When I was in Los Angeles, I had the honor of meeting American interior designer Betsy Burnham of Burnham Design who joined me for the Decorate Mood Board and Signing Event at Anthropologie. I was SO impressed by her – what a genuine, talented and approachable person – I expected to be completely intimidated but I wasn’t at all, she is warm and very, very sweet. Her clients must love working with her.
Betsy is a rock star in the world of designers, right up there with Kelly Wearstler and Jonathan Adler, so I was honored to have her stand next to me speaking about her passion with all those who came out to The Grove to hear us speak. What a fun event! She spoke along with Leslie Shewring and I about how to use a mood board as a guide to tap into your own personal style. Betsy also briefly mentioned her online “e-decorating” service called Instant Space that she launched several years ago that is still strong and successful. She is the pioneer of e-decorating services and as she walked us through a recent client project that was done virtually and through snail mail with her Texas-based client, you couldn’t help but think that Instant Space is one heck of a value and service in that you get access to Betsy’s mind, finds for your home, and a completely new floor plan in one affordable package. Love it!
It was also a pleasure to meet her project manager, Max Humphrey, whom Betsy predicts is the next big thing, “a rising star in the design world”, so we’ll have to wait and see because anyone Betsy endorses has my attention! He was very sweet when we met and I was honored when he approached my table with a stack of books for me to sign. It’s nice to have that nod of approval from so many talented people in the design world, especially from Burnham Design. Thank you Betsy and Max for being at my event in LA and for sharing your time, talent and energy with all of us!
(images: burnham design)
It’s always fun to peek in on Atlanta-based designer Melody Miller because she has so many happy patterns in her head and I like how she brings them to life through retro-ish prints and now, her brand new fabric line called Ruby Star Rising for Kokka (available here). Happy brights never let you down, do they? If you’re not a fan of muted hues then Melody will be your new best friend because nothing about her collection is shy or understated! Here are a few favorite prints of mine…
Melody has a blog and an etsy shop that you may want to visit, too!
(images: melody miller)
Wow this is cool news! Anthropologie asked me to do another event in-store so here I come – this time it’s in the midwest! Yippee! I’ll be just outside of Minneapolis, MN in a town called St. Louis Park, MN. Do you know where that is? I have no clue, but I’m coming anyway! I can’t wait to meet decor8 and Decorate readers AND I’ll be doing a mood board presentation and talking about how to gather information and use it in a way that results in actual projects getting DONE and not constantly “in progress”!
The details are in the graphic above, but to recap:
Location: Anthropologie, 1622 West End Boulevard, St. Louis Park, MN
Date: Wednesday, September 14th (that’s next week!)
Time: 6:30-8:30
RSVP: Yes, please! anthroevents [at] anthropologie [dot] com with subject: Decorate Event in MN.
Thank you! See you soon, midwest!
(image: anthropologie)
Isn’t this a fun idea? I’ve seen clipboards-as-art and storage before but in this setting, it really speaks to me.
Would you try this at home?
You could display:
- Work
- Monthly calendar
- Only B/W photos
- Family photos
- Art
- Etsy prints you love
- Wallpaper the clipboards then clip favorite things to them
- Favorite fabrics
via A Design for Life via Trendenser.
(image: trendenser)
I’m heading off to St. Paul, Minnesota next week for The Creative Connection where I am speaking and signing copies of Decorate, so I’ve already started to prepare my speech and to examine my wardrobe to see what I can wear as standing before hundreds of people giving a keynote is a brand new experience for me! I’m excited, very much in fact, but also a bit shy about the whole hair and wardrobe bit! I’ve been thinking a lot too about what I’m going to do in St. Paul for 7 days, I know nothing about the city, and this has given me a curiosity now that I’m trying to satisfy through google. :) I found this, which helped, but I’m eager to find out more about St. Paul!
Thankfully, lots of my friends will be at TCC like Leslie, Matthew, Julie, Leigh… but also I’ll get to meet Kelly Rae, Heather Bailey and a bunch of other creatives so I’ll no doubt have plenty to occupy my time there! I’ll also be taking some classes, including those that Leslie is teaching (if you go, you simply must sign up for hers as she has a ton of greatness to share!), and I plan to hit what is a dream pop-up art show for me – one put on right across the street from where The Creative Connection is held, featuring the work of Amy Rice and Jennifer Davis. I adore both of these ladies and everything their hands touch, so the timing couldn’t be more perfect. I collect Jennifer Davis’ work, I own about 8 original paintings and 1 limited edition print. I’m such a fan girl!
Will you be at The Creative Connection? If so, look for me on Thursday night as I’ll be speaking as a keynote during the welcoming dinner and then I’ll be answering audience questions so you’ll have me for a few hours to ask anything and everything that you wish. I’ll be talking about how I built my business, blogging and how to use it as a catalyst to live a better life, tips on blogging better and from the heart, I will fill your plate with plenty of advice and inspiration as I plan to give you every single drop of myself — in order to encourage and motivate YOU.
If you’re not attending TCC and want to pop in anyway to listen to me speak, along with Oprah’s right hand lady in the kitchen, Celebrity chef Cristina Ferrare, then please register ASAP for only the welcoming dinner on Thursday evening, September 15th. It will last about 3 hours and your ticket will include the two lectures, Q&A session, a full dinner and of course, you can meet me immediately following the event because I’ll stick around to meet as many of you as I can. The ticket for that event only is $125 and I heard there are only 25 seats left so act now if you want to be a part of the welcoming dinner.
Registration is super confusing so let me walk you through how to register for the dinner where I’ll be speaking:
1. First go to this page.
2. Next, enter your email address then select “à la carte”.
3. Click Continue.
4. Fill out all of the needed information.
5. Click Continue.
6. Now you are on the page for activities happening on “Thursday 09/15/2011″. To attend my dinner, click on “Keynote Dinner: Cristina Ferrare And Holly Becker $125.00″.
7. Click Continue and go through the rest of the pages until you get to the end, complete the payment information and you should be all set!
See you next week at The Creative Connection! xo
BY THE WAY: Help! Any must-see shops or restaurants with organic food that I should visit? Any boba tea shops in St. Paul? Many thanks in advance!!!!
(images: artwork by jennifer davis)
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