Live Blogging the SEEDs for Autism Art Jam!

Jonatan C. in the photo booth at the SEEDs for Autism Art Jam

MAY 5 2018: 10am – 3pm

Participants at SEEDs for Autism held a live blogging event at the 2018 Spring Art Jam! 

10:00 – Michele (instructor)

The Art Jam is starting! So many people are showing up to spend the day at SEEDs!

10:12 – Sydney

There are lots of people shopping.

10:35 – Michele (instructor)

A full class for the Blacksmithing workshop!

The Metals workshop is just about to begin. SEEDs participants are ready to share their skills with the community and teach people how to create a twisted metal bracelet!

10:43 – Sydney

Since we opened, there have been a lot of purchases.

11:00 – Michele (instructor)

Lenny (instructor) supervises during the Blacksmithing workshop.

Derrick is assisting workshop attendees in Metals.

11:14 – Michele (instructor)

The woodturning workshop is busy this morning!

So many people wood turning! Jesse Dean is working one-on-one with workshop attendees as they woodturn their own pens on the lathe!

Smile!

11:29 – Sonja

Just did my first tour and it was a lot of fun. I showed the people around telling them about the workshops.  I also showed them the products we sell.

11:34 – Michele (instructor)

Andy is taking a break from doing the weaving demonstration. He is keeping me company at the Newsletter station.

12:22 – Jesse & Jessica

Hanging out at the Newsletter station. 🙂

12:36 – Daniel N.

I had Irma’s for lunch: rice and beans and tacos. It tasted good.

12:51 –  Daniel N.

The check out station is ready for customers!

I observed Jessica taking payments and people are shopping at Seeds.

1:29 – Jared

I was weaving a green scarf.

1:30 – Nathan

Jessica shows workshop attendees how to wood turn their own pen.

I observed Jessica and Jonatan doing the woods demonstration.

1:50 – Nathan

I observed Brain T. eating from Irma’s Kitchen.

2:07 – Nathan

Jake assists Bailey (instructor) for the print making workshop.

I observed Jake helping out with the print making workshop.

2:25 – Nathan

Jeff provides one-on-one instruction.

I observed Jeff working in jewelry.

2:29 – Daniel N.

I observed Nate’s mom buying pillows from the sewing dept.

2:39 – Michele

Things are winding down at the Art Jam. It has been a wonderful day!

Happy faces at the Jewelry Workshop!

2:42 – Daniel N.

I observed people using baskets to shop.

2:45- Daniel N.

Thanks everyone for coming to the Seeds Art Jam!

Participants at SEEDs take turns blogging.

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Creative Canvas Workshop: Making Vision Boards With Jeff and Camille

A creative, fun-filled Saturday morning at SEEDs for Autism!

At SEEDs for Autism, our ongoing series of workshops provide new opportunities to empower our participants and encourage them to GROW. These talented young adults gain confidence interacting with the community as they assist our staff during these educational and inspirational events!

At SEEDs, participants learn by DOING, so Camille and Jeff created their own Vision Boards in preparation for this workshop. By experiencing the process themselves, Jeff and Camille became familiar with the different techniques and understood how each step led to the next. Through this experience, they gained confidence and looked forward to sharing their knowledge with the community.  Jeff and Camille SHINED as they utilized their social skills – welcoming guests, using their words to encourage others and providing instruction to the workshop attendees.

“Jeff and Camille were very helpful and professional. This was a very organized event and I had a great time making my vision board!”

— Richard Bledsoe (Workshop attendee)

The event was a great success! Congratulations to Jeff and Camille on a job well done!

Camille stands by, offering encouragement and guidance

 

Jeff demonstrates how to add items to the vision board

 

Jeff and Camille standing by, ready to assist workshop attendees

 

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Workshop attendees and their beautiful Vision Boards!

For more information on this life-changing program, please visit our website: seedsforautism.org

Educational Lecture: Life Care Planning

“The future depends on what we do in the present.”

Mahatma Gandhi

At SEEDs for Autism we are happy to introduce a series of educational lectures as part of our continuing mission to serve our Phoenix autism community. These free monthly lectures are intended for parents and guardians in our autistic community, and are an opportunity for us to help provide resources and education.

For our January lecture, the topic is Life Care Planning.

At SEEDs, we recognize the importance of planning ahead. Planning for the future enables us be proactive, make long-term decisions and turn our challenges into opportunities.

-How are you going to prepare for your child’s future?
-Is guardianship a necessity?
-What about a Special Needs Trust?

Join Karen Starbowski, CLU ChSNC from MassMutual Arizona for a complimentary workshop, Planning for Your Child’s Future. Parents will learn what steps to take to ensure the future of their child and how to get the plan started.

Thursday, January 25th
6:30-7:30pm
SEEDs For Autism
3420 S 7th St. Phoenix, AZ 85040

Please visit our WEBSITE for more information on upcoming events at SEEDs for Autism

Creative Canvas Workshop with Jeff and Camille

At SEEDs for Autism participants learn by DOING! Camille and Jeff create their own vision boards which empowers them to instruct others!

At SEEDs for Autism, our ongoing series of workshops provide new opportunities to empower our participants. These talented young adults gain confidence as they interact with the community to provide instruction as they assist our staff during these educational and inspirational events!

This month, Camille and Jeff will help guide you through the process of creating your own mixed media vision board!

Hi, My name is Camille and I am going to tell you about my experience making a vision board. I painted my canvas aqua colored. While the paint was drying I looked through magazines for pictures. I cut out pictures of animals, pop culture, travel, flowers, autism, Disney, Sedona, and other things. I also cut out words like Power and Good News. I glued them onto the canvas by using Mod Podge glue. I had fun making my vision board.

Please come to SEEDS for Autism and make your own vision board.

Camille

What is a Vision Board? A vision board is a collage representing things you would like to attract to your life and focus on for the New Year. Enjoy exploring a variety of mixed media techniques to create your own one of a kind canvas. You can incorporate inspirational phrases, include your own photos and utilize an assortment of art supplies and decorative elements which will be provided for the event. An artistic way to visualize your goals for 2018!

CREATIVE CANVAS: 2018 Vision Board

Saturday – January 27, 2018

SEEDs for Autism

3420 S. 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85040

Click HERE to reserve your spot today!

$30.00 (all supplies included)

BE CREATIVE! THINK! POWER! Jeff and Camille incorporate inspiring words into their vision boards.

A New Job at the Ballpark – By Jose

My new job is working at Chase field inside the Doubleheader restaurant. I am a prep cook. My job is to make sure food is prepared before it is cooked. I have an important job. I like my job because I am a hard worker who is strong willed and ready to learn. My boss’s name is Richard. I like him. He is always friendly and helpful when I am lost and don’t know what to do. My coworkers are nice. When I go to work, I always find the first thing to do so my boss doesn’t have to stop what he is doing to help me. This is because he wants me to learn it first so I can do the rest on my own.

My hours are long, usually from 11 in the morning to 9 o’clock at night. It is not the usual workload I‘m used to, but it is what it is. I plan to be there in one week for my next assignment. The ballpark is a big place. I can get lost if I don’t pay attention to my surroundings and I go quickly to my required station.

One thing I will say about work is how nice a view I get from the work area on the other side of the counter. I wrap hot dogs in bacon, squeeze mayonnaise into containers, wash dishes and mainly do all things in that particular area. In the morning, we all go to the underpass beneath 7th st. and Jefferson. We wait for the levy to call our name and we go inside. It is nice because it is the only break we get.

At Seeds I learn important social and job skills for work. I have learned about being friendly to other people and asking them how their day is, not ignoring them; This is an important lesson. I also learned to be an active participant by paraphrasing back to others when they are trying to show me something. And, I know that sometimes you have to keep listening so that you get it the first time.

I have already run into a few offenses at work where I could have been fired, but my boss was very kind and merciful towards me. He once told me “I won’t give up on you, you don’t give up on me”. I try very hard to always stay focused even if the job is very easy. I don’t want to lose my job because I messed up. I know that they have been very nice to me and I want to work hard for them, too. Getting to see the stadium and get in for free means I can see more of the building and have access to areas the fans do not get access to. I am very proud of that. I earned a special privilege by working at the stadium. The privilege being, My job allows me to be a public servant and serve 40,000 hungry fans a day. I would like to keep working here as long as I remember my social skills where I am an active participant and listen carefully to my instructions, remembering the rules always clock in, no stealing! And, I need to get the job done and stay on task the entire time by focusing on how to do everything right and not mess up so I do not get fired. All in all, I have gained friendship in working here which means I will always learn the way we treat others at work by following the rules and staying on task. Thank you.

What I did at the Art Jam

On Saturday I volunteered at the Seeds For Autism Art Jam. I came early so I hung out with my friends and looked at the schedule. When the event started I went to the make and take area and showed visitors how to make the caterpillars out of pom poms, glue and clothespins. Eventually I had to head up front to pass the buckets to the people who had too much merchandise to hold. Soon the fashion show started. I really liked Camille, Sydney and Sonja. Camille was beautiful and had skills. Sydney was sweet and stylish and Sonja was confident. Then it was time for me and the guys to do some comedy. Jeff sang a funny song written by Gilbert and Sullivan. Jake read some funny stuff Ronald Reagan said once and I used my special gift of making jokes about anything. I ate some lunch with Camille, and then Amy needed help with some improv about going green. I had a good time spending time with my friends. I enjoyed helping the kids make caterpillars. I liked petting the guinea pigs. I got to meet my friends parents. I enjoyed doing my comedy act people liked my jokes. Then eventually I went home.

 

Promoting Third Thursday Sale

A group of my peers and I as well as our instructor went out to promote our sale for Thursday April 20 2017. We went around to local businesses to promote the event. We went to a tattoo parlor, a gallery and a furniture shop. We told the owners of the shops about what we do as well as the sale. One of the people we interacted with was a woman who works with nonprofits to raise money for them.I stepped out of my comfort zone when passing out flyers to businesses. It was weird for me because I have never done anything like that before. It was cool to interact with the different managers to promote our sale but it was different and unique experience for me.  

by Jessica

My Experience at the SEEDs Holiday Sale

The Holiday Sale at Seeds For Autism was a open house event to showcase the work we do here. The participants were here helping out and showing their families and customers the products we make. The participants helped sell items as well.

My first Holiday sale was a cool experience. It was fun to see the work we did showed off in a open house event and to sell the products my peers and I have produced.

I have only been at SEEDs a few weeks and this was my first sale but I had a lot of fun overall.  About 10:00 a.m I started out making and demonstrating the gingerbread ornaments. This was my first time making these ornaments but it was easy as soon as I got the steps down and I was able to demonstrate it pretty well.

After I had completed the gingerbread station at 11:00 a.m, I walked around for about 10 min. At about 11:10, I went to work in the jewelry department. I helped out the customers there when they had questions on the products as well as repricing things that did not have a price. I worked there from 11:10 till 11:30 then we broke for lunch.

In between things, my parents came in and looked around for about 20 min. About a hour later, my grandmother and my cousin came in and I helped them by showing them around. I introduced my Grandma and my cousin to Amy and to Jonathan. Then at 3:00 I helped Nathaniel clean up the cucumbers and the acorn cookies tables while waiting for my Mom to come pick me up.

My experience at my first Seeds open House was really fun. I got to learn about how a sale works and how to interact with customers and peers in a store type of setting. I would like to do something similar soon.

Phoenix Comicon

This month, I’m going to talk about a local event that’s happening in Phoenix called Comicon. This is an event where many fictional characters appear at the convention center to meet fans and have a good time.

Comicon is where a group of comics, movie, TV, Video Games, and Science Fiction fans are put altogether in the Comicon Convention. When you first go into Phoenix Comicon, you go into an air conditioned building where the music is playing from the radios and the registration people give out guidebook maps to show you where the areas are located. Many people cosplay as their own characters, which means they dress up in costumes. However, other people that aren’t cosplaying usually wear character printed and illustrated clothing for the convention.

Phoenix Comicon has different party events listed in the guidebook such as “AHH! That’s Super Cool, “Anime/Manga themed Ohayo Cafe” and “The 1980’s themed Kung Furious 8-bit Bash.” These parties I mentioned are for everyone, but there are other parties that are 18+ only. Phoenix Comicon has many activities like art rooms for drawings and crafts, cosplaying, creating comic strips, the Ghostbusters franchise, science fair projects, how to draw My Little Pony, Lego free build, dancing steps, and more. This year at Phoenix Comicon, they have Animaniacs show characters, a limited edition Phoenix Comicon supply pod from NASA, the Jurassic World video game at Lego Lounge, Labyrinth 30th anniversary masquerade ball, Cosplay Fashion show and many others.

This year, Phoenix Comicon runs from June 2nd through the 5th and will be featuring Dr. Who, Animaniacs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and so much more. My experiences at the Phoenix Comicon convention have been really great. Last year, I joined my dad and his girlfriend Gayle at the Vamplets booth for a full event pass. I did my very own cosplay as Dragonair from Pokemon. On this year, I’m going to cosplay my next character as the Red Bombergirl and will be going for a one day membership.

I want my audience to know about going to Phoenix Comicon and encourage them to buy a ticket and attend the event. It’s a great place to visit Phoenix Comicon this early June, I hope to see you there.

Camille

SEEDs Art Jam is May 7th!

Hey guess what?! The SEEDs program is having an Art Jam on May 7 at 10am-3pm. The Art Jam is located on 1345 W McKinley at the SEEDs building, where we will have fun activities, merchandise for sale, and you can meet the artists who made the products. -Charles.