Creative Thursday

Valentine's Party! February 10 @ Sew L.A.

If you're in L.A. - join me tomorrow for a Valentine's Party for Creative Thursday @ Sew L.A.. We'll be celebrating the book {I'll be signing them too} and making Valentines from my fabric. There might even be some samples of 'Locally Grown' the newest collection to create with...I also hear there will be treats like fancy cocktails and pink cookies! Hope to see you there!!

Sunday, February 10

3 - 6 pm

Sew L.A. - 3153 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039
323-665-7097

{reason #1 why you need to come. they love hearts as much as I do ;) outside of Sew L.A. right now. photo by Devon aka Miss Make}

And! Incase you missed my email. I put together some special Valentine Care Packages over at the shop. There are 4 left. If you get them by Monday, and you are shipping here in the states, they can still arrive in time for Valentine's Day.

hope you're having a great weekend

 

my time at the makerie and visiting boulder

As promised. some posts on the recent trips I've been taking.

The first was a trip to Bouler, my old stomping grounds and still one of my favorite places on the planet.

It was the Makerie that brought me back. My first time teaching there, it was delightful down to every last detail. In fact detail, I'm coming to realize, is an Ali specialty. Detail, organization {like seriously fantastic organization} overall loveliness, authenticity and heart ~ that's what goes into creating the Makerie.

I always talk about the 'top down' theory. Whoever is at the top of an organization, their character and sensibility travel all the way through and down to everything and every person involved. As a teacher I felt completely looked after and cared for.

I've had the privilige of teaching at several retreats now and what I'm realizing is that no matter how prepared, organized and rested you are before you get there, traveling plus teaching 6 hour days for several days in a row takes a lot of energy. To feel genuinely supported, so that you can show up and do your job to the best of your ability, is huge. Being efficient and organized way ahead of time so that there is no extra pressure in the final  days and hours, double huge. So thank you Ali - for all of this! And thank you to all of my students who participated in my classes. Could not be a nicer, more creative group as always. And to the Coconuts Sarah, Bel, and Monica so great to see you and finally meet you Anne! And my fellow teachers ~ more new friends to love - Alli, Liesl, Flora, Jenny, Alessandra, Aran

 

Photos in order of appearance

• always
• the famous Boulder flatirons - just as breathtaking every time I see them
• daisies from Ali welcoming us to our cabin
• comfy 
• Aran - photographing a delicious and beautiful meal {of course} and Ali visiting in the background
• tiny bunny by the cabins
• gifties for my students
• painting on the floor {of course}
• major creativity in progress
• bears and bunnies and foxes - a whole sampling of student work from my classes, Painting with Stitches and Creative Characters, by Elke, Amber, Jaime Corey, Julie and Anne. In 'Painting with Stitches' students had a choice to improvise their own design or use one of my embroidery patterns - I love how uniqe each one is, especially how totally different each of the bears turned out - {a favorite is 'no bad bear' - a bunny in her sassy skirt and pearl necklace holding the bear on a leash}
• special thank you to Angela and Fiskars for being so generous in donating supplies for us to try in the classes - love their crating tools and  a new favorite of mine is their circle punch
• color inspiration found in the midst of creating
• a must eat at: Tangerine in Boulder and have their entree 'Green Eggs and Ham' for brunch
•  daydreaming

The In's and Out's of Textile Design - by Creative House

A chance meeting while both teaching at the Squam Art Workshops, plus 2 separate moments, 1 year apart when Lizzy told Marisa "YOU need to be designing fabric" has become a friendship and now a collaboration called Creative House.

Super excited about and really proud of this newest collaboration with my friend Lizzy. We love what we do. We want to help people find their way on their path to happiness and we believe that a large part of that has to do with finding fulfilling work that you love. We are creating products that we wish we had when we were trying to find our way. If you remember Lizzy wrote this e-book and {lucky for me when I tried to get into the industry I had Lizzy's book and her guidance} Now we've added on to that knowledge and experience with this podcast. So if you're interested in getting into the world of textile design as well as learning from two creative entrepreneurs who are always cheering you on, this new podcast might be for you. You can learn more about it, and watch us chat in a little video at our new site! The first of more collaborations to come for Creative House, so stay tuned.

{thank you again to Jo for the beautiful site design} 

orange vespa

8 x 8 in.

 I told you I was fired up! {5 new paintings over the weekend}

Oh and! Ali opened up day packages to the Makerie for a limited time. Registration ends April 1. I know I am going to see some of you there, I'm going to be bringing some new fabric...!!! :)

{click here to buy original - also availabe as print in the shop}

Teaching in Boulder at the Makerie April 19 - 22

I LOVE Boulder! I lived there for 3 years before I moved here to L.A. - And it. is. gorgeous there. A perfect location to hold a Creative Retreat. Not only the setting of Chataqua, but the energy of the town and the people could not be a better fit to support creativity and all the magic that it encompasses. To be honest, Boulder is exactly where so much of my life really started for me. It is such a special place. It is where my entrepreneurial spirit was born. Actually it is also where Creative Thursday was born, the very first Thursdays I spent chatting with my friend about where I hoped to be one day in my creative business... I can still remember the moment I named this company driving on that stretch just before the hills from Boulder to Denver. The fact that I am exactly {even better than} where I hoped to be makes me a little nostaligic and especially excited to return for a visit and experience the Makerie for the first time.

This will be the only retreat I will be teaching at for the rest of this calendar year and I'll be teaching 2 different classes ~ 'painting with stitches' and 'creative characters'. Having taught both of these before, I can tell you they are super fun! Registration is already open and at the time of this post there are a few spaces available in each class.

 

If your'e feeling inspired to come to the Makerie, I'm already looking forward to it and I'll see you there!

love, love, loved the C.E.D. art retreat

I've been working on the book! My second official deadline met on Sunday of this week, it's fair to say I've been writing {a lot} more than my usual blog posts {even the lengthy ones}. 

This means that most likely my posts will be short and sweet over the next few months. I'm conserving my creative writing voice at the moment. Visuals, lots of visuals for you. The majority of which are courtesy of the Instagram and the Iphone. 

 

Also when it comes to sharing about retreats I've decided that it's best to do so with visuals so that if you decide to attend, your expectations won't be too influenced by mine and your experience at the retreat can be all your own. Fine, ok. I decided to write a caption to each of the photos below. {So much for trying not to share too much.}

Of course the title to this post kind of gives away how I felt about my time at the Create • Explore •Discover  Art Retreat. 

Retreats embody the love and intent of the founder and let's just say that every detail was infused with Sarah's beyond kind and generous spirit. She was a wonderful hostess for an intimate gathering with the loveliest people, in a beautiful setting {at the Cedar House Sport Hotel}, some of the best food {maybe ever}, delicious wine and seriously comfy bed.

Ok, that's all I'm going to say, except seriously, who would not want to attend a retreat with a bed like this?

I know better than anyone {as someone who is slightly addicted to building her business from her home studio and rarely ever leaves said studio}. It's hard to justify getting away sometimes, but every time I do I am reminded just how ESSENTIAL it is for us to do this for ourselves. 

Lucky for all of us! Sarah is doing this again next October. 

 photo captions in order of appearance

• first evening in Truckee 
• an open invitation to create {don't you just love a table full of art supplies} courtesy of Denice
• dessert {don't you love creative time interspersed by dessert time? seriously is there anything better?}
• kathleen's finished  'meet the gang' embroidery in my new class 'painting with stitches'
• i got to make a journal with Denice
• and a necklace pendant with Liz
• the dining/creative hall where we spent most of our time, all lit up at night
• every little detail, beautifully packaged by Sarah and Kathleen
• the light on the balcony to my room - fall light is just so pretty
• creative coconuts. love them more
• the european style down bedding. did i mention the comfy bed?!
• fresh berries and real whipped cream - did i mention the desserts?
• did i mention the heirloom tomatoes fresh from the organic garden on the premises?
• a visit to the town of Truckee
• my own embroidery creation 'coming home'
• squaw valley ~ a short drive away
• breathtaking sunset at lake tahoe 

Create • Explore • Discover Retreat

Next week at this time!! This is where I'll be. 

 

I'm honored to be the keynote speaker and a teacher at this beautiful, thoughtfully created first time event hosted by Sarah. I first met Sarah through this online world, via this blog in fact, and have since gotten to know her through my online classes and our little community, the Creative Coconuts. Such a lovely person, who also been a great support of me and Creative Thursday for so long - I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it has been to be alongside Sarah as one of her dreams is coming true -

The inspiration behind Create • Explore • Discover from Sarah:

"My inspiration for the event came from a need and desire to help women feel empowered by their own creativity. A few years ago, I had a shoulder injury that required physical therapy. One day I came to therapy completely stressed, overwhelmed and ready to quit. My therapist sat me down and asked if I had time to do what I wanted to do with my day what would it be? I told him that I needed to create and that I loved photography. That afternoon he asked me to go out for 45 minutes and take photos. I listened and found an amazing freedom and sense of relief for taking even that length of time to do something for me, something that tapped back into my own sense of being and my own creativity."

I'm also excited to be teaching alongside two more lovely, lovely, super- talented creative ladies Liz and Denice. There are still a few spaces left if you want to join us.  Thinking that it might just be a little slice of heaven.

come paint and gocco with me! this weekend

Not all in the same day of course. But that could be fun?

I was invited to teach at the Urban Craft Center here in Los Angeles. Santa Monica to be exact. Such a cool, creative space here in L.A. if you haven't checked it out yet.

So, this weekend! I'm teaching 2 classes. All levels are welcome.

• Gocco Printing on Saturday evening 4 - 7 pm
• Create a Painting in a Day on Sunday 10 am - 4 pm

It's my first time offering these kinds of workshops in my city, or even on the west coast for that matter ~ so I have no idea how many of you living in L.A. are following me here on my blog and on twitter. Just in case, wanted to let you know. Would love to see you there!

Now available as a Download ~ In the Fish Bowl :: Life as an Artist Online + My Resources

Last week I sent this announcement to my email subscribers, but for those of you who only follow me here on the blog I thought you might also like to know that I have made the first session of 'In the Fish Bowl :: Life as an Artist Online" available as a Download.

You can purchase the entire course, 6 audio classes and a 9 page Resources PDF as a complete package or you can pick and choose the topics you are most interested in and download one class at a time! I recommend hearing the course in it's entirety in the sequence I presented it in, but I also designed each class to be a stand alone recording.

And if you want hundreds of links to all of my favorite business tools and art supplies from printers to designers to software, to articles to books, you can just purchase the Resources PDF. You name it. If I've personally used, had referred or recommend it. It's on the list.

As an entrepreneur it's my job to continually refine my business, by following my heart and intuition while trying to listen to and serve the needs and desires of my customers.

Making my Resources and the Fish Bowl available as a download fulfills that for me in several ways. 

I always have people asking about where, how, why? I do what I do as an artist in business and by making all of this information available,  I can provide the answers to many of those questions all in one place. 

What I also love about this new option is that those of you wanting to participate in e-courses but haven't had the time to commit to a six week session or have been hesitant about joining in on a group setting ~ and would prefer to just listen on your own. Now you can. Being able to listen to the classes - that's also key for me. From the beginning I chose to record my classes rather than write them because, as you know I love to podcast {that's how it all started for me} and also because as an artist I like to listen to recordings while I create. 

We live in a fast paced world with so much content available to us. I want to make it as easy possible for people to get the information, help, support and inspiration that they are wanting. Couple that intent with the fact that I prefer not to repeat a course in person more than once and voila! downloads.

The other job of mine as an entrepreneur is to recognize when my business is evolving, chart my course and be willing to adjust my direction. With my fabric line underway, I have a new found passion to explore and learn as much about this industry as much as I can. So, in all honesty I may not be teaching the first session of 'In the Fish Bowl :: Life as an Artist Online" again. But! now it's available for you tune in whenever you like. You can take it with you to the gym, in the car ~ wherever you can play your mp3, you can listen.

I plan to release more one time podcasts in this format, so keep me posted if there is any aspect of being a creative entrepreneur that you are wanting to learn more about.

You can find the entire course here, or pick and choose your favorite topic{s} here, from blogging to branding, to your online shop, to pricing, marketing, social media and licensing... And the resource list is here.

Hope you enjoy this new option ~ happy weekend!

from the fish bowl to the sea

This is the beginning of a big week for me. 

In two days I'm heading off to quilt market with my first line of fabric finished and available for pre-sale.

I have a fabric line.

It's taken me these last few weeks, since my trip to New York when the final designs really came together, for this new stage of my business and creative expression to sink in. 

Ever since the reality of this new venture has set in, I've been thinking so much about what it means to have a growing business. Let's be honest, over the last five years I've also been thinking about what it means to stay in business. 

Launching a business is very different from expanding one. 

What've I've found is that there is a whole lot of information about finding your path, following your dreams, and starting a business but what about keeping your dream alive and keeping your business going. It's an amazing ride and it's a challenging ride. I don't find enough of us talking honestly about the challenges. Oh, privately among dinner conversations maybe but not publicly. 

Once we've reached a certain level of exposure, success and brand awareness the last thing we want to do is start talking about what's not working. We want to put our best foot forward and share the good news ~ completely understandable and as it should be.

However, I'm not only and artist and a business owner, I'm a teacher. As a teacher I want to help others. This means that I want to be honest about the challenges I've faced and share what I've learned over the last five years in particular. I want to talk about what it means to be a successful business beyond the two year mark. 

All of us creatives in business for ourselves - this is a huge accomplishment, and it's a BIG effing DEAL to make it beyond two years {especially the past two years}

Somehow I thought that once I started a business, the rest would figure it self out and fall into place. In many ways it has. And in many ways I've been flying by the seat of my pants. I realize now more than ever how important it is to not only stay afloat but know where I'm going and why I'm going there. I also know how important it is to keep learning.  And support is key. Getting and giving the support we need to to keep ourselves and our businesses balanced and thriving.

I'm ready to share more of what I know in a follow up to 'In the Fish Bowl' called 'From the Fish Bowl to the Sea'.

Want to come swimming? Ready to take your creative business to the next level ~ We are heading out to the sea now.

{starting May 26 - click here to learn more + register}