I just got back late last night from Spokane, Washington. I was there to sit on a retailer training and attend the hugely successful fundraiser/workshop for Project H.O.P.E., at Orphaned Decor. I had so much fun getting to know some of the retailers in the Washington and Oregon area. And they loved “hamming” it up for the camera!
Kim Biden, Leslie Stilwell and Alison Winchester
Let me tell you, I was with my people all weekend, and it felt sooooo good.
CeCe Caldwell herself came out for the event, as she truly tries to meet all the retailers, and support fundraisers that these amazing retailers are putting together.
Striking a pose and me just cracking up. Anne Skougard, Alison Winchester, CeCe Caldwell, Moi, Leslie Stilwel and Kim Biden
Not only is CeCe the most down to earth woman, she is an amazing woman. Her story of why she created the paint, the legacy we are leaving our children and grandchildren, and her philosophy about her company, and how it can truly benefit others. Well, let’s just say I cried before the whole story of how we all came together was finished. (hey, CeCe and Anne got choked up too. I am not the only leaky well around here!) Did you know this company is full of Magic? The paint is not magic, but it is close. I don’t believe “things” are magic, but people can be. The people who make up this company and the amazing things that come forward from it are Magic. As in, amazing things are produced from CeCe Caldwell’s and the far reaching impact so many of it’s retailers, customers, and Moi, are feeling and able to achieve.
CeCe Loves her retailers, and they love her.
I even got to meet some of my readers! Friday morning I got an email from a reader who said she and her twin sister were both from Spokane, and her sister still lived in the area. We made arrangements for her to meet me at the training, and how much fun it was!
Myself, CeCe and Mitzi
“Mitzi” is an amazingly talented girl. She made these little “Hope” words for myself and Leslie, who was heading up the fundraiser. CeCe was so impressed, she asked her to make 25 more and she paid for her seat at the fundraiser the next day. Mitzi collects junque like I do, but she crafts with hers. She has a dream to donate the things she finds to benefit others, especially children at risk. Her mission just fit in and added to the amazing things that are happening with Project H.O.P.E.
Leslie’s partner David, built these frames from reclaimed Barn wood. We added the pieces we made from this day, Mitzi’s HOPE pieces, aren’t they beautiful? And some fun embellishments Anne had provided.
I met two other readers, Debbie and Kathy, Kathy drove all the way from Seattle! I feel like I just expanded my circle of amazing friends. It was the most fulfilling weekend, and I loved every second of it.
Myself and Kathy, I didn’t get a picture of Debbie!
We had so much fun learning new techniques from teacher extrordinaire, Anne Skougard, who is the Western Distributor for CeCe Caldwell’s.
Anne has a lot of fun teaching, and it shows!
We laughed, we even cried a little! And overall, we were fed, and I don’t just mean food.
We were fed with the feeling and power of expressing yourself Creatively. We were fed with the amazing feeling of meeting others who share a passion to take something old and neglected, maybe even bound for the dump, and breathe new life into it. We were fed creatively as we learned new skills. And most of all, we were fed with the joy of being together.
Even CeCe participates in the workshops! Hey, there is Debbie, with the long ponytail!
And oh yes, we were FED, wow, Spokane, you have some good restaurants! And I definitely tried out the best there was to offer.
Thanks for stopping by and reading about my amazing weekend. I hope this little post might inspire you to think about what you can create out of junque, old, worn out, or just ugly and make it beautiful. And, if you really want some help in making it beautiful, pick up a can of CeCe Caldwell’s, 100% natural paint. Once you crack open that can and start painting, you will know what all the hype is about. Closest thing to a magic paint I have found. And THAT makes me feel really good.
PS Thank you SO MUCH to all of you who emailed me with sweet words and prayers for my stepfather “Todd”. He is doing better each day, and I know he is benefiting so much from all the prayers, and good thoughts you are sending his way.
PPS Be sure to come back tomorrow for my “Trashy Tuesday” series!
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Sounds like you had an awesome time, Karen! What an amazing experience!!
Oh, that looks like it was so much fun! I really need to try that paint soon!
ahhhh, that is an awesome story. I am not a bit surprised that you all had such a soul-filled experience. Congratulations to you, to Cece, to Anne, and keep it up! Sounds lovely.
Looks like a good time was had by all and reminds me I really need to refill my Virginia Chestnut that is the color of melted Hershey bars.
~Bliss~
Looks like you had a really fantastic time with all the girls!!!
Note to self; Must try painting in a fab sparkly top for my next project
It was so amazing to meet you, Karen! I read your inspiring blog all the time and so it was great to meet you face to face. What a fun lady you are and I love your “jump-right-in-there” attitude!
And thanks for the encouragement, I have been painting away and should have a few pieces done this week!
Debi,
Junk in Coeur d’Alene is going to start carrying the CeCe Caldwell Paints in the next week or so. I wanted to talk to you about if you might be interested in being a rep for the paint in CDA. Let me know…..also…. Dixie at Junk is an amazing person and she has one retail space open in her shop – which is wildly popular – you may be interested in getting a space with her. Give me a call Debi. I would love to talk to you a bit more about your painting and such. Leslie
I will give you a call Leslie. And, thanks to you and David for hosting such a fun and successful event. Debi
Really fun pictures, Karen. I particularly love the picture of retail trio,”CeCe’s Angels”. It was a fantastically “MAGICAL” weekend, much due to your MAGNETIC personality. If not for your devoted fans, we would not have met Mitzi. Nor her very nice husband, who accompanied her to in joining us for the Project HOPE dinner. You are a master at generating conversation that prompts complete strangers to share about themselves, thus promoting new friendships quickly. You have an amazing energy and zest for life, and now you have yet another fan in me.
Anne P.Q. Skougard (Paint Queen) loves to make “paint fly” particularly CeCe Caldwell’s paint. She is such a paint pro and wonderful, dear friend of mine. It was her incredibly thoughtful generosity that initiated the workshop benefitting Project HOPE.
It was such a treat for all of us to have CeCe (Donna, Joe, or whatever we call her) amongst us. If not for this delightfully charming, big-hearted Southern Bell and her Green paint, Project HOPE would not be receiving the $1,400 raised via the workshop. And through the process, I now know great blogger and have several new friends.
OOPS! Leslie, I think you might have been directing your comment about CDA, to the other Debbie from the class.
Oh well, responding to your note to her, gave me a chance to say thank you to you and Dave.
Debi
Looks like you all had a great time!
I hope I get to attend one of these events/blogger conferences one of these days–it would be so fun to finally meet up with some favorite bloggers!
Catherine
hmm. Interesting. CeCe Caldwell is not a real person. That persons name is actually Donna, as I am sure you know.
Did she tell the real reason she started the copycat paint? It saddens me when people misrepresent themselves.
Misty, often people have “professional names” they wish to be known by. Yes, I am aware of all the reasons the paint was created. Thankfully we live in a free market where there is room for competition and choices in products. I was fortunate enough to learn about this paint and the company before it was really a “company” selling nationally. CeCe Caldwell’s is one of the several chalk and clay based paints that are available on the market. They are all high quality and offer something to different to each consumer. I can only assume you represent another chalk paint company based on your negative views. I believe negativity is not conducive to creativity. Friendly competition and choices are what inspire us to do better and create better.
GTC- it doesn’t have anything to do with competition and choices. It is based on lying, cheating and stealing.
No, I don’t represent the competition. I am just a mom from SoCal who happened upon this story and after digging a little further discovered the truth about Donna and how she actually copied the recipe for clay paint only to pass it off as her own version.
Having the paint mixed in America is not the same thing as being made in America.
I am not negative- but I like the truth. And it saddens me when people represent themselves in order to make a buck.
There is no creativity off of stolen ideas.
CeCe is a real person, a wonderful lady who cares passionately about people, our planet and the causes that are close to her heart.
CeCe is an abbreviation of her middle name – She is a very private person like many of us. And like many business people in our great nation and around the world she chooses to use a variation of her name on her products.
I know her personally as well as professionally and she is a genuine honest American business person. Her paints and waxes are not stolen or misrepresented. The paint was developed from CeCe’s desire to work with a more natural product and her commitment to running an honest retailer friendly company.
The paint is “made in America” by combat wounded warriors that fought for our rights as Americans to pursue the dream of business success. CeCe Caldwell’s Paints is a growing U.S. company creating jobs and boosting local economies.
Are there similar products on the market? Of course, and not just one. People have choices. I personally choose to work with a company that is doing the right thing for our environment, our local economies, myself as a distributor, our retailers and end users.
Pick up a paint brush, use your creativity and paint with whatever products you choose.
Sincerely,
Donna McCrummen, NE Regional Distributor
CeCe Caldwell’s Paints
OK, let’s get something cleared up here please. First of all, CeCe is a real person and CeCelia is her middle name. TRUTH! CeCe did not copy anyone’s paint formula, that is just so absolutely hilarious. She wouldn’t copy a paint that is harmful, why would she, hers is 100% green, NO VOC’s and all chalk/clay/mineral paint. TRUTH! Maybe Misty you should copy CeCe’s paint and quit your belly aching, at least you’d be doing a little good! Are you satisfied that you have now sunk to the level of this? We rise above dear and look at the positive of this FUND RAISER that raised $1400 for Project Hope. It was not a venue for venom, like you chose dear. It was for someone else who needed help. Shame on you.
umm so does this mean that Miss Mustard Seed is not a real person because her real name is Marion?
How about Marilyn Monroe? There is a long list of people who choose professional names for their brand are they frauds?.
As to the copying lying and stealing where are you getting this ‘proof’ from? How did you go about your research? I would love to know. please present us which some facts here otherwise it just sounds like hatred. One last question, how you can say CeCe Caldwell copied Annie Sloan when they are two different products? its like saying butter stole the recipe from margarine. They are not the same CCCP is the butter natural and organic while margarine contains harmful chemicals and hazards. Their are vast differences between the two products and it is moot to say one copied the other.
Sincerely,
Debi Beard
Oh Karen, so glad you had such a great time! Its such a great company and they do so many great things. It looks like you had a blast! You deserve it!
Hugs
Karin
Thank you for the kind words. I enjoyed meeting you and all the other wonderful ladies. I am pleased to say that the frame I made was auctioned at the Project H.O.P.E. Harvest Banquet Saturday night and raised some more funds for that amazing organization.
Thank you to all of the great ladies and our gentleman attendee Russ for your support of Project H.O.P.E.
CeCe
looks like a load of fun!
Looks like so much fun Karen! How awesome you got to meet CeCe! I have yet to meet her!
Karen, what a blast! I totally agree with everything you’ve said in your post. I have so much respect for everyone within CeCe Caldwell’s Paints. I’ve never encountered more amazing people in all my life.
This is so awesome. I’m so thrilled you had such a fab time. I love the paragraph about being fed. What an amazing experience to have!! Junk lovers unite.
Karen, thanks for sharing your fabulous heart felt experience – I felt like I could jump right into those pictures they were so alive! (and <3 those dimensional frames) God bless you abundantly in your new business endeavors – you have a great spirit and amazing talents to share, and now a great product line and company to help you reach the sky!
2 Timothy 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control
What a great time!!! CONGRATULATIONS on raising $1400!!! What a fantastic benefit for such a worthy cause. You all look like you had so much fun and fellowship! Thank you for sharing!
So “Misty”, out of this beautiful post of HOPE, giving, creating and sharing, you chose to share slanderous lies that (apparently) are just your ‘observations’. If that indeed is your observation from this beautiful time people spent sharing themselves, then condolences my dear. You must have a sad life. I, however, am appalled at your words! Because on this solemn day that America shares, 9/11, I would have chosen to focus on the community of giving that happened on this day or the love that obviously filled the air. I would have been moved that these very busy people chose to pause and create for a cause. Your untruths are not even worth repeating but I would like to ask, is “Misty” your real name? Although you have chosen to hide behind that name while sharing your rude comments, Donna has chosen to use her nickname for her product because she is not a narcissist but understands that in marketing, people like to identify with a person (a real person) and chose to use a pseudonym. The focus is on the product, which is a completely different paint than the one you are strangely loyal to. Maybe if you had ever used our product, you might find that the only thing they have in common is the fact that they are both paint. Are you busy leaving mean comments on blogs where latex and acrylic paints are used? I hope that you have wiser ways to spend your time, I know I do and today on 9/11, I will pause to remember and be proud to live in the greatest country on the planet where free enterprise still exists. And I am proud that CeCe Caldwell’s Paints was born in America and is made in America!
I read Misty’s unprovoked comments last night, and after the difficult task of sleeping on it, I am compelled to respond further as have so many others. What a shame that you, Misty, would take the positive format herein to spoil and slander. One would think, that inofitself, would be inconsiderate enough. If you truely feel you have something valid to say, you might put such negativity on your own Facebook page where you can truely own it and stand by your conviction. Now several of us are compelled to follow up in response to your poor choice by further imposing on Karen’s platform. I apologize to you, Karen, for continuing this discussion on your wonderful Blog.
First I want you to know that Project HOPE is a cause very dear to my family. My own kids work to help better the lives of less fortunate kids through this wonderful program. I merely mentioned the work that my family has been doing with Project HOPE, to Anne Skougard and she and Donna Cecelia (CeCe) immediately set up a venue to help. They not only forfitted their profits from the workshop, but they contributed from their own pockets. They attended a fundraising dinner later that evening, interacted with the kids and leaders of Project HOPE, and made further personal commitments to continue further behalf of Project HOPE. Going from being part of such a gratifying, positive experience of people helping people to reading your dispairing, naive remarks of inhumanity, is disturbing to say the least.
Misty, your “research” is misguided. To be sure that I know of what I speak, I just did some of my own. And nowhere did I find information even remotely similar to that on which your hat rests. Here is my first hand, from personal experience, testamonial. I have hosted workshops in my design studio for CeCe Caldwell paint and for the paint which seems to want to remain illusive. They are both fine products. But there are distinct differences in the two which others have already pointed out. There is a definite difference in the smell and the feel of the paint. I do believe the wax from the so called “copied brand” might be flamable? After the Brand X workshop, the oder on the rags we used for the wax was so strong that I soaked them in a bucket of water away from the building prior to disposing of them. After the CeCe Caldwell workshop, the wax rags had no oder and they were confidently placed directly in the dumpster. That was only one of several differences I personally observed in the two products. That said if CeCe/Donna copied Brand X, she did a poor job of replicated the formula, because it simply doesn’t match. I don’t see the need to try to convince you that one is better than the other. Everyone has the right to try them and decide for themselves. But, you might want to go back to those who filled your head with “non-documented research” (hearsay) and ask why the identifiable differences in the two products? Better yet put your money where your mouth is and buy some of each product and decide for yourself. Now that would be credible research. This is America, you can even blog about what you like better about one over the other. But as a human being, please show the respect not to attack a person whom you don’t even know. I am so disappointed to see the continuous negative compaign that has come across social media and the tainted rumor mill from “your camp”, I have read Annie Sloan followers (there I said it) like yourself make personal attacks on their competitors and I have read CeCe Caldwell’s followers defend the fallacies spewed by others. However, I have yet to hear or read a CeCe fan make a personal attack on Annie Sloan or any other. As a designer I specify many different competive product lines, and they don’t seem compelled to slander one another in order to survive. It is a big marketplace, this world, thus no need for this gradeschool behavior to continue.
I won’t go further to defend the person that I know as both Donna and CeCe because she doesn’t need it. Her actions speak for themselves, and I can’t imagine that anyone that knows her personally does not feel blessed to have her in their lives. Heck, I might just start calling her Fred, and I will always consider her a wonderful, caring, “real” person.
Wow, Karen. Lots of ‘le activity’ on the comment section! I just want you to know, as the ‘twin’ of Mitzi, mentioned in your weekend post, that you are amazing and handled the negative comment with grace and dignity. Thanks for being so classy. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet you and Cece in person someday. For now, I’ll have to live through my sister’s experience. Which isn’t such a hard task for me…it’s a twin thing! Hugs again from Wisconsin!
I’m confused about which paint is being referred to in comparison as Brand X?? I reread the posts and can’t see where another paint was mentioned, so I’m having a hard time figuring out the lengthy post about comparison when no other brand was mentioned other than CeCe’s in the comments section. Even Misti did not mention a brand – and there are so many. Can you be more specific about which paint you are referring to? Thanks!
Karen, ‘Mitzi B’ here…..not ‘Misty’
, thanks again for taking time to meet me. What an exciting weekend I had. Boy, am I glad I listened to my sis when she said, “Get your butt down to Orphaned Decor!” Meeting you, CeCe, Leslie, Anne and all the other wonderful ladies was such a blessing. I felt that I was with my ‘tribe’.:) The inspiration is still with me now and I feel that my dreams could actually come to fruition in its timing. Thanks for being being wonderful ‘YOU’!
Karen, I hope you don’t mind one more comment from me, as I had wanted to mention Debi Weber, too. Debi, you sweet soul! Thanks for the dinner invite! I truly was inspired by Project Hope. It’s amazing that it took people from Wisconsin, South Carolina, California and Arizona to bring to my attention something so wonderful that is in my own backyard! Thank you.
I sense a pot stirrer. And I don’t mean a paint pot.
~Bliss~
lol Bliss…You just made me laugh!! LOVE IT!!!
looks like so much fun Karen! What an amazing group, I look forward to meeting them in person some day, it was great to see the photos, thanks so much for sharing!
Looks like you all had a great time! Sorry someone had to get all negative on your post.
I for one have tried both paints and for anyone who has they know that the paints are completely different (consistency, overall texture, color selection, way they distress, etc)! I like both paints for different reasons and think it’s great that there is more than one option to choose from!
Karen
How can I contact you about something we talked about at the Spokane workshop?
Thanks,
Debbie
Great post, Karen. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it at Paris Flea! See you next month
~Jill
I made the mistake of saying something stupid about “brand x” on my blog and wolves came out of the den, ready to eat me! I think some are drinking the stuff. Maison Blanche is another chalk paint brand coming to the states. Hope the trend continues!
Love the fun photos! Looks like a great time was had by all!
Best,
Barbara
Choices are great. Lots of great products out there.
What you said Barbara, was not stupid – it was completely misinformed and inflammatory. The wolves came out because you said that ASCP has lead in it, when it is quite well known that is is illegal to make anything with lead in it these days. Saying something stupid is not what brought everyone’s claws out – it’s making accusations of such preposterous magnitude that made everyone jump out of their chairs. Let’s make sure the story is straight from the get-go.
I noticed in your tutorials you had at least once used Annie Sloan Paints…. and you are now using CeCe paints… how does the wax finish hold up comparing the two…. I know CeCe’s is easier to apply, but because of that, it makes me nervous, does it have the same quality that AS has? Any thoughts?
If you use a satin water based paint, how do you age it… similiar to the the dark wax, but using what product? I tried waxing over the satin paint, and it wouldn’t absorb… I do use the minwax wipe-on poly for a finish, but I haven’t found a product I like for the
“aging look”… thanks for your help.
I hope this doesn’t post twice,… my question to you is. How do you think CeCe waxes hold up in comparison to AS waxes? the CeCe wax goes on so easily, it concerns me that it isn’t absorbing and doing it’s job as well….
Another question is, how do you age (similiar to the dark waxes) over a satin water based paint? I tried waxing ad the waxes don’t absorb. I have used the minwax wipe-on poly for a final finish, but need some help in finding an easy product that ages well… thank you.