well hello there bloggers! i know it's been a while but i needed a few days to recover from the cruise and get my land legs back before i could sit down to write this post. all is better now and i'm ready to share all about our artful adventure at sea. i have to say it was definitely the best cruise yet in my opinion. i had such fun, so many laughs, got to spend time with friends both old and new, and shared creativity with my amazing students. thanks again to jim and team scrapmap for making sure everything on board the ship went smooth. thanks also to my team: mario, joy, richele, and monica for their tireless work before, during, and after all of the classes, and of course running the marketplace. the ship was over the top wonderful with good food, drinks, and all the amenities you could want for your paradise at sea. i must say the weather was hot, hot, hot, and not to mention humid, but hey we were in the caribbean so it's all good. the ports were beautiful, tropical, and i've never seen water so turquoise blue. our group this year had the most talented and amazing students who were willing to share their excitement and creativity all week long…
the workshops i planned for the cruise had a mix of technique and of course incorporating several found elements challenging everyone to acquire throughout our voyage. our first evening workshop was this fun travel mug where students created a personalized, one of a kind souvenir of the cruise because they were given a custom stamp of this years logo from stampers anonymous. this was a great ice breaker for many first-time cruisers and a fun project for our seasoned cruisers.
next up was our 3 hour journal class where we created this cool gate journal using custom art parts for covers, kraft resist, tissue tape, kraft glassine, distress stains, and more. we constructed the entire journal including several pocket pages from cardstock, fabrics, tags, and tabs so students could fill their journal throughout the journey. here are a few pages from mine as i included mini instax photos throughout the book along with lots of fun travel themed embellishments.
mid way through the cruise we had a quick late night workshop where students designed a wearable pocket watch from idea-ology. they got to select the theme and embellishments to make one as unique as their own creative style.
our final workshop was a 2-day 6 hour workshop and one i've honestly been wanting to teach but never have. it was a configurations tray! we incorporated lots of treasures i provided each student along with incorporating trinkets they have gathered throughout the cruise (check out the cool pirate ship i found for mine). the design of this tray also had a shaker insert where we included sand and shells from the various islands we visited. we also created a photo flip in one of the inserts using a small ring binder so photos could be incorporated in the tray. i also thought adhering a square of cork in one of the inserts would be a great way to showcase buttons or pins many collected from the various ports. all in all it was my favorite project from the week as each student had gathered unique elements from the voyage we all shared together considering i had to create my project on board before the class. a great way to capture and share those found mementos…
so now it's back to reality and back to work. although it is true this was my final "big" cruise, i have other things in the works for 2013 that i'll be sharing later next year. thanks again to all of my wonderful students and friends for making this final voyage such a memorable and creative one. thanks to all of the generous sponsors who made this an exciting cruise for sure. thanks also to you bloggers for waiting patiently for me to return, you were not forgotten at all so here is a video blog i captured of our crafting in the caribbean – enjoy…t!m
(note: song credit at the end of the video: good life by onerepublic)
