From Budgewoi to Cows -What I Hear You Say?

Last weekend the Embellees Team (Miss Lisa and Lizzie) had the best weekend away at the ScrapAlley Retreat at Lakeside Guest House - Summerland Point (Just south of our lovely hometown Newcastle NSW).

Thanks to the lovely Alex and Georgina and their ever trusty side-kick, the very vivacious Deb - all of the 30 ladies had a great weekend.  The atmosphere was fun, friendly and everyone got their 'mojo' on and there was absolutely beautiful work being done in every corner of the large and comfortable scrap area.   The weekend was topped off with:  beautiful home cooked meals, lots of giveaways and gifts (just like Christmas when you woke up every morning to a new little goodie parcel on your scrap table) and who could forget the stunning location (right on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie).

We can't reveal why we have called this post 'From Budgewoi to Cows', as they say..."what happens at scrap camp, stays at scrap camp".  Let's just say Miss Lisa was known as Miss Budgewoi for the weekend for her 'not so keen' navigating skills and we still get the giggles when we talk about, 'shaving calfs/calves, Legends and Eileen' (I can see the girls all laughing  as they read this post).  So you need to join us when ScrapAlley announce the next Retreat to be in the know - it was so much fun and the best retreat in a very long time!!

So what did we create - or in Miss Lisa and Lizzie case - 'play with'.......

Miss Lisa got busy playing with her texture paste and stencils - experimenting for our new class we are are designing: Plaster, Paint, Paste and Paper (try saying that after a few pink bubbles - we couldn't).  Everyone just loved this gorgeous little canvas that Miss Lisa 'whipped' up on Friday night for our lovely friend Diane to put in her new creative space.  She even managed to re-purpose her gorgeous retreat name tag before day 2 (see the lovely fabric and tulle yo-yo flower).  The background was all about paste and pan pastels... simply gorgeous and obviously a hit cause lots of lovely ladies had their cameras out taking 'snaps' and visiting our scrap table asking to sign-up for the next Embellees Workshop - thank you all so much for the great feedback!

It wouldn't be a retreat without a 'challenge' or two... so Miss Lisa got busy with her retreat gifts and had fun 'repurposing' her packaging for this gorgeous layout incorporating mixed media techniques.  Paper napkins, paint, stamps, rub-ons - it was so gorgeous to see this lovely layout of my DD finished.  It is taking pride of place in my creative space this week (thank you Miss Lisa - Jessie just loves it)!

We often find that retreats are the perfect place to play with a technique we have been wanting to experiment with - well Lizzie (aka me writing this) - got our lovely friends Diane and Natalie convinced they should come play with the technique I was getting stuck into. Might I say if we ever see a heart punch again it might be tooo soooonnnnn!!!  But you have to love the results on the layouts that we got underway.  Miss Natalie painstakingly finished hers with hand sewing - I am still to get the machine out and do the final touches - but heck time to show the work in progress...

And, then there was the lovely Natalie's blue version (complete with hand sewing - good on ya Nat!).

Yes each flower is made out of heart punches - it took us most of Saturday afternoon and evening to finish off these lovelies and, it was a unanimous decision - this is not going to be an Embellees class..... maybe an on-line tutorial in the making...

Sunday morning saw Miss Lisa and Lizzie (yes it is true that I was the second 'camper' up and at the scrap table and even though showered I was still in my PJs for lunch... now that is a 'real retreat' if I do say so myself!) playing with the finishing touches to one of the projects for the Mixed Media Workshop for September.  Here are some sneaky peeks of our gorgeous Owl (just for you Diedi Di)... not the finished product - couldn't give it all away - but enough to show our lovely workshop ladies what we have planned as one of our two major projects on the day! 

Remember if you are interested in attending our Workshops you can register by emailing us at: Embellees@bigpond.com

We hope you have enjoyed our catch-up and we look forward to you joining us again soon!

Off to scrap (it's Sunday and lots to get done)....

Lizzie and Lisa

Sneaky Peek - Mixed Media Workshop

Let's get our

Mixed Media on!!!

We are so looking forward to our Mixed Media Workshop on
11 September 2011 and, so must all our lovely customers as we are already booked out!

But please don't despair we are taking names for our 'wait list' as we would be keen to run this again if the numbers 'stack up'.



So, please don't hesitate to contact us at:  Embellees@bigpond.com

Miss Lisa has having a 'love affair' with mixed media for sometime now and just keeps coming up with the most beautiful creations. 

You will have seen in one of our recent blog posts, the gorgeous canvas --------------------------------->
that she whipped up at a retreat weekend we attended.

I also have been 'dabbling' and, what we love is that our approach and styles can be so different - that's why our collaboration as the Embellees Team is so refreshing. 

My recent piece was about reinventing some of my stash and anyone who knows me, knows I have a love affair with birdcages (much on par with my love affair with dressforms).  Check out the great big  birdcage, I added to this Mixed Media Canvas... a wall art sticker from Kmart... (gotta love a pack of 4 styles for $10).... this came up a treat and I was so happy playing with paints and stamps and rubons and anything else I could put my hands on in my stash......

At our retreat weekend in June with the girls from Scrapboutique, one lovely lady sat next to me at lunch on the last day and said:  "I have to blame you girls for my not getting through all my layouts... I was so busy watching you girls that I lost track of time... I am now excited and am looking at signing up for your Workshop ... watching what you have been doing has made me want to step out of my comfort zone and have a play".  This was a huge compliment, especially as this was the last person I thought would even want to 'dabble' in this very popular trend we are embracing at the moment.

Our Workshop is about getting your head around the techniques.  We are still playing with our final kits as we have so many ideas and samples that Miss Lisa is 'reeling me in' and reminding me (as she frequently has to) that we need to  'trim them down' for the day and make sure we are comfortable with the pace.  We always have a laugh about 'me and my grand ideas'.

Check out this gorgeous canvas that Miss Lisa is playing with in preparation for the Workshop. She is still keen to have our Workshop lovelies produce something that includes a photo ... some people get too nervous about the 'arty' side of mixed media and having to draw faces and figures... so we want to ensure that we stay with some of the 'traditional' scrapbooking elements.

We can't wait to get our 'Mixed Media' on and share all this fun ... so stay tuned as we update the blog and FB page with more 'sneaky peeks' in the lead up to our Workshop date.

Be back soon!
Lizzie & Lisa