I'm back!!!

and I've been ~*~*~BeLLaFieD~*~*~

Silver Bella was so much fun!!! I arrived in Omaha on Friday afternoon. I got into the hotel shuttle at the airport and a very friendly woman asked, "are you Artsymama?" I giggled and said yes! It's the first time I've ever been recognized from my blog by a total stranger. I knew this was going to be a fun weekend:) Candice (the kind stranger) and I ended up hanging out in The Old Market area of Omaha for a few hours before the festitivies began. We walked in and out of a few fun stores and had a wonderful macaroon. It was fun chatting and getting to know each other more. We lead very different lives, but share a passion for vintage mixed media art that we could talk about for days.

Storefront in the quaint Old Market area.

We got back to the hotel and rested a bit. Then we headed down to the "opening night" festivities. We had been encouraged to wear our jammies and some people went really all out! I put on my fancy slippers (above) and my "It's a charmed life" ME jammies and headed down.

Here I am enjoying my welcome packet of fun goodies and of course, glitter galore!! We did a group project, then it was time to oooh and aahhh at the goodies for sale at the Bella Boutique. Here are some goodies (below) that Teresa McFayden was selling. Soooo lovely:) I bought some really neat Halloween goodies (of course) from Cari Kraft.

Me and the ~*BeLLa*~ girl herself, Teresa McFayden. It was so fun to meet her!! After a fun night of getting inspired, I went to bed dreaming about what lay ahead!!
I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to start the day at Pam Garrison's Two Turtle Doves swag class. Here's my table set-up (above) with the class kit, a box of chocolates from Pam and my Silver Bella journal:)Here is a picture of the gorgeous class sample, the instructions and (of course) more chocolates!Here I am working hard on my swag:)YAY...finally got to meet Ms. Garrison for the first time!!! My next class was called Express Yourself and was taught by Becky Novaeck. We made these wonderfully creative canvas pieces. It was fun to see everyone's interpretations of the theme.After lunch I did another class with Pam (I know, lucky..lucky girl!!) called The Stockings Were Hung.Took another fun class with Becky called Be Jolly! and made an adorable little shadowbox ensemble.
I ended the night with a fantastic vintage style shadowbox project with Carolyn Peeler called Children of Christmas Past.

I went to bed with visions of creative projects dancing in my head. I was so overwhelmed (in a wonderfully good way) with how fantastic this weekend was for me. It was the first time I had been away from my hubby and kids in a LONG time and was the perfect kind of break to have. A day full of amazing teachers and art. I made some wonderful new friends that share a passion for the same kind of expression and lead such interesting lives!! I found out about these amazing calendars too!! How much fun can a girl have in 48 hours!?! What a fabulous ~*BeLLa*~ weekend it was!!!!

P.S. Now that you've heard about the journey, you're probably wondering what the finished products look like! I will put the finishing touches on them and will be posting photos very soon of all the goodies:)