My Experience at Silver Bella

As a girl who has never glittered anything before, you might wonder....why in the world did I sign up for Silver Bella?

  For, at this art retreat in Omaha...
glitter is King...or rather Queen!

Last May, I rather impulsively registered to attend.
I had read quite a lot about the annual art retreat on the blogs of creative women I admired.
  Having just left my longtime career behind I was looking forward to exploring my creative and artistic side
beyond taking photographs for 52 Flea.
Back in January I  attended a Sweater Craft class given locally by the lovely and talented Charlotte Lyons and enjoyed the camaraderie,warm friendship and encouragement extended to me by Charlotte and the girls in this class.
They spoke about Teresa McFayden's  Silver Bella with great enthusiasm.

 When registration time arrived I discovered who the teachers of the varied classes would be...

...names like Lisa Kaus, Charlotte Lyons, Kaari Meng of French General, Sally Jean Alexander, Lynn Whipple, Beth Quinn, Kerry Lynn Yeary, Betz White and Colette Copeland were announced. And then, I found out that Jenny Doh would be the guest speaker at the finale dinner.

And so...I decided to go.

Alone.

 From the first time I entered the forum on the Bella website...
so many women reached out to me.
I was looking forward to meeting these people face to face and to be a part of this community so chock a block full of creative and talented souls.

 I was assigned a Big Bella Sister named Kim Hanauer who emailed me, called me and sent me an inspiration kit to help me get started on my creative journey.
When Kim found out about my Mom's diagnosis she called to share her own experience with her Mom and sent a beautiful tape and book for us to share.

She was the first of many who asked about my Mom.

Women all seem to have a bond as we share so many of life's experiences.

And that was one of the things that I took away from Silver Bella.

Women need other women.

My Mother used to tell us to be good to each other as sisters and nurture the relationships with our girlfriends. 

She knew that we would need to lean on them in years to come and that sometimes only another woman could possibly understand whatever situation we were dealing with.

My Mom is very wise.

 Here are a few other things I learned at Silver Bella:

1. No matter how creative and artistic you are...

...crafting skills need to be learned and practiced!

These ladies have serious skills!

2. Take risks...stretch.

Move out of your comfort zone.

You will be happy you tried!

3. Ask for help.

You will receive it with gracious open hearts.

5. It is not about a perfect end result...
...it is all about the process and the sharing.

Jenny Doh's closing remarks at the finale dinner were both moving and important.

She has posted them to her blog and you can read them HERE.

I enjoyed my weekend at Silver Bella.

I met up with some wonderful blogging friends...

  and I made many new ones.

Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to welcome me, chat a few minutes, lend a helping hand or share a few words of encouragement. Thank you for all those wonderful gifts of charms, chocolate, vintage goodies, supplies and art tips!

I truly appreciate it!

The photos above are not of my crafting projects!

Aren't they all wonderful?

Tomorrow , I will share a few treasures that I found at the

Bella Market on Friday night!

And, oh yes, I learned that I am ready for a Big Girl camera!

Hope all is well in your world !!

:)