Make & Mingle with Alabama Women in Business

Join us for an evening of low-stress, high-creativity making through Junk Journaling and Mini-Collages. Junk journaling is the ultimate sustainable craft. It’s all about taking discarded, mismatched papers, vintage remnants, and everyday scraps, and turning them into a beautiful, deeply personal visual diary, planner, or piece of art. This completely open-ended, low-instruction craft is designed so you can create entirely at your own pace while networking, catching up, and connecting with fellow women in business. A unique spread of collage materials will be provided - including papers, stickers, tapes, vintage magazines, and markers, as well as sturdy cardstock as a base if you are new to junk journaling. If you already have a journal you would like to work in, you are welcome to bring it.

about the craft room: The Craft Room is a secondhand arts and craft supply shop and makerspace dedicated to making creativity more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable for the environment. By taking in community donations of gently used, unwanted arts and craft supplies and reselling them at thrifty prices, we help take the risk and shame out of trying new hobbies. Designed for seasoned crafters and curious beginners alike, our space offers shared tables, snacks and libations, and community workshops that give scrappy materials a beautiful second life.

*Photos by Audrey Creative

meet our host, Blakely O'Connor

Blakely O'Connor is the owner and founder of The Craft Room in West Homewood. While earning her PhD in engineering at Harvard University, she learned that precision mattered as much in presentation as in research. When it came time to build her career, she returned home to Birmingham with a desire to create something hands-on, sustainable, and community-driven. Growing up in a family of talented creatives, Blakely initially felt like the analytical black sheep. However, she always felt a constant pull toward creative things—from hand-lettering study guides to drawing intricate process diagrams. Today, she embraces her identity as a serial hobbyist who loves the process of learning a new skill just as much as making the finished product. She firmly believes that our deepest connections happen when our hands are busy, using creative projects as a fun, low-pressure backdrop for real human connection.

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Host or Publisher Alabama Women In Business