mollie makes!

Well what an awesome honor to be featured in one of our very favorite international crafty magazines out of the UK ~ Mollie Makes. I remember watching their promo video when they first launched, thinking to myself, this is going to be one fabulous publication and never dreamed of actually being in it! Mollie Makes is consistently chock full of inspiration, adorable ideas and creative eye candy that makes you want to stop what you're doing and try the project right then and there. We can't thank them enough for including us in their January issue! I mean truly, what's not to love about a publication whose tagline reads: Living & Loving Handmade. Do check them out!

meet the playful, fabulous jennifer mercede!

Among the many things I love about Jennifer, her playful, fun and joyful approach to her art is one of my very favorite things. When I look at her paintings, I feel happy, light and present, discovering a new pattern, word or different image each time I gaze at one of her beautiful works of art. No wonder the Land of Nod and Oopsy Daisy adore her too! A professional painter living in Portland, Oregon, she creates art that's about connecting to the moment and having fun, as she loves bright colors, is inspired by graffiti, children’s art, life adventures and a free-flowing spirit. She recently illustrated her first adorable children’s book, Gerry the Giraffe, which is available as an animated e-book and in print. We are so excited to have Jennifer teaching at the Makerie for the very first time with two brand new classes to boot ~ Doodle Draw and Expressive Painting. They are sure to inspire in more ways than you can imagine, as students can expect to let go of the outcome, color outside your lines, doodle inside your lines, be blindfolded, and let your mind wander ~ just to name a few! Spots are going fast so if you're thinking about joining in and taking her wonderful workshops, please don't delay! Get to know the really fabulous Jennifer below: 

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What is your favorite food obsession right now? 

Somehow I skipped over the word ‘food’ in this question. I just read ‘obsession’ and answered accordingly: Right now there is a seven hippy band (they call themselves the Aloha Family Band) staying in my attic. Their music is upbeat, positive, and as love filled as are they. Each day I learn more about relaxing and loving through them. Strange as it may seem, I never want them to leave. That and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, she is my latest obsession from the London Olympics, super cute, smiley and positive!

What did you want to be when you grew up?

An actress.

What's for breakfast?

I ate a small bowl of rice crispies and then several of my roommate’s Eggo waffles. With the cheap kind of syrup.

A wish that came true.

I discovered Western Washington University in Bellingham. It had everything I dreamed of and to this day is one of my heart’s favorite places.

A favorite gift you’ve received.

My guitar. And a blender my mom just sent me for no other reason than to send me a gift! (love those kind)

A condiment you love.

Relish.

What you love most about what you do.

Being in my studio with my tunes on. Getting into the zone.

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.

Ugh, quickbooks accounting.

_________ is at the top of my inspiration library.   

Julia Cameron. Louise Hay. Micah Blacklight.

Any tricks for finding life balance?
Breathe. Find someone to listen to you, even if you have to pay them. Ha!

Any trade secrets/words of wisdom you’d like to divulge?

Be open to the divine in life. Surrender to its path.

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Thank you so much Jennifer!

the makerie sewing goodie bags!

We are so excited to announce Briana Tomlin as our Makerie Sewing goodie bag designer for 2013! Similar to last year, we ran a contest in the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design e-course, which I took last year and loved! Once again, we were blown away by the talent and gorgeous entries which made for quite a tough decision. We asked Briana to share a few words about herself and her winning design. 

"A wanderer at heart, I enjoy collecting inspiration from all over the world and returning to my little studio in northern Canada to create graphics, patterns and designs. Many of my designs are inspired by nature, especially flowers, animals, and sea life. I was inspired by the Makerie design brief as I enjoy using clean, simple lines to create modern, organic designs.

The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design has been a source of never-ending inspiration and my mind is constantly swimming with ideas. I have big dreams and schemes for my designs and hope to see my designs on fabrics, home wares, stationary and clothing. I am absolutely thrilled to have my design featured on the Makerie Goodie Bag!" 

We are so excited to be part of Briana's budding pattern design dreams and can't wait to see it on our bags. A sincere thank you to everyone who took part in the contest and to Beth & Rachael for supporting this fun design challenge once again. 

In addition to the fabulous design, we are thrilled to announce eQuilter as a sponsor of this year's Makeire Sewing bags! Their wonderful company happens to be right in our own backyard and I had the privilege of touring their amazing operation a few months ago. It's any sewer's dream to wander their fabric filled, color coordinated warehouse! I loved my visit and especially seeing first hand how they package each order with such thoughtfulness and care. We are so grateful for their wonderful support and make sure to take a peek at their plentiful and incredible array of offerings. They generously donate 2% of sales to charity!

Happy Friday and here's to a fabulous weekend!

~xo

we're back with a few thoughts for the new year

this little lady is joining our family!

The holidays were wonderful in a million ways ~ spending fabulous time with friends and family, lovely celebrations, abundant, never-ending delicious meals and treats, a visit to the mountains and one of the highlights of my year, surprising our little ones with a puppy. Along with that, the holidays also felt extremely busy between holiday merry making, gift gathering and spending lots of time in the kitchen cooking. I'm a girl who loves a simple life at heart and also thrives by having some down time so those quiet family days that we did manage to squeeze in were some of my very favorite moments. This holiday season also felt funny in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, as I was left in a state of shock and grief stricken for quite some time, probably alongside many of you. I had a hard time spending time online and just wanted to be off the computer and home hugging my little ones. I apologize for my absence, but it just felt right to me. I'm still having a hard time processing it all, but I've also never been more aware of how precious this life is and how we all need to embrace each other and find kindness with as many people as we can. In fact, I've adopted 'kind' for my word for the year. I'm sure you've seen Ann Curry's 26 Acts movement? It's beautiful and makes me imagine a world full of kindness and how different we would all feel!

The new year always feels great. A fresh start, reflection and thoughts and goals about what you'd like to do better and different. One thing I've been thinking about for this coming year ~ beyond all of the ways in which I want to improve ~ are the things I'd like to continue doing that I've felt good about and that seem to be working. It's so easy to challenge yourself to always be better, faster, slower, more efficient, softer, tougher, etc... but it's funny how we rarely take the time to focus on what we're already doing right! Have you thought about giving yourself credit for some things you might be proud of and want to continue? It's certainly been a new, refreshing, gentler way of thinking for me and takes a little pressure off trying to make all those resolutions I make every year, only to be disappointed when I blow it early on. You've been there too, yes? :) I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

I've been reflecting on the Makerie a lot during this holiday time and the heart of what it means to me. What I keep going back to is this: Creativity and making things with our hands makes a difference. A big one if we let it into our lives. It empowers us, connects us and fills our souls with possibilities. Believe me, I know it's hard to make time for creativity during our busy days! And yes, doing a creative project often feels more like a luxury and falls to the bottom of our endless 'to do' lists. I often struggle with this myself. However, when we do take the time to pick up our knitting needles or a pencil to doodle a drawing or even sit down at a sewing machine, it fills our spirits and brings us back to the present moment in the most beautiful way. What I do know is that creativity, in whatever way that means to each of us, makes us happy and fulfilled. If the Makerie experience can inspire even one person to bring more creativity into their life, well that's a dream come true for me and one more happier person we can send into the world.

Even though our online presence has been a little quieter than usual, rest assured we've got some incredible things bubbling up behind the scenes over here and I'm really excited to share them all with you soon. Make sure to join our facebook page, follow us on twitter and sign up for our mailing list so you'll be the first to hear the news. Thank you so much for being here and wishing you each and every one of you the happiest new year!

Love,
the Makerie

p.s. If you're wondering who the little bundle is, that's the newest member of our family ~ Ms Neve ~ who we get to bring home this Saturday! If only you could hear how excited our kids are, telling every single person they meet that we're getting a puppy. Any advice welcome! :)

tamar & her stunning soft sculptures

To have Tamar Mogendorff among our outstanding teacher team at the Makerie Sewing retreat is quite an incredible honor, to say the least. It took me several years (for real!) to reach Tamar and was so excited to finally connect with her last summer when I had the wonderful chance to get to know her in person. I spent some time in her Brooklyn studio, surrounded by her magical bird cages, watchful owls, deer with bashful eyes and long eyelashes, each with a unique charm and European flair. It was fascinating to learn about how she approaches her projects and the wonderful ways she brings her creations to life, something Tamar's students will also learn in her Soft Sculpture workshops in April. Her work has been featured around the world and in gorgeous publications such as Sweet Paul Magazine, Selvedge, and The New York Times just to name a few.

We can't wait to have her in Boulder & wanted to give you the chance to learn a little more about Tamar too.

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What is your favorite food obsession right now?
not eating gluten, almonds, dry figs with my coffee in the morning, avocado & kotej cheese

What did you want to be when you grew up?
photographer

What's for breakfast?
dry figs, fruits, almonds, lots of coffee

A wish that came true.
living in NY, being creative everyday

What risk are you glad you took?
coming to NY with nothing; I jumped into deep water many times in my life

If you could learn a creative skill other than your profession, what would it be?
textile design or clay

A favorite gift you’ve received.
my cat tulu ~ got him from a friend the day I arrived to NY; and I received lots of art pieces from friends over the years & have a big collection ~ a good one!

A condiment you love.
black paper, cumin, zaatar

What book do you keep on your coffee table?
the 10 books I am in the middle of reading, a variety of literature, poetry & art

What you love most about what you do.
the places and people it has give me the chance to see/meet; being creative everyday; playing in my own playground

The most challenging or difficult part about what you do.
that it is a lot of work

_________ is at the top of my inspiration library.
Inspiration comes to me from everywhere. I don't have a particular book or movie or anything, as it can come while I'm walking around, dreaming or chatting.

Any tricks for finding life balance?
Growing up I guess. Surrounding myself with people I love, who love me & care for me.

Any trade secrets/words of wisdom you’d like to divulge?
ALWAYS BE YOURSELF, UNLESS YOU CAN BE A UNICORN. THEN ALWAYS BE A UNICORN

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Thank you Tamar!

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.

sweet samantha!

I have adored Samantha Hirst and her work since the day I discovered her fabulous site ~ quite awhile ago. Her simple, modern approachable style, not to mention her warm and inviting way, is something I love and rightfully so, has caught the eye of fabulous boutiques around the country, like the coveted Terrain. We were so lucky she wanted to teach at the Makerie this year, as she's currently taking a 'creative sabbatical' (don't you love the thought of that?) and filling her days with cups of coffee with her husband, sharing magical moments with her children and truly giving herself the gift of time to work on new design ideas. Oh she's a woman after my own heart and I greatly admire how she recognized what she needed and took action by giving herself a breather from the fast pace of life we all seem to be living. It's such a special treat to have Sam teaching the art of block printing ~ Inky Fingers ~ in April so if you're at all interested in learning this technique (which can be applied in a gazillion ways!), this is a fabulous opportunity not to miss. Oh and as an extra special bonus, Samantha is designing our goodie bags this year and we can't wait! Get to know the sweet Sam below and if you do want to take her workshop in April, please don't delay, as her class have been very popular and spots are going fast.

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What is your favorite food obsession right now?

avocados - in mango salsa, with hummus for lunch, on top of my tacos; if it can have avocado on/in it -it does.

What did you want to be when I grew up? 

a teacher

Whatʼs for breakfast?

granola with almond milk and blueberries, or alternately, a banana and chocolate chip cookie (donʼt tell my kids), and always two cups of coffee.

What you love most about what you do? 

The first time I pull a new print is always a surprise. I love that moment.

The most challenging part about what you do. 

Ink stains on my clothes.

Any tricks for finding life balance? 

I choose to focus on whatʼs important each day and try to find as much time as I can to breathe - whether that means a cup of tea in the afternoon, a quick swim after work, or sneaking in a few extra snuggles with my kids in the evening.

Any trade secrets? 

Thereʼs no such thing as the ʻrightʼ way to do something. Great art is created when people aren't afraid to break the rules.

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Thanks Samantha!