WOW...What a Blast!

It's been a while and this may well be a long post, so go and get a tea or coffee and enjoy the read!

With 33 ladies busily scrapbooking, the scrapbooking weekend was indeed a blast.   

We were privileged to watch many, many pages come from an idea to finished work.  The ladies worked not only on the pages they had prepared into kits beforehand, but also found time to use the three double pages they made in the workshop Linda offered.  I heard many of them say that they had been able to accomplish more this particular weekend retreat than they had in past retreats.   Perhaps that in part was to the preparation and planning they put into the weekend before coming.

 

Along with the many pages that were completed, we worked on over 100 make and takes that were used on some of the finished pages.  Drop into the store to see what the ladies were exposed to and had the opportunity to work on.  They certainly learned, if they didn't know before, that banners, hexagons and chevrons are big this year. Not only that, they got the opportunity to make both chevron and banner embellishments.

 

Then of course came the judging and prizes!  Wow that was a challenge.  So many beautiful pages that it was hard to choose.  And of course pages are chosen for many different reasons, photo content, colour, balance, layout to name a few, so everyone can participate and have an opportunity to win.  I realise I've been speaking only of pages, but we have avid cardmakers join us for the weekend too, so there were some fabulous cards being worked on along with beautiful wedding invitations too.

 

If you don't join us for this weekend (may you should?), then try and take the opportunity of dropping in over these weekends to see the creative talent that comes together.  You are more than welcome to wander around.

 

Here are the pages that 27 ladies made in the workshop that Linda offered.

With this layout the ladies were exposed to the versatility of the Silhouette cutting machine. It's ablilty to cut really fine work such as the ricrac border to the top of the pages is a definite plus. Also being able to trace and cut your own shapes such as the large shaped journalling circle or tab embellishment is really nice. A template was used to pierce the stitched scallop border

 This page again featured the Silhouette cutting machine with the scattered hexagons and dainty leaf spray.  The hexagons were accentuated by the  lines drawn around some of them.  Note the lovely border on the left hand side cut on the Silhouette too.  A quick but interesting page with six photos. 

 You'll notice the hexagon lattice work on this page.  This was the "waste" of the hexagons above and in fact the reverse side of the paper, making nothing wasted. All those lovely circles were pierced using a plastic canvas circle as a template and then either rhinestones on the piercing or the holes joined with a coloured gel pen.  The border on the left page was again cut with the Silhouette cutting machine. It certainly got a workout over the weekend as the ladies experienced it's versatility.

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You will  have seen the pages that won in the various categories.  Here are the sample pages that were used to draw inspiration from.

From the newsletter you know that there are lots of events in the planning stages and along with that, lots of behind the scenes preparation.  Linda and I have chosen, and are working on, a number of cards already for the all day card event in July.  Make sure you keep that day clear ready for when we open registration.

I was going to show you some pictures of my craft room, yes I think I'm done with it, although I cut another shelf just yesterday, so who knows!  However due to the length of this posting I'm going to do that in the next couple of days. 

I'm also going to show you some calendars that were in the prize packages that some of the ladies received.  There was quite a bit of interest in how these were made, so I'll post the instructions too.  They would make great teacher gifts and that time will soon be upon us.  Although in talking with Emily (Linda's youngest daughter) last week, I said school would soon be over and she said....not for TWO months.  I guess it's all in where you are in life whether two months feels far, far away or here in a flash!

Happy Crafting and watch in the next couple of days for the two things I promised you.

Lilian