Studio 8 happenings: Hosting Fun!

We welcomed 36 Chalk Paint® stockists last week for National Training with Barb Skivington.

Ya know that after party glow? We’ve been living in it for the past week – remembering favorite moments, recounting fantastic sample board designs, and relishing the blessing of new friendships! November 6th and 7th we were honored to have Barb Skivington and 36 Chalk Paint® stockists for a National Training Seminar. If you don’t know or haven’t figured out… we LOVE throwing a party. And when Chalk Paint®, sample boards, food, and fellow artists are going to be creating together… well, we consider that a party! This week came on the coattails of our Grand Opening celebration at Artworks Coeur d’Alene the weekend prior. If you don’t know or haven’t figured out, we love a challenge as well! And can I just say, we pulled it off! Studio 8 received a major overhaul and redesign – that’s for another blog… this time I want to talk about my stockist friends and the fun we had with Barb! What a phenomenal trainer/teacher! Her infectious laugh and light spirit made everyone comfortable and at ease.

Barb made the classroom portion of the training fun and interesting.

The training began with a review of our standards as stockists. We had several classroom sessions and each one was packed with technique review, product information, common challenges as stockists, and business savvy.

What a beautiful group of ladies. They came from Arizona, Calgary, AL, California, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington.

We had our work room set up to accommodate these gals.

This room is THIS clean about twice a year. Don’t misunderstand – we strive for this clean, but with custom jobs and show booth construction… it just doesn’t happen. We LOVE it when it looks like this.

Supplies were laid out and ready for use. (The cans are so clean.)

After a time in the “class room” everyone headed back to get started doing what they do best – PAINTING!! These ladies were just chomping at the bit to get started mixing color, slapping paint brushes around and trying something new!

Final instruction is given before turning everyone loose!

Promoting the mixing of colors… this was FUN!

The board you see in the picture above is a Bohemian sample. Encouraged to mix new colors and hues then paint fun patterns outside “the box”, everyone was tapping their well of creativity.

Wednesday night we took all our new friends to see our NEW Coeur d’Alene store. Artworks Coeur d’Alene was buzzing with artists for a moment and then it was off to dinner. What a fun filled day!

Barb and Peggy pause for a snapshot. Our store is decked out for fall and ready to inspire!

By day two our workshop looked a little more like normal. Check out the supply table:

Those little cans all lined up and ready for use… They are serving the front lines of creativity right there! Those are battle wounds worn proudly! They look exhausted!

Not only was the supply table looking a bit worn, but every place that could house a drying sample board was doing just that! Everywhere you turned surfaces were being used. I was able to get some shots of those Bohemian boards – but I’ll let each stockist share their own. 🙂

These samples are safe under a work table. There are more on the shelves, propped against the legs of tables and supply bins, and the chosen few rest atop the table in plain sight.

It was a fun-filled two days. Not a down moment for boredom. We were so thrilled to open our studio and host our fellow stockists and Barb. But what’s a get together without a family picture? Being women we understood the importance of recording this gathering…

We also understand the importance of our work….

Some are peeking through… cheaters. 😉

Thank you to all the stockists that made this meeting a priority, purchased your plane ticket, booked your hotel room, and graced us with your presence. It was a wonderful time and we hope to be able to host you all again soon.

Until then…

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