ART IS YOU Day One

Today was my first day at the ART IS YOU West Coast art retreat.  I was so happy to see organizers Ellen and Sallianne again!  Today was my class with Cathe Holden. Cathe has an AMAZING blog full of wonderful inspiration and freebies!  The fact that she lives in my town is an added bonus.  I was thrilled to hear that she was teaching at ART IS YOU this year.  Cathe's class with a Collage Components cabinet and she spoiled us with goodies.

When I arrived at ART IS YOU this morning, I was greeted with this amazing nametag:

The theme this year is "Weird, Wild and Wonderful" and I decided to be "weird:"

When I walked into Cathe's fully-stocked classroom, I couldn't believe the goodies that were waiting at my spot:

  

We were going to be collaging a cabinet to store ephemera and collage goodies in.  And Cathe was going to help us fill those cabinets!!!  I felt as if she brought a large part of her studio with her.  There was a table with nothing but stamps and stamp pads.  (and custom-made stamps by Cathe at that!)  She brought a sewing machine for us to use as well as a vintage typewriter.  There was one table with nothing but cutting supplies including dozens of fancy punches.  And then, there was the amazing baker's twine table.  Oh my stars!!!

Cathe's aesthetic is similar to mine. I love how she incorporates vintage style into everything. We got so many goodies from Jenni Bowlin that I ended up using many of them to cover my cabinet.  I also swooned when I saw the fabric from Charlotte Lyons.  It was as if Charlotte had made fabric just for me!  I immediately cut out a piece of fabric with a candle on it.  Crafting by Candlelight!!!

 I didn't quite finish my cabinet but here is the front:

Aren't those drawer pulls amazing?  I'm going to add a bit more to the little drawers at home.

Here is the top. I had to put the Charlotte Lyons fabric piece in a place of honor:

Here is a side view:

And another side. See that adorable bunting?  I used a fantastic pennant punch from Jenni Bowlin along with Jenni Bowlin paper and then sewed it into bunting.

Such a fun class and I came home with so many goodies to use in other projects.  Plus, the added bonus of getting to spend time with Cathe.  She is such a wonderful and creative person.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she gets her barn studio/classroom finished soon so I can start taking regular classes with her!!!

I also managed to get 20 trades finished and I'm pretty happy with the result:

Looking forward to Day Two!!!  Wish you were here!!!

(PS....the adorable Jenni Bowlin punch that I used for the pennant bunting is on sale today at Overstock.com for $13.87 shipped!  I had to order one!)