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Impressions by Karen Guarino "For the Home, From the Heart"
Artist puts alot of heart into to her home decor accessories. Karen Guarino expresses her decorative home decor line painting with acrylics and
other water soluble medium with seasonal motifs adorning wood frames, paper-mache
boxes, lampshades and various framed art with expressive and insightful verse. Her creative beginnings started with personalized hand embossed announcements,
note cards, invitations, and thank you stationery. Her entrepreneurial spirit
began in high school when she handcrafted and illustrated bookmarkers to sell in the school store. The fever
grew to continue creating and selling after sharing a table space with a friend at a wedding expo displaying hand embossed stationery.
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After creating hand-made business cards and flyers, which showed off her
creative abilities, Guarino entered her works in small flea market shows, school fairs, and
eventually larger craft shows which followed with personalized orders from
shoppers. She always gives shoppers a flyer listing her show schedule, craft
classes or workshops she leads. As Guarino's confidence grew she entered into a
few consignment agreements with local gift shops and eventually moved into a
wholesale selling environment.
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Her greatest reward is when customers pick up a piece, totally dig the colorful energy, and purchase
that work for their own. Frustrating aspects include getting herself into the groove of painting, drawing, and/or business,
without outside interruption.Her workspace is smack dab in the middle of the
house, which hinders a lot of good intentions. As soon as she picks up the brush, someone
in the family needs her attention.
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| Guarino's inspirations come from artists she has met. They have the wisdom of life, confidence in their eyes, and in their work. They aren't afraid of failing
and they've totally overcome the fear of trying. She is really inspired by the creative works of CA artist Karen
Hatzigeorgiou, an altered book artist; the bold works of NY artist Mich
Fornal Casiano; and the unique art and life of Carol Es. While
shopping she picked up a roll of paper towels and saw Mary Engelbreit's
designs all over them, and even though she is not a big fan of Engelbreit's work,
she Guarino said, "Wow! Her designs are all over the place!" I would love to have someone pick up my work and say, "Oh, what a lovely Kg
Design! You're life just isn't complete without one."
Guarino's words of advice to fledging artisans and crafters are, "Take risks in your
art or craft. Continue to try something new, keep your creativity level
high and exciting. Stay on track, learn your art or craft inside and
out, know the target market you are creating works for, and go for it!
You can see Karen Guarino's arts and craft items at
Impressions by Karen Guarino. |
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