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Sunday 21 August 2016

HLS Craft Retreat - UK

This post has been taken from my personal blog - sorry for the double up but I am jet lagged and using that as my excuse for not writing a whole new post :)

Hello! I am back from my whirlwind tour of Europe. I really packed in the sights and I loved every minute. Unfortunately it got the better of me and I ended up with Bronchitis towards the final leg of my trip. I'm still not the best and am suffering from jet lag but I just couldn't wait to share a particular part of my trip with you.

The 29th of July marked the inaugural Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat in the UK. I had been planning and organising it for about 18 months. Yes, I did from Australia - thank god for the internet! 

If I was asked what was the highlight of my 4 weeks away - this would have to be it. I cannot believe how everything came together. From the feedback I have received, it was a complete success and I can't wait to start planning the next one! 

The ladies that attended were my 'guinea pigs'. I had never done anything like this in my life. I am truly grateful to everyone that came along. We had a fantastic weekend - great food, great company and plenty of crafting.

The morning of the 29th had me driving from Bath to Swindon. First stop was HobbyCraft so I could pick up the supplies -

(You will have to forgive me if the photos aren't the best. I 'killed' my camera on the very first day in London so I had to use my phone.)

What a dork....

Then it was on to the Blunsdon House Hotel where the retreat was being held. With a little help from my friends, we set up our craft room.

Many thanks to Simone and Anne :)


Thanks so much to Sizzix for our loan machines, dies, and giveaways. HobbyCraft Swindon also provided us with a lucky door prize (won by Anita!)

Around 2pm everyone started arriving. It was so amazing to finally meet everyone. I had met a few of the girls previously but it was so good to hug everyone when they arrived!

Of course we ended up in the bar and took over a complete section so we could get to know one another :)
Kathy, Di, Monika
Debbie

Julie, Darnell, Carol


Marina, Sarah, Anita

Kylie (me) and Chrissie

Val, Sue, Anne, Lilian

Then it was time for dinner and who turned up but Miss USA herself!!


 

Miss USA even allowed us all to have our photos taken with her tiara - what a princess!

Thanks for the collage Darnell!

A great group shot at dinner -

Melissa and her gorgeous family arrived just in time for dinner after driving from Germany!

Ready for day one of the reatreat?

Everyone is starting to arrive and finding more goodies on their tables (everyone was given a goody bag at registration the night before as well!)
The first demo was how to use Brusho watercolour crystals a number of ways. 














These were the pieces using the Brusho, Starch and Cling Wrap technique. 

The next demo was done by my beautiful mum - Christmas in July making Crakers and Table Wreaths





Day 1 was fantastic - we also had lots of Anything Goes time. Check out the mess we made!






Day 2 of the retreat had us playing with stacks of supplies from Sizzix and WOW! Embossing Powder. Carol gave us an amzing demo on masking using all different products. Carol you were awesome!






We also had a number of challenges that were run at the retreat.

Challenge 1 - Create an Australian Themed Christmas Card - winners: Sue and Val
Challenge 2 - Create a Card using a technique from Day 1 - winners: Marina and Sue
Challenge 3 - Create a card using an object you found at the hotel - winners: Kathy and Val
Challenge 4 - Photo Scavenger Hunt - winner: Di


Throughout the retreat we had lucky door prizes and raffles. We had an amazing amount of goodies from our wonderful sponsors - Sizzix, WOW! and Colourcraft (Brusho products). Thank you to all these sponsors!!

Some of us joined in an ATC swap - check out these amazing makes -




Here are all the cards/tags that were made by all the gals at the retreat -


We also had a special guest -



And a final group shot before it was time to say goodbye -


Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the ladies that came. You made it such a great weekend and I can't wait to come back. Thanks for the encouragement and support (and my surprise presents) to give me the confidence to do it all over again. 

Special thanks to

My Mum - mum travelled with me on this epic journey. We travelled around the UK, Wales, France, and Spain. What memories we have!
My best friend Simone and her mum Anne - for all their help with the set up and just for coming on this trip!
Sandie and Callum - for putting Mum and I up while in London. They are seriously the best!
Carol - for taking deliveries for me and bringing them to the retreat. I couldn't have done that without you! Your demo was fantastic (hence everyone getting on bloody Amazon buying up everything) and I appreciate your neverending support. I can't wait to see your next demo hint, hint.
Julie - for being the boss of ATSM while I was away and running everything for me. Also for returning the loan machines to Sizzix. You are the best!
Monika - for helping my mum. Thank you!
Kathy - for just saying 'go for it' and her support when I broached the subject of the craft retreat many moons ago. 
Florence and Freddie - for putting up with mum and I while in Spain - germs and all. Love ya guts.
Barb - for taking care of ATCAS for me while I was away. She is a star!!
Jane - for taking care of the HLS challenge blog while I was away - thank you so much!


That's it! What an epic adventure I've had. I can't wait to get back into my craft room and play with some of the goodies from the retreat and my new purchases. 



Thanks for popping in. I hope that this will inspire you to come to the 

2nd Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat in ............................

stay tuned

16 comments:

  1. You are amazing, Kylie. I feel so privileged to have been able to come and be one of your guinea pigs and thankful to you as it meant, after three and a half years of blogging that I also finally got to meet some of my blogland pals. We all had a fabulous weekend. Well done! xx

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  2. Brilliant fun and thanks to all my fellow "guinea pigs" for making it such a fun weekend. Love the pix - already looking forward to #2!

    Kathyk

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  3. Thanks for sharing these peeks into the retreat activities. Looks like you all had an amzing time. Happy to read you returned home safely.

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  4. So enjoyed reading this! What a fabulous time you all had and really wish I could have been there.

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  5. This looks like a total blast. What fun you all seem to have had thanks to the organizer (you), the participants and your wonderful sponsors. Great photos, by the way.

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  6. Thanks, Kylie, for sharing your wonderful journey with all of us. You know how very much I wanted to attend your retreat - and it is obvious I missed the best time! ... perhaps the next? Fingers crossed! xx
    =]

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  7. Following your photos on FB, I know you've had so much fun and I'm totally jealous of the whole thing! LOL!! I live so far away, but it sure looks like fun to me!! :) Glad you all had a great time! Thanks for sharing your experience!

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  8. Awesome - I was with you in spirits - wish I could have joined in. I already read all of Darnells posts - but its so nice to see your pictures of all those fabulous crafters I know from blogland! Looks like you all had a blast!!!!!

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  9. How anyone could conceive of organising an event like this from the other side of the world and have it turn out such a fantastic success is nothing short of amazing...and it was...AMAZING!
    Huge thanks Kylie and I really hope you're feeling better now!
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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  10. Oh wow!! This looks like so much fun!! I LOVE all the cards and the techniques you created!! Really great photos!

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  11. Looks like it was SO much fun! :) :)

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  12. Hi Kylie...and welcome back!!! I couldn't wait to see your photos and I wasn't disappointed! It looks like you had an amazing adventure, and that all the girls who attended had a blast, too! Thanks so much for sharing everything with us :)
    As always, you are most welcome for any help I could provide in your absence...you can always count on me if you need anything in the future as well! Sending big HUGS!!! Barb xoxo

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  13. It looks like a wonderful time was had by all. Such fun!

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  14. Wow... this looks like a great time.. I wish I had money to jump the pond.. maybe I should stop buying stamps... haha who am I kidding... it looks like y'all had a great time..

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  15. I would love to come next time!!
    I am just back in the UK from a trip to Australia so I am suffering jet lag in the opposite direction!

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Thanks so much for your comments. Hopefully we have inspired you today! Happy Little Stampers xx

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