So last weekend I got to kick off the year by meeting all of my fellow Michaels Makers from all over at the Michaels Makers Summit. I’ve worked as a Michaels Maker for almost four years now and I love the challenge of coming up with ideas in mediums that I might not be familiar with…or even thinking outside the box with those I am very familiar with. A few things I’ve made over the years for Michaels (click here to see them all):
Last weekend Michaels brought all the Michaels Makers to Santa Rosa and we all took four amazing classes (weaving, watercolor, paper flowers and image transfer) – all taught by Michaels education partner, Creativebug. The awesome news for you is that each of the classes are available online for FREE on Michaels.com until 8/22 (you can re-create one or all of our summit projects)! I shared the classes last week on the blog but I wanted to re-share them because you have to try them out while they are FREE. Even if you don’t want to make anything at least watch them for the artistic quality. So. well. done.
Talk about being transported to another world…this is where the Summit took place:
Michaels took such great care of us. I’m not used to having a car pick me up at the airport! The man was holding a sign for me…I almost fainted. And then I’m sure I talked his ear off the entire time: How many kids do you have? Where do you live? how long have you been driving people? Then he handed me a packed lunch that Michaels had provided for the road trip and: a packed lunch? really? that’s the nicest thing ever! He must have thought I was one of the Beverly Hillbillies. think I’m from the middle of nowhere.
The first night we ate at this place called the Long Meadow Ranch Farmstead and I took pictures of everything because I love their focus on responsible farming. Funny coincidence: I really want to be a responsible farmer!
The next day we started out really early and headed up into the hills to the estate that I posted as the first photo. Michaels had transformed it into a creative haven where we took those four incredible classes:
Watercolor taught by artist Yao Cheng (@yaochengdesign):
(I did this…and so can you!)
Image transfer with Courtney Cerruti (@ccerruti):
Paper flowers by paper flower artist Livia Cetti (@thegreenvase):
Weaving taught by Annabel Wrigley (@littlepincushionstudio):
Here I am after all the classes ended…still weaving. You can’t stop me mid-project…ever.
The best part of the whole weekend was getting to visit with some old blogging friends though. There are a few I’ve known since 2009 (Ashley at Make It and Love It) and others I’ve gotten to know along the way at other conferences and social media. This is the second time I’ve shared a hotel room with my pal Delia (of Delia Creates)…so fun. I’ve made some really great friends over the years…they are all so talented:
We had a chance the last morning to listen to EVP of Marketing Steve Carlotti and ask questions. I’m excited about where Michaels is heading. I’m a very loyal customer:
So just in case you haven’t met all 50 of this year’s Makers, check out each of our blogs and bios here!
Follow along throughout the year and feel free to create projects with us by sharing on Instagram using #MadeWithMichaels.
Click here for the link or the image below to view the four videos over on the Michaels Makers blog. A big thank you to Michaels and Creativebug for making them available! Enjoy!
You can also visit the other Makers’ blogs below by visiting their recaps too:
If I watched these free tutorials and pinned them to reference later will they still be there or blocked after 8/22/15? It says on the site they are only free for a limited time.
I wish I could have been there!!! 🙁
So pretty.