Retreat Workshop

Yes! I do some type of workshop for every retreat. We've made clip boards, tag books, and layouts - lots of layouts! This one is my all-time favorites. I needed inspiration, just had no idea what I wanted to do for this page. So I started looking through websites. I mainly used scrapbook.com and scrapjazz.com. I found all sorts of layouts, and although none of them were like my final product, I used bits and pieces from several of them and inspiration from MANY of them! All that is to say, if you feel like you're running dry of ideas, review the layout posts here and visit some of the sites I mentioned. You're bound to be inspired in no time!

Above you'll see the layout that was closest to what I made originally. This is Chelsea's creation, but it is a lot like mine - which I DIDN'T take a picture of, go figure! When I taught this, I showed my layout and explained some of the techniques I used, then I simply passed out all of the elements. I had cut everything, both free-hand and using my Cricut. I used the Veranda paper and made a large ring with my Cricut. I used the ring on the left and cut the center of the ring in half (well, slightly off-center) and used it on the right page to sort of frame the photo at the top. I cut the 3 straight strips and the mattes on my personal trimmer and free-handed the curvy strips. The flourishes were also cut on my Cricut - yes, I had a blast!

The only real trick with this layout involved the ring and the picture beside it. Once I matted the picture, I adhered the whole thing to the ring and then trimmed what was hanging over on the inside. It wasn't very hard, and, since it was covered by the ring, it didn't have to look pretty. While Chelsea followed my design, she added the ribbon at the top of the right page (LOVE that idea!) and the elegant scripted words to it. She also used cocoa ink and an edge distresser (also known as scissor-distressing) on the edges of her mattes and strips.

I have to say, this was one of my most FAVORITE layouts! I will use it again! Watch for the next post, where I'll show you what some of my other retreaters did with the elements. It's amazing! No two layouts were alike.