Art at the Beach 2018

I just shared a wonderful extended weekend with several amazing and talented women. 

This wasn't a jewelry-related retreat but an art journaling one. Participating in more than one art-form keeps me open to all kinds of inspiration. I attended the first Art at the Beach and was excited to get back for more inspiration. And, boy howdy was I inspired! 

For this third Art at the Beach retreat, we began the weekend with a swag bag that included fabulous supplies from Liquitex, Roben-Marie Smith, and Happily We Go.

As well DecoArt contributed several containers of their mediums including crackle paste, gesso (white and black), and matte medium and some stencils for us to share. 

I made sure to take the opportunity to use many of these supplies while at the retreat. 

This spread included Happily We Go's watercolors and the DecoArt Crackle Paste. I also used a stamp from Cat Kerr and some of my own hand-carved stamps. 

One of the Roben-Marie Art Pops cards was used in the above page. Also included is a photo from Tim Holtz and a rub-on from 7Gypsies. 

Here are a few more of my completed pages - these are just my favorites as I was able to complete more than I would have predicted and don't want to bore you with picture after picture of my pages.

We also worked on several collaborative pieces in which we created in each other's journals. 

This was the first one in my journal. We were each given a minute to add background elements to the pages before passing the journal to the left. When your journal got back to you, you could add the focal. Fun right?

For the second collaboration, we were each given two minutes and the last person had five minutes to add a focal. 

This last collaboration was optional. If you were stuck on a page or had one in the works, you could pass it off to anyone in the group for them to work on it then they could pass it to someone else from there. Mine went to Tiffany of Southern Gals Designs (on Instagram) and then Michelle (Mickelnay on Instagram) to finish it.

I hold all these pages dear since my arty sisters each had a hand in their creation. 

As the hostess, Tiffany had us learn something new: eco-dying!

Unfortunately, I missed some of the information on how to do it. But, basically, we wrapped paper and fabric around leaves, flowers, and rusty bits - tying some of it tightly together with twine to secure it. Then it was placed in a large pot with water and a little vinegar. A large can of rocks was placed on top to weigh it all down. And, we let it boil for over an hour. Once done, we placed it on towels outside to dry before opening and revealing the cool marks on the papers and fabrics. Each of the organic materials left different-colored marks. I definitely recommend that do your own research to find out what works and what might be toxic. I know this procedure smelled pretty awful and impacted some of the ladies in different ways. 

While the house was near the beach, we only made one trip down to the water.

And, we took some pictures.

I had a total blast with this tribe of amazing women. We found inspiration and fostered friendships.

And, we made a lot of art!

If you're interested in seeing more from the ladies who arted with me, you can follow each of them on Instagram:

Tiffany (Hostess): southerngals_designs

PJ: PJBuffett

Amie: amiesea

Lindsey: lrsifers

Michelle: micklenay

Erin: happilywego

I know my soul is now more full than my art journal!