What if the sun were made of gooey cheese? If you were a fancy frog, where would you live?
At Small Craft Kids Club, that's how class starts. Not with a finished example to copy, but with an idea, a technique, or a material challenge, and then the kids run with it.
I caught up with Ashley as Small Craft Kids Club heads into its first birthday to hear what's new this fall, what's coming up for the holidays, and why she thinks the best art projects are the messy ones.
🎨 A First Year Worth Celebrating
November 1 marks one year of Small Craft Kids Club, and this past summer was its very first camp season.
"Summer was SO fun! It was my first summer and it was the best," she says.
Building a creative community from the ground up hasn't always been easy, but she's proud of how far it's come. "I love being in the studio. I wake up every morning excited to get there, and that's something I don't take for granted." She's also built it in a way that lets her stay present for her own family, which matters to her as much as anything.
✨ New This Fall
Since August, Small Craft has added a handful of new programs:
After School Art Club
Mini Makers Club
Homeschool Art Club
Sunday Art Club
Preschool Art Club, every Friday, for ages 3–5
And in November, she's launching a Teen Art Lab!
🖍️ There's No Wrong Way to Make Art
Small Craft's classes are for ages 4–10, and every project is built to meet kids where they are.
"Sometimes the 5-year-olds just want to cut papers and glue them down while the 10-year-olds work diligently to get every detail just right, but they both put in the same amount of effort and are both just as proud of what they create."
And if a project comes with an example, it's there for inspiration only. When she shows the class Marc Chagall's ceiling for the Paris Opera, she isn't asking them to recreate it. She's filling their heads with color, pattern, and possibility. "When the kids ask, 'Does mine need to look like that?' I always say no!"
🚀 The Stories Behind the Art
Ask a kid at Small Craft Kids Club to explain their artwork, and you might get an epic.
After a recent James Rizzi–inspired 3D cityscape project, where kids cut, built, painted, and layered cardboard with drawing and collage, one boy walked her through his creation: a popcorn skyscraper, an alien spaceship carrying a bad-guy alien, and Luke Skywalker leaping out of the clouds to knock the alien into the popcorn building and save the day.
"The things they come up with are so much more imaginative than anything I could have planned for them."
🫧 Big Messes, Bigger "Whoa" Moments
The messiest project yet? Shaving cream marbling. It started out contained and ended with the whole table, and every kid, covered.
Worth it? Absolutely. "They were able to make some really beautiful art prints, and the marbling process totally blew their minds. I love those moments of 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know I could make that!'"
Her desert-island art supply, by the way: tempera paint sticks. Or maybe masking tape.
🗓️ Thanksgiving & Winter Break Camps
Thanksgiving Break: November 23 and 24
Winter Break: December 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, and January 4
🎃 Special Events This Season
10/24 Face Painting Class with Carli Nardi (ages 8–12)
10/30 Halloween Eve Cardboard Haunted House Making Art Club (ages 4–10)
11/1 One Year Birthday Open Studio (all ages)
11/8 Candle Making with The Traveling Art Cart (ages 9+)
11/13 After Hours Adult Printmaking (ages 21+)
11/20 Fall Paper Flower Wreath Workshop with Rebecca Scott (ages 18+)
11/21 Gift Tag Printmaking with Rebecca Scott (ages 12+)
12/5 Creative Christmas Morning + Storytime with Santa (ages 10 and under)
12/12 Elf Extravaganza (ages 6–8)
12/13 Elf Extravaganza (ages 9–12)
🍎 Her Favorite Fall Around Atlanta
Fall is Ashley’s favorite season (it's her birthday season, too): windows open, fall baking, time in the garden. Her family loves short hikes and nature walks close to the city, and every year they head to Ellijay for apples at Hillcrest Orchards and to Southern Belle Farm for pumpkins.
💛 Final Thoughts
Small Craft Kids Club is the kind of place where kids are trusted to take an idea somewhere nobody expected, and where a giant mess is a sign things went right.
👉 Explore Small Craft Kids Club on Camp Days!
Warmly,
Katie
Founder, Camp Days
