reflection on the creative connection

It was about a month ago when I cleared 5 days from my normal routine & headed to St. Paul to partake in the 2nd annual Creative Connection.  This fantastic conference is all about women, passion & business and is the brain child of Jo Packham, creator & editor in chief of the magazine Where Women Create.

The time away was just what I needed and gave me a super-charged dose of inspiration (so much so… it’s taken me this long to write this post).  The thing about being a business owner… it’s easy to just to continue running laps around the track but if that’s all you do, you’ll never experience the gorgeous countryside, buzzing city or all that’s in between.  I find whenever I remove myself from the day to day, that’s when new dreams & ideas start to stir.

Here’s what 5 days away gave me…

1. The opportunity to meet wonderfully creative women like Kelly Rae Roberts & Claudine Hellmuth plus many-many others.

2. Learning new techniques to get my creative juices flowing and creating goodies just for fun… like headbands & screen printed napkins.

3.  Discovering LOADS of amazing blogs & getting to know some of the gals behind them like Megan Hunt (aka Princess Lasertron) who taught my headband class.  I just love her energy, outlook on life & quirky-ness (I mean who else would ever think of naming their business Princess Lasetron?)  And check out her wedding dress that she designed & made… this girl’s got moxie!

I’ve subscribed to so many blogs after this event and can’t wait to start sharing some of them with you.  One of my goals is giving blog tours once a week on my blog so I can shine a light on other creative women that are making a living at doing what they love.

Speaking of blogs, you may have noticed that we’ve done a little housekeeping ourselves.  I’ve made the transition to hosting our blog right on our website so now everything catching fireflies is in one simple spot.

Oh and I’m also wanting to sign up for this next time they have a class.

4.  Since I do what I love for a living, work does tend to be woven into most things I do… but one ‘hobby’ I really want to dive into is photography.  Watching all these creative bloggers & friends buzz around with their big cameras encouraged me to make the time to play around capturing the loveliness of this life in a whole new light.  (plus I gotta figure out how to take pictures of our Basset Hound, Gus running in our backyard after seeing these hilarious photos)

5.  I love savvy business women who are making things happen.  After hearing these two on a panel about monetizing your blog, I immediately started following their websites/blogs:  TaraGentile.com,  ScoutieGirl.com & CraftMBA  They are filled with lots of incredible information that benefit artists & entrepreneurs.

6. Becki Crosby of Whippy Cake taught a class on photo styling… because don’t those pictures look good enough to eat?!  While I did learn some tips on how to set up great photos… being in a room filled with flower pictures for 3 hours rubbed off on me & really influenced my 2012 frame line.

A sneak peak of what’s to come in the new year.

7. So many amazing speakers & panels of women who have followed their creative bliss to find great success like…  Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks, Melody Ross of Brave Girls Club, Janine Vangool of Uppercase Magazine, Kelly Rae Roberts, Leigh Standley of Curly Girl & Susan Branch.

8.  Experiencing all that the twin cities offer like a great little collection of food trucks… then enjoying my lunch overlooking the Mississippi River.

And finding fabulous little shops like Digs Studio, Patina and I like you (this place is so wonderful- I have to devote a whole blog post about it soon).

And have you ever seen such a stunning candy shop?! Sadly they weren’t open when we walked by :-(

Another delightful discovery for a hearty fall breakfast… Ranchero Cubano – Victors 1959 Cafe.

9. Spending time with friends from afar.  Normally I only get to see Michelle Allen during the trade show season, so it was really refreshing to spend a chunk of time with her in a creatively charged environment.  We were both inspired & look forward to putting it on our calendar next year!

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