A Kiss on the Chic

2014 Creative Retreat Details REVEALED!!

 

 

Have you dreamed of visiting the charming old world towns of Italy, the beautiful scenery or the magnificent architecture around every corner? Do you love to CREATE, be INSPIRED and make MEMORIES you will cherish forever? How about combining all of these things into a wonderful week with us in Italy? 

 I have brought together an AMAZING group of talented ladies who will be teaching some wonderful mixed media art and scrapbooking classes! 

 I am THRILLED to REVEAL the teachers for the 2014 Creative Retreat in Italy:

 

Lisa Pace

Heidi Swapp    

Rebecca Cross     

Laura McCollough(me)

 

 

 So are you ready for an unforgettable experience with us... in Italy? 

 The Creative Retreat in Italy will be held May 17 - 24, 2014!

 

 Here’s a look into some of what’s included in this amazing week we have planned for you!

 

~ 6 INSPIRING CLASSES with these talented teachers 

 

~ 3 Breathtaking Excursions in the beautiful surroundings of Italy

 

~ 5 Lunches and 4 Dinners in beautiful locations around Lake Como

 

~ 7 nights lodging at the GHVS Apartments or La Limonera Apartments

 

~ Live music in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni’s Music Room

 

~ Crop nights, demo’s & the “Night of Artists” with local artists and musicians 

 

~ Handmade goody bags, raffles and AMAZING SURPRISES

 

~ Private shuttle to and from Milan airports

 

~ Plus time to relax by the pool or sit at the waters edge

 

~ Time to stroll the streets, enjoy some gelato or shop the cobblestone streets

 

~ An UNFORGETTABLE weeklong experience you will carry with you forever!

 

So DON’T miss out, SIGN UPS will be open to the public on June 3rd for this incredible Creative Retreat on the blog at: http://akissonthechic.blogspot.com under “Registration.”  The cost for the week long event is $3,250 and payment plans are available.  (There will be a 10 month payment plan for those interested) 

 On June 3rd, you will be able to sign up and pay the $350 non-refundable deposit to SECURE YOUR SPOT.   PLEASE NOTE:  I can ONLY take 40 people on this journey with us, so SIGN UP QUICKLY!  There are over 100 people on the INTEREST LIST, so it will be on a first come, first serve basis until it reaches it’s max at 40 people!  If you try to sign up and it says SOLD OUT, email me and I will put you on a WAIT LIST.   There is a possibility that I will do another Creative Retreat next year, either the week AFTER this one or again in the middle of September.  I haven’t decided yet and it will be determined based on how many people couldn’t get into this one.  

 For more details about my Creative Retreats, including some FAQ’s, accommodation info and lots of photo’s,  you can go to:  

http://akissonthechic.blogspot.com 

There is a vey limited amount of sign-ups available for this event, so sign up soon!  Of course, feel free to email laura@akissonthechic.com with any questions.  And don’t forget to like my Facebook Page: 

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Akissonthechics-Creative-Retreats-Classes/159205537457805

As a SIDE NOTE:  I may be doing an add-on portion to next years Creative Retreat... a trip to Paris, France!!  I have been there many times and think this would be a GREAT 3 or 4 day add-on trip to share all my favorite places, antique markets and restaurants!  So news of this add-on will be coming later in the year after I get back from Paris this Fall!

 

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

I am in the HOME STRETCH with all the planning for this years Creative Retreat!  I can't believe I'm ahead of schedule, but it's a GOOD thing because I have TWO GRADUATIONS at the end of the month!  I can't believe we have one baby graduating from HIGH SCHOOL and another one graduating from JUNIOR HIGH!!  

And I can't believe these two are not little "babies" anymore... How did that happen?

But we are all excited for their upcoming celebrations (Victoria's birthday is coming up too) and we plan to continue those celebrations in Italy!  These girls are going to be my helpers at the event so I'm excited that they will be there to help me and all the ladies who will be at the event!  

Speaking of the Creative Retreat...

NEXT YEARS is getting SO close to being ANNOUNCED!!  

I will be sending everyone on the INTEREST LIST an email on or before the 15th of THIS MONTH!  Yes, so look out for that email because it will give only those on the Interest List a HEADS UP on the dates, the teachers and the pricing for next year! I will then have the details up on the Creative Retreat blog. Then in early June I will send ANOTHER EMAIL to everyone on the INTEREST LIST with details on how to SAVE YOUR SPOT!  This email will be VERY important because you will be getting a "PRE-SALE" notice and the opportunity to SIGN UP before the general public. I can only have 40 people MAX, so it will sell out quickly and I don't want you to miss out so get that deposit in as soon as you get that email.  There will be a deposit due at that time to secure your spot and I'll be sending a contract to each person to sign and return back.  Then we will start the payment plan in July so you can split up the cost and make it easier on the budget! So sound exciting?? Can't WAIT to share!!

Lastly, I wanted to share some more SNEAKS from THIS YEARS Creative Retreat classes!  

So here's a SNEAK from Teresa Collins:

 

This is going to be a wooden frame that she had designed and had made specially for our class!  

And here's the other class SNEAK from Jeanne Oliver:

And the Night of Artists is coming together nicely so we will really get to enjoy some local artists and musicians that night and take home some really special gifts for loved ones!  I'm really excited about this chance to meet with the local artists and towns people of Lake Como for this night.  If you live in the area, please feel free to come out and join us!!

Have a GREAT Tuesday everyone!

 

Love, Tuesday...

As you've noticed probably, I haven't been on here since my "Unplugged" post and I'm trying to focus on the things I talked about last time but it's oh, so hard.  

It seems to be something I need to remind myself of DAILY and with life moving at such a fast past towards summer, it's getting harder and harder.

But I'm here NOW and want to share some things going on that are SO EXCITING!

First off,  have your heard that Maya Road is on HSN TODAY!!??  I may be a little late in posting this on here, but on Facebook we've been spreading the word and I know over on the Maya Road Blog they also have been sharing about it.  There's still time to tune in TODAY to HSN and see all the wonderful things you can get at GREAT prices!   So go check out the links above for the schedule today!

 

 

Speaking of Maya Road, we are all on the Design Team VERY excited about the new products coming out at CHA Summer!  I wish I could spill, but you will see some AMAZING designs soon from all the talented DT ladies!!  Can't WAIT!!

I don't know if I ever posted pictures of the things I made for the DT tryout at Maya Road on this blog?  I can't remember...  So I'll post one of the things I made for them now and the rest I'll share later.

This is a canvas I made that they posted on the Maya Road DT blog.  I'll share a few more pictures though so you can see it upclose:

I first have to say that I got the inspiration for this from Pinterest.  I saw someone else use the back of a stretched canvas to hold things and I wanted to see what I could do with all the Maya Road goodies... and it was SO much fun!  I first painted the edges of the canvas and then stamped around the wood edging.  Loving it today.

Then I added some Maya Road floral trim all around the top edges and added a cute mini flag banner at the top and a mini spool and some flowers.

Next I took some thin material and created a POCKET down at the bottom by stappling the material on three sides.  Then I used some of Maya Road's denim ruffle trim and covered the material with that to create a really cute embellished pocket.  Then it was just a matter of adding more Maya Road cuteness and putting some tags and papers and postcards inside my pocket for a fun place to stash cute things I want handy!

 Here you can see the dimensional aspect of this piece.  I just LOVE how it turned out and it's sitting up against the wall my desk is on right now.  :)

 

Lastly, I wanted to give a little update on the Creative Retreat...

It is now UNDER two months away and things are really moving FAST now!  I wanted to share a few SNEAKS from some of the classes the teachers are teaching to get you excited...

This is one of the classes Jeanne Oliver will be teaching at the retreat!  Isn't is just lovely!!  I can't WAIT to learn how to make this while I'm in Italy!  Just beautiful.

Here is one of the classes Teresa Collins is teaching!  This is an AMAZING Travel Album with so many pages and pockets and special touches that Teresa always brings to her classes.  And check out her BLING... LOVE it.

And this is the class I'm teaching.  I like to teach the 1st class and have it be a Travel Journal class that they can use throughout their week with us and any other traveling they will be doing on this trip.  It has lots of pockets and photo sleeves and even artist paper in there if they feel like sketching or watercoloring.  

There are a FEW extra class kits from ALL the classes for those who want to join us for just a DAY!  I know there are some of you who live IN ITALY and this would be a GREAT way for you to come and take a class or two and join in the FUN with all of us during the week!  I know Evelyn from Live, Love, Create, Inspire will be posting information on her blog about the classes (in Italian) so you can either email me or her to sign up for any of the classes offered during the week!  

For those of you who can't make it to Italy but would like to get a class kit (or all of them) please email me directly and I can let you know if there will be any left over you can purchase.

Another EXCITING thing going on during the Creative Retreat is our "Night of Artists" on Tuesday, June 25th!!  I am hosting this event at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and it is going to be a wonderful night where we will be gathered together with some very talented local artists, musicians, wineries and the people of Lake Como!  I'm VERY excited about this because I want my Creative Retreat to be more then just us coming to Italy to take some classes and see the area.  I want to bring US to THEIR Italy.  Meet the local people, gather together with them, get to know them and bring us all TOGETHER.  So that is my hope and prayer with this event and I'm so happy it is coming together so nicley with the help of my friend, Evelyn from Live, Love, Create, Inspire!!  I actually "met" her on Instagram and we've become instant friends!!  She is also a local artist and she is bringing together some AMAZING artists for this night and I couldn't be happier about it!!  Here is a flyer that I am putting together for the event (still working on the Italian wording with her b/c I'm no expert on that :)  

So if you know of anyone in the area, spread the WORD!!  Invite them to this event and tell them to bring their friends!!  The artists will be selling their beautiful designs, their will be beautiful music from some local artists, some local wines and appetizers and a time to enjoy Italy together!

Well as you can imagine there is LOTS still to do before I leave and I may not be on here all that much.  We are SOLD OUT for this years Creative Retreat, but if you want to join us NEXT MAY, email me and I can put you on the Interest List!  I will be sending an email out to everyone THIS MAY, (wow that's next month!!) with information, pricing and who the teachers will be!!!  This will be an IMPORTANT email to recieve because the retreat next year will probably sell out VERY FAST!  I have over 100 people on the interest list!!  I can only take 40 people...  So if you want to come, get on that list b/c you will be the first to hear about the details AND the first to be able to SIGN UP!  

Have a GREAT day everyone!!  

Hugs,

Laura

 

 

Love, Tuesday... Unplugged

I have been feeling for some time that my life is WAY too computer driven.  Not only computer, but cell phone, iPad and just technology in general.  I'm not trying to sound so "old school" (or show my age) but I'm not happy about it.

I like holding a REAL book in my hands, I like putting an actual CD in the car or BOOM BOX, and I like having a conversation with my kids without their cell phones in their hands!  

Where is this world headed?  I understand the NEED to have technology and it's not going away.  I'm blogging right now, so I get that there are benefits to it.  But what about the things I'm missing...

- Real conversations, not FB posts or Twitter posts in less that 140 characters...

- Sitting outside on the patio furniture with a good hard cover book

- Reading the Newspaper with your morning Joe at the kitchen table

- Spending time with the kids OUTSIDE

- School vacations spent doing crafts

- Taking walks without our iTunes in our ears

- the list can go on and on...

 

I'm not saying this to make anyone feel bad.  I JUST FEEL something...  and I've felt this way for a while and I don't mean to preach it to anyone.  I just know that I need to make a change and I've been coming up with ways to do that.  So here's what I am going to try and do:

1. Set HOURS for my work schedule.  This may sound silly, but when you work from home, work and "home" get meshed together and I'm never NOT available.  So from now on, I work from 9-5 just like most jobs and I'm going to try and keep it that way.  So if you email me in the evening, just know I'll get back to you the next morning.

2. Stop checking FB and other social media all. the. time.  I don't think I'm the only one doing this, but it's ridiculous how much I've been glued to it all.  Do I really NEED to know everything, at all times that is going on??  I'm "unplugging" a bit and here's a few ways I'm doing that:

    - I'm changing my NOTIFICATIONS on my iphone so I dont' get notified every time     someone likes my Instagram, or sends me a message on FB or Twitter.  

    - I'm changing my FB page to just family and close friends.  How can I communicate     with over 500 friends?  How can I see what's going on with my close friends and     family when my FB feed goes on and on.  So I'm sorry, but yesterday I went down to     200 "friends" on FB.  *more on that later*

    - I'm going to force myself to change my ways.  I need to be mindful of my time on FB     and other social media and try to limit it to short periods of time and NONE during     family time.  (Yes, I too have my iphone on my lap while watching TV as a family at     night)

3. Get more organized!  This is a big one for me.  I'm SO bad at lists.  I've talked about it before and I still have a hrad time with this.  I'm very forgetful and lists would help me SO much!  But I forget to write lists.  :)  So my goal is to USE the "life journal" I just made and every morning spend a bit of time writing a LIST of to-do's.  Here's my journal I made last week:

When I made it last week I really thought about what I wanted it for.  I thought the title "Hello Life" was appropriate because I want to be AWARE of my life.  I don't want it slipping away, day by day, without FEELING it or LIVING it.  Yes, I'm getting OFF my computer driven life and I'm saying Hello to LIFE.  

4. Talk more.  Have lunch with friends more. Ask questions more.  Be a part of this community more.  Ok, this is a hard one to admit.  We've lived here for almost 10 years and I haven't really ever plugged in.  I have friends here, but not a lot.  We haven't really plugged in at church.  I hate to admit it, but I don't go to bible study at our church.  I don't take walks with moms from school, I don't meet them for lunch.  I take my kids to school, drive back home, go do my errands, work from home and then pick them up from school and go home.  I'm not active in this community at all.  That's got to change.  I have more FB/blog friends that I talk to then people in my own town. 

Well, that's just a few things I've been thinking of this week.  I hope this isn't too deep for you.  I'm not trying to get anyone else to change, I just want to change some things in my life.

 The big thing is...I don't want to look back years from now on my time at home and see that I spent the MAJORITY of my time on my computer!  

So what do you think?  You have any tips for "unplugging" or simple rules you hold yourself to?  I would LOVE to hear from YOU!  Any ideas on getting more organized with my time.  Please feel free to share your ideas here, I would love to hear them!

 

Have a GREAT Tuesday!

 

Hugs,

Laura

*And about my FB page and downsizing:

I went from over 500 friends to 200 friends yesterday on my personal FB PAGE.  I can imagine that maybe this quick decision could have caused some confusion.  I explained it 2 times on my page, but I want to explain it here too.  I wanted to get my PERSONAL FB PAGE down to just family and close friends. I have over 175 FAMILY members people...(my mom is the youngest of 9 siblings and they all had lots of kids too :) so it was just too hard to see what my family was doing on FB when my wall had soooo many people! So I asked everyone I was friends with in the "Creative World" to go LIKE my Creative Retreats FB PAGE.  I decided that that's where I would be posting about my creative endeavors so I can stop flooding my family with pictures of scrappy stuff they don't really care about.  That way I can keep things seperate.  So PLEASE,  add my FB PAGE:  A Kiss on the Chic's Creative Retreats on FB if you want to follow along with me in the Artsy world!  And I certaily apologize if you got "unfriended" on FB and didn't understand why.  It says that you can still see my wall, so I think you can still follow along on both.  But I felt I needed to downsize so I could focus on my family and spend less time on FB overall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, I forgot to share!!

I blogged for the 1st time on Maya Road's DT BLOG yesterday!  I shared my Wreath Inspiration over there, so go check it out!  Here's a SNEAK of my Wreath:

You can see the full article and more pictures on the Maya Road DT blog.  I was SO nervous about my 1st post over there.  If you've followed me on here, you know I'm not the best at spelling and I use WAY too many !!!  So go check it out and let me know how I did. :)

 

Love, Tuesday...

I got some HAPPY MAIL yesterday!  

I have an 6 page article in here... and I didn't even know it!  hahaha

I wrote the article and made the album SO long ago, I just forgot about it.  I send Somerset some things (or drop them off) about once a year and then they just use them when they want.  I remember they wanted two articles last year and I saw one of them last year (my London mini album) but I never saw this one.  Until now.  :)

So it was a pleasent surprise needless to say!  

Here's a little SNEAK of the album:

What's funny is that they took off the front cover and just show the inside pages in the magazine.  And I was looking for a photo of the album on my computer and this is all I can find.  Bummer.  But go get the magazine because it's got a TON of great articles and LOADS of inspiration!

I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone that has been so nice about my new job!!  I'm thankful for all the support and I hope I don't dissapoint!  I love Maya Road and will do my best to bring my "style" to Maya Road.  My first BLOG POST on their DT BLOG is on April 1st!  So, no april fools... It's for real and I'd love for you to check it out and leave some LOVE too. :)

By the way, Maya Road is having a Guest Designer Call!   Check out the details and give it a try!  You never know until you try...  

Well, we are on Easter Break for 2 whole weeks, so I may be absent from ALL my blogs for a while.  We are having fun just chillin' out, taking walks and finding a little bit of nothing to do! :)  I LOVE it.  I'm always running around like a chicken and these two weeks we made NO BIG PLANS and I'm so happy about that.  We've had a couple play dates, taken some walks, played, rested and nothing else.  I think we may venture out tomorrow... we shall see.  

Have a GREAT week everyone!!  

Hugs,

 

Laura