A Heavenly Weekend, But First.......

.......a bus ride from hell.  I really do not like long bus trips under the best of circumstances.  But put together a surly driver, traffic, two car accidents, and a detour, and a two hour ride becomes a three hour test of patience (I have little).  But, Pat and I finally arrived in Warwick NY for a crafty weekend with some of our peeps.  We were the first to get there, settled into our lovely rooms at the Warwick Valley Bed and Breakfast, met the warm and friendly owner Loretta, and just hung out until the rest of the group checked in.  Why did I forget to take pictures of the rooms?  Each different from the next, all beautiful.  But I do have some nice outside shots.

OK, I just snagged some photos of my room (The Paisley) from the BandB's website.  Click on the link above to see the whole shebang.

We'd get three meals the next day (Saturday), but we were on our own Friday night, and went to a really nice restaurant called Coquito, which specializes in food from Puerto Rico.  Pasteles, tostones, empanadas, sangria, mojitos, oh my.  Afterwards we returned to the BandB, hung out for a while, then crashed.  Breakfast at 8:30 and a full day of projects to rest up for.

Each of us brought something for everyone to do, and they were all different and interesting.  Heidi showed us how to make really cool bracelets with leather cording, ball chain and embroidery floss.

These were addictive, and most of us continued to make them at night while watching a movie.  I think Heather made about a dozen of them.  I did the two above in the afternoon, and made one more at night.  I have all the supplies at home, and I'm sure I'll be making more.

Speaking of Heather, she brought about a ton of feathers so we could make embellishments for a headband, a barrette, a pin, or whatever else we feel is in need of some feathery bling.

Above, Kahena and Gayle work on their designs.

Laurel is making a headband to wear when she goes dancing.

My masterpiece.  Don't know what it will be used for, but trust me,

I will NOT be wearing it on my head,

Lunch break!  Loretta prepared wonderful meals for us, served in this charming room:

Lunch was homemade beefsteak tomato soup and delicious toasted sandwiches filled with chicken or turkey and all manner of vegetables and sauces.  And a spinach salad.

Each table had these odd little salt and pepper shakers, and we had fun re-arranging them into all sorts of poses.  'Nuff said about that.

Laurel had a card with faux stitching.  My actual stitching is better than my faux, so pay no attention to the cockeyed lines.  Still a lovely card.

Pat also had a card, featuring masking an area with torn paper to create a snaky wave of color, over which we did some stamping.  Here are mine and two others.

Kahena had us do resin pendants, but not just any old resin.  These were done with the type that cures under a UV light (yep, just like in the nail salon) in minutes.

Above, one of my pendants.  I embedded some tiny watch parts and glass glitter in between two layers of resin.

Corris, our resident bath products expert had us making sugar scrub.  Here she is explaining the process.

In the next photo (of Heidi's supplies for her bracelet project) look at the top right, and you'll see a jar of the finished scrub.

I kept changing my mind all week about what I'd bring.  I was so taken with Tim's shattered stains, I decided to bring some grungeboard and chipboard shapes and share the technique with everyone.  They all loved it, of course, and I think a few of them will be signing up for his class now.  Heather turned hers into a pin.

Gayle's project was t-shirt scarves.  To be honest, I did not know what to expect, but it is really a cool thing to do, and I think a great project to do with kids.  It just involves some cutting (which does not have to be exact), and pulling (which anyone can do).  Here I am, in all my glory, adorned with t-shirt scarf, t-shirt necklace, t-shirt sweatband, and of course, some feathers.

This is only one of many ways to alter t-shirts into scarves.  Click here for some other ideas, or just do a google search and you'll find lots more.

We finished all 8 projects before dinner, had time to clean up, check emails, etc. and then another bountiful meal of salad, sweet potato soup, stuffed zucchini, roasted chicken and/or tilapia.  Then we all managed to stay awake for a movie, and a few (not me) made it a double feature.  The next morning, omelets, stuffed french toast, and sausage baked with maple syrup.  Packing, saying our goodbyes, then on to the dreaded bus.

The trip home was better than the Friday afternoon ride, but still a bit bumpy.  I wish this BandB was near a train station.  However, Marty (Heidi's husband) picked us (Heidi, Pat and I) up at Port Authority and we all got rides home from there.  Yea, Marty.