Celebrity Spotting for the Crafty Crowd

Le Bohemian Charm Necklace by Kaari Meng

After taking a week off from the blog I'd intended on getting back to you all with some amazing content last week but started slacking right off the bat. My excuse is that my husband had decided to take the week off and I really tried to limit my online time while he's here. This week then was supposed to be the start of my new "schedule"- you know the one where I get to blog, create, and surf all your blogs without guilt, but this week too is shaping up a bit differently then I expected. First, my husband is home yet today nursing his sprained ankle. Tomorrow I have an art group lunch, and then Thursday through Saturday are..... Super Exciting... The Creative Connection Event.

The Vivid Vignette Class by Lauri Meseroll

I swear I want to hang out at the airport this week because not only are a ton of amazing authors and artsy business people flying in for the TCC, like Amy Butler, Tonia Davenport, Ruth Rae, Kaari Meng, Jenni Bowlin, The Farm Chicks, the Crafty Chica, Tiffany Windsor, Lori Meseroll, Betz White, Vicki Howell (the list could go on and on). BUT there's also a Scrapbooking Convention in town that's pulling in the likes of Tim Holtz and Melody Ross. THEN, there's the Junk Bonanza going on Thurs- Sat. just outside of Minneapolis and that's seriously got to be one of the coolest junk extravaganza's you'll ever attend. I'll be attending all three days of The Creative Connection Event and it's a pretty packed schedule so I won't be able to attend the junk bonanza or the scrapbooking convention. :( Thus, the airport comment. I bet you'd go with me. :)

Family Keepsake Album by Ruth Rae

The Creative Connection Event was a huge splurge and I still can't believe I'm going. It would be killing me right now to know something this cool was going on right here, without me being able to participate. So I am super glad I'll be attending.

Loosely, the event is structured so that when you registered for the event you were asked to choose one art class a day to attend and one business-y forum. So you do one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. Around this schedule they have a book signing/cocktail party, a kick off dinner, an editorial brunch, a handmade market, a luncheon, and a pajama party. I chose some really fun classes that I promise to take lots and lots of photo's of to share with you all. First I've a jewelry class with Kaari Meng, then a painting class with Lauri Meseroll, and finally on Saturday a fabric book making class with Ruth Rae. I can't tell you HOW excited I am about these classes! I'm determined to find a way to share it with all of you too. I do know that there will be a lot of coverage of this event. There are " TCC special correspondents" for the event that will be reporting on all things TCC, and the pj party on Friday night will be broadcast live on Facebook through Tiffany Windsor's Cool2Craft site.

So it should be fun! So next week- I promise, we'll return to our previously scheduled blog programming. :)

Local Craftiness: Crazy Fun Weekend!

Sometimes you only have time for one load of laundry, do you yours or your kid's? I chose to do Jasper's and ran around town wearing whatever seemed cleanest all weekend. But it was an awesome few days. I started it early by throwing caution to the wind and taking my son to Junk Bonanza on Thursday for the Blogging Party. I sound dramatic but it's a big risk taking a 4 year old with to an event like that. Fortunately God smiled on me and I thought to call and invite my cousin to join us. We played tag team with Jasper and I got to meet some fabulous craft personalities.

What I liked best however was meeting some local gals who I'll introduce you to in my next post. Fellow moms like Jill Hinson (who created the Thrify Mom's Challenge Table- which rocked), and artsymama (blogger extraordinaire!). I was completely blown away by the creativity of the vendors as well. I saw a bit on Thursday and then returned on Saturday morning with a friend to see the rest. When I got home I filled 4 sketchbook pages with ideas I had and sketches of what I'd seen.

Two hours at home and then it was off to Scrapfest 2009 at the Mall of America. I'd registered for the Stylish Standing Desk Calendar workshop sponsored by Me and My Big Ideas. It was a good little project and I liked that they gave us a lot of extra materials. We got the majority of it done right there in class and I'll finish the rest up sometime this week. I took the class because I eventually would like to teach classes like this and wanted to experience one first. So between the blogging party I attended on Thursday and the Scrap class on Saturday I feel like I really did some positive things for my future art career. Yay!