ProzArt 2013, part 1

Jeg har vært så heldig å få delta på en kreativ reise, både fysisk og mentalt, og jeg føler meg utrolig takknemlig, ydmyk, glad og beriket.  

Jeg har vært i Polen, nærmere bestemt i Poznan og Czempin, på ett fantastisk arrangement som heter ProzArt. ProzArt ble arrangert av tre herlige jenter; Ewa, Eliza og Ania/Finnabair. Det ble en helg full av kreative overraskelser, uendelig mange flotte Primablomster, lærerike og utfordrende workshops med utrolig dyktige lærere og en hel masse latter og hygge. Jeg reiste sammen med to søte jenter; Yasmin og Linda, og vi startet og endte turen med en natt på ett lekkert hotell i Poznan, slik at vi fikk sett byen og området vi reiste til. Vi er alle tre enige om at Polen er ett supert reisemål med flott arkitektur, utrolig mye historie, svært lave priser, vennlige og hjelpsomme mennesker og god og billig mat. Jeg reiser gjerne tilbake dit! 

Resten av innlegget skrives på engelsk... 

I've been so fortunate to go on an amazing creative journey, both physically and mentally, and I feel so grateful, humble, happy and enriched.

I've been to Poland, more accurately in Poznan and Czempin, at a wonderful creative retreat named ProzArt. ProzArt was arranged by three wonderful and talented girls; Ewa, Eliza and Anna/Finnabair. It was a weekend filled with surprises, a whole lot of Prima flowers, educational and challenging workshops with extremely talented teachers and a whole lot of laughter and cosiness.

I travelled with two sweet Norwegian girls, Yasmin and Linda, and we started and ended the trip with a night at a great hotel in Poznan, so that we got to see the city and the area we were in. We all agree that Poland is a wonderful destination with great architecture, a lot of history, low prices, friendly and helpful people and delicious and cheap food! 

I really want to go back!

Here are som pictures from our visit to the city of Poznan:

The hotel and the view from my room on the 8th floor.

 Beautiful balconies and a funky statue of a man with a bike with Linda hiding behind.

 The old town square in brass.

He looks angry... 

Polish pastries made on the barbecue and served with sugar and cinnamon... Looked delicious!

 Awesome painted houses on the old town square.

 Then there was food and a whole lot of coffee!

  Yasmin with her camera, Tassen is checking out the fountain and an old lamp caught my eye.

Then on Thursday, the ProzArt event started and Ania came to pick us up in a mini bus. She had already picked up Alina from Romania and Linda from Finland/England. We went to the train station to pick up Minna and Elina from Finland and Anat, Mimi and Einat from Israel. We were the International attendants, the rest of the group were Polish.

The bus trip out to Czempin was beautiful and fun, and we arrived at the wild life research center where we were staying. When we entered the room we saw a whole pile of Prima flowers on the bed, along with polish candy - what a great welcome!

The polish girls were all waiting for us at the supper table, and it was so nice to meet everyone. Such a gang of sweet, sweet ladies. We all recieved an envelope with personal gifts in it, and a lot of different papers and whatnots, so after dinner we started to scrap and make ourselves a name tag using some of the goodies we received.

Friday was dedicated to photo shoots with the great photographer Marcin Ratajczak and we all got 30 minutes one-to-one with him. The photos he took was then used in the workshops the following days. The rest of the day was spent hunting for tags with challenges on them, hidden outside in between bushes, the pond, the animals and the pretty surroundings, and crafting as many of the challenges we could. I found 4 tags, but I only had time to finish two of the challenges, and here is one where the challenge was to make something with the old photo.

Saturday started with a workshop by Karola called "A million layers, a million details", and when I saw the layouts that she brought, I knew this would be interesting. I'm really happy with my work, and I feel that she taught us to not be afraid of and trust that wha tever personal touch you add is nothing but great.

Before lunch we had some spare time to do what we wanted, and I must say that one of my most memorable time in Czempin was the walk with Kasia to the grocery store. She is such a caring, gentle, funny and sweet person, that I sure hope to meet again soon.

After lunch we had a walk through the compound and got to see the wildlife animals they work with there. in addition to these pictured here, there were wild hogs, deer, cranes, owls, stork, peacock and many more.

In the afternoon we started another class, this time with the ever so talented Finnabair, and her class was called "Pretty in Grunge". I've attended three of Finn's workshops earlier and I love them. She really makes me feel comfortable with using colors in a way that I never thought possible. Here's a sneak peak of the layout I made, it will be posted later.

 Saturday evening ended in a bonfire with hot dogs barbecued on a stick, beer, wine, awesome salads, singing in polish, finnish and hebrew, testing out our skills in playing the french horn and entertainment from the compounds caretaker; Mr Henryk. And to top it off - some more creativity in the scrap room before bedtime! 

On sunday, and unfortunately our last day at ProzArt, we had a workshop with lovely Kasia/Czekoczyna, and it was so much fun. I know she had planned for our class to last 4 hours, but unfortunately we had to be done in only three, due to planes and trains leaving, but she still gave us a wonderful workshop. Kasia is energetic, fun and so incredibly talented, and she has a way to inspire and bring out so much of you. I love the work I did in her class, and I can truly say that I've learned that colors are my friend... 

Here's a sneak peak at my layout from that workshop, it will be posted in full later.

I really had such a blast in Poznan and Czempin, and I'm oh so ready for ProzArt 2014 - just give me the dates and I'll be there.

This is probably the longest post i've ever made, but I had to put it all into one post, otherwise it could have taken forever...

So, thank you Yasmin and Linda for the amazing company! Thank you Ewa, Eliza and Ania for making it happen! Thank you Karola, Ania and Kasia for three amazing workshops and last, but not the least; thank you to all of you whom I now proudly call friends! 

You made my days! <3

Takk for at du tittet innom!/Thank you for stopping by!

Klem/Hugs Celia