The Artful Gathering (Part 1)

I'm back! The annual weekend retreat of an online group I am in was a HUGE success. List mom, Jeri, puts her heart and soul into planning, organizing and conducting these retreats. There is always a theme, a major book project and lots of fun make-and-takes. This year's theme was "girlfriends" and we created a darling girlfriends book, swapped handmade autograph pages which we assembled into autograph books which we all signed, made some cute girly projects and basically had tons of fun! Seventeen of our 42 members attended and they came from all over the US, some as far away as California and Washington state.


There is so much to show and tell about that I will be posting several times in order to get all the photos loaded. Today you will see some of the neat goodies that gals brought for us.


Joan made this great travel jewelry holder from felt, muslin and fibers. The first pic shows it closed with the pretty tag attached and the second shows the case open.

She also made this other tag - darling! I love that image of the precious little boy!

Jeri gave each of us this package of friends stamps - perfect for using in our books.

Jean, one very talented seamstress, made these aprons for us. Each had a fabric transfer with this cute image and our names. The great thing about these aprons is they are adjustable! The second photo shows a closeup of the transfer.

Cher gave each of us this super cool pack of playing cards from ArtChix Studio. Each card has a different collage and image on it. Each suit has a different theme. Aren't they beautiful?

This tag was made by Candy. Each was totally different and we chose our favorite. I loved the image of the little girls and the neat background so this was mine.

This was the chunky wood ATC that Julie and I collaborated on to give everyone. They were made from a 2x4 piece of wood cut 2 1/2" wide to be the same size as an ATC but fat! You can't see it in the photo, but there's a decorative upholstery tack holding the flower on the top.

We also received lots of cute little baggies filled with odds and ends of embellishments, candy, nuts, and even a candle and bath fizzie! What fun is that to get lots of gifts from your friends!

Tomorrow I will share some of the projects we made.