Craftcation in Retrospect

Craftcation-11-Design Crush

Photo: Matthew William Photography

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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Craftcation in Ventura, California. I’d met one of the organizers – Nicole Stevenson – over the course of several other conferences and was flattered when she asked me to sit on panels about advanced social media and keeping track of your time.

 

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Kelly of Studio DIY was kind enough to play driver to Brittni of Paper & Stitch and myself after picking us up at LAX. It was a fast trip up to Ventura – fueled by Cadbury Mini Eggs – where we were welcomed by a hotel full of washi taped walls and tons of fun little details.

 

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There were three definite highlights of the trip for me, the first was seeing Brittni work her magic for a floral accessories workshop she was teaching. Riding in the car with buckets of flowers, then seeing them in her room for a few days confirmed my belief that they do a mind good.

 

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Second was a crazy craft libation tour I went on Thursday afternoon. (That’s the cool thing about Craftcation, it’s not all about crafting but rather making in all of its forms.) About thirty of us piled into a shuttle and were driven around Ventura, stopping at four different spots – Ventura Limoncello Company, Surf Brewery, Plan B Wine Cellars, and Ventiki. I’d say it was a success based on the fact that the shuttle got louder after each location.

 

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Craftcation-11-Design Crush

 

Lastly, Friday night ten of us headed out for a dinner which didn’t go quite as planned but was a blast nonetheless. I got to spend some much needed time with friend and keynote speaker Lisa Congdon and met two other amazing ladies in the process. After exploring a little of the downtown area we hung out at the Busy Bee Cafe, eating the requisite fare and drinking.

 

Craftcation-12-Design Crush

Photo: Matthew William Photography

Craftcation-13-Design Crush

Photo: Matthew William Photography

My two panels were held back-to-back that Friday on the top floor – that view! I’m always nervous speaking to a crowd full of non-bloggers when it comes to social media, but I think the crowd in attendance got something out of it. And I think i was able to inject a dose of reality to the time management panel with my off-kilter methods. At least I made them laugh!

Saturday morning Kelly, Brittni, and Brittany of The House That Lars Built (As an aside, Kelly and I and Brittni and Brittany were assigned rooms together. Hilarity ensued.) headed back to L.A. and said goodbye to the sleepy town of Ventura. My soul was happy.

 

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Photo: Matthew William Photography

2 Comments
  • kate

    April 22, 2014 at 12:38 pm Reply

    looks like a ton of fun!

  • Uncle Beefy

    May 9, 2014 at 12:20 am Reply

    Gawd, I’m so bummed I had to miss this. BUMMED! But at least I got to live it vicariously. Hopefully, next year we’ll get to whoop it up together, K.!

    p.s. – Can you tell I’m trying to get caught up on my blog reading? Beefy come lately!

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