A First: Teaching a Card Crafting Class

Hi! It's no surprise, I love Etsy. As I've previously mentioned, I work at this wonderful online marketplace that supports an amazing community of artists, designers, and entrepreneurs. As I've also mentioned, I also started two shops selling paper goods and jewelry, as it's been a big dream of mine to embark upon.

What's equally amazing is that it's a workplace full of talented souls bursting with creativity. So much so that we have classes for employees, taught by employees. This means I learn to sew or how to make lip balm from my fellow coworkers. How cool! Since I look forward to learning from some of the classes, I decided to also give back and hold a class too.

This was the first time I ever held a class, for reals. And I was so surprised by the ease of it all and most of all, I loved being inspired by my peers and connecting with them. The class was a card make and take session where I showed various techniques with masking, stamps, heat embossing, and watercoloring with Gel Sticks.

I had a bit of the jitters going into it not know if people will be interested in learning the techniques. Having never taught a class before, I had a lot of self doubt. But here's what I found to be effective for my class:

• Define the aim of the class
• Decide how much time and how many students
• Develop a syllabus around the aim
• Thoroughly budget and account for supplies and materials
• Get all supplies and prepare materials once you have a head count
• Send out communications reminding students of what to bring and expect
• Expect set-up to take 30-60 minutes depending on size of the class
• Expect a few no-shows as well as unexpected late sign-ups
• Get to know the students and gauge comfort level with the tools
• Demonstrate each technique and a final product for inspiration
• But let the students be creative and design as they wish -- one thing I strived for was to have every student create something entirely different from the next
• Keep track of time to ensure all techniques are demonstrated as promised in the syllabus
• Help and engage with students to be inspired by them and their interpretation of the techniques
• After the class, send supplies lists/recommendations and an overview of the techniques to all students thanking them for their participation

Not bad for a newbie teacher, if I may say so myself. :) I seriously had so much fun, I am looking forward to teaching more classes in the future. Do you have any good tips for teaching classes? I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl