For those of you who have been with me for a while, these might look familiar. They are. I first created these for a women’s retreat my church held back in 2019. For some time now, I’ve wanted to list them in my Etsy shop, but there are copyright rules when you use modern versions of the Bible, so I delayed.
Recently, one of you contacted me about purchasing a KJV version of one of these prints, and that was just what I needed to come up with a way to do it! Several months ago I signed up for Corjl… a website that helps sellers like me give potential buyers like you a way to customize a digital product yourselves! (More to come on that front!)
With this new tool in my belt I set out to do what I’ve been wanting to do, but didn’t know how to accomplish. I remastered each of the prints (I was using older software and super novice skills when I digitized these the first time) for quality and to remove the words I wanted to make customizable. Then I brought them into corjl to finish them up. Hop over to my shop to learn more about them and to test it out with a free demo link!
My part is to make the weekend special. To make it beautiful. To make each lady feel like they’ve truly stepped into a retreat space!
This past weekend was our church’s annual women’s retreat (thus less posting last week as we were getting things ready and this week because I’m catching up around here.)
Our theme was “Come to the Garden”… basically, a garden theme women’s retreat! I came up with the idea last year as we were setting up for that retreat. The weather was gloomy and I really wanted to be putting flowers everywhere. Poof, the garden theme women’s retreat was born!
This actually turned into a budget friendly theme for us, decoration wise anyway. I expected to have to buy a lot of flowers to get the feel I was looking for, and that was going to be expensive. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. Then I visited the decorations closet at the church (if you’re church doesn’t have one of these, it really should! I use ours all the time for party planning, retreats and other events at the church.) If you don’t have one of these rooms, ask around for ladies in the church who may have flowers or other details they don’t use anymore or are willing to share.
Many of the flowers in these pictures are from the decoration storage closet, others are mine from home. I made some signs, like the “let us grow” sign here. The wood beads are also mine, but so easy to make in any color.
This is the downstairs space that we used mostly for gathering in the evenings. I asked a wonderful group of helpers to just sort through the totes and make it all pretty! They did a great job. I literally couldn’t have done it without them. I had just under 2 hours from the time we could get into the facility to when our program started.
I picked up some free pillows someone was getting rid of and my mom made cases for them out of the green check print. Then we covered my couch pillows with a yard or so of fabric each from my stash, and tied them on so they would be temporary.
In the middle picture you can kind of see two other signs I made. One says “herbs” and the other says “prune and grow”. I also snagged my daughter’s summer hat to add to the mix.
The bunting is something I helped my oldest daughter make several years ago for her Little House birthday. I’ve used them so many time. I think they are made from some Figtree and Co. fabric. I use them all the time for baby showers, bridal showers, etc. This year I am going to hang them in the kitchen for spring.
There is a kitchenette downstairs in the lodge we used for the retreat this year. I love to turn it into a pretty coffee/tea/cocoa bar with pretty cups and plates and such. I always stow the coffee organizers they have out on the counter and bring my own pretty ones. This space is simple, but effective!
Behind it is this little cafe like seating area. It was so easy to place cute cloth napkins out with a bouquet of flowers on each. Again, super simple, but super effective!
We decided this year to set up a second drink station in the upstairs room where most of our sessions were taking place. The tea collection both upstairs and down belong the head of the retreat planning committee. She loves to share and this year has all matching jars. It made me so happy! 🙂 We brought the white carafes from church to keep things pretty and light. That is a white paper table cloth with plastic backing I have on top of the pink cloth. It prevented the spilled coffee and tea from staining the pink.
That is another sign I made for the weekend too… the “but first COFFEE”. I love how it fit in with the whole look. All the signs were made using my Cricut to make vinyl stencils.
The lace looking bunting was from last year’s tea party retreat. My sweet mama made all those for me last year using this tutorial. I was thrilled to use them again. She couldn’t be with us this year but was super excited to use them used again when I sent pics.
I tried to keep the tables simple this year. Once 8 ladies are squeezed around a 6 foot table with all their stuff, there isn’t much room in the middle. 🙂 I bought 7 of those cute flowers and garden tins from Dollar Tree and painted them white. They scratch easy (be warned) but they were super cute with the flowers in them. I decided to put these together ahead of time and bring them pre-made so that we could just put them on the tables. We used a bunch of the flowers at the church and poked them into some of the green flower foam (also in our decor closet). I use the word “we” lightly. One of the teens at church helped me out by doing all the arranging. She did a much better job than I would have in a fraction of the time. 🙂 I was thrilled she was there to help. I then scattered left over blooms and greens along the tables and placed a couple mini garden tools we had with them. Super easy!
The event turned out beautiful and had it’s intended affect. The ladies were loving the feel of the surroundings and were blessed by both the fellowship and the teaching throughout the weekend. I always say, my part of the events are far from the most important, but I enjoy showing love to the ladies who come by making their surroundings special!
If you enjoyed this garden theme women’s retreat, please pin the following image or share it on other social media!
This time last year, I was deep in the throws of preparing for our church’s women’s retreat. As in past years, my part was to decorate and add all the little touches that make it special. It’s not the most important part, by far. The Bible teaching and encouragement is the most important. But I do love to bring a little something extra so the ladies can really enjoy the weekend and feel as much love and blessing as possible.
Because of covid regulations last year, we couldn’t take our group to the usual retreat center for the weekend, so we adjusted some things and converted our church auditorium into our retreat center and decorated it for a giant tea party.
Those garlands hung from the ceiling were made using this tutorial. I’ll be using them again this year, getting 2 years for the work of making them once! 🙂
Tables centerpieces were tea sets we gathered from various church ladies who let us borrow them (this helped cut costs and gave us a fun variety of styles from all over the world).
We found these fun paper tea cups on Amazon (not an affiliate link) for them to drink their tea/coffee/cocoa out of.
I made signs to place around the room and these little gift packs were placed at every place. Inside the packet was a small journal for each lady. There were 4 of each design and we used them to separate the ladies into different groups randomly to mix them up a bit.
This is the tea and coffee/cocoa station. One of the ladies on the retreat committee loves tea and has a lot of different ones. She always brings her collection to share (that is what you see on the left) On the right things look a little sparse because the coffee carafes are not there yet.
One of the benefits to being at our church for the retreat this year was that we could do some fun food. Many would not think of this as a good thing, but most years they ask me not to do any food for the retreat because there is so much food already at the retreat center. Well, one of the things I love to do is include food in my theme, so I was thrilled that I could make all sorts of fun “tea party” foods. This was the inspiration I needed to learn to make french macarons (of course there are no pics of those, because these picture were taken of the brunch spread, but I also made them for some of the bridal showers I’ll be sharing in the weeks to come.)
Many of the ladies stepped in to bring parts of the brunch spread, but I wanted to bring some fun things. One of which was this fun “donut” cake. The one in the pic below fell apart, so we made another one, but of course there is no pic of that. My kids were super excited that the first one fell apart because they enjoyed it immensely!
I was super excited to have a reason to make puff pastry danishes. I’d been wanting to after watching The Great British Baking Show. You can find several pins about how to do this on my Tea Party Women’s Retreat board on Pinterest. I practiced for several weeks before making the official danishes for the retreat. They aren’t as hard or as time consuming as I expected. In fact, I need to make more soon! 🙂
The whole retreat was a success with so much spiritual encouragement, so much fun and laughter, and a great time of fellowship and building up! You can find other details and ideas for your own tea party on my Pinterest board.
If you enjoyed this Tea Party Women’s Retreat, I would really appreciate it if you would pin the image below or any of the specific images… or share on other social media! 🙂
This past weekend was our church’s Cozy Mountain Lodge Women’s Retreat. We were at a new venue, which turned out just right. It was in the mountains, we were in a lodge of sorts, and once we were done with set up, it was decidedly cozy!
Pre-cut fabric squares strung up with mini clothes pins were a cute and colorful addition to our mantle. The fabric was an adorable cabin in the mountains theme. Sorry, I don’t remember what it was called.
Unfortunately, though I promised myself I wouldn’t let this happen, I got so busy that I forgot to stop and take pictures of everything. These are the few there are. 🙂
White lights added a whimsical touch. Since we used the lights and trees the church already had, it was also a huge budget helper!
When I put away my winter decor at the end of January, I put a number of pieces into our retreat box. The snow blocks, wooden trees and the jar of “snowballs” were some of the ones from my kitchen. And since the mountainside out our windows were covered with snow, it was perfect!
The centerpieces were simple. One of the families in our church had a baby shower this past fall with a woodland animals theme. I was able to use the same tree trunk slabs they had made for that (another budget saver!) Baby’s Breath flowers in Ball jars with rocks were inexpensive and gave a lot of bang for their buck. The little birds in nests were in our decor closet at church as well. That was an exciting find. And for the tables, we used Kraft paper. Simple, less expensive than cloth, and more durable than plastic. Plus it had that rustic quality I was looking for.
The framed cabin print was one of the ones I painted (now available in my shop). All 7 of the tables had one and they were given as prizes as part of the “door prize drawing”. Each person got something. When it came to these prints, they were allowed to choose between one of those or one of the remaining prizes that I hadn’t painted myself. That way ladies who wouldn’t have a use for the artwork, had a choice to opt out. 🙂 I was super excited to see most of them taken.
Mountain
The food table we set out in the evenings was more elaborate than these pics let on, yet still simple. Not only had I brought the Birch Tree Pretzels and Mountain Rice Krispies Treats, but also some veggies and dip, chips, pretzels and popcorn. And other ladies brought things to share also. No one ever had cause to be hungry! 🙂 And my kids were thrilled with some left overs!
The custom chocolates I left on everyone’s pillows (read that post here) were a big hit too. And even though I had a ton to do, I disappeared to put them out myself. I’m so glad I did! I didn’t want anyone to know they were coming (even the other helpers) and I wanted a chance to pray a few words for each of the ladies who came.
The remaining artwork I created for the retreat (available here) was framed and left around the room in cozy places where the ladies sat to visit, read their Bibles, or crochet. Sorry there aren’t any pics of that. Each one has it’s own post: Get Away, Get Going, Get Cozy, and {God’s Got this} Let the Adventure Begin.
Are you planning a mountain themed retreat? I’d love to hear about your plans! Share some of them in the comments for others to enjoy!
While I’ll admit that the spiritual side of retreat is the most important, when I signed on for last year’s (and again for this year’s) women’s retreat planning committee, it was with the desire to pamper, spoil and bless the women from my church. I wanted to help us transition from a “conference” atmosphere to one of restful, retreat. I don’t know about you, but for me, that means food. And at least some of it should be chocolate.
Yesterday, my 6 year old and I made these Birch Log Pretzels. We melted the white candy melts according to package directions. She stirred and stirred while I got the pretzels open and pulled out the unbroken ones. She also stirred for me between pretzel “dips”. Instead of dipping, though, since I was using a shallow container, I spooned the melted candy over the part of the pretzel I wanted covered.
Here they are to set. I left them for an hour or so, mostly because I have six kids and my attention was needed elsewhere, but also because I wanted them good and set before adding the chocolate.
Then I drizzled melted milk chocolate chips over them to get the “birch” look. It was pretty simple. That took a little while to set because our house was comforably warm. But don’t refrigerate them because sometimes that changes the color of the chocolate. Your choice though… experiment. 🙂
I made enough extras for the kids to each try one (mom’s should just do that!) and they were well received! 🙂
Tomorrow begins the retreat I’ve been helping to plan (click here to see all the posts about our Cozy Mountain Lodge Retreat) and I’m working like crazy to finish some of the little details that I hope will help set the weekend apart. Of course I hope that the spiritual side of the retreat is what will stay in the ladies’ hearts and minds for years to come, but, aside from praying along that end, that part is outside my responsibility. What I signed on for is to make the weekend extra special for the ladies. That means chocolates on pillows, cute decorations, and these Mountain Rice Krispies Treats (among other things).
I used green and white candy melts for the dipping part. I followed the directions on the bag, I dipped the big flat part into the green and stood them to cool and dry on wax paper.
A couple hours later (because I was also helping the kids with schoolwork and making a birthday cake for my husband, not because it took that long to set) I followed the directions on the bag again, and dipped the point in white.
I’ve got them all packed up in tupperware and wax paper now, ready to cart to the mountains for our retreat on Friday.
The kids and I tested the scraps. They are really good! Husband still prefers the originals and wishes I hadn’t messed with a good thing. 🙂 I’ll have to make him some regular ones when I get back. But the rest of you should pin that top image for later! 🙂 Yum!
When I invited myself onto the committee for last year’s women’s retreat, I really wanted chocolates on everyone’s pillow. Alas, we were in a hotel and, though there was plenty of chocolate at the Hershey Lodge and even in the rooms, I didn’t get to be a part of it. This year will be different!
For this year’s retreat, we are at a retreat center in the mountains and I’m so excited. The space is homier and easier to decorate than a hotel conference room, we can bring our own food in, and I have access to all those lovely pillows before the ladies arrive! I’m so excited!
So earlier this week I made up these cute custom chocolate wrappers for the Hershey’s Minitures I bought. The wrappers are approximately 1.25 inches x 3 inches and I used tape to attach them. I used scrapbook paper, but anything would work.
Then I cut out a whole bunch of little papers and hand drew the labels. Yes, there was probably an easier way, but with my husband using the computer and my time constraints, it was actually faster to hand draw them. But I actually love the hand drawn look!! I used a glue stick to attach them to each chocolate after the candies had been wrapped with scrapbook paper.
I’ll be sneaking into all the rooms during set up to place these on each lady’s pillow and saying a prayer for each one’s weekend.
So, now I have a question for you. The illustrations were super simple to do and many of you can probably figure out how I did them just by looking, but I’m curious… would anyone be interested in a video tutorial on how to do the simple illustrations I included on these labels? If there is enough interest, I will try to make time for it in the coming weeks.
Last year I shared this cute prototype for a save the date card we used for our cafe themed women’s retreat. Well, I just wanted to let you know that I have updated that post with all the templates I created and used to make it. I also included some tips to make your project even easier!
These would be great for save the date or invitations for cafe themed parties, retreats or weddings. You could also use this for thank you notes or even just a note of encouragement if you change the tag.
Yes, a shameless borrow of the super trendy “keep calm” movement. (Can I call it a movement?) I usually stay far from it. Even though I too love the most clever versions, I prefer to enjoy from afar (ahem… Pinterest anyone?) But this one crept into my head and I just couldn’t help myself. I borrowed from a similar design I created last year, and it just had to be part of our “Cozy Mountain Lodge” women’s retreat this year.
Now, it’s not perfect. I wasn’t planning to hand letter the “keep calm” part and then decided to at the last minute. But… when I did, I didn’t plan it out and the spacing isn’t perfect. Nothing Photoshop won’t fix. Yes, it’s cheating. But for this kind of thing, I’m okay with that. And I prefer it to redoing the whole thing. 🙂
Updated 9/2023: This print is available “remastered” , customizable for your favorite Bible versions, in my shop! Come on over and have a look!
Our retreat theme is Cozy Mountain Lodge, so I’m trying to keep in the attitude of mountains and outdoors and all. But I’m also trying to tie it back to the God who made it all and to His Word and it’s application in our lives.
So here I have the attitude of hiking in the mountains (at least it’s what I was going for) with Galatians 5:25: “Keep in step with the Spirit.”
This passage is one that has become dear to me. Galatians 5:24 and verse 25.
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
You see, I have a struggle with sin. Anyone else?
These days, among others, I’m struggling with gluttony and self control. But these verses were both convicting and encouraging to me when I came across them in my reading some time ago (not that I am done struggling with this self gratification thing). If I belong to Christ (and I do), my flesh has been crucified with its passions and desires. That not only means that I should be making better decisions, but that those passions and desires have already been put to death.
Yet, we so often live with them unchecked. That’s is where verse 25 is so great! “If we live by the faith…”, that’s what we do when we choose faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness from our sins, then “let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
This part means that we should be making decision that keep us walking in the Spirit (talking to Him regularly, reading his Word, memorizing it and meditating on it.) When we do this, the other things (our desires and passions) seem to “keep in step” with Him too.
Have you ever spent time meditating on these verses?
Updated 9/2023: This print is available “remastered” , customizable for your favorite Bible versions, in my shop! Come on over and have a look!
Other resources: Weight Loss Bible Study by Barb Raveling that helped me learn how to renew my mind in this area! Bible Memory is an app that has revolutionize the way my family memorizes and therefore meditates on God’s Word. Easily! And fun!
