Just another manic Monday

Many of you will start the week on half term, with the kids home from school or certainly less traffic on the roads! Here at ATDML we are all systems go preparing for the retreat this coming weekend.
Kits are being packed, instructions are being written and its just another manic Monday.

A few of the team having been posting some sneak peaks of their class projects over on Facebook, giving a tease of what is to come and here are a few of those.

This is a snap shot of the second layout of three that forms part of my Simple Stories Pumpkin Spice class. Just search for Pumpkin Spice in the store to find these papers.

Another of my classes is Echo Park The Story of Our Family and this is my share of what is to come from one of two layouts I will be teaching with these lovely papers and stickers.

I am almost too excited by these cork bows that Karen will be using in her Dear Lizzy Documentary class by American Crafts - how cute are they?

Katherine has also been tempting us with her Kaisercraft Time Machine sneak peak - this will be my first class of the weekend!

And be still my beating heart at the goldness on our Debs Summer Vibes page - papers by Simple Stories.

Mel is keeping us all in suspense on her classes so no sneak peaks from her as yet but I for one cannot wait for the weekend and this Monday can be as manic as it likes - we are just one day closer to a weekend full of inspiration. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled over the weekend as I am sure there will be many photos and plenty of inspiration being shared. 

Have a great week.

This time last week

Well this time last week my first retreat class was over and done with and I have seen some lovely versions being shared. It is based on a simple grid of four pieces of patterned paper, one of which is suitable for journaling, and a strip of paper to hold the title. The rest of the page is a little doodling and some stickers. The image shows mine without the journaling on so delegates could focus on the design and not my random mumblings!

Layout two from this class was a minimalist page showing how to make the most of stickers left of a sheet from a collection and a few pieces of paper. I was again super impressed with the variations of this page created.

Again plenty of doodling on this page and a hint of washi tape around the edge of the page to pull out the colours in the photo if the papers don't do it. This is a great technique if you've great photos with awkward colours in. Scrap your page with neutral colours and then use small pieces of washi tape to pick out the colours in your photos.

I'm sure the other teachers from our weekend away will be sharing their projects too over the month.

2013 Autumn Retreat

I've just returned from a fantastic weekend at the ATDML Autumn Retreat in Suffolk.  There were lots of classes and challenges, with some make and takes too as well as chatting, chocolate and good food.  For anyone that hasn't been here are a couple of shots of just a little bit of the cropping space we have....yes mine is the messy desk!

Beautiful views and the shop just a couple of steps away filled with lovely goodies.  Mel and Jill put on a large number of challenges which anyone can have a go at over the weekend, so I wanted to share the winners and their fantastic creations with you.

First up is Tina Kelson, winner of the card challenge...not only is it beautiful on the outside, but inside there is room for a picture and little pockets.

Next the altered art challenge...this started as 2 cones and Sarah Hunter created a Father Christmas puppet which makes a gorgeous jingling bell noise as you move it and all the bottle caps knock each other.

The Mystery Kit challenge which contained some of Simple Stories baby steps range and Denise Bird not only had some gorgeous baby shots, but made a little baby grow washing line and flap to show another photo.

And Vicky Freeman with a beautiful layered page, I love the kraft and stripes together, and a gorgeous photo for the number 1's challenge so the title is 'I will always love you'.

Tracy Annuziato won the bingo challenge with a very elegant page with lots of distressed and layered squares.

Ann Freeman won the sketch challenge with this fun page about her daughter and beautiful Simple Stories Say Cheese.

And finally the one that escaped my photography...Jo Launchbury won the project life challenge with her first go at a project life page.

Well done everyone.  

Jill came to visit us all a couple of times and is looking great after her hip operation.  If you haven't seen the shop website - the weekend storm brought down one of the trees cutting off power to the shop chalets, but even with no power they are still packing orders and hopefully the power will be sorted out soon.

It's Starting To Look A Lot Like A Christmas Class!

My Friday afternoon class at the autumn retreat was a triple layout class. Well three single layouts to be more accurate. I loved the My Minds Eye All Is Bright Christmas papers and decided to use them to make some seasonal layouts. All the ladies had the option to make the layouts without photos in case they wanted to add photos from Christmas 2012 to them. On one of the layouts we added an acetate frame where the photo goes as there were stickers overlapping the photo. They could then slide the photo in behind the actetate.

The layout below IS straight in real life but the photo is wonky! I wanted to use the layout to tell a story about a family tradition as "Telling the Story" is something I am trying to make sure I get into all of my albums as often as possible.

 

This last layout features and pull out zig zag accordion booklet with space for adding photos of my favourite Christmas things.

 

It was only the beginning of November when we did the class but it was quite nice to play with Christmas papers!

Pretty Patchwork Long Weekend Bonus Class

Anyone who books the Long Weekend package on our retreat gets a bonus class kit with instructions to complete in the classroom. We tend to keep this nice and simple so that when you arrive you can ease yourself into the weekend with a relatively straight forward project which is easily completed in a short space of time. There's nothing like getting off to a flying start to keep those creative juices flowing.

 

Followers of this blog will know my great love of patchwork style layouts. For this kit everyone had half a pack of a My Minds Eye Love Me paper pack and a sheet of cardstock. I added a sketch plan with info on the sizes of pieces I used and all that was left was to choose which pattern to use in each section.

I saw so many lovely examples of this layout and also a couple of the delegates did a second version using their own scraps. Of course when making a kit for nearly 50 people using a 6x6 pad is the easiest way to do this but I do like to use this technique as a good way to use up my scraps and you can create quite different looks by mixing up the colours and styles.

If you want to have go see below for the sketch we used - each small square represents an inch.

Interactive Year In The Life Class By Mel

This is one of the layouts I taught over the weekend of the retreat. The house opens up to reveal an expandable pocket holding months of the year bingo cards. The idea being that you document the year ahead by adding a small photo and some notes to the back of each months cards.

 

There is some journaling behind the door (mine is about what kind of a year 2012 has been) and then the roof pulls up to reveal a second journaling spot to journal a similar piece about 2013 next December.

 

To add extra "ooomph" to the sun, clouds and dots I outlined them in black pen to make them "pop" more. 

 

Below you can see how the roof lifts and the expandable pocket inside the house

 

and here is the layout with the house open.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Come back later in the week to see my Long Weekend Delegates bonus class and the triple layout class I taught using My Minds Eye All Is Bright!

Mels Mini Book Class

I totally loved the Studio Calico Yearbook range and used this to teach my mini book class. Now I do usually opt for the majority of my classes to be layouts but my all time favourite class I have taught is my 7 Gypsies Travel Mini Book and I do like to do a mini book here or there.

In this class we constructed the book which includes pages which are pockets and little sideways pocket spaces in which you can tuck tickets, leaflets and memorabillia. My example is blank at the moment and the delegates only had time to make the book itself in class but it will be ready for photos, journaling and additions when the right subject comes along.

 

Despite some precision scoring needed to create the binding and a little confusion over pairs of mountains and lonely single mountains the delegates got on really well with this in the end and I saw lots of lovely examples in the crop room over the weekend.

 

Back over the weekend with another of my classes!



The Messy Class

Back from a fantastic weekend away with an amazing group of ladies, this was my first experience of a retreat and I loved it, gorgeous hotel - a desk for me with lots of goodies and a shop stacked with paper and embellishments....and then lots of classes, inspiration and new friends - I think it was the largest amount of scrapping I have ever done in one go and just a great time.

This is the page I did for my messy class which involved some spritzing and dripping with cosmic shimmer mists and also bottle top printing with gesso.  The papers are some from the Cashmere Dame collection by Glitz which has a lovely painty/distressed effect on it already.  I had a fantastic group of ladies (do link me up with your pages as I want to see them and I only saw a few completed ones) who had a go at printing with bottle tops, spritzing and distressing with me.

Behind the main photo are a couple of tags with extra photos and journalling on too.  The flowers are all by prima, and the orange lace is by Websters, the alphabet (one of my favourites and comes in lots of colours) is by prima too.  I used a couple of the cosmic shimmer mists Aqua Lagoon which you can see in some of the extra paint drips in the corner and then Mango Blaze which we used to colour the prima flowers.

And for more from the classes check out Karen's and Ann's.

Katherine

My Retreat Classes

As promised sharing some retreat inspiration with you this week in the form of my first class using Simple Stories Harvest Lane papers, which are so perfect for your autumn/fall photos. Notice the banner style pieces in the layout which are a popular sight on pages these days and featured on Katherine's technique Tuesday post last week.

I created two layouts from one of the Simple Basic kits that Simple Stories do which contains 5 double sided patterned papers, one of which is the suite of bingo cards. I also used a Sizzix die available from Stamping Up and a matching set of stamps for the leaves and acorns on the pages and supplied a template to create the owl from the left over papers. Titles using  a set of Thickers in my favourite font Jewellery box completed the pages.

More than just the packaging

Have you ever looked at the packaging our scrapbooking products come in and thought "I can't throw that away, I might use it!?" I'm sure I can't be the only one, and Prima seem to be one of my most favourite companies when it comes to product packaging. At the ATDML retreat at the start of the month one of the classes used several Prima Journaling notecards, which when purchased as a complete pack, come in a very neat notecard box. When packing up the kits with Mel & Jill, I remarked at the boxes and how neat they were, saying to Mel "I could do something with that" and there the challenge was laid down. "Go on then, and we can share it on the blog" they said!

So, here I am a few weeks later sharing my altered notecard box. First up, BBA image (Box Before Ann!)

And now BABA image (Box Altered by Ann!)

I have made the box into the housing for my Shimelle Christmas journalling class and the inside which once held Prima Journalling cards, now holds blank 6.5"x4" pieces of Kraft cardstock ready for the first class prompt tomorrow. The box actualy comes apart reasonably easy making it simple to cover in your choice of papers, and then reassemble as it was before. Add some distress stickles and a few beads, a stamped tag and a thickers JYC title and I'm all set.
The Prima notecards can be found here and are less than a fiver! Nice inexpensive Christmas gift to yourself!

A little more retreat sharing

The last of the Sunday classes to share today, and we had Debbie teaching us a double layout class using October Afternoon papers, including the tag die-cut sheets. Add a little stitching and voila!

Closing for the teachers last weekend was Suzanne with her gorgeous Prima layout full of texture and colour.

In addition to the sketch challenge, the card challenge and the altered heart challenge delegates were able to particpate in a mystery kit challenge, a music challenge and play scrapping bingo over the weekend.

The mystery kit contained 2 double sided sheets of paper, a sheet of card, a HOME die-cut and a bag of flowers and buttons. There was a wonderful array of layouts created using the kit, with only a few items permitted to be used with it such as white card, black/white stitching, die-cutting machines/punches/stamps, adhesive, photos and black or white pen/ink.

There were some fabulous layouts entered for this challenge but the winning one was from Melissa and featured some beautiful handcut layered flowers.

Six delegates chose to enter the music callenge and the winning layout was the yellow melon-muching page!
The final challenge was Bingo scrapbooking which we have featured here on the blog before. Our crafters had to choose a line of scrapbooking components and then build a page around them, plenty chose to do so and picking a winner from these was a real chore!


The winner chosen in the end was this lovely page.

I hope you have enjoyed our week of retreat reviewing. If we have tempted you to want to join us at a 2011 retreat keep your eye on the website where details will be revealed about the March retreat in the next couple of weeks. If you like any of the class layouts shown and aren't sure what products have been used or would like to know more, leave us a comment and one of the team will come back to you.

The retreat news continues & the November sketch

As promised I'm back bringing you more news from the 7th ATDML retreat last weekend. Sunday morning saw the crop room in rays of glorious autumn sunshine and after a hearty full english breakfast it was crafting time again, the classroom filling up this time for a festive minibook taught by yours truly. Known amongst those who took the class as "the class the just keeps on giving!" the lovely Echo Park Merry Christmas papers, a few sheets of cardstock and some serious cutting out lead to this 12 tales of Christmas minibook being made - all ready for photos from the forthcoming holiday season.

Clare taught next in the classroom with her ATC/Mini Album class using 7Gypsies products. Again lots of lovely variations of this created by class attendees, all very happy with their projects.

Sunday lunch up next, always a very popular roast and this year did not disappoint. The dessert did cause quite a bit of a stir with waiters almost being bowled over in the rush to secure one of the very pretty cheesecake desserts that were initally in short supply!

The raffle was drawn just after lunch and over £400!! was raised for Cancer Research which included proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets, from the silent auction bids and from the sale of Christmas cards some delegates had made in advance. Many thanks to everyone for their generosity in both donating raffle prizes and cards, and indeed in purchasing tickets.

Tomorrow we will share the last of the classes for the weekend and some more challenge layouts, but to close for today, the sketch challenge entries and of course the sketch.
Congrats to Jackie who won this challenge with her Princess layout - especially nice as she had to leave the retreat early due to feeling unwell.

We haven't forgotten that we need to post the winner for the September sketch challenge, that will follow next week when normal blog business resumes after all this delicious retreat news! Until then let this be your November sketch, post your layout or card inspired by this sketch here to be in with a chance to win a £10 ATDML Store voucher. You have until November 30th to play along! Back tomorrow with the penultimate day of retreat news