livin' la vida "inspired"

what an amazing weekend! SO many wonderful workshops and brilliant instructors. inspired. I am not sure I can even begin to explain how huge this event was. perhaps it is because I am in dire need of sleep as I stayed awake as much as possible because I did not want to miss a single second.

if you were there, then you know what I mean. donna chose instructors who challenged us, let us see inside their creative process and who encouraged us to find our own style. we played with the good ole stuff using new techniques and the new products in fun ways. all through the process we were encouraged to relax and have fun and feel free to stalk as many well known artists as possible. LOL!

here is peek at who I rubbed elbows with this weekend:

Tena who was losing her voice day 1, class 1. she encouraged us to look at her book as "an example" and make ours "ours". loved her techniques and speed and pace in class. perfect!



much to my delight claudine was on my shuttle and her class was fun, unique and SO cute! she shared exciting news about her new product line and as always helped us to succeed with our projects. I love her supportive style of teaching and her willingness to share her creative process. SO lucky to take a class with her for the second time.



now stephanie (and probably without her knowledge) could quite possibly be the reason the "garage band art girlz" came to life. we froze for a second and then "GO". creating pages without measuring, spritzing color, brushing paint, and before you knew it carla declared us GBAG's. I loved how stephanie let us play and encouraged us to be free and have fun. met up with her at the airport and we had some fun taking self portraits. hope you enjoy this one steph!



a fellow canuck, kal started us out by scribbling with pencil crayons and woo hooing at our proudest moments. I have always admired her work and love reading her blog everyday. she is such a talented artist with an amazing story about her childhood. she is honest, beautiful and possesses that true "bulletproof positive attitude" that she encouraged us to adopt.



and jennifer who had gobs of product stuffed into our bags. she spoiled us with all kinds of treasures and treats. I certainly felt challenged and even went for a little walk to get my head together. came back and with her support I pushed forward and am quite happy with what I have so far. still more embellishing to be done! she is very sweet, organized and has awesome taste in music!



christina who hosted ARTistry last year had us working with fabric, transparency transfers, flowers, beads and buttons. it was great seeing her again and I loved the project and will probably make more for gifts.



that is all for tonight. come back tomorrow when I share how I too was stalked! more pictures, more familiar faces, giggles and snorts and hanging out with one of North Carolina's finest.

and one last picture of donna and I after day one.



ciao!