So what does one do at an art teacher's convention?

Well, this particular convention is held every fall at a beautiful camp ground in Missouri. Two years ago, I was wearing shorts, sweating the entire time...this year, I was totally bundled up and freezing. But I thought it would be fun to give you a taste of what we do there.

My trip.
I drove from Joplin to Knob Noster taking a slight detour to the Osceola Cheese place.....the hap.hap.Happiest place on earth (well, on highway 13 anyway!)....They have a giant cheese cooler with free samples. You can try anything from plain old cheddar to blue berry gouda. YUM!


It was freezing so I stopped to buy some red boots to keep my feet dry. I got the last pair of red ones. Totally worth every penny.



I found a really cool laundromat and decided to take a few pictures before heading to the campground. I was trying to kill some time, it was cold and I got into town really early.


First workshop. Edible color wheel. Yum! Frosting and vanilla wafers.


From there I went to several other cool workshops...didn't take any super cool photos to share...most of it was elementary artwork in bad lighting.

@ Drag'n'Brag teachers bring some of their recent lessons that they are proud to share with others. Saw a few cool things there.


Bundled up with my friend Danielle. We met at this conference 2 years ago. She met her future husband at the conference last year. They are getting married in 2 weeks. We only see each other a couple of times a year, but we have so much in common!

On Friday night there is a big tent set up and everyone paints giant canvas art advocacy banners. Here is a really cool one based on a Boulevard Beer label. I love it!



We slept in bunk beds...

On Saturday, we got dirty.


And crafty.



I made this clay hedgehog. Isn't he so cute! (Lindsay...don't look at him...he might be a Christmas gift for you)


I just love this conference, it is so easy to make friends and I can just be me.



I didn't get out my new camera on this trip, it was just super heavy and I wanted something lightweight and easy to use. On a couple of the photos above, I used my iPhone. Anyway, I hope you are having a great week. I hope I get home before dark today so that I can take a few pictures of some Christmas cards I have been working on. Thanks for reading!