About Our Teacher's

JEN STARR
e-mail: jenstarr@optonline.net
Blog: www.jenstarr.typepad.com
Facebook: Jen Zdanis Starr

Jen Starr is a Mixed Media Artist with a fine art background who has been in the Craft Industry as a Designer and Instructor for over 10 years. As the Creative Director for a new company called Art Anthology, she is excited to also have a signature line being released with them in early 2013. She is the first certified educator for Viva Décor USA, and a fully Certified Instructor for Ranger Industries (with 5 separate certifications). There are many companies and products that inspire Jen and she is an endorsed educator or has worked closely with many of them such as Ranger, Ten Second Studio, Viva Décor, Canvas Corp, Tattered Angels, Stampers Anonymous, Faber Castell, Basic Grey and Prima, just to name a few.. Jen has designed several signature product lines and her projects have been featured in many publications in the US and Europe including the “Ink Essentials” book.
Jen has been making art her entire life and has been scrapbooking, card making and making colorful yet vintage inspired mixed media art since she married her wonderful husband, Mike, in 1997. They live in Northern New Jersey and have 2 children (10 year old Ryan and 8 year old Maya) who are the subject of much of her work.
Empowering students with product knowledge and creative techniques is what Jen strives for in each of her classes! She has taught technique based classes at stores, crops, large events and conventions all over the US and regularly in Europe and Canada. She has also been a featured instructor on several crafting cruises and taught at events such as CHA, CKU, CKC, Memories Expos, Scrapbook Expo, Bonanza in England, Scrap-A-Ganza in the Netherlands and at ScrapEvent in Sweden. Jen also regularly demos inking and stamping techniques at trade shows such as CHA, SMAC in Paris, Krea Vak in Holland and various Distributor events around the world.
Jen absolutely loves to teach her students to use their creativity and help them think outside the box. It makes her so happy to be able to share her skills, knowledge and love of the art of scrapbooking and stamping with so many others.

Regina Henderson

I have been playing with color as long as I can remember. Coloring books and the biggest box of colors were on my Christmas list every year.

I began as a self taught artist almost 10 years ago. I began with the decorative painting
genre and have studied for several years there.

Now as a fine arts student, I am focused on studying landscapes with multiple
contemporary masters. Their techniques and methods influence each piece of art, just
as each master of a given decorative painting technique and style continues to
be identifiable in each piece.

My work has received recognition as well as winning several regional and national competitions, and has been published internationally, over the last three years. Having sold my hand painted work for most of a decade, I have work in some of the finest homes and businesses in the southeast. my goal is to make each piece unique, special , and one of a kind. You should smile each time you see my work, so that it may fulfill its main purpose in being.

I am also studying mixed media and abstract to see how it relates to present day design
and what the contemporary colors added to these paintings bring to the table.

When I teach I do not seek to have a student "copy" my work. I want the student to enjoy the process and have a work that allows their personality to come through and will be something that they will be proud of. I have used unusual methods in introducing students to painting and have described my methods in unusual ways. For example, "Can you scratch your nose with one finger? If you can, I want you to use that motion and hold your paint brush and make a rose petal. When you see how easy the movements are, you realize you can be successful in your art.

If you hear a voice within you say 'You can't paint'

then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced

--Vincent Van Gogh--

Beatriz Farquhar-Guzman

Beatriz has been scrapping, designing and teaching for many years now. She has a passion for paper crafts and teaches throughout the Southeast. You will be inspired the entire weekend as she designs layouts with all the new products we have. You can see her amazing work on her blog, Amazing Grace, www.beatrizguzman58.blogspot.com.