meet the amazing tonja from moondance botanicals!

Tonja is the remarkable owner of MoonDance Botanicals, a fabulous boutique in Denver that makes all natural gourmet bath and body products handcrafted from organic and pure ingredients. We were thrilled when she wanted to bring her expertise and wonderful Luscious Local Skincare workshop to the Makerie Summer Series. Students will create a nourishing facial exfoliant, a fresh mask for the face and body and a silky hydrating facial cream, along with be given plenty more recipes for other skin care delights. Living in the dry Colorado climate, we could all use some great tips on how to care for our skin!

Get to know the beautiful Tonja below! We especially love her answer to finding life balance. 

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John O’Donohue’s  To Bless The Space Between Us  is at the top of my inspiration library. 

A summer hike you love.

Any hike with a hot springs as its final destination

A favorite summer vegetable.

Lamb’s quarter

Favorite food hangout in town.

City O’ City in Denver

Dandelions!_and herbal-infused vino verde! screams summer.

A risk you’re glad you took.

Leaving power suits and an expense account for the riches of nature!

A favorite gift you’ve received. 

An emerald necklace that shimmers like the greens of Ireland.

What you love most about what you do.

Connecting women to the wild wisdom within themselves.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.

Juggling the many aspects of owning a business while raising a daughter and finding time for stillness. 

The lesson I keep learning.

We choose.

My go-to outfit.

Cowgirl boots with knee socks, a gorgeous thrift store skirt and my well worn and loved jean jacket!

Daily practice.

Three sun salutations ending with Warrior Pose. Writing. Lighting a candle at my altar asking for grace as I move through my day.

Any tricks for finding life balance? 

Self care! The more you nurture yourself the more you will have to nurture others.

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Thank you so much Tonja!

meet the fantastic fancy tigresses ~ amber & jaime

It goes without saying how lucky we are to have such an incredible crafting boutique right down the road. Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver is a crafter's mecca, full of any and every notion, bit and bobble you could ever want or need when making something by hand. Whether it's yarn or books or fabric, cute buttons or pretty ribbon, they've got it all. After hosting our Makerie Pop-up shops at Chautauqua the last three years, we were thrilled when owners, Amber and Jaime, wanted to teach their own Farm Fresh Handspun Yarn workshop at our first Summer Series event on June 2. We had so much fun getting to know these two dynamos through our little interview. See for yourself below!

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A summer hike you love.

Amber: My favorite hike is West Fork in the Uncompagre Wilderness. I love going mushroom hunting in the beautiful high mountain meadows there with my mom!

Jaime: I really like St. Vrain near Ward, CO.

A favorite summer vegetable. 

Jaime: Oh my god, that is so stressful! Summer vegetable...I guess I have to go farm fresh tomato. Or corn...they are all really good!

Amber: This is a hard question! My favorite is probably garden tomatoes. There is nothing quite like a homegrown tomato!

Favorite food hangout in town. 

Jaime: Potager in Denver or my backyard.

Amber: I love Fruition in Denver. I also love food with friends at my home or theirs! 

__________ screams summer.

Jaime: Rosé

Amber: Water slides

A risk you’re glad you took.

Jaime: Opening Fancy Tiger Crafts.

Amber: Moving our store to a bigger location.

A favorite gift you’ve received.

Amber: A spinning wheel from my family on my 30^th birthday!

Jaime: A handknit Sebastian (my persian cat) that Amber made me.

What you love most about what you do. 

Amber: Being constantly inspired by our customers, instructors and employees, who are so amazingly crafty, plus getting to think about crafting all day!

Jaime: Being a part of the crafting community.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do. 

Jaime & Amber: Finding the time to make all the things we want to make!

The lesson I keep learning.

Jaime & Amber: There is never downtime...

My go-to outfit. 

Amber: Something handmade! Usually in the summer that is my favorite oxfords and a handmade dress.

Jaime: A Wiksten tank, jeans and sandals.

Daily practice.

Amber: Quiet mornings making myself a latte.

Jaime: Running

Any tricks for finding life balance? 

Jaime: Finding time to travel.

Amber: Every once in a while, find time to try something that you find interesting that you wouldn't normally do!

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Thanks so much ladies! 

the beautiful birddog press owner ~ allison bozeman

Allison Bozeman of BirdDog Press is clearly a lover of letterpress and an incredibly talented designer, not only in her own personal work but as a graphic designer Whole Foods, hence the fabulous signage you see throughout. We're thrilled to be offering three unique workshops on this ancient art of printing this summer ~ Farmstead Stationery, Letterpress Invitational and Cheers to Letterpress, as there is something quite special about the handmade nature of each printed piece. We can't wait for our letterpress students to not only create their own personal designs, but to experience what it feels like to press the ink into each piece of paper. 

Get to know our lovely letterpress teacher below! 

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UPPERCASE Magazine is at the top of my inspiration library.

A summer hike you love. 

Alongside a creek or lake anywhere!

A favorite summer vegetable.

nothing beats a good homegrown heirloom tomato

Favorite food hangout in town.

the FORK on the back porch!

A cannonball into the lake, popsicle screams summer.

A risk you’re glad you took.

Having a 1200lb letterpress dropped off in my garage one spring.

A favorite gift you’ve received.

If it is handmade with love, it is my favorite.

What you love most about what you do.

The moment the form presses into the paper.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.

Too many ideas, too little time

The lesson I keep learning.

Sometimes you just have to say no.

My go-to outfit.

Hat and wild socks

Daily practice

Reading with my 6 year old

Any tricks for finding life balance?

breathe a LOT. live in the crevices.

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Thank you Allison! 

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! 

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!

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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Amy Butler Design

Bulumu Granola

Colorado Chautauqua

Common Threads

Creativebug

Cured 

Fabricate Boulder

Fancy Tiger Crafts

Fiskars

Generation Q

Hot Mama & Sugar Soul Studio

Jennifer Mercede

Justin's Nut Butter

Old Glory Antiques

Roost Books

Savory Spice Shop

Savvy Hen

Spoonflower

Two Hands Paperie

UPPERCASE

Wonderbound Press

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image by Linda Winski

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