Art is You Petaluma 2015

 I spent a magical weekend at Art is You in Petaluma, CA last weekend.  I took two full day workshops you can read about HERE and HERE.  One of the fun aspects of art retreats  is "swaps".  It is completely optional, but if you want to get in on the cool trades (like the awesome selection you can see here), you can make some small thing to share with the ladies you meet at the event.  I received several charms, a needle felted  book mark, an ATC, some inspirational words and pendants.

 Last Easter i made a bunch of silk flowers with my niece you can read about HERE.  I had quite a few circles already cut out so i decided to use them to make simple flowers for my swap.  About an hour later, all the petals have been melted with a candle (in as safe an environment as you can - ie cookie sheet, non-tippy candle, long tongs) ready to stack.

 In the interest of speed i used embroidery thread and a little button to create a simple attachment.  A small circle of felt on the bottom for a "stem".

 I added a simple card with my blog name using a safety pin.

 Here are the swaps made by a women i met at the  event.  We could choose from a fridge magnet or a pendant.  see  how fun this is!!  Thanks to all the gals I met and swapped with!

 On saturday morning there was a casual gathering called the Morning Motivator.  In honour of the Australian  memorial day we made poppies.  It was also to commemorate the passing of a couple of friends/artists to the event.  We were given a simple paper wrapped wire and told to make a circle at the bottom.  then two or three circles of red paper were passed out.  poke the wire through the middle, and voila - you have a pretty  flower.

 Here i am with my buddies Z and K and our flowers.  They used the flowers to decorate the tables at the luncheon.

 Speaking of flowers - aren't these amazing!?!  K gave them to Z as a thank you for putting her up for the weekend.  Those yellow stunners look good enough to eat!

The Sheraton Petaluma hosted the event - i had this lovely view for one of my classes.  Please check out my posts about the workshops i took with Diana Frey and Michael DeMeng.