It seems like forever since I have been able to blog (or read any of the wonderful blogs that I like to stalk), but I have been involved in a pattern of being sick, going somewhere, being sick, then going somewhere else. Now that I am finally home for a while (I hope) and finally well for a while (hope some more), I have to tell you about one of the wonderful places I went. I love to scrapbook, but I hate the hassle of dragging everything out, only to put it all away a couple of hours later. Also, whenever I am home, there is always a little voice that whispers, “You know, if you have time to play with this stuff, maybe you should consider using that time to clean the bathroom.” Between the hassle and the voices, I really don’t spend much time on hobbies – at least, not as much as I would like. That’s why a little something called “Scrapbook Retreat” is one of the most exciting things in my life. I haven’t gone for the last couple of years, and when I told my husband that I thought I would just go crazy if I didn’t get to go this year he was kind enough to help make it happen.
My friend, Julia, who is also my Creative Memories consultant, is the person who arranges the retreat for her customers. There are a couple of other consultants who join us with their groups, so it makes for a lot of women armed with tape runners and paper trimmers! My Friend, Julia:
The facility that we use is called “The Compass Centre” . It is a wonderful place that was built by a woman who loves quilting and decided to build a business by providing a facility that is a place for quilters to get away from it all and just spend the weekend on their craft (although we scrapbookers are grateful that she allows our kind to use it). Each of the rooms is decorated in a different color scheme with handmade quilts that are each made from the same material, just in different quilt patterns. You can’t see it from this excellent photography of mine, but there are four beds to each room:
One really exciting thing is that there is plenty of workspace for a girl to spread her pictures and supplies everywhere:
Even better is the fact that when you are done for the night (whatever time you CHOOSE to quit), you just walk away from the table, leaving your mess strewn about your work area. Even more exciting than that is the fact that we have the most wonderful meals and we don’t have to do anything except stand in line in the wonderful kitchen once dinner is ready:
Since we never seem to be able to pull off full-fledged vacations, and especially since our house has turned into “critterville”, Robert and I have agreed to support each other in our desire to indulge in individual pursuits. He goes on a hunting trip each year with some friends from one of his previous jobs and I go to scrapbooking retreat. It really is about the most exciting thing that I get to do all year. Once a year (if I’m lucky), from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, I “retreat” from the whole world, don’t cook or do dishes, sit up until one-o’clock in the morning if I want to, and just work on scrapbook pages. For me, this is just heaven. This year, I was still fighting a sinus and throat infection for the first couple of days that I was at retreat so I didn’t get as much done as I normally do, but I did get more done that I would have if I had stayed home. For the first time I was using a lot of papers from a company called “Die Cuts with a View” . I usually buy them at Joann’s because they are on sale quite often, or I can use my 40% off coupon. Anyway, DCWV sells pads of papers that are coordinated and I absolutely love the colors. I like using their striped papers by cutting them apart and using the stripes as borders on solid paper or card stock. I didn’t work on any one specific project this year – I was all over the place as far as time line. However, here are pictures I took of just a few of the spreads that I did (the spreads are better than my awful pictures, but you get the idea):
So there you go – I had retreated from life for a while (and recovered), so I am back! I’m looking forward to catching up on the blogs that I love reading so much and doing a little picture taking and blogging of my own! Have a great week!
