Retreat!

We've been keeping quite busy in our scrap-booking room preparing for a few craft shows and some Stampin' Up! events.  I thought I'd share some pictures from a retreat we had at the end of October.  The weather at the lake was beautiful that weekend--mostly sun!  The grass is not brown--it's covered with pine needles!

Sandy, from St. Louis, MO sent us this photo.  The view is from the living room of the house looking at the lake.  I love the fall color in the foliage.  I love sitting on the front porch--it's so relaxing!

 We had a varied group of crafters this weekend-- quilting, scrap-booking, and handmade ornaments.   Saturday after lunch we all ran over to Kathryn Wise's store, Sew Many Pleasures in Dowagiac, MI and we hit a sale!  Kathy specializes in gifts and collectibles.  After our guests departed on Sunday,  Nanci and I ran up to Kathy's shop and hit the sale again!

Best of all we had lively games of dominoes after dinner both nights!   Grilled Peach and Chicken Salad, Home Made Navy Bean Soup, and Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole were the favorite weekend menu items!  We are booking retreats for 2011 now!  E-mail us and reserve your weekend today!

Big Shot Hero Video Contest Winner!

This video is the winning entry for the Stampin' Up! Make Your Own Commercial Contest produced by Matt and Linda Heller. Nanci and I both thought it was pretty entertaining! If you are receiving this post via e-mail, click on the article heading, you will be redirected to the blog to view the video! :) Hope you enjoy it!



By the way, we have a Big Shot and a lot more crafting space in our craft room at Lake View Lodge. Make your reservations today and you can roll out your own die-cuts and embossed images--soundtrack optional. Happy Crafting! :)

DEMONSTRATOR SPECIAL

Welcome Stampin' Up! Demonstrators!  Have you ever dreamed of an entire weekend to do nothing but craft?  Well, we can make your dreams come true!

Craft Haven Retreats offers an all-inclusive weekend retreat for crafters of all types.  We specialize in card making and scrapbooking, offering the use of our craft room tools and equipment to compliment all of your Stampin' Up! projects!  We have the Cricut Expression with an extensive library of cartridges, Big Shot with dies, Zutter Binder and more.

We're offering a DEMONSTRATOR SPECIAL - Demonstrators who bring 6 or more guests stay FREE! Our all-inclusive weekend retreats provide a perfect opportunity for demonstators to share their passion with customers, downlines, or friends! In addition to providing delicious home-cooked meals, snacks and lodging, we offer a craft room equipped with individual work tables, craft lighting, and the free use of our extensive tools and equipment.

Host your own workshops for the weekend - whether it be training, techniques, card making, scrapbooking or just playing with new stamps and accessories. We do the rest! We'll work with you to customize your Weekend Retreat to fit your needs.

We're located in the beautiful Sister Lakes Michigan area, just an hour and 45 minutes from Chicago. Our location in Michigan offers beautiful fall foilage with lots of side activities including apple and fruit orchards, antique and craft shopping, wine vinyards tours with taste testing, and just relaxing by the lake. Why not plan a Stampin' Up! getaway weekend now! We're offering a Special Fall Rate of $199 per person--remember--YOU STAY FREE!

Call or e-mail us for more information. We would love to hear from you!

Nanci 708-259-7482

Melannie 708-441-9531

Our Last Retreat Spring 2010 Season

We hosted our last retreat of the Spring 2010 Season for the lovely Ludwig Ladies and friends--all novices to paper crafting!  Our weekend opened with

 a dinner featuring Creamy Pasta with Spring Vegetables and Chicken, Tomato Bread, Ceasar salad, and fresh strawberries.  The meal ended with a light dessert of lemon chiffon ice cream with a lime twist.  Save some room for our decadent late night desserts and snacks!

After dinner we jumped right into our beginner's mini-album class. We covered the basics of cutting paper and choosing adhesives. We mastered the technique of clear embossing with Versamark to create a tone on tone or watermark effect with butterfly stamps across our book cover.  Then we bound our mini-albums with the Zutter.   A short intermission occurred, so we could recharge our collective batteries with warm, oozing, chocolate lava cake a la mode!

Once our albums were bound, we designed layouts for our blank pages.  The fun continued as photos were cropped and pages were embellished with gems, ribbons, punches, and buttons.  We crafted until the birds began to chrip in the trees!

The weekend concluded with a leisurely breakfast of Creme Brulee French Toast Casserole and Baked Sausage Breakfast Casserole, yogurt parfait, and fresh fruit.  Our guests left relaxed taking their completed mini-albums home to share with friends and relatives.  We hope your craft group will spend a weekend with us this fall!

Craft Haven Retreats Premieres at Lake View Lodge!

The reviews are in, and according to Emily Taylor, our first two events at Lake View Lodge were "a smashing success!!!"  Our afternoon demonstration class opened with a "sour cream container" project, a Sweet Treats box die-cut with the Sizzix Big Shot, and several card making techniques including using embossing folders.

Our guests thoroughly enjoyed creating their projects and using the tools and embellishments provided to add the finishing touches to personalize their designs.  The Chocolate Muse regularly appeared to replenish the endless supply of inspiration and treats needed to produce and fill these works of art!  The afternoon class concluded with the participants joining the evening class for a Mexican fiesta.

Olé!

 Fresh from their Mexican feast, our evening participants were all smiles as they arrived in the craft room to begin their introduction to Mini-books and Zutter bindings--pajamas optional! 

...just a short time later--more smiles and the mini-book is taking shape!

Time for a few embellishments!

There's room for a few more pretties!




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Viola!  We've jumped continents to finish our "Ooh la la" books.  Take a look at our pages!
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
In this case you can judge a book by it's cover! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A picture is worth a thousand words!

 

  

  

Some projects are so fun you want to do them again and our evening class agreed!

  

. . . and that was just the beginning!  The crafting continued until 4:00 AM when the last die-hards succumbed to the satisfaction of an evening well spent!

  

How much cropping can I get done in one evening without interruptions?  As much as I want to get done!

It's been a hard night's work, but the party has to end sometime! 

                   The End

Our New Craft Room at Lake View Lodge

We're so excited--we have our craft room set up for our Stampin' Up! demonstrations on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at Lake View Lodge.  

Here's a sneak peak at a few projects we have planned for Saturday.  We'll supply all the tools, tips, and chocolate you'll need for a cozy winter afternoon and evening at the lake!  Creme Brulee French Toast is on the menu for Sunday brunch.