Last week I attended an amazing event called the Bloom Workshop, also lovingly called Bloom Bash Dallas, which is a workshop for creative entrepreneurs. This was a dream trip for me in many ways. First of all, it was in Texas, and I have a real affinity for that State! I swear I lived there in a previous life or something. It is the land of modern farmhouse, Fixer Upper and the Junk Gypsies which pretty much sums up my personal style. And where else on earth can you pull into a parking lot and see this:
I am thinking of investing in a set of these bad boys for my Honda Pilot, might make carpooling and taxiing the kids around a bit more fun! Anyway, this 2-day workshop focuses on teaching and inspiring creative entrepreneurs like myself. It took place in the most beautiful venue…
It was organized by two lovely ladies, Michaela and Ashley, who are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.
Michaela and Ashley are both creative business owners, and have a serious gift for helping people like me grow their businesses and blogs.
They have been doing these workshops for 4 years now, in various cities across the US, and each one is held in a breathtaking location. If you like look at beautiful pictures, click on the Bloom Workshop Gallery…you’re welcome! The venue for Bloom Bash Dallas was a gorgeous white barn in the middle of the country called The White Sparrow.
This place is an event planners dream. Both days I had the good fortune to be in this space, I was in complete awe the whole time. I couldn’t stop taking pictures.
I learned a few fun facts about it, one is that there is an architectural copyright on this place, I didn’t know that was a thing, but I can certainly understand why.
The second thing is that The White Sparrow was used as a location for a feature in the 2017 Spring issue of the Magnolia Journal, which for those of you that don’t know, is the publication put out by Joanna Gaines..aka my spirit animal. The feature was called “A Floral Workshop with Friends” which is pretty cool because WE did a floral workshop on day two of Bloom Bash! With the talented Amy Osaba…but more about that later! It was pretty cool to know that I was in a place that Joanna had hung out in.
Heck it felt like she designed this place! In summary, The White Sparrow was the perfect setting for the learning, creating and sharing that happened during this amazing workshop.
Junk & Disorderly (such a great business name! Love me a good play on words!) which is a husband and wife duo that supply vintage rentals for events. Their stuff looked amazing in this space!
In addition to having a gift for teaching and inspiring, Ashley and Michaela also have mad skills in the styling department. While The White Sparrow was a gorgeous backdrop, the way they styled this event was, for me, a big part of what made it so inspiring. They have an amazing attention to detail, and from the food to the marketing materials to the supplies for the creative sessions, everything looked beautiful. Again, I couldn’t stop taking photos, which was kinda awesome because that was one of my goals for the workshop – work on my photography skills-see? I was inspired the minute I arrived.
I love that these ladies so clearly understand why these beautiful touches are important, and honestly I think this is what makes this workshop so unique. I swear, even if I didn’t learn a thing, just being in this space made me so incredibly happy.
But I did learn…so so much! Ashley and Michaela did sessions spread over the 2 days and covered tons information relevant to blogging, social media, photography and styling, in a nutshell. And then there were the Panelists…a group of ladies who have found success in their particular niche.
The panel was made up of photographers, artists, florists and bloggers, and it was conducted in a Q&A format so we could tailor the session to suit our interests. These ladies were so open in sharing their knowledge with us and to sit in their presence and take in what they were teaching us just filled my heart in a way I can’t describe. For several years now, I have been reading the blogs Hi Sugarplum and Honey We’re Home. Cassie and Megan inspire me on a regular basis, both personally and professionally. To be able to learn about the ins and outs of blogging from some of the ladies that had inspired my own blogging journey was definetly a highlight of the workshop for me. And then to be able to meet them and chat with them afterwards? #girlcrush
One of the things I loved best about the workshop format was the balance between information sharing and hands on learning. Each day we had two different break-out sessions. The first was a Caligraphy lesson delivered by the talented Annie from Wildfield Paper Co. This lady is seriously amazing, she spontaneously did this watercolor painting of The White Sparrow:
Annie was actually a vendor at the Silobration, which was beyond cool, and I bought 3 of her pieces while I was there. I am hoping she makes this watercolor a print that we can purchase…Annie if you are reading, hook a girl up!
Another creative session we had was a floral arranging class with Amy Osaba who is a flower wizard. She created all the floral arrangements for the styled wedding shoot that happened on day 2. As in, there was an actual staged wedding, with a bride, a groom, a cake and so much more! I am going to share the photos from that in a subsequent post, I feel like this one is already turning more into a novella…but I can’t help it, there is so much to share! Anyway, Amy gave us all a lesson and then we got to do our own floral arrangement with the most beautiful fresh flowers. I was a bit worried about this because I have a black thumb. This is usually the extent of my capabilities:
And even at that, half of the succulents in my home are faux…which sounds so much better than fake, n’est pas? Oui. Knowing this information about me, you can understand why I was pleased as punch to create this:
We had several breakout sessions, and in the first one, I got some hands on assistance from professional photographers- Ashley, Shalyn and Nicole. Such patient, kind and sweet ladies! I had taken an online photography course, and I had a loose grasp on the basic photography principles before this workshop. But honestly, having these professional photographers on hand to show me how to use my own camera was so helpful, I really feel like it took my skills to the next level. I swear I notice a difference between the pictures I took at the beginning of the workshop vs. the end. I also found it so helpful to watch several styling experts at work. I am a visual learner, as I think many creatives are, so watching a demonstration goes along way with me. Below is a picture of the totally adorable Jessica of Simply Jessica Marie creating a styled wedding suite shoot for us.
I loved every part of the Bloom Bash workshop. I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel forever changed for having had this experience. I understand why they call it the Bloom Bash, because I definitely felt like I bloomed.
I learned so much and met such lovely women. I will cherish the memories of this event for years to come. I came home with very clear business goals and actionable items, some that I put in place before I even left Texas. I am so grateful to Ashley and Michaela for curating this beautiful event and for organizing such a talented group of teachers and helpers. You ladies amaze and inspire me.
