It’s hard to believe that just one month ago, we welcomed ten Creative Explorers to our haven by the sea. In this next series of blog posts, we’ll highlight some of the magic moments we shared during our 5th anniversary Seaside Sessions retreat.
Of course, getting to our beloved oceanfront house takes months of planning, preparation, and packing—here’s just some of what was packed into my car (I’m amazed at all it can hold!).
Upon arrival, we gazed out onto the ocean, and were rewarded with the briefest rainbow: we heralded it as a good omen for a wonderful time ahead for sure.
Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, albeit a bit chilly (it warmed up each of the following days, which was wonderful). As the Creative Explorers began to arrive in the afternoon, there were excited shouts of welcome, warm hugs, introductions, as well as oohs and aahs over our spectacular ocean view. After everyone had settled in, we assembled for our first gathering which featured two reveals: this year’s handmade book project, and the presentation of a secret gift to commemorate our 5th anniversary!
Unbeknownst to Penny, I had been working on a special project: a photo album filled with pictures taken at all of our Seaside Sessions retreats from 2020 to 2025. Thanks to Virginia Coleman and Jill Trescott, I was able to include images of many special and memorable moments from those years. Of course, I had to find just the right album (had to be square format, had to be blue, had to have a cut out on the cover so our logo could be inserted), and the search ended successfully in an English Etsy seller’s store!
The photo album was a great surprise, and we all enjoyed looking, exclaiming, and reminiscing about creative adventures past.
Then, it was on to our Bohemian Feast! Penny raised a glass to toast us all at the start of our “Big Artventure”. As we dined on a variety of healthy and savory treats we talked about ideas to make our books personal, and caught up with our lives since we’d last seen each other.
After the feast, Penny demonstrated how to assemble the unusual but versatile substrate for our books: folded brown paper bags! I confess that when she suggested this last fall, I was initially doubtful. Our Creative Explorers were probably a bit skeptical too, but by the end of the week, they were believers…but that’s getting ahead of our story. For the rest of the evening everyone searched for images, patterns, textures, and words in books and magazines, resulting in some surprising and wonderful finds to get them started on what would become an amazing bookmaking journey.
The creative journey would continue the next day, and to get ready, we all welcomed a good night’s rest, lulled to sleep by the soothing sounds of the sea…
Next up, Penny will share the creative magic and merriment that were her Thursday Studio Sessions!
Stay tuned.
