Summit of Awesome!!!

For the last few days, I've been wallowing in crafty goodness with some serious superstars. Hello Craft held their annual Summit of Awesome in Baltimore, a mere 15 minutes from my house!



This conference was geared to crafters of all sorts...jewelry makers, graphic artists, printers, knitters, etc. etc. etc. Some sell at craft fairs, some online, some both. Caitlin Phillips of Rebound Designs (shown above) makes the coolest book purses. She is a great teacher, too, and I loved hearing her tips for setting up booths and interacting with customers.




I met several kindred spirits from the world of science and technology. Richard is super-smart paleontologist/cartoonist from Ithaca, New York. His adorable fiancee Kelly is a screen printer and all-around crafty gal. Together, they form Our Secret Treehouse, which has the coolest critter-themed items. They specialize in woodland creatures and dinosaurs (of course), but they also dabble in undergarments :) .



I scored this great triceratops button for Louie - RAWR! Don't you love the raised brow? If you live in Upstate NY, definitely be on the lookout for them at craft fairs.




I couldn't resist hugging up on some of my crafty heros, and of course I had to get photographic evidence of my dorkiness. Pictured above is THE Scoutie Girl, Tara Gentile. In her talk, she did a fantastic job explaining SEO (search engine optimization) in simple, human terms.




I remember watching the first season of Project Runway and thinking "Gosh, I'd love to hang out with Jay!" He is such a honey, and even though he is a high-fashion icon, he has the soul of a crafter. It was so much fun being in sessions with him, and he gave a side-splitting keynote address on Friday. Check out his website to see all the fabulous things he is up to.




I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Kari Chapin. She wrote The Handmade Marketplace, which has been a bestseller for almost 2 years now. She gave a brilliant workshop about goals and intentions. I came away with a lot of tools that will hopefully make me more productive and organized. I actually got up and blogged today, so I must be inspired!

Jay actually took that picture of us, and my camera wasn't cooperating. He said "It isn't working" and I said "Make it work." He didn't seem amused...imagine that.




In between sessions, I got to play around with yarn, felt, and fabric in the "Make Something Awesome" area.



Button making is addictive. I knocked out a few Christmas presents at that table.

On the last day of the Summit, I had a one-on-one shop critique with Cheyne Little and Danielle Maveal from Etsy (Cheyne heads up teams and Danielle leads seller education...they are dynamite). They gave me some very helpful feedback, so I'll be able to make the listings more concise and the shop easier to navigate. I also found out that I should be linking to my shop in blog posts, so here ya go!




I had my guys in tow, so they experienced the awesomeness while waiting for the children's museum across the street to open. Honestly, they would have been content to make pom-poms all day.




After the summit, the family took a water taxi ride to lunch across the harbor. Can you tell someone is proud of his pom-pom? He is definitely the most huggable crafter I've ever met.