Episode 25 All Things Silhouette with Terri Johnson

On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina is joined by Terri Johnson, an event planner who runs one of the biggest Silhouette events, “All Things Silhouette.”  Terri tells us about how she got started as a crafter. It began when she was young in sewing classes but really kicked into high gear when she had children of her own and wanted to sew clothing for them. Her passion led to working as a seamstress at a sewing store. This led to her ownership of her own sewing store for many years. 

Several years ago, she discovered that Silhouette machines can be used to create fabric appliqués and her expertise in the Silhouette space took off from there. Based on the demos they were doing in her sewing shop, they began selling Silhouette machines like crazy to the point that Silhouette’s Vice President of Sales came to visit her to find out how her methods were so effective. Eventually her work with Silhouette education and retreats led her to close her sewing shop to focus full time on Silhouette. Terri walks us through what it was like to plan and host her first-even Silhouette conference and that it was a bit like Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.” Carina points out that Terri has been really great at seeing an opportunity that aligns with her passions and then turning that opportunity into something memorable for the wider community. For Terri, the key to the success of her events is the quality of the educators that they bring to the conference. 

Terri walks through some of the challenges that her conferences have faced during the pandemic and tells us the ways they have continued to be successful with a pivot to an online-only model. Many people actually prefer the virtual event! As Terri looks to the future, she is in the process of deciding whether to do live events again (it sounds like she’ll do one live event and one virtual event!).

Terri tells us about some of her courses and programs, including a curriculum that allows someone to become a certified Silhouette instructor. She also has a monthly club for Silhouette projects called the “All Things Silhouette Club.”

Terri can be found at http://www.terrijohnsoncreates.com. 

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Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY 

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About Carina Gardner:

Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.

 

Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and