Crafty birthday adventure, Day 1

Last week was my birthday, and to celebrate I went on a crafty birthday adventure with my aunt Terry and friend Lisa. We attended a crop/craft retreat hosted by Memory Bound papercrafting store in Ankeny, Iowa, from Oct. 16-18. Memory Bound was having a celebration, too, for their 25th year anniversary. It was a party weekend! I have lots of pictures to share, so I’ll be dividing them up into a few posts.

We started our adventure on Oct. 15. Lisa brought each of us a gnome to join the fun, so we snapped a group shot when we stopped for lunch. Meet (left to write) Gretchen, Penny, and Hamish. (Penny is my gnome, and I’ll tell you, she can be a little mischievous.) The drive was uneventful but seemed long because it rained the whole way.

After we arrived in Ankeny and checked into the hotel, we headed over to the Taylored Expressions studio, where we did a little shopping and made a card. Penny was pleased with her work.

The next stop was the Memory Bound store. I found a few packs of Tim Holtz word/sentiment stickers I had on my wishlist, a pack of alphabet cards (an impulse purchase, but they seemed cool for mixed media projects), and some beautiful Christmas papers from Paper Rose Studio. (I have ideas for holiday projects with the papers. We’ll see if I actually have time to make them.)

Time for dinner! I wanted pizza, so we decided to try Nonna’s Pizza and Pasta. Penny helped decide what to order — a Sicilian-style Margherita pizza — and it was delicious!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, relaxed in our room for a bit, and then went down to the lobby for a little birthday party. Lisa brought homemade cupcakes, a birthday crown and sash for me, and some silly cupcake glasses. We called my sister on FaceTime so she could join the fun from home (Lisa had also given her a gnome and some glasses).

It had been a long day so after the party, we went back up to the room to settle in for the night. Lisa and Terry fell asleep first, and then Penny and I decided to get ready for bed, too.

That’s it for Day 1. Stay tuned for the continuing story of our crafty birthday adventure.

Thanks for stopping by!