(l to r:) Christine, Trina, Susan, Darnell, Colleen, Loll (me),
Bonnie, Nancy, Linda
Hi everyone. Recently returned home after spending a week with my stamping buddies. This is the third year for the ESCR (Eat, Sleep, Craft, Repeat) retreats, with each year being better than the last! We were lucky to find a very large house in the Crescent Beach, B.C. area to accommodate our expanding group and allow us the opportunity to have wonderful guests join us throughout the week.
What fun we had! From last year's group of me, Susan, Christine, Nancy, Darnell, and our guest Trina (who came for the whole retreat this year) ... we were joined by our wonderful, sweet friend, Bonnie. We were all so excited to finally meet Bonnie in person after being on-line friends for years!
We also had three guests join us for a few days; Linda and Colleen, and Nancy's daughter Jeani. We all just clicked and had a great time together!
We had Alex taking photographs of our crafting again this year. Check out the tab at the top of this blog Retreat Photos to see us in action!
The location for the retreat was awesome. Huge house so that we could spread out; Crescent Beach and White Rock Beach within a short drive (gorgeous!!); a local craft store for some retail therapy; and a delicious, yummy bakery a couple of blocks away! :)
Today I'm sharing a card made from the retreat. This is one of my cards from an Embossing Paste / Gel session that I led. We played with glass bead gel, white paste, glitter gels, crackle paste and more. Everyone had fun getting messy! :)
Here's a close-up ...
Entering this card into the ARTplorations May Mixed Media Challenge ...
Stamps: smile today! (Penny Black)
Paper: Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 140 lb.); White card base (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink: Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools: water mister, Peeking Dahlias stencil (STAMPlorations), Glass bead gel (Golden), palette knife
Challenges:
ARTplorations May Mixed Media Challenge - use a stencil
How wonderful to be able to share your craft this way with your crafty friends, and I can imagine how exciting it must have been to finally meet Bonnie in person. I could tell from Darnell's pictures that you have been having a very productive time together. Love your card. Simply stunning! I will have to try the colour combo you've used and break out the Peeking Dahlia stencil that I bought during the Spring Fling event.
ReplyDeleteMarianne x
Oh, Lolly, this card is so romantic and moody and gorgeous! Usually photos don't capture the beauty, but in this case you were able to bring it to life. It just glistens like it's white hot. Sorry, I'm gushing, but I can't get over how the shine and depth was captured! I had so much fun at the retreat and can't thank you enough for including me! Miss you!! Lots of love, Dolly
ReplyDeleteOh, I love your card - you’re making want to “gelli” right now - and will visit the others. My eyes are green about your wonderful get-away! And what is ESCR?
ReplyDeleteSo so beautiful!!! I have never used the glass bead gel! Wow!
ReplyDeleteLoll, this turned out beautifully! The glass bead gel looks like some precious gemstone - topaz, maybe. The sentiment definitely suits it as the colours just make me feel happy and want to smile. Our retreat was fabulous - learned new things, enjoyed meeting the new people, not to mention our great food!
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say.... delicious, exotic, rich, ... simply wonderful.... I love love love this card. Lovely photo of you all - I'm thinking you all had a tiny suitcase for clothes and huge one for all the craft gear... such fun and loads of creativeness. Looking forward to seeing more Loll, hugs Robyn
ReplyDeletesuch a happy post and a happy card, I love it!
ReplyDeletecrafty hugs xx
I've been holding my breath just waiting for one of you to post something you did at your retreat! WOW, how fun to be exposed to those products, most of which I don't know. Love the results Loll! This is gorgeous in those rich colors! I'd only hope to try this and be as neat as you are.
ReplyDeleteBeutiful Loll, IRL it's even more gorgeous. You are right, the retreats get better and better, but how can we top this one :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous card full of wonderful color! And, the group photo is awesome! Looks like happy faces together at the retreat...how fun!!
ReplyDeleteOMG...Loll, Your sponged background and stenciled Dahlia with paste, inks and glass beads gel is absolutely Stunning!!! I pinch my self to think I not only saw this beauty IRL, but had an entire week of playing, creating, chatting, eating, laughing with 9 other wonderful crafters. Even got to room with my DD Jeani for 2 nights:-) All your time spent organizing our housing, crafting, techniques, food, etc really made for a hugely successful 3rd annual Retreat!
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but our dear Bonnie braved a solo cross country trip to meet and play with all of us. I am so impressed and happy that your travels worked out, my friend:-)
Thank you Lolly for organizing our Retreat Blog Hop so we could share our creative adventures with more of our friends. Love and Miss you dear friend. Hugs...
Loll. You have introduced me to a whole new medium and this card is a wonderful example of playing with them. I love this stencil and all the shine from the beads! Thank you again for inviting us, we had a blast and the best part was connecting in person with everyone! Heart hugs, Col
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of you all and a SUPER card too.
ReplyDeleteFaith
WOW! It looks like you all had an amazing time .... fabulous photos.
ReplyDeleteLove this card the colours look amazing and I love the texture and shine from the glass bead gel.
Looking forward to seeing more from the retreat xx
Oooh, this looks like it was so much fun! What a lovely group of talented ladies here. Your card is stunning Loll!
ReplyDeleteThe photo shows your wonderful glass paste flower so well, Loll, and that background is amazing. I'm making note of the colors. ;) How wonderful of you to organize the retreat for all you lovely ladies to enjoy each other and new crafting techniques. It's fun to go to each one's blog to see what they made which I'm sure is only the tip of the iceberg.
ReplyDeleteFabulous friends, and crafting? I can only imagine that the photos [while wonderful] can't even begin to tell the story, Loll!
ReplyDeleteYour card is incredible … another technique/product that's new to me! Girl, you've got it ALL!
=]
I had kept putting off buying the glass bead gel, but after your lesson, I had to put it at the top of my list! I love the shine and dimension and the rich colors on this card show it off beautifully! What a wonderful time together! A time I'll treasure always as I treasure our friendships.
ReplyDeleteFabulous friends, and crafting? Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteStunning card, Loll. Love the colour combo and shine from those glass beads, too. Playing with all the different gels / /pastes was super fun. My wish list keeps growing!
ReplyDeleteI had a great time... FOMO fatigue and all! Learned so much. Thank you for organizing the retreat and including me! ๐๐๐
Is next year here yet? ๐
You all sure looked like you had loads of fun Loll and what a fabulous house in the most perfect location....x I still cannot believe you had never met Bonnie in Person, that must have been so beautiful for you both? x
ReplyDeleteThe photos are great and how talented is Alex? x
Wow to your stunning card....so creative and unique and a Mixed Media masterpiece, with amazing techniques and colour....a very special card Loll x
Thanks for sharing and still jealous my friend x
I'm so glad that you all had such a wonderful time! It sounds like just the ideal location too! Your card is awe-inspiring! I love the depth you achieved both with the colors and the gel!
ReplyDeleteGosh - what a beautiful card Loll! I'm having fun seeing you all and the cards your each brought to the table! xx
ReplyDeleteWhat I know about this mixed media stuff you could stick in your eye, but I do know that this looks completely fabulous and gorgeous! Really love these rich colors. It sounds like you all had the perfect house in the perfect location with all those shops nearby. I mean, a craft store AND a bakery? Heaven!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the photo of all of you in your aprons...it sounds like you all had an absolutely wonderful time together, and I'm loving seeing all the photos and of course all the art work too! Your card is absolutely FABULOUS Loll!! It almost looks like a photo at first!! Your colors are just beautiful together and I love LOVE the shine from the glass bead gel! I definitely need to check out that stencil too...gorgeous!! I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your creations over the next weeks too! :0)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you girls had a really great time at the retreat...way to go, Loll! Your card is absolutely GORGEOUS! I love the effects of glass bead gel...so much sparkle and dimension! Great idea to create a smooshed background, too...everything just works so well for this amazing, artistic card! xx
ReplyDeleteLoll, this card is so gorgeous. We had so much fun learning so many different techniques and it was awesome to be included in this retreat with all of you talented ladies. Now if I only had time to try them again...
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Loll. Your card is amazing - the colors, the stencil and the glass beads are awesome. Love the picture of all of you. How fun to spend 7 days with these wonderful women! Hugz
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a blast! I'd love to join you one year:) Look forward to getting a closer look at everyone's cards in future blog posts.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to make another wonderful tab, Retreat Photos, Loll! I so much enjoyed every single picture and some funny captions. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you put in so much time and energy to organize this retreat (getting bigger every year) and to share your wonderful memories and cards with us. Thanks so much for the wonderful pictures, Alex! I truly appreciate it!
And I LOve your dahlia card! It has a fiery feeling and the sparkle and shine from the glass bead gel is amazing. Love the wonderful color scheme too.
Hideko xx
I'm so glad you ladies got together for yet another year and I'm really happy that Bonnie got to go this year! Looks like you ladies had a wonderful time and thanks to Alex for taking those awesome photo's of the retreat as well. Such fun memories, such fun techniques and such beautiful cards! And speaking of beautiful cards, wow oh wow, this one is a beauty Loll! I love the colors and of course that glass bead gel as well as the fun sentiment. Hugs, Brenda
ReplyDeletewhat an awesome group of talented ladies....I would love, love to be part of that!!!
ReplyDeleteLove your results of this beautiful card mf! I bet you ladies had a blast....so blessed to be together creating.
xx Karen
How lucky to be able to spend so much craft time with amazing talented friends. Love the photo of you all.
ReplyDeleteWell Loll you have knocked my socks off here with this beautiful card. I have been playing with that very stencil recently and think I will hide mine away after seeing how spectacular the result is here. So much to swoon over. Think this is my most favourite card of yours by a long shot. Off to my yearly craft show Saturday and will be looking for some glass bead gel for sure. I know I have seen other cards you have made with them - and beautiful.
What a wonderful photo of you all, Loll ... you all look so relaxed and happy! Your card truly is spectacular ... gorgeous colours, fanastic shimmer ... seems I can feel the warm glow from here! Off to check out the photo's! Hugs, Anita :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right Loll, these colors work great together. Glass balls look amazing, especially in bright light. This card must look stunning.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
BozenA