I spent a 4 day weekend at a great scrapbooking retreat. A group of us from Creating Keepsakes Member Board decided many months ago to get together for a weekend of cropping and scrapping. Gena, aka HiMommy, found information about Waters Edge Retreat Center on line. It is located in the boonies outside the small town of Santiago, MN. It was a great place for such a retreat. 11 of us from Minnesota and Iowa, and Sarah from California, spent 4 days together. I had met 2 of the women previously at Saturday crops at The Scrapbook shop in Saint Paul. The other women were all friends waiting to be made. We took turns making meals, having signed up ahead of time for a particular meal time. It was amazing how well we all got along, united in our hobby of scrapbooking but otherwise representing different careers, religions, politics, etc. One weird but true fact was NONE of us smoke. I think that is why we got along so well. You know, birds of a feather flocking together.
I worked on my 1989, 1990, and 1991 photos and scrapbooks. I had put off doing those years because they represent difficult years in my life, covering the time period after my divorce when I became a single mother of 3 children and we moved to Minnesota. I was able to date the photos with the help of my diary and date book. We sure did go to ALOT of Twins games our first few years here. I completed 22 pages, fewer than I had hoped but a respectable number. I think Bethany did 30 pages. Most of us did somewhere in the 20's.
On Friday a group of 5 of us toured the Creative Memories factory in nearby Saint Cloud. Creative Memories is really the company that contributed the most to the hobby of scrapbooking taking hold the way it has. Scrapbooking has always been around but they took it to a new level with archival products easily available. They encouraged the combination of scrapbooking and photography. I had always kept scrapbooks since 4th grade when the Salk polio vaccine came out. In college I began combining my photos with my scrapbooks. In 1988 I was introduced to Creative Memories at a genealogy conference. I became hooked then. CM really got its start through genealogy. It offered a way to preserve your family stories along with the photos. I have always used CM albums, they are by far the best quality of any on the market. Now that there are a bzillion companies selling various scrapbooking products I do use other products but I tend to stick with CM's basic style of keeping it simple but telling the story.
It was interesting to see the albums made. They are all made in the United States, what a unique idea. The factory is clean, organized, and well run. Yes, CM albums cost a little more but it's worth it to get a well made USA product.
It was a good weekend to spend inside because it was really a yucky weather weekend. It was cold, rainy, and then snowy. Yes, snow!!! We only got 1-2 inches where we were. Up north got 18 inches. That is so depressing for the last weekend of April. The retreat center is located along the Saint Francis river. It was really a very pretty location. The river got quite high during our stay. We were glad there was a stone retaining wall and slight incline between us and the river.
After this retreat thongs, white weiners, ring bologna, and lemons will never have the same meaning again, LOL. Sarah from California received quite the education from us midwest girls. We plan to get together again next April at the same place. We wanted the same weekend but another group already signed up for it so we'll be going a week earlier. If it snows again then Sarah isn't invited to any retreats after that.
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