MoZart Retreat 2011

Prepare to be jealous.  I mean, you had your chance, but only SIX made it here. 

 And instead of just making what the participants were expecting.... oh no... we made some EXTRAS!!  For instance, Breanna stopped by and showed us how to make fabric covered buttons.

 And we had jewelry making lessons, with each participant making two pair of earrings.

 It was a fun "round table" kind of learning environment.

 These are Riley's earrings.  She made one pair to wear for fall, and one she made to match her talisman!

This is Blue.  She ended up coming from Tennessee with her mama.  I had two people drop out on Wednesday, so when I go the word that Blue wanted to come, I said, BRING her on!!

 It's always fun to see how people take the same general idea and do it so many different ways! 

 This blue pumpkin is Kacy's.  And she also did her Christmas ornament with a teal background. 

 These would be mine.  I had to demonstrate various techniques, and while I did, I completed three.  If you are interested in any of them, let me know.  The larger ones (16x20) are $60.  The ornament is $50.  And I can likely add a name on the bottom two.

 Jewelry making came easy to some and not so easy to others.  My first timers struggled a little, but really caught on pretty fast!! They probably wouldn't believe it, but they really did!

 I'm sure we'll be practicing a little more tomorrow.

 Would you look at these cute nametags Robin, from my office, made us?!  I thought I'd send the girls away with a little taste of the south!

 So, these are our Christmas ornaments.  I don't know if you can tell or not, but they are covered in papers from an old hymnal .  They have religious sheet music as a background which we painted.  Oh, Blue down there is an exception.  She has zebra print.  Zebra print/ old hymnals... close enough.

 I thought maybe I could show that my house is all decorated for fall, but I don't think this picture really shows it like I hoped it would.

 Ok, so anyhoo... Jessi made these cute "recipe" cards of ideas, tips, and tricks to use when scrapbooking.  We'll be using these tomorrow.  We are gonna basically scrap all day long.

 And everyone had to fill out and wear one of these.

 And this was their goody box for when they arrived.... full of goodies to use tomorrow in their mini books.

 Jessi even added cute labels for each participant!

 Riley, from Texas, was the first to arrive.  For that, she was awarded the honor of picking out her bed first.  I FINALLY get to realize my dream of having people stay in my bunks.  I got awesome Anthropologie and West Elm bedding, and I am in LOVE with the beds in that room.

 I also FINALLY got this room all set up and ready for guests upstairs. 

 Jessi, Cindy, and my stepmom, Rita, all got me hooked up and ready for the guests to arrive.

 Once here, I had the canvases pre-prepped so we could move right along learning about painting canvases.

 I love it that Susan came all the way from California and brought her daughter with her!! She said neither she nor her daughter are artsy, so they basically just came to hang out with the crew.  It didn't take much teaching, and they were like old pros.  Decoupaging, shading, stenciling...

 This is her daughter, Melissa.  Melissa was my pupil who needed some loosening up.  But once she did.... buddy, she was off to the races.

 And throughout it all, Lizzie, was right there to protect us.

 Mindy didn't stop to "fix herself up", so she just wanted a photo like this! I just obliged.

 A few more pics of my little eager beavers... working away!!

 Tools of the trade!

 Even Jessi got in on the fun.  Check out this... we were adding swirls to our paintings with mists and stencils.

 We had two mother/ daughter combos!  Melissa and her mom, Susan.

 Kacy, and her daughter, Blue.

 Here we are proudly displaying our pumpkin paintings.

 And here... our Christmas ornaments. 

Tomorrow... mini scrapbooks, baby!!

Mo