ArtBLISS 2012

 Last weekend I had one of the best weekends of the year. I got the opportunity to attend and teach at artBLISS Workshops hosted by creators, Cindy Wimmer and Jeanette Blix. I've wanted to be apart of this event ever since Cindy and Jeanette founded it back in 2010. I had only experienced it through blog posts and pictures of past years and even then, I had felt it was a special place I wanted to be. A community of creatives I was drawn to and I felt a strong urge to be apart of it somehow. There are people there that I greatly admire. Ladies I wanted to connect with. And it sure did look like a ton of fun!

Reading those blog posts and looking at the photos of years past, I would daydream about attending the next future event. Early this year, I even seriously considered mustering up enough courage to apply to teach a class there. Then, something truly amazing happened...I received an email from Cindy Wimmer inviting me to come down and be apart of artBLISS! I was just over-the-moon. I couldn't believe this was happening. I would have been happy to just attend, but the fact that I was on Cindy and Jeanette's radar and they wanted me to be apart of their fantastic line-up of authors and instructors, made me so happy and grateful. I am truly so grateful when things like this come my way. I don't have much in the way of photos, but I'll share what I have with you.

Me and my Mother-in-Law, Nancy Siegel. She is my travel companion and assistant. I don't know what I would do without her! Photo credit: Cindy Wimmer.

On Saturday, I had a table set up next to the artBLISS Annex, where I demonstrated macrame knotting. I also had supplies, tools, kits, tutorials, books and jewelry for sale. In the photo, I'm demonstrating a macrame square knot, as used in my Macrame Flower Bracelet. I use a macrame board and T-pins to hold my work as I knot.

Lori Anderson tying the knot in class! :)

 Macrame flower bracelet project made in class. 

It's now available as a PDF digital tutorial in my Etsy Shop.

Saturday night, I held my Macrame Flower Bracelet class. I felt completely at ease with a class full of friendly familiar faces! I'm honored I had Lori Anderson, Cindy Wimmer, Jeanette Blix, Kelly Fogle and Nancy Siegel in my class. These ladies handled the square knot very well. They made my job pretty easy, even though they were working with fine waxed linen cord and making the tiniest knots!

I'm thrilled to say artBLISS was everything I imagined it would be and so much more. What impressed me the most was the loving and supportive atmosphere and vibe. It seems to be the smaller, more intimate event that helps facilitate that experience for everyone. The sense of camaraderie is incredible. I met some of the sweetest ladies and I was excited to see some familiar faces as well. Everyone is warm, friendly, inviting and genuine. I was shown lots of love and generousness both emotionally and financially. I am thankful to all the lovely ladies at artBLISS for their kindness and support! Also, a gigantic THANK YOU to Cindy and Jeanette for having me there. I feel so BLISSED and I just hope they will want to have me back again next year.