Artistic U Recap

Just a couple of weekends ago, I, along with my fellow consultants, Jen Mahan and Diana Veenendaal, hosted a scrapbooking retreat in the beautiful city of Heber.

First of all, the venue was fabulous. We were in a beautiful 5,000+ square foot custom home in Heber, UT. We looked out the window at various times of day to beautiful views, often populated by deer (I counted 21 deer across the street from our cabin on Saturday). Shanna even reported a jack rabbit.

Secondly, the food was AMAZING. I don't know about you, but I love good food. It probably explains the extra pounds that keep creeping on over the years but there are some things in life meant to be enjoyed and good food is one of them. Our fabulous cook, Diana Veenendaal, made sure we did not go hungry at all. It actually took me a couple of days after the retreat before I felt hungry again. She has been gracious enough to post her recipes on the Artistic U website. The breakfast and soup recipes are out there and others will be coming.

Yum--Baked French Toast!

And finally, the company and the creativity were the best! We had some fabulous women join us and they were crafting their hearts out. After each finished project, the creator would ring a bell and share their creations with us. One of our attendees completed 38 layouts (including a themed album) over the 2 and a half days. Our winner created even more. I was so proud of these hard working ladies.

One of the projects provided at the retreat--inspired by Sherri Tozzi

Even though I was working to make sure everyone was happy, I had a fabulous time as well. Believe it or not, I came home relaxed and ready to get started on the next one. Please jump on over to Artisticu.net to register for the October 24th to 26th retreat. We plan to build on what we learned from this one starting with more and better giveaways! Plus every room will have their own bathroom. And Diana is already planning her menu. It should be a ton of fun!

Catalog Inspiration

I got home this morning from hosting my first ever overnight scrapbook retreat. I've been to a few, and I've hosted some day time only retreats but this was my first foray into the overnighter. It was a blast. And I will be doing it again in October. However, I'm not blogging about that today. I'm still tired and need a little time to get my photos together and process the experience to do it justice. So in the meantime, I thought I'd share a little scrapping happiness with you.

One of the things I have learned from the creative experience is that we all need a little inspiration from time to time. And sometimes, when we are really in a creative rut, blatant scraplifting is called for. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (Did you know this saying is credited to someone named Charles Caleb Colton?  There's your trivia item for the day). However, I believe that credit should always be given where credit is due so I am going to give full credit for the following scraplifted page to Close to My Heart's Art Team. I copied it right from page 85 of the Spring/Summer 2013 catalog.

I made a few minor alterations but I thought it worked perfect for this photo of one of our trips to Russia while adopting Kristina. This was the first time Dean had met her and he fell in love with her at first sight. So of course, I asked him to journal the page for me. Don't hesitate to ask others to journal. It's a great way to get another perspective. And besides, although Dean said he wasn't a great writer, what he wrote was perfect.

So here's your challenge for the day. Find a scrapbook page or layout, card or something else that inspires you and go make one of your own. Have fun!

P.S. Mark your calendar for October 24-26th for my next overnight scrapbook retreat. You can register  here. It's going to be so much fun!

Spring Surprises

I love this time of year. The sun is shining more, my daffodils are up and the stores are full of colorful shoes and clothing!

This past Easter weekend was full of sunshine and color. I had family in town, we went shopping (and yes, I have some cute new pink shoes to welcome spring in), my daughter did well at her color guard competition. My husband and my father did a major overhaul on my yard and it is starting to look alive and well (thank you so much to my dad who pruned trees and shrubs and rose bushes for an entire day). But one of the highlights of my weekend was coming home to find this on my kitchen table.

My lovely friend, Dora Glazier, made me these beautiful spring blocks.

Look at the fun detail on these letters. I love the little gardening fork.

And look at the cute card that came with it.

I love having creative friends that love me! I need to pay this loveliness forward. When was the last time you made something fun for someone just because? Maybe you should do that this week. I know from experience that it will make their day!