Paint a mandala at the Summit of Awesome!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be one of the guest speakers at the upcoming Hello Craft Summit of Awesome. It's the second annual summit and it's being held in Portland!

Please click this link for all the details including how to register and a full list of amazing speakers, including some of my heroes like Sister Diane, Susan Beal, and Rebecca Pearcy, fellow Trillium Artisans like Stephanie Weber, Lee Meredith, and Amanda Siska, and local genius friends from DIY Lounge, Crafty Wonderland, and Frock.

I'm also looking forward to meeting Danielle from Etsy, Kari Chapin (author of the new book The Handmade Marketplace), Jena from Modish, and, well, EVERYONE! It's really going to be an amazing event and I am so honored to be included. You can find the full schedule here.

I'll be speaking on two panels. "Green Craft: Sourcing Materials and Business Practices" with Becky Streipe and Stephanie Weber at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, June 16. I'll also be discussing "The Creative Community" with various local leaders including Cathy + Torie from Crafty Wonderland at 1:45 pm on Friday, June 18.

But the thing I'm most excited about (well, besides the fact that I get to attend the conference for free!) is the workshop I'll be leading - Mandalas on Vinyl Records! This will be happening on Friday, June 18 at 11 am.

I'm so pleased that they asked me to lead this workshop. It's going to be so much fun - and it will be so DIFFERENT from the majority of crafty make-and-take type workshops that you usually see. Most of these things don't usually involve painting. Painting seems to be a craft that kind of gets left out of the general crafty world - it's mostly glue, scissors, needle & thread, right? Well, if you take my workshop, you will actually get to do some painting with acrylics and it will be super fun. Maybe some crafters are a little apprehensive about trying this kind of craft because they've never picked up a paintbrush before...but just let me assure you that not only will it be easy, but you will be blown away by the beautiful design you will create.

Maybe it would be easier to explain this with examples. Here are a bunch of photos from mandala classes I've taught over the years with kids and adults alike. As you can see, they are all fabulous.



So if you are attending the summit, I hope you'll paint a mandala with me!