Tracy's Full Album - Part II

Yesterday, I started sharing the album that our new scrapper, Tracy, made for her mother-in-law. This turned into a particularly special book of memories for their whole family. After she dedicated some pages to the whole family and then her mother and father-in-law, Tracy dedicated a section to each of the 3 sons that her parents-in-law had. This page started the section. The opposite side was laid out, but she didn't have the pics of the brothers that she wanted for that page with her. Doubtless, some childhood pics will adorn that page!


The first section was for Jeff and his kids.

The next section was for Chris and his family.

The final section was for Sean and his family.



Several pages at the end of the book were laid out and ready for pictures and would likely contain some candids of the family. I'm amazed at the quick learning that proved itself in this album and I'm so pleased to show it to you!

Tracy's Full Album - Part I

Like I mentioned yesterday, we had a new scrapper with us during our retreat and she completed an entire album for her mother-in-law. She did an amazing job and I want to show you her work. Way to go, Tracy!

Tracy used this book to celebrate her hubby's whole family. She began with whole group pictures.

Then she set up a couple of pages for her mother and father-in-law. There is a sad note to this story. The day after Tracy returned home from this retreat, her father-in-law went to be with the Lord. This book surely ended up being a precious, precious gift!

Retreat fun!

This February retreat was a great time! We ended up with 16 people joining us for the weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn in Addison. You can see we thoroughly spread out and there is always a lot of laughter, and creativity floating around the crop room.

This retreat had people coming in from all over. Many were from here in the Dallas area, but we had some come up from South Texas (and I do mean SOUTH), the Austin area, and even as far as California.

At our last retreat, we started a new tradition to spend part of our first night at the Hawaiian Nail Bar getting well-deserved pedicures! Here are this groups toesies after the trip.

These pics were actually taken fairly early on Friday evening, just after the gals started arriving, but the filled room is always abuzz.

This retreat, we had a brand new scrapper, and she had a full album by the time she left on Sunday! Amazing! Every group is different! We have all ages and all cropping abilities. We have some that are focused on getting the pages done quickly and others who are embellishment queens, filling their pages with accents, bling and all types of techniques, and still others who create works of art that have little to do with scrapbooking, but everything to do with creativity!

Close friends meet up again at every chance they get and new friendships are built. We have about 4 retreats per year, roughly August, November, February, and June.

The next two scheduled retreats are June 3-5 and August 5-7. If you are interested in joining this talented group at one of the retreats, please contact me for further details!

Retreat Workshop - Sweetheart

This was the layout that I used for my retreat workshop. At my retreats, I always provide one short workshop where I cut out all of the paper ahead of time so it is just a matter of passing out the pieces and putting it all together. This idea just came to me and I LOVE how it turned out. (I wasn't sure it would!) The title will be, "Let Me Count the Ways." I'll probably have to make several of these layouts, one for each of my kids!

The floral B&T was cut the same for both sides of the layout. The bottom made up of a 6 x 12 cut corner to corner, but you have to do it twice to get them to lay point to point like they are. It is the same for the top outside floral pieces which are diagonal cuts of two 5 x 3 pieces. The good news is that you can use the 4 leftover pieces to make another double layout the very same way. You can even make it different by using the back printed side of the B&T. The final piece of the "heart" is a diagonally cut 3 x 3 square.

The mats are made with the pink polkadot paper. The left hand side has a 6 x 8 tucked into the bottom "pocket". I did make it a pocket to facilitate adding a picture, but the mat is actually set into the layout firmly. It looks like it can move, but I don't want it to be. The top mat is 4 x 5 and it is tucked under the inside of the heart. A 2 x 5 piece of polkadot is at the bottom of the page for journaling. The right hand side has some more off-set mats: a 5 x 7 portrait style and another 4 x 5. Like the first, all of the mats are adhered even though they look like they're just tucked into pockets. Also on the right hand side are 4 journaling strips, hanging down from the outside edge of the heart. I added some Mocha Opaques and Pink buttons throughout the layout. I also plan to add some chipboard hearts as well once I've added my pics and titles.

More Retreating News

That brown stuff you see spread all over Maria's legs is chocolate - yes, chocolate, with little mint sprigs sticking out of it. No wonder she was smiling like crazy in the pic I posted yesterday.

Brandy's legs were covered with Milk and Honey. I had the peppermint treatment. Yes, little green sprigs grew out of my legs too, but without the chocolate. Ashley had some sort of fancy treatment, but I don't think it was a food group. Still looked odd though.

So when we all got together, we not only looked good, we felt good, and the whole car smelled good all the way back to the hotel! What a way to begin the weekend. Yes, we will do that again. In fact, I'd love to include that, for whomever might wish to join the fun, at every retreat!

Retreating News

I know this is peculiar, but a half dozen of us took a break on Friday night (Yeah, that's right, a break at a retreat - go figure!) before we even got started on the retreating. We went down to a great place in Addison, off of Beltline Road, called "Hawaiian Nail Bar" and had a great time chatting and bonding and getting SASSY NAILS!


Oh, but there was a LOT more that went on at our excursion!

We got massages in our chairs while our toes soaked in a warm pool filled with oranges, rose petals and some other type of thing that looked very botanical - but then what do I know? They offer free mixed drinks, both regular and virgin versions and Friday night, they had football on. I thought it was funny that they had on a pre-season game when the place was filled (about 30 chairs in all) with laughing, relaxing females, but then I realized that most of the staff were male. No wonder all the females around us were laughing!

I do have more on this subject, like why Maria is smiling so big - no, it wasn't somthing in her drink! You'll have to tune back in tomorrow to find out and it is well worth the visit.

As for the next retreat and those following, we're just gonna hafta make this "Bar" a regular attraction! Our visit sure started our weekend off right!

What a RETREAT!

This was as much a reunion as a retreat! We had gals coming from all over the country - Yes, I'm serious; Maria came in from San Jose! We also had Rhonda up from Victoria, Lisa in from the Hill Country and Alissa all the way from the tip of south Texas.

This was our room on Sunday morning. We had a great group of gals with us this weekend AND all our STUFF! But the hotel staff (Hilton Garden Inn in Addison) was SO GOOD to us and we had an amazing time!

Couldn't resist doing this picture! (Carmela's idea!) But it was inspired by Miranda when she poked her head out from under the table just as I clicked the picture at the top.

My next retreat is November 12-14 and many of the seats are already spoken for. We always have a great time and the price is terrifice! Contact me for fees and more information.

Retreat Cherry-O Layout by Carmela

Carmela had a cool take wither her layout, using the same pieces that everyone else got. I love the way the creative ladies at the retreats use the plans with their own ingenuity!

Carmela didn't use the cherry stamp set that was made for this page. I know, it looks like it, but it isn't - this is the ingenius part!!! She cut out some little leaf shapes by hand then crumpled them like we crumpled the base page and sanded it just a little to give the effect of veins. Close up, it looks like she just drew the stems in a dark brown color before adding the leaves with a green button at the top of them. Some lighter green thread fills the eyes of the button. She added red buttons for the cherries at the ends of the stems and filled the eyes with red thread or floss.

Her layout, like Cindy's, is totally different from mine - a further testimony of her creativity. I also like how she used black and white photos on this. I have just never done that. I need to. I know it needs to be the right type of pictures - an appropriate event. I need to find one!

Retreat Cherry-O Layout by Susan

Susan followed the design plan and added her title by the Cricut and her journaling by hand. While I'm mentioning journaling, by the way, may I suggest journaling once in a while in your own handwriting. Susan's is gorgeous, but even if you think your hand-writing is awful - even if it actually IS awful - your handwriting is something your kids and loved ones are accostomed to. It is familiar and just the sight of it can draw sweet memories in their minds. As your kids get older, (when your scrapbooks for them will be even greater appreciated) the sight of your handwriting will not be repulsive, but welcomed. Seriously! And don't even get me started about cropping yourself out of pictures. I'm just saying!

Retreat Cherry-o Layout by Cindy

This was Cindy's take on the workshop layout. While Linda followed the basic design and just danced a little creativity with the embellishment, Cindy is . . . well, more of a free spirit! (I can say that - she's also a best buddy!) To do this workshop, I cut all the pieces. Cindy added to it with some extra cardstock pieces and adjusted it all so much that the design is TRULY all her own.

I like the way she added the oval picture. It gives continuity with the circles of flower petals and the layout really gives space for her many pictures, making it perfect for this event.

Retreat Cherry-O Layout by Linda

Linda made this layout based on my sample (which I posted a couple of weeks ago for a Heart 2 Heart challenge. You can see it by searching for Cherry-o or H2H or challenge.)

Anyway, Linda extended the flower design, using a few "petals" folded in over the blue side and a few folded in over the red side. Alternating these, she created the bottom flower on the left hand page.

Also, a note, this beach activity was for a club, so Linda covered part of the title when the picture was clicked to avoid identification. The pictures were cute and appropriate, but I doubt these gals had any intention of going on the web, so for their own anonymity, I blurred the pictures a bit. Still I liked what Linda did with the layout and couldn't resist showing it off.

You Deserve This . . . I'm just sayin'

These are some of the pictures from my January retreat. I have to tell you, these gals were fantastic! There were few times when the room wasn't just buzzing with chatter and ideas and laughter. Total strangers became cropping buddies, literally, over night! As you can see, we bring just EVERYTHING, just in case. I also bring extra adhesive, cardstock, design papers, and embellishments to sell and you'll get all sorts of ideas from the projects going on around you!
I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend in June. (well, besides visiting a Nascar race, but that's another topic!) We have gals that complete more than 50 pages during the weekend. In fact, one gal completed 92 during one of my retreats. Another completed 84 and they were GORGEOUS. Gals start coming around noon on Friday and we order out for dinners and lunches all three days. For each meal, we choose from 2 different restaurants and I'll deliver to the dining room. Or you can save your money and bring your own food. Every room has a mini-fridge and a microwave!

We also all bring snacks and drinks to share. Sometimes gals will make a run to Sonic during happy hour for cheap drinks, but no one goes hungry. And the hotel treats us very well! The breakfast is an extra charge (only $7 for BOTH meals!) but it is well worth it and totally delicious!

You deserve this - fun girl-time while adding pages to your memories! Drop me a line and sign up for my June Retreat on the weekend of the 4-6!