LAST POSTING OF RETREAT WEEKEND

Okay, I am sure you have seen enough but bare with me for one last time.  I am sure by now you can guess that I had a SUPER time and can't wait for next one.  Well, maybe not that soon, however I will be ready by November.  Both of my sisters have similiar pics on their blogs but we each have different followers so that is why we all have these postings.  First of all, I will show you the rest of the make-n-takes we did.  This easter box was the first thing we made.  It will hold a good amount of candy for the granddaughters (I have to make another before Easter).  All the pieces are cut out for us and all we had to do is assemble it.  A few of the ladies did their own interpretation of how it should look and I must say they really looked cute.

Next are two cards we made. This time we had to do a bit of cutting with the punches and Big Shot.  I learned a few new techiques making these.  Don't you just love the 3D bird on the limb?

This make-n-take started as a 6x6 scrapbook page and I attached it to a 12x12 sheet of cardstock for my albmu.  I love the flexability of taking a small (6x6) page and adding it to an 8 1/2 x 11 page and then upgrading it to the 12x12 page. (in this case I didn't do the 8 1/2 x 11 page).  That is what is so nice about scrapbooking.  I have lots of 6x6 and 8x8 pages that I can turn into larger pages if I need to.

 This is the Card Class we had on Friday evening.  We made 4 of each of the cards below so we ended up with 16 cards with envelopes.  You can use any sentiment on your card that you wish (thank you, thanks, happy birthday, get well, sympathy or happy easter to name a few.)  The card in the upper right hand corner is the newest stamp that Stampin Up will be offerring as a teaser for the new July 2010 catalog.  I am not much of a painter but I fell in love with this stamp.  Don't you just love the new spring colors? 

Next I wanted to share with you the latest thing in fashions.  This is called the rag quilt purse.  Isn't is the cutest?  It is so much better in person.  The material is a lot softer in color than the photo shows.  My favorite color is blue and this has several shades of blue.  We used our scallop die cut and the Big Shot to make the squares and then the rest is just sewing.  If you click on the photo you will see more detail.  This is very simple to make (even a beginner can make one) and the assembly goes quickly.

Now I will show you all the gifts I received.  My sister, Kathleen, gave me the flower pin and my name tag to wear at the retreat. She also made one for the co-hosts, my other sister, Sandi, and my niece, Tricia.  She has so much talent wouldn't you agree.  I also requested a flower barrett for each of my granddaughters and didn't take a picture before I gave it to them.  They were both very happy to get them.  Thank you, Aunt Kathleen.

This is what my sister, Sandi, gave me.  The tote bag is the hottest item that Stampin Up sold at the last convention (August in Salt Lake City).  I kept forgetting to order on so was soooo happy that she got this for me and my sister, Kathleen.  She also includeed a jar of her homemade skin cream (we all have very dry skin) which she decorated the jar with rub ons and ribbon from SU.  Don't you just love the bag?  It matches the newest 12x12 paper (Sweet Pea) and felt flowers & leaves.  I used them on one of the 12x12 pages I posted yesterday.

Last of all, here some of the freebies each guest received from Ronda and Melissa.  When we first arrived there was a monogrammed treat box filled with mini candy bars on each table.  For those who stayed  the first night our gift was the big bird door hanger.  When you order this from the catalog there is several of these chipboard birds in the package (enough to make an album).  The bird is larger than you think. The next evening everyone got the mini milk carton filled with gum balls.  The small flower on toothpick was in our cupcakes Sat. night.  I forgot to take the picture of the pillow box which had several epoxy brads in them (I have them in small baggie in photo) and lastly I won the flat half pearls. ( the timer went off while I had the basket at my table-a neat game we play at these retreats).

As you can see, we had a lot of things to do and I can't even begin to discribe the atmosphere that was in the air.  There was just under 30 of us and I met a lot of new friends.  It was great to just be around other crafters and share our common love of paper.  I am sad that it is over but also feeling good about the next one and looking forward to what Ronda & Melissa can come up with.  Ronda, the Rubber Queens leader, has been top demonstrator for the US many times since she started.  She is very giving and loving and has a great family.  I finally got to chat more with Melissa this time and I find a lot of the same qualities in her that Ronda has.  Thank you Ronda and Melissa for making March 12-14 the best weekend ever.

SCRAPBOOK PAGES FROM WEEKEND RETREAT

Well, here they are as promised.  I did more cards and scrapbook pages this past weekend then I did this past year!!!  The one below is what I came up with for the challenge of using what we had in our $60 goodies bag.  I used my butterfly embossed diecut for the first time and also made the flowers with the Sweet Pea felts and ribbon for stems.  The designer paper was in the Sweet Pea 12x12 pkg that was in our bag of goodies.  We also got several 12x12 sheets of textured solid color paper.  (CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGEN)

This is an 8 1/2 x 11 double page that I made for Easter.  I had these Easter cutouts for over 5 yrs. and finally decided to make something with them.  I used the new pink satin ribbon on the right edge over the designer strip (used the new lacy scallop punch).  I still have 2 bunnies and 2 baby chicks so may have to do two more pages to use them all up. LOL

This is one of the four make-n-takes we did.  It is an 12x12 page and the designer paper is from the Sweet Pea paper pack.  Click on it to see the vibrant colors. I just love the color combination, how about you?

The next two pictures are the pages we did for our scrapbooking class

This is one I made a couple of years ago when I first learned to do embrodery flowers. I made several of these flowers but can't seem to locate them now.

This is someone's entry into the Goodie Bag Challenge. The colors for the Sweet Pea paper package is so versital. If you haven't got it you better before time runs out.

 

 
Okay that is all for tonight. I will try to put up the card samples from our card class and the other 3 make-n-takes.  MSU is falling behind so I need to cheer them on.. YAH YAH YAH GO MSU

WEEKEND RETREAT RECAP........

Hi everyone, Well, I finally got a chance to post my memories from this past weekend.  It was a blast and my first for staying all 3 days.  Last Nov. I came for the day only (Saturday).  I plan on going again this November.  Our hosts were Ronda and Melissa:

They are the best.  Everything was planned so well and I loved the extra room we had.  Behind them you will see the food table and to the right was were the desert was for Saturday night.  This is what we had:

Fresh fruit in our own champagne glass with some strawberry fluff is you so desired.  Friday night we had Air Popped Popcorn served in those cute plastic popcorn containers.  I didn't get a picture of that but it may be in one of the photos further down.  Right next to the fruit was chocolate and white cupcakes with SU flowers on some of them...

Friday night was pizza night in our P.J.'s.  Some of the ladies decorated their PJ's and the two judges couldn't pick out the best so we had to do a secret ballot and "Maxine" won. (That is my niece, Tricia). Here are a few pictures I wanted to share of this contest....

The flower ladies, Diane (Flower Garden), my sister, Kathleen (Pixie Lady), and my niece, Tricia (Maxine)  Get a load of the slippers...Maxine's slippers (made by her mom, my other sister) are made using maxi pads (the kind you get from hospital after birth of child). Click on picture for better view!! In the background is the tables we used for our classes and make-n-takes. Also there is a table with items that were part of the silent action. Here is another of all the ladies who entered the PJ contest:

Kim, Patti, Sandi, Diane, Kathleen, Jane and of course, Tricia (better known as "Maxine"--THE WINNER)

 

Kim, Cheryl, and Patti's work tables. In the background you can see one of my sisters, Kathleen. (the snack table is against the wall behind Cheryl)

This is the group across the room from our section.

A closeup of my station (bottom left), Kathleen's area (top center) and on the right side is my niece's (Tricia) work area.  On the bottom is where my other sister, Sandi has her station (didn't get it in the picture).  See the popcorn container on Tricia's table.  Cool, huh.

Well that is all I will post for now.  I will add some of the scrapbook pages we did and some of the cards we did in two of the four classes we could sign up for.  Keep smiling and look forward to sharing more with you later.

REMEMBER:  CAUTION: Opening box may cause extreme excitement (notice on SU boxes)

I'M BACK....

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted.  Gee, time flies.  Hasn't it been beautiful these past few days?  Dick & I took a ride to Williamston yesterday on the back roads just to get out and enjoy the sun. 

Okay, I have been doing a few projects.  First I wanted to use up some of my kits that have leftovers and make some different cards.  The two below were made using the Flower Power Card Elements kit.  I added ribbon on both and used the shimmer paint on the center circle and small flower(green card) and added some flower rhinestones I purchased many years ago. (before I got hooked on SU!)

Lastly, I finally made the Scallop Rag Purse.  I loved making it and had to laugh at all the problems I had using the sewing machine.  I have only had this new machine for a year and haven't used it other than to put on the blanket binding on a couple of our blankets (they only had binding on sides-not the top or bottom). So

I started sewing and couldn't remember how to thread the maching...pulled out the manuel.  Okay that's done and I start sewing and then realized I'm not going to have enough bobbin thread to finish.  I stopped and put the bobbin in steel thing-a magiig and had to go to manuel so see how to thread machine for bobbin.  Finally got that tackled and nothing happened when I pushed on pedal!!! I checked the manuel again and saw that I had done everything as instructed.  I was @($*#@^$#)*# but it still wouldn't run.  Now don't laugh but I finally (have you guessed yet?) found what I needed to do.  I forgot to push bobbin spool to the right so it was up against the you know what!!! I read directions again and it said something about pushing to right until it clicked--I thought they were talking about the little lever you push against the bobbin to gauge how much thread you want to put on the bobbin!  OKAY NOW YOU CAN LAUGH IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!!  (that means you, Sandi and Kathleen) That only took about 45 min and then I was on my way.  I am not putting a picture on now as I wanted to show it off this weekend at Ronda's Scrapbook weekend.  I am soooo looking forward to it.  It will be lots of fun and hopefully this time I will meet some of the ladies.  Well, I better get outta here so you can go take a potty break or whatever.  Sorry I was so long winded but that is what happens when you let a month go by without posting.  See you.