JemJam

Hey, I've Got it Going on...

So, the second day of the workshops started too early (did I say that?)! I skipped breakfast and ate my backup cupcake--lemon is a fruit, so...
We again, started our day with Kaari; we made fabric flower bouquets and they were really amazing! Kaari had a table set up with a dozen or so fabric squares for us to choose, a small table with ~20 spools of ribbon, and an overflowing amount of embroidery floss for our project. We had a little piece of heaven that day, I was so overwhelmed, that I did not take pictures of the setup. Bummer, her shears alone deserve their own blog post, they had "French General" etched in them all! Mmmm. Oh, yeah, flowers... here's mine, I slapped it on this bag, it looks really good with the ticking!

In this photo, Shelley is wearing her first one and putting the finishing touches on the second, she is a machine, MecaShelley is what I call her now.

Next, we all attended a luncheon and the very first thing that I did was find and meet Amy Butler! That really made my afternoon! She was really nice and cheery and just happy to be there!

I know what you are thinking--yes, she's 6'10!" Okay maybe not that height, but, she is tall and she had on some major heels. I don't wear heels, so, that's all me. The lunch was great, the panelists were great, it was really a good time to sit back and just eat.

Our last class Shelley and I had together, it was with Charlotte Lyons, we made a handy travel tray. I use it to tote jewelry kits from room to room. It came together well, I will make a few more for gifts.

I had a lot of fun with my OK gals! It was fun to share a room with Shelley, she was compliant with my need for a warm room. She may have unwillingly lost five pounds, though! MecaShelley made all of my gifts, she is a sweetie!

Excuse the terrible lighting and editing--

this is a little sign for my sewing room and a box, I keep extra needles and thread in there for now.

I love my little journal! The burd pendant sits on a birdcage near the sewing machine, and those lil' legs! I don't think that she was able to squeeze all 8 letters for a name tag for me, I love it!

This is from the journal that she made, basically, we said this the whole weekend!

That was a nice weekend, but, I must admit, I had a margarita on my way home from the airport!

What's the 411, hon?

On a windy weekend in late April, 100+ females met in St. Louis for a workshops event hosted by Mary Engelbreit. Three of us from OK traveled together, Renee, Shelley, and myself flew to MO for a great adventure. Soon after arriving to St. Louis, we hopped in a car and drove to Mary's studio for a grand tour, I explored more than I clicked....

Next, we ate lunch, checked into our rooms and headed to the much anticipated Red Lead Paperworks.

Red Lead is run by 2 sisters who were chatty and funny, their store was swell.

One more shot...

I introduced my travel buds to Urban Outfitters (they have never heard of it!) and we hit up Anthro, too. We prepared for the welcome night where Mary greeted us, she's so excited to see me!

Here's a fella bella, Rachel V. and Shelley

Everyone made their own name tags for the event, here's my roomie and me with ours:

After the meet and greet, the 3 of us enjoyed a cupcake or two, it was a perfect end to almost any night not involving alcoholic beverages.

The next day, we wake up bright and early for breakfast at 7:00, luckily, Shelley and I had our own bedrooms & bathrooms, so we did not have to get up before 6:00. Our first class was a charmant bracelet.

Our instructor was Kaari Meng, look at her name tag!

I ended up with both colors for the bracelet, they were just irresistible.

I had this gilded beauty signed by the author and contributor and mailed to my greatly missed bird.

During this class, Shelley and I sat a seat apart and magic happened. There was some snickering, talking under one's breath, and mild profanity, basically, we made a friend.

Priscilla is her name, her bling would make Lil' Wayne proud, she was hilarious and will understand the Mary J. Blige reference that is the title of this post.

After lunch, I made a glitter chandelier with Wendy freaking Addison, yo! I have been a fan of Wendy for about 5 years, longer than I even knew who Mary E was! That was such a labor intensive class, it was 98% cutting, I am not exaggerating. It was a handoff between an exacto knife and scissors, my fingers will never be the same again, neither will my sewing room where the chandelier hangs. I love it. Love it!
During that class, her assistant quickly became my life coach, she said that I was too anal or detail-oriented, she did not get far with me, she surrendered.

We ended that night with a fabulous dinner, wine, and dessert, of course. Day 3 coming up next!