Creative Escape 2009 Projects Day 2

Last Saturday was another great day at Creative Escape. Here's a look at the projects we got to make.

Debbie Schuh's Creative Escape Album. When I first saw this project, I figured that I didn't really need an album for CE, but thought that I could use it for something else. But as the weekend continued, I kept collecting all sorts of things (name tag, raffle tickets, pins, RAK tags, etc.) and decided that this album will be a perfect place to store all of my junk from the weekend. I've never put an album together just for me with my stuff and I think this will be a fun project once it makes it to the top of the to do list.
Marah Johnson's Heart Box. This class was all about inking, sanding, misting, painting and getting your hands dirty. Most of the paper we used is flocked and it gave such great dimention to the project.
Not only did we decorate the box, but we also decorated the covers and spines of books that fit inside of the box. Still not sure if I will do anything with the insides of the books, but for now, this box is a great home decor item.Heidi Swapp's Once in a Lifetime Album. This was one of my top favorite projects. I love it becuase it is a place where I will put meaningful photos and it is a home decor item (which I love!) Heidi talked about how each moment is a "Once in a Lifetime" opportunity and how we are able to preserve and remember so many of those special moments through scrapbooking.
This album has many layers. The front falp folds up to reveal a gated opening.
Next is this star envelope that opens to a card that opens to a little envelope that opens to another card. Very interactive. Love the design!
Lynette Carroll's Unforgettable Wall Art. This project involved building a piece of wall art out of 6 different panels. We had to be very precise to have it all fit together. Maybe I was just getting a little worn down since this was the last of eight classes, but I didn't find the tedious work very enjoyable. Plus, I'm more of a bright colors girl, so the black and white palette wasn't as apealing to me. This was a well thought out project, just not one of my favorites.

That's it! It felt so great to get to create so many things is such a short amount of time. Hopefully I will be lucky enough to go again someday!

Creative Escape Projects Day 1

Creative Escape had 8 teachers each teaching a different project. Over the course of two days, each attendee gets to attend each of the 8 classes. The variety of teaching styles and projects was really varied which made for a great mix of classes during the weekend.

Here's a look at what we were up to on day one of CE.

Heather Bailey's Birdie Album. I totally love the bright, happy colors from Heather Bailey's paper line we used on this project. This was probably the most intense project because there were so many pieces to put together. Thankfully almost everything was cut, painted and ready to assemble. This was finished by the time we walked out of class and I was very happy about that.Most of the pages had something interactive or had a very thoughtful touch. This page included a pocket that held a separate mini album we assembled.
This page has a flap on the right side of the page that has another half page tied inside. It was such a clever way to add small extra pages to the album.
Tim Holtz's Enjoy the Journey Album. This was one of my favorite classes at CE. The pace was very manageable and Tim had an entertaining, inspiring teaching style. We got to work with grungeboard for the covers of this book and I really liked it. I'm thinking that I need to order some sheets of grudgeboard and play with it.
This little (2" x 3") album was something that could easily be adapted to many projects. We alternated sanded/inked paper pages with plastic photo holder pages and pages made from tickets. I really enjoyed using the small Tim Holtz brand metal findings: snaps, bookplate, safetypin, washers and brads. They add such a great finishing touch to things.
Carol Wingert's Pyramid Project Class. When I first arrived at CE and received a booklet with all of our projects, I'll admit that I wasn't so sure about this one. But I kept an open mind and was excited to see what ideas the teacher had in mind. This ended up being a favorite project from the weekend.

This is a clever pyramid box that is perfect for gift giving. This box still will get lots of embellishing, but I chose to keep a neutral palette until I decided how I wanted to use it. This would make a great holder for a small wedding gift. If could also be decorated for a teacher and house a wrapped candied apple. Another idea is to decorate this for Christmas, place and ornament in it and give it to neighbors.

The front panel is clear acrylic which I think is a great idea.
This is easy enough to replicate and I'm sure with practice, it could be done somewhat quickly. I'm excited to figure out how I'm going to use it.
Debbie Crouse and Paula Cheney's cool bookboard project. Our final project of the day was built from 7 Gypsies bookboard. We layered the bookboard which gave a great dimention to the project.

This has some fun interactive elements. The photo lifts with the knob at the bottom of the photo to reveal a journaling space. The panel with the little flower vase also opens like a book to show another journaling space. I really love the mini vase with flowers, the metal key and all of the layering.What a day! We finished off the night with a sit down dinner and an inspiring talk from Heidi Swapp.

Not bad for one day's work!

Creative Escape 2009

I spent an amazing weekend with my great friend, Crystal, at Creative Escape this last weekend.
This was the first time I had been away to some sort of creative/scrapbook event. The event was held about 15 minutes from my house at Wild Horse Pass. It was a beautiful conference center/hotel.

Our first day we meet all of the teachers and got to look at some of their work. Itk. was fun to see thing that I have seen on blogs and in magazines in person. Lots of ideas are brewing after seeing their amazing work.

I've met Heidi Swapp a few times and it was fun to chat with her for a while.
This was my first time to meet Tim Holtz. His class was definitely one of my favorites.
Tim Holtz class project in progress.Debbie Schuh's class was so well paced and orgainized.Heidi Swapp's class project.We had a delicious breakfast buffet, sack lunch and sit down dinner both Friday and Saturday. Friday night Heidi gave a great presentation on the risks of NOT scrapbooking. She talked about how we just cannot remember all of the special moments in our lives and without recording those moments, they are lost.
Satuday night we had a very exciting auction where these 2 lamps went for a combined amount of around $37,000.00. It was very exciting to watch and all of the money went to the leukemia and lymphoma society. Melanie Wellman was the keynote speaker and gave an emotional and entertaining talk about making a difference to others and remembering that our stories are still being written.We even got to enjoy having our dessert first as part of our Saturday night celebration.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to attend this amazing event. Thanks to my sweet husband and great friends for helping with the kids and making it possible for me to go.