our etsy team holiday gathering!

What a marvelous time we had at our very first Etsy Team holiday party! Each time we get a group of people together for one of our events, it always refreshes my spirit and reminds me about the heart of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Every single person who has been involved in the Makerie in any way is amazing and I just can't believe the beautiful creative community that is being formed because of this little event we started. What a wonderful mix of people who came last night ~ volunteers, participants, one of our awesome local teachers, and even our Whole Foods contest winner ~ gathering together at Fabricate, one of our favorite local sewing boutiques, for some fun holiday crafts and yummy treats and wine. We made burlap wreaths (thanks to the super generous donation of coffee sacks from Conscious Coffees) and decorated cute burlap bags with colorful felt balls to wrap around mini-trees (inspired by the sweet idea from Sunset Magazine). There is something quite magical about getting a group of people together to make something with their hands ~ a quiet hum, some great conversations in between and simply an unspoken language of how meaningful it is to create something side by side, in person. It is truly the essence of what the Makerie means to me and I couldn't feel more honored to give people the gift of making creativity a priority, even for a short time. A huge thank you to Etsy for their wonderful support, to Fabricate for hosting us and to each and every person who came last night. You're the heart of the Makerie's creative community and I feel so very lucky.

our brand new etsy team!

After an amazing trip to New York last summer and the special, awesome opportunity to visit the Etsy offices, I came home completely inspired by the people I met and their incredibly energizing, creative environment. I loved learning more about their terrific team program while I was there and it made perfect sense for us to get a team together too. And so we did! We're super excited to share that our brand new Makerie Etsy Team is up and running! It's open to all past and present participants, teachers and volunteers (you need to be an Etsy member ~ either a buyer or seller or both ~ to participate) and a wonderful way to share ideas and our favorite Etsy finds. We will be using this platform to celebrate handmade and share the projects we're working on, as well as a place for current participants to coordinate retreat travel or perhaps even facilitate local gatherings. And speaking of gatherings, we're in the midst of planning our first holiday team event so it would be a great time to join in on the fun. We'd  love to have you! Go Team!