For the love of paper, ink, and potatoes.

On Saturday, February 12th I, along with my good friend and fellow Close To My Heart Constultant Amy, held our first ever all day scrapbook retreat.  It was held at the Oak Grove Community Center here in Sylacauga from 9 in the morning till 9 at night; we of course didn't get to leave till slightly later. If you have never attended or thought about attending a 12 hour crop that may seem like a long time, but once you get in the crafting groove you can go for days.  Below is a picture of one of the table seat ups.  This particular table was were 8 lovely ladies sat.  We had 17 attendees plus Amy and myself for a total of 19 women.  One thing I love most about days like this is being around other women. The conversation is always great and there is nothing like spending time with people who share your passion for scrapbooking. The ages ranged from early twenties to some other age that I won't even guess, I wouldn't dare ask my momma taught me manners.

As the women came in they found their seat and a few items waiting on them.  Each person had a handmade place card, an alterated picture holder, schedule for the day, two tickets (which were used for door prizes, and that red bag has CHOCOLATE.  Here is a close up of the picture holder. It was made from a 2 inch binder clip, paper, paper flower, pink sparkle embellishments, and tied off with a black organdy ribbon.  These clips can hold a 4 x 6 photo and make any desk more beautiful.

 More goodies were handed out throughout the day.  Attendees ended up with 4 Close To My Heart patterned papers, a petit perk stamp set, ribbon, and clear buttons.  Door prizes were also drawn throughout the day.  They were able to earn tickets for attending, bringing a snack and/or a drink, completing 2 scrapbook pages, and for creating 4 cards.  It is funny that we never get to old to earn tickets!  My only regret is that I didn't have a bell to ring when someone earned a ticket, of course I'm probably the only one who would have enjoyed that and most likely would have had my bell stolen.  We had some great door prizes if I do say so myself.  At the end of the day we drew for a grand prize which consisted of a CTMH quick pic album, quick pic album refills,  Bliss Level 2 paper pack, January's Stamp of the Month, Find Your Style, a mini medley set, and an ink pad.  Krissy was our winner.  She was very excited to win!  I think it was her lucky day, she had already won one door prize.





We served lunch and dinner.  For lunch we had the biggest baked potatoes I've seen in a very long time and salad.  I wish I would have taken a picture! For dinner there were three soups to choose from; taco soup, homemade chicken noodle, and vegetable soup made with ground turkey.  I also made cornbread and since we didn't think to bring a pot holder I have a blister on my thumb to prove it.  I guess that's the thing when you do something for the first time, you realize all the things you should have done.  Like next time, we only need to have half the food we made.  I think Amy and I had enough soup left over to feed both our family's for the rest of the week.  They were pretty good if I do say so myself.  I can't forget to mention all the incredible snacks we had, we had enough snacks for an entire weekend!  One of the ladies brought, in my opinion the best chocolate cupcakes this side of the Mississippi!  You can find her on facebook, Kariz Kakes, you will NOT be disappointed!  Throughout the day we also had 2 workshops that were optional.  I had a two page layout workshop demonstrating a couple of stamping techniques and featured February's SOTM.  It is one of the coolest stamps I think I have seen, you can judge for yourself.  This layout used three different colors of carstock(white, black, and Lagoon), 3 white and 1 black flower, 3 black brads and one white brad, embossing powder, white organdy ribbon, and two ink pads (black and Lagoon).  This layout was fun to create and the ladies seem to have fun creating their own version.  When the workshop was over, not one of the layouts looked exactly alike. 

After lunch Amy held a three card workshop featuring Veranda paper and pearl embellishments.  This cool workshop showed participants how to scallop paper using a corner rounder. 

Everyone sat and worked on their own projects.  Most people made scrapbook pages, some made cards, we even had someone making jewelry.  I worked on "cupcake socks" to give to Super Daughter's teachers.  I always love to see what everyone else is doing.  My super low attention span usually has me spending more time looking at what others are doing rather than working on something myself.  The cool thing about this is that I tend to learn from others that are wayyyy smarter and craftier than me.  Ms. Ann made this card and then showed several people, including myself, how to make these extremely pretty paper flowers.  I can't wait to try them again, hopefully I will remember what she told me.  Remember that low attention span I just mentioned.  She also used the  CTMH stamp set You're Great.  I love this stamp set and even used it to make Super Daughter's Valentine Cards for her class.

This lovely lady you see to the left is displaying the first ever pair of earrings she made.  I think she has discovered a hidden talent.  Way to fo Jaime!!!  All in all I think the day was successful, everyone worked passionately on their projects, ate tons of food, made a few new friends, and got some cool new product.  I'm already looking forward to the next one and another opportunity to share my love for paper and ink and now potatoes (since that's what I've had for dinner the last 4 nights, I told you we cooked too much food!)