Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Forgive me for not blogging till now about the retreat...I have either been asleep or sorting out all the bits that need sorting after such an event. So I thought, to keep you all happy, I'd post loads and loads of pictures. (That sentence was, of course, Blogger's signal to stop loading pictures...we'll see! LOL) These pictures certainly make me happy, as we had the BEST weekend!

So...in order...we have:

All the delegates on Saturday afternoon in the beautiful courtyard with that lovely 400 year old wall behind us!

The Scrappers Unlimited Team (minus Amber who wasn't there this time) - Fiona, Julia, Sue, me and Rach, along with our two lovely shop owners - Vanessa of Crafty-Ness and Linz of Crafty Pastimes. We all worked our socks off and many thank yous to all of them for being great at what they do :D

Some of the delegates photographing the gift boxes - we asked our guests to create a pamper box with lovely items inside that would be exchanged with another lady on the Friday morning. Toot toot to Penny Kafai, Imogen Lawrence and Karen Philpott who came first, second and third with their gorgeous entries.

And here are Anita and Sian ("Alright my love!?") swapping boxes. They both got honourable mentions for those two beautiful projects.
And here are Sanjeeda and Roo in the crop hall (with Roberta - our scrapping masseuse - in the background).

Fiona made the most fantastic 'badge that's not a badge' (we asked all the delegates to create a name badge that wasn't actually a badge, but something you wore 'elsewhere' on your body). Her apron was FANTASTIC!

And here's Rach in the middle of teaching one of her classes. No...really...she was!

Some of the Reading girls :D - Anita, me, and Lorraine (of The Scrap Cafe) in the crop hall. They were in the middle of doing one of Vanessa's Bit On The Side classes...and I'm clutching Katie-Jane's book she's making for her brother for Christmas (hope he doesn't read my blog - LOL)

This quite quite gorgeous slide mailer is Jackie's (from Scrapajack) that she completed in one of Fiona's classes (our Fi is a clever soul). Isn't it stunning?! Jackie was so delighted at having her (ummm...) grandparents (might be parents...she will no doubt correct me ;D ) displayed in such a beautiful way, she blubbed in the class. Awwww!

And here is our 'Super Scrapper - Gloucester 2006' the lovely lovely Mary (aka Mammy Hen on UK Scrappers). Super Scrapper is a competition we run where all the delegates vote on the person that they have noticed throughout the weekend as being kind, fun, involved, lovely, friendly and just a thoroughly nice person. We think it's good to reward someone for giving so much to the atmosphere of the retreat and not just because they're a good scrapbooker. The Super Scrapper wins some scrapping goodies, a Scrappers Unlimited apron and £100 off another Scrappers Unlimited retreat.

Well, at this juncture, I must stop loading photos and tell you about Mary. She was just an absolute sweetheart. She made ME cry talking about her son David in one of my journaling classes (damn it! sniff sniff). And the girls sitting on her table were constantly in fits of laughter at the funny stories she was telling. She was so concerned one morning when she didn't make it to class because she was ill, the silly sausage! Everyone who got to chat with her just loved her. Each team member had about 10 ladies from the weekend to 'buddy' or look after, and Mary's buddy was Rachel, and she absolutely adored her. So imagine our delight when we were counting votes on Saturday evening, and Mary's name kept coming up again and again as the Super Scrapper winner.

So...we begin the prizegiving ceremony. And, as it happens, Mary also won a layout challenge prize (her entry into the 'newbie scrapbookers' contest). She looked so genuinely shocked when she won, and tears filled her eyes. She was completely thrilled to bits. So there were Rach and I stood at the front, thinking "You just wait for another 5 minutes luvvie, when we tell you what ELSE you've won." So...I announce..."The Super Scrapper for Gloucester 2006 is...MARY!" and everyone erupts in applause. Mary's hands flew to her mouth and she looked completely flabbergasted. She almost didn't believe it...she just kept sitting there with her hands to her mouth, and tears spilling over her eyes. I kept nodding, and smiling (tears welling up with me now) "Yes, you! You!" and eventually she stood and came forward to claim her voucher and goodies.

And I tell you. There were over 50 women in that room and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

She so deserved that prize. And the best thing of all is that we will definitely see her again. :D

We had the most fantastic time at Gloucester and many of the ladies said it was the best retreat they had ever attended. Ever. I'm just pleased that they had such a good time - it makes all the hard work worth it :D

I'll post more retreat pics and classes later.