Whew!

Well, we survived our opening. We were still arranging shelves at ten minutes to 5:00, when the doors were supposed to open. I think it is a family trait to use every last possible second to finish the job.
We had a nice turnout and everyone proclaimed that they were amazed we were ready. We could not have managed without all the helpers....from the packers in Buford (Thanks to Anita Kennerley, Patty Lee, Stacy Nathan, Cyndee Suckling, Lynn Abernethy, Sherry Moser, Stan Fong, "Bunny" Zahn and Ian Nicholas, to the unpackers here in Milton (thanks to Dustin Johnson, Mark Jackson, Jonah, Patrick and Jason Ryan, Cyndee Suckling, Sherry Moser, Lynn Abernethy, Anita Kennerley, Amy Koranek and Lindly Haunani). Lynda Gilcher and her wonderful husband Jon surprised us by driving in for the opening. Lynn Abernethy, not only drove over from Alabama and spent a couple nights to help with the work but she celebrated her birthday so we had an excuse to have a cake from Collets!

Catherine Taylor from Collets sent beautiful flowers and had one of her wonderful helpers, Jessica, come and help with the food. Lindly worked her magic with the food table to set a beautiful spread. Of course we had pastries from Collets! Ellen's cousin Mark and his wife sent a beautiful bouquet to help us celebrate! Cyndee, after taking all the orchids home to her house and taking care of them for six weeks, brought us two new beauties.

Polyform Products sent Amy Koranek to demo some of their new products. She did an amazing job, especially showing how to use the new liquid polymer, which she had nice sample packs of, so you could race right home and continue playing. We really appreciate the support from Polyform.
We were also excited to have a trunk show of Lindly's work. She had some asparagus necklaces, bracelets and earrings that were just amazing.

We have all been working like fools, but I have to say that we could not have done the move, the set-up or all the construction do-overs without Randy. Ellen's son (aka the Gallery Gnome) has made all this madness possible. He is the consummate salesman and in his usual manner is learning as much as he can about Creative Journey Studios to help you enjoy your visit and find what you need (even is you didn't know you needed it!)
Ellen is working her magic in the gallery to make a room full of beautiful displays to showcase all the amazing art we have for sale. She is also getting ready for the first official classes in our new space. She is teaching design techniques for the next two weekends. She is having you dig out all your old treasures that you could never figure out how to use. She'll help you transform them into a finished piece, even if you have to whip up a few filler pieces under her watchful eye.

Welcome to our new world!

Creative Journey Studios is about to reopen in its exciting new location, north of Atlanta. After three months of packing, moving, building and resetting up, we are about to have our grand opening! We have a whole weekend of activities planned to celebrate our new location in Milton, Georgia. Crabapple Market, our complex, is dedicating their new park, The Green, on our opening weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with them. They plan on live music and food, which should add to our fun. Plug our new address (12630 Crabapple Rd., Suite 220, Milton 30004) into your GPS (and mark it as a favorite!). Come help us do this right! Amy Koranek from Polyform Products is coming to do demos all weekend long.

Lindly Haunani, internationally acclaimed color guru, artist, teacher and author, will be joining us to welcome you. We’ll be having a trunk show for her on Friday night. She’ll be debuting her new asparagus earrings along with some new ‘shale’ earrings that are to die for!

My son, Rob will be visiting to play a little mandolin music for us. We are excited to show off his top mount sinks in our bathrooms. They are exquisite and sit atop beautiful maple counters made by our old Buford neighbor, Paul DeGrood. The combination is spectacular. Kudos to Randy for the fine finishing job he did (twice—but that’s a story for another day!)

Many of our artists have sent new work for the opening. Christi Friesen sent a whole new batch of Ghoulies to greet you. 

Deb Karash has made a wonderful batch of lapel pins with the guys in mind. 

Donna Greenberg has created a whole new series of “Bro-oches”, also known as 'Dude-Pins'. Barb Fajardo has sent a new batch of her collaged mokume. Sue Screws outdid herself with new leaf earrings. Tina Wujick created a series of pens and pen/pencil sets. Bettina Welker and Libby Mills sent new work for the opening. Ernie Hendrix created a wonderful batch of cards, as well as some new inros. Margaret Polcawich, a friend from our beginning days of polymer, joins the gallery with some delightful sculptures and tiles. Sherry Moser has created some new glass pieces. She carves and sandblasts the glass for an unusually beautiful finish and her silver work is impeccable.  In addition to her necklaces and earrings, she has created some cufflinks for your French cuffs. Mary Pratt is bringing us several of her large paintings to grace our walls. You will probably recognize her work from having seen her murals around Buford. We got a nice batch of new work from Mary Filapek and Lou Ann Townsend, and Betsy Baker, while we were at the spring ACC show in Atlanta. We picked up some new work from Ann Dillon and Jeanette Kandray while we were enjoying our spring retreat. Our artist count hovers around 75, and we appreciate their continued participation. There is lots to see…and love! Help us spread the word about polymer AND the gallery. Bring a friend and come for a visit!

The Retrospective Collection….Polymer from the Beginning…. has a bunch of new pieces and has expanded into 18 cases. You’ll want to set aside some time to really study it. We’re extremely proud of what we have been able to put together to promote the use of polymer clay as an art medium. Unlike museum collections that come and go, Creative Journey Studios' collection is always on display to give you inspiration.

A lot of planning has been going on. We have lined up some fabulous classes all the way into 2020. Ellen has been helping your favorite teachers come up with new exciting classes. We are pleased to have some new teachers who haven't taught for us before. Carol Blackburn is coming from England, Celine Charuau from France, Bonnie Bishoff from Maine, Anna Belchi from Spain, and Kathleen Dustin from New Hampshire. Keep up with what's coming by checking the classes' page often. If there is a class you are interested in, be sure to let us know so you have a space. Our classes are small and fill up fast. 

We hope you will visit. We are very excited about our future and would love for you to "Join The Journey!"