It is not merely photos in hardcover books with creative scrap-paper captions — the world of scrapbooking includes just about every crafty self-expressive hobby one could imagine.
The weekend of March 18 saw the gathering of about 30 women at Timothy Eaton Centre for Moose Jaw’s first scrapbooking retreat in a long while.
The hall was filled with tables that overflowed with craft ingredients: dozens of kinds of paper, cloth, cardboard, paints, pens, markers, sewing machines, tools for cutting and shaping and stencilling, new projects and ongoing ones.
There were no men at the retreat, but that isn’t because scrapbooking is exclusively a woman’s hobby. Local scrapbooking guru Teresa Fellinger, who owns Scrappin’ with T, said she’s been to retreats that were 75-per-cent male.
“It’s for everyone who likes crafting and making things,” Fellinger said.
The workstations at the retreat were individualized with equipment and supplies according to the interests of each particular artist.
Rhonda Renz, from Weyburn, was close to finishing a batch of 165 Valentine’s cards. The cards are intended for local nursing homes. A service club asked her to take the project, and she’s been making them annually for a couple of years.
Renz displays a few cards she’s finished. They are carefully and uniquely created with hearts and patterned paper in Valentine’s fashion. Cards are her specialty – she sells her work through a specialty handmade store in Weyburn.
“We never used to get such nice product that we can get now,” Renz said. She’s been crafting for over 20 years and said the variety of materials has steadily increased, enabling ever more creative expression.
A Christmas display with intricately-detailed cardboard house models is taking shape a table over. Val Wiks explains the machine she uses to die-cut windows and doors, brick details and shingles.
She merges the pieces with glue and clips, the outside features combined with inside reinforcement to make the finished model sturdy. Each model is made with specific textures and an eye for architecture.
“I usually give away most of the stuff that I do,” Wiks said. “Because I like to create, I don’t like to keep.” People admire her work, and she responds, “Oh, well just take it – I can make another one.”
Wiks reasons that if she didn’t give her work away, she would run out of room for making more.
At another table, Nicole Janzen, a graphic designer who has been an artist for as long as she can remember, is painting a bird into a page of her sketchbook.
“I used to design planner stickers,” Janzen said. “I’ve gone away from digital (at this point), and into more traditional stuff, so painting and drawing.
“I’m just painting some birds and fruit. I use gouache paint, which is similar to acrylic, but it’s not as sticky.” The less-sticky paint means her art can go into a book without the pages bonding together.
At 8 p.m., Fellinger and Corinne Nelson, another scrapbooking professional, taught a short class with prepared materials for all the attendees.
Nelson demonstrated the creation of a card that unfolds three different ways, showing how to score lines for folding and cutting.
Fellinger combined a piece of cardboard, a ribbon, and other seeming scraps into a charming wall organizer. Showing off a recent burn, she warned the group against underestimating glue guns while making the organizer.
The retreat serves as a way to socialize, share ideas, and learn new methods for transforming bits and pieces into collectibles.
Fellinger has planned another retreat (called “Scrappin Palooza”) for April 22, 23, and 24, to be held at Timothy Eaton Centre again.
Call or text her at 306-694-0700 to secure a spot!
