By Jaclyn Carlson A few months back I wrote about a strange phenomenon I had witnessed about the creative scenes between Melbourne & Sydney.  Much like the cities themselves, the creative scenes seemed competitive. Sydney it appeared, was a tad bit jealous of Melbourne’s creative status and resented the cool persona that just oozed from every lane way.  Sydney rallied and slowly picked up creative momentum with events and exhibitions popping up throughout the year and artists, crafters and business owners banding together to make their mark – which they have.  I have personally witnessed a growing, vibrant and talented group of creative women (many of whom I’ve featured here!) coming into their own here in Sydney and I think 2014 will only see that movement grow stronger – don’t you agree?

But despite the rivalry at the surface I was relieved and humbled to see these two creative worlds collide on a recent weekend when I went to co-host not one but two events in Melbourne.  Yes, Sydney and Melbourne co-hosts worked together as a team and brought together a variety of creative ladies to eat, drink and craft to our hearts content. The first event was a Kinfolk dinner, where I dined with some Melbourne folks from all backgrounds, drinking wine and sharing our own creative stories.

From there it only got better, on Sunday I was lucky enough to team up with two incredible ladies (both CWC members!) - Kylie Lewis (Of Kin) and craft queen Laura Blythman for a creative collaboration that was dreamed up months ago.  All three of us wanted to do something fun, to spend an afternoon just playing and creating. The result was Paper Platdate, an afternoon of making with our own hands and escaping with other people who valued and found the fun in piles of paper, scissors, glue and paint.

As I flew back to Sydney after such a whirlwind weekend I couldn't help but feel that maybe more interstate events would help ease the sibling rivalry and get us back on track to being one happy, creative family.  I for one found that my Melbourne CWC sisters where just as open to interstate collaboration, so let's make it happen more often ladies!

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Jaclyn Carlson is the founder of Blog Society, a community for bloggers & creatives as well as the  author behind the Sydney-based blog, Little Paper Trees. When not documenting her expat adventures, she can be found working for one of Australia’s top design & homewares trade shows. Passionate and prone to wasting hours on Pinterest, she has years of experience in marketing, advertising and PR and aims to put Sydney’s creative women in the spotlight with her monthly column.