sarah Vibbart’s heart.

“My goal is to educate people about the foster system,” Vibbart said. She named the nonprofit boutique after her son Nash, who was adopted from the Ventura County foster system in 2015.

Vibbart craft kits include a driftwood, shell and sea glass wall hanger ($30); driftwood, starfish and sea glass candle holders (two for $25); shell, sea glass and starfish wreaths ($20); and pine cone flower wall art with plywood, moss and sticks ($20). All kits also come with epoxy or hot glue; glue guns are available to rent with a $5 deposit.

“These are mental crafts,” Vibbart said. “They can help people destress.”

There are also kits for the more advanced crafter, including a wooden cutout with a “dirty pour” (different paint colors placed in a single vessel and then poured out together), more elaborate driftwood hangers and wooden boxes for mason jars. YouTube tutorials are currently being made on how to assemble them.

Kids craft kits are available, too. Choose from dinosaur garland, butterfly garland, driftwood and yarn wall hangers, each costing $10.

“It’s good to keep the kids active, creative and stimulate their artistic abilities,” Vibbart said. “Crafts are good to make and give as gifts for Mother’s Day and birthdays.”

For now, Vibbart uses Facebook or Instagram to sell the craft kits. Proceeds help benefit NASH Exchange’s reimbursement programs, including sports, school supplies, summer camps and scholarships. Customers can pickup kits curbside or have them delivered for free if they live within 10 miles.

“The idea is doing craft kits to help everybody co-exist at home,” Vibbart said. “A lot of people don’t think of the mental health aspect. Stay on top of mental health and be happy and healthy. I’m a firm believer in working with your hands.”

For more information, visit www. nashvc.org or check out the organization on Facebook or Instagram. Lily Fields Vintage

Donna McClure of Lily Fields Vintage in Santa Paula named her shop after a Bible verse that reminded her that God is in control of it all and not to worry. She has taught about 75 craft classes in her shop over the past three years.

“I had a lot of leftover inventory from each class I had done [to make craft kits],” McClure said. “When I got the health order, I had to get creative because I just can’t stop business.” nontoxic synthetic pigments.

“I had a lot of positive feedback,” McClure said. “Customers want so badly to support local businesses.”

Wooden crates, hearts, rabbits and signs are featured in kits for adults, while the younger set can play around with dinosaurs, bird houses, unicorns or just good ol’ craft paper and stickers.

“It’s important to keep our kids busy,” McClure said. “I sold out the first couple of days and had to restock inventory.”

Costs range from $12 to $30 per kit. McClure said future discounts will be applied. Customers can have purchases delivered, or collect them from the shop’s front porch.

“I sterilize the porch with bleach and spray Lysol,” McClure said. “After somebody picks up a kit, I spray it again to keep everybody safe.”

For more information, visit www. lilyfieldsvintage.com. Vita Art Center

Vita Art Center Owner Mary Perez knew she had to find a way to keep her art students engaged from a distance. The Ventura art business currently has Zoom classes for children ages 6 to 10, 10 and up, teens and adults. “Two things we want to achieve is art and community,” Perez said.

The cost for six children’s art studio, ceramic or drawing classes is $100. The teen Lily Fields Vintage

McClure offers craft kits for adults and children. All come with brushes, wax, paint and instructions. The paint is Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint, an all-natural formula made with milk protein (casein), limestone, clay, chalk and natural and/or

Client: Coast Cart Ad Executive: Warren Barrett (805) 648-2244 Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, AD WILL RUN AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom. Deadline for Ad Changes is 12:00 Noon the Tuesday prior to that issues release. COMMENTS: Write the number on the ad that corresponds to your comments/corrections 1. ____________________________________________ ISSUE: 4/16/20

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE WITH AN ELECTRIC BIKE AD PROOF Client: Limoneira Ad Executive: Barbara Kroon (805) 648-2244 Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, AD WILL RUN AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom. ISSUE: 4/23/20 NOTICE: PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP ART AND CULTURE art program is funded through a grant from the Reed Foundation, where students use colored chalk pastels during instructional drawings and can also receive scholarships. Adult classes include an oil painting for $100, $150 for six drawing sessions and $125 for six ceramic sessions.

“We are going to add as many classes as we can within our limitations,” Perez said.

Perez and her staff assemble VITAmin children’s craft kits with watercolors, pencils, printed and collage papers and a paintbrush. Customers can pickup and sign out the VITAmin kits at the art center’s patio. Once the class is complete, boxes must be returned so that employees can clean them and refill them with new supplies.

“It’s a daily dose of art [VITAmins],” Perez said.

Artists and collectors can also participate through a social media art exhibit called Inside Out, where a piece of art displayed in their house is shared on Vita’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

“It changes and gives more meaning to our space,” Perez said. “Mentally, we are all in this together.”

For a full schedule, visit www. vitaartcenter.com. Vita Art Center