After a rousing start to our artventure, we greeted our first full day together (Thursday) under sunny (if breezy) skies. Following breakfast, we were ready to get the creativity underway. The Swag-of-the-Day, our beautiful, personalized insulated tumbler was received amidst a swell of “Oooohs” and “Ahhhs.”
We then got down to business. The order of the day? To discover all sorts of new ways to personalize the “vessels” we created the night before - our interactive books! The first discovery of the day: exploring the kits designed for our creative time together. They contained a veritable treasure trove of for book customization: card stock in varying neutral shades (along with black and white), vintage papers and foreign text, assorted embellishments (tags, clips, photo corners, labels, etc.), and templates with instructions for each of the pop-up and/or moveable elements we would learn together.
We began by looking at examples of the things that I would be demonstrating. As I did so, I highlighted different items from their kits that were used for each of my examples. Some things appearing more than once as they were used in different ways.
To “warm up” we started with an exercise in altering magazine images using stencils and either 000 Steel Wool or a fine sanding block. The different ways in which they employed this technique were a joy to see!
As seen in the final photo above, Virginia C. had brought along some color copies of her own work, and used the new technique to alter her own imagery. A lovely application of a new method. Fun was also had in mixing patterns for the alteration of printed images. Following our foray into print manipulation, we turned our sights toward creating our own washi tape. It is with my sincere apologies that I managed no photos of this exercise, gentle reader. We were too busy pulling prints from our gel plates and creating our own decorative tapes.
Salad-Palooza!
Day 1 of a crowd favorite was back at lunchtime.
After a break for Lunch (the fabled return of Salad-Palooza), we returned to our work full and refreshed. The afternoon whizzed by as we explored the wonder of interactive paper elements (pop-ups, cascade pulls, mini books, and inserts). Seeing each of these constructions in use, as well as having a template to create them again, made easy work of making these new elements their own.
As it turns out, we weren’t the only ones with surprises up our sleeves! Early in the afternoon, Melanie S. received a stunning floral arrangement from her wife in celebration of their anniversary. Congratulations abounded. We were all lucky to enjoy these beautiful flowers for the remainder of our time together.
Before we knew it, it was time to clear the big table for Dinner! By request, Michelle brought back her meatless chili from last years gathering. It was delicious, and paired perfectly with the gluten free corn muffins that accompanied it. Also by request, we were treated to the most divine chocolate ice cream for dessert - with lemon pound cake for our non-dairy guest. Sated from a lovely dinner and curious to explore more creative fun, our intrepid Creative Explorers enjoyed plenty of Open Studio time before the night drew to its inevitable conclusion.
The Chef du Jour is captured capturing her delicious chili on camera
Michelle will be back tomorrow to regale you with the tales of artistic discovery that took place during her full day with our Creative Explorers. I do hope you will join us again, here in our little corner of the internet, for the continuation of our Seaside Session 2026 Recap.
Until next time!
- Penny