Back from Key Largo and......

........overwhelmed by all I experienced.  Is it possible that I only just met these remarkable women for the first time?  It was like being with old and valued friends.  The power of art!

I'll get into the day by day, project by project, meal by meal, mojito by mojito rundown in a future blog.  Alas, my memory card had issues with Elena's MAC, and all the photos I took are KAPUT!  But, no worries...we all took tons and I'll have them soon enough.   Today, I'll show you some of the things I received and did....photos I just took this morning.  Above.....a wonderful personalized tote bag.  We each received one (thanks, Elena!).  The living room was set up with four large work tables, and we found our bags waiting for us at our seats.  What was inside?

Where did all this Tim Holtz fabulousness come from?  Well, Tim Holtz himself!  Elena, who seems to know everyone in the world, had mentioned to Mario that we were having this retreat, and he sent her Tim's new book (personalized and autographed for each of us!), the apron, a package of grungeboard, and some idea-ology.  Are those guys awesome, or what?  Of course, I already own the book and apron, so I think a giveaway may be coming.  But that's for another day. ***(I'm going to be editing this forever...I keep hearing about the boo-boos I've made.  That's what you get for blogging on no sleep!  The books and aprons were sent by Tim, yes, but those were purchased for us by Elena.  Yea, Elena....the best host anyone could want!)***

We never discussed in advance making gifts for everyone, but you know what they say about great minds thinking alike.  Every day was like your birthday and Christmas rolled into one.

We all received t-shirts and flip flops (well, we were in the Florida Keys, so what else would we need?), and each was a different color.  We wore them out to a waterfront bar one night, and looked appropriately tropical.  (Thanks, Jacquie!)

I made everyone a little charm to commemorate this special event.  I thought they could be worn or attached to a journal.  Marie Antoinette on one side, and our logo on the other:

Sue, who came all the way from Illinois, gave us all this gorgeous polymer clay tile:

Lillian, who came all the way from northern Ontario (she had to drive over 7 hours just to get to an airport!) decorated these wonderful art shirts:

From Jen, our California friend:

Inside the little fabric sack, an altered tin:

And inside the tin, goodies for our art....ribbon, fiber, charms, ephemera....

Now, someone PLEASE tell me who provided us with the naked rabbits, ready to be dressed up!!! ***(It was Val!  We didn't have time to "dress" them, but you should see the gorgeous dressed up bunny Val made for Elena.  I don't have a photo, but go to Val's blog and see for yourself.)***  Too cute:

 Juliet (from W. Virginia) crocheted wire necklaces for us all!  We could even choose the colors we wanted.  This is the one I picked:

And then, there were the pillow fairies.  Each night when we finally left our studio to go to sleep, there was a package on our pillows with a note saying, "sweet dreams, the pillow fairies."   We didn't discover til the very end, that it was our Oregon art friends, Gina and Marita, who gifted us each night.  First night, fabric fortune cookies and ear plugs (which I understand were useful in SOME rooms):

Here's what the fortunes said:

Another night we found:

a personalized luggage tag and these hilarious index cards:

And I LOVE this printed packing tape!

The final night, the identity of our generous and witty pillow fairies was revealed, as they left us these gorgeous ATCs:

(Gina's)

(Marita's)

I received a few other goodies as well.  Marita saw these sunglasses and of course thought of me:

Too funny, right?  I'll be sure to wear them when I board the ship for the next Tim Holtz cruise.  They were a special (and totally unnecessary) thank you for the collage technique I taught.  Gina also gave me an extra something as a thank you.  Those Oregon folks sure are a generous bunch!  A deck of ArtChix cards.  How cool is that?

(Of course, the card package had to have a beautiful tag on it)

Jen gave me a chipboard book set:

As did Elena, just because I said I liked it! (I have a good friend with a Scottie):

As soon as I get the photos from our art sessions (and our many many eating/drinking adventures) I'll be back with more Keys4Art blogging.  I'll just end with this one of Elena and me....I think it kind of sums up the mood of art and fun and friendship: