2011 Creative Estates Conference

This past week I attended the first ever Creative Estates Conference. It was absolutely terrific and far exceeded my expectations. How could it not when it began with a mixer called Cupcakes and Cocktails?!

Along the way, I got to listen to inspiring speakers like Becky Higgins of Becky Higgins, LLC, Erin Edwards of The Vintage Pearl and Megan Pyrah of Brassy Apple. The speakers offered invaluable advice on how to balance daily life with a business, blog your passion and use/benefit from social media. We also got to enjoy crafty classes like Welcome Home Mini Scrapbook Album taught by Lisa Andrews of Scrapbook Circle and DecoArt Canvases taught by Kami Bigler of No Biggie and Jennifer Hadfield of Tatertots & Jello. Do you like my canvas painting (first picture of blog post)? I actually used an icing-lace technique to make the flower...who knew my baking skills would apply to painting too...fabulous! :)

Anyways, to be there while these women shared their knowledge and humor was priceless. You could not find one person in attendance that wasn't glowing from the awesomeness that surrounded them.

And I can't forget to mention one of my favorite parts - getting to meet one-on-one with some of the speakers. This is me with Becki Crosby of Whippy Cake. The Whippy Cake team was as sweet as can be and the reason I had the pleasure of attending the conference. Thank you for inviting me ladies! You guys are so great and kind; I am happy I had the chance to get to know you.

Now I have to admit that it took me until the last day to introduce myself to Kim Stoegbauer of The TomKat Studio. For those of you unfamiliar with her, she is spectacular, creates the most beautiful party designs and layouts and has worked with companies like HGTV to style their photo shoots. No I didn't faint, but kind of held my breath out of nervousness. What did we even talk about? I can't remember...I was just in awe.

The conference would not be complete without leaving with some friends (which I made plenty). Katie of Sweet Rose Studio was a doll and such a wonderful person to meet. Her passion for her craft and family was inspirational in itself.

And Amy of Pink Bow Bath Boutique became a friend instantly. I wish I met her days before because as soon as I met her, the laughter never stopped. Such a glowing personality. Luckily, I met several ladies that live in town so we will be seeing each other again soon. Yay!

All this could not have been possible without these two ladies: Shey Benner of *Shey*[B] and Tauni Everett of It's a Tradition. Shey developed the concept for the conference to help bring ladies like myself together to learn and meet one another, and her vision of building a community of crafters and bloggers was a huge success. And Tauni...an absolute powerhouse and terrific PR person. Her fortitude along with Shey's passion were the reasons why the conference was such a hit the first year. Thank you ladies for your hard work! I truly enjoyed myself and learned more than I could ever imagine.

Now that I am back in reality, I can't help but think about how I am going to make it to next year's conference in Salt Lake City. Creative Estates alumni road trip!

For more photos of the conference, click here.