As we all know, shopping malls across the country are struggling in the current economy. Here in St. Louis, one of them has come up with an interesting way to fill their empty retail space. Crestwood Plaza (AKA Crestwood Mall, and more recently Crestwood Court) has opted to rent space to artists, dance troupes and theater groups for 100$ a month! They’re free to use their space as a studio, a performance venue, an art gallery– whatever– with professional artists working right alongside school groups. It’s fantastic! Jeanne Johnston and her granddaughter, McKenzie, rented two of Crestwood’s largest available stores and started their own Children’s Illustrated Art Museum. They wrote to all of their favorite illustrators and asked if they would be willing to share their work, finished and in-progress, to fill the walls and they’ve gotten a wonderful response. I am proud to say they called me to see if I would be interested (duh!!) and ended up turning my illustrations from “The Night Before Christmas” into huge backlit boxes so that people can actually walk through my book for Christmas! We all went to the grand opening a couple of weeks ago. Here are some photos of the event I thought you might like to see.

Have a wonderful holiday and a peaceful, prosperous New Year!

-Mary

-By Barbara Martin

When it comes to close friends, I’m in awe of  Kathy Curotto,  former Style Editor at Home Companion.  Kathy’s legendary for her wide circle of friends…new friends, old friends, friends from her hometown, from college, friends from when she was a young mother and many friends who were business associates first and are now fast friends.

As Kathy developed her projects for the April 2010, ME Home Companion Workshops, she realized that to make each one perfect she wanted to first test them with her friends.  For years she has had lunches, dinners, and girls’ weekends with three of the funniest and most generous women, all of whom had daughters in the same grade school class as Kathy’s Libby (Libby Curotto’s wedding was featured in August September 2008).

Just before Thanksgiving, Kathy invited Ann, Tinker, Alice and yes, me for an afternoon of crafting.  As we arrived at Kathy’s home, the first thing you saw was her kitchen island laden with crafting treats of every variety.   There were so many fabulous baubles, trims and papers, I was dazzled.  Kathy described the Award Ribbons (click this link and then scroll down to Kathy) and said we could use anything in any way our creative spirit dictated.  Of course, she gently guided anyone who was confused about colors, patterns and textures.

Take a peek at the photos from an afternoon of great fun at Kathy’s.

TA-DA! Here they are all finished:

Barbara Martin is the former Executive Editor of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion Magazine and is now heading up the new MEHC Workshops along with Mary. You can meet Barbara and Kathy in St. Louis at the first ever MEHC Workshop next April.