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!

Close to My Heart Album Retreat Recap

I am so fortunate to be associated with this company. Every once in a while, Close to My Heart offers an album retreat. Unlike their big annual convention, this is a smaller, intimate group (200 of your best friends as opposed to 2000), and we all come together to make some gorgeous pages designed by Close to My Heart. It's not about business, it's just about creating. This year was even better because Stacy Julian joined us (and you all know how much I love her--check her out here and here). So much good stuff was shared but you know what the key thing was that I remember Stacy saying? "Practice imperfection." It's okay to not be perfect. Take a deep breath and say that to yourself. Doesn't that feel good?

Another key thing shared, contrary to what most of us believe, every one of us is creative! Creativity is everything from a scrapbook layout, to a holiday centerpiece, to a beautifully prepared meal to a carefully organized cupboard. Stacy shared some creative prompts with us to help prompt our creativity and we put them in this darling container. (If you come to my retreat in April, you'll be making one of these complete with creative prompts too).

Prior to the retreat, I was in Chicago for work and hadn't had time to gather my pictures and journaling for the pages so I wrapped those up this last weekend. And it was fabulous fun to pick out the pictures I wanted and relive some memories while looking for them. Challenge yourself sometime to make a page or layout on a specific topic and then go looking for the pictures you need. It is so fun to blast through the past as you flip through your photos. Here are just a few of the 23 pages I made at the retreat.

This page evoked a few happy tears as I missed my grandparents.

This one was a fun reminder of why I love my husband so much. Do you know he made me the craziest love mix once? There wasn't a sappy love song on two CD's of music and it was the most perfect thing he could have given me.

 I had a blast with this one.

This one was a little uncomfortable--talking about yourself and why you feel beautiful? Not something we, as women, tend to do very well.

Anyway, I have learned a bit about myself over the last few weeks. Beginning with my attendance at the Artsy Weekend (blogged about here), to the CTMH Album Retreat, to finishing that album this past weekend, I have done a lot of creating. No real purpose, no real intention, other than just remembering why I love to paper craft. I am a happier person when I take time out just for me. I am more emotionally balanced, I feel better and my family sure likes me a lot more.

Close to My Heart is doing another retreat in the fall. You do have to be a consultant to attend but they have a great consultant sign up special in April. Check it out here.

And don't forget, if you're in need of a little creative me time, my ArtisticU Retreat is coming up April 18th to 20th. It is a perfect chance to get away and celebrate yourself. And I have some cute stuff planned for you. Register at ArtisticU.net. Or contact me with any questions. I am negotiable on payments if you can't pay it all at once. I just want you to come and have fun!

Photos of Me

I spent this last weekend at a fabulous Close to My Heart Retreat. We made many beautiful things and I had a fabulous time with friends (a post will be coming soon filling you all in). And I took a lot of pictures that I was actually in. I don't do that very often--get in the photo I mean. Numerous reasons why--I'm too focused on getting the picture to think about joining it, don't like what I'm wearing, having a bad hair day, feeling fat.... The excuses go on and on. The downside of this is that when I need a picture of me or am looking for a family shot with me in it, my options are limited. I know I need to get in those photos more. I just haven't been very proactive about it.

Tuesday was my daughter's 16th birthday. A day to be celebrated! My son snapped a photo of me with Kristina, a shot mostly of my back, not a very flattering one. And then he posted it on Facebook. The focus of the photo was Kristina, not me. The intention was to highlight his sister's birthday, not my back fat. Do you want to know what my reaction was? "Untag me in that photo now."

And then I took a deep breath and I realized this wasn't about me and I remembered reading this blog post.

http://myfriendteresablog.com/so-youre-feeling-too-fat-to-be-photographed/

The bottom line is that to fully appreciate the moment photographed, you needed to know I was there helping Kristina. Someday, someone may look at that photo and say, "I remember that day. Kristina didn't want to try on her new shirt and Mom made her and then she was trying to help her with her belt and Kristina was laughing..." And no one will say, "Doesn't Mom look fat?" At least I hope not. And if they do, well, then, they do. But I think they'll be glad to have the photo of me more so than not. Maybe?

Anyway, I'm trying to be less self-conscious. I'm trying to get in those photos more. And, oh yes, I am eating healthier so that maybe that next photo will be a little more flattering (I'm human, people!).

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Don't forget, the perfect opportunity is coming up to scrap some photos of yourself (or others). ArtisticU is April 18th to 20th. Go to Artisticu.net for more info or to register.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

Or Happy Leprechaun Day as it is referred to in my house! Hope you're all wearing green and enjoying the day.

Luck o' the Irish

We LOVE St. Patrick's Day at our house. And here's a little Pinterest inspired St. Patty's day decor for my house this year. So much fun. Just used my scraps and got the tray at the dollar store.

My stamp club friends got to make these too. Yes, it's fun to be in my stamp club. Ask me about it sometime.