The Joy of Swapping

At the Amazing Kim Caldwells last event an Affaire in Wonderland, I decided to participate in a "swap". I did two of them, one a Fat Book swap where I had to make 10 duplicate fabric pages, and they were bound in to one "fat" book. The other was a shadow box swap. I had already created an Alice themed shadow box, but knew it would be very hard to part with. I decided to go for it. My husband asked me, "Now wait a minute, you are going to give someone that box, and you will get one in return? What if the one you get TOTALLY sucks?" I told him, that so many of the artists that attend Kim's events are very talented, I am sure I will not be disappointed! And I WAS NOT disappointed! The person that got to make my shadow box was named Krisha Hartman. She asked me all kinds of questions about myself and reallllly wanted to do a good job and make it special.  Krisha said that she was worried that her work may not be up to par with some of the other artists going. I told her, "Don't worry we ALL feel that way!!" Here is the beautiful shadow box I got from Krisha, it even got a wow from my husband. I also added on the box I gave to Tina Marie Capriotti. I hope Tina loved her as much as I loved mine!

More to come of Alice..... Denise

Affaire In Wonderland- Kim Caldwells Artistic Bliss Event

I can't even begin to start telling about the most amazing weekend I had at the Happiest Place on Earth! The lovely and amazing Kim Caldwell hosted another of her inspiring mixed media art retreats; An Affaire In Wonderland, all centered around an Alice in Wonderland theme! It took place over two days at Disneyland Grand Californian Resort. When one walks into to an Kim Caldwell event, the WOW factor is breathtaking. Everything is handmade and the attention to detail is impeccable! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Tea Pots and cups and dainty Sandwiches!

more cuteness!

This topiary chair was AMAZING! I thought Disney provided them, but alas Kim made all of them (I am sure with some help of her talented friends!)

They made these adorable little button rings for all of us!

all of the chairs had these amazing custom chair backs with our itinerary's in them! And we got to take these home with us.

The Tables

the front of the topiary chair

My tea cup, and we got to take those home too as a gift!

What our lovely tea party had to offer! The lemon tarts were divine!

This wall art was on every wall throughout the room!

Part of the event was attending Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland movie. Our tickets came with this precious pink popcorn and pink taffy! No corners were cut that this event!

more amazing tablescapes (second day)

This bunny was so  precious! Someone bought him after the event, and thought to myself, why didn't I think of doing that!!!

me and Kim in front of the amazing picture taking backdrop they created. 

my name tag

all the goodies we got in this cute little mad hatter box!

The second day will all got these affaire in wonderland canvas bags filled with MORE amazing goodies, as seen below:

Thank you Kim for such a wonderful time. I will tell you I have gone to classes and events where it feels like the purpose is to make a buck, but at Kim Caldwells events I feel like I was invited to a friends home for a party, that of which no expense was spared. Now of course I paid to go to this event, but I always feel like I left getting more then what I paid for, kudos to you and your team Kim!

I have soooooo mucg more to blog about, the classes, the vendors, the people I met.... so stay tuned!

Denise

Back from BettyFest- Keystone Colorado

Vacation was wonderful. Oh how I love the state of Colorado, I never want to leave! We stayed at our friends Tom and Sandie, they have the most amazing tri-level house in Silverthorne, right in the middle of 6 major ski resorts. The first part of my vacation I took a weekend workshop called "BettyFest". We spent the day with our instructor Jerre Smith who was just wonderful. I pulled a "Denise" and forgot my camera charger, so the above photo is the only one I was able to get! I am on the far left, to my left is Sue, she was soo sweet, and super fast on her ski's, then Claudia who oh so wanted to keep up with her kids, I enjoyed hanging back with Claudia and yelling at her to "stand up"! Then there are Betty and Bonnie two local Coloradans who were also so nice to share class with. (Oh by the way when I got home, I was searching for another lost item and realized I DID in fact have my charger!) Not only was Jerre a great teacher but she is quite the watercolor artist, you can see some of her wonderful work here! The next few days I spent skiing away at Vail, Copper Mountain, and Breckenridge. I wished the snow was a little better, but a crusty day of skiing beats work anytime! The only hard part about vacation is missing my doggies, here they are looking out the front door waiting for us!

Now I am on to my next adventure, An Affaire in Wonderland a wonderful group of women that gather together and created amazing works of art all themed around Alice in Wonderland. The event includes going to see the neew Tim Burton movie. I am just too excited! I also created a very cool banner for a giveaway ot the event, here is a sneak peek!

Thats all for now!!! 

Denise