Classes Kara Made (& a giveaway)

Hey friends!  Today I'm sharing an interview I did recently with Kara from I Just Might Explode, if you don't know her please please please go visit her blog.  It is full of beautiful photos, instagram adventures, her school projects (this girl is talented in so many ways!) and much more! I also heart that we live in the same city and I get to see this place from her point of view.  Stick around because at the end she is offering up a discount to her classes plus a giveaway xo

Tell us a little more about Classes Kara Made.

Classes Kara Made is where I sell online art journaling and photography courses. Art journaling is like scrapbooking, but a little more freestyle and expressive. I've created a variety of e-courses, from specific subjects like my Summer of Love class to informational courses like The M , a photography course for learning the manual setting on DSLRs, to more random, inspirational courses like This & That. 

My teaching style is pretty free. Courses are usually hosted on a private blog or as a downloadble PDF (or both) that you can create with at your own pace. Most courses include tutorials and techniques for unique covers to "daily" journaling prompts or technique ideas. 

I love that you use something you are passionate about to teach others, I know you have been art journaling for a while now, how did you get in to it?

I was not an artistic kid at all, I mean coloring made me anxious, so it's always funny to me to see where I am now. I started reading scrapbooking forums and blogs when I was 15 and made some really horribly done scrapbook pages using what I saw online as inspiration. I got a camera around my 16th birthday and began to photograph, share, and blog my projects. I started a challenge blog and later made it onto some scrapbook company design teams. My focus turned from what some people think of as scrapbooking and started becoming more visceral and messy, what I call art journaling now. 

I love the way Art Journaling sounds more anyways!  So how do you come up with an idea to create your next class subject?

Ideas come from a lot of places, sometimes they are suggestions from past students, other times the idea gets sparked when I'm making something just for myself. My very first class, Life Story, was actually created from a project I made for a boy (ha!) at 16, that I later adapted into a class. The current class I'm working on was a suggestion from a friend of mine. My first response when she told me to make a class on it was "nah," but later I realized it was a really good idea. Thanks Mei! 

Thats great- using inspiration from others or even your own life (that boy!).  Do you consider these classes a part of your own creative hobby, or do you set aside time to stay inspired and separate yourself from it?

Creating classes is definitely "work" to me, but like really fun work. The creative process is certainly different when creating for classes than when creating for myself, since I usually start making class examples with predecided ideas. I try to set aside time to make just-for-me art journal pages to keep me inspired though! 

Its good to separate the two a little so you feel like you still have your own projects going on.  Aside from all this you are also a student, is art a part of your education and will it be a part of your future?

Absolutely! I'm in school right now for Communication Design (graphic design essentially) and plan on always doing things related to art and design for my career. Art journaling is sort of like my safe space and I always find myself returning to it. 

Putting together these classes (besides being fun), must be challenging- with advanced & beginner students being able to take them, have you found that really anyone at any level can benefit from creative e-courses?

Totally! I think beginners don't where to start and creative veterans get burnt out and don't where to go from where they are. The prompts are usually specific enough to spark your interest, but also broad enough to apply to a variety of people.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU!
- winner: Christie Jones has been contacted via email-