What a wonderful weekend!
Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat was so much fun.
The flurry of activity began on Thursday night
with a meet and greet
and the opportunity to swap creations
with other cowgirls.
I joined only one swap, knowing that vacation
and preparing to teach a class
would have to take precedence.
The swap I joined was Mendy's
Blossom Swap #1.
I created brightly colored blooms from
tag stock and inks.
Bandana tied bags contained a flower for each participant.
The bandana tied cigar boxes were created to hold kits for
each of my jewelry class students.
I also created coordinating tags with the cowgirl theme.
Meet and greet was wild and fun!
Ann-Denise Anderson created this cowgirl
outfit completely from crepe paper!
Below, yeh, that's me (with the braces) and Ann-Denise, the
Queen of Crepe Paper!
Many cowgirls graciously allowed me
to take their photos.
Tina Wright, cofounder of Paper Cowgirl, was represented
by her beautiful daughter, Nicole, who kindly
posed before tables filled with bags for 82 cowgirls, a
testament to the success of her mother's and Cindy Mayfield's
dream of Paper Cowgirl Altered Retreat,
which has doubled its size each year since the debut retreat.
We missed Tina dearly and found comfort with the presence of
her husband, Will, and her daughter, who arrived to
represent their beloved and her beautiful artwork.
They have established a memorial scholarship fund in Tina's name.
~*~
Friday was spent assisting Cindy with the whirlwind of activity
at Paper Cowgirl.
Friday evening was spent dining with many fellow cowgirls at
The Catfish Plantation!
The dark skies and ensuing storm in Waxahachie
added to the mystery that
surrounds the Victorian style house that is
the restaurant....supposedly haunted, I might add.
Several local shops stayed open late on Friday to
welcome shoppers after dinner.
Saturday, my class took place in the early afternoon.
Shown below with sweet Keely Yowler,
is the amazing and lovely Jennifer Stewart, who
so kindly assisted me in setting up and taking care of details
right before and during my class.
Many thanks, dear friend!
She kindly photographed my class setup.
and helped fluff up laces and display the bundle of bling
that students were to choose from as a
focal for their creations.
After class, setup began for vendor night.
I never wore that cowboy hat, so my mannequin
took on that duty, along with sporting
two of my jeweled creations.
More tags, more fun!
Canvases and shadowboxes.
And a view of half of the setup.
Many of the photos I took just did not turn out well,
so my documentation is very limited.
Deb Taylor was the official photographer for the event
and has created a CD documenting the entire event.
Visit the Paper Cowgirl website for a link to purchase a CD.
Thank you to my fellow instructors, my enthusisatic and
fast learning students, and many cowgirl friends as well
as Cindy for making this year's
Paper Cowgirl retreat a
fabulous, funny, colorful, exciting,
and meaningful event
to remember!
