Michaels Makers Summit 2015

I wanted to share the photos I took from the Michaels Makers Summit in Sonoma,California.

It was one of those things when I received the e-mail I had to blink twice. They wanted me to be  a “Maker“? And they were sending me to California for a weekend of crafting? Pinch me.

I hadn’t  been to California in over 20 years, and then I had only been to LA, so to see this beautiful part of the country was amazing. And I found myself grabbing my phone and constantly snapping pictures, here are some of the highlights! What a great way to kick off a creative year!

The first night we went to an amazing farm to table restaurant, which is right up my alley! At Farmstead Long Meadow Ranch, not only did they grow most of their own food, but they had things like Rosemary hedges and apple tree espaliered fences. I mean complete and utter wonderful craziness. If you live out there, make sure you go. The food was fantastic.

The tableware set with vintage table ware

and beautiful flower arrangements. We made fun flower crowns and just talked and ate.

And seriously. The weather was perfect. It was 85 degrees and I wasn’t even sweating. There was just a light breeze. In Chicago I would’ve been dying already with the humidity.

The next day we drove up a very scary, one lane road to the top of a mountain. It did cross my mind briefly that I might just die in Cali. and if I did at least it would be a beautiful place to go.

This was meeting us as we walked up. Talk about a fantastic greeting!

I got to meet and know all of these amazingly creative women . Everyone was so friendly. And it was such a pleasure to  spend the weekend with them being creative.

The hill top ranch was beautiful, and this was on the pool.

How awesome would this be for a wedding?

We took four amazing classes (weaving, watercolor, paper flowers and image transfer). The classes were hosted by Michaels education partner, Creativebug. My first class was weaving which I really loved. I think I found a new hobby. I even worked on mine on the plane.

My next class was image transfer and then from there I went to paper flowers.

Everyone else’s paper flowers turned out amazing,but it was a fun class. I might have needed a little instructor help with mine. 🙂

We had some break times in the ranch.

I can’t tell you how beautiful it was especially with all of the little touches Michaels added.

This outdoor lounging area was so peaceful The thing that amazed me the most is there were no sounds but nature sounds. No traffic, no airplanes, just the birds and the wind.

I also loved the watercolor class by Yao Chang, whose work I have admired for a long time. She’s pretty awesome in person.

Even though I normally work in Gouache and  Acrylic, It was fun to try my hand at a new medium.

It was such a great weekend to get my creative juices flowing.

So before I go I have to tell you about these two girls.

Barbara was my roommate and I just loved her. I know I have  new friend for life now. We had so much in common and spent every night just talking. She is as beautiful inside as she is outside.

And this girl, Bridget,well, we found out we are almost related! She is an in-law of on of my cousins. How crazy is that? And she lives about 40 minutes from me!

You just never know!

It was a great time.The classes were really fun, and you can take the classes we took too!

Each of the classes are available online for FREE on Michaels.com until 8/22 (you can re-create one or all of our summit projects)!

You can also visit the

Michaels Makers landing page

and the

Meet the Makers page

and see who all of the other Makers are. In case you haven’t met all 50 of this year’s Makers, check out each of our blogs and bios here! Follow along throughout the year and feel free to create projects with us by sharing on Instagram using #MadeWithMichaels.

Thank you again Michaels for a fun and beautiful trip! I can’t wait to spend a year of making!

 As a #MichaelsMaker I am compensated for my posts