joyful girl

so i should totally be in bed right now but i am so- i don't even know the word- i'm, like, humming with crazy energy. i just got back from this training weekend that i spent in massachusetts- it was so incredible. i took classes from 8am-9:30pm every day and i learned all this cool shit and met all these cool young scrappy folks and cool old scrappy folks and all kinds of artists and i took so many awesome classes and met so many cool people and did dorky things like asked the ArtGirlz to pose for a photo with me because they are just so f-ing cool and i couldn't help it. meeting them was so cool for me. i love their work so much and i just think they are so fantastic with their kick-ass, make-art feminism and their awesome hair. the ArtGirlz are Allison and Tracy Stilwell, incredible artists who make these amazing charms and collage kits and they create these pieces of jewelry that are kind of like worry dolls and kind of like magical talismans and some of them- the menopausal mavens-have women's names, like Sweaty Betty, and oh they are just the coolest ladies, these two. really sweet and very funny and super talented and wearing the most wonderful clothes ever, really (purple striped tights and jeans, respectively, that were so intricately and wonderfully decorated that i could not possibly do them justice in words- suffice it to say that I want to be an ArtGirl when i grow up). so i made the coolest little book with their stuff- all handmade paper and a weird little queen who hates her crown on the front. i stamped all these crazy wingy creatures inside the book, troo, but i'm too tired to scan them in. trust me, they're cool. oh- andi took a special all-day workshop with tim holtz and his sister robin today and learn so much! they are such good teachers. i made the coolest technique book! and their new distress inks and powders are so f-ing cool. and what is cool is that everything i used in the workshop i got to keep, so now i have all these awesome new tools and powders and paper dyes and all kinds of cool shit and i actually know how to use it! and i met stacey and kenny from Junkitz and they are the coolest freaking people ever. the first day at lunch i had to grab two seats in a room full of 8-seaters and i didn't know anyone, so i scanned the room and i saw this whoman who, like me, was wearing a t-shirt over a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans in a room full of button-downs, flowy skirts, and appliqued sweaters, so i sat with them and i had no idea who they were and we started chatting and it turned out that i was in their class that afternoon, and we totally became buddies. they are the coolest people and so down to earth and yet they are the masterminds behind this whole freaking company and product line and they are both so good at their jobs, it is so cool. watching them be a team was educational for me. i like their stuff so much, and stacey has such a cool teaching style. i learned a lot from watching her teach, which was really awesome. and their projects were fantastic!! i am totally hooked on junkitz right now. donna let me put together the order for our store on my own and i had so much fun with it! there are these HUGE amazing flowers- they blow the heidi swapp ones out of the water. and i'm not super-flowery but these things are really cool. and these box-book things, and all kinds of shit, oh my god, and they sent me home with so much free product! i am going to have so much fun with it.
oh, and then there was the best best best part of the whole trip which was more internal but was created, in a random sort of way, by the experienc of the show. i took a layout class with Autumn Leaves and made these cute samples for a class at the store, and while i was at the class i won a copy of their new book, Freestyle. so i'm so stoked and right after class i get on the elevator (alone) and open the book to flip through it and the first layout that catches my eye is 'becoming more myself' by chris ford. and there is this really arresting photograph and the journaling is small but the photo is intriguing so i squint it up and read on about chris and her journey- and get this- it was a page about coming to terms with being gay. and i was floored. as far as i know it was the first specifically and openly queer scrapbook page ever published and it was so incredible and i totally lost it- i cried in the elevator and i spent half that night trying to find a way to get in touch with this girl and thank her and i couldn't find anything. and the next morning i woke up with a stroke of briliance and went on 2peas and put up a post asking if anyone knew if she was a pea and in about five seconds i had like 5 responses from some wonderful and kind folks who knew her stuff and they directed me to her gallery (cfordrun) and i emailed her and spilled my guts and thanked her and she emailed me back and she is so f-ing cool i could die! she told me all about her experience being out on 2peas and in scrapping in general and she's interested in the queer scrapping class i'm starting at the store and i feel like this thing i've always dreamed about, this revolution, it's starting and it's so incredible. meeting my friend kristi and learning about the effer dares, and getting involved on 2peas and finding so many people who are scrapping real life in so many amazing and inspiring and incredible ways... and going on this weekend and meeting all those cool scrappers and learning all that cool new shit and now this- i am overwhelmed and inspired and just so excited i literally can't sleep. and thankful. i am so thankful to be seeing this happen, to be part of this thing that is happening. to be finding people who are making art that is changing my world. to be making art that's changing the world. even if it's just a little. even if right now it's only my world. for the opportunity and the ability to do it, i am eternally and soul-shakingly grateful.