Me with ME in St. Louis-2

Classes at the Mary Englebreit Workshop
Bright and early Friday morning we found our first class and began our exciting learning experience both from the gifted instructors and from each other.  There was an amazing amount of talent in each classroom. It was almost too much to take in.  I was able to take two classes from the talented Michael Mead (Pottery Barn Stylist/Photographer) who taught us how to use modern technology (cameras and computers) to produce our own original art!  He showed us some that he had produced into large framed art pieces to hang on a wall and also a great headboard that will be in his Christmas Magazine.

He is a great antique/auction/flea market hunter and his current magazine shows lots of ways to use them.  I wanted to take all of his wonderful finds home with me and asked him if I could buy any of them.  He just laughed!  Everyone has to hunt for themselves!!
From his amazing array of flea market finds and antique pieces and fresh flowers we could choose any three things to group for our photo shoots.

He photographed them on backgrounds of old book print or old hand written letters.  Then using different washes and effects in Photo Shop, Michael made the items come to life as beautiful pictures which we then made into shadow boxes and gift tags.

 These are some of the gift tags that I made.  The woman next to me was a Calligrapher so she wrote out some sayings for me while I cut some gift tags for her.

In our chandelier class Wendy Addison, our teacher, told us how she tracked down the little tiny town in East Germany to find this amazing sparkly glitter.  It is the only place where it is still made like it has been for many decades--and that it is comprised of real glass and silver!  That is why it tarnishes and eventually becomes almost black.   Wendy is known for her many glitter items and whom I feel is the real Glitter Queen. It took a lot of patience to cut out this shape for our chandelier.

In my Millinery Flowers class taught by Kaari  Meng of French General we used French inspired fabric as she invited us to join her for her Flea Market and Fabric tour she leads in France this next year.

 The flower on the left and the one in the center are the Millinary flowers.  The one on the left is an Award Ribbon that I will show more of tomorrow.

We met wonderful women with like minds to using their creative energy each in her own way.
 We came from all walks of life and from many cities to learn, share, create and make memories.

My new friends here are from NY, New Jersey, Georgia and CA.  We bonded together from the day one and spent memorable time eating, touring, and laughing with them as we shared classes and our histories together.