Let me start by saying right off the bat that days like these overwhelm me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. A room full of about 30 of my milk paint retailers, people who invested in my brand and are excited about partnering with me in that way…all there to learn more, so that they can represent my line better. It’s humbling. After I was introduced, I looked out over these amazing women and it all hit me. Why they were there…why I was there… I had to gather myself for a minute before I thanked all of them for joining me in this amazing, crazy journey.
Today was about painting, though, and training our retailers how to train you, the customer, to get the look you want from milk paint. So, I kept the emotional speech awkward and brief and we dove right in.
Our instructors today were the MMSMP primary educator, Abbe Doll of All Dolled Up…
…and Jennylyn Pringle, the President of Homestead House Paint Company, the manufacturer and distributor of the paint line.
They were both amazing. I had never met Abbe in person and it was such a delight to watch both of them in action. I wasn’t teaching today, so I enjoyed the workshop as a student.
We got to test out some of the new colors and products, including our new Milk Paint Mixers. It’s basically a milk frother, but we made it cuter and it’s a perfect way to get a super smooth mix.
We experimented with mixing colors and it was like a buffet of gorgeous shades…pinks, mint, pale blue, sea foam…so fun!
I mixed Grain Sack with Boxwood and got this really pretty pale green…
Abbe showed off our new White Wax…
…and I even learned a new technique! Wet sanding with our Hemp Oil. Oh my goodness. Where has this been all of my life? It gets the finish amazingly buttery smooth. It really is heavenly and I can’t wait to do a tutorial for you on the technique.
I love workshops and working with sample boards. There’s no pressure. You can just paint and experiment and there’s no stress about it turning out perfectly. I got some pretty cool looks and I especially loved this board…
Mustard Seed Yellow over Curio with a Hemp Oil Resist between. This would look awesome on a primitive piece.
Anyway, it was a great day all around. One highlight was meeting our brand new distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Yes. That’s right. I was pretty overwhelmed to think that my brand will be on shelves all the way across the world. I’ll tell you more about that when they are all set to go.
There were so many other highlights, but I did lose it when Jennylyn shared that the company that makes our waxes had to get a larger warehouse to accommodate the production for our line. It really is amazing. Thanks so much to everyone who’s using MMSMP and spreading the word about it. It really is catching on and I feel like we’re just getting started!
Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking in the morning, sharing the story of my journey and hopefully offering some inspiration for the retailers. We’ll also be teaching some advanced techniques and playing with more paint, which we all love to do.
So, it’s late and I need to turn in, so my eyes aren’t baggy tomorrow, but I wanted to share a bit about today.
More tomorrow…
