summit of awesome round up

Ok. I'm probably the last person to post pictures from the Summit of Awesome last month in Portland. That just means that it was really that good though, because once we got home, we were still rolling around in inspiration and good ideas! I spent the drive home whipping out to do lists on the hotel memo pad with bullet points of things to make, new product lines, wholesaling, streamlining Got Craft and so much crafty goodness that I took a whole 2 days to recover from. I say two, because day one was spent feeling lost that I wasn't at the Summit anymore and day two was spent reeling everything, so that the crazy scribbles in the back of the car actually made some sense.


Miranda, Robert and I woke up inhumanly early a few weeks ago and drove down to Portland to make sure that we got there by noon to start the afternoon sessions. We arrived at McMenamins Kennedy School, which warrants a post of its own, where we started the conference by making your own name badge. I know right?! There was no "Hello, my name is", stickers anywhere in sight. In its place, was buckets of felt, embroidery floss, needles, buttons, glue and other crafty supplies galore to show everybody what crafty delights you could whip up!


The Summit was three days of business classes, workshops and mentoring sessions. Some sessions that Rob and I participated in included 'Getting Press for your Business', 'Craft Booth Set Up', 'Legalities of Starting Your Business', 'The Story of My Paper Crane', 'Brick and Morter': how to run a brick & mortar shop', 'Wholesaling' and 'Writing and Publishing with Susan Beal' (pictured above).


The evenings were filled with lots of networking opportunities including a party at the Land Gallery in North Mississippi. The Black Apple was currenty the resident artist and I was so happy to be able to see her work in person! Not to mention that she sat next to me during the session "The Story of Modish" * ahem * * squeal *


Then it was Robert's turn to nerd out when we had a tour of the Buy Olympia warehouse. Below is a picture of Pat mid-conversation during the backstage tour.


Had so much fun at this event! Need to stop gushing and tackle the 1001 things on the to do list. Would anybody be interested to attend something like this in Vancouver? A 1 or 2 day meet up with informational sessions, networking and workshops focused on handmade culture? Chime in!