Earlier this year, April to be exact, I was invited to Port Lincoln to teach at a little scrapbooking retreat. I know, I haven't scrapbooked for years but my class was to be the 'something different from scrapbooking' as a fun casual class on the Friday night. That suited me & my mixed media canvas class perfectly. I like casual, messy, experimental, play, no rules kinda teaching.
Anyway, this 'little scrapbooking retreat' turned out to not be so little. It was freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!! But I don't want to carry on too much because this event sells out in MINUTES and I hope to try and make it 'in' next year as a participant. So really it was kinda average, I can't imagine you would be interested in attending. So just don't worry about investigating it any further.
Here's all the crew with the official 'silly' photo on the last day. I'm back row, absolute centre with some sort of goofball expression. Oh wait, thats my normal smile!

I flew on an early bird flight into Port Lincoln on a tiny plane on a Friday morning. The flight went so quickly. Port Lincoln looks beautiful from the air. And surrounding the plane were those amazing big fluffy clouds that you could imagine jumping up & down on. I took lots of photos, of the clouds. I even didn't mind the turbulence flying right through the centre of those clouds. It was so cool! I have flown many many times but this was one of my most scenic ever.
A fishing mecca, the surrounding waters filled with all these circular fish farms [or something like that, I have no idea really] are amazing. I was picked up at the airport by the lovely Sue, one of the event organisers & whisked off to the venue [fabulous] to settle in, meet fellow organisers Meredith & Amanda and the other teachers Mardi & Natalie. An incredible group of women.

I was blown away by the 'shed' where all the creating would happen. The name tags, the groups of tables decked out with gift bags, huge buckets of apples, all the beautiful paper fluff balls hanging from above. It was so pretty and exciting & incredibly well organised.

At my table I was lucky enough to sit with new friends Mardi & Natalie & 3 gorgeous friends-for-a-while; Ali, Lauren & Tatum. It was so fun to have such great company over the weekend. Creating bliss, food heaven, zero responsibility.
Did I mention 3 of the crafty shops from nearby had even set up shops within the same shed? Oh my, think I spent all my pocket money within the first few hours. Oops!

Yummiest apples I have tasted in a long time!

This was my messy desk, some of my tapes & fabrics and my class notes.

Later on that first evening I started to get ready for class. Getting my class samples ready, organising kits. Here's the sticker on my class kits. See? How organised!??? Amazing!! And exciting!

Amanda had requested that I do a canvas class using my napkin technique so that formed the basis of my class. I've written more technique snippets about it here too. So anyway, a few delicious patterned papers, a bit of paint and people had the choice of doing either a birdy in a tree canvas or a teacup one. There was more than enough paper to be able to complete two canvases so in fact many people brought their own second canvases and completed both over the weekend.
With cooler weather and difficulty getting layers dry, it can be a bit tricky completing a canvas in an evening, near impossible. So I arranged to demonstrate the techniques in two stages and then just walk around to make sure everyone was doing ok. I encouraged everyone to use their creativity to make the canvases their own by using other product, leaving some bits out, adding others. Over the weekend there were many finished canvases and I was blown away with how different and beautiful they all were!

I hope I have planted a tiny seed in many of the women who hadn't experimented with mixed media before, to do more of it. Canvases can make such a lovely gift and its so fun to just play & get messy & even brighten up your home with your very own art!
I have to thank all the ladies in my class for being so lovely & for creating such lovely artwork. I loved teaching you all. There's always a million things I want to tell people in a class & usually I always forget something. But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it & maybe have been getting messy since our retreat.
In fact, I myself have been working away most of this year on a little eCourse on messy art making. I had hoped to run it earlier this year but time has just been racing away sooo, I hope to offer that soon. Watch this space! And for Adelaide people, I am teaching these very same canvases at Seriously Scrapbooking in a few weeks time. Contact the store if you'd like to come along & play!

As if the retreat wasn't amazing & special enough already, there was a prize table!!!! And everybody got a prize!! It was amazing. When your number was called out, you got to go and choose something from the table. The incredibly generous Mardi, knew I was eyeing off a beautiful Lisa Leonard pendant so when her number was called before mine, she picked it out and then gave it to me, selecting something else for herself when my number was called. I will always treasure that. Such a beautiful generous soul she is. Mwah & big hugs to you Mardi xoxox

All too soon [loving every minute of the retreat] & not soon enough [missing my babies terribly] I was crying like a baby myself at having to say goodbyye to my friends, the beautiful organisers, fellow teachers & other lovely souls I met over the weekend.
Amanda I and quickly threw my bags in the car & before long, we were going nowhere. Flat battery. It was actually hilarious & dried up my pathetic tears. So again, we quickly emptied another car & filled it with my many heavy bags and this time Sue raced me down to the little Port Lincoln terminal. Made it!
A quick flight home & I was greeted by my Jeff and all my babies. He brought them to the airport! I was so happy to be home & was full to the brim with memories of a truly fabulous weekend. Can't wait to do all over again.
Thank you Amanda, Sue & Meredith for inviting me to be part of such a super special event. It was so fabulous, I loved every second!