I have been so blessed in the last 6 months to meet some really talented and wonderful people in the art industry. As you know from this post I blogged about in February.. I was fortunate a few months ago at CHA, to finally meet two people that I TRULY admire. Shea and Debbie from A Gilded Life.
Shea and Debbie are a mother daughter team.. BOTH extremely talented, who restored a church (16000 sq feet mind you!!)into this beautiful wonderful art retreat center, studio, home and store. Each spring they hold an art retreat in this church.. called The Art of Spring.. and this year.. at CHA they invited ME to come as their GUEST!
You should have seen the look of total shock, surprise.. excitement.. GRATITUDE when they asked me to come! They told me they wanted me to come as their guest.. nothing else.. no teaching, no demoing.. to just come and enjoy their company.. and be spoiled by them. I seriously admit I cried a little bit. I was blown away by their thoughtfulness AND generosity. I have been a HUGe fan of theirs for a while now.. and have longed to go to one of their art retreats in this beautiful church. ANd now to come as their guest and to be spoiled by them? I don't think I know what that feels like.. so I may just have to help with the dishes or something! lol
but I am SOOOOO excited! I also get to go with one of my closest friends.. Margie .. so this is an extra special treat! I told them I would love to donate an original art canvas to giveaway at the retreat.. so last night I spent several hours in my garage painting this sweet girl.. I sketched her out a little while ago and have been waiting patiently to have time to paint her.. so I was so happy to be able to steal a few minutes of "quiet time" last night in the wee hours of the morning to paint her. ANd now I am super excited to be able to give her away to a special someone.. at the retreat! She reads
She listened to her soul
She's painted on an 8"x8" deep edge canvas.. I seriously am in love with her.. probably because of what she means to me. Its inspired by my sister Tia. totally in love with that girl right now and all the wonderful awesome choices she is making. (love you sis)
so I am excited to bring this little canvas with me to giveaway.. AND to bring my prints to sell at Vendor Night Saturday night! Nervous but exciting!
So.. have been CRAZY busy getting the 3 Hearts workshop all done and loaded before I leave.. it takes almost 2 hours of "processing time" to load each video.. and that is if there are no "glitches" process.. so for the last week I have been patiently (and not so patiently) uploading all of week 3's videos into the workshop. I wish they could just magically appear!! Lol.. but as soon as I can get that done today (along with the June kits going live, returning emails, packaging all my prints, packing clothes, and stuf for the retreat) I am going to drive down to Utah to meet up with Margie to catch my flight to Dallas early in the AM.. I am just hoping to get out of here before midnight! :) just kidding.. well kinda not. But 7 or 8 would be nice too :)
so that is where I am headed.. and will be until next monday! I don't have time to post any "blog" posts for while I am gone.. so I will try and blog from the road on my new mini Laptop (thanks to my hubby ben for mother's day). So watch for updates from the trip!
Speaking of the trip! I saved the best part for last.. so you may know (or not know.. if you didn't read this post here) that Shea and Debbie also have a wonderful monthly kit club. Their kits are full of all things vintage and beautiful. I have seen them in person and oh my heck.. crazy goodness inside of those yummy packages. And guess what? As celebration for their Art of Spring retreat starting this week.. they are letting me giveaway one of their May kits "The Floral Life" on my blog!!
Here are some pictures of the goodness someone will receive..
oh I am actually kinda jealous right now! lol
so.. what do you need to do? All you have to do to be entered is to post on today's blog post! That's it! And I will draw and announce the winner next week when I get home!
So cool of them to give this stash away.. they simply rock.
So! I am off! I hope you all have a wonderful week.. now I better get to my to do list so I can show up at margie's before my flight tomorrow! lol
happy Wednesday!
Such a wonderful, deserved extra special
treat for you to be on the receiving end...
enjoy the freedom.Love the Total cuteness of your canvas girl. xx
Posted by: Donna Burrows | June 05, 2011 at 07:29 PM
OMG! you are one lucky girl... enjoy. Love there stuff and we are so lucky to have the opportunity to win one since these kits are hard to come by. Love the canvas!
Posted by: Pam | June 05, 2011 at 07:01 PM
Oh my goodness! What a kit!
Have a wonderful trip.
Posted by: Pam | June 05, 2011 at 04:16 PM
Have a wonderful, inspiring, relaxing time just basking in the goodness! You give so much of yourself--now it's time to receive.
Posted by: Susan | June 05, 2011 at 03:04 PM
what a wonderful retreat and beautiful restored church. I am so jealous right now. :). I hope you are having a great time. Thank you for the chance to win.
Posted by: Gina Lideros | June 05, 2011 at 09:52 AM
I saw pics of this getaway on Suze Weinberg's blog. Sooooooooo awesome! You lucky thang!!!
Posted by: Maggie Johnson | June 05, 2011 at 09:31 AM
What a beautiful and amazing gift to be given. Enjoy every moment of it. There are some gorgeous souls in this world.
Posted by: Karen | June 05, 2011 at 08:21 AM
Have a fun time on your trip. Thanks for the opportunity to win this kit. I absolutely love your new girl canvas. Great job!
Posted by: Debbie | June 05, 2011 at 08:04 AM
oh love those girls. love their kits. have an amazing time. enjoy being pampered. your canvas is gorgeous.
Posted by: laura huffman | June 05, 2011 at 08:03 AM
Beautiful canvas Christie! Hope you have a wonderful trip can't wait to read what you did!
Posted by: Amy | June 05, 2011 at 06:29 AM
I hope you have a wonderful time you lucky girl! xoxo
Posted by: Debbie | June 05, 2011 at 06:00 AM
This is so beautiful! Have fun this weekend.
Posted by: marion | June 04, 2011 at 09:56 PM
oh my gosh! I've never seen their stuff before and I seriously am in LUST! I went and looked at last month and my head was spinning and my heart was pounding! I read that they had 3 spots last month for a 3 month commitment and holy boy, I prolly would have jumped had I seen that then! So gorgeous! I'd love a little bit o' that! And how FUN for you! I hope you enjoy yourself and FORGET THE DISHES! Just let yourself be loved. Your soul needs (and deserves!) that!
Posted by: sara | June 04, 2011 at 09:33 PM
Lucky you to get to go!! Have fun!! And those kits are sooooooooooo gorgeous!!!
Posted by: Emily Hammann | June 04, 2011 at 09:29 PM
This would be so perfect. June 1st is my birthday. I am having such a great time. My DH took the whole week off to celebrate with me. I am trying to keep up with my 3 hearts but may have to be a bit behind. What a great life.
Posted by: Ami | June 04, 2011 at 09:16 PM
Hope you had a relaxing and creative weekend. Looking forward to seeing your creations.
Posted by: Nancy K | June 04, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Have an amazing inspirational trip! I can tell you are a girl who really deserves to be spoiled!
Posted by: misty | June 04, 2011 at 07:13 PM
Have a grat time!! The kit looks like so much fun!
Posted by: Kim | June 04, 2011 at 04:06 PM
Have a great time, I am sure you will enjoy yourself. Look forward to the on the road updates.
Posted by: RachyRach | June 04, 2011 at 04:00 PM
Goodness ... you're in my town. Wish I was invited, too! Have a blast!
Posted by: SuZeQ | June 04, 2011 at 02:45 PM