Reiki treatments at the Thousand Islands Retreat

This is a first for the East retreat, but I am excited to announce we will have Reiki treatments given by the lovely Stephanie Farrell!!  She will also be attending the retreat so you will really get to know her  philosophies and beliefs.

Stephanie Farrell

REIKI – THE PEACEFUL WAY TO HEALTH AND RELAXATION

Stephanie is a registered student member of the Canadian Reiki Association, currently completing her practicum to become a registered practitioner.

April East Retreat – Soldering 101

All of the information is up for our East retreat happening April 9-12th.

I just wanted to let you know about one of the amazing classes we will be having at the retreat:

Soldering 101

Learn the basics of soldering your own jewelry.

Instructor Mary Heinrich Aloi, owner & shopkeeper of Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace in Burlington, VT,  will walk you through learning how to make pendants with two pieces of glass, silver solder and any graphic design that you love in between.   You will bring home a finished pendant.

It will open up a whole new world for  you!

Soldering 101

Mary Heinrich Aloi, the owner & shopkeeper of the gorgeous Vintage Inspired Lifestyle Marketplace on Flynn Avenue in Burlington, Vermont has been involved with antiques, art and crafts for over 25 years.  She has taught classes in various forms since her marketplace in Burlington’s South End Arts District opened in November 2011.  She loves working and living in the same neighborhood where she grew up.  She is the sweetest thing ever and I am super excited to have her come visit up here for once.  For more information on Mary, check out her website HERE!

Post Op – Beyoutiful Souls East Retreat

Last weekend was our first ever East retreat held in little ole Aylmer, Quebec.  There were tons of things to do to prepare for this fun filled weekend but it was all worth it.  Gateau Neo even put some little butterflies on all the cupcakes.

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The adorable Stephanie from New Leaf Wellness was first up on Friday night to give us a reminder to “BE HERE NOW” and how important loving ourselves is.

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After our talk it was time for some tea, treats and decoupage to get ready for our weekend of creating.

Here is Brittany looking for some awesome images.

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Saturday morning’s body movement class was orchestrated by Jen Boyes-Manseau (her website is in the works).  So great that I was able to capture her excitement to be sharing National Women’s Day with a group of creative women.

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She warmed everyone up through this sacred circle dance and I think everyone was a little apprehensive at first but ended up really enjoying it.  (Isn’t the old stage beautiful?)

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Leila and my daughter Milah hanging out after the dance having a chat with the group.

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Not sure who took this photo with my camera or that I even noticed it was taken but I decided to work on a painting I have had in progress for months trying to get past the ugly stage, haha.

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We also had the lovely and talented Andrea Warren come by on Saturday afternoon to give a little image transfer lesson and share some Golden goodies with us.

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Look at all the fun stuff on the table.

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Unfortunately Natalie couldn’t join us for the entire weekend as she has a baby at home but was able to come for this one class.

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Nat playing with some products.

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Making our leather bracelets as a keepsake for the weekend.

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I asked the girls to share their favourite pieces from the weekend and one of Brittany’s was her bracelet.

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Jen had two and one was the canvas she created in the image transfer class, so pretty!  She was also our resident masseuse for the weekend so I am sure everyone appreciated greatly.

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Kathy with her cool tree of life.

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Eliza liked the way the front and back covers of her art journal turned out.

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Sarah’s first time doing mixed media and just took to it like moth to a flame.  She didn’t even want to stop to eat.  Check out how amazing her mermaid piece turned out.

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One of Jackie’s favourite’s ended up being one she hated earlier in the day.  So important to keep working past the ugly, haha.

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This was Brittany’s other favourite.  Amazing quote, I think I will be using that one for my next art journal page.

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This is what our spray table looked like part way through.  It was so pretty Sarah asked to take it home.  No doubt to use in her art.

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There were pretty cool paintings scattered throughout the entire venue but by far my favourite was the series of plump characters that were displayed in the dining room.

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Cameras were set on a timer so we could all get in (except for Milah and Leila who were off minding the store for me)  This photo kind of makes me sad as it signified the end of the retreat and back to reality.

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Who’s in for next weekend???  Haha, kidding.  I am, however, already planning for the fall retreat, probably October.  I am thinking more, cabin in the woods perhaps, so it feels even more like a vacation.  If I can find the right spot.

Thanks for an amazing time ladies!!  It was great getting to know you all that much more!

Sacred Circle Dance for East Retreat

In honour of International Women’s Day Jen Boyes-Manseau will offer an introduction to Sacred Circle Dance on the Saturday morning of the retreat.  Absolutely no dance experience is required for this fun, delicious and accessible practice of embodied creativity.

Jen

“On International Women’s Day let’s explore and celebrate the feminine in ourselves and in the world.  We are strong and rooted and yet as supple and flexible as a willow branch bowing down to the river.

We are strong, powerful, serious and supportive as well as vulnerable, gentle, giddy and in need of support.  Together let’s weave a moving circle, and explore a range of simple dances — ancient and new — that help us in our journey to piece together an ancient knowing of what the feminine is, how we experience it in ourselves, and what it contributes to our world.”

 A LITTLE BIT ABOUT JEN…

At the root of all my work, as celebrant, educator, facilitator, doula, sacred arts practitioner and mother, is a strong desire to reinvent the role and purpose of the arts, and to explore its potential to encourage balance, healing and transformation.  Our technocratic, info loaded, capitalistic society holds certain assumptions -­‐   more and bigger is better, we know because we have studied it with our mind, read a scientific study on the topic or googled it, and the non-­‐artists of the world should leave creativity and artistic expression to the professional artists. For me, art and the practice of creativity is a way of life, a way to search for meaning and explore what it means to be human.  It is a cord in my instrument that I must pluck each day or wither.  Does this make me an artist?  Perhaps.  I would say that it makes me a human being creatively engaged in the art of living.

Andrea Warren to teach at East Retreat

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I am super excited to introduce you to our guest instructor Andrea Warren.  She is a painter and mixed media artist based out of Ottawa, Ontario and is a Working Artist for Golden Artist Colours.

Andrea will be coming by on the Saturday afternoon of the art retreat to teach a photo transfer technique.  Using a variety of decorative papers and recycled materials- and of course, a wide variety of Golden paints, gels and molding pastes – delve into the intriguing world of collage and transfer and create your own self-portraits! Learn the simple and easy process of getting your photographs onto canvas and into your art journals by using the acrylic transfer technique, and rip, cut, layer, stain, pour, paste, and stencil your way into two finished mixed media pieces.

Guest Speaker for East Retreat Announced!

Stephanie

Stephanie Forgues is a Holistic Health Practitioner from New Leaf Wellness with a passion for living well. Her philosophy is that most disease comes from a lockdown of emotional turmoil within us. Freeing your soul of emotional baggage will remove physical symptoms of illness and pain, bring you enlightenment and inner peace and allow your wellness to shine.

New Leaf Wellness’ mission is to empower you with the tools to live your authentic life, happy and healthy.  Which is something we believe in wholeheartedly at BeYoutiful Souls.  So, we invited Stephanie to come guide us through an Empowering Self-Love Workshop on Friday night, (March 7, 2014, at The East retreat) where she will help you to allow yourself to love and be loved.

Post Op – West October Retreat

This has been a long time coming but with it being cold outside we thought you might need a bit of sunshine in your life so figured it was about time to share our amazing West October retreat.

It was held out in the beautiful Alberta countryside just outside of Red Deer.

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 Preparing the goodie bags.

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Little gifts and reminders for our guests.

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Some supplies just begging to be messed up and used.

 The hostesses, Renee and Lauren in front of one of many inspiration banners.

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 The retreat could not have happened without Lauren’s mom Rosemary and aunt Bonnie.  Rosemary did all of the delicious cooking for everyone over the weekend and Bonnie helped with set up and clean up.  Such troopers.

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 So great to share all of our meals together as it gave us a chance to really get to know each other.

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Plus the desserts were out of this world.

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 Friday night we had the pleasure of an inspirational talk from Kelly Tibbets, which made us start the weekend from a place of truth and showed up in everyone’s art.

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A little stretching and pilates led by the wonderful Raena Waddell.

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Lauren doing her thang.

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Our mother daughter duo, Sherry and Gyle, working together.

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The adorable Heidi with her pig tails (and awesome stories).

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Lori hard at play.  She was determined to get as much art time in as possible since she doesn’t get much at home.

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The lovely Jodi who brought us some amazing chai tea she makes herself.

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Renee teaching some stamp carving.  Love how everyone just dug in and tried everything even if it was completely foreign to them.

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Our sister duo, Heather and Stephanie who kept coming in unintentionally dressed alike, so cute!!

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 Bonnie, self proclaimed first timer, working on her journal.

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 A bit of our décor.West October Retreat28

 Getting in some jewelry making on movie night while watching Mama Mia which had a bit of a cult following that we weren’t aware of, hahaha.

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Our last morning.  Lauren is happy here but we all quickly turned quite sad as it was all coming to an end.

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It was so hard to pack up and leave this place after meeting so many outstanding women and having such a great time relaxing and getting our art on, completely uninterrupted.  Such cherished memories.

Luckily in March, some of us will get to do it all again at the East Retreat outside of Ottawa.