organizer for retreat

[lilscrappinmoma]

I am going on my first retreat and was wondering if anyone could give me advice as to the best desktop organizer for retreats. Anything else you think is important for a first timer, please advise. Thanks!

[elaina fuller]

i just got back from my retreat this weekend, and i was hosting the card making part. so for mine, we do one card and then they get to make the next ones however they want once they get the hang of what supplies you brought. i had 20 girls, and it's better if you can get them all on one table, and that way they can share if supplies and all make the same card, if you have them at different tables, which i have had to do before, it was easier for me to do the card in different colors. i give them all scissors, and adhesives, and then in little baggies i have their kits, then in trays in the center i have stamp pads, cleaners and other supplies, hope this is a help, and no matter how it happens, they always enjoy making cards, so don't stress out over could've beens or should've dones. i know i forgot my small spots of inks, and they just don't know they could've had even more choices. right now i am trying to make a list of all my christmas sets for a girl i just met at the retreat, because she thinks she'd like to make her own, and for her i will just mail her the stamp set and samples and she will mail it back when she's done.

[ldsk34]

I think the key to a dedicated time to paper crafting is to be organized. I posted a link to Mish Mash's blog for you, she just just recently posted "this is what I do" when she goes away to a retreat. Enjoy

Retreat Packing

[tuesdayswife]

I usually don't bring a desktop organizer when I got to retreats... I just keep all my tools in my rolling tote that sits right next to me in their appropriate pockets so i can find them easily. However, I do find myself digging out the essentials: adhesive (tape runner and glue dots), scissors, paper trimmer/s and just leaving them in a corner on my table while i work.

Mind you, I bring one rolling tote JUST for tools... the other rolling tote is JUST paper... everything else (embellies, chipboard, pictures, etc) are all packed into a Rubbermaid type tote and I just carry that in and find a corner and open up shop! When I go to a retreat, I bring just about everything. I am HORRIBLE at planning pages... I've tried and I just can not do it. I always find myself saying "this page would REALLY be great had I just brought that pack of stickers" or "I can't just NOT put that flower that I have at home on this page!!!"

I'm not an "expert" retreat-goer - I've been to 3 and we are going to go to our 4th in about a week and a half - but I've got it pretty well mastered on how I can pack (and function) now. The BIG thing that will be different for me this time around is that I organized my stickers and my scrap-paper.... I won't be bringing along my baby or my wedding stickers (for example) when I'm working on my nephew's ABC album so about 1/2 of my entire stash will be left at home. I'm also kind of in the process of going thru some of my patterned paper and getting rid of (donating) a bunch of it that I will probably never ever use. They are paper packs/slabs that I was really only looking for a few pages out of... got those out and used and the rest just sits there. All of that unwanted paper won't be coming along either.

Check ahead with your retreat to see if they have a Cricut, sewing machine, ink pads, Cuttlebug, etc for you to use. No sense in bringing your Cricut and all of your cartridges when they are already there and provided for you! Most places will now provide a Cricut but they want you to bring your own mat. Make sure to double check what cartridges they have so you aren't doubled up there. If you do bring some cartridges, take them out of the box and put the cartridge, overlay and book (if needed) into baggies so they take up less space.

Go thru some of your old scrapbooking magazines or books and either bring along just a few or tear out a few articles, pictures, sketches, etc that will help to keep you inspired. I find SU! and CTMH catty's are GREAT inspiration starters and will get me back on track if I've lost my mojo.

And last, but not least, don't forget the snacks and tunes!!!

I know this is a lot more than what you asked for.... sorry!!! But I hope it helped a little bit! But, back to your original question... since I don't have one I can't say first hand but if I did, I would probaly get something like this

[lilscrappinmoma]

Thanks so much everyone for your ideas.
Jolene, thanks for telling me all about how you pack your supplies, that's really hepled.

[tuesdayswife]

You're welcome! Another thing... and some may disagree with me on this but it works for me... I take my chipboard out of the original packaging and put it into baggies. I can get A LOT of chipboard in an Iris 12x12 container (they are on sale at my Michaels now for $4.50 each). The original packaging is just a space waster as well.

All of my ribbon goes into baggies too. I have all of my ribbon sorted by color so I just pull all of the red ribbon out of its jar and cram it into a baggie, same with pinks, and so on... Once you get all of the air out of a baggie, you can put a baggie of ribbon in the tiniest of nooks! The baggies of ribbon also make great "packing material" for anything that you may be packing which might be breakable or a little fragile (like a jar of buttons that you don't want to dump out - otherwise I usually dump the buttons into a baggie too!). Any spools of ribbon and fibers get put into a zippered plastic bag that a set of sheets came in. My Prima flowers also come out of their jars (I have them in large cracker jars sorted by color) and get put into a baggie as well. If you have Stickles, glitter glue (paint, Mod Podge, etc), PACK THEM IN THEIR OWN SEPERATE BAGGIE!!! You never know when/if one of those little guys will decide to explode or a cap fall off, etc.

Some may say this is a lot of work.... and it is... but it eliminates me having to leave much behind and STILL keep packing to a minimum (in my world anyway!)

Hmmmmmmmmmm.... Have I forgotten anything? LOL!!! If I think of any more "tid bits" I'll post them here.

HAVE FUN!!!!