Treating yourself to a Retreat.

Retreats are so great they even have the word treat in them!!! I recently heard a lot of different studies that say you should spend your money on experiences rather than things. The memories you make taking trips with your family or spending quality time with good friends is far more valuable and beneficial to your health than hoarding more and more stuff. Life is so full of craziness that just relaxing and taking time to enjoy life is not only wonderful it is necessary. So often we get caught up in work work work and forget to stop and play. Well I decided to end that this year and apply to teach at a few of the retreats that are offered all over the country.




I also decided to host one myself! Coming very soon I am putting on a little weekend of fun...which also happens to fall on my birthday. 9 of my awesome friends from all over will be joining me in a weekend of 15 classes, lots of laughs, new friends and good times. There is still time to join us and you can find all of the classes on the blog at http://inspiremyliferetreat.blogspot.com/




Last year I attended my very first retreat in Chicago for Cloth Paper Scissors CREATE...but only as a vendor. There I met one of my very favorite artists and now friends Sue Pelletier. The energy of all of the women who were there to take classes was incredible! It was one of the best weekends of my life and all I did was sell stuff for 3 hours. I decided to apply to teach for this years event and I got in!!! I will be teaching two classes...one is my life collage painting where I will teach you techniques to create a one of a kind collage that features ephemera from your life. The other class will be orphan bead bracelets. The idea for these came out of my sometimes chaotic jewelry bins full of beads that lost their place in my organized bins. I will also be showing people how to do basic metal stamping for this class so they can incorporate that in with the mismatched beads. It is sure to be a great time! CREATE is in Lisle Illinois this year and will run from August 24-28th. Visit the site here for more info and to sign up!

Next on my calendar of fun places is East-West Coast art retreats in Petaluma California. Sallianne and Ellen are the fabulous women behind this getaway! This is the first time they are trying the retreat on the West coast and the lineup and setting are fabulous. Not only will I get to play but I will get sample wine in the heart of wine country...I believe that there is a wine tasting event going on in town the same weekend??? For this weekend of fun September 22-27 I will be teaching 3 fabulous classes. One is the leather belt bracelets seen above. I tell you I cannot wear this thing without getting compliments! Next is basic metal stamping and last is padoodling...painting and doodling together! I am so excited to meet Sallianne and Ellen and all the other artists and friends coming to play with us...and a little nervous for my first solo trip across the country ever...but I think the whole thing will be a life changing experience I cannot wait for! The blog for this Art Is.... event can be found by clicking on this line.

They also host reatreats in COnneticut and Australia so visit the blog and see!

So I hope to see you at one of these life treats....remember the sweetest things in life don't include calories.