If you follow me on instagram, then you probably caught my overgramming session of pictures from the Michaels Makers Summit last week-ish. ;)
I can’t even adequately put into words how amazing it was. Hopefully, my iphone pics help…
I am so thrilled to be apart of the Michaels family this year. Not only because I get to work with some amazing people, but I love how they really think of you guys, our readers. Because, that’s why we really do what we do! But…more on that in a minute…. ;)
Michaels thought of every detail for this event. This was, hands down, the best blogger event I have ever attended. Period. I honestly don’t even feel it fair to share everything. So here is just a quick recap…
We ate good food (like slap your face good), we laughed, we mingled and talked bloggy stuff, we bumped elbows as everyone’s cell phone cameras clicked like crazy over every pretty detail…
Haha…a true blogger event. (Photo credit: Mandy from the Sugar Bee.)
(Above: This wasn’t even close to the best meal but I just had to get a pic of that plate and flatware, there were gorgeous flower arrangement evvvverwhere (my kind of people!), the Michaels team was so cute and left us messages on our bathroom mirrors, and Ashley from Lil Blue Boo was my roomie! Love her! Couldn’t have asked for a better roommate. Also…I am totally on my tippy toes in this shot. ;))
My favorite part though, was the creating. The whole summit was about getting together to make stuff!
It was so fun!
We learned how to water color from Yao Cheng, the art of paper flower crafting from Livia Cetti, weaving from Annabel Wrigley (who also teaches sewing to kids!!! <3), and some really cool image transfer techniques from Courtney Cerruti.
Each of these ladies are the kindest, most incredibly talented creative forces. It was such an honor to meet them and learn from them.
Everything in this picture is what I made (or am still making – ha) from the summit, with the exception of the flower. My original tissue paper flower wasn’t traveling well, so I decided to gift it to someone in CA before it got ugly. When I got home, I grabbed some tissue paper and wire I had in my stash and whipped up another one.
I felt so accomplished knowing how to properly use my floral tape this time thanks to Livia!
My favorite thing I learned at the summit, would have to be the packing tape image transfer. The semi transparent bookmark that says “LIVING” is actually a transfer from a magazine. It’s so simple, anyone can do it. I can’t wait to incorporate it into more projects and even do it with my kids!
Photo courtesy of Michaels.
The biggest overall take away for me came on the last day, when Michaels’ EVP, Steve Carlotti addressed all the Michaels Makers bloggers (who also hung out in the classes with us and got crafty!). In a nutshell, he said that Michaels’ mission is to get more people to make more. Isn’t that awesome? I mean, I know this goal isn’t purely altruistic for Michaels. They are a business after all and more making means more business, but I definitely appreciate that this is the business perspective they choose to take. From expanding their online shopping options, to working with bloggers to get more creative inspiration out there…
Photo courtesy of Michaels.
They simply want to inspire the makers in all of us to just make!
Cue Taylor Swift…. Makers, gonna make, make, make, make, make, make. :) :) :)
To get your making juices flowing, Michael’s and Creativebug are offering YOU free access to the Creativebug classes we took at the summit until August 22! Click HERE for all the details.
I’ll be taking them along with you too. I just bought my water color supplies for Yao’s water color class. Yay! We got to learn from her in person, but it was a quick crash course lesson. I’m excited to take some time to really glean as much as I can from the online class (that I can rewind a bunch of times and stuff- ha).
If you want to learn more about the Michaels Makers program and ‘meet’ this year’s makers, check out the nifty bio page here.
Happy making friends! <3
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