Sharing my Spark

At Spark No. 2, there was an abundance of sharing. My fellow Spark sisters shared tools, materials, ideas, praise, conversation, inspiration and friendship. The Sparkettes (Rhonna, Margie & Elizabeth) shared their time and talents with all of us when they put everything together. Teachers shared inspiration and stories and techniques. Manufacturers shared goodies, and now I have something to share with you!

 

In the spirit of Spark, I'd like to share a few of the fun treats I brought home with one of you! There are two sets of clear stamps, cool fabric stickers, funky Halloween rub-ons and a packet of cute tags. If you'd like to enter, leave a comment on this post with something that ~SPARKS~ your creativity when you need a lift! You can leave comments all weekend long and I'll draw a winner on Monday!

SPARK No. 2--everything else

More of what I loved about Spark No. 2:

I've shown you some of the eye candy that surrounded us, but we were surrounded by actual candy as well: there were THREE separate candy buffets at Spark!

 

AMAZING Candy Buffet in the Spark snack lounge

Candy buffet #2 brought by the photobooth girl

Candy buffet #3 in the Dear Lizzie boutique

Who can resist huge jars full of as much candy as you can stuff yourself with? Not this sugar fiend, anyway. Seeing all of those beautiful shapes and colors and just the feeling of abundance and luxury and whimsy that they give was just a really fun added touch at Spark.

In addition to candy, there were plenty of other sweets (this was an event for women, planned by women--we know what we like!):

Fortune cookies with one end dipped in white chocolate and coated with bright sugar sprinkles.
Darling and they tasted really yummy too!

There were dessert buffets with dinner both nights

Incredible dessert setup from Saturday dinner

which included some of the most incredible cupcakes I've ever seen!

These were jumbo-sized cupcakes topped with 3" tall shimmery frosting roses and sparkly sugar glitter.
They were SPECTACULAR. And probably gave everyone who ate one instant diabetes.

I've been to other art retreat events (CKU, Silver Bella) but what really set Spark apart for me was the good feeling there. All around the venue were huge posters that had inspirational messages and quotes about creativity. They were pretty to look at, but I loved the uplifting words on them as well! (If you want to print them for yourself, you can purchase this printable kit over at House of 3.)

I was there with my mom so I always sat with her, but even if I had been on my own I would have had no worries about feeling lonely--everyone was so friendly and outgoing and generous and fun! The first day, I kept feeling like I recognized people. I didn't actually know anyone else but for some reason I just felt like I was seeing familiar faces. I figured it out later in the day--even though I didn't actually know any of these ladies, they looked familiar to me because they were the kind of people I wanted to be friends with. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone but me. But people were just so nice and genuine and fun to be around. There was such a great vibe everywhere and that really made the experience special and memorable.

I'm so thankful we chose Spark for our Girls' Weekend this year--we definitely made the right choice! The event itself was fun and inspiring and uplifting and it was even better to be able to share it with my sweet Mom!

SPARK No. 2--classes

It was hard to know how to describe Spark when I was telling people where I was going. It wasn't strictly a scrapbooking or or paper arts retreat, so I usually called it an art retreat. Now I think calling it a creativity retreat is the closest I can come to describing what we did there.

At Spark, there were four core classes and four mini classes and we all got to experience each class. The first one we enjoyed was this darling project taught by Margie:

We were asked to bring a lampshade with "good bones" and a selection of wallet-sized photos so we could construct our own chandelier like Margie's example above. We stripped the lampshades and then used cute fabric to wind around the wires, then used all kinds of cute stuff to make the hanging strings below. I don't have mine to show you because it's not finished, but when I get around to doing it I'll be sure to post it.

The second class was this beautiful flowery clip taught by Janet Hopkins:

We used beautiful fabric flowers from the Parisian Anthology line, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, tulle, seam binding, vintage tickets, and rubber stamped die cut fabrics to make a gorgeous flowery creation that can be worn as a brooch or a hair clip.

The third class was taught by Elizabeth Kartchner and used products from her Dear Lizzy line for American Crafts:

We only had an hour for this class so mine isn't done but it's a darling little pennant flag-shaped album that's bound on a colored dowel.

Next was a class from Rhonna Farrer that taught us some basics on how to use digital elements to create images in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Rhonna is an amazing digital designer and she used digi images in our class kits to create all of these huge posters that were hanging around the venue. I have Photoshop Elements but haven't been able to figure it out on my own so I was really looking forward to this class! Unfortunately I don't have a laptop so I couldn't practice along with her but I took detailed notes so I need to get playing before I forget everything.

After dinner that night we all went up to the rooftop, where there were make & takes from several different manufacturers. I made a cute headband from Miss Ruby Sue and a really pretty necklace using the new Vintage Groove line by Making Memories.

And then, the crowning event to a fantastic day: we all went down to the garden outside the venue, wrapped up in coats and blankets (it was freezing!) for a private acoustic performance by the charming Mindy Gledhill!

You may not have heard of Mindy Gledhill yet, but trust me--you should remedy that quick. :) She is an indie singer/songwriter who has a distinctive and charming voice and style. If you click over to her website you can preview a few of the songs on her new album, Anchor (which is available through Mindy's website or iTunes). She performed a few of the songs from Anchor, including the song "All About Your Heart," which she wrote for her friend nie nie. In between songs, Mindy shared with us about how she dealt with roadblocks and how to push through them to find your creativity. It was so, so delightful, and we drove home in a cloud of happy. :)

Saturday morning our first class was with Emily Falconbridge.

She taught us to use beautifully-dyed wool roving to make wet-felted wool scarves and beads. I opted for the beads, which you make by wetting the wool in soapy water and then rolling them between your palms to compress them into balls. Sounded easy, but it was a lot harder than I expected and I'm still not finished!

Our last "project" class was taught by April Meeker, an artist that I was unacquainted with prior to Spark, but who does all kinds of wonderful things from drawing to sewing to sculpting and jewelry-making. (I bought one of these at Spark and can't wait to wear it if it will ever quit being 85 degrees.) I don't have a photo of our project from this class because I was racing to try and make it! We used all kinds of paper and ephemera to collage a square canvas. This one was hard for me because we only had an hour and I'm not very speedy, so I didn't get much done. Someday when I've finished all of my Spark projects I'll post them.

The last class of the event was taught by the talented photographer Wendy Whitacre (who coincidentally did the photography for Mindy Gledhill's Anchor album!).

She was such a great teacher and taught us the basics of using our DSLR cameras. We practiced taking photos of cupcakes and a few other still lifes and trying to freeze/show action of the blue Powerade being poured into the vase. Thanks to Wendy, I've actually ventured beyond the "auto" setting and I can't wait to practice using my new knowledge!

At Spark, even the classrooms were pretty places!

The classes at Spark were truly inspiring. I love the projects we did and the techniques and skills we learned.

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.