A positive influence.

Christy Tomlinson is a Mixed Media super-star. I met her in April when I was lucky enough to go to a She Matters retreat at her house in Idaho. I had such a wonderful time and we really bonded. So having her come to my house a few months later was like a dream. 

We organised two retreats at my place and they sold out within 20 minutes! ( The funny thing is, Christy and I decided all of this when I was in the States. We casually announced the workshop on Facebook, and my Angus, sleeping away in Australia woke up to a million emails from people wanting to get on the wait list. He had no idea what was going on lol!)

This adorable, talented girl doesn’t wait around – she’s like me, if something feels right, then off we go!

So for the last week and a bit, I have had not just Christy, but her hubby Ben and two of her 6 kiddos staying with me. It’s been full of art, laughs, shopping and the occasional snake!

Christy and I are both at home with a ‘Selfie’! These are some of my faves from the last week ( there were many!).Unfortunately we both have the same ‘ good side’, so there was always a little tussling on who got to stand where lol!

After a day to acclimatise, Christy started the first workshop. It was full of lovely ladies. I had a ball creating this ‘Quilt girl.’  and here is our first She Matters at the Nest group!

And with the first workshop wrapped up, our week long art fest commenced! We went down to my Studio and collected up a bunch of lovely papers and made journals. I was rocking my jumbo-sized Gelli plate and  Christy made some giant foam stamps!

( that feather is made from paper – I bought it at the Bangalow markets and painted it)
We worked in our journals all week in amongst outings to markets, Byron Bay and the best Nachos in the Universe ( Miss Margaritas in Byron Bay – wow!).I applied some of the techniques from Christy’s class into my journal , pushed the boundaries this way and that. Sometimes we talked each others ears off. Sometimes we sang to music, sometimes we just created quietly in each others company. It was MAGIC!!!! Real food for the soul.

We had an unwelcome visitor! Ben named him ‘Pete the Python’. He was around 2m long, and quite beautiful as far as snakes go. I was so impressed when Christy kept on creating, while the big python slept above our heads. We also had welcome visitors! Allie and Preston Tomlinson joined  the art tables from time to time – in between trips to trapeze lessons and water parks! (Here is Miss Allie looking super cool – love this girl!):Sometimes Ben would even paint with us – in between golf and mowing lawns with Angus. When Christy calls him a ‘goofball’, believe her. You should have seen him trying to herd the snake away from us when it woke up in the evening… hilarious!

  And my dear little Miss Sophie dropped in to visit her Aunty Jane. What a joy she is! Of course the doglettes were never far away. Tinsel made friends with Christy, but Moo was a favourite with the kids. Moo is going to miss them!

The week flew past so quickly! And before I knew it, our guests were arriving for the next workshop. This one was 2 days and most of the girls have become wonderful art friends with each other and with me. So I knew Christy was in for a treat!

Heidy, Mons and Anne all came to my first Escape Artist Retreat in Bali and have remained friends. I love seeing their faces!

Monika and I hamming it up in between talking about our weird doll collections!

Robyn and Di photo-bombing my sunshine selfies! lol! The ever-adorable Christy enthralling us with her story and accent.

Works in progress drying in the sun…

Beauties were everywhere!

I created my Flower Girl straight into my journal… I love her!

And on to day 2! Quilt girls!Look at my cute friend!

I was so lucky to sit in on all the classes. Angus and Fiona did all the work in the kitchen and hospitality areas, and I just got to be the Hostess with the Mostess! And make art, art, art…plus talk everyone’s ears off… and sneak away with their spare pretty papers….

This girl went home with Christy!

And Christy’s girls stayed with me:

Yes, I am a lucky, lucky girl!

And I just know all of these girls feel the same way. Having Christy with us was just a total joy.

And the best news? She had such a great time, she is already committed to coming back next year.  AWESOME!

OK one more Selfie just to show you how I felt about the whole experience!

Thank goodness, I am back in Idaho with Christy in April. I’ll be teaching an that retreat sold out in 10 minutes!

Life is wonderful and I’m sending all my spare sunshine to you!

xoxox

Jane/Danger

p.s how flaming CUTE is my hat!

pp.s ok – one more SELFIE… heh it’s my blog and I’ll Selfie if I want to lol!!!!