7th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise is SOLD OUT!

Thanks for everyone who signed up! Stay tuned for details about 2014. Thanks!
Kathy :-)

Introducing - the 7th Annual Crafty Chica Art Cruise!

Woo-hoo! The time has finally come to sign up for the 7th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise! Due to so many requests, we are going back to the four-night/five-day package for 2013. We'll still have gobs of projects to make and yummy food to eat!

To register ($150. deposit required):
Email Tiffany at SeaCruises.

or call her: 562) 207-9040 or 1-800-795-1008.
NOTE: Please email me as well when you sign up so I can make sure to include you on mu cruise email list!

Crafty Chica Cruise 2013!
DATE: April 22-26, 2013
DEPARTS: from Long Beach, CA
WHERE: Catalina and Ensenada (one day at each town, one full day at sea)
COST: $635 inside cabin. $685 ocean view cabin (based on double occupancy). Per Carnival, prices are subject to change, so book now to confirm your price!
DISCOUNTS:
$25 off if you are a returning cruiser
$25 off if you are a returning cruiser who brings someone new (limit one referral discount)

Cost is $100 lower for spouses/people who do not want to craft, but still want to be a part of the group's activities.

INCLUDES: Everything! Room, taxes,port charges, meals, entertainment, cocktail party, craft supplies/kits for five workshops, personal instruction, tote bag with giveaways, commemorative T-shirt, and much more! Plus there will be two bonus mini-workshops for $5 each.

As far as the classes, I will have those listed soon. I do know we will have a jewelry, fabric/sewing, assemblage, paper arts/scrapbooking, and Day of the Dead. Each workshop will have the theme of "art de la soul" - self empowerment, making visual representations of your life goals, and discovering something new about yourself!

The last six cruises were full of laughs and newfound creativity. We crafted our brains out, and then went shopping for cool treasures in Mexico - and then came back and used them in our art projects. Many of us still stay in touch! Check out the label below to see all the pictures and links! This cruise is a great way to connect with your sister, mom, hubby, cousins, and friends.

And why not go by yourself? It's also a bold way to step outside of your normal routine and meet new people.

My favorite quote was from a sweet lady named Mary Pat. The first day she said "I've never used glitter or such bright colors!" By the end of the cruise, she was like, "Who has the hot pink paint? I need more glitter!"

SWAPS: We will be making two swap projects as well. One is on the first night - who ever wants to bring artist trading cards or whatever little items to trade. The second is a gift exchange (something you'll make on the cruise) on the last night.

Students are encouraged (but not required) to bring personal/favorite supplies, scrap fabric, trims, etc.

Aside from crafting, there will be shopping in Catalina and Ensenanda, great entertainment, a full casino, a spa on board the Inspiration ship (cost is separate). We will always have a private crafting area.


To register: Email Tiffany McKoy at SeaCruises.

or call her: 562) 207-9040 or 1-800-795-1008.

Any questions? Shoot me an email!

MUSIC VIDEO: 6th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise

Cruise 2012 Project: Glitter Tattoos!

 iLoveToCreate was the biggest sponsor for our event - they supplied us with everything from glue to paint to glitter! They even sent us Tulip Body Art Glitter Tattoos. Maya glittered up our group either on their skin or on their nails! 

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM ALL THE WORKSHOPS!

2012 Crafty Chica Cruise Photos

2012 Cruise: Ports (pictures of what we did and where we went!)

LINK

2012 Cruise Workshop: Stamped Metal Jewelry

One of my first tries. It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it!

 We were very lucky in that we got to try out one of the hottest trends in jewelry crafts right now - metal stamping! Impress Arts sent us various letter stamp sets and pendants to hammer into submission!

Mega supplies!

I stamped on a washer from the hardware store.

Here I stamped on lightweight tin.

You need a steel block and tape to hold down your item and center your letters.

Maya is working on a necklace.

Time for her to get hammered!

Annie's charms. After you stamp, you fill in with a permanent marker and then wipe it off, the black fills the grooves.

Alisa gives it a try.

Here is Patrick giving the demo.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF ALL THE WORKSHOPS.

2012 projects: Wood canvases and tin embossing

Walnut Hollow sent us goodies from their Creative Metals line, as well as blank wood canvases. I realized about half way through the week that I booked a LOT of projects. At one point I turned to Jeshua, handed him the tin and stump tool and asked him to make samples for and if he could teach the process to the class. I felt bad for just kinda throwing it on him, but he whipped this up...
  

2012 Workshop: Decoden Mexi-shrines

For this workshop, we used silicone and wood bases (made by a Phoenix woodworker!) and oodles of trinkets to make a cool shrine!

Betty is serious about her shrine!

My sample.

click for more

2012 Workshop: MexiBoho Fabric Wrist Cuffs

 One of the projects we made were these fun wrist cuffs using the Goddess die cut template from Julianna Hudgins and Spellbinders.

These are my samples.

2012 Workshop: ICE Resin Open-Back Pendants

This was a cool resin project because we learned how to apply resin to an open back bezel. You simply add a piece of duct tape behind the pendant, rub it on tight and add your designs!
Special thanks to ICE Resin for the gorgeous bezels and resin!

2012 Warm-Up Craft: Wood Bracelets

The first night of the cruise, everyone is excited, but exhausted from a day of traveling, getting onthe ship, doing the fire drill eating a huge dinner, etc. So I like to offer a warm up craft to get people ready for the week's artful journey. Last year we decorated bracelets from DIYBangles.com and this year we did the same! We also used Tulip Fabric Markers on them and Glossy Collage Pauge for shine!

 DIY Bangles sent us a lot of extras, which was great because anytime someone got stuck creatively, they would come up to me and say "Can I have another bracelet?" By the time they finished, they were back on track to finish bigger projects!
Click for more...

2012 Workshop: Faux Dichroic Glass

This was a really cool technique from Fran at Little Windows. Every year she asks me to please include her product on our cruise and this year, she sent a beautiful box of nicely sorted kits for us to make faux dichroic glass gems that we later used in our shrines.

One of our cruisers even made buttons for his formal wear with his pieces! Hoping to get a picture and post it soon!

Here is a video of the technique:


LINK

LINK: SEE COMPLETE WORKSHOP PICTURES HERE

2012 Workshop: Unibind Photo Album

Everyone loved their photo albums from Unibind, we had the machine there ready to bind th epages into the spine, it was so cool!

We used our Sakura pen set and Collage Pauge, Claudine Hellmuth paints to decorate our books.

After you compile your pages, you set the book in this machine and it heats the resin in the spine and binds the book!

 I asked Jeshua to draw some pages for me and boy, did he go to town! He used the Identipen from Sakura on the Unibind glossy paper and look how it turned out!
Click for more...

2012 Workshop: Melted Plastic Shrines

I have a full tutorial for this on my Crafty Chica blog, but you can see what the cruisers mad eusing the technique! Special thanks to Amaco/Friendly Plastic and ICE Resin for the supplies!

 Click to see more...

2012 Workshop: Embroidery Hoop Silkscreen

We used embroidery hoops, a Tulip fabric marker, Collage Pauge, a cut up drapery sheer, and Tulip soft paint to make out own mini-silkscreen project. I'll h ave a tutorial on my Crafty Chica blog soon!

Click to see more

More swag goodies from the cruise.

Slideshow of our tote bags:


LINK
  (The video clip is of cruiser Madeline going through her decorated SmashBook that K&Company gave each of us)!)

We're all home and our land legs have settled back in (hopefully!). Here are some more items that were donated to us! Please visit their sites and show some linky love!
Click to see more

Today is sailing day!

Hi cruisers!
Here are your directions for today!

Check in tot he ship - go explore the ship, your room, the lunch buffet on the Lido deck. There will be a fire drill around 4 p.m. (mandatory)

We have dinner at 6 p.m.

At 8:30 p.m., head to the 4th deck - The Board Room - that's where you will check in with the Crafty Chica Cruise volunteer crew - Maya and Jeshua. They will give you your tote bag and T-shirt and then I'll go over all you need to know about the week! We'll even get started making a little something if you want!

You can also trade your ATCS if you made them!

See you there!
xo!
Kathy :-)

Cruise supplies from @Spellbinders !

Lookie! I cut tin!

Thanks to Stacey Caron from Spellbinders Paper Arts, we'll have a Grand Caliber Die Cut Machine on our cruise! We'll use it to cut paper, duct tape, tin and more! From that we'll make jewelry, mixed media projects and more!

Honestly, I never understood die machines until I tried this machine, it was so easy to use. Now I'm addicted! Here's a video:


LINK

Tote swag from @sublimestitching

Jenny Hart from SublimeStitching.com was lovely enough to donate embroidery patterns (and stickers!) for each of us cruisers! What I love about these is that you can use them for embroidery or for painting or any other kind of craft project!

Here's video of Jenny where she shows how to embroider!
 LINK

Cool2Cast!

This just in! Cool2Cast!

This is a fiber plaster that can be used to make all kinds of cool things like jewelry or molds, etc.
We each get a sample and one of the nights on the cruise, I'll demo it for all of you!

In the meantime, here's a video I made using it! Thank you so much to Tiffany Windsor (Check out her craft videos!) and Yaley for the donation!

LINK

Packing tip for craft cruisers...

Michaels has these awesome, colorful and most important - sturdy totes for $1.99 by the front registers. Buy one and fold it up in your suitcase! It is big and roomy and will hold a lot of your items for your return trip home!

If you are a craftaholic weirdo like me, you can even decorate it!

Things to make with DIY Bangles!

DIYBangles.com was kind enough to offer up bracelets and wreath blanks for us again! Last year we had a lot of fun coloring them with the Crafty Chica Markers. But you can also use them to make small shadow boxes or frames!

Here are some projects to make with them.


(We'll have embossing tools and metals on the cruise!)


Decoupage!


Painted!


Shadowboxes!

Scissors galore from Fiskars!

Whatever you do, cruisers - don't bring scissors! Fiskars has equipped each of us with...oh about 3-4 pairs each! Each set is for a different use. Fiskars has been a long-standing sponsor of the cruise and I am so grateful!

Check out their facebook page!


Here is a fun project to make from the Fiskars site - a Coffee Sleeve Mini-Book! These would be cute to make to go inside our Smashbooks!


LINK

Secret pouches from Suneos Latin American Imports!

 Robert Bitto from Sueños Latin American Imports heard about our cruise and stepped up and created these spectacular secret pouches for each of us. Yes, we peeked inside, but it will be a surprise for the cruisers. You will LOVE them!!  

Be sure to LIKE his page!

Check out the web site to see all kinds of supplies for your Mexi-crafting needs!

Thank you, Robert!

Shrine bases

These are the shrine bases we'll be using for the Decoden mixed media project. I'll have everything you need, but if you want to bring any personal objects to incorporate, please do!  Think of the centerpiece for your shrine, etc...

Please watch the video below to get the idea of what we'll be doing...
 I had these made locally here in Arizona by our longtime wood worker!

Smashbooks!

Our Smashbooks arrived for the cruise! We've all made books like these on our own, but these books are a creative way to carry on the tradition! Special thanks to EK Success for the generous donation!

In case you are wondering what Smashbooks are, watch the video!
TIP: Check out your local craft store for the fun add-ons!


LINK

Things to do in Cabo.

This is from my friend, Tiffany, who goes there all the time!
I'll be posting some other ideas later on...

Things to do in Cabo:

The Glass Factory

http://www.loscabosguide.com/glassfactorycabo/

If this is a cruise stop, I wouldn't pay for an "official" tour, but just take a taxi ride to it on your own. (It's down a back alleyway and I got nervous when the taxi turned down that street, but don't worry, they are not taking you back there to kill you.)

The tour is free and self-guided. You get to walk in the back and watch them make something and one lucky person will get to blow some glass. The only cost is leaving a tip if you want. They have racks and racks of really cool blown glass items. We came back with some pretty shot glasses.

The Giggling Marlin

http://www.gigglingmarlin.com/

A fun restaurant/bar where if you are brave (like my husband), you can pay for them to hang you upside down like a fish and feed you a shot. Fun to watch if you don't want to participate and great photo opportunity.

Cabo Wabo

http://www.cabowabo.com/age-gate

Good food, fun to see, but definitely pricey. Worth the visit to say you've been there and you can walk around and not buy anything. (Note from Kathy: Get the nachos!!)

Playa del Amor (Lover's Beach)

You can take a water taxi (some are glass bottomed) out to Lover's Beach, which is where the famous arch is located. The experience includes the trip there and back in addition to your time on the beach. The water taxi driver goes around the arch for some great photo ops. (Ironically, on the other side of Lover's Beach is Divorce Beach.) We witnessed a proposal on Lover's Beach when we were there. There's nothing to do there but enjoy the view. We got lucky and during our visit the Arch was accessible and we were able to stand under the archway and get a picture. Though it was a little scary reaching it…we had to time it to avoid large crashing waves into the rocks. But we lived to tell about it. There are some vendors there selling cold drinks, which was definitely appreciated!

Collage Pauge and other goodies from @iLoveToCreate & @treiCdesigns

This week I was in Fresno at iLovetoCreate, and the marketing team pulled together a massive amount of supplies for us. I was able to snap a picture before this box was sealed shut and shipped off!

What you can see are the tops of the bottle of Collage Pauge -one of my all-time favorite art mediums!
It was developed by my friend, Traci Bautista! (Pssst, buy her new book...)

Here are some videos showing inspiration techniques (we'll be doing a DIY silkscreen technique with CP on the cruise):

Hot Glue Gun Helpers from @cathiefilian

This is a picture from the shipment that came in last week!

 You can't have a craft cruise without glue guns. How about a little finger protection to go with that? One of my BFF's, Cathie Filian (check out her blog, Make Something), invented the Hot Glue Gun Helpers! If you tune into HSN, you can see her selling them, live on the air.

See her next segments on March 20th at 10 a.m. and 6 pm.m ET

But she thinks us cruisers are extra special and she mentioned it to the powers that be over at Plaid and they agreed to donate one set to each of us!

I remember a couple years ago when Cathie told me she had this amazing idea that she was trying to get manufactured. It was TOP SECRET. Finally, one day we were chatting on the telly and she goes, "Oh heck, I'll tell you what it is!" And I gasped. Only a true crafter would know to come up with something like that - silicone finger protectors!

Here she is explaining what comes with the set and how it works:

LINK

Note: I also use these tools when I'm working with meltable plastic, resin and more. Nothing sticks to this pad, it's awesome!