the Makerie

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

the darling fabricate co-owner ~ corey strohmeyer

You can only imagine how excited we were when we heard the news that a sewing boutique was coming to town. And did it ever! Corey and Linda brought Fabrciate to Boulder and we couldn't be more thrilled to have the cutest, coziest, modern sewing shop just a bike ride away. Involving our local community crushes into our Summer Series events has been one of the most special parts about putting this together and we are super excited to have Corey teaching a personalized picnic blanket class on June 2. She's an incredible teacher and will help you start out your summer with a blanket you'll love and use for all your outdoor occasions. A little up closer & personal with the darling Corey below.

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Having coffee with a creative friend is at the top of my inspiration library.

A summer hike you love.

I'm a beach gal, so instead of hiking I park it in a beach chair on the east coast.

A favorite summer vegetable.

Arugula. And Avocados. Preferably at the same time.

Favorite food hangout in town.

Snooze. Get the Bella Bella Benny.

Ice Cream for lunch screams summer.

A risk you're glad you took.

Opening Fabricate! Never thought we'd be that gutsy.

A favorite gift you've received.

I love Russian nesting dolls and my friend Sabrina hand painted an entire set of 7 dolls for me. It's tied with the shrinky-dink necklace I got for Mother's Day 4 years ago.

What you love most about what you do.

Everyday brings new people with great ideas into my life, and even if I've learned nothing new from them, there's always been a good conversation that happened.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.

Making myself understand that I can't do everything I want/need to, whether it's creatively, professionally or personally.

The lesson I keep learning.

If you go to bed late, you will wake up tired (typed at 11:27pm)

My go-to outfit.

Jeans and boots, or jeans and flip-flops. Depends on the temperature.

Daily practice.

Taking a few minutes before I fall asleep to give thanks for all the great things in my life.

Any tricks for finding life balance.

I like that you call them "tricks" which shows that you must be a magician to know them : ) Therefore, I have none. Let me know if you've got any!

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Thanks so much Corey!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

meet the marvelous mm local founder ~ ben mustin

We are loving the resurgence of canning and are thrilled to have the founder of MM Local, Ben Mustin teaching a fabulous canning workshop at our June 2 event. Did you know they are the very first canning CSA of its kind? Our family has participated in their harvest share program and loved every bit of it. They partner with local family farms to can and preserve produce at peak seasons so you can all eat local and delicious year round. Yes, we love the sound of that too, as well as their thoughtful, inspiring values.

We're pretty darn excited to have Ben as our first male Makerie teacher so get to know MM Local's very cool founder below.

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The Collected Poems of Wendall Berry is at the top of my inspiration library.

A summer hike you love.

Slate Creek trail in the Gore Range, north of Silverthorne

A favorite summer vegetable.

cherokee purple tomatoes

Favorite food hangout in town.

the Kitchen

Long evenings in the garden scream summer.

A risk you’re glad you took.

most of them

A favorite gift you’ve received.

the cookbook “Tender” by Nigel Slater

What you love most about what you do?

The people I meet doing it.

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Thanks Ben!

Monday, May 20, 2013

seriously great goodie bags!

image by Teryn Wilkes

I had hoped to get this post up a few weeks ago so here I am (and happy to be back!) to share our goodie bags from our Makerie weekend retreats. They were just full of incredible treats this year! Allie Olson & Teri Lema were the dynamic duo behind the scenes over here reaching out to companies and coordinating loads of pick ups to fill the bags with so many beautiful items that represented the essence of our event and what we stand for ~ a creative, healthy and sustainable way of living. An enormous thank you to both of them (and to our awesome team of volunteers who helped stuff them!) for making this project not only possible but fantastic to boot. Like last year, the bags came from Hands on Hemp, a thoughtful local business that makes reusable fruit, veggie and bulk bags. The farmers market vendors and grocery store cashiers love them and it always feels good to shop for produce in a greener way. I hope they are getting lots of love and use from those who received them! eQuilter ~ right here in our own backyard ~ was our fantastic sewing bag sponsor and we were so grateful for their support. As an extra special bonus, I have had the wonderful chance to get to know the wonderful Luana, eQuilter's founder, and have treasured our conversations. Everyone adored the two different bag designs, chosen from a contest we ran in the Art of Surface Pattern Design e-course. We are truly appreciative of the incredible support from our growing community and can't thank everyone enough for making these bags such a special part of both Makerie weekends!

Below is the list and links of the wonderful companies and boutiques that contributed. We love them all!

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Cured

Generation Q

Hot Mama & Sugar Soul Studio

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image by Linda Winski

Monday, May 6, 2013

my makerie thoughts...

image by Linda Winski (my sweet mom)

I can't believe that only two weeks have passed since our Makerie weekends! It's still so fresh, yet already feels so long ago at the same time ~ another example of how busy and full our lives are!

So how and where do I begin to share the abundant beautiful stories of our Makerie weekends and what they meant to me? Each time I have sat down to write my thoughts in the past few weeks, I found myself overwhelmed with how to encapsulate everything into a single blog post and equally as overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, heart and time that so many people gave to the Makeries ~ and how best to express my gratitude. From 29 states and 4 countries they came, bringing their open hearts and playful spirits just like we had asked them to do. Both weekends were a mixture of laughter, learning, tender tears, cozy conversations and camaraderie. The air was full of possibilities, new friendships and perhaps even lifetime connections. Walking into each workshop space was simply magical. I could feel the quiet, peaceful hum of people creating side by side, yet deep in their own creative minds ~ truly one of my most favorite parts to witness.

This was the first year we hosted two weekend retreats. I wasn't sure how it would go or if we'd have enough energy for both, but with the help of our extraordinary Emily Clark, two sets of dream team teachers, terrific and kind participants, dedicated photographers that also doubled as a super support team, generous sponsors, the Colorado Chautauqua, an amazing volunteer group and countless others, it worked! The wonderful energy was contagious and we floated into our second weekend on a high, excited for the chance to do it all over again. And how fascinating to watch how each retreat created its own personality with such different feels, yet equally as beautiful.

I can't thank everyone enough for your kind notes and letters about what the Makerie meant to you. Your words are etched in my heart and the cards tucked away in a safe little place where I often find myself going back to whenever I question why I'm doing this. You will never know what a treasure they are! But I really should be thanking you ~ for allowing me to give you the Makerie and to create a special place to play and make creativity a priority. I continue to grow and learn in ways I never knew possible and that in itself, is one of the greatest gifts of all.

It's amazing how we can all have such powerful experiences, and then life calls and we find ourselves hopping right back into reality the very next day. As much as I personally have wished for a few extra days following the Makerie to absorb all of the goodness that comes out of a weekend shared with creative souls, I find myself accepting that this is just not possible and is how we all roll. I used to think any amazing experience I had would be lessened if I didn't have time and space to process it slowly and gently to my liking immediately following, but instead, what I've realized is that it's okay if you don't have the time to think things through because it's already in your bones. One of the most special things I have seen and continue to see is how a creative escape like the Makerie lasts far beyond the actual retreat, and the incredible inspiration and lessons learned will make their own lovely little appearances into our days and weeks and months to come. That's the magic and my sincere, parting wish for all of you.

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~ Howard Thurman (my very favorite quote of all times)

THANK YOU from the very bottom of my heart!

Much Love,
Ali

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

the coziest creative lounge!

image by Teryn Wilkes

Adding some extra special touches to our Makerie weekend has become one of the things we love best and the Cozy Creative Lounge has surely become one of our favorites. Each night of our retreats, we set up a communal space filled with the latest creative books and inspiring magazines where everyone can congregate, relax, snack on some yummy treats (thank you Lillabee!) and enjoy their own private creative library. We reached out to publishing houses and independent magazine publishers we love to see if they'd like to contribute anything to this cozy space and received quite an incredible response once again this year. We'd like to recognize all of our fabulous, generous contributors and thank them for helping us create this special place and being such a wonderful part of our Makerie weekends!

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Quarry
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STC Craft ~ Melanie Falick Books
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Where Women Create Business

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

we can't guarantee perfection but can promise this...

image by Teryn Wilkes

Well it's here! Another Makerie is upon us (our third & fourth ones!) and I can't believe it. I find myself reflecting back to how this all started and never in a million years would I have dreamed of what it has become and the awesome, loving, creative community that I have discovered through it all. I had said from the very beginning of all of this that if I can help to inspire just one person ~ just one ~ than I have done my job and that would be my dream come true. That hasn't changed one bit. The most rewarding part of the Makerie for me is to see how happy people are when they are being creative and playing and it's my sincere pleasure to be able to create a weekend designed just for this. We have prepped and prepared and planned to the 'nth' degree and as we go into our Makerie and Makerie Sewing weekends, I want to let you know that as much as we would like for things to go perfectly, they most likely won't because nothing ever is. In fact, letting go of the word perfection is quite freeing for all of us, isn't it? So although perfect weekends are something we will of course strive for, we can't quite guarantee it but can promise you that everything we do will be done with a whole lot of heart.

We can't wait!!!

Love,
the Makerie

Monday, April 8, 2013

incredible supporters!

The Makerie comes together from many different angles and surely would not be what it is without the unbelievable support from the following incredible companies, organizations and people that are making SO many fabulous and special things possible this year. An enormous thank you to everyone for their generosity, ideas and most of all, for their belief in the Makerie and how precious creativity is in all of our lives.

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