The Creative Connection

I know this seems unrelated, but bear with me. Last year when we went to Minnesota for The Creative Connection Event, I was reminded of a summer geology program that I participated in as a college student. I was one of the only female geology students at my own college and this summer program represented a chance to spend time with young women from various colleges, sharing dinners together and studying geology. I remember feeling such a thrill to be among people who spoke the same language, thought the same way. Well, that was another lifetime ago, but there was a similar feeling about The Creative Connection Event. Every corner and room seemed filled with the buzz of women talking and sharing and laughing and creating.
And we didn’t even get to the main course! As vendors our time and attention was spent in the Handmade Market, tending our own table, but also browsing all the delights that everyone else had to offer. Booth displays were consistently delightful and inspiring. We also enjoyed meeting new and returning customers. An early customer kind of set the tone for the whole event: She came up to our table early on during preview night and she looked kind of familiar to me. Turns out that she and her friend had been through Madison in the summer and they absolutely loved our shop (she repeatedly told me that she thought she dropped a LOT of money there…). She was super excited to see that we were vendors when she got the brochure for the event, and she had made it a point to come straight to our booth to tell us again how much she loved our shop. Wasn’t that sweet?!

It was quite a thrill to be among the presence of so many crafty superstars like the Crafty Chica, Amy Butler, Amy Barickman (and, by the way, the women at the Indygo Junction booth made me so jealous with their awesome ensembles of leggings paired with barkcloth jackets and tunics – so stylish!)… oh, I could go on dropping names forever. Not to mention the overall warm and creative and sharing and encouraging atmosphere.

The lovely Deandra came to help us out with set up and pack up, as well as with chauffering Sachi around to all the shops. Seriously, isn’t she lovely? With her help, we packed up in record time. It definitely helped to use suitcases for both displaying and packing.

In addition to selling items and advertising the store, we were able to connect with so many vendors, do a little personal shopping, be inspired by all the creativity, and do a little networking. We also found a few new items for the shop: some great key necklaces with initials, some fun felted flower pins, sweet owl ornaments… and other items too. In all, our first experience of the Creative Connection was very positive and we are looking forward to returning again this year.