Scrap Retreat House Review

I just got back from the Scrap Retreat House in French Valley. I went with 5 volunteers from SBR for a well deserved weekend of fun, rest and bonding. Well, not much rest but tons of the other two.

This was the Scrap Retreat House's first weekend. So for a first run it was fabulous!

The house is beautifully decorated and big! I dont know how many sq ft but it was spacious. it sleeps 12-14 with twin beds. Here is Queen Dawn sleeping with her Tiara perched on ther breathing machine. It was a sight! and made a nice white noise for us while she slept :)

Hardwood floors throughout, i think i was laminate but beautiful.

tons of cricut cartridges, a cricut of course, cuttle bug, accucut, big shot, tons of stamps and ink pads, ribbon, computer, I dont remember what else. But I am sure she will be adding to it. I heard that Scrap inn has lots of tools but I would think she probably aquired them over time right? She had a bookshelf with idea books and some of her art on display. She is an amazing artist. I would liken her to Donna Salazar's style.

Everyone has 6 feet of table space and the chairs were comfy.

Its a brand new place and she is totally aiming to please. Everything we thought of that she did not have, we put on a list and on Saturday the few requests we came up with, she went out and bought right then and there. It was just a few things like there weren't enough towel hooks and we thought there should be more trashcans in the rooms etc... She was very very nice and I would definitely recommend this place.

We played the page pass game late on Saturday night. I printed a photo of all of us

and we each started a page. Then every 10 minutes we passed to the right and here is what I ended up with. It was really fun!

Lucky 13 and Somerset Magazine Guests

So much going on all the time!!

I just posted photos of my projects on the Lucky 13 blog. I love love love the way these canvas pages came out!

I also just got confirmation that I am going to have 3 very awesome guests for Pink Pineapple Scrapbook Club this cycle! We are using 2 Somerset Magazines this time. Somerset Memories and Stampers Ten. And my guests are...


drum roll please...

• Cheryl Waters, Lead Fiskateer
• Jenny Doh, Editor-in-Chief and Director of Publishing for Stampington & Company
• Jana Holstein, Managing Editor of Somerset Memories,Art Doll Quarterly, Somerset Apprentice, and a couple of others

So awesome! These ladies are going to make this cycle of bookclub so special! I opened up 6 spots so there might be room still. We meet the first Thursday of every month and the cycle lasts 3 months.

And I just got back from two awesome events! Jennifer P and I hosted the Crop Like Royalty Theme crop at Pink on Friday night. So fun! the girls attending were awesome!

Melanie made us a yummy red velvet crown cake and came to help pass out fairy fly bys! Thanks so much Mela! The cake was perfect!

and Jennifer hosted a fabulous make and take that I can't wait to hang on my wall. She is so talented!

At midnight when the crop ended Jennifer dropped me off at the Scrap Retreat House where I met up with 5 of the SBR volunteers and played for the rest of the weekend! it was so fun and Christine and Ron, owners of the fabulous house did a great job!

Here is our group with the conglomeration pages that we did with the 10 minute pass game. It was great. Jesse is holding her new boyfriend Billy on her lap. She is going to spend until the next event getting to know Billy very well. She is determined not to let him beat her! (kind of an inside joke) It was a great weekend and now I am looking forward to spending some time with my wonderful husband Jean-Claude- not just scrapping pictures of him :)

Do you Listerine?

Ok, I have to say that I have always thought of Listerine as really yucky! But then I was asked to review the new LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE, Anticavity Fluoride Mouthwash and when I saw it came in a shiny irridenscent bottle and that is was purple now, instead of the scary green, I was seriously into trying it! I was surprised. I kept picturing that commecial with the guy gargleing for 60 seconds and the funny faces he made and yes, I was making the same funny faces. But anyway, I really do like this stuff. I am not sure what it does exactly, besides what I read about it...

There are 6 benefits in LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE Anticavity Fluoride Mouthwash that give you a cleaner, healthier mouth:

· Helping to prevent cavities
· Restoring enamel
· Strengthening teeth
· Killing bad breath germs
· Freshening breath
· Fighting unsightly plaque above the gum line

No other fluoride mouthwash is more complete than LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE. Anticavity Mouthwash.

And I have to say, from using it the past few weeks, I do feel cleaner. don't know about the rest but I do believe in prevention so I am definitely going to keep using this product.

Thanks for reading!

Sometimes you just get lucky!

I saw this cool silk screening machine at CHA winter called the YuDu and I really wanted to try to get one donated for SBR. I didnt have any luck at the show and even tried submitting a donation request after but no luck. It would be so great to have one so that at events we could use that instead of paying to have tshirts silk screened. It just would be more cost effective and we could raise more money! So then I was blog bouncing and found Erin. http://erinbassett.typepad.com/. Besides being totally amazingly crafty, she is also totally a YuDu expert and it turns out I know her! small scrapbooking world. I actually was at CKU with a few years ago!!

Anyway... Erin called her contact at Provocraft and she was able to hook me up! So I will hopefully be getting one soon for SBR and I will be able to make some awesome designs for event tshirts! I can't wait!

Thank you Erin! You rock!

The Royal Slumber Crop

Its been an amazing month of craziness leading up to the event and now after the event I have been making trips to the Boys & Girls Club to bring the rest of the boxes back to my house then organizing the boxes and piles and piles of paperwork. My entire body hurts and my back has some spots that literally burn all the time. All worth it and all for great causes!

I have to admit, I bit off more than I could chew with this event. Scrapbook Royalty was growing like crazy and I got swept up in it. I didnt think about how much I was losing when Melanie went back to work and Liz moved to Northern California. And then some other key players that used to help were not able to do so. I just really didnt stop to add up what was missing. So even though the event went superbly well, I will not be doing that again! I learned some hard lessons:

1. I am not a spring chicken.


2. I have limits


3. I have enough volunteers and friends to help for about 50 women


4. I have lost focus on what I started Scrapbook Royalty for

So my focus will be redirected... I wanted to raise money and awareness for charities through scrapbooking and crafting events. This weekend I did exactly that but I also threw a huge party for 150 women. These women did exactly what I asked of them, they brought a minimum of $100 in donations and then helped me reach the goal of $20k raised. They did all I set out for them to do. So what's the problem? I need more. I put so much effort and energy and so much of me into this event and I need more. The friends and volunteers that worked so hard before, during and after the event need more. The charities need more. So from now on, there are going to be some changes. Wait till you see what I do to get more!

My mom and Godmother came to the event to support. I love them both so much!

This is the front room at 2:30 am when I left to go to bed.

left to right Bonnie-decorated the amazing bathrooms that some said were their fav thing about the event. JT- did all the grab bags for the flower picking among many many other things and won Queen of Sweets! Lisa- helped with pre-event stuff and donated an amazing doll house that sold for I thikn $250 that she made by hand! She won Queen of Crafts! I can't thank these amazing women enough!

Oh man, I cannot say enought of about Court Jester Nancy. She was so awesome and bought me a set of SBR towels that Jeannie and Jim donated. I love them so much! And she ran around in a Jester costume all day on Saturday. I loved it!

The last minute gems. These ladies signed up totally at the last minute and then volunteered to do a fairy fly by and make signs and raffle tins. They were seriously awesome!

If anyone can handle 150 hungry women, its Maryam, Gloria and Julie. I missed getting Julie in the picture but they handled all the food mishaps like royalty!

Here is a group shot from Sunday. Darn forgot to take it the night before!!! But here are most of them. It was amazing all these scrappers, and crafters gathering for noble causes! I am so proud!

I bought Krystie a tutu and she freaked out and wore it with me all day. She was an awesome fairy godmother and helped keep the vibe fun and energetic, despite being totally sick!

Well, suffice it to say, I can't do this alone. I can't even do it with all the people I had volunteering, so the event is going to change. Just keep an eye out and watch what I do!!!

Running Around like a Fairy on Sugar Free Rock Star!!

That's me! Running around crazy! I have to make friends hang out with me so I can force myself

to take a break!

I have to say Happy Birthday to Mon Amie Melanie! Happy Happy Day Mela!

Here's some photos of the fun life of a traveling princess!

My book club tag swap is due and here are my cute tags:

I stitched and cut out felt and played!

Here is a blinged pig from Neiman Marcus that I want to buy someday with my lotto winnings!

Here's Krystie and I shopping the mean streets of LA looking for deals for Pink Pineapple and Scrapbook Royalty

and Krystie with the perfect dress for me :) that has a sign on it that says "Do not touch... Thank you, Cinderella" We laughed our butts off when we finally read the sign. She was all over that poor dress!

And Krystie shopping for her perfect dress

SHERBET ANYONE??!!???

and Teri and I with Debra Norville at CHA. Teri cracked me up and just about killed Krystie when she confessed she did not know who that lady was we were taking pictures with!! Love it!!!