Autumn Escape in review - grab a cuppa, this is a LONG blog post - there's lots to tell!
Autumn Escape has come and gone for another year and I can happily say that it was our best one yet. We've been doing this gig for five years now and it's like we had everything perfectly in place to pull off the perfect event.
And perhaps that's easy when you start with a venue like this: Wairakei Resort, Taupo.
The pool has quickly become a favourite after-hours haunt of many of the ladies. It's super heated and a gorgeous relaxing, (gossiping) time. We have some hilarious photos of some of the shenanigans that went on in there. It's one of the things I really look forward to each year!
Autumn Leaves falling, gorgeous accommodation, amazing conference facilities, a hot pool to soak in, a cosy bar, the BEST barmen in the world, even delivering drinks to the classrooms, and the best part? We've been coming here so long now that Wairakei is our very own version of that TV programme 'Cheers'. The staff all know our names, the whole resort feels like our home, they treat us wonderfully, we arrive and just do our thing. It happened exactly like that again this year.
I loved our super-autumny theme this year. I don't know if people really realise the thought processes or planning that goes intoan event like this, but we do have the best crew on the planet, and although we are spread all over the country, we managed to come up with a very Autumn theme, colour scheme, and all the little touches that go with it.
This looks easy, right? Hundreds of hours went into these. From the brain-storming, to the trial centrepieces - many different versions - to the chopping down of a friends' dead tree, to collecting leaves to dry, pressing the leaves, drying hundreds of slices of oranges in the summer sun, tracking down and purchasing the right candles, figuring a way to cover them in seeds - then constructing each centrepiece.
And of course each table was set with a gorgeous box of goodies, decorated up in ribbons and Autumn coloured Prima flowers. Lucy actually did herself an injury as she squatted and stood 130 times to tie these. Because we couldn't tip the contents of the box up to tie the ribbon, she had to crouch underneath and then stand back up - doing that 130 times was not the workout she expected. She could barely walk for days. Seriously. (poor thing!)
As usual, Rachel always did the most amazing job of the candy bar. She always creates new decorations, tying in with the new colour scheme we choose for each event.
Can you believe that we go through around 40kg of lollies at each of these events? That's even with being fed 6 times a day. A lot of is sneaked into my pockets but do we count that? No? Just the Granny Mints. Did anyone see the Granny Mints this year? ;)
Rachel has the most gorgeous vintage touches. We know we are super lucky to have her as part of the AE crew.
We had the usual scones, cream & jam for morning tea registration time. This year our registration packets were little autograph books, wrapped in brown paper with everyone's tickets included and more of those Autumn flowers. Again, lots of hours when into planning this stuff. Lots of 'meetings' over a few drinks on sunny Sunday afternoons. Again, the jam and scones are something I look forward to each year. Is that bad?
All the names were typed on a real typewriter. It was hilarious watching Lucy thread 130 cards through an old kids typewriter! Of course those old typewriters are hard to move, there was some serious one-fingered typing going on! And laughing...
The crop room filled up - 130 ladies, many of which have been coming to our retreats for years. I think one of the best things about AE retreats now is the fact that we are familiar with each other. The vibe is awesome - it's like a huge girl's weekend away. Those that are new to the events are quickly welcomed in and soon feel like they've known everyone forever. Everytime we have new people at AE they leave saying they will come again (and bring 3 friends!), I think this is why we sell out so quickly year after year.
(photo courtesy of Brenda White).
Then there is the shopping...
Enough said, really.
We had awesome make n takes again.
Lynda & Lianne spent hours creating dolls with the new Julie Nutting Mixed Media stamps
Everyone had the chance to play with the stamps, the chalk inks were out, the tag pads were there.. it's all about being able to play with new products without neccessarily buying them first, right? I spent a lot of time at the table too and I have to say the best part is sitting and chatting with the ladies as they come up. Again. Girl's weekend away. Gossip time.
Delys also did a really cool make n take with Stampin' Up! products. (she's the lady to go to for Stampin' Up! at AE!). Poor Delys was trying to pack up when some of the AE crew had their kids arrive, all of a sudden Delys was overwhelmed with girls wanting to create handbags. We are so grateful for Delys's generosity with her time and her inspiration.
And then there were the classes - in all we had 7 different classes running multiple times and most were sold out. Jenni Bowlin came over from the USA and taught alongside Rachel Tucker and myself. There was a huge range of things to learn from amped-up Project Life, to mini books and piles of layouts and lots of technique.
One of the layouts from my 'Black & White' class, and some creating happening in Jenni's class.
Busy at work, some of these ladies fitted in 7 classes over the two days! Some ladies come along and just hang out in the crop room or just do a few classes. It all depends what kind of weekend people have planned with their friends I think.
Ok so then Saturday night always gets a little bit more energetic and this year Lucy & I planned a pass the parcel game. Have you ever played pass the parcel with 130 people sitting at tables? We had 6 different parcels and a crew member assigned to each parcel. Lucy was the music-extraordinaire (coughcough*OneDirection*coughcough) and we boogeyed, danced, ran and laughed ourselves hesterically through the game. I knew it'd be fun but what I didn't count on was the absolute work-out it'd be running around that room.
Yea those blurry images are of me running madly around the place. Throwing that parcel around missing delicate layouts and glasses of wine on tables, was quite the mission in itself.
I could go on, really. This event really was my favourite yet. I think it was partly because of the easy-going relaxed vibe you find when something has been running so long, everyone was familiar with how we worked, both the delegates & crew were so relaxed, it was that 130-strong sleepover that your mum never let you have, ya know?
We had a few hilarious moments...
Scooter antics... and a random guy that turned up on the Saturday night. Everyone thought that he 'belonged' to someone and it took quite a while and him doing about 3 laps of the room before we realised he didn't. His comment as he walked in the crop room and saw 130 ladies and a candy bar should have given it away "Oh, there is a God!" ... we shoulda known. It was hilarious, a lot of us were speechless as we were laughing so hard at this guy's antics.
And then there was this group. ..
"Paying off the Bar Bill". I told you the resort staff are fabulous. Where else could you go where they help you out with photos like this one? very cool! (I'm thinking this pic is probably thanks to staff members Charlie & Co over at dinner!).
I'll stop there but first I need to say once again how incredibly lucky, honoured, amazed, I am at these fabulous ladies. They are the best friends a girl could have and they make AE Retreats run beautifully. Yes, we have our hiccups, even the best laid plans do, but with the support of this amazing group of girls, nothing is a problem in making my weekend, and the delegate's weekend nothing short of spectacular.
Lynda, Jenni, Nic, Lianne, Lucy, tana, Rachel & Shelley. Photo courtesy of Sweet P photography.
So that was Autumn Escape for another year.
And yes, we are doing it all over again. ArtVenture in September is our next retreat, it runs exactly like Autumn Escape but has MORE. More teachers, a bigger range of classes, more prizes, more of everything. It's like Autumn Escape on steroids. A lot of people think it might be too flowery for them but with teachers like Janine Koczwara, Trina Mc Clune and Louise Nelson, there will be just as much technique, inspiration and creativity as usual - including those boy pages!
Edited to add: In answer to the emails and Fb messages I am receiving! Yes, we still have space at ArtVenture at the moment! You can find out more by visiting here.
We have also opened registration for Autumn Escape, April 2014.
We opened registration a week ago and we only have about 6-7 spaces left. By the time this blog post goes live I expect it may have sold out.
Just about sold out already. That just blows my mind. It makes me happy to know we are making you all happy and it's thanks to the amazing crew as well as a huge group of amazing ladies that makes it all so successful. I'm thankful of the friendships I've made through these retreats and each year it only gets better. That's my favourite part of the whole retreat.
I think everyone feels the same. Thank you, ladies for being so awesome!
laters.
Edited to add: If you missed out on registering for Autumn Escape 2014, perhaps we'll see you in September at ArtVenture when we'll do this all over again. In the words of one of our excited delegates: "Like Autumn Escape but on steroids, bring it!"
