Celebrating 8 Years of Craftcation

Craftcation is always an incredible time. It truly is the crossroads of creativity + crafting + community + connection. The whole city of Ventura gets to feel the energy of creatives coming together to celebrate what they love to do. I get to teach classes, spend time with other creators, and build community with old friends (plus make new ones along the way). I didn’t realize this until I started putting the blog post together this time around, but I’ve been documenting Craftcation on this blog since 2013.

This year I got to teach three workshops including ones on how to make your own mini vision board and improve your hand lettering. I also had the incredible honor of giving the closing keynote on the last day of the conference. I’ve put together a two-part video (here’s Part 1) on the experience. Plus, if you have a little extra time and feel like venturing down memory lane, take a look at the highlights from past Craftcations. They’re all linked here below!

Craftcation 2019 Video

Craftcation 2018 Video

Craftcation 2017 Video & Blog Post

Craftcation 2016 Video

Craftcation 2015 Blog Post & Panel Post

Craftcation 2014 Blog Post

Craftcation 2013 Blog Post

I say this a lot, but one of the best things about crafting is the incredible community and the sense of togetherness I feel whenever I have the opportunity to go to one of these awesome events. Will you make it out to Craftcation in 2020? Or have you been to any of the ones in the past 8 years?

Oh Darling!

The best thing about attending the Darling Magazine retreat with Alaska Airlines in Maui wasn’t the incredible weather or gorgeous scenery. Those things were definitely worthwhile, too, but it was actually the amazing sense of community I experienced while I was there that took my breath away. All the women were focused on being present and mindful in the moment, which made teaching a little workshop even more special. As always, watching people get creative and crafty while in paradise. I love seeing what people do with different products and how they choose to express themselves creatively. We used a mix of my Shine On Collection and Sunshine & Good Times. We also used the Instax Share Printer so everyone had images to include in their traveler’s notebooks. All the attendees were given a copy of Craft a Life You Love in their gift bags.

One of the most memorable moments happened after the workshop was winding down. As I was cleaning up, a gentleman came to me and thanked me for asking everyone to close their eyes and go through the mindfulness meditation. He works at the Four Seasons and thought it was wonderful to watch and witness, since he so often sees people rushing around or on their phones constantly and being distracted instead of enjoying the world around them. 

Photos by Paper Antler

Supplies: Instax Share Printer | Shine On Collection | Sunshine & Good Times Collection | Altenew Watercolors | Tombow Dual Brush Markers | Tombow Mono Adhesive

Here’s the full video of the Maui trip on my YouTube channel:

Join Me for a Free Webinar with Get Messy!

Join me in sharing your story 💓 So excited to be the guest artist for Get Messy Art Journal's season of Story. Although the season has already started, you can join and get monthly access. I’ll also be doing a FREE live webinar (available to everyone!) on June 20 at 4pm PST so be sure to sign up here for the fun! 

Sharing everything I know about brush lettering!

You all have been asking me for a long time to create an online workshop and I've finally done it! Well, it's been nearly a year in the making, and I am so excited to finally introduce - A Modern Take on Brush Lettering. It was highly requested since I've taught it in numerous places throughout California, Florida and Hawaii. Since I can't travel everywhere to teach it in person, we thought this would be the next best thing.

It's something I've been working on for quite some time. We've packaged it all into a self-paced workshop that you can take in the comfort of your own home. There's over 40 minutes of exclusive video content and a printable workbook. One of the things I really wanted to do was to make this class accessible for many people, so we've kept the price point really low. If you decide to work on this course a little each day for the next month - it would be less than $1 a day. And you'll have access to the materials whenever you want, as we have put this onto The Creative Life platform, where we also have a free Creative Handbook and The Creative Life: Documented.

Here's a little video I just posted on YouTube:

Thanks as always for your support - can't wait to get those creative juices flowing with you in the Brush Lettering workshop!

Better Together workshops in St. Pete + San Diego!

Hey St. Pete and San Diego! Here's just one of the layouts from my Better Together class that I am teaching at Whim So Doodle and Paper Tales in May. We will be making 3 layouts and a traveler's notebook. I'll also be teaching a brush lettering class in both locations as well. I update my sidebar with events when I have them. Here's another little sneak peek.

If you can't make it in person to these, I may have some extra kits that I will be putting in the shop in May. Also if you have a local store you want me to come teach in, please feel free to have them contact me! Can't wait to see some of you in May!