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Creative Awakening 2019 | Creative Workshop in Northern Utah

July 31, 2019

Creative Awakening

This years Creative Awakening was such a beautiful day. I love hosting these creative retreats, I love planning them and teaching others how to do something that they haven’t done before. I am so passionate about creativity, I truly believe creative living is the secret to living a fulfilling and joyful life.

This year we were so lucky to have Cover & Co sponsor the workshop, everyone received one of their beautiful aprons! Follow their Instagram to get more info on when they will open their shop!

One of my favorite speakers said this quote and I live my life by it:

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty… Remember that you are spirit daughters (and sons) of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it–your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination. We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy. Our birthright–and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth–is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things. You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before–colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter. What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you–whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside. If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.”

Dieter F Uchtdorf, Happiness Your Heritage, October 2008 General Conference

When I get stuck with trying to find creativity in my business I turn to making something with my hands. I love to experiment with all sorts of mediums, I love figuring out something new and it is so fun seeing the finished product whether it worked out or not. When I am in my busiest season in the summer, when I barely have time to get it all done I crave time to make something whether it is baking or sewing or gardening and as soon as I can create it makes the busy season doable and I am able to be refreshed!

This year for the workshop I taught how to naturally dye fabric, I had so much fun experimenting with different dyes when I was preparing for it. It was like magic seeing the results! For the dyes we used avocado pits and skins, hibiscus, alder cone, daffodils, walnut shells, marigold and a variety of herbs.

During the workshop we had so much fun playing with the different dyes and how so many things can affect the color outcome. Several people used dried hibiscus, and all of the colors came out so different. Changing the water source, adding vinegar or boiling it multiple times brought the most beautiful changes. I loved watching the excitement of this who attended.

In the afternoon I taught how to make ricotta gnocchi and fresh pasta. I have always had a passion for making fresh pasta, I started making it in high school and have continued to learn to make different varieties at home, I also took a class in Italy, which I need to do again! I love showing people how easy it can be to make and how it can change the flavors of your meal. I love how food in other countries brings people together, it is an event and it creates opportunities for family and friends to have memories. I think we need to create more food experiences in our culture, I can’t wait until I have a yard and a bigger place to host larger gatherings with family and friends.

As always we ended the day with a beautiful styled dinner, Amber Reverie created the most beautiful atmosphere for us to enjoy our meal. Nikkol with Refine Studio created the most amazing menus and recipe cards, I am so obsessed with them and need one for every meal that I do and every recipe that I cook! For dinner we started with charcuterie boards down the table and Caesar Salad. For the main dish we had Shrimp Scampi with fresh pasta, the pasta literally melts in your mouth! This is one of our favorite go to recipes, it is easy and so delicious! Margaret with Smackerel made the most amazing Lemon Cake, it was to die for! She came to my workshop last year, so I had to support her in her awesome business.

When I was trying to get the workshop to fill up, I had the hardest time until a week before. Throwing a big event like this is super stressful because of the cost of putting it on. A few weeks before the workshop I decided that this would be my last workshop for awhile, I hated announcing this, because I absolutely love doing them. If you have been interested in coming to one, please let me know, so that I can find ways to fill them up a little more, so I am not paying people to come create with me! 😉 I am taking a course currently to learn how to fill up an event, we will see if I am brave enough to try one more time. After the day was over this year, I truly can’t be done, because it brings me so much joy to teach and to see others create and be fulfilled. I will definitely try to keep going forward with more, I don’t know how it will be or when the next one will be. If you want them to continue, please email me so I can find ways to do it! And I would love to chat about you wanting to come.

If you are feeling stuck or unmotivated in your life, find something to bring you joy, find something to touch in your hands and transform, life is always better when you can create something. I love that I can share my talents with others, and hope you will do the same!

To view last years Creative Awakening, click here!

Creative Awakening

Photo from Michele Lee
Photo from Michele Lee

Photo from Michele Lee

Photo from Michele Lee
Photo from Michele Lee
Photo from Michele Lee
Photo from Michele Lee

Creative Awakening

This workshop was held in beautiful Bear Lake, in Garden City, Utah. The Farmhouse at Bear Lake was the perfect place for a retreat! The property was so beautiful and the kitchen was so dreamy to cook in. There was so much space for all of our activities and enough rooms for anyone that wanted to stay the night. I would go back to this venue in a heart beat and I am trying to get my extended family to stay here for our annual Bear Lake trip!! It would be big enough for my large extended family! They fill up fast for the summer, contact them to book your next trip or workshop!

A Creative Awakening

July 6, 2018

“Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?

Surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.

The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living.” Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

In April I hosted my first workshop, I didn’t want it to be like other workshops, I wanted to spend a day creating and making rich relationships. I hosted the workshop in the cutest little cabin in Heber, UT, it was the perfect location and their kitchen was to die for. Everything came together and there weren’t too many things that didn’t go right, I obviously had some regrets after it was over of things I didn’t do, but overall everything was a success. We started the day learning how to make fresh pasta, we made several different kinds; tortellini, ravioli, orecchiette, rigatoni, and trofie pasta. I have loved making pasta since high school and my love for it increased when I went to a cooking class in Sienna, Italy. It was one of my richest experiences while traveling, it was so fun to share that knowledge with others. I love to create and I especially love helping others learn a new skill.

After we made our pasta, I taught how to make a leather passport holder. Awhile back Cole’s family was getting ready to move so they were cleaning out the garage and they found some amazing pieces of leather. I drew up a pattern for a purse and Cole figured out how to make it, after that we loved creating things out of leather. For the leather passport wallet I kind of took over Cole’s manly hobby and turned it girly by adding some modern fabrics and designing patterns for everyday use. I love to travel and I think traveling can greatly influence our desires to create.

We ended the evening with a beautiful dinner on the deck of the cabin, Amber did such an amazing job with the florals and set up, she made all of my dreams come true! It was such a perfect night eating around her stunning arrangements. Refine Studio designed the amazing menus. We started the meal with an olive tapenade and minestrone soup. The main course was Chicken Marsala served over fresh pasta, with roasted asparagus on the side. The meal was completed with an amazing Lemon Cake from Annie Bee Cakery, it was to die for, I am still dreaming of it.

I hope to continue doing these workshops, please let me know if you would like them to continue, I would love to chat! I love living a creative life and I believe it brings so much happiness into my life, it gives me confidence, it brings me success, it builds my business, it creates friendships. I know a lot of people who are afraid to create because they might fail, but what if you don’t? More often I see their confidence increase and they love themselves a little bit more. I heard someone awhile back say that they had no talents, that made me so sad, everyone has something, we just have to experiment and find what it is. Some people may have more than others, but that doesn’t diminish the few that you have. Never compare your starting point to someones years of practice. We all have to start somewhere.

“And you have treasures hidden within you– extraordinary treasures– and so do I, and so does everyone around us. And bringing those treasures to light takes work and faith and focus and courage and hours of devotion, and the clock is ticking, and the world is spinning, and we simply do not have time anymore to think so small.” Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

If you are looking for another great workshop, Amber is hosting an amazing workshop in the fall! en Plein Air is a floral masterclass designed for all skill levels and will be centered on the power of inspiration and the creative process. You will work on developing your own artistic eye and creating individual work that comes from the soul. Head over to her site to learn more about it, it looks absolutely amazing!

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Amazing Florist and Stylist: Amber Reverie

Menus and Branding: Refine Studio

Cake: Annie Bee Cakery

Location: A Frame Haus

Plates, Flatware and Serving Dishes: West Elm

How to Host a Beautiful Galentine Luncheon

January 30, 2018

This lovely little luncheon is featured on Cottage Hill today! Amber Reverie and I hosted this little gathering with some local creatives and it was such a good time getting to know new people and eating good food in such a beautiful venue, Ember SLC was a new intimate location when we hosted it, they have so many cool spaces. Amber did the amazing florals, I just loved all of the details that she put together! Annie with Wildfield Paper Co, made the most stunning menus!

One of my favorite things is to bring together people and cook for them! I wish I could do it more often! Even just small dinners in our home, Cole and I’s schedules are hard to work around and not many people would want to start a dinner party at 9:30 pm! Maybe one day we will stop working at normal times of the day! And I dream of the day for us to have a beautiful dining room and yard so that we can host dinners more often.

Here are some of my favorite recipes! I hope you enjoy, let me know if you try them!

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Tarragon Cream Crostini
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
1 small garlic clove
sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, puree until smooth.

Recipe from Ecco La Cucina, by Gina Stipo. I got this cook book in Italy when I attended a cooking class in Siena, some of my favorite recipes are from this book! https://www.amazon.com/ecco-cucina-Gina-Stipo/dp/0615593658

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter and olive oil combined
8 cups butternut squash
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2-1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
sea salt

Split squash in half, coat the ends with olive oil and roast in the oven at 375 until soft. Once it cools scoop squash into a bowl. Sauté onion in butter in oil until soft and translucent, add roasted squash and sauté for a few minutes. Add a small amount of broth and continue to cook to meld flavors for at least 30 minutes, adding broth as necessary to keep from sticking or burning. Salt to test and add nutmeg.
Puree the mixture using an immersion blender. Return to heat adding enough broth to form a thick soup, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the cream, keep hot but do not boil.

Blueberry Galette
Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 1/2 cups (310 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (10 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (4 grams) salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk, cold

Filling:

1 pound (510 grams) fresh blueberries
1/3 cup (60 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) fresh ground nutmeg
Zest of 1 lemon

Assembly:

1 egg, for egg wash
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

To make the pie crust, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and toss to coat the butter. Dump entire contents of the bowl out onto a well-floured surface. With a well-floured rolling pin, roll the mixture together, flattening the butter into the flour. Use a bench scraper to bring the mixture back together again as needed. When the butter is in long sheets and evenly distributed through the flour, return the mixture to the bowl and create a well in the center.
Add the buttermilk into the well and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to combine. Add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, if necessary, but the mixture should be a little on the dry side. Dump the contents back onto your floured surface and divide into 6 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for one hour or overnight.
To make the galettes, preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the blueberries and toss to coat. Roll out each disk of pie dough into an 8-10 inch circle. It doesn’t need to be exact or even. Spoon 1/6 of the blueberry mixture into the center of each disk and fold the dough up and over the filling. Brush with the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sanding sugar.
Place the galettes on the prepared sheet pans and bake until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the sheet pans halfway through.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Store galettes in the fridge for up to 3-4 days

Recipe from Completely Delicious, https://www.completelydelicious.com/blueberry-galettes/
(To save time, I make the crust in a food processor, and you can make it several days ahead, to help save time on the day of the party, and they look so fancy, but they are soooo easy!)

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I love Charcuterie Boards if you can’t tell!

I love getting my cheeses from our local cheese maker Rockhill Creamery, I also love cheeses from Trader Joe’s.
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Flaky Butter Pear Tarts

Ingredient

For The Pastry Dough:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt

2 sticks unsalted butter kept very cold and cut into small chunks, 8oz

2 1/2 tablespoons iced water

For The Filling:

2 1/4 ounces unsalted butter softened

2 1/4 ounces sugar

1 large egg

6 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 vanilla pudding (You can buy it pre made or make your own, I make my own)

2 large ripe pears

2 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling on top

Glaze:

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 6 four inch tart shells.

In a bowl combine the flour, salt and cold butter chunks. Rub them together with your fingertips until most of it has been squashed. You still want to keep large chunks as this helps with the pastry layers.

Add the iced water and gently mix together with your hand until a soft ball forms.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Using a stand mixer, beat the soft butter and sugar together until light.

Add the egg and vanilla, beat until it’s all well mixed together.

Fold the flour into the mixture and then the vanilla pudding. Set aside.

Once the pastry dough has rested, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out circles large enough to fill 6 four inch tart shells.

Place the dough into the tart molds and trim to fit. Transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes to rest.

Blind bake the pastry shells using parchment paper and dry beans in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once the shells have cooled slightly, fill them with about a heaped tablespoon of the filling mixture.

Peel the pears and slice into four wedges around the core.

Take each wedge of pear and slice it again thinly. This will be the pear slices which will go on top of your filling mixture.

Once you slice the pear thinly, push it down with your fingers to create the fanned look, place your knife below the slices and scoop them up and place them on top of the filling mixture.

Gently push the down slightly until some of the mixture comes up over the sides of the pear. This will give the tarts the look of the sponge top around the edges.

Sprinkle the tarts liberally with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Turn the oven up to 375 degrees F.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 55 minutes and the tops start to get golden brown in color.

Once the tarts have cooled, combine the water and sugar in a small pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it thickens into a syrup and using a pastry brush, carefully glaze the tops of the tarts to get a nice shine.

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Arugula, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with a Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette

1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons sherry or apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepepr
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the salad

4 cups arugula, lightly packed
4 cups romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 ripe pears, cored and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
3 ounces fresh goat cheese or feta, crumbled
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

In a small bowl combine the shallot, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Whisk in the olive oil and let vinaigrette stand at room temperature until salad is assembled. Combine the arugula, romaine, pears and half of the pomegranate seeds in a large bowl. Crumble half of the goat cheese over the ingredients in the bowl (this works best if the cheese is very cold). Whisk the vinaigrette until uniform and add all but 2 tablespoons of it to the bowl. Gently toss the salad with your hands or salad tongs, coating the ingredients well with the vinaigrette. If the salad seems dry, add the vinaigrette in small increments until it is dressed to your liking. Crumble the remaining cheese over the salad and sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds and the pistachios over the top. Serve immediately.

Recipe from Food52 https://food52.com/recipes/1666-arugula-pear-and-goat-cheese-salad-with-pomegranate-vinaigrette
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Florist/Host
Amber Reverie
Amber Reverie Floral and Event Design
http://amberreverie.com
IG: @amberreverie

Menus
Annie Mertlich
Wildfield Paper Co.
https://www.wildfieldpaperco.com
IG: @wildfieldpaperco

Location:
Ember SLC
http://emberslc.com
IG: @emberslc

Plates and Flatware:
West Elm
https://www.westelm.com
IG: @westelm

Napkins:
Sur La Tab
https://www.surlatable.com
IG: @surlatable

Table Runner:
Silk and Willow
https://www.silkandwillow.com
@silkandwillow

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Creative Awakening 2019 | Creative Workshop in Northern Utah

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