I was honored to be asked by OMSI to participate in the Portland Mini Maker Faire  It was such a wonderful experience. It makes my heart smile when I work with children and see the talent in their small hands. Children are so eager to learn. At the show I had the opportunity to teach children to use a jewelers saw to cut their designs out of copper and create a pendant. I am so disappointed I did not get any photos of their creations. They were so creative- an open book, a dog bone and a unicorn to mention a few. The younger children learned how to use a flex shaft to drill a hole in a LEGO to create a pendant. The great part about teaching children what I do is to see girls and young women work with tools. When some approach me they are intimidated to use a drill or a saw, I want to help change that and encourage girls to work with tools, be creative and strong...and always playwell. Which ties into why we created  Womens Brick Initiative, We (Me, Shelly of Corbett Photography and Alice of Bippitybricks) debuted our plan at the Mini Makers Faire in Seattle in August. Our goal is to inspire girls and women to work creatively with LEGO.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with two dear friends I don't get to see as often as I would like. When you are an artist and working hard you need friends around to help and keep you sane : ). Along with teaching and demonstrating at the show I also had my work out on display so I knew I was going to need assistance. On Saturday a special friend Aleisha of Mamacraftorama-  teacher, mom, artist extraordinaire assisted me and had everything in order for me all day it was amazing. On Sunday my kindred spirit Marti of Coco Delay helped me, she creates beautifully crafted paper jewelry artist. She was great at communicating to everyone and she even got to make something and play a little too! Both friends are such sweet souls, I hope they realize how thankful I was to have them by my side. Also want to give a shout out to My girlfriend Colleen for helping me put up my tent. Then there are those sweet angels that the universe provides at the last minute- a big thank you goes to Mark for volunteering to help me take down my tent after the show!

When we go out into the community to teach or learn there are always new experiences hiding around the corner we didn't know about. I am very thankful for all the connections I made and the possible opportunities that lay ahead.