spectacular surface pattern design

I have been taking this amazing Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course online ~ created by the dynamic duo of Beth Nicholls and Rachael Taylor ~ and wanted to share a bit about what's it been like. From a student standpoint, it's been amazing on every single level. From the impeccable organization to the thoughtful exercises to the amazing interviews with prominent people in the pattern design industry, from the jam-packed information that has been so beautifully designed into each week to the supportive, inspiring community, I just can't say enough! I realized that since starting the Makerie, I haven't made much time for any making myself, which is a little bit funny because it was the making I loved so much that was the whole reason I started the Makerie and remains at the heart of what it's all about. I still struggle with finding balance and giving all the things I love in my life the right amount of time and energy ~ raising children, making time to spend with my husband, working on the Makerie, making meaningful, healthy homemade meals and goodies for my family, exercising, spending quality time with friends, being creative with my two kiddos, getting proper rest, and finding time for a little of my own creativity too. It's this last piece that always seems to fall to the bottom of my priorities at this time in my life, yet it's one of the things that brings me so much happiness!

A big part of Module 1 of the pattern design class is drawing. What I have adored so very much has been rediscovering how much I truly love to draw and it has brought back many memories of my love for this as a child. I have been thinking about how I won a drawing contest at Zoo School camp way back when. I drew a giraffe and being the shy person I am, was so embarrassed to walk up to the front of the auditorium to accept my prize. (I wish I could find that drawing!) No wonder I find myself happily lost in illustrating lunch notes for my little ones! I often regret never applying to art or design school. Oh why didn't I listen to those little voices that have been nagging me all along? I could have spent weeks just working on the drawing prompts in the course, and plan to do the wonderfully creative exercises presented many times over. Just this short spurt of creative instruction has helped to see the world already in new ways. I'm creating patterns in my mind out of everything I see! The class assignments were broken down into wonderfully simple exercises, which made it easy for an untrained artist like me to follow and feel inspired by. I even did some of them with my 5 year old, which was one of my favorite afternoons we've spent together. There is nothing like witnessing the uninhibited artistic nature of children!

As much as I have loved making a little time again for my own creativity, it was not nearly as much as I would have liked to dedicate to the course. Due to various circumstances, I was not able to put the amount of time and energy I had wanted and hoped to. I like to give everything my all so this was hard for me! Oh how I would have loved to duck away to a cozy cabin for an uninterrupted week to play with drawing and patterns and color ~ and while we're at it, let's add in a wood burning fireplace, my favorite warm tea and anything from the bread group right out of the oven. My time is often not my own with two young children, work responsibilities, a husband that travels a lot, and just the general busyness of family life. We all try to do it all, don't we?

The pattern design class has been awesome in many ways and made me realize once again, not only how important creativity is in all our lives, but also how hard it can be to make it a priority. The beauty of this e-course allowed me to wiggle in the time at my own pace and yes, sometimes even in my pj's! It also made me think about the reason I started the Makerie ~ an uninterupted weekend dedicated to giving the gift of time and space to play and create ~ away from the demands of everyday life.

I am so grateful to Beth and Rachael for pouring their hearts into this e-course and for all I've learned so far. I can't wait to explore my own style of pattern design over time and I'm super inspired by the amazingly talented community ~ hence the over 2600 photos in our class flickr pool and a super fun contest we launched to design our 2012 Makerie goodie bag (more on that later!). My goal is to repeat Module 1 when it's offered again this spring, and then carry through to Modules 2 & 3. There is so much more I'm craving to learn! So if you have the chance and you are interested in any type of pattern design ~ fabric, stationery, greeting cards, home decor, etc... ~ I highly recommend giving this a go. And the beauty of it? You really don't even have to be an 'artist' at all. Just ask me!

~xo

sunset magazine!

We are absolutely thrilled to share that we are featured in the January issue of Sunset Magazine. I have been a long time subscriber of this wonderful publication and am constantly inspired by everything they highlight ~ from fabulous destinations to delicious recipes to the hottest happenings in town to amazing artisans making magical things in the the west and more. We are grateful and honored to be included alongside the Teahouse Studio and Ace Camps as part of the 'West at its Best.' Thank you Sunset Magazine. It's truly a wild dream come true!

little gifts from the heart

Do you need a few sweet, simple, handmade gift ideas to slip into those stockings? Well take a peek at some of these fantastic, fun ideas curated by the wonderful Sarah Bryden-Brown on Kirsty. We were so thrilled to be asked to contribute a project! Learn how to make these felt ponytail holders right here.

Happy making!

xo

the 2012 makerie scholarship!

We are absolutely elated to announce our second Makerie Scholarship! Old Glory Antiques and their adorable new boutique Prince Street Dry Goods will be generously offering one full Makerie package (excluding travel costs) for the 2012 event. Starting on January 2nd, we are inviting nominations for a very special someone who would embrace the spirit of the Makerie. Do you know someone who is deserving of a creative weekend away, but maybe is unable to make the financial commitment at this time? The eligibility requirements to enter are simple for each nomination: 

:: become our facebook friends ~ Old Glory Antiques & the Makerie

:: follow us on twitter ~ @OldGloryAntique & @theMakerie

:: write us a letter under 500 words via email to play@themakerie.com telling us why this person would be a beautiful fit for the scholarship and what attending the Makerie would mean to them. And YES, feel free to nominate yourself! Be sure to include your contact information. Please know that all entries will be kept confidential. 

:: financial need (we will work off the honor system here!)

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Scholarship Application Process

Mon, Jan 2     Email your nomination to play@themakerie.com (please use 'makerie scholarship' in the subject line)

Mon, Jan 16   LAST DAY for nominations!

Weds, Feb 1   Scholarship winner notified! Yippee!!

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Awarding a Makerie scholarship means the world to us and one of my personally most cherished parts of our event. I just can’t thank Old Glory Antiques and Prince Street Dry Goods enough for their incredibly kind generosity in making this all possible.

We would be grateful if you could pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested in applying! 

~xo

brave intuitive you

photo by Flora Bowley

I wanted to share some pretty exciting news about one of our amazing teachers ~ Flora Bowley ~ who has swiftly become a painting phenom. Those of you who will be taking Flora's Bloom True workshop with us in April are in for a treat ~ and quite a magical one at that. Flora has this incredible way of empowering everyone and has such a gift for bringing out a person's true, unique spirit through the painting process. I've seen it in action and it is just amazing to witness what happens to the students in her workshops. I feel so incredibly grateful she will be giving her Makerie students this gift once again this spring.


One of the many wonderful things I adore about Flora is how she openly shares her inspirational painting techniques with others and now she will be putting this offering into the world through her brand new e-course! If it wasn't so close to the Makerie, I'd be jumping at the chance to join in. It starts February 6th and runs for five weeks. She has partnered with the amazing Beth of Do What You Love and I can tell you that this is one powerful,  professional team that will deliver an e-course beyond your dreams. I can say this from first-hand experience, as I am currently taking Beth and Rachel's Surface Pattern Design Course (more on that later!) and it is fabulous on every level. I love how Flora describes why you should take her class:


"Because I believe making art should be a joyful process ~ not a struggle. I believe creating should be a time for letting go of fear, embracing the magical unknown, following intuition and existing in a universe where there are no mistakes. Right?" 


Huge congratulations to Flora and Beth for the launch of this amazing offering and for sharing more creativity with the world. You go girls! 


xo


p.s. The first 100 people to sign up for Flora's e-course will receive her book for free. What a cool bonus! 

we beckoned the lovely

I am a huge fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal (as many of you know!). Not only do I love her messages about humanity, connection and making things, but I love how she embraces life to the fullest. Her movie ~ the Beckoning of Lovely ~ captured my heart. From the moment I started planning the Makerie, I found myself bound and determined to somehow incorporate Amy into our inaugural event. I had no idea how it would work, but I put her picture up on my Makerie vision board. She turned out to be our opening speaker, which frankly I still can't quite believe. She joined us via Skype from her own personal vacation! Her inspirational ideas and thoughts and clever ways with words left quite an impression with everyone and like many things she does, her talk was interactive and had our participants doing a variety of activities. I loved them all, but in particular the very last one where she had everyone write a 'Dear John' letter (a take on my last name DeJohn) about what being at the Makerie meant to them. It was such an unexpected surprise and I will cherish those letters forever.

The culmination of the Beckoning of Lovely was released on 11/11/11 at 11:11 am ~ as a full length feature film. I wish I could have been there in person in Chicago at the Bean, but the gathering we had in Boulder was simple and wonderful. Participants from last year's event were there, along with a few new friends too. We watched it on a laptop, and thank goodness for the kind, generous coffee shop manager who let us borrow his since my computer decided it didn't like the wireless connection that day. Then the volume was too soft and dear Esther offered up a pair of speakers she happened to have in her car. All I could think about was this is exactly what Amy is trying to teach us. The power of human connection. These might seem like such simple acts, but to me it was an example of how wonderful 'simple' can be. If Adam didn't lend us his computer, there would not have been a movie viewing... If we didn't have Esther's speakers, no one could have heard it. I'm realizing more and more how delightful 'simple' can be and our gathering was exactly that ~ just some lovely soles all together in one space watching a meaningful movie. If you have the chance, I highly recommend watching this film. I can almost guarantee it will make you want to go out into the world and do really good things ~ it certainly does me!

I'd like to end with my very favorite take away message from Amy that I hope you will love to. It's simple.

Make the most of your time here.

xo

** post amendment **

Since I wrote this post, Amy has since taken down the movie from YouTube. Please read her explanation below. I love her bravery, how she listens to her heart and the trust she has in the universe!

Dear Universe,

I wanted to let you know that I've just pulled the The Beckoning of Lovely film from YouTube. It seems that if I truly want this to be the best thing ever, then I'm not done. I can't quite believe it myself because I've never worked harder on anything in my life...so for any of you who are frustrated/disappointed that you can't access the film, please know that this was not an easy decision to make, but I believe it was the right one. I owe it to everyone involved in this project and to the diaphanous entity that is The Beckoning of Lovely itself to stay with this just a bit longer and bring it to you in its most perfect, shiny form.

This is not the way I thought it would all shake down post 11/11/11, but so be it. Such is the life of a person who makes stuff.

peace sign, red heart, yellow umbrella,
Amy

finding creative time

Maybe similar to you, I'm always searching for the best ways to find life balance. I go through phases where I make a list of my priorities and plop it in a place where I can glance at it (a lot!), sometimes I create daily to do lists (and openly admit to adding really easy things so I can just check something off!) and most recently I made a chart for what my 'ideal week' would look like from the time I wake up to the time I say goodnight, and even including the eight hours of sleep I've learned I need to function properly. Some days I think I've found it ~ that ever elusive feeling of meeting everyone's needs and a few of mine too ~ and other days everything seems lopsided.

I try to be mindful of where I spend my time and energy, and one of my goals this year is to bring back more creativity into my little world again. Starting the Makerie has been a dream come true in countless ways and the planning of it is a magical experience full of very hard work. I often think about the reason I started the Makerie and the heart of it all ~ the power, joy, peace, calm, inspiration and playfulness creativity brings to your life. I love to make things ~ so so many things that it would take more than a lifetime to finish the projects I have on my list.

Although I haven't made much time for any making or creating myself this last year, I have an insatiable appetite for learning anything new creatively and I'm ready for a new challenge. I'm thrilled to be taking an amazing e-course on Surface Pattern Design with the uber talented duo of Rachael Taylor and Beth Nicholls that starts next week. I'm psyched to be a student again! It's such a great growing experience to try something out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself creatively. I'm a wee bit intimidated but it's such a good exercise in remembering firsthand how our retreat participants often feel. I want to experience that over and over again so I can always look at our event with fresh eyes and an open heart, knowing exactly how it feels to be in your shoes. So here we go! Wish me luck and know that I will be practicing what I preach!

xo