My goodness it has been just non stop busyness since we got back from MN. So much going on all at one time. We're catching up with everything that was put on pause before we left and now that we're back we're already preparing to leave again for our Art is You trip. This means getting our class details all finalized...and making sure that we've got some good stuff for the vendor market. And by good stuff, I mean Halloween stuff, which you can see some sneak peeks of below. But first I wanted to close out the Creative Connection chapter. To start with, a little slide show of our journey home. Now these aren't your usual travel pics...I'd call these "road" pics...literally. I snapped most all of these out of the passenger side window, sometimes while we were going like 70mph...so don't expect perfectly composed landscapes...these are more like glimpses of the American roadside between Minnesota and New Jersey.
Next, I've got a video here announcing our Creative Connection Swag Bag winners. Please excuse our sleepy headed selves...it's a late night for us now that we're back on a semi normal schedule.
(don't forget to pause the blog music before watching...way down at the bottom of this page)
And lastly, as I mentioned up top...here are a couple new Halloween designs. We're excited about these because they're inspired by all of the Art Journaling I've been doing. I'm just so psyched about our new line of original Art Journal stickers...AND our Art Journaling class that we'll be teaching at Art is You...which is just days away!! and it's not to late to decide to come! so sign up! even if it's just for one class...you will not regret it.
So, lot's more Halloween stuff is in the works...hope to post it soon. AND I'm dying to finish some more of these sticker sheets that we've got in progress. They are my absolute FAVE new thing! ok, that's it for now...thanks so so much for stopping by AND for participating in the giveaway. Congrats to the winners! Look forward to a HUGE giveaway coming really soon!
The Creative Connectionwas more delightful than we could've hoped for. Being that we drove there...yes, from New Jersey to St. Paul Minnesota, 25 hours straight, no motel stops, just the occasional sugar and salt binge...we needed to rest up once we arrived in St. Paul. So in order to stop ourselves from turning into real life actual zombies we grabbed some beauty rest. This meant missing the opening day breakfast and also the lunch...but that was fine...We arrived at the event right before dinner and checked in...receiving our itinerary package (which was so so clear, concise, and helpful) and name tags. And at that point the hotel was teeming with fabulous gals and a palpable buzz was in the air. This was the beginning of what would be the ultimate odyssey of hands on, tangible, social networking...more consecutive handshakes, hugs & kisses than Mickey gets on a good day at Disneyland. It just warms the heart to reconnect with everyone...all the gals that we only get to see at events like this. And even better than that is when you get to meet in person for the very first time a longtime online friend. And what tops that is when you strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and then you carry that conversation over the next 3 days in St. Paul...and you just know that this will be a real deal friend for life.
The big opening night dinner was fantastic...foodwise and contentwise. Jo Packham welcomed the ballroom of nearly eight hundred peeps, with her trademark wit, charisma, and above all candor. I simply adore her honesty and true spirit. She got very emotional up there at the podium and it's not hard to see why being the founder of an event like this would break you up in joyful tears. The whole message and feel of the event was that we are all so much alike...that, at an event like this you know that you can walk up to anyone at all and connect on a million topics. Because the pre-work was done for us all...we could all fairly assume that if the person is there at The Creative Connection then they are our kind of person.
Tim Holtz was in attendance and he took the microphone briefly, talking mainly about what it was like to be the first guy featured in Where Women Create.And the keynote speakers were fabulous. Cristina Ferrare treated us to pretty much a tell-all, E true Hollywood story of her life. And the super sweet Holly Becker lead us through her own coming of age tale...and being that she's a blogger extraordinaire she had great visual aids on the projection screens flanking the stage.
The following day the vendor market opened and classes began. Classes - these were the reason for our journey...everything else was just the sprinkles on top. We taught three classes with two different themes and it's impossible to pick our favorite. We did Hooray for Cake and Lovely Ladies, Layers & Lines. Each was so so rewarding in it's own way. The connection we make with our students and seeing the artistic twinkle in their eyes is a cure-all for the soul. So much self discovery is happening right there before your eyes...and to think that you yourself play a small role in bringing about that discovery is just plain magical. Everyone was so darn sweet...arriving at class with an open heart and mind. I hope we filled them with good stuff that they can put in their artistic toolboxes for the long run. The slide show up top shows just the tippy tippy tip of the iceberg. I encourage you to take stroll through blogland to see what everyone else has to say about their good times...I've been seeing some great pics on Facebook too. Me and Aar would love to return next year...even if we're not instructors we'd even go just to be vendors at the market...speaking of, I guess that was our only disappointment. Our classes were scheduled at the same time as the market on both Friday and Saturday...so our booth at the market was left unmanned while we taught our classes. Next year we'd make sure to bring help or to set up with one of the few super generous gals who offered to help us out next year if ran into the same problem.
As much as I'd like too, it's impossible for me to give you guys my full blow-by-blow recap of The Creative Connection. One thing I'd have to say is that this is one event that is so very worth putting on your calendar for next year. And say you have a friend that you'd love to travel with but maybe they don't have an interest in taking art classes...well this is the perfect opportunity. Even though us artistic people tend to sorts take an event over and make it all about the artistic projects, the getting down and dirty with paint and glue and glitter and more. The Creative Connection is so much more than that. You can go and take classes on starting up a small business, opening a bakery, putting together a unique and creative menu...jeez, tons of stuff that doesn't involve cutting, painting, drawing, making etc... It really is a special event for making connections not only with others but within yourself...for seeing what was always there but you were maybe too busy to acknowledge it. I know it worked that way for me and Aar in a way. Well, it really hit us on the ride home (which we did much slower than the ride there...actually got three motel rooms in three states) we'd like to do a lot more of this. And so now that we're home our goal is to not fall back into any old patterns but to carve out new ones that will lead us to a life that contains much more of the stuff we want it to contain. And with that said, Art is You is nearly a week away ( not too late whatsoever to sign up! do it if you can...it's in Danbury Connecticut and our classes are awesome! Really great projects!) and we are stoked to hit the road again and teach teach teach and meet meet meet.
Please don't forget to enter our swag bag give-away...two swag bags and two chances to win... either comment on the video on the previous post or comment under the same video on Facebook. The sound on the vid is out of sync and it urks me to no end, but in a way it makes the train wreck that much more fun right? Ok, gotta go grab some dinner. Thanks so so much again for stopping by! xoxo, Jenny
* Oh my goodness...so sorry for the totally out of sync audio. It was working fine till I posted it. I know that it is so annoying. I'm trying to remedy it. :/
(pause blog music down bottom before watching)
Hello Hello!! We are back from the most INCREDIBLE time ever! The Creative Connection was just mind blowingly inspiring and FUN! Seriously still pinching myself! How on earth was all of that fantasticness going on under one roof?? I have soooo much to share with you guys! I'll be blogging it tomorrow. It may end up being a 2 parter. Sooo much goodness!! We arrived home late this afternoon from the most awesome road trip ever!! Soo glad we drove! It really was so so good for the heart and soul! :)
We had been making silly little vids along the way and sharing them on facebook. So many of you have been following our adventures! :) From cheese fudge and curds...to bed bugs and noodles! Pop on over and get caught up if you'd like! :)
Ok, so I couldn't possibly just pop in and leave you guys hanging.,.waiting for my recap tomorrow. Noway! Guess what I have for you?!! A ridiculous 20 minute Creative Connection Swag Bag haul/GIVEAWAY!! Yep!! Two lucky winners will receive a Where Women Create tote stuffed with sooo much goodness!! And yes I said 2!! One here on the blog, and one on the Everyday is a Holiday facebook page!! So you have 2 chances to win!! Just leave a comment here on this post...and/or under the link to this post on the fb page!! We'll be picking two winners on Monday!!
Thanks for all of the awesome emails, messages and comments!! We loved having you guys along for the ride!! :)
Hey kids!! Oh my gosh! I am so excited right now...We leave today for The Creative Connection! Ahh!! I haven't slept in over 24 hrs bonkers right? Yeah I know! We are planning to nap in a little bit and then start out on our road trip tonight. yes I said road trip! Here's a lil vid I made late last night!
(don't forget to scroll down and pause my blog music before watching) :)
I'm so so thrilled about the response to our first Art Journal & Scrapbook Sticker Sheet. So in response to your response we've rolled out edition number 2, entitled : Artful Cupcakes. I have to admit that designing these is fairly easy for us, in that what we put on paper is pretty much EXACTLY what we'd like too see in a collection...Necessity is the mother of invention in this case for sure!
We've got a tiered tower of cupcakes, a really sweet Cupcakes art spot, a three piece journaling spot, some fancy sweet scroll work, doily, lace, florals. All done on sticker paper and in black & white, all set for you to fill in with your colors, your elements...etc. We hope to spread a lot of fun around with these...certainly much more to come...they are nearly finished now!
I also wanted to bring up the bittersweet end of summer. It's always kinda sad to see it go but I know a lot of you guys with kids have an inner longing for some time to yourselves ; ) Me and Aaron get excited because it marks the beginning of a new creative season...Halloween, Fall...then the lead-in to Christmas. The Fall got me thinking about these two fantastic kits of ours that we love so much and I didn't hesitate for a second to put them in the shop. Of course our Salem Academy Halloween kit is one of my all time faves and it's such a great Halloween keepsake in the end.
And our Home Sweet Home kit...maybe one of our most popular kits we've ever put together. This one has so much hands-on fun stuff to do and is loaded with our original hand painted patterns.
But mostly, whats got my feet all itchy is The Creative Connection! It's next week and we are making our last minute preparations. I'm giddy with anticipation...all the peeps to meet, art to create, things to learn, connections to make. It'll be the absolute highlight of my life at this moment. Life has been a bit rough in a lot of ways for both me and Aar recently and we need a big infusion of love, creativity, and great people...you have NO idea how much we need this.
Well, I wanted to keep this brief...just to check in and show you all whats new and up coming. Thanks so so much again for reading...it means the world to me! xoxo, Jenny
