School House Craft 2012

I attended School House Craft, a three-day conference to educate crafty people to succeed in their creative business. It was in Seattle last weekend, and it was chock-full of educational creative goodness.

My brain is full.

But a good kind of full.

Where do I even start? While I am (obviously) not going to cover everything I learned, the conference did two things for me and my business:

1:: made me realize I have a pretty good thing going on with my shop, and

2:: I have a LOT to do to make it even better.

I met a CRAPLOAD of amazing creative people. I wanted to kidnap them all and take them home. Being among people who are also striving for a creative life helped refuel my energy in a way that online could never accomplish. 

One of the creative folks who really stood out was Steph Cortes, of nerdJERK. If she could bottle her personality and sell it, she would make a gazillion dollars. Seriously. She was the funny, crass, bubbly person I’d like to think I am, and she taught the Etsy Shop Tune Up class, and I. Got. Served. While yes, I did sign up to get my little shop critiqued, she went above and beyond with helpful tips without sugarcoating it.

And her shop? Flippin’ awesome. The geek in me can see the dollar signs floating from my own bank account and into Paypal, buying all the things in her shop.

I also made some cool shit, including this uber hodgepodge nametag:

Googly eye FTW! I also learned to work with felted wool. The Joy Guild had a table chock-full of nifty crafty supplies to create your own DIY nametag for the conference, and to learn a thing or two. Lots of fellow conference-goers were seen painting, sewing, or learning something new, like I did. I made this guy:

Wonky, but cute. RAWR! So in addition to keeping your eyes peeled for even more new items in my shop, keep your eyes open for some changes- ‘cuz they’re a comin’!