Seaside Sessions 2026 Recap: Departure Day (Sunday)

Seaside Sessions Sundays are departure days, filled with the flurry of packing, fond farewells, promises to stay in touch, and last walks along the seashore. We always marvel at the closeness developed over such a short time together; the sharing of knowledge, creative goodness, and the absolute joy fostered within our circle of like-minded women. Thank you to each of our Creative Explorers who made this 5th occurrence of Seaside Sessions so memorable.

We especially want to thank our photo documentarian and “Kitchen Maven Extaordinaire” Virginia Coleman for her cheerful and able assistance before, during, and after; always ready to lend a hand, an ear, or a chopping knife (!)
...she helped make the magic happen and we couldn’t have done it without her!

As we said our last goodbyes, we gave each Creative Explorer a ‘go bag’ chock full of goodies for the road, along with their copy of the group photo magnet from the eventful (occasionally hilarious) photo shoot of the day before. This year’s bags matched the iridescence of the tote bags—year 5 swag was truly shiny & bright!

…and just like that, it was all over. But what a time we had! From beginning to end, this extended weekend was loaded with surprises and discovery. It’s amazing how quiet this big ol’ house gets once everyone has taken their leave,

Michelle & I enjoyed a fruity beverage and a few minutes on the deck to look back at an incredible weekend. As evidenced by my “toasty complexion,” a few minutes may have lasted a little while. After which, it was time to return the house to its “pre-retreat” condition…. It nearly seems a different place!

After a good run at packing up, moving furniture, and stacking things for removal we were ready for some good dinner (that none of us had a hand in making!). A quick visit to VK Pho and we were well set to finish the work of preparing for our own departure.

One last sunrise, the removal of all of our winged decor, one last load down in the elevator, heading home with less than we brought with us, and finally our traditional “leaving photo.” As Michelle has done, I too want to thank the infinitely generous and helpful hands of Virginia Coleman. Her contributions to this event are too many to name and we are ever grateful for each of them.

With that we will leave you. We are thankful for those who have filled the circle once again and hope that our creative paths cross again soon. Our sights have already turned toward Seaside Sessions 2027 and beyond (!) - we will have news to share on that front shortly. For just a moment more, let’s linger with the memories that we made this year….

Until next time,
Michelle & Penny

Seaside Sessions 2026 Recap: Final Full Day (Saturday)

After two full days of creative discovery, Saturday dawned bright and sunny and full of artistic possibility! We started the day with yet another Seaside Sessions tradition: Hot Breakfast.

Following a delicious breakfast, our gang was ready for a more free-form day. There was plenty of time to enjoy a walk on the beach - the weather had warmed up quite a bit since their arrival - or a vast expanse of time to work on the details of their interactive books. There was a great deal of sing-along time as progress was made on many creative fronts!

As with each day of our event, this day held a new surprise: Your Creative Connection T-shirts in a rainbow of colors! In addition to the uber cool swag, it was also Class Photo Day. Perhaps a momentary aside here….

We enter each year with the best of intentions to capture the “perfect” Class Photo. Preparations are made, equipment is transported, things are tested, and set-ups are verified. Yet, the path to Class Photo perfection is frought with unseen perils - in spite of ones best efforts, it still seems that chaos is king…. This year came with its own unique challenges (not the least of which was a very kind lady running up from the beach to offer assistance - we were just waving). We still managed to get a few AWESOME shots, tho! Onward & Upward!

Once we returned from our photo frolics, work resumed on the Incredible Mixed-Media Treasure Tomes. Our Creative Explorers took the materials and techniques presented over the past two days to their limits as they outfitted and perfected their books to reflect their chosen themes.

We worked and sang and nibbled throughout the early afternoon. Following a lunch that was Day 3 of Salad-Palooza, we returned to the work tables and/or the deck to enjoy the leisurely pace of a Saturday afternoon at the beach. Dinner was an Indoor Picnic that allowed for any & everything that had been enjoyed during mealtimes previous. Rotisserie chicken, tossed salad, a variety of cold salads, garlic bread, and chili for those that wanted to enjoy it again! Dessert was a veritable smorgasbord of the weekends hits: chocolate ice cream, lemon pound cake, chocolate chip cookies (thanks, Melanie!), and lemon floof! The music played into the evening as work continued on our books….

Before it got too late, we gathered for our final circle and everyone had a chance to share their favorite spread/technique learned/thing they had created with the group. Once again, Michelle and I marveled at the incredibly varied work that results when a group begin/work with/end with the exact same materials and instruction. Everyone’s work was SO amazing! We thank you all for being so brave and open - for creating such beautiful and personal work - for embracing the intention and environment of this event so fully.

The remainder of the evening was given over to the customization of covers, with one-on-one assistance to ensure smooth working and the desired finish for each volume. As the evening wound down, talk turned to next year. We presented our standard offer: attendees could secure their spot for next year with a deposit of $50.00. We’ll let you know the result of that offering in our final installment of the Seaside Sessions 2026 Recap tomorrow.

Until next time,
~ Penny

Seaside Sessions 2026 Recap: Studio Sessions, Day 2

In my Studio Session, we explored more ways to add visual interest by manipulating and personalizing the images we’d found to include in our interactive books. I demonstrated how to achieve image transfers with packing tape and water; a handy way to preserve and modify found treasures. And, to create movement and a sense of fun, we cut ‘doors’ or ‘windows’ into our pages, or added accordion folded tabs to achieve simple pop-up action. As with Penny’s session the day before, we were so intent upon the learning and sharing that we didn’t capture pictures of this process, but below is a photo of my book with pop-ups on the left and the “lemur flap” door in the center.

Next up, back by popular demand, was another way to use Gelli plates (a hallmark of Seaside Sessions; there are so many cool things that can be done with Gelli plates that we’ll probably never run out of new techniques to share!). This time, we combined stencils and PanPastels to gorgeous effect. I could see our Creative Explorers’ creative brains working overtime as I showed how to create ombre blends and vivid color combinations through the stencils directly atop the plate. In my own book, I used Pan Pastel ombre backgrounds on each verso page (this was the design decision which unified my book; once I figured it out, it all came together quickly after that).

After another Salad-Palooza lunch, with vegetarian couscous salad and Penny’s yummy pea salad joining the lineup, there was time for a brief bit of sunbathing on the deck before the afternoon session.

This is the fusion of a photograph and a graphic textile image. Note how the textile design has ‘come through’ onto the boy’s body. I really love this effect!

With everyone eager to begin to apply what they’d learned today and the day before, there was one more cool technique to share: beeswax fusion prints. My gift to each Creative Explorer was a personalized pouch with a stick of pure beeswax, parchment paper, and the cutest mini cheese grater we’ve ever seen! To fuse two magazine photos, I showed how beeswax is grated onto both, then each photo is placed between two sheets of parchment paper. Then, I used a warm iron to gently melt the wax onto the photo. Once the parchment paper is removed, the waxed photo remains. To complete the fusion, more wax is grated over both waxed photos, then ironed again. The result is a partially translucent, almost mysterious cast over the combined photos, as you can see at left.

While Penny prepared a delectable dinner of fish and beans (which seemed to disappear in a flash!) crusty garlic bread, and a fabulous lemony floof (another Seaside Sessions favorite) for dessert, work continued on making our books our own. After dinner and into Open Studio in the evening, everyone was well on the way to realizing her theme, and as always, the magic of sharing, assessing, and collaborating took place among us to great effect!

After another successful day full of learning, creativity, camaraderie and fun, it was time to turn in. What surprises were in store for tomorrow?
Tune in to discover what came next, on our final full day together….

Until next time,
Michelle

Seaside Sessions 2026 Recap: Studio Sessions, Day 1

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