Hi friends, Last week I crammed a carry-on bag full of art supplies and headed east. After a trains-planes-and-automobiles style journey (which also included a 4-hour ride in a motorhome!) I ended up at Rockywold-Deephaven Camps on beautiful Squam Lake, in New Hampshire. A few times a year, RDC is home to the Squam Art Workshops, the brainchild of Elizabeth MacCrellish, a gathering of men and women who come together for five days to create. Under the guidance of great teachers, the students paint, collage, write, sing, take photographs, make sculptures, sew, knit, spin...you name it, they're probably making it. I'd read about the camp online about a year ago, and signed up way back in February. Then the real waiting began. But seeing the sunrise that first morning was worth the wait. After meeting some fabulous people and eating a hearty breakfast (oh! the food!) I headed off through the woods to learn how to make a book. With Christine Mason Miller and Marisa Haedike as my teachers, it wasn't long before this... became these. I spent Friday making a ukulele. Now, my musical talents tend more toward kazoos and shakers, but the opportunity to make a uke seemed too good to pass up, especially with Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith (of the Curiosity Shoppe; see also Smarts and Crafts) at the helm. There was some sanding, some gluing, and a whole lot of decorating. In the end I decided against glitterizing it (glitter, of course, being my default for everything these days), and went for the wood-burning tool instead. It wasn't long before we were playing and singing along. (Full disclosure: I was only playing the C chord. But I was doing so with great gusto!) Saturday I left my camera in the cabin, and joined Sarah Ahearn Bellemare for a class called Sketchbook Exploration. It was a beautiful fall morning, and I loved being outside with paper and pencil in hand. Before I knew it, it was time for one last fireside sit... ...and then time to pack up my bags again and head back home, with my brand-new books and musical instrument in hand, memories of new friends in my mind, and a happy feeling in my heart. I can't wait until next year.