"Matka luovuuteen" Event

 

Last weekend was just amazing! I attended an event called "Matka Luovuuteen" - the name would be something like "A journey to creativity" translated. It was first of it's kind in Finland but I do hope the organizers Minna and Elina will continue with it and make it a yearly event. At least everyone on board in this journey was eager to come again!

But what was "Matka Luovuuteen"? It was like a retreat with arts and paper crafts. Our home for the weekend was the museum ship Bore in Turku, Finland. The "travel plan" - I use "" as the boat stayed put the whole time, it's securely tied to the riverbank - had five different workshops in it. We started on Friday and headed home on Sunday and everyone felt that the time on board just flew by. 

 

Crafty people around the country were gathered to Turku for the event. Luckily I typed a post previous to the event to its Facebook group about getting a lift from a crafty shop nearby to the actual event site and found out that one of my friends was driving from Helsinki, where I live, to the event! Doh! Haven't thought of that! And not long after another friend typed that she also could use a lift! So the more the merrier and we three were carpooling to the event! It was the perfect start and got us all in the mood already! On the way to the event site we stopped by Klemmarikellari, a local craft store. 

When we reached Bore we got our cabins and then had a little extra time before the schedule started. First workshop and the only one on Friday was about photographing. We worked in pairs or little groups and were taking photos of each other. Minna told us about the process to be used in the shoot and it was such a joy! Normally I don't like my photos taken and end up liking maybe one out of 30 shots, but this workshop was such a pleasure and now I have a lot of photos for the future layouts! As you may see from the picture above, I was wearing a corset on the shoot and had actually Ania lace it! (Thank you so much!) Definitely a photo I need to scrap as well!

    

After the photo workshop we headed for a restaurant and had a dinner there. It was great to have the whole bunch together mingling and getting to know each other! So when we all put our name tags on the next day, most of the people already knew each other by name. And I also maybe should mention that the crafting circle isn't that big in Finland. Well, we are a small country after all so most of the like-minded people already know each other from blogs or previous events.

   

Saturday started with breakfast and a minialbum workshop by Elina. The construction of the piece was just ingenious! I finished the cover in the workshop as was intended and I'm going to make the album of the weekend. So now I just need to order the photos and then put the piece together. The workshop was really nice and got our creative juices flowing which was good because after the lunch break the first one of Finnabair's workshops started.

  

As you may have noticed already, the event had a very special guest to teach. Anna Dabrowska aka Finnabair visited Finland for the first time and taught two workshops during the event - a canvas on Saturday and a layout on Sunday. The evening just flew by when we were doing the canvases but I'm happy to say that everyone finished their piece in time and we all headed out for a dinner together. 

I guess if you have taken a workshop by Ania, you already know what a marvelous teacher she is! Not only is she super talented but also approachable, friendly and kind! I highly recommend her workshops! You'll always get so much info about the products and can then use the knowledge in your own works.

As the Saturday evening turned into night we headed back from the restaurant to the ship. We were given a group challenge and just 40 minutes to do it! As the challenge was about making a mixed media canvas that wasn't much! I loved how different the works of art became! Every group had their own vision and seeing all the ladies working together was so inspiring! I felt so inspired to work with my group and loved how the ideas were just flying and soaring! 

After the challenge we then had time to craft on our own. Some had brought projects to work on, others continued with the minialbum started that morning. Some people also tucked in for the night but some of us continued working all through until early Sunday hours. I think the clock was about 1 am when I headed for the cabin.

 

Sunday morning started with breakfast and a workshop by Minna. It was all about just having fun, playing with mediums and not caring about how the project ended looking. The goal was just to enjoy creating and have good time. I actually did a layout in the workshop but when I got home, I threw it away. I had loads of fun, but the end piece wasn't balanced and didn't look like me. So I guess I got the idea perfectly - I wasn't minding how the piece was turning out but just was just playing and enjoying the process. It was quite liberating! 

The last workshop in the event was a layout workshop by Finnabair. I've taken quite a few of her workshops and I'm amazed how I always learn something new and get the creative spark! It was also such a pleasure to craft with like minded people! Even though the tables were silent at times, everybody concentrating, most of the times lovely bubbling sound of laughter and chatting filled the air. A true battery charger and retreat! Or just a treat!

One of the best parts of the event was the people. I mean of course I enjoyed the workshops, but what really make the homey feel and the awesome atmosphere were the people! So thank you all you crafty ladies for a wonderful weekend! It was such a pleasure meeting you all! 

I just had to take a few "friendsies" with some of the participants and our lovely teacher, of course. I'm so honored to work in the Mixed Media Place team and to know her! And I was so joyed when I heard that Sanna was coming! I loved meeting her in person! We were trying to get an official looking photo together but ended up laughing in each shot. But I guess that only shows how much fun we had? (Or how hysterical we were on that point?)

Of course I had to take a photo with the superb organizers as well! Minna and Elina, thank you for such an awesome, friendly, inspiring weekend and for all your hard work! I do hope all the positive feedback you got during the weekend and are still getting from the participants inspire you to arrange the similar event again!

 

The weekend gave me so much - new ideas, techniques and most of all inspiration and friendship! I felt a bit sad when we were saying goodbye on Sunday and headed home. But luckily I have the photos to remind me of the great weekend and of course all the projects I did! I'm going to share them gradually throughout the month here in my blog!

Thank you for stopping by today! Invite a friend over to craft today, if possible!