Denim country journal at The Abbey Scrapbooking Retreat

First, I have to tell you about the food at this retreat.  WAY TOO MUCH!!!  A complete 20' long candy bar that they kept stocked the entire weekend!  I will not eat anything with sugar in it for a whole week!!!  The meals are included in the price and they are amazing.  I understand they are prepared on site by the Abbey's kitchen.  Well....you'd think we were at a 5-star restaurant the whole time!  The Chocolate Lasagne may have been my favorite, but I really liked those sandwiches we had.  The stuffed waffles were amazing - I will have to take photos next time!

I started out the weekend making this journal.  I had finished my denim towels last week and had pockets leftover.  Then I went to a garage sale and picked up some little kids denim shorts for 50 cents each and just wanted to play!

Sizzix dressform diecut and the flowers are another Sizzix die.

Bo Bunny paper - with loads of stickles all over it.  Made pockets that things can go down it.  Used my white pen to outline some of the items on the paper.

If you want to do this - you'll be cutting out a lot of the elements in the papers and putting them on other papers - something I truly enjoy doing.  But I know there are those who don't like to cut things out!

But when you take the time to cut the elements out - you can create whole new looks.

Lots of distress inking with faded jeans and vintage photo...

This one will go for sale in our new space in the Marketplace Shops.  It's ready for you to simply add photos and words!

The page on the right is actual denim.  On the left, I did a lot of doodling with my white pen.

and my favorite page - the chocolate page!  I may have to do this page in every journal I make - simply because you need a little chocolate in every day!

I had fun putting this together the first afternoon - it was an easy way to get into a creative weekend!  And easy to do while chatting with all the other gals.  Thanks to everyone for making this such a fun weekend!

If you want to order this paper, you can do so by calling Design U'R Memories at 719-275-2526.  We are truly blessed to have both a scrapbook store and a stamp store in this little town!!!

Mom's teacup and the Abbey Retreat

If you remember, a year ago, I went to the Abbey Retreat and created and amazing teacup in honor of mom.  Well, this is the 1 year anniversary of her "running" to heaven, and I was inspired by a brand new Sizzix teacup die.  Boy!  Was I inspired!!!  (I bought the die at the local Stamp House  719-275-8422)

Isn't this adorable?  I used mostly Bo Bunny Press stuff....lots of die cut cardboard.  I cut the cup in chipboard and covered both sides.  Some of the silk flowers are from old hats.  I used Memory Box dressform die cuts.  The paperclip dress forms are Maya Road.  Prima flowers.  Distress Inks.

I titled this on "Make things happen".  I know that mom would have just loved it!

So on Sunday, I did a demo of how to assemble the teacup.  Used my Xyron 910 to adhere adhesive to everything.  It's really easy to prep and get the stickler down and dried before you even start!  For this one, I really used leftover scraps and I love how it came out!  You almost have to ask, "where's the teacup?"  LOL!

You can look at these from any side as everything is covered or hidden.

I also made an entire journal and several cards....I'll blog them tomorrow.  It was a fabulous weekend.  My first time to stay on campus and I'm so glad I did that!  I scrapped til about 10:30 at night and was back in the hall by 7:30 in the morning.  Several old friends and many new ones - a real treat!  I already have the next one marked on my calendar - Jan 31 - Feb 2, 2014.  If you book before Oct 31, you get 10% off!!!