alt: shop sweet lulu

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photo by Jessie SeneseJessie of Shop Sweet Lulu was a tremendous help and excellent conference buddy. She provided the lovely polka dot cups that we used as tea light holders (easily and stylishly covering battery-operated candles that were scattered on the tabletops).

Candy cups

Paper straws

The photo area backdrop, made of tissue paper garlands, was also sourced by Jessie.

Looking for party decorations or something special for Valentine's Day? Look no further than Shop Sweet Lulu.

alt: handwritten by you

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The party table runner graphics were made by some of the bloggers that I know who attended the conference. Squarespace had provided their handwritten slogan as a starting point, so the intent of asking more people was to have more a diversity of voices represented. Thank you:

Eva Jorgensen / Sycamore Street Press


Lisa Congdon / A Collection a Day / Today is Going to be Awesome

Erin Loechner / Design for Mankind

Alyssa Yuhas  / We like We Love

Jessie Senese / Shop Sweet Lulu

Brooke Reynolds / Inchmark 

I asked them to just scribble the theme "handmade by you" on a piece of paper and make whatever doodles came to mind. Had I had more budget for digital printouts, I would have liked to use more of the graphics, but I settled on the various interpretations of the words, making a wallpaper design out of it.

alt: centrepieces = necklaces

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Assembling the concept in my studio prior to the event
left: photo by Rambling Renovators, right: photo by Lindsay Thompson

from the Alt photo stream

For the mini party centrepieces, I wanted something colourful, simple, and something that could become an activity in itself. It also had to be compact and easily fit into my suitcase! After perusing the aisles at Michael's for a considerable amount of time, these wooden beads spoke to me. I thought they'd look so appealing en masse and would make a fun activity for the (mostly) gals attending Alt. I also bought some packages of the classic cube uppercase letter beads. Stringing together beaded necklaces is something I would like to do at a party!

(I pretty much designed a party that I would like to attend—one that would feel comfortable and entertaining. Something inclusive of everyone, a fun place to hang out, pretty but not too fancy as to be exclusive. Basically, a party for introverts!)

alt: mini party thank yous

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Jessie and meThank you Jo!Ryan and I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to Jessie Senese (Shop Sweet Lulu) and Jo Packham (Where Women Create, Where Women Cook) for helping out during the party. There was a lot to do and you both were so great. Manning the photobooth was a big job in itself and I am so grateful that you were both here.

Jessie provided the beautiful paper streamers for the photo backdrop as well as the cute polka-dotted cups. I'll do a bigger post about Jessie and her creative party supplies, but please visit Shop Sweet Lulu for lovely eye candy!

Ok, off to board a plane! See you soon.

alt: mini party tonight!!!

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Squarespace allows bloggers to take a hands-on approach to their website. Through the well-designed interface, great selection of templates, easy customization and robust platform, it is a great DIY solution for creating an online presence, particularly for those in creative fields.

UPPERCASE magazine's readers are designers, illustrators, bloggers, crafters, entrepreneurs—people who express themselves through all media in both their professional and personal lives. Though a print magazine, the UPPERCASE community is well-connected through the blog, twitter, flickr, etsy and other social media. The content is a collaboration with its print and blog readers and subscribers—as such it really is a magazine "handmade" by its own readership. The readership is enthusiastic, engaged and feel strongly that it is their magazine.

The theme "handmade by you" expresses both of our audiences: a person's signature is a basic way for someone to declare ownership and assert their personality. Through handwriting and drawing, we express our individuality. An artist signs their creative work. Grafitti and tagging take claim of urban spaces. And so, at the ALT party, Squarespace and UPPERCASE will invite attendees to use handwriting, doodling and tagging to declare their passions.

Follow the live blog and party pictures here:

http://altminiparty.sqsp.com/

Here are Ryan of Squarespace and me testing out the video/photo concept:

I've put a huge amount of effort into planning this party, so please come by. FREE MAGAZINES!!!

The long way here

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Greetings from Salt Lake City, Utah. I left home around 5:30am with plenty of time to get through customs and such. Unfortunately, due to the extremely cold weather (-30 degrees celcius plus wind chill), the plane's computer system was non functioning and required rebooting. The flight was delayed a few hours, and thus my connection to Salt Lake via San Francisco was lost. So after landing in SFO, I had enough time to grab a sandwich before boarding to Pheonix, Arizona. Wearing my winter boots and lugging around my coat and sweaters!

Landing in Arizona and seeing palm trees was really strange. Not where I imagined I'd be today! After another delay in getting the third plane out to the runway, at last it was take off to Salt Lake. I arrived about 15 hours after I began, which is actually a bit longer than it would take to drive from Calgary to Utah!

My bags are still in San Francisco, but I guess I'll see them in the morning. Good thing I have a whole extra day tomorrow to take it easy. The Grand America Hotel is incredibly grand indeed! My suite is big enough to host a mini party right here. And once my bags arrive (which are full of party supplies and camera equipment for this Friday's Squarespace + UPPERCASE mini party with my clothing used like packing peanuts) we actually could.

Nighty night from Utah!

ALT Summit: get the party started!

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I'm looking forward to the Altitude Design Summit coming up (quickly!) in January. UPPERCASE magazine will be represented there—I am helping the folks at Squarespace plan their mini party (I've had my blog on Squarespace since 2004). Our concept is "handmade by you". I have a unique photo/video booth activity in the works, free magazines, DIY "dessert it yourself" sundae bar… I'm going my best to make the party fun and memorable.

I would like to incorporate the handwriting and scribbles of lots of different people which I will then used to design some paper decorations. As ALT attendees and friends of UPPERCASE, I am inviting you to get the party started…

Using a black marker or Sharpie, please handwrite the phrase "handmade by you" a few times and make some abstract scribbles or doodles on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of white paper. No need for perfection or to design the page in any way, just take 5 minutes and go for it! Please scan the paper (300dpi greyscale is fine) or take a picture of it and send it back to me here. thanks!!!

JetPens giveaway!

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THANK YOU - THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED BUT PLEASE DO FOLLOW ALONG ON TWITTER!
Good morning! As promised, we are hosting a giveaway from JetPens.

The JetPens prize includes:
Ohto Chocolate Bar Cross Paper Clip - Mix - Pack of 6
Saki P-661 Roll Pen Case with Traditional Japanese Fabric - Maccha Green
Midori Animal Shape D-Clips Paper Clip - Original Series - Elephant - Box of 30
Marvy 4300 LePen Porous Point Marker Pen - Black

To participate:
Follow @uppercasemag on Twitter
Follow @jetpens on Twitter
Then retweet the giveaway mentioning both @jetpens and @uppercasemag in your tweet

BONUS PRIZE: @uppercasemag is at over 7900 followers... the lucky 8000th follower will win a free subscription!

The JetPen prizewinner will be picked randomly on Friday.

Breakfast date!

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In less than an hour I have a breakfast date with a few hundred people... I will be speaking on a panel for the "VIP Breakfast Panel, Women Entrepreneurs"! (eep!) If you're here at the event, I welcome you to stop by the UPPERCASE and dottie angel table in the marketplace and say hi. I would be happy to answer more of your questions there and am always receptive to your ideas for the magazine.

Here's a classic shot of Tif in our display:

Pitching and slamming

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This afternoon, nine hopefuls had the chance to pitch their ideas to a panelist of magazine publishers (including UPPERCASE). There wasn't a lot of slamming, though, we are all too nice for that!

Tif started to set up the display for tomorrow's marketplace.

The summary so far: lots of talking, eating, listening. I'm looking forward to Holly Becker's keynote presentation at dinner shortly. But first I have to open my design files and fix some prepress preflight problems on issue 11. No break for me!

St. Paul

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So a mere 24 hours ago I was uploading the final print files for Issue #11 and now I am sitting in a hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota, doing my homework for the start of The Creative Connection tomorrow morning. It is kind of hard to adjust my brain, from being so focused on the final and minute details of the magazine to now have to think outwardly and prepare for an event with apparently 700 attendees!

I have enjoyed my jam-packed 10 hours in St. Paul so far: the hotel is beautiful, I met with Sharon Werner of Werner Design Werks (I've admired her design work for years!), enjoyed wandering the city for a while (though the wind in bitter cold, which doesn't help my ringing ears from a head cold + air travel), visited a gallery show of Jennifer Davis and Amy Rice, and to top it off, dinner with Tif and Jessie followed by a nice chat by the fire. (Alas, no hot chocolate, Tif! You'll have to carry some in a flask.)

I've got my big camera and laptop with me, so I'll blog recaps when I can. But if you want to follow along in real time, I'll be on @uppercasemag on twitter and instagram sending dispatches from the event.