Crafting When We Travel

As we wrap up July here at Crafty Neighbor, we are still focusing on crafting when we travel. I love taking my crafts with me when I travel, and I’ve been known to take crochet, embroidery, and, of course, scrapbooking along on my trips. Packing projects like embroidery and crochet are pretty straight-forward; you just need needles or hooks, thread or yarn, some scissors, and a pattern. But traveling with paper-crafting supplies can be a bit more challenging, especially if you are someone like me who likes to take everything I own. I have been known to completely fill my SUV with supplies when I head out to a retreat, but I’m trying to learn to bring less so I can get more done.

I recently went on an over-night canoe trip with my family, and my daughter and I both wanted to take our craft supplies along so we could document our trip. Since we have such limited space in our canoes (and not a lot of time for documenting), we restricted our supplies to travelers notebooks and a simple set of drawing/journaling tools. 

 

For this minimalist kit, I included three pens: a Tombow Mono Twin, and two Tombow brush pens, a hard tip and a soft tip. I also brought several pencils of varying hardness, including a .9 mm mechanical pencil, 4H and B graphite pencils, 3 black charcoal pencils (4B, 5B, and 6B), a white charcoal pencil, and a white 2B colored pencil. I also threw in a pencil sharpener, a Tombow Mono eraser, and a couple of bulldog clips to hold the notebooks open/closed as necessary. Since we were in canoes, we stored them in water-proof zipper bags. The idea behind this kind of kit is to do more drawing and journaling. I can still leave room for photos, but I will add those later. Mainly I just want to get the stories into the book before I forget them.

 

For other kinds of travel, I will often add other supplies to my kits. A cruise to the Bahamas for an Aggie Mom’s fundraiser in 2016 allowed me to bring my dual-tipped Stampin’ Up markers (which I am slowly replacing with Tombow markers), scissors, glue pens, Wink of Stella brushes, a white Uniball Signo pen, Tombow Mono adhesive, a Xyron adhesive eraser, a corner rounder punch, a small blender sponge (for use with the markers), Scor-Tape and red line tape, a 6”x6” paper pad, StazOn ink, and a very small assortment of stamps (numbers, letters, weather, travel). In the end, I wound up with a lot of things I never used, so for later trips, I went back to a more minimalist approach with just a few items.

 

My travel kits have evolved a lot since then. The addition of an HP Sprocket photo printer has allowed me to add photos on the spot to my cruise scrapbooks. And since the printer runs on a USB charge, there was no need for electricity. Washi tape allows me to tape ephemera and memorabilia into the album without gluing it down. And the pens, markers, and pencils change according to whatever is my favorite at the time.

 

When I traveled to Las Vegas last summer with my daughter’s bachelorette party, we both took along craft supplies for documenting in our traveler’s notebooks. My kit this time included stickers, an assortment of diecuts, a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, a date stamp, alpha-numeric stickers, a small assortment of patterned papers, the usual pens and scissors, Versa Fine black ink, a black Uniball Signo pen, plus my watercolor pencils and my Canon Selphy printer (great for photos up to 4”x6”). What got left behind? All those colored markers, most of the stamps, the Wink of Stella, and the blender sponge. This kit fit in my suitcase with my other belongings, and has become my standard go-to kit for traveling.

 

Sometimes, when I am going to be crafting only for one day, I will bring a single project to work on. For instance, one year at our Think Pink crop, I brought my Christmas cards to work on. The supplies for this were very limited: cardstock, scissors, paper trimmer, adhesive, Score-Pal, ink, and a stamp. I’ve also been known to bring my planner and a few stickers, or a bullet journal and pens. I’ve also brought mini albums I made in a class and finally took the time to add photos and journaling.

 

Learning to take smaller kits and one-off projects has helped me get more done when I do travel. When I bring too many supplies, I find that I actually get less done because I spend more time setting up my crafts and choosing supplies and less time actually crafting. Plus it’s a nice change not to lug all those supplies around in a second suitcase or tote bag. 

 

You can read more about taking crafts with you when you travel in our August newsletter, which will go out on the 1^st. Brandi is going to share her travel kit, and I’ll have a new blog article about documenting your travels on the go. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter at http://eepurl.com/TZULf, and you can subscribe to this newsletter using the links on the left.

COVID-Safe Craft Getaways

What’s the one thing you miss most while we’re going through this pandemic? Is it movie theaters? House parties? Vacations? Happy hour with friends from the office? For me, I think I would probably have to answer, “retreats.”

Not so many years ago, it seemed like a new scrapbooking retreat was opening up every month or so. They were everywhere, and they were always booked solid. For some of us, packing up our craft supplies and spending a weekend with our closest friends out in the country somewhere is one of the best stress relievers out there. After all, a retreat usually involves some good food, a fun hobby, and lots of laughs, not to mention no chores. When I finally caught on to this special sojourn, I couldn’t get enough. I was going on a retreat five or six times a year – more if you count the annual scrapbooking cruises and convention weekends. Going on a retreat was probably my favorite thing to do, and a great escape from the stress and anxiety of work, home, and family. 

Going on retreats (including conventions and cruises) has pretty much been put on hold since March of 2020. We are all spending a lot more time at home, which has brought it’s own kind of stress and anxiety along with even more need to get away from it all. And while some retreat centers have been open with limited capacity, many of us do not feel comfortable spending a weekend in close quarters with a bunch of strangers. Some people have been taking advantage of lowered capacity and going anyway, what is a high-risk, unvaccinated individual like me to do?

Last November, after a few particularly stressful weeks as a caregiver for my mother, I turned to my friends with a desperate plea, “Please go away with me somewhere!” and that was how our “safe” retreats began. We wanted to limit our retreat to just four crafty friends who we knew had been very carefully social distancing and self-isolating throughout the pandemic. Realizing that we couldn’t control how many people came to a retreat unless we rented the whole place, we started looking for other options for a weekend stay. Enter Airbnb, VRBO, and a host of other vacation rental options.

We started out wearing facemasks at our first retreat, but they didn't last long.

Our first Airbnb rental was about two hours away, and was an approximate midway point between us. We looked for a location that had a large living room or den that would accommodate four folding tables without too much furniture rearranging. We had a great time on that trip, and learned some valuable lessons for the next trip.

As of this writing, I am actually sitting at our second Airbnb retreat.  This time we chose a location closer to home, a quaint 19^th century farmhouse far enough out in the country to feel isolated, but close enough to go buy ice if we needed it. We planned for the problems we encountered the last time, but this rental came with its own set of issues. We haven’t let that stop us from having a great time and enjoying this crucial respite from the daily grind.

If you are longing for the days when you escaped to a crafty retreat with your friends, think about hosting a private getaway on your own. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Keep the size of your group small to increase your chances of finding a space that will accommodate you – no more than 4-5 crafters.
• Make sure you are renting the whole house, not just a room; some listings can be misleading.  READ THE FINE PRINT!
• Look for a rental that has an open floor plan with minimal furniture to ensure you have room for tables. Keep in mind that photos can be misleading. Rooms are rarely as large as they look in the photos!
• Contact the owner to clarify any questions you might have and to verify availability. Some owners do not update availability of the rental, especially if it is listed on multiple websites.
• Pay close attention to lighting; one ceiling fan or a few table lamps may not be sufficient. Plan to bring your own lighting if necessary
• Look for existing chairs or prepare to bring your own chairs. Avoid using rolling chairs on hardwood floors, as it will damage them; bring a rug or floor mat if you must use a rolling chair.
• Bring extension cords and power strips for your lighting and electronic devices
• Don’t forget a small trashcan and cup-holder. These are often provided at a retreat but won’t be available at a rental facility.
• Pay close attention to the kitchen facilities. Some rentals have “apartment” refrigerators or no stove. Plan your meals accordingly.
• Don’t be afraid to contact the owner to clarify amenities at the facility like: room dimensions, coffee pots, kitchen accoutrements, power outlet locations, local recommendations, parking accommodations, handicap accessibility, etc.
• Think about bringing things like Ziploc bags, Tupperware, cutting boards, foil/plastic wrap, etc. You’ll need a way to pack up your leftovers. Don’t forget ice!
• Pack light. You may not have room for all your scrapbook supplies.  Plan your projects well.
• Don’t use paints, glitter or other messy craft supplies indoors. Don’t craft on the owner’s furniture without protective coverings. Be sure to clean up any accidents and sweep/vacuum your craft area.
• Return all furniture to its original location.

Obviously, you can’t plan for everything, but if you ask lots of questions and keep in mind the accommodations that might not be available, you can avoid some of the pitfalls. If you plan well, you, too, can get away for a COVID-safe retreat with your besties. 

Words Have Power

 Howdy, crafty neighbors! This month in our newsletter, Brandi Reyna will be introducing the Crafty Neighbor Craft of the Month (CotM for short?) a new theme that will be featured across all our Crafty Neighbor media from the newsletter to Facebook, blog, and Instagram. I hope you’ll enjoy this new segment; we think it will be a great way to help us dig deeper into our various crafts and widen our skills and knowledge in some unique ways.

Our topic this month is The Power of Words: Planning and Goal Setting. Back in 2012, I wrote several blog articles about using power words as part of my 365 art journaling project. (I’ve linked those articles below.) My use of power words has evolved in the last nine years, but my belief in the power of words has stayed the same. In her novel, A Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood wrote,

 “A word after a word after a word is power.”

And even Mother Theresa proclaims,

 “Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless.”

The idea of a power word is not a new one.  My son’s high school orchestra used power words in a unity circle before every concert.  Each student would share his or her word and the idea was that in unity, all these powerful words come together to make a whole, cohesive orchestra. 

Blogger Christine Kane uses power words in a different way.  She contends that your power words give you intent.  Each year, instead of making New Years resolutions, she does a lot of soul searching and comes up with her Word of the Year.  The word becomes her touchstone to stay focused on what’s important and to remind her of her goals. You can read more about it in that link above, and she even offers a free worksheet to help you find the right word for you.

Since 2012, I have been choosing an annual that has helped me change and grow and learn a lot about myself in the process. In 2013, I used my word as the foundation of my 365 art journaling project mentioned above, and I continued to work in that art journal using various words over the years. For the last three years, I have been doing so through a process designed by Ali Edwards called One Little Word. One Little Word is an online workshop with monthly prompts that guide you through exploring your word. I posted flip-through videos on my YouTube channel that illustrate two of the albums I created as part of One Little Word. This year, I’m working in a journal rather than a pocket album, which is providing a different experience in the creative aspect, but is just as effective at facilitating the process of growing in my word. In fact, I’ve worked many of the prompts exactly the same as in previous years, but in a flatter bullet journal style, which has really challenged my creativity. You can see most of my 2021 project on my Instagram and Facebook feeds. 

Here are a couple of examples of some of the work I’ve been doing:

My 2021 vision board.

A page in my OLW journal.

A page in my OLW journal.

A page in my OLW journal.

This year, I have also committed to exploring Lara Casey’s Cultivate What Matters Power Sheets goal planner. It’s yet another way to set some intentions and build on what you are doing with your power word. In fact, part of the prep work that goes into Power Sheets is a step that helps you find the right word. Power sheets can be started any time and there is even an undated, 6-month planner if you want to give it a try without a full-on commitment. Christine Kane’s worksheet is free, but both One Little Word and Power Sheets are paid products. These are all great places to start, but you can also do what I did when I first started – just find a word and find some projects that speak to you and let you express and explore that word. I’d be interested to see where it takes you.

 

A page in my Power Sheets workbook.

 

For more information:

• Crafty Neighbor 365 Project:  https://craftyneighbor.blogspot.com/p/365-challenge.html
• Crafty Neighbor YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/CindyMCraftyNeighbor
• Crafty Neighbor Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/craftyneighbor/
• Crafty Neighbor Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CraftyNeighbor/
• Amazon Affiliate Link:  Stock Up on Your Supplies

*As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

My Month in Quarantine (Part 3)

Happy National Scrapbook Day to all my crafty friends and followers!  I hope you are finding ways to be both crafty and social (in a safe way) today! I am currently enjoying a virtual retreat with some of my friends using Zoom, so I'm in my PJs, and snacking on a little taco dip and veggies.

A day or two ago, I mentioned a project I've been working on during this coronavirus lockdown.  So today I wanted to give you a little peak. On one of our wedding work days, Christen and I were talking about COVID-19 and what an unprecedented time in history this was (this was before the order to stay home). Not unlike the Spanish Flu epidemic in the early 20th century, this time in our lives was something that people of the future would not understand unless we spelled it out for them -- you just can't grasp the scope of something like this from a textbook or a few photos. So we decided that it was important to keep a COVID journal to document our lives during this time.  We are, of course, documenters and storytellers...that's why we scrapbook, right?

So in discussing this with one of our friends, we decided we needed to make a challenge of it.  We needed to come up with daily prompts a la Layout-a-Day, that would keep us all motivated and inspired to tell our stories.  I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I went back to an old Layout-a-Day list from the days when it was owned by Lain Ehman, and I repurposed that old list (with a few changes, of course) to be used for what we called our Stay-at-Home Challenge. For the entire month of April we had daily prompts (via automated emails) that led us through creating a journal of our time in "quarantine". The experience has been fun, creative, inspiring, and even a bit enlightening as we explore the many aspects of this pandemic and its affect on our daily lives. 

We all worked in different formats, including pocket pages, traditional scrapbooking, traveler's notebooks, and even Happy Planners.  I decided on a travelers notebook, and since this little challenge was something of a last-minute affair, I didn't have time to order one online, so I made my own.  (I may do a post about that soon!) I love the traveler's notebook because it's basically a blank slate, and it's just the right size for either journaling or photos. I've actually already filled one notebook (we started on April 1) and am well into my second (I ordered the others online).  There are so many stories to tell, I'm sure I'll have several of the books filled by the time this is all over.

When we started this project, we quickly found that there are a number of crafty celebs and others who are doing similar projects.  I've been following Layle Koncar and Heidi Swapp on Instagram and via blog.  They both have some great pages that are very inspiring.  And, most recently, Christen stumbled across The Isolation Journals created by Suleika Jaouad. This article is a great read and shares how the whole thing got started and why archiving these stories is important.

The point of all this is to share with you what we're doing, and I'm really excited about these journals. You can see most of what I've done so far on my Instagram and Facebook pages (linked here).  I'll leave you with a couple of pages below. Until next time, keep crafting!

Cindy Murray

Crafty Neighbor

2019 Scrapbook Expo!

Hey Neighbors!  A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you our day-trip to Mesquite, Texas for the Stamp, Scrap, and Art Tour.  My neice, Ashley, and I had a great time, and I bought a few supplies to get ready for some big things coming this February.  

First, we have Layout-a-Day, better known as LOAD 219, which started on February 1^st(more about that tomorrow!).  The other thing coming up is Scrapbook Expo in Irving, Texas.  Now you may remember Scrapbook Expo as the big event held at the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine.  I always thought it was poor planning to host a scrapbooking event at that over-priced monstrosity, and it provedto be a bad decision last year when the Gaylord abruptly dumpedthe Expo reservation in favor of a client with deeper pockets who wanted the same date.  This forced the Expo to move to the Irving Convention Center (with only 2 weeks notice, btw), which turned out not to be such a bad thing after all.

As a whole, we actually wound up preferring the Irving location to the Gaylord.  The concessions were better, the classrooms were better, and everythingwas cheaper.  Our only real complaint was the parking and the distance of the hotel. At the Gaylord, we were guests at the hotel and only had to pay one parking fee for each car, which we parked right outside the door, and we could walk to our rooms.  In Irving, our hotel was down the street (although it was verynice), and we had to shuttle back and forth.  We also had to pay for parking every day if we wanted to have a car with us at the convention center, and it wasn’t as convenient to keep our food/coolers in the car for easy access.  But we did like the new venue, so we let the organizers know, and they blessed us with relocation to Irving again for 2019.

I’m super excited about Expo this year.  With the addition of two new hotels right across the street, we will again be walking distance from our rooms, and that means we don’t have to pay those stupid parking fees, and we can cross the street to get lunch, assuming we don’t decide to eat at the concession stand or one of the many food trucks that came by last year. We booked the hotel package with the Texican Court, and we’re really excited about trying out this nifty, Texas-themed hotel with a retro vibe.  Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to bring, and how I’m going to get it there!

I had already pretty much decided that I wanted to work on some of my travel albums during these crops. I have several “travelers journals” in progress that use the same supplies.  That was the easy decision.  Now I’ve just got to figure out what supplies I can’t live without, and what is the best way to get them there.  I haven’t posted about it much, because I wanted to wait for the big reveal, but I’ve been reorganizing my craft room.  The new set up is both more and less portable at the same time, depending on how much stuff I want to bring.  

Obviously, for a long weekend retreat like the one I’ll be doing in April, I’ll want to bring more stuff, and that’s okay because I’ve moved a lot of it to bins and totes that I can just throw into my car as they are (or with a bungee cord or two to hold them closed).  But for this shorter crop, where I don’t really need allof the supplies in these bins, I have the quandary of deciding whether to unload the needed supplies into another tote, take the bins as they are, or unload things from the bins and fill the space with other things I need. And I haven’t decided if it’s a good or a bad thing that this event is coming up in just 8 days or so.  Yes, I am anxious to go, but I really am anxious about getting all my work caught up, getting packed, etc.  And oh, did I mention that the day after I come home from this event, I’ll be flying out to California for a weeklong travel agent training? Hmmm…maybe I should get up and start packing!

What do you think? Are you going to Scrapbook Expo? How do you decide what supplies you will take to a long crop? Any other special things you like to do to prepare? Share your ideas in the comments!

Day 22 – Sign of the Times

For Day 22, Lain gave us the prompt, “Sign of the Times.”  This made me think about a common sight in many cities during the first Gulf War.  My mother and I felt very strongly about supporting our troops serving overseas, so we marched in several rallies.  I didn’t have any photographs from those events, but these newspaper clippings (and photocopies of clippings) were perfect for a page like this.

I wanted this page to have an old-fashioned scrapbook feel – something more akin to what the Smashbooks have become.

Whenever I teach a scrapbooking class, I like to stress that scrapbooks aren’t just about the school pictures, the birthdays, or the Christmas tree.  Our scrapbooks should include pages that tell the stories of our life, who we are, what we did, and what was important to us.  Sometimes those things are not captured in photos, but there are many other ways to share them in our scrapbooks.  My challenge to you is to find a story of your own that can’t be told with photos, and then go tell it.  I’m sure you’ll find some clever way to make your story come to life!

You're Never Fully Dressed...

All through the month of February, I participated in a fun challenge called LOAD, which stand for Layout-a-Day.  LOAD 213 (February 213) was the third LOAD challenge I’ve completed, and I’m always amazed at how many great layouts I have when it’s all over.  In the past, I’ve sometimes tried to post those layouts as the challenge progresses, but this year, since I have changed the posting format for the blog somewhat and am trying to keep up with the 365 Challenge, too, I decided to save the LOAD layouts and post them throughout the year.  So look for one or two LOAD layouts each week, and I might throw in some non-LOAD layouts once in a while, too.

One of the prompts we faced this time was to scrapbook an important, but often overlooked item.  One of the first things that came to me was our smile, since I had just been to the dentist and had some work done to my own teeth.  The October Afternoon patterned paper is part of the “Boyfriend” line, and I made the butterflies with acetate and glitter.

If you are interested in learning more about the LOAD challenge, there will be another one coming up in May (I’m already signed up for it!  I can’t wait!).  You can read all about it at Layoutaday.com.  Lain doesn’t have the open registration up on the site yet, but I’m sure it will be forthcoming in the next few days!

A Perfect Day

The Spring Break season has started, and my son came home from college this week.  He’s the quintessential nerd—rather than hang out with his buddies or go to some exotic location to party, he came home and immediately plugged his brain into hours of video games.  When I asked him what his plans were, he said simply, “Sleep and eat.”  I have a ton of pictures of him doing pretty much the same thing -- sitting at his desk playing video games.  I compiled a few to make this layout.  I kept the layout simple as a reflection of how simple his "perfect day" is.

The patterned paper and and some of the embellishments are October Afternoon “Boyfriend”.  Cardstock by Stampin’ Up!