TCC - Day 1 (Thursday)

(Part 1, 3, & 4.)

The first day of The Creative Connection was BlogHer Handmade day. The day started with a continental breakfast sponsored by Starbucks.

After breakfast we participated in a "speed dating" concept where we had 1 1/2 minutes to connect one-on-one with another attendee to exchange business cards and learn briefly about each other. I was a little nervous about this but it ended up really fun and we made 10 new friends in the process.

We went on to breakout sessions on topics like social media, community building, and monetization. This picture is of the moderator Erica Mauter and roundtable panelists Kathy Cano-Murillo, Stacie Tamaki, and Nancy Malay.

Each meal brought a beautiful table display, delicious foods, awesome freebies, and wonderful speakers. Lunch did not fail in any of these departments! The keynote luncheon speakers were Nora Abousteit, Becky Higgins, and Stacy Julian.

Nora talked to us about being stubborn and not giving up on our dreams. Becky gave amazing take-away tips including to be grateful and express gratitude and to put family first. Stacy talked about cultivating relationships.

Jo Packham giving welcome speech

Nora Abousteit

Becky Higgins

More breakout panels followed with the closing session on the intersection of craft, passion, and sustainability.

I could hardly wait for the Welcome Dinner that night since two fabulous speakers would take the stage, Cristina Ferrare and Holly Becker. This is a picture of the crowd waiting for the doors to open and dinner to begin. And yes, that is Tim Holtz and Claudine Hellmuth!

The tables were decorated so beautifully and check out the swag bags hanging on each chair!

Dinner was yummy as was the cheesecake!

Cristina mentioned something in her talk that so hit home with me - recognizing when you start to self-sabbatoge. Oh have I been there!

Holly is just the sweetest, most eloquently spoken woman and I thoroughly enjoyed her talk. I took so many notes from her words of wisdom such as there's always someone looking to you to be a role model, rejection = motivation, and I loved what she said about toxic people in your life; "weed your garden."

Nancy Soriano, Cristina Ferrare, and Holly Becker

I dreamed of dreams that night!