Hi Friends -
The weekend in St Louis was so great. It was relaxing, engaging, inspiring, and so enjoyable with Lisa and Kara. It was fun to see many other familiar faces too - Claudine , Charlotte, Kaari, Shelley, Jemelia, Peggy, and more!
I drove down to Kansas City on Wednesday night, it was pretty late once I finished up enough work to take off a couple days. I stayed with Kara and Thursday morning we took off down the road to St Louis. When we arrived we checked into the Hotel Indigo which was just a block away from the Chase where the workshops took place. It was a great deal and had fun bright rooms.
Kara and I walked over a few blocks for our Mary Engelbreit studio tour.
Mary's studio is located in the Central West End of St Louis which is a cool fun area.
The tour was really interesting, we saw Mary's office, and her work table where she creates her artwork. There were fun "Mary" touches all over the space - even the restroom!
The front desk was colorful and bright.
Here is Mary's desk, and all the amazing colorful markers and pencils she uses for her artwork.
Great colors!
I took note of Mary's computer which held the quotes she looks at each day:
"There is no failure except in no longer trying"
"until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have"
"never pass up a chance to keep your mouth shut"
"It's hard to learn from a mistake that you don't acknowledge making"
After our tour we met Lisa who drove up from Oklahoma to join us for the weekend.
As we walked into the welcome reception we ran into Charlotte Lyons, one of my favs! And this little lady was just hanging out saying hello to people as they entered....Yeah that is me with my arm around Mary Engelbreit. She is so cool and really approachable.
I was also excited to see Shelley who I just met the weekend before in Savannah.
Kara, Lisa and I had dinner after the reception at a fun Italian restaurant, I think it was called Bar Italia. We sat under a big white tent outside. As you know, I love love love outdoor dining. The host was very friendly and you could tell he thoroughly enjoyed his job and making everyone feel welcome.
Friday bright and early started the workshops. 8am Kara and I took Wendy Addison's Glitter Chandelier class. The project was amazing....however the nearly 2 hours of cutting chipboard with a knife was a little much for my poor hand...but it'll be well worth it once I have a studio to hang the piece in!! Wendy was sweet and amazing. I loved hearing how she came to love and search out German Glass Glitter. Lots of history there!
My second class on Friday was with Charlotte Lyon's, who I have met at Silver Bella in years past. Charlotte is not only uber-talented, but her warmth is what really draws you in. Friday we made cuckoo clocks out of chipboard. (If you visit her blog, my clock is red with white polka dots and is featured in her post) Very fun.
Saturday started with the awesome Kaari Meng's class on Millinery Flowers. She brought her gorgeous fabrics for us to choose from and we went to town. I made two flowers. The one below was my favorite since it coordinated so well with my outfit :) I wore it on my belt. I can imagine these flowers being fun to add to gift packages, to bags, and many other ideas. I can't wait to make more while we are in France at the Chateau Getaway in July :) So excited about that!!
My last class on Saturday was again with Charlotte and we made traveling folding trays out of a cereal box! What a totally green idea. I love mine and will use it on my dresser to hold change, rings, earrings, etc. I need to take some pictures of all my projects and I'll share those soon.
As we left the hotel to grab a final dinner in St Louis' Central West End we stopped to take some pics before it got too dark.
The fountain was along the main street with beautiful houses across the way. There were wonderful restaurants to choose from too!
Lisa and I were so happy to be at another art event together that we signed up for SPARK 2 Friday night!! We are both really excited to see Margie again and hopefully more girls we know, like Elena.
It truly wouldn't be an art event without a cupcake. I think they go hand in hand. I am not sure if it is a law in certain states, but I don't want to take the risk, you know what I'm sayin'?
So being the law abiding citizens that we are, we stopped at The Cupcakery, maybe twice - just for good measure...
The whole weekend was a treat. I can't wait for the next one!!
Thanks to Mary and Barbara Martin for throwing such a wonderful event!!
-Rach
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