Part II The Creative Connection

As promised, I am posting on the second part of  The Creative Connection I was so privileged to be a part of. I have to admit I was so caught up with tending my booth I did not take any classes but my daughter did. She took Wendy Addison's classes and actually got nothing done because they talked through the whole class. Wendy is such a sweetie and I have carried her designs in all my shops even before she sold them to Midwest. I love her work and was excited when she had her booth next to mine along with Tinsel Trading... (which was hard on my pocket book, I might add.)

One of the highlights of the show was to finally meet my friend Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage. We have spent many phone conversations together and she has helped me on my blogshop but we had not met face to face, so it was my pleasure to give her a great big hug when we saw each other.

Isn't she beautiful... inside and out.

Karen Shopping...

Our first event that we attended was the Keynote Speaker dinner with Jo Packham, Nancy Soriano, Mary Jane Butters and Amy Butler.

Jo and Nancy...

Dinner

Mary Jane, is a sweetheart and wanted me to open a white shop for her in Idaho...

For dinner we had Cornish hen with wild rice and carrots and for dessert we had apple crisp... a good Midwestern meal.
There were so many wonderful artists/business women there, I can't begin to name them all but I did manage to take a few pictures. I am not good about taking out my camera, I am more of a "in the moment gal"... just ask my kids! 
Here are just a few...

 Jill Schwartz, I have carried her jewelry in the shop for years and I just love her. She bought some nice vintage rhinestones from us.

 Here is her booth.

My friend Carol that I met in Round Top, she is part of Gina Galvin's  posse'...

It was good to see Gina again too.

It was so good to finally meet Rebecca Sower, I love her work and I have talked to her online now and then. Her work with Haiti is inspiring.

Her booth and the Haiti by Hand she works so hard for.

Lisa Souers jewelry... very cute! I had to have one of her designs.
We also attended a book signing event with Ree Drummond and a thank you cocktail party. It was so much fun. Here are some random shots of the party.

That is Karen talking and she must have been saying something really tantalizing! Don't you love Kecia's of Lemoncholy's Flight of Fancy's hat?

Karen Valentine and ... Koralee from Bluebird Notes and Christine Hoffman who did the beautiful decor for all of our meals, thank you-Karen
isn't she cute!

That is Deb of Curious Sofa talking to Bittersweet Designs. Deb and I had a nice visit that afternoon. It was nice to see her again.

Jo and Nancy on the table tops... no, it didn't get that wild. Jo was thanking everyone and presenting her daughter with a thank you gift. It was very touching... she had us all crying.

 My daughter Jody and Ruth Rae talking.

My good buddy Darla on the left who was responsible for keeping everyone happy and keeping everything going smooth. Great job Darla! And the gals from Earth Angels.

All in all we had a great time and I can't wait until next year! Thanks to all who made this so spectacular!
I will leave you with random shots of everyone's beautiful booth's.

Kecia at Lemoncholy

Cherish  Designs

 Rose Mille

Bittersweet Designs

EarthAngels


Many Blessings
Rebecca