March Loft Art Retreat: All Occasion Cards

Recap of the Event

I really don’t even know where to start with this blog post. That might be part of the reason on why it has taken me so long to write it. I can’t believe it is the middle of April already. Have I mentioned lately just how much I LOVE planning, organizing, hosting and teaching at these Loft Art Retreats!?! Talk about a natural high and a wicked fun time!!!

The March Loft Art Retreat was sold out for both days with a total of 36 creative peeps attending! This time we had people from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, AND California, Alaska, British Columbia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota!!! More about the reunion with some of my closest creative friends in another blog post. BUT WOW! How awesome!!!

The mini shop on site featured products from Lawn Fawn, Neat & Tangled, Newton’s Nook and Winnie & Walter. I am so appreciative of these companies to take time out of their busy schedules to work with me and help these events be the best they can be! They were super generous in donating prizes and goodies for the attendees as well! I had been in contact and planning with them since January! Thank you SO much Kelly, Mike, Kristin, Danielle, Jennifer and Shay!!!!

Organizing for the Event

Weeks before the event is here I am wicked busy busy with the planning stages. Designing 15 unique cards, hand-making name tags, designing a full color handout with detailed information about each card, ordering product, placing the lunch order, designing a custom stamp, cleaning the loft and re-organizing some of our furniture, decorating. As the product for the on-site store is delivered I start to set it up and organize it. The day before the event the tables and chairs are delivered and then the flurry of getting them set up and all the goodies laid out for everyone happens. My friend Amy helped me with the kitting. The card retreats are the most intensive for kits- A LOT of pre-stamping and die-cutting happens so that the day goes smoothly and so everyone can go home with more completed cards! Amy worked on the kits weeks before the event- and honestly I don’t know what I would’ve done without her help! Chris helps me with inventory and all the heavy lifting – he is also the best tissue pom-pom maker, but don’t tell him I told you that 😉

Decorating

For decorating this time I added a fun little wire rack for the store area- this worked out perfectly to merchandise product. I also purchased a tissue garland from Pom Tree. Adding a splash of gold into the teal decor- I LOVED this!

Mister Harley always gets dressed up for the occasion and this time he had a cute teal collar and gold bow tie from Sweet Pickles Designs. Shana is the sweetest. She ships super fast and I just LOVE her bow ties!

I am also still using a fun paper garland created with Lawn Fawn Papers. Chari hand cut it for the Lawn Fawn booth at CHA (before there was stitched party banners) and I cherish it 🙂 I decorated the chalkboard wall again using the same instructions I shared here.

I also hang up a bunch of my cards (wherever there is room) for inspiration! They are mostly ones I have featured on my blog, but it is always more fun to see them in person right? I love the conversations these sparked- I loved explaining the process for a card and in the end teaching even more!

During the Event

Everyone was spoiled with a custom stamp designed by me 🙂 (look closely you will find it in one of the pics 😉 ). I packaged them up in the Lawn Fawn Candy Box. They also got not 1 but TWO 6×6 paper pads!

Loft Art Retreat Rules

There was a new rule at the Loft Art Retreat this time- if you get up to use the bathroom you have to sign the chalkboard wall 😉 Everyone was forgetting to sign it, so I finally had to put my foot down ha! I love seeing it fill up throughout the weekend!!

Rocking The Hashtag

Everyone was really rocking the hashtags this time! I LOVE this- so fun to look back over everyone’s pics and see the event through their eyes!! The main # used is #loftartretreat even if you aren’t on Instagram you can see the posts here.

Of course Mister Harley has his own #iammisterharley and another one I am trying to take over 😉 is #creativechick

Dear Dawn and Michelle- so sorry you were cut off on this pic :/ Love ya!

Everyone starts to arrive at the loft around 9:30a and we get started promptly at 10a. We break for lunch around noon and then crank through the rest of the afternoon. Everyone gets to play with new supplies, techniques and go home with 15 unique cards! How awesome is that!?!

Sharing

Glenda wrote a fun post about her travels and attending the Loft Art Retreat and you can read that here. Claire traveled up from NYC for the Loft Art Retreat- it was so nice to meet her! She spoiled all of us with little handmade treats too! She has a fun blog post about the event here.

I also wanted to share some other blog posts from people who attended Loft Art Retreats before:

Lynn shares about the May 2014 retreat

Lynn shares about the October 2014 retreat

Rachel shares about the May 2014 retreat

If you have a blog post about any of the Loft Art Retreats be sure to share them with me!

Read my recaps of the 2014 Loft Art Retreats

• October Loft Art Retreat here
• May Loft Art Retreat here
• February Loft Art Retreat here

Mini Tour of the Loft Art Retreat

I put together a fun little video with a tour of the event for those who haven’t been able to attend- you can feel like you are there!

April Loft Art Retreat: Mixed Media

Before I end this post I wanted to mention there are still a few seats in Sunday’s session for the April Loft Art Retreat next weekend! Saturday is sold out. We are going to get artsy and play with all kinds of mediums and techniques while creating a Nautical Shadow box! You can read more about it here