training her early

I love discovering ways to be creative with kiddos, and projects that are 'travel-able' have extra added value for me. We did some finger knitting this week and wanted to share it in action. One of my most favorite moments of teaching my girl was to watch her little light bulb go on when she figured it out herself. Don't we all love that feelng? Have a wonderful weekend! xx

whole partnership

I'm truly honored to announce our new partnership with Whole Foods Boulder! They were such a wonderful, supportive sponsor of our inaugural event and I am so excited they wanted to take that relationship a bit further this year. I love partnering with companies I admire and I've been a huge fan of Whole Foods for quite a long time (at least as early as I started grocery shopping by myself!). Living a conscious, healthy lifestyle is incredibly important to me and Whole Foods embodies what I stand for. They have asked us to lead a kids creative activity each month at their Pearl Street location in Boulder, and as you know, we'd love for the adults to jump in as well! We'll be doing all sorts of fun crafts ~  inspired by some of our very favorite kid craft bloggers. Stay tuned for more details each month. We can't wait to get creative with the kiddos and hopefully the adults too. Everyone deserves a little time to play! :)

P.S. A little sneak peek at one of the crafts ~ natural stamping. Can you guess where this came from?

our newest supporters!

We are thrilled to announce Janome & Sew Vac of Boulder as our newest Makerie sponsors! They are generously donating machines for every student in the Oliver + S Sleepover Pajamas and Lisette A-line Dress workshops, as well as several for the Creative Character class. As a super fun added bonus, the machines will be for sale at a discounted rate following the Makerie so if you've had your eye on one of their wonderful machines, April might be the perfect chance to take one home. Thank you dearly to Janome & Sew Vac of Boulder for their unbelievable support!

pinch me please

We have some pretty exciting news to share over here. The Makerie is going to be featured in a book! Creative Pilgrimage is Jenny Doh's latest title ~ featuring superb art projects with stunning photography by 14 incredible artists and inspiring behind-the-scenes look into some of the most celebrated art gatherings across the nation. Pinch me please! It is SUCH an honor to be in the company of these outstanding artists and events I admire so very much. One of my favorite ways that Jenny describes the book is this.... "to help all of us realize that the time will never be perfect, but the time will always be now to embark on creative pilgrimages big and small." The book will be released on January 1, 2012 and is now available for pre-order at Amazon or you can reserve a signed copy directly from Crescendoh here (that comes with a sweet little free gift!).

Speaking of Jenny, I had the absolute honor of guest curating at Crescendoh last week and was asked to write an Art Saves story to go along with that. I have been an avid reader of the wonderful words other Art Saves authors have shared over the past year and have been incredibly inspired and touched by their countless, powerful stories. So you can imagine that when Jenny asked me to be a part of her special series, I couldn't wait to share the gifts that creativity has brought to my life too. Writing the words to my story validated the essential nature of honoring my passions, especially in and amongst the busy, beautiful life of motherhood. If you are interested, you are welcome to read my words and thoughts here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Jenny and her team for believing in our creative gathering enough to be part of this beautiful book and for inviting me to become part of the awesome creative world she has created at Crescendoh. If you want to meet this fabulous woman in person, you should really come take her Crochetologie class at the Makerie this coming spring. It's bound to be a day filled to the brim with inspiration, laughter and love.

meetup in denver!

Hi friends! We are super excited to be part of the last fantastic Horseshoe Market of the season. I have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know the founders, Amy and Doug, over the past year and have loved being inspired by what they have created in their neighborhood. The market is always full of such fabulous energy and they add the most special ideas (not to mention great food vendors!) to an already amazing market. We are teaming up with an outstanding organization, the Denver Handmade Alliance, to host our first Denver meetup. So bring a craft to work on, get expert knitting advice by the uber-talented Kate or just come by to say hello. We'd love to meet you there! xo

here we go!

  

It is such an honor to be able to present our 2012 Makerie! We are incredibly thrilled to be back for our second year and I can't tell you how excited I am with the workshops our amazing teachers have put together for you. With the return of the fabulous Flora Bowley (who will be teaching a two-day in-depth workshop and is writing her first book!) and the amazing Alessandra Cave (leading phenomenal photography workshops and is an absolute inspiration to simply spend the day with), combined with the addition of five brand new inspiring classes and teachers ~ you are really in for a treat this year!

The lovely Liesl Gibson, founder of Oliver + S, brings a world of sewing and teaching experience into the classroom with two wonderful workshops. Liesl delivers a fresh, modern approach to pattern design ~ just take a look at her darling new sewing book! You could spend a day on a creative crochet journey with the sensational Jenny Doh of Crescendoh, whose mission is to connect the creative passion of the individual and build an authentic community of like-minded souls. Don't we love that? Creative Thursday founder Marisa Anne will be teaching students the art of making a creative character and how to use embroidery to design a 'stitched painting.' Marisa is a passionate advocate of living your creative dreams and I can assure you her wonderful words of wisdom will be woven into her workshops. And if you're anything like me and share a love for beautiful paper and a handwritten note, you will have the chance to spend a delightful day learning the historical art of letterpress. You will create your own stationery in the charming BirdDog Press studio with the ever-inspiring Allison Bozeman leading you through her printing process (and boy, does she have an eye for design!). Rounding out our final class offerings, the adorable Aran Goyoaga of the award-winning food blog Cannelle et Vanille, will be teaching her unique (and gorgeous!) food styling tips and food photography techniques. Her first cookbook is in the works!

But wait... that's not all! We have some brand new ideas we'll be incorporating into the retreat weekend we think you'll love, and those wonderful little details will unfold as we get closer to April.

And to top it all off, Fancy Tiger will be back with their cozy cabin pop-up shop and Firefly Handmade will culminate the weekend with another splendid market, celebrating the love of creativity and the world of handmade.

So here we go! We can't wait and believe more and more how good creativity is for the soul. Well go on now... take a peek at what we have in store for 2012. We think you just might find some things that make your heart sing!

xo

p.s. If you would like to read a bit about last year's event, you can find some very kind words here.

kinfolk

image via the Kinfolk web site

I had to share this new online magazine discovery ~ Kinfolk Magazine. I'm completely smitten with absolutely everything about it. Go on now... see for yourself!