Retreat

A week ago this past Thursday I left for my annual fall scrapbook retreat through Cat's Creations held at Mitchell RV Park & Resort. I LOVE this place. It is in the middle of NOWHERE yet not far enough away that I can't come home should I need to. I did have to do that on Friday to feed horses and let dogs out as hubby was on duty at the fire station.

I usually take a week to try to get ready. Deciding what projects I will work on, choosing pictures and papers and what tools I may take. Not this time. I failed at packing for this trip miserably! I finally just started grabbing some things and left a lot at home trying to be more realistic in my expectations of what I would actually get accomplished.

When I get to the retreat I found a new apron waiting on me! I am so proud of it! I know you can't see it all but under my arm are multi-colored paw prints down the right side.
One of the projects I chose to work on is re-decorating Kennedy's letters. When the kids moved they had boxed up Kennedy's letters and hadn't unpacked them until they moved this last time. Unfortunately before the last move the letters were damaged by a water heater that leaked soaking the box that contained the letters. This is what they used to look like. I was so proud of them. I was sad when they got wet.

Here's the revised letters. They go with the colors in the girls room better.

I tried to keep just a little bit of "horsey" theme! The picture doesn't show dimension but I have some on almost every letter.

These are the letters I made for Remi a year ago. I used some of the same papers on Kennedy's. I hope Kennedy's new letters will look good on their wall.








Another project I wanted to get done is make a card for a young couple. It's my really good friend Teresa's daughter. She got married 2 years ago on 11-11-11. I went a step further and created an envelope out of the same paper line (Authentique) using the envelope maker by We R. The image is a Phyllis Harris design by Unity Stamp Company. I was very pleased with the finished product! I had some alpha stickers that came with the paper collection and I used the initial of their last name to seal the envelope.


I did get 15 page layouts completed. I just didn't take any pictures.

One of the many things I love about coming to this retreat is getting outdoors and walking around. I missed getting any sunset pics this time.  Can you believe it?! I know! I'm in shock myself. The best night was Thursday and I missed the window of opportunity. We had cloud cover the rest of the time.

I did however see this guy...or gal...on my way into town Friday morning to feed. He was laying down until I did a u-turn to get pics. When I stopped in front of where he was he started getting up. I was too close for comfort.

Keeping an eye on me!

Friday was a very chilly day and the sunshine was short lived so I didn't take my usual adventure. The weather was better Saturday.

Found this little guy fluttering around. I couldn't catch him with his wings open.

Every time I am here I take a picture of these trees. I just think it is so unusual. It has grown since I first discovered it.

Overall, it was still a good retreat and I am pleased with what I accomplished. It was good to get a way for a few days.

This was taken the night before my retreat. I thought it was cool with the moon and one of the planets shining brightly as the last rays of sunlight fade.

This was the sunset the day I came home from the retreat. I think these guys were glad to see me!

Have a good one!

Post Retreat

I got back Sunday afternoon from a 4 day scrapbook retreat. I had a blast. As usual, I took too much stuff. I have been trying to plan for these better by deciding on what projects I'm going to work on ahead of time but that just didn't happen.

I met some new people, got better acquainted with some others, learned some new things, ate wonderfully home-cooked food, enjoyed some amazing sunsets, laughed so hard I couldn't breathe and did some crafting. All in all it was a pretty productive weekend.

One of my dear scrapbook friends and fellow horse lover had a birthday the first day of the retreat. I made her this card.

I've used this image before on another card I made not too long ago. It's a Mo Manning image. I just love it! I colored it with my copic markers, used some MME patterned paper and some ribbon from my stash.

I did get some page layouts done. I also made some Christmas cards.

I stamped with the star with Versa Mark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then I stamp the word "joy" with Versa Mark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The ribbon is from my stash. I'm still playing with this one. I'm thinking about using a white background and embossing the star with red then the word "joy" with gold.

I also made a tag. I had hoped to make more but I lost my momentum.

The entire scene is an embossing folder. I colored the image using a blender pen and my TH Distress inks. I then used liquid pearl for the white on the penguin and the Santa hat. I used stickles on the snowflakes, the ornaments on the tree and the snow on the ground. I used my blending tool to add a little color on the rest of the tag.

Monday night I made a birthday card for my granddaughter Remi. Her birthday is Thursday and I needed to get it in the mail Tuesday so she would get it in time.

I used Seems A Little Sketchy: Sketch 26 for this card. The papers are Authentique "Lively". The image is a rubber stamp I purchased at my LSS Cat's Creations. I don't know what company. I colored with my copic markers and fussy cut her out. I used a Spellbinders die behind her. The ribbon is from my stash.

After reading my friend Sandy's blog I decided to do a card for Clear It Out Challenge. The challenge is to use red from your stash and anything goes. Since I need to make Christmas cards, I pulled some scraps from my Christmas box.

This is more of a burgundy than a bright red. The ribbon is also burgundy. I circle cut the "Happy Holidays". The paper is We R Memory Keepers. These papers were left over from making my mother a little Christmas book of last year. I think it turned out kinda cute.

It's WOW Wednesday at Cat's Creations blog. Blog candy is the prize to a random commenter to mine or any other blogs linked up to Cat's so check them all out. If you have a blog, be sure to link up. We would love to see your creations!

Have a good one!