Paper People
by Blue Stiggy
3rd - 5th July 2026
A gentle creative online retreat for people who want to slow down reconnect with creative activities and bring small acts of paper based creativity into your everyday life
We’ll be dipping our toe in to writing, drawing, sketching, mark making, poetry and journaling
[The Workshop recordings are available afterwards so do join us even if you can’t make it on the day ]
Find a few minutes in your day to do something creative
You are creative - you always were - 3 days of guided sessions each one 20 minutes or less to help you to reconnect with your creative self in a small sliver of time.
Words ~ Marks ~ Thoughts
You dream of finding a way to carve out time for yourself and your sketchbook, journal or notebook a way that’s doable with your hectic schedule, and helps you to reconnect with your creative self.
Meet the Tutors
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Mel Rye
Mel is an artist and educator who helps people make art that feels joyful, meaningful, and unmistakably their own - especially if they think they can’t draw.
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Cynthia Hauk
Cynthia Hauk, MFA is the founder of Mindful Creative Muse
Through simple doodles, mindful mandalas, mark making, and art journaling, she helps students to reduce stress, reconnect with creativity, and create with more self-compassion and ease. -
Kim Houssenloge Mak
Kim Houssenloge Mak is a writer, story gatherer, and memory keeper who encourages women to capture the everyday moments of their lives in words. She is the founder of Betty Mae Wrote, a cosy space dedicated to letter writing, personal life story writing and slow seasonal living.
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Susan Yeates
Susan Yeates is an artist, author, and creative guide who helps people reconnect with their inner artist. Whether you're picking up a pencil for the first time or returning to your sketchbook,
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Mia Botha
Mia has been a creative writing coach for more than 16 years.and has taught, coaxed and encouraged hundreds of writers over the years. She formally trained as a copywriter and earned her degree in creative writing. She has been writing stories her entire life.
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Lauren Clark
Lauren is a lifelong paper lover and the creator of Found and Flowered, a journal brand designed to help you fill your blank pages, create regularly, and let go of perfection. Her work is rooted in everyday magic, finding inspiration in vintage details, the natural world, flowers, and fairylands.
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Shelley Skail
Shelley Skail is a Scottish writer and artist. She takes inspiration from fairytales and the natural world, creating layered, dreamlike art. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and daughter.
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Traci Skuce
Traci Skuce is a writer and story mentor who helps writers connect the craft to their lived experience so they can finish stories that are more intimate, textured, and alive.
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Heather Leavitt Martinez
Heather Leavitt Martinez is a lettering artist, visual facilitator, author. Through visual tools and Appreciative Inquiry, she helps people make the invisible visible, find language for what matters, and create the conditions for focused, creative flow.
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Fab Works Watercolors
Fatih (Fab) Mıstaçoğlu is a watercolor artist, teacher, and creative guide who believes everyone can draw (and should). His teaching focuses on building confidence, letting go of perfection, and rediscovering joy in the creative process.
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Hollie Hardy
Hollie Hardy is a poet, author, private instructor, and founder of Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts. She loves helping writers deepen their creative practice and find community. Through workshops, coaching, and her long-running international open mic, she creates spaces where writers at every stage can experiment, grow, and connect.
Meet Your Host
Hi, I’m Michaela - Founder of Blue Stiggy
I make handmade notebooks and journals which I personalise on my vintage typewriter Dorothy
Even as a designer, sometimes i’ts hard to find time to play, experiment and just be creative for the sake of being creative.
This online retreat is 3 beautiful days, immersing ourselves in creative activities through words, marks and thoughts - just doing something because we can - exercise our creative muscle and slowly remembering why we love doing something creative
What to expect at Paper People
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When and Where
Paper People will run from 3rd - 5th July, with a variety of presentations to choose from each day. This event is entirely virtual, so you’ll be able to attend from anywhere in the world with internet access.
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Expert Sessions
Attend presentations from our lineup of fabulous tutors with short workshops about how to fit small acts of paper based creative activities in to your day
Your free ticket includes 72 hours of access to each presentation during the week of the summit.
We’ll be dipping our toe in to writing, drawing, sketching, mark making, calligraphy, poetry and journaling -
Private Summit Community
Join our private community and connect with other paper people like you who are already hanging out with their notebooks, pens and stash of washi! This is where you’ll be able to connect with the speakers and other attendees before and during the event!
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Chances to Win
Show up and participate in the community for chances to win prizes throughout the summit! Be sure to keep an eye out for your BINGO card and come hang out with us in the community for chances to win things like a fabulous set of Blue Stiggy Notebooks
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Upgrade for a VIP Experience!
After registering, you’ll have the chance to upgrade to the Library Pass which includes ongoing access to the presentations after the summit wraps up, premium bonuses from our speakers, and more! You’ll get all the details (and a special offer) after grabbing your free ticket!
Have Questions? I’ve got answers
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If you love the idea of being able to sit down and do something creative then this is for you.
You don’t have to be experienced at all to take part in this creative online retreat - the whole idea is to help you to connect or reconnect with small acts of creativity. whether you want to just have time for yourself to be creative and play or want to build a habit and have your chosen form take up a bigger part of your life. -
The main portion of the summit runs from 3rd-5th July with pre-party sessions
You’ll also be able to join our private Facebook
community as soon as you register, so you can join in on the fun right away!
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While most of the presentations for the summit are pre-recorded, we encourage you to attend each day if you can, to take part in the prize giveaways and to mingle in the community group with the tutors and other attendees
The pre-recorded presentations are only available for 72 hours with your free ticket. So we encourage you to attend each day if you can!However, if you’re not able to attend all of the sessions during the retreat, go ahead and grab your free ticket, and you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade to the Library Pass
for extended access.+ a whole host of other goodies
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Your free ticket includes 72 hour access to each of the presentations to allow for different time zones -
If you need more time, you can always upgrade your ticket to the Library Pass afterregistering, which will give you extended access to the presentations along with
premium bonuses from our
speakers.
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To avoid tech glitches, give you the best possible experience, and keep things
easy for the speakers, the presentations are pre-recorded and will be released at
a scheduled time during the event However, the speakers will be hanging out
in our private Facebook group with dedicated threads where you can connect with them and ask your questions! There will also be opportunities to join us for
bonus live events throughout the week.
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No. When you register, you’ll be added to the Blue stiggy email list so we
can send you updates for the event and links to each day’s presentations.
After the summit is over, you’ll continue to hear from us, but you can unsubscribe at any time.Each of the speakers will have free resources available that you can access by
providing an email address, but the speakers will not get your email address unless you choose to give it to them specifically. That way, you only hear from the
people you really love and don't have to worry about getting added to 15+ email lists that you're not interested in.
You can learn more in our Privacy Policy.
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Yes. All presentations have closed captioning, and a transcript
Please reach out if there’s anything we can do to ensure you’re able to enjoy this
event.
paperpeople@bluestiggy.co.uk -
If you still have questions, we encourage you to go ahead and sign up for your FREE ticket - Your
questions will likely be answered during the event or in the Facebook
community, which you’ll be able to join right away after grabbing your free ticket.
However, if you need to ask us a question before registering, feel free to send us
an email at paperpeople@bluestiggy.co.uk