Why We Gathered: The Heart Behind Our Maker Retreat
Take us back to February - we are coming off a fun, successful holiday season and taking time to rest and reset before launching our newest upcoming collection (Supper Club Collection). Alise of Branch Collective had the fantastic idea of having us and a few other local makers over for dinner, where we had a home cooked meal and shared our stories and dreams over wine and homemade bread. Alise shared her previous retreat she did by herself to plan her year and we asked - how about you take us along next time?
Fast forward to September - Alise made this happen! Through so much planning and intention, Alise created a weekend filled with encouragement, guidance, and fun. We are so lucky to know her and have her as a part of our journey.
Meet the Makers: Spotlight on Local Women-Owned Businesses
Studio 1989 Design
Brittany is the heart and hands behind Studio1989Designs, a Wisconsin-based design studio offering handmade baby accessories, home goods, and apparel. What began as a passion project in 2014 has grown into a full creative business focused on thoughtful, one-of-a-kind pieces. It always impresses us how many talents Brittany has to make such special products for her customers!
Bridget makes hand-crafted, polymer clay jewelry. Formerly Cherry Tree Creatives, her pieces are small expressions of identity, meant to support confidence and connect with moments in everyday life. Bridget’s jewelry is thoughtfully made through the entire creation process. And let’s take a moment for her rebrand! As we personally know Bridget, this new chapter in her business truly captures the beauty of her business (and her beauty as a person)!
Alise is the creative force behind Branch Collective, where she crafts handcrafted jewelry, leather goods, and homewares from natural materials. Not only does she make beautiful products, but she is the brain behind this retreat! She led six sessions throughout our weekend to help us create goals and action plans for 2026! A huge shoutout to Alise for always being intentional with her business and with her words and advice to us! And of course, she provided such a cute swag bag filled with goodies, which included cute mugs and journals!
Hands-On Learning: Sharing Our Craft with Each Other
At the maker retreat, b.louise led a fun jewelry-making workshop, helping us fellow makers create our own personal earrings to take home with us! We were able to pick out our clay and metal pieces before we got to sand and assemble the beautiful pieces! As a fun surprise, Bridget also had us create our own initial necklace - how fun! It was so cool learning the creative process behind Bridget’s business!
Brittany of Studio1989 Designs taught us the basics of hand embroidering, which is how she handcrafts many of her products (insert: the infamous Carhartt hats!). We learned the basic stitches (back stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch) and also how to make some fun florals! Brittany also had a fun surprise for us - she printed each of our logos on fabric so we can hand embroider our own logos!
We couldn’t let all of the other makes have all the fun and lead the workshops - we wanted to teach the craft and share some of our secrets on our candle making process. Each of the makers were able to select their scents prior to the retreat and we were able to walk them through how we prep our vessels, melt the wax, pour the candles, and add the finishing touches. Of course, our candles would not be complete without a fun label - which was personalized to each maker!
Why Hello Adorn Was on Our Must-Visit List
If you follow us on social media, you probably saw that we took some time out of our day on Saturday to visit Hello Adorn. Hello Adorn has built a thriving, design-forward jewelry brand that blends its strong online direct-to-consumer presence with a warm, hands-on retail experience. Their flagship store in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, opened in 2022 and combines studio, store, events, and community spaces. Since beginning in 2016, they have grown so much - and it was an inspiration to us all how talents like jewelry making, embroidering, and candle making can grow into something as big as Hello Adorn! And of course, we all had to get matching endless bracelets!
Creative Breakthroughs: Fresh Ideas We Took Home
Alise was intentional with the set up of the retreat to have us thinking about the longevity of our business and how we can be best equipped to achieve our goals. This was such a good group of makers - and friends - who provided collaborative ideas that started new brainwaves and ideas for the future of Wisco Scents. One of our biggest takeaways was what is our vision? Kayleigh and I always get asked, “Why do you run Wisco Scents? Don’t you both have full time jobs?” and we always struggled to share exactly what this business means to us. This retreat gave us the space to reflect on what exactly Wisco Scents means to us.
As best friends turned sister-in-laws, we created Wisco Scents to have fun, make memories, and bring joy to everyday life. Our vision is to pour Wisconsin-inspired scents that spark nostalgia, remind you of home, and connect us all through the memories we share.
What’s Next: Turning Retreat Energy Into Action
What’s next, you may ask? Well, we are hoping to have a super fun and successful holiday season - which cannot be done without our amazing customers and community! We are hoping to reach more homes this holiday season - whether that be at a market, with a new wholesale client, or through friends and family. After the holiday season, we are hoping to grow our business in more intentional ways than ever to create fun products you are happy to have in your homes!
Check out our giveaway, which opened today (October 1st)! Each of us added our own favorite handcrafted items to the giveaway!
With gratitude and glow,
Jamie
