Thursday, March 30, 2017

e2c2017 classes

We are thrilled to offer these beautiful classes at our upcoming retreat. What gorgeous creations our clever teachers have in store for us.






Friday, February 10, 2017

e2c 2017 rego reminder

Hello all.

Just a quick note to remind you that tonight (TONIGHT YIPPEE!!) is the e2c 2017 registration night.

8pm South Australian time - not a minute later! Every second counts as there are limited seats available and regular retreat goers will know that this event books out in record time. If you need to check time differences from your state you can do so here. (the clock on this website is exactly in sync with our times)

Also please note that the email address to register has changed to escape2createscrapbooking@gmail.com 


Emails sent to the Treloar address will not be accepted and your registration will not be valid.

To help with costs, we are offering a payment plan option where you can pay retreat fees in increments. If you wish to do this, please email Meredith to discuss PRIOR to making any payments. We understand that the cost is terrifying as a one off payment and are only too happy to work with our attendees to ensure you can make it.

When emailing tonight, please include your name, contact details and which option you would prefer. If you aren’t sure yet please say ‘unsure’ and let us know as soon as you can. Last year there were many who decided very last minute to upgrade to stay the nights (which was awesome!) but was a little tricky in regards to our pre-booking of rooms. Almost everyone who went for option 2 or 3 last year said that they wished that they had stayed. (for interest’s sake!)

You may proxy for one other person provided that they are unable to email themselves (not just a double up chance of getting in!)

Another quick note to remember is our awesome teachers have been announced and we are THRILLED to welcome Raquel Bowman and Leeann Pearce to our e2c family for 2017. These clever chicks will inspire us all weekend and we are so honoured to have them on board. We know that they will be awesome and their class projects will totally kick butt!



On that exciting note we will sign off… and hope to hear from you tonight!

Meredith and Amanda.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

2017 teachers

We are absolutely thrilled that these talented ladies have joined us for the 2017 adventure. They are wildly creative with completely contrasting styles which will compliment each other and escape2create perfectly.

Check out their lovely work and be inspired to join us. Registration day is only 5 days away!









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Thursday, July 28, 2016

e2c 2016 post retreat debrief

This post is well overdue but to be honest i've struggled to find the time to make a blog post worthy of our time away. It's been 4 weeks since the retreat now, and that time has just passed in a blur.
Not only have i been reeling from such a great time and the proud feelings i get with all that, but i've been super busy too (i know Meredith has also had A LOT on her plate post retreat also).


It was hard to believe the day had arrived that we had been waiting for for so long. After a long year of planning, Wilna Furstenberg (our e2c 2016 teacher) was arriving in Port Lincoln. All the way from Canada!!


Wilna Furstenberg and Tia Furstenberg en route to Australia from Canada
 Instagram @wilnafurstenberg


After a busy Tuesday in Port Lincoln I rushed home with 20 minutes to unpack the car, change, sort out 3 kids and a husband and be ready for Meredith to pick me up. We chatted excitedly on the way down and were still pinching ourselves as we sat in the airport waiting to meet the little aeroplane that would bring our first ever international teacher to our 'country' retreat. What would she be like? How would she fit in? Would she even show??

As the plane taxied in, out excitement was bubbling over! We just couldn't believe that this wonderfully, inspirational teacher with such a soothing voice (yes we had watched a fair share of you tube clips!) was only meters away.

Meredith nudged me as the disembarking people filed in, "there she is!". A total blonde bombshell with a beautiful beaming smile was before us. Looking equally stunning was her daughter Tia by her side. Within moments we were hugging like long lost friends. With so much emailing and class planning spanning 12 months or so we had gotten to know Wilna quite well and it felt completely natural to talk to her (and Tia) as if we had known each other for a long time.

We packed their suitcases into Meredith's car and drove into Port Lincoln pointing out some sights of the city as the sun was setting. I had made an extra effort this year as normally i leave that sort of tourist chat to Meredith (she's better at it than me). It was hilarious later on when she commented at how amazed she was at my sight seeing commentary.

The suitcases were dropped off at my Mum's, who had kindly agreed to house Wilna for 2 nights. It was an ideal location, giving her and Tia a little bit more room than a hotel, privacy and ability to cook if they wanted to. We are super grateful to Mum for being so generous.

That night we headed out for tea at the Port Lincoln Hotel to show her where we would be for the weekend and had a lovely meal together. That night was full of great food and wine and lots of getting to know you conversation which was just wonderful. After tea and a quick trip to the supermarket, we dropped Wilna and Tia back at Mum's and Meredith and myself headed home to our farms.

On Wednesday we were both up early, packing and saying our final goodbyes to our families. Driving to Port Lincoln, I felt like i was in some sort of dream sequence... everything that we had planned was HAPPENING!!

Around 11am, I arrived within minutes of Meredith at Mum's house and Wilna and Tia looked as if they had had a great night's sleep and really enjoyed cooking their own breakfast. We unpacked one car and all bundled in together to do a little sight seeing. The weather was a little dodgy but we decided to park the car in the main street and have a little walk along Tasman Terrace and Liverpool Street. Luckily the rain held off while we were walking around town and we ducked into a health food shop for some lunch.



Tia and Wilna at Glen Forest Animal Park Port Lincoln from Instagram @wilnafurstenberg




Afterwards we headed out to Glen Forest Animal Park and showed Wilna and Tia some Aussie animals. Tia fed and patted kangaroos and they were adorably sweet laying on the grass while multiple selfies were taken. The koalas were a bit shyer, and further away but we were still able to see them in the trees at the park. It was a great experience seeing our fauna through a tourist's eyes, as we can get a bit blasé about 'the bloody roos' but they really are incredibly unique and something to be proud of. It started to rain a little by the time we got back to Port Lincoln and Tia and Wilna had asked to have an early night, and were hanging to cook a meal for themselves, so we dropped them back at Mum's, picked up the luggage we had previously dropped off and Meredith and myself went back to the hotel to book ourselves in and unpack. We had a lovely (and interesting) meal in an Indian restaurant and a few drinks before hitting the pillows, knowing that we had a massive weekend ahead of us.

The next day (Thursday) we again picked Wilna and Tia up at 11am and headed out to Coffin Bay National Park. Again it was cold and raining, but we managed to dodge the showers fairly well considering how miserable it was. We were able to see kangaroos and emu in the wild, which i thought was a brilliant display (thank you Coffins!) for any tourist. We also went to Golden Island beach, which was blustery and cold ... but deserted and pristine. It was sensational and i kept looking down the beach thinking 'how lucky we are to have such beauty on our doorstep!' We drove back into Coffins and had lunch at the 1802 restaurant which was delicious as always.



Golden Island beach from Instagram @wilnafurstenberg



Tia and Wilna in the Coffin Bay National Park from Instagram  @tiafurstenberg




As we drove back into Port Lincoln, we had a quick stop off at the art shop and the kitchen / homewares shop before heading back to the hotel to check Wilna and Tia in. As is our e2c tradition, we head out for tea with the teachers the night before the retreat and this year was no exception.

We had also asked the wonderfully inspiring Lou Nelson to be another teacher for 2016. We have had a long history with Lou, with her attending most e2c retreats and mini retreats in the past, and was also a teacher in 2011. We have always enjoyed her positivity and support towards our retreat and were thrilled that she was joining us in a teaching capacity again this year. We are so proud of Lou's accomplishments, here in Australia and overseas and are very grateful at her willingness to share her incredible talents with us.

Lou and Wilna hit it off immediately, and it was lovely to see them both together and bask in their creative glow!

from Instagram @loolabelle


Lou met us in the foyer and we caught a maxi taxi out for tea. Before long we were all chatting and laughing, enjoying each other's company and sharing the anticipation of the weekend ahead.


When we arrived back at the hotel we asked if we could start to set up a few things and luckily the duty manager allowed us to have a few hours in the ballroom sorting our stuff out. This is vastly different to other years, when we have had the retreat in another location which requires many, many hours of tidying up prior to us setting up. Usually this whole process takes a whole day and a half... however this year the venue was clean and basically set up for us and it took only a few hours to transform it into our creative space. On the Thursday night, we packed the goodie bags, Lou and Wilna packed and sticker-ed up their kits and I made the #escape2create2016 to go on the bottom of the selfie frame. We toddled off to bed knowing that TOMORROW WAS THE DAY!

It felt like the alarm was going off far too soon but we had an early start to get everything done in time for the 2pm opening. We were back in the ballroom at 8am, and we had some wonderful helpers join us to give a hand. Sandra, Trish, Sue, Tia and Lauren (the platterista) were incredible supports and helpers along with Lou and Wilna of course. Nothing we asked was too much and we certainly couldn't do it without them. Banners were put up, +s were strung up, balloons were arranged, tables were decorated, tables were given their seating arrangement list, powerpoint displays and music was connected, the shared area (sewing machine, minc, big shot, punches, printer) was set up, mugs and goodie bags put out and of course the wonderful shops moved in. What a massive job for Ally and Leonie but we are SO grateful for their attendance. We feel very spoilt to have two shops on hand all retreat and realise how demanding it is for them. The lolly table lady arrived very last minute, so it was a great rush to set her up with everyone pitching in, basically throwing the flowers into the display so we weren't running too much over time.

from Instagram @meredithtrel

Louise Nelson from Instagram @loolabelle









There was a great crowd lined up outside the glass doors and i went to open the big double doors into the ballroom that we had carefully hidden up until then. I'll admit that i had a quiet tear then, as i really couldn't believe that we had done this.

You see we had booked our old venue for a March/April 2016 date well in advance after the 2015 retreat, only to learn a few months later that it wouldn't be available to us due to a long term booking that had come up in the mean time. While we understood their position, it threw us into an absolute spin. Where else could we have it? Would it mean the end of e2c? We initially thought that the price for a retreat at the hotel would be completely out of range for everyone so didn't even consider it. However as time went on, and we realised that the only other option was to not have a retreat at all in 2016, we thought we would speak with the hotel and see what they could do for us.

Right from that very first meeting they were exceptional. Once Meredith had done some number crunching we realised that it could be a possibility, but were not expecting big numbers as we do with our other retreat. (haha boy were we wrong!??)

Once we had booked the hotel, we sent an email to our teachers and where thrilled when they both said YES! We suddenly had the trifecta - a great venue, Lou Nelson AND Wilna Furstenberg!!


waiting for the doors to open at e2c
Instagram @loolabelle


As we opened the doors, and the attendees rolled in, it felt like a dream. I stood there welcoming new faces as well as some familiar faces. Some that had been to every retreat we'd ever had, others that were returning for the second year, some that had been teachers in the past (i think that is one thing that never ceases to thrill me - when our teachers come back as attendees!) and a LOT that were brand new to e2c. What a buzz it is to meet so many people in such a short space of time. I felt like my brain was going to explode with a heady mix of names, faces, excitement and a drop of champagne.

Everyone found their seat and the weekend had begun!



Friday was free time, and the idea of this was for people to take their time and relax into it... meeting people, chatting and having a social night.

All of the classes over the weekend (two Saturday and two Sunday) were brimming with creative inspiration and i heard so much positive chatter about techniques learnt. I always adore the table that i am on, and this year was no different... i just love those girls! It was super special this year being next to Sue P and Marika's table as well as the Lock girls (who normally are at the other end of the shed but it was SO good to talk to them all weekend too).


I'm not sure i can pinpoint exactly my most favourite memory of the weekend... it was just a fabulous escape and every part was good for my soul. Hopefully every attendee felt as fulfilled as i did at the end. Exhausted but happy.



We are so thankful to have positive, supportive people behind e2c who share our vision. To Wilna and Tia for travelling half way across the world to meet with strangers. And to Lou for always backing e2c and wanting to be an important creative part of 2016. It's safe to say that it wouldn't be as successful without your amazing input. To our shops who add that important retail factor to the weekend and the extra services from Mandy and Ngahuia that make us feel completely spoilt. To our attendees who were as wonderful as ever and understood that this year was a completely new ballgame for us as organisers. That we were newbies as well this year and that everything ... yep EVERYTHING was unknown.

e2c2016 group photo by Sandra Wallace and Christine Cid



To our team of two that seem to do an ok job of putting a pretty big event together!



from Instagram @wilnafurstenberg


We are not sure what 2017 will bring, but it will be e2c's 10th year. Ten years of retreats deserves a great celebration. I hope we see you there.











Tuesday, May 10, 2016

2016 Class update

We have had a few little changes to our original adverts so this is the updated list of kit supplies and things that you will need bring yourself. The photo sizes are also listed below.

Also a watercolour paint set will now be included in Wilna's kit which can also be used in Lousie's class.


LOUISE NELSON'S CLASSES


photo tips from Lou -

WIRE CLASS :
Layout one:I used a black and white photo 7.5cm x 7.5cm. Photo is of spiral staircase inside the Guggenheim Museum NYC. Chipboard title I used is 'art'. Kit also includes a mini/tiny alpha set in lower case. 

Layout two: I used a black and white photo landscape orientation, 8.5cm x 4.5cm. Photo is a posed/professional family photo and the chipboard title is small and says ‪#‎wonderful‬

Layout three: I used 3 black and white photos 7.5cm x 7.5cm of images of NYC [subway, a sculpture, bikes covered in snow]. Chipboard titles 1 x large saying Fun times, 2 smaller chipboard titles saying ‪#‎awesome‬, and ‪#‎happy‬.
Teaspoon - disposable / plastic.

BEAD CLASS:

Layout one - I used a black and white 'couples' photo cropped to fit an oval frame that's portrait orientation 3cm x 4cm. Title is stamped saying "life is splendid"

Layout two - I used a black and white photo of a woman cropped to fit an oval frame 3cm x 5cm. No title included.

Layout three - I used a black and white wedding photo, cropped to fit a 5.5cm round frame. Large chipboard title 'us'.









WILNA FURSTENBERG'S CLASS



PHOTO SIZES : 2 x 4x6" photos. 1 portrait (to go on layout with a cut file that says 'lovely'), and the other landscape (on a layout with cut file that says 'with my heart emoticon and my soul). Wilna has used colour photos for both layouts.











Facebook Create2Escape Bring to class... from amanda hall on Vimeo.








Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Escape2Create 2016 update ...

Some of you may be wondering where Escape2Create is heading in 2016 retreat wise. Because we value open and honest communication we would like to keep you all in the loop and give everyone plenty of notice of our plans.

Unfortunately, due to a long term lease which clashes with our booking, the Lions Hostel (the normal e2c venue) is unavailable for us in 2016.

We have looked into all available options and rather than cancelling the retreat outright, we have decided that the best and most appropriate venue will be the Port Lincoln Hotel.

For those of you of familiar with the Port Lincoln Hotel here is a link to their page ... http://www.portlincolnhotel.com.au/

We realise that this will change the dynamic / vibe and the cost will be significantly different. However we are looking at offering two options to make the retreat reasonable for what e2c and the hotel can provide.

So the dates for 2016 are ... Friday 24th June to Sunday 26th June.

We have also booked two very exciting teachers for 2016.

We have booked the Lion’s Hostel for 2017 and we will revert to our normal venue and program (vibe and dynamic!) then.

We welcome any questions (here or  email to john.treloar@bigpond.com ) and look forward to seeing you in 2016.

Thank you for your understanding.

More details to be posted soon.

Amanda & Meredith xx 

smile emoticon

Thursday, June 25, 2015

escape2create mini retreat 2015



more details (how to register, when to register, dates, price etc) released in a month or so. Stay tuned.

Location : Trinity Haven - near Tumby Bay, South Australia.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

e2c 2015

It's hard to believe that so much time has whizzed by and our retreat is now just a memory. How the heck does that happen!?

We were so blessed to have our wonderful 4 teachers - Leanne Allinson, Fiona Paltridge, Kim Price and Chantalle McDaniel this year. We had been in communication with these ladies from around May last year so both Meredith and myself felt like we had known them *forever* by the time we welcomed them off the plane. And they were just as fantastic IRL as they were in their emails. Within minutes of arriving to our retreat location they were pitching in, asking for any jobs and fitting in like they had always been a part of e2c. We loved that.

Chantalle McDaniel, Fiona Paltridge, Kim Price, Meredith Treloar, Amanda Hall and Leanne Allinson

Our decorations i think were probably my favourites from any year we had ever had... which is kind of nice considering that we had a lot of headache trying to think up something different, something new, not too pricey and incorporating the triangles and the gold. Luckily we had some wonderful helpers to do this and before long the boring old 'shed' was magically transformed into a golden glow of balloons.
before set up

during set up - photo by Sandra Wallace
Thursday passed in a blur - setup and then out for tea with our teachers and shop keepers as we do every year - and all of a sudden it seemed to be 2pm on Friday and there were people lining up to get in the door. We were possibly the most organised and relaxed that we had ever been this year which was so lovely - i think probably the hour later start time helped with that.

our wonderful shop keepers (minus Ally) - photo Sandra Wallace
The best part of the retreat (and believe me it's tricky to pick the best BEST bit) is when everyone first comes in the shed. The noise level explodes and there are squeals of delight and sometimes even some tears of joy (i am not exaggerating!) It's so fulfilling to hear everyone enjoying the experience after so much anticipation and all our work getting everything just right.



the lolly table
personalised mugs by Petch Printing

After everyone settled in and we ate our first deluxe meal by Tony and the team (my goodness that man excelled this year!), we had the fun of Crystal and her Photo Booth. This was a great success and we were thrilled it was supported so well and Crystal was run off her little feet for the entire time we had hired her. Some of the photos are absolute doozies!






A late night was had by a few that evening as we settled into the pace of the weekend and were perhaps a bit too excited to sleep when there was socialising and scrapping to do. I know personally i just loved our little table so much - and the funny conversations that we had that i am still giggling on the inside- that most nights i felt sad when one by one they moved off to bed. Dramatic i know, but i enjoy those girls and their company so much.




Saturday dawned and we were off! Our first class by Fiona Paltridge. And WHAT a great class it was too. A little challenging for some of us cleaner scrappers ( a lot of eek moments for me) but when it all came together in the end there were peals of oohs and ahhs from around the shed. It looked incredible.

After lunch we had Leanne Allinson's class which then challenged those messier, mixed media types (haha!) but the simple scrappers had a field day, whipping up clean pages and trimming like a boss. Just a fantastic class and i enjoyed every single minute of it. It felt so liberating to cut and stick without thinking too much, without stressing about placement and balance. It just flowed. And ohmylordy those products... LOVE.

On Saturday we had our prize table, thanks to many donations that e2c had received. It was wonderful to see so many varied prizes on that table, and everyone who's lucky number was called was grateful to pick from such abundance.

our helpers, chauffeurs and bed buddy coordinators - Trish and Sandra

Sunday morning we had the wildly talented Kim Price. Her backgrounds have been wowing me for years now, and i've tied myself in knots wondering how she does it. How mind-blowing it was to see her create it in real life, right in front of my eyes and the whole technique be so simple!? I know everyone loved their pops of yellow on their page and it was wonderful to see so many pages look so incredibly different.

Our last teacher to step up to the plate was Chantalle McDaniel. Wow what a pocket rocket this woman is! He page was incredibly detailed in parts, and seeing it come to being with a few fancy folds and a bit of washi was so cool. Being a Heidi Swapp lover i just adored this whole kit - especially the set of stamps that every class kit got. So very lucky. Chantalle's puffy stickers were a very clever little process too!


The rest of the time really was free scrap time and boy did it fly by. As Sunday merged into Monday i felt like yelling out 'STOP THE CLOCK' which was ironic as the previous week seemed to drag by. It doesn't seem fair that you can plan for something for so long and then blink and it is gone by. Done. Finished. I always feel like standing up and calling out  'DONT PACK UP YET' when everyone starts to make that final move. (Luckily i restrain myself from all yelling out to avoid looking like a totally nut job)

And then just like that - it's over.

I think that feeling in the shed is something that i love. It's 80 odd women creating and being inspired by others in the shed, which is pretty special in itself but it's more than that. We are ALL pleased to be there. We seemed to be just DELIGHTING in the fact that we were there. It's a rare thing to be able to sit and laugh / eat / scrap / socialise without added pressures of life. Without thinking about the washing, or the kids, other commitments, or our jobs, putting out the garbage or what to cook for tea. Which sounds a bit like a 1950s housewife but for many of us mums and wives - that is what our lives are about. We lose a bit of who we are in all of that busy-ness, day to day living.

And here's the kicker - we get to do this whole lot of nothing for 4 whole days. Four. Whole. Days. What bliss.

My opinion is that the special feeling in the shed is us getting OURSELVES back a little bit. Time for us. Mental health for mums, workers, wives, carers and granmas.

And that is what makes the whole thing worth it to me.