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Here’s My Dream Scrapbook Retreat. What’s Yours?

Let’s end the first week of the blogging challenge with a nice long read for your weekend :) Join me, will you, as I pretend I’m going on my dream scrapbook retreat? This is not, I repeat NOT, a real retreat. This is only a drill.

I Love It When the Weekend Starts Early

I have to work until noon on Thursday but the retreat is only 30 minutes from home. It’s so great to have an early check-in … so I get 4 days of scrapbooking!

Of course, I packed my crop bags perfectly, bringing enough to keep me busy but not too much to haul and unpack, with page kits containing photos and all I’ll need to scrapbook them. {Hey, it’s MY dream! If I want to pretend I’m retreat-organized for once, you can’t stop me}.

Unsplash / Pixabay

I pull up to the retreat location, a huge modern home right on the ocean. Hunky Patrick Dempsey look-alikes … erm, I mean, the nice lady retreat coordinator Lisa greets me and helps me carry my stuff into the house. We chat the entire time like old friends. She’s super nice, caring, and funny – I can tell this is going to be an amazing weekend!

A Table in Paradise

I’m the first to arrive so I get to pick my perfect crop space, my own 8-foot table at the end of the row. I like to talk with my fellow scrappies but I also like the ability to tune out and just scrap, so this is awesome. There will only be 6 of us total so it won’t get too crazy anyway. The huge living room that we’re in has windows on 3 sides. No matter where I look, I can see the beautiful ocean.

And because I’m at the end of the row closest to the front window, I can open it to create the perfect temperature {don’t you hate being too hot or too cold at a retreat?} and hear the waves pounding about 20 feet below us. I always say that the beach is My Happy Place and I can’t believe I get to combine it with scrapbooking!

Stevebidmead / Pixabay

Right now, the sun is starting to lower over the horizon, the sandpipers are skittering among the waves, and I can’t wait to get onto the deck and take some photos!

And the FOOD! ANd GIFTS!

Lisa has taken my suitcase to my room and, while I unpack my crop bag and start setting up my table, she brings me a cucumber mint iced tea from my favorite coffee place down the street. {She knew that I loved this tea from the guest preference sheet we submitted as part of the retreat}. She tells me the gourmet salad bar is set up in the kitchen whenever I’m hungry.

There’s also a variety of healthy – and not healthy :) – snacks set up on a table in the cropping area, along with a mini fridge full of our favorite drinks. Champagne and a yummy local white wine are chilling in ice buckets. Lisa has made extravagant goodie bags for each of us, full of the latest 12×12 papers and embellishments from the local scrapbook store. She had those preference sheets so she knew exactly what special items each of us would love!

Scrapping, Movie, Magazines, Hot Bath, Bed …

The rest of the day is taken up with completing 2 layouts, eating and drinking, greeting my 4 dear friends who are joining me, and watching “New In Town” on the big screen in the home theater. I’ve seen it several times and it always makes me laugh. Plus buttered popcorn and champagne, my favorite!

I turn in earlier than the others; it’s been a long day and I can’t wait to chill with my new scrapbooking magazines from Barnes and Noble. I’ve been holding off for a week to save them for the retreat and it’s been torture! I have the latest issues of Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooking, and Ivy Cottage. {Okay, apparently, I’m not only writing a dream story but also entering a time warp – because these magazines don’t exist any more, boo hoo!}.

My room is a master suite upstairs with another big view of the ocean, a huge soft bed with a white down comforter and fluffy pillows, and the bathroom has a sunken whirlpool tub. Ahhhh, the better to soak my tired neck and back after all that scrapping. Champagne again? Oh, well, sure, if you insist, but just 1 more teensy glass! Then it’s off to bed, lulled to sleep by the ocean sounds, and dreaming scrappy dreams.

The Rest of the Weekend

The remainder of the retreat couldn’t be more perfect. I have a blast chatting with my friends, catching up on everyone’s news (mayyyybe a little gossip thrown in for good measure), and getting 15 layouts done and several pocket pages,too. Lisa provides one amazing meal after another, all so rich and delicious but miraculously devoid of any calories or fat grams. When I get home, not only didn’t I gain weight but I LOST 5 pounds!

Throughout the weekend, we listen to all kinds of music depending on the mood we’re in – 80s, hip hop, country, spiritual, Top 40, you name it. We take walks on the beach, do a little shopping in the nearby town, watch movies, scrap late into the night, and sleep in as late as we want. No kids, no chores, nothing pulling our attention away from pure relaxation and fun.

Lisa is always there with an offer of the perfect beverage (like a breve’ latte’ just when we needed some scrapping energy), keeping the house tidy, and being such kind company. You can tell she truly loves her job and having us there is HER favorite thing in the world.

skeeze / Pixabay

Monday, Monday :(

Although nobody wants to leave this amazing place, we all miss our families and are ready to go home. The hunky guys … shoot! I mean WE help each other pack up our cars. Then we thank Lisa for the most amazing scrapbook retreat EVAH!, say our goodbyes, and drive home, with one last glance at the beautiful sea in our rearview mirrors.

The Perfect Scrapbook Retreat

So that crazy tale was all about my dream retreat – if only it could come true! What are a few things your dream scrapbooking retreat would include? Have you ever been to one that was close to perfect? I’d love to hear about it!

PS: Save your crazy, awful, and unbelievable scrapbooking crop and retreat moments for another time. There’ll be a post soon where you can share those stories with us. Oooh, can’t wait!

Industry News: Scrapbooks Etc. Magazine to Cease Publication :(

scrapbooks etc.

HERE is a link. Here is the story:

A Fond Farewell
by Michelle Rubin
May 9, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

Meredith Corporation has made the difficult decision to close Scrapbooks etc. effective with the August 2012 issue. Scrapbooks etc. has been the longtime brand leader within the scrapbooking industry, but due to the longer term business forecast for the franchise and the industry, the corporation has chosen to cease publishing within this marketplace.

The August 2012 issue, with an on-sale date of June 19, will be released on schedule to our 350,000 subscribers and newsstand buyers through the scheduled off-sale date of August 14, 2012. The ScrapbooksEtc.com website will support the print issue throughout this time period as well.

Meredith Corporation continues our strong support of the crafts industry with our Holiday Crafts titles and our newest addition, Make it Yourself, launching in October 2012. And of course we will continue to serve the growing quilting industry with our multiple quilting titles and website, allpeoplequilt.com.
For questions regarding your subscription, please e-mail sbecustserv@cdsfulfillment.com. If you’d like to purchase past issues for use on a mobile device, go to www.zinio.com/sbe.

On a personal note from the editorial staff, we are grateful for your support through the years. We could not have asked for better readers, and we have loved seeing your scrapbook pages and craft projects in our inboxes, on our website, and on our Facebook page. You inspired us in our mission to give you the ideas and information you wanted to preserve your memories and express yourselves creatively, and we hope that we in turn inspired you to create great pages and projects.

We’ll be posting here on the blog for a few more weeks as the August issue hits newsstands. And look for a post celebrating some of our favorite projects through the years.

THANK YOU!

Well, wow.

I can say that I’ve seen this coming for quite a while but that doesn’t make the news any easier to take, does it? It’s just sad :(

I’m sad for them and I’m sad for us. I’m sad that a scrapbooking magazine can no longer make it in today’s market. Remember when there were, what, 5 of them going strong? Man, those were the days.

I wasn’t happy when Scrapbooks Etc. started focusing more on the “Etc.” part of their title by including other papercrafting and craft projects. It didn’t stop me from buying it but I stopped enjoying it as much. But I guess it was an effort to stay alive, huh?

I have heard much criticism of the magazine since they made that change. I wonder if they had stayed focused on just scrapbooking, if the end result would’ve been any different? I guess we’ll never know.

The last issue will be August 2012 (on sale 06-19-12) so keep an eye out for that. For those of us who’ve subscribed, I wonder what will happen to our unfulfilled issues?

HERE is where the Peas are talking about it. What are your thoughts on the end of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine? Is this all because of the bad economy, the surge in social media like Pinterest and blogs, a bad magazine, or what? Would love to hear your thoughts.

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