Passionate Details

THE PHOTOS SAY IT ALL.....

 

We are so proud of you John Henry!!!

Love,

Mom, Dad, Christopher and Caroline!!! 

Still Dreaming About Last Weekend........

I always knew I was blessed and lucky, but a little extra blessing was passed my way last weekend....I was able to attend the Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Workshops in St. Louis. I had never been to St. Louis, but knowing what a class act Mary and her staff were, I knew I was in for a treat!! They did not disappoint!! And the instructors and panelists....WOW...from the word go!! I'm still trying to process the whole weekend...... (hang in there....this is a long post....packed with details and photos!!)

Thusday morning I was at LGA airport bright and early for my 7:30am flight and while standing at the gate waiting to board I was approached by a woman who complemented my jewelry...something about her told me she may be headed to the same art workshop, so I asked.....the rest, as they say, is history....
Joanne and I chatted away with great anticipation for the event. We shared a quick cab ride to the hotel when we landed, and then checked in to The Chase Park Plaza. All the events for the weekend, the welcome reception, classes, luncheon and seminars were being held right in this beautiful historic landmark hotel......well almost everything............

We were treated to guided tour's of Mary's studio and offices...........

 
The studio was just a few short blocks from the hotel and before our tour, Joanne and I decided to check out the neighborhood to get our bearings. While out and about we met up with these two wonderful ladies.....

 
Jean (from Utah) and Barbara (from California)...and again, as fate would have it, we just knew we were in St. Louis for the same event. We spent the afternoon shopping all the antique shops and boutiques in the area.....so many in this part of the city that is known as the Central West End.......

And it didn't take long for us to meet up with Jamieson (from Atlanta).......

That was it....the deal was sealed.....

 
The five of us laughed, created, shared, shopped and dined for the rest of the weekend.....did I mention laugh??? Oh, we had a GREAT time together!!!!

After a wonderful welcome reception Thursday evening (food, drinks and shopping....yay!) we were ready to begin our workshop classes. Friday morning (8am) I had a class with inspiring Wendy Addison......

How could you not love a class like this!!!

Wendy was so interesting, sharing her passion for glitter with us, how she traveled through Europe to better understand real silver glitter and finding the best sources. She shared her secrets and tips for cutting and all that glitters!!! If you have a chance, take a class with her!!!

Then we had the opportunity to attend some informative seminars......Sheila Meehan The Business of Artistic Licensing and Margo Tantau Spotting Artistic Talent. These seminars were great and I'm sure I'll be sorting through all my notes for weeks!!! It was so nice to attend a weekend workshop that was informative too!!

My afternoon class was with the talented.....Matthew Mead!!

Matthew has worked on sooooo many projects.....it was really nice to hear and see his perspective first hand....

This was a printer art collage class.....an area I was excited to learn more about.....setting up our own vignettes, photographing them and then learning about different techniques before printing them......

Still need to add some finishing touches.....but I'm on my way..............

Saturday morning I began my day with Charlotte Lyons Folding Travel Tray class .....First, let me begin by saying that I'm honored to call this talented lady my friend and that doesn't even begin to cover it! We caught up with Charlotte and her long time St. Louis friend, Nicki when we were checking out the neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Check out Nicki's blog for anything and everything in the Central West End!!! A real treat!!

Charlotte's Folding Travel Tray class was the perfect way to begin the day on Saturday. We were given so many choices of beautiful papers and trims, as well as encouraged to bring our own, to make each tray unique and personal..........

 

Here are some of the lovely ladies at my table crafting away.............

Charlotte's class was followed by our delicious luncheon and then the.... 

"Panel Discussion", as it was called, with the perspective on "The Future of Handmade".....WOW, this was so unique and inspiring.....with Margo Tantau as the moderator, and asking questions that had been gathered all weekend, we were treated to a discussion with......as it was billed.... "A panel of super stars"— Amy Butler, Dena Fishbein, Marcia Ceppos and Mary Engelbreit. Super stars for sure!!! Not only were these talented ladies amazing and insightful, the setting was perfect....a mock living room of sorts! There were 150 women in the room and yet you felt like you had just pulled up a chair and joined them in their little chat. I was taking down notes so quickly I hope I can decipher my chicken scratch!!

Not the greatest of photos(I was too busy taking notes), but you get the idea!

After lunch every instructor and panelist was available for signings and photos, then we were on to our last class of the weekend. For this class I chose Millinery Flowers with Kaari Meng of The French General. I have been lucky to have taken class with Kaari in the past and knew this was an opportunity I did not want to miss. Kaari has a gentle and unique approach to teaching, if you have the opportunity, take a class with her.....and if you really have (want) an opportunity....Kaari is giving a week long worshop in France this summer and already has next year's workshop in the works!!! Definitely on my list of things to do....oh là là!!!

So, for our Millinery Flowers we chose from Kaari's French inspired fabrics from Moda. So many beautiful fabrics, it was difficult to choose just three. From there we cut our patterns and began construction on our flowers.........

Here we are....working away......

Okay....working away AND having fun..............

I have to get my flower out in the sun tomorrow for some photos (stay tuned!)

And now you can guess that I'll wrap up my weekend by telling you all about the wonderful dinner I had (which I did) and how we  went here......

for dessert......world famous Bissinger's Chocolate for a fruit and chocolate fondue....

And a quick trip here...........

To bring home (all packaged for the plane ride) these goodies......

Does it sound like my weekend is almost over.....well, almost is the key word here.....you see, while we were enjoying ourselves in Missouri there was some unsettling weather in the area....and wouldn't you know it, when I was ready to leave Sunday morning, that darn weather was headed straight for NY and the flight was cancelled....but, as luck would have it, Charlotte Lyons was scheduled for the same flight leaving us both stranded for another day in St. Louis. Now, I can hardly say stranded.....Charlotte and her dear friend Nicki (remember Nicki from wayyyy back at the beginning of this post) invited me to dinner in Nicki's beautiful home. I can't begin to thank them....soooo kind!!! And delicious....(Nicki was the Food Editor at Mary's magazine!!) And after a wonderful sidewalk cafe breakfast, Barbara kindly drove us to the airport!!!

So, thank you Barbara, not just for the ride, but for EVERYTHING!!!!

You and Mary put your hearts and souls into this event and it was spectacular!!!

Can't wait to do it again!!!Meleen