SPARK No. 2--decor

Thank you all for your lovely kind words about my grandpa. I appreciate them! Things are starting to feel like normal again around here. The suitcases are put away, the laundry is clean, and there is food in the pantry. Phew! I want to get my Halloween decorations out on October 1, so the next big task is getting the front room cleaned up because I can't let myself make a new mess with the Halloween boxes until the current mess is cleaned up. But before it gets any later, I do want to share with you one of the main reasons I went to Utah a few weeks ago.

Last year, I was intrigued when I heard about Spark, a creativity retreat of sorts that was held in my hometown of Salt Lake City. It was the brainchild of Rhonna Farrer, Elizabeth Kartchner and Margie Ronmey-Aslett, three creative ladies who have their roots in the scrapbooking and papercrafting world but who do lots of other creative things as well. I didn't attend last year but once I saw the photos and video of the event, I wished that I had and hoped that they'd do it again for 2010.

When the announcement came earlier this spring that there would indeed be a Spark No. 2, I was ready! My mom and I decided to make it our annual Girls' Weekend, with the added benefit that we wouldn't have to spend money on a hotel, rental car or airfare since it was being held about 20 minuted from my parents' home. It was a weekend that The Mister had to be out of town but my sweet dad agreed to watch the kids for me and as it turned out, Maren was off-track (a three-week break between trimesters for year-round school) for the first three weeks of September, so we all packed up and headed to Utah for a while.

We didn't know much what to expect heading into Spark but we were excited to find out! As we neared the building on Friday morning, we spotted huge balloons rising from the roof, waterfalls of pink twinkle lights cascading down the side of the building, posts wrapped with colorful buntings and more pink lights--and that was just what we could see before even pulling into the parking lot!

As we walked up to the building, we were greeted by this guy (and his turquoise twin)

who appeared to be guarding this wall, which was filled with beautiful chalk drawings done by Rhonna.

The entrance to the building was hung with streamers and colorful banners and rosettes--and that was when we knew we had made the right choice in coming! :)

We went through registration and onto the Main Hall, where I think my jaw fell open when I walked through the doorway:

The huge room was filled with beautiful things everywhere I looked! Those big white grids hanging from the ceiling can actually be raised and lowered by a switch, and the Spark ladies had them hung with all kinds of fanciful things: banners made of Monopoly money and playing cards, birdcages, dress forms, paper parasols, frames, chandeliers, paper lanterns, butterflies, and even a bright pink bicycle!

I'm not kidding, it was breathtaking! And that was when I was REALLY sure we were in the right place. :) After I managed to tear my eyes away from the ceiling, we looked at the tables that filled the room. Each one had an amazing centerpiece made up of cool vintage junque, more game pieces, and cute handmade Spark flags.

I'm pretty sure I NEED a vintage pink typewriter now! It was like this throughout the whole venue--Spark took up the entire building, and on tables and in little nooks all over there were beautiful, interesting bits of eye candy! Some of it came from a junk shop in SLC and some of it was from the Spark girls' own collections.

Walking into that Main Hall was inspiring just by itself, before we even did anything else. I've been on the hunt for a large butterfly punch so I can make strings of butterfly garland for Maren's bedroom, and I wish I could figure out a way to suspend huge grids from my living room ceiling so I could capture the feeling of the Main Hall in my home.

I have lots more to share but I'll divide it up into a few posts because this one is already really long.