I had a blast at my FIRST scrapbooking retreat!!! We left early Friday morning, well not as early as expected, but you know....sometimes we just need that little extra sleep, and headed for Branson. We made a quick pitstop in Springfield and still made it to Branson before 1pm!! Stephanie and I checked into the hotel and then started unloading the van...we had it packed full...but quickly unloaded and were sitting at our table starting our first pages by 2pm!
One of my first projects was Bryce's Birthday Party....just one (of the many) pages I scrapped about his 1st birthday!
This year's retreat theme was Mardi Gras, our tables were decorated with light poles and every group of tables had a name. Our name was Decatur. We had these fancy name tags that someone made, I think Lisa was her name, and the purple lynard was to represent the team I was on.
Each team member rang the bell and then put a dot on their team board when they completed a page. The winning team, which was NOT purple, had completed 230 pages! That was like an average of 30 pages a peice...WOW! My team came in last, but I contributed 20 pages, which I thought was AWESOME!
We scrapped all day Saturday...Friday night we decided to call it a night around 1am, then we were up at 8am. Actually I think the message Mom sent me of the the snow in Pilot Grove got us up...which shocked us...a lot! It rained ALL DAY in Branson Saturday, but that didn't stop us from going out and hitting this AMAZING scrapbooking store. The name is Scrapbooks Forever, if you are a scrapbooking fan check out their website. The store felt like it went on and on and on, they were the nicest people...they even gave everyone a 10% discount everytime we shopped there! I would probably travel back to Branson just to shop at their store again.
I got this really neat sheet of paper at the store, I thought it made a great cover page for Bryce's book!
While we were in Branson, the fans of the Pilot Grove Tigers were at the Mizzou Arena cheering for the Tigers. Pilot Grove was playing Scott County Central for the Division 1 State Championship. Cheryl and Stephanie were very excited about the game and watched it online. They would shout out in excitement and everyone would cheer with them...most of them had no idea were Pilot Grove was...but they were sharing the excitement!
Saturday night was also our Midnight Pizza Party night and Secret Sister Reveal. Anyone going to retreat, that wanted to participate in a Secret Scrappin' Sister (played like a Secret Santa game) put their name in a drawing and then got someone elses name. We filled out surveys about ourselves and then we were able to shop for our sister. We had to be sneaky and leave little gifts for them throughout the weekend while they were away. Cheryl...got caught...but if she wouldn't have said anything her sister might not have known! My sister sat right behind me and was SO appreciative of the little gifts I left her. It was really sweet to see the excitement on her face and hear it in her voice. The Secret Sister who had my name really spoiled me...she gave me 10 new layouts to use..WOW. She was nice and I was very appreciative of all the new ideas she gave me. I am excited to get started on my next 20 pages...or MORE!
Just a cute layout I made...it was fun looking back on his pictures...hard to believe he has grown up so FAST!
They also had a layout contest...the page had to be created from start to finish at the retreat. I made this page and really liked it so I entered it into the contest, of course those women were WAY more talented than I was...but it was fun to try!
We finally headed to bed around 2am Sunday morning and I was up at 7:30 because I couldn't sleep anymore. I had come up with an idea that I really wanted to go get started on!!!!! We woke up to freezing rain, so we scrapped for a while and then packed our things to leave. Luckily, we only had rain to deal with, but it seemed to stop by the time we got to Buffalo. Sprinfield was ice covered, but the roads were clear for us. We had some ladies there that were headed to Kansas where everything was ice covered and they decided they better stay another day just to be safe!
This was the last thing I scrapped before we left. I love this 2-page layout!
It was a great weekend and I really can't wait to go back. They have another retreat in the fall, but I am not sure if I am going to be able to attend that retreat or not. But I know I will for sure be going back in the spring. Everyone was so very nice, if you forgot to pack something and needed it they shared. If you needed help with anything, they were there with advice! I just loved every minute of my time there. I know that next time I will be going Thursday - Sunday instead of the Friday-Sunday option....I need more scrappin' time!!
Just one of the pages I liked!
I think the highlight of my weekend was getting to use the Cricut. I fell in love with that thing as soon as I used it! I have already purchased my very own Cricut on E-Bay and it will hopefully be here before Easter. I spoiled myself with that purchase and I couldn't be happier. Now, I just have to start my collection of cartridges!
From the stories I hear, Bryce had a great time with Daddy and his Grandparents. I am sure they spoiled him rotten. He was excited to see Mommy when I got home! I missed him a lot, probably because all I did those 3 days were scrapbook his sweet little face!
1 comment:
Great post!! I had no idea you got that picture of Cheryl and I watching the game. Brings back the fun we had, sure can't wait until next year!!!
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