All I can say is, "Wow!"
National Scrapbook Day Retreat 2009 was the best ever! We had a blast at the Hilton Garden Inn in Frisco, Texas! We were greeted with the welcome sign in the lobby of the hotel upon arrival. And the Ladybug Bellhops were eager to help you bring ALL your stuff into the crop room AND they even delivered several suitcases up to the sleeping rooms too!
I am already receiving emails from the ladies that went telling me that it was the best retreat so far! And people are signing up for our August AND October retreat already! I fully expect those retreats to sell out like this past weekend did. Our max capacity (and still leave lots of space for all our stuff!) is 36 seats, so if you are planning on attending one of the fall retreats, you should go to the
WEBSITE and register right away. You can always put a deposit down and make payments if that works better for you.
Lizzy and I made these cute fans (from Cricut ACCENT ESSENTIALS) that welcomed everyone to the retreat and our nametags matched them.
And of course, the Ladybug Welcome banner (made with Cricut Celebrations & Mickey Font!)
We kept the Friday night dinner light because everyone arrives at different times, but the pizza and bread sticks were yummy!
The breakfast buffet the next morning was delicious! Cooked to order eggs or omelets... waffles... fresh fruit and much more!
We had the entire dining area reserved for our group, so all of our meals were up and away from our crop tables. That way everyone got a chance to stand up and stretch and you didn't have to eat where you crop!
Lunch was even included on Saturday this time because it was National Scrapbook Day. It turned out to be a good thing since it rained all weekend long and nobody wanted to venture out in messy weather!
James... the banquet director at the Hilton made us the best chicken salad for lunch and the chef, Andre's homemade potato chips were really yummy... especially served warm! If you are looking to schedule an event in the Frisco area... I highly recommend the Hilton Garden Inn! Tell them that Ladybug sent ya!
The theme for the weekend was "Garden Party" since we were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. Everyone was challenged to 'create' a garden hat to wear on Saturday. Those who did it received an extra door prize ticket and we all voted on the best garden hat and she got TEN extra door prize tickets!
Lizzy and I even put ladybugs on our hats! We are, after all Mother & Daughter Ladybugs!
What a terrible picture of me! LOL! Okay... I cheated... I decorated a visor, not a hat! But I'm just a visor-kinda gal! And of course, the camera caught Lizzy with her mouth open! Hehee... she just LOVES to talk!
I love the miniature garden tools that Dona Lee put on her hat!
The Three Cricuteers!
Bonnie flew all the way from Tracy, California to join us! This was her second Ladybug retreat!
Deeann even transformed her new ball cap into a garden hat!
This was Beth's (above) & Michelle's (below) first time at a Ladybug & Co retreat! Michelle flew in from Maryland and we were so happy to meet them both and want them to come back! I wish I had taken pictures of Michelle's labels for the spines of strapbound scrapbooks! They are awesome! She prints them on cloth and sews them onto the spine... Michelle! Please send me pics and I will post them here for people to see and order from you! I am sending you some of mine as soon as I can!
And here was our Garden Hat Winner! Rita did a spectacular job making tissue paper flowers to adorn her garden hat! It was just great and isn't she the cutest?! This was her first Ladybug retreat too! Her good friend Dixie organized their little group to all meetup here in Frisco, they are all from different cities here in Texas.
We had fun with make-n-takes!
Connie, with Tickle Me Pink Designs had the cutest layout as a make-n-take! For some reason, my pictures did not all turn out, so I can't show it to you... but trust me! It was a cutie!
She taught everyone how to embellish chipboard using Tattered Angels paint sprays.
Next came Saturday night's dinner...
This was a special recipe of James'... chicken with a dill demi glace sauce! It was accompanied
It was all so yummy!
Don't forget the dessert!
We even offered a little National Scrapbook Day Happy Hour! Of course, the featured drink was our favorite "Tropical Ladybugs" (coconut rum & pineapple juice). Lizzy made the cutest little ladybug picks for the drinks from the cricut DOODLECHARMS cartridge! Oh!... the things you can make with your cricut!
One for Heather and one for a friend...
Okay... so some of us got a little silly after dinner! All of us have been looking forward to this retreat for quite some time... and as we were all getting ready for it this past week, the headlines around the world was "SWINE FLU"! Made ya take notice... it's a very serious threat. First death in the US takes place in Texas (uh oh)... then Wednesday night, the entire Fort Worth Independent School District closes all it's campuses for 10 days! Made more that a few of us a little nervous... especially the ladies who were flying into Texas from other states! So, I sent an email out to everyone attending on Thursday, to let them know what precautions I was taking for our safety throughout the weekend. I provided those little hand sanitizers and we even had surgical masks (proven to be ineffective however) for those who really felt the need to wear them. While we (36 ladies) were together all weekend long... our exposure to the general public was kept to a minimum (if you don't count the football team from New York who were also staying in the hotel! LOL!). And not to make light of a serious situation, as scrapbookers you just have to smile and take a picture:
Jennifer & Delana...
That's Beth hiding behind Delana with a mask over Delana's belly for the baby's protection! Lol!
Brandy and I were practicing 'Swine Flu' safety too!
We even talked about decorating the masks... Theresa's sense of humor really came out with her mask above.
We gave away 11 door prizes! Some were baskets filled with scrappin' goodies and we also gave away a Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge and some Ladybug polo shirts.
Everyone earned door prize tickets and got to put their tickets in the door prize bowl of their choice! That way nobody won something they couldn't use or want! Connie, from Tickle Me Pink helped me draw the names of the winners.
Kim and Heather both got Ladybug shirts! They looked great on them too!
A good time was had by all! Sorry this post was so long, but I didn't even upload ALL the pictures I have! I will post the group picture once I get it. I appreciate everyone who came... I just love you all and hope to see you again next year (or sooner)!
