Lonesome Dove? No, it's a Saturated Canary.

Copic colors used:  skin- E00, E000, R20, E11 hair- C7, C5, C3, C1 eyes- YG67, YG41 dress/flowers- R59, R29, R24, R22, R20 halo/dot background- BV01, BV000, BV0000, V0000

Hey, all!  Did you have as good a weekend as I had?  I hope so!  My good friend, Shay (hey, girl!) took me on a crafty getaway to a retreat at Fort Lone Tree near Capitan, NM.  It was a blast!  I met lots of new friends, ate some great food, chit chatted up a storm, and was able to color a few images and turn them into cards.  It was fabulous!  I took a few pics when I remembered to:

This is what greeted us as we arrived.  Only in New Mexico can you find a sky that beautiful.

Our view from the fort.  Pretty outstanding if you ask me.

So flippin' cool!  Looks like we're the early birds!

This building is the Dining Hall.  The Dining Hall and I would become very well acquainted  before the weekend was over.  

The crafter's start arriving and unloading their supplies.

Our room is the one upstairs and to the left.  

All the space anyone could ever want.  Yep, that's a massage chair in the middle and it stayed occupied the entire time. I wonder who the masseuse goes to for a massage?

My happy space was at the back table on the left side.  You can see my buddy, Shay, working away.

We drove in on Thursday, arriving in Carrizozo around lunchtime.  Always guided by our stomachs, we spent a bit of time driving around this tiny town in search of a place to nosh.  Just when we thought we were going to have to throw in the towel, we ended up at the very intersection that we first arrived and low and behold, a humble diner sat on the corner.  We were skeptical at first, but were surprised when a couple of tasty cheeseburgers arrived at our table to quell our appetites.  This would be just the right amount of sustenance needed to see us through to the end of our journey, which ended up only entailing about 25 more miles of travel distance.  And guess what, in Capitan there's a cute little diner on practically every corner.  Who knew?

We arrived at Fort Lone Tree roughly 30 minutes later and were greeted by expansive blue skies that created an impressive backdrop for a series of lovley log cabin-like buildings.  A beautiful setting, indeed.  Our room consisted of bunkbeds designed to sleep 10, but since there were only 4 of us, there was plenty of space to spread out and make ourselves comfy.  Fort Lone Tree is primarily used by kids and teens during the Summer months, so beds and showers were a little on the snug side for this plus-sized body, but I tell you what...I slept like a baby the whole time I was there.

After we had settled into our room, we moved onto the even more important task of setting up our crafting space.  When I packed for this trip, I was certain I was taking too much stuff.  I felt like a hoarder with a mobile transport unit.  This feeling changed immediately when I spied the stashes of the arriving groups.  Have you heard the phrase "She who dies with the most craft stuff, wins."  Well, some of these ladies were neck and neck for first place.  I was a bit jealous to say the least.  Extra tables were unloaded to support laptops, cricuts, Cameos, sewing machines, etc.  Impressive!  

A tinkling of a bell called us to dinner and over the course of the weekend we would develop a Pavlovian response every time that lilting jingle summoned us.  I set my expectations on the low side, this was, after all, a camp that catered to a younger clientele with a simpler palette.  Boy, was I wrong!  The meals were diverse consisting of steak, grilled chicken, shrimp skewers, BBQ ribs, and an abundant brunch bringing it all to a close on Sunday.  Myself having more than one sweet tooth, I felt the star of the show was dessert, one night apple crisp a la mode, the next, a superior key lime pie complete with merengue...delicious.

Other trip highlights included lots of laughs with new friends, hours of creativity, and a hysterical zip line adventure for Shay.  I did not participate in the zip line event other than to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground filming the whole hilarious episode with my iPhone.  I fully intend to blackmail her with it.  I don't know if you've ever heard of a teensy little video site called You Tube, have ya?  LOL!  Kidding.  I would never...or would I? ;)

Anyway, I managed to do a little coloring and card making in between laughing, chatting, and feasting.    The card above features Isabella from Saturated Canary and she was a blast to color.  I tried to convert some folks to Copics while I was there, but it turns out we all have our own form of crafty crack we're addicted to whether it's fabric, yarn, paints, paper, Copics or all of the above.  However, I know if just one person caves and buys even one itty bitty marker, within 6-months they'll be drinking that rainbow hued elixir of the Coloring Gods straight from their Various Ink refill bottles, and I will have done my job ;)  Completely evil, I know.

And with that, I bid you good night!  Until next time, stay crafty!