FANCY SHMANCY: WATERCOLOR

In case you didn't know, my business partner, Jenny, is SUPER talented. Not only is she a great designer but she's also an incredible artist. Ever since we first met in college, I have always loved seeing her work, exploring her sketchbooks, and watching her pass the time in web-design class with an illustrator drawing of our campus. She is especially great at portraiture and landscapes. Every time I go over to her apartment I love looking at all of her work everywhere. :) She is also the type of person that's not afraid to try new things. She picked up some watercolors a couple months ago after getting the itch to develop her skills and created some beautiful wildlife pieces. I just love the little fawn and the hawk! She's planning on doing watercolor portraiture soon. I might just slip her a photo of Jon and me...

Check out Jenny's society6 shop here. :)

WEEKLY WRAP-UP

This week has been amazing. Jenny and I announced our event, The Maiedae Mixer, which we are SUPER excited about hosting in June. :) We went to Greenville over the weekend, I mentioned my trip to SC and shared photos here if you'd like to take a look. :) Last week was also filled with design work for several clients. I'm amazed and blessed everyday by how much work Maiedae is bringing in. I'm also so stoked about all of the inspiring clients we get to work with. I love it! This week is also a big week for me. I'm preparing for some big changes, which I will share soon, as well as a big trip with my 9-5 job. There's ALOT going on between now and the 15th of February. I've got some guest posts lined up while I'm out of the country as well as some goodies planned for the rest of this week. February is a BIG month!!

Snapshot(s) of the Week: 1// Morning tunes and kitty photo-bombs. My life is a kitty photo-bomb. 2// Hanging out with husband and Kaito before leaving for Greenville. 3// At the conference, camera never leaves my side. 4// Craft night project, terrarium with adorable hand-made houses via Crave Studio.

5 Favorite Posts:
* The Makers Summit Was Awesome by Indie Craft Parade (featuring some of my photos!)
* Social Media & The Vine App by Moorea Seal
* Making a House a Home by Skunkboy
* Clara Conversations by Young House Live
* What I Wore in Greenville by Jenny Highsmith 

Favorite Blog of the Week:
* Southern Blog Society - Love this new collaborative blog for southeast region bloggers! We're a small community over here so it's awesome seeing people take ownership of building up the community! If you're in the southeast region, make sure to become a member of SBS!

Inspiring Me this Week:
* Cha-cha-cha-cha-channnggees!

3 Things About Yours Truly:
* I am an extroverted-introvert.
* I used to wear 3-4 eyeshadow colors at once, usually very bright and shimmery!
* I wear a size 8 shoe! Which is a little large for a 5'3" lady. Right?

CAPTURED: MAKERS SUMMIT

Today will go down in the books as being one of my favorite days of the year. Jenny and I left last night for Greenville, SC, to attend The Makers Summit. The group of ladies that put this event on, as well as The Indie Craft Parade shows, are phenomenal. I always leave every event they put on feeling excited, taken care of, and marking my calendar for the next excuse I can have to road trip with Jenny up to Greenville.

In short, The Makers Summit is a "one day business conference for the art, craft & design world." We had amazing keynote speakers like Stephen Fraser (co-founder of Spoonflower), Grace Kang (creator of Pink Olive and Olive Box) and Kimm Alfonso (community outreach director for Etsy). We also had a handful of amazing panelists who are creative entrepreneurs making big things happen. One of my favorites was Barb Blair of Knack Studio, also known for her amazing furniture painting on Design*Sponge. We ate delicious food from local restaurants, got to network with some amazing people, promoted our design business, and took advantage of photo worthy opportunities via instagram (@maiedae) and my handy dandy camera. ;)

We ended the night with "the best craft party ever", had a delicious dinner, drinks, got to try our hand at some screen-printing, talked with lots of people about their business, and did some serious crafting time. I can't wait to go back to Greenville soon and spend some more time exploring downtown and the arts district.

Here are a few shots from our night:

If you ever get the opportunity to attend a networking event or conference that's relevant for your business or life, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's worth every penny and truly is a great way to get your name out there and learn valuable information. PLUS you can make a fun little mini-vacation trip out of it. ;)

ANNOUNCING: THE MAIEDAE MIXER!

Jenny and I are incredibly excited to announce that we will be hosting the first annual Maiedae Mixer!! This event has been in the planning stages for the last several months and we are stoked about making this first announcement and putting together a spectacular party!

What's The Maiedae Mixer? The Mixer is a "Get Fancy. Get Connected" event for bloggers. It's a time to pamper yourself, meet creatives and best of all, dress up! Basically it's one big networking evening with food, music, swag, giveaways, crafts, a photo-booth and some face to face mingling with new friends.

Why The Mixer? Let's face it, the blogging community in the Southeast Region is a *little* small. We wanted to start meeting other amazing blogging ladies and create an event that we can all look forward to every year. One of our favorite things is meeting new people, so let's dress up and make a party out of it! Besides, we all need a reason to get a little fancy and wear some lipstick. ;)

I Wanna Go! What are the Details?! The first Mixer will be held on the evening of June 1, 2013 in downtown Rome, Georgia. Early bird tickets will go on sale March 1st for $95.00. Your ticket will cover the event, including; food & drinks, crafting, photo-boothing, swag goodies and your name entered into several giveaways throughout the night. We will only be selling 50 tickets, so be sure to mark your calendar for March 1st to purchase your ticket! We'll be officially announcing the THEME of the first Mixer in April so you can go out and buy your outfit...and we've got a great theme!! ;) More details as the event gets closer can be found at: www.maiedaemixer.com 

We are thrilled about this new yearly endeavor for Maiedae and we can't wait to meet all of your beautiful faces!! Check back on my blog, Jenny's blog and the Facebook page throughout the next couple months leading up to the event for sneak peeks, announcements, features and details!! If you want to tweet about it or ask any questions use hashtag: #maiedaemixer on twitter!