CAMP TNTP Summer 2021 – A look back…

Last week The Neon Tea Party wrapped our FOURTH session of CAMP TNTP!!!!! What started last summer as a virtual craft camp for kids, at a time when day camps and sleepaway camps were closed due to COVID-19, has now blossomed into a recurring virtual craft camp for GROWN-UPS, where adult crafters can learn new craft skills, make friends all across North America (shoutout to our campers in Canada and Mexico!), and enjoy some well-deserved “me” time with a genuine camp vibe from the comfort and safety of home.

Our theme this session was GIRL POWER: Celebrating female artisanry, which shone through in the crafts that we taught and the speakers we brought on to share in their professional experiences in partnering with talented female makers across the globe.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive the past five incredible weeks of CAMP TNTP!! We’re already counting down to our next session in Winter 2022!! Sign up here to join our CAMP TNTP info list and get all the juicy details on our upcoming session!

OUR ADULT CAMPERS & STAFF

Our campers spanned coast-to-coast this session, with crafters joining in each week from California, Washington State, and British Columbia to all up the east coast from Georgia to Vermont, plus Pennsylvania, Ohio, and down south in Texas!

Our incredible CAMP TNTP staff — Fran, Gabi and Madison — held it down in the Tri-State Area, joining us from New York and New Jersey!

We are so hopeful to all get to meet in person one day!

WHAT WE LEARNED

Over the course of five weeks, campers learned five different and exciting crafts, including: Denim Embroidery & Mending, Beaded Macrame Bracelets, Natural Dye with Dried Flowers, Crocheted Macrame Coil Baskets, and Polymer Clay Jewelry! All projects were designed to be awesome for beginners and advanced crafters, alike!

GUEST SPEAKERS

We had the honor of hearing from two incredible guest speakers early on at camp: Adesina Oyenuga, the Marketing & Communications Associate at Indego Africa, a non-profit that supports artisan communities in Ghana and Rwanda, and Carter Seibels, the founder of Woman Shops World, a globally-sourced one-stop-shop for the most unique bead and trim assortment out there!

Both speakers shared their experiences partnering with female artisans in other countries, educating us on the processes by which their global goods are crafted, as well as how we as crafters can continue to support skilled artisans around the world.

CAMP ACTIVITIES

The camp fun didn’t stop with crafts and guest speakers — CAMP TNTP brought some serious summer camp vibes to this session with our Craft Canteens aka evening activities where campers could bond with one another, work on craft projects, and treat themselves to an evening snack! This session’s Craft Canteens included a S’mores Creativity Contest, a Talent Show where campers taught their favorite crafts, and a virtual crafting COLOR WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

CRAFT EXCHANGE & SLIDESHOW

Each session of CAMP TNTP concludes with our Craft Show, where campers share their Rose (highlight), Thorn (greatest challenge), and Bud (thing they want to improve on), as well as reveal their handmade Craft Exchange gift from another camper! It’s such a special time where we get to hear about each camper’s unique experience and see the love that went into each item that campers made for one another.

While it’s difficult to sum up how powerful the CAMP TNTP experience truly is, hopefully this slideshow conveys a little bit of the magic of our Summer 2021 session… ENJOY!

To stay in the loop on upcoming sessions of CAMP TNTP, sign up for our info list here!!

We hope to see you at our next session of CAMP TNTP!!!!

Peace, love & neon, ✌️
TeamNTP