Update on our Stories Event!

A couple of weeks ago, we kicked off the start of spring with our annual Stories Event to celebrate the new season, give back to the community and have fun with our clients and friends!! And we certainly accomplished all of that! We are proud to report that our event raised $695 for the Dakota Woodlands - a non-profit organization who supply shelter for homeless families in our community. Everyone who attended Stories brought with them $5 gift cards to either a grocery store or gas station to donate to Dakota Woodlands who in turn, give them to residents when they leave the shelter.

In addition to that, the studio was ROCKIN'! We had over 75 grown ups and kids there to enjoy a morning of story-telling, facepainting, a little shopping for the grown ups, and yummy cookies! It couldn't have been more fun!! Lots of people to thank: Dakota Woodlands for being present to answer questions and talk about their shelter (and for putting together a great silent auction table!), Tricia Prodoehl from Doodle Dot Designs for showcasing darling kids fashions, Allison Carl from Stella & Dot for bringing her spring line to share, Bath Bars by Brynn for debuting her new bath product line, facepainting by Cindy's Creative Celebration, delish cookies from Lucky C's Treats and fabulous storytelling by Wonder Weavers Storytellers ....in addition to the family and friends who helped make our event such a success (especially Jeff & Pat who helped "man" the door!!)

We have already started planning next year's Stories Event! Can't wait!!

Saturday April 10th: Stories Event-Chapter Two: "Spring on the Farm"

Next weekend is fast approaching and we couldn't be more excited!! Our 3rd annual event to celebrate spring and give back to our community is being held on Saturday April 10th from 10am - 12 noon at the studio. We are inviting our clients, friends and family to attend and have a great time!

The charity we have chosen to support this year is the Dakota Woodlands. Dakota Woodlands is a non-profit organization who supply shelter for homeless families in our community. Typically families stay on average two months in their facility and they provide temporary housing for up to 110 families a year; and help an additional 30 families with their services. In November of 2009, Dakota Woodlands was awarded the 2009 Minnesota Nonprofit Excellence Award.




Specifically, Dakota Woodlands is asking for our help in collecting $5 gift cards to local gas stations and grocery stores. We have set a goal for us to collect 145 gift cards at our event and we think we can do it - with your help!! Or, if you would prefer to make a monetary donation, we will purchase the gift card(s) on your behalf! I know our kids have already dipped into their piggy banks to count out their $5!

Also in support of Dakota Woodlands, we will be having a silent auction with items such as a digital picture frame, a camping gear package , a board game package...just to name a few!

Of course, back by popular demand, we will have the facepainter (who is an artist herself!) and the storyteller from last year's event! The kids (and grown ups)were blown away by their entertainment!!

And if that wasn't enough, we will also be featuring the local businesses of Doodle Dot Designs by Tricia Prodoehl (handmade children's clothing and accessories to die for!!), Stella and Dot Jewelry with stylist Allison Carl (who doesn't need some new spring jewels?!?!) and the debut of Bathbars by Brynn (local bathbar artist extraordinaire!)

You won't want to miss this event!! See you there!!!

Save the Date - Saturday April 10th 2010 - Stories Event: Chapter Two!!!

We are thrilled to invite you and your family to our upcoming event extraordinaire! Saturday April 10th, 2010 from 10am to 12 noon, the studio will be transformed into Spring on the Farm as we host our 3rd annual party to celebrate the arrival of spring and give back to our community! More details to follow but we can promise you that it will be an event not to miss! This year we are proud to support Dakota Woodlands - http://www.dakotawoodlands.org/ a shelter for homeless families in our community. We will be giving you more information on this wonderful organization and what you can do to help in the next couple of weeks.

So, mark your calendars and be sure to stop by for a fun filled morning with us! Everyone is invited... clients, friends, friends of friends. The more the merrier. Kids will have a blast once again with an amazing facepainter and storyteller. Not to mention balloons! Stay tuned more information. Can't wait to see you and celebrate!

Art Show for our ZOOM Camp Artists!!

Last Thursday evening, we hosted an Art Show for our ZOOM Camp artists (and don't they look spiffey?) We had a great turnout with many of the artists' friends and family members attending. Our artists displayed some of the art they created during camp including a book showcasing some of their favorite images. Many of the artists were asked if they would be willing to sell their art!!! (I think they are still negotiating pricing with Melissa's dad!!)

We have had several requests about ZOOM Camp 2010....if you are interested, please send us an email as we are compiling a list of requests and will contact you in early 2010 with details.

Melissa and I would like to thank our camp artists: Coltra, Bennett, Kate and Carly for a great week! It was a real pleasure having each of you participate in camp and we look forward to hearing (and seeing!) how your "summer project" is going!!

Madison Claire Foundation

American Idol Finale Bash 2009

For the second year in a row, we have been fortunate to be involved with the Madison Claire Foundation's American Idol Finale Bash. (You may recall the images from last year's event on the blog). For those of you whom are not familiar with the Madison Claire Foundation, it was created in memory of Madison Millington who passed away at the age of 2 from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in 2004. We have had the pleasure of getting to know the Millington family over the past couple of years and have been honored to be a part of this event. Inspired by Madison's memory, a committee was formed in March 2007 with the goal of building a coalition of individuals and businesses to develop and build a universally accessible playground in Woodbury. Madison's Place will provide all children the opportunity to play together and look beyond the differences in one another, fostering friendships, acceptance and understanding as they grow into adulthood.

The American Idol Finale Bash was held at the Lake Elmo Inn this year and was a HUGE success! We had nearly 300 people in attendance....half of whom were kids!! As you can see from the video, there was lots of entertainment other than the main event, the finale, itself!! A kids' magician, karoake, a kids' raffle, silent auction, wall of wine...just to name a few!! What a nite!! And to top it off....Kris Allen won American Idol!!!

Madison Claire Foundation's fundraising goal to build this playground is $600,000. If you are interested in learning more about the foundation or contributing to the Universal Playground, please check out the website: http://www.madisonclairefoundation.org/

Stories Event!!! What a party!!!

What a party it was!!! Saturday was our Stories event at the studio and what fun was had!! We want to thank everyone who donated books to our event to benefit the Minnesota Literacy Council...we are still counting (as we are still getting books dropped off!) but we are well past the 350 mark!! Almost double our initial goal!! THANK YOU!!!

We had a great turnout to the event despite the sunny, warm weather outdoors! Kids (and adults!) were fascinated by Colleen from WonderWeavers who entertained the kids with stories and her puppets, a craft, and very detailed balloon figures! And Cindy, the facepainter, was quite the artist! You can see from the images in the video, the facepaint was phenomenal!

Thank you also to Jennifer Pogatchnik from doodleinvite.com who brought her latest stationery designs for people to view and order for Mother's Day and teacher's gifts! Tracy Morrison brought wonderful new designs from Matilda Jane. And everyone enjoyed our rain-themed cookies specially handmade for the event! It was an action packed morning!!

We are hoping to make this an annual event so if you couldn't make it this year, stay tuned next spring for our 2nd Annual Stories Event!!!

Stories Event tomorrow...10am-noon!!!

Tomorrow is the big day!!! The Stories Event at the studio!!! Yah!! And the weatherman is actually calling for rain tomorrow in keeping with our theme of "reading on a rainy day"! We have been astounded at the generousity of our clients, friends and acquaintances who have already donated almost 200 books and the event isn't even until tomorrow!! THANK YOU!!!!

It is going to be a fantastic morning!! (Melissa and I decorated for the event yesterday so the studio looks like it is ready for a downpour...you will have to wait and see what we have done!) In addition to the WonderWeaver storytellers, fabulous facepainter, clothing from Matilda Jane, and sweet stationery from Doodleinvite.com, we have great door prizes! For every 5 books you bring in to donate, you will receive 5 raffle tickets!! Prizes include a HUGE gift basket donated by Post Pooch (wait til you see it!!), a gift certificate from Wild Child Hair, a very cuddle, somewhat enormous stuffed crocodile from The Red Giraffe, and many more!! (Thank you to all of our sponsors!!)

...did I mention the cookies we will have there? Yum!!! You won't want to miss this event so we hope to see everyone there!!

Fairy Tea Party

We did it! We had my oldest daughter's first friend birthday party this past weekend and we had a blast! Brynn loves pretty much anything that is girlie (and some things that are not - thank goodness), so for her 5th birthday party she wanted a fairy party. Luckily one of our favorite places, Moppets on Main in Hudson, WI, offers a fairy tea party complete with a fairy tea party room. It is a wonderful room decorated just for little fairies, and the two girls leading the party were great! The entire experience was creative, well planned, and the girls had a lovely time sipping pink tea, searching for a special fairy, making crafts, and much more. Here are some of my favorite highlights from her Fairy Tea Party! Putting on the fairy essentials ... tutus, wings, flower halos with ribbon
And fairy dust!Making crafts
Searching for fairies in the fairy forest...
Sipping fairy tea ... in real tea cups and saucers Reading a fairy story Thank you to the girls who made the event so much fun, and extra special for our little fairy (okay that may be pushing it a little:).