Saturday was the first retreat I have ever done and I am happy to say I survived. This all began a few months ago with my dream of doing a day long retreat for card making and paper crafting. I have so many friends who go to scrapbooking retreats but I had never seen any locally that focused on card making. Knowing it would be too much to try to do alone I asked my friend and fellow demonstrator Sandy Mitchell if she wanted to do it with me. She said YES! When we started planning we thought if we could just get 20 people to register we would be happy. Imagine how very happy we were when we had 41 people sign up.
You saw the photo a few days ago of the mound of boxes and bags packed up and ready to go. Retreat stuff took over my home for weeks. It took 3 SUV’s packed full to get everything to the venue. And then countless hours to get it set up.
When guest arrived they were greeted by fellow demonstrators Carol Hall and Catherine Harwood where they got their bag tags and kits if they ordered them.
Goodie bags at the tables contained $25 in Stampin’ Up products along with kits to do 7 Make & Takes.
This acetate card box cut in half was one of the Make & Takes and decorated to hold a gift card and treat.
We had 8 display boards with cards and scrapbook pages along with many different 3D projects. These are just a few of them.
Sandy and I striking a pose.
My daughter, Lynn Ann, and I. She was a huge help.
Robin, Mary and Jackie
With my downline: Terri, Judy, Carol, Tara, and Jan
Silliness. We couldn’t resist!
Our friend Catherine Harwood, who happens to be our upline too, did 2 demos on the new Stamparatus.
Speaking of acting silly, Susan was imitating the little Angry Bird that was one of the table gifts. Thanks to Susan Campfield for the design of this little guy.
Packages of rhinestones were another table gift during the day.
Table gift #3 was this wreath made using the sprig punch. It was sprayed with shimmer paint diluted in alcohol but that isn’t showing up well here. It took about 1000 punches to make about 45 of these.
The last table gift of the day was a lemon cake.
One of the stamping stations.
Big Shot stations
Yum! The Candy Bar
We had stations where they could borrow our stamps, punches, embossing folders and other tools throughout the day.
Prize Patrol was throughout the day. Here are just a few winners. We gave away a Stamparatus, the Holiday Punch box, DSP, an adhesive package, Take Your Pick tool, 2 stamp sets, and embossing folder. I wish I had gotten photos of all of the winners. Hopefully others may have.
There were 2 games during the day. What’s in Your Phone and a Holiday Trivia game. This table won the trivia game. Each of them won a mason jar with twine with a daisy top lid that has holes in it for the twine to come through. Another missed opportunity for a better photo because they really are cute.
No matter how tired we were it was such fun and I’m sure there will be another one next year.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
I cannot say enough times what a wonderful day I had Saturday. I will definitely go to your next crop.
Thanks so much Jan. So glad you came.
You all outdid yourselves in putting on this Stamping Retreat Escape for us.
Every little touch did not go unnoticed! The candy tins we could fill up with our fave goodies…the delicious cup of hot cocoa I made with crushed candy canes, marshmallows and butterscotch chips…so many card, layout and home decor ideas for every need!! It was all wonderful!
You can count me in for the next one!
Mary
Wow, thanks so much Mary. I never knew if anyone even had any of the hot cocoa. I’m so glad you were able to come.
It looks like everyone had a Wonderful time!!!
I think they did. Sorry you weren’t there.
Missed you my friend!!!
From first welcome to the last gift of the day, yummy lemon cake in a decorated tin, the whole retreat was exceptional ! So proud of my friend for coming up with this idea and her fellow Stampin Up friends for working so hard to pull it off in such an amazing way. Kudos to all. We had fun at our table and from the looks of it, everyone there was having a blast!
Oh thank you my friend. You know the work we put into it but so worth it. I’m glad you were able to come and had a good time.
Soooo sorry I missed it. It looked like an AmAzInG day!! The decorations were spot on and so much to do AND win!! What fun!! You will need recoup time for sure!
Thanks Debi. I’m still trying to recoup. I held up well the day of the event but boy the next day … Crashed. Sorry you missed it but your vacation looked wonderful.
Beth and Sandy,
I really enjoyed the retreat!!! It was so memorable. It’s the little things I LOVED!!! The other ladies were the best, some old friends, some new ones I made!!! So much fun with Mary and Jacki, working individually throughout the day and as a team in the games!!! I can’t wait till your next one, next year!!!
Thanks so much Robin. I’m so glad you were able to come and had a great time.
Definitely sorry I had to miss this. Thanks for the post and all the picks, so I know what to look forward to next time. Kudos to you and Sandy for what looked like an excellent retreat!
Thanks so much Connie. I’m sure we will be doing this again.