I'D LIKE TO THANK THE ACADEMY! {Glitter Academy recap}

Just the words
"GLITTER ACADEMY"
and you already know you're gonna love it, right?

There are a few truly awesome bloggy gals here in Arizona that organize these amazing events a couple of times a year.
This is the first one I was actually able to attend, and from what I hear,
IT WAS THE BEST!
It was definitely MY favorite!  ;)


Truer words were never spoken!

Got to hang with some of my mostest favoritest party animals ever!

Monica from Cinderella Suzy

and Rachele from The Ink Boutique

They are my real life BFF's, crafting buddies, neighbors, shoulders-to-cry-on friends!

Finally got to meet Kara from Mine For The Making face-to-face!!!!

I've been stalking her on Instagram for months and it totally made my day to meet her in person.

Yep, she's all I thought she was!  I'm a fan!

I also awesomely and accidentally sat down next to two more wonderful girls

 whom I follow on Instagram,

MizzMiller (on the left) and Jillybean (not pictured)...

(I CANNOT BELIEVE I DIDN'T GET JILL'S PICTURE!) .  

Thanks for letting me hijack this picture, Jill!!!

(the girl on the right is ME, with my new blonde locks.....what do you think?)

Made some really awesome new friends!

Pictured with Monica is Maggie NORRIS from All Around The Mulberry Bush, 

whom I was lucky enough to sit across from!

To say that Maggie is amazing would be an understatement!

She has a cooking school called Whisked Away

AND

a regular cooking segment on Thursdays Channel 3 at 10 am (Phoenix)!

She must be related to Chuck NORRIS, cuz she's pretty much THAT awesome!

Here are a couple of her recipes from her TV segments

Pumpkin and Shrimp Bisque

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

She's gorgeous, humble and sincere too, for cryin' out loud!

{my personal motto has always been, "Never trust a skinny cook".  

I might have to come up with a new motto!}

This event was held at The Old Spaghetti Factory by Chandler Mall.

That place is HUGE!

There were like 150 of us in there eating and crafting and we had plenty of room!

You know the food was good....IT WAS SPAGHETTI FACTORY!

And the craft was pretty dang cool too!

Some of you SNAP gals may remember a class we got to do at the conference where we used layers of paint and vinyl to create some pretty cute boards.

This look familiar?

I thought Poppyseed Projects was only in Utah.

I WAS WRONG!

They are also located in Arizona! 

{and they will do group classes right in your home!}

I didn't finish it til after I got home

{cuz I was too busy chatting with my friends and stuff}

But here's how she turned out!

I LOVE IT all rusticked up!

{spell check is telling me that I just invented that word}

{see way below for where I put her in my home}

back to Glitter Academy.......

                               

Here are my darling friends working on their boards too!

{I hope they've forgiven me by now that I kept getting lost while trying to find Chandler Mall.  And I'm pretty sure I will never get to be the designated driver again!}

Of course, in true Glitter Academy and Arizona-Blogger-Event Fashion,

the dessert table was R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!

What's the one OTHER thing (besides treats) that the blogging-world KILLS at?.........

DOOR PRIZES!  hello???

Here's I Heart Naptime as Carol Merrill giving away some amazing stuff!

{you may be too young to 'get' that reference}

I silently {and not-so-silently} prayed and prayed that I WOULDN'T win a prize.

Yes, you read that right.  I DIDN'T want to win.

You have to understand that I've won a prize, usually a BIG one, at every single blogging event I've been to, and all these ladies are getting a bit irritated with me, ya know?!

Lookie here:

Creative Estates blogging conference prize:

SNAP blogging conference prize:

One of I Heart Naptime's events:

and so forth.

EVERY.  SINGLE.  EVENT!

So I apologize that I wasn't a bit more outwardly enthusiastic when they called my name.

I didn't want to draw any more attention to my winning self and cause an uproar of jealousy!

{Inwardly I was overjoyed!!!}

Look what I won!

Lots of gorgeous Washi Tape!

Man, I love that stuff!!!

I have a Pinterest board entirely dedicated to JUST Washi Tape!!!

And I didn't already have a single one of these!

SCORE!

So what else could even compare to all that over-the-top crafting, eating, meeting-and-greeting, cupcaking and winning????

Seeing the world famous Mandy of Vintage Revivals again!!!

{met her at SNAP}

First Mandy saw Vanessa of See Vanessa Craft, and I was EXTREMELY impressed that she said, "Hi Vanessa!!!

"WHAT?" {I'm thinking} "She KNOWS Vanessa?!  Lucky Vanessa!!!"  

{Vanessa's 'cool' factor jumped 10 points!}

But then when she saw me she said, "HOW YA DOIN, CINDY?"

I was all going crazy in my head, like OHMYGOSH, Mandy knows me?!?!?!?

I was on Cloud 9.5 the rest of the evening!

I know I look calm and cool in this picture, but really, inside I was doing the Mandy-knows-me dance!

....until the next day when my husband reminded me that I was wearing a name tag and I suddenly felt like a complete idiot! Haha!

{thanks honey}

Kara, Mandy, Vanessa and silly Me.

LOVE these ladies!!!

I'd like to thank the Academy for being so kind and generous and creating such a fun-filled evening!

Now, as promised, here's where I put my new spooky owl beauty....

You can see the BEFORE here.

But here's the AFTER............

She's so incredibly perfect!

And just because I love you for reading this post down this stinkin' far, I have one more goodie for you.

Kara from Mine For The Making offers some fun monthly craft classes, and it's rumored that after the first of the year she will be expanding to accommodate more crafters.  I had signed up for one of her classes and this is what I got to bring home!

 How fun to have some new Thanksgiving and Christmas decor and/or gifts!

Kara's pretty popular, so if you're interested, let her know.  Her classes fill up FAST!  

I should know....I've already missed out on the November class!  :(

Shine on, my darlings!