Right at Home Summer Art Retreat...

I'm back from a lovely weekend in Franklin, MA. My Mother and I attended the Right at Home Scrapbooking Summer Art Retreat. Three days of croptastic fun! Here's my rundown of the ten best things about the crop (in no particular order):

1. Perfect Size

There were around forty of us (my un-scientific guesstimate). It was big enough that you could get lost if you wanted to, but small enough that you could get to know people.

2. Great Company

I really enjoyed our tablemates -- another mother/daughter pair -- as well as several nearby tables of ladies who made me laugh and were very generous with their compliments and time.

3. Fabulous Class

What a great idea! This retreat included a *free* class taught by Carol Wingert who is a wonderful artist. I stumbled across her book, Lifelines, in Barnes & Noble on Thursday. I was trolling through the craft books and really liked this one. When I saw her name I figured it was serendipity and bought it!

4. I won!

I never win anything. This is a guarantee. I am never a winner in any random drawing ever. Well, I won door prizes on both Friday and Saturday! (In all fairness, I think that everyone won a prize on Saturday....)

5. More Space

I was a little nervous when I heard that four of us would be sharing a 3x8 table or 1.5 x4 feet each. We were also told that everything we brought was going to have to fit under the table. Eeek! I figured I'd just bring my usual cropping stuff and anything that didn't fit would go up to the room. Imagine my surprise and delight when the space we were given was significantly larger (about 3x4 feet per person). I was a very happy scrapbooker all weekend!

6. Late Night Cropping

I am not a morning person. Let me say that again: I am not a morning person. So, I am always disappointed to get kicked out at night. Not so at this retreat! Although the official crop ended at 10pm, we were allowed to stay (quietly) as long as we wanted. I closed the room down around 1am last night. I thought that was pretty good. I have been known to stay up until 4am or later if allowed....

7. Breakfast Included

I thought the hotel was pretty good for what it was. I appreciated the included breakfast. It set me up for a long day of cropping!

8. The Sounds of Silence

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! There was no music and no microphone.

9. Hydrated and Fed

Our hosts provided us with water, soda, and plenty of unhealthy snacks all weekend long!

10. Inspiration and Encouragement

This is my favorite reason to go to a crop. I love seeing other people's tools and papers and their projects. I'll admit that despite appearances I'm fairly shy, so most of the time I creep around the room after everyone has gone to bed and peek at what's out on the tables.

It was a lovely weekend. I'll leave you with some hilarious photos from today. My Mother and I have a tradition of taking photos in the bathroom mirror whenever we go for a weekend away. Here are the ones from today...

P.S. Don't forget about the super secret sale at Just Let Me Scrapbook! Since I'm on the JustLetMeScrapbook.com Design Team, they are offering all of my friends 35% off!! Wow! The coupon code is JLMS35. AND you can share the code with your friends so THEY can get the same deal! MAKE SURE to put my name (Julie) in the "comments" box during checkout! This offer is good through August 31.

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