I recently visited Scrapping Fun, Under The Sun which is a self-service scrapbooking retreat. This was my first experience at a self-service scrapbooking retreat, but it will not be the last! There is no hostess at this retreat, you just rent the house that is designed especially for scrapbookers, set your own schedules and do whatever your heart desires.

The owners of Scrapping Fun, Under The Sun
have put together a relaxing and inspiring get-away for fellow crafters. I didn’t realize how much a relaxing, quiet house, with just a few of my friends would get my creative juices flowing. I completed more scrapbook pages in my time at Scrapping Fun, Under the Sun than I have ever completed at any other scrapbooking retreat!

Scrappin Fun, Under the Sun is located in Michigan City, Indiana in the quaint little resort community of Beachwalk, beside Lake Michigan. When we first pulled up to the house at 209 Beachwalk Lane and saw the white picket fence and bright colors, we could tell this place was created by a scrapbooker. We were even more excited upon entering the house! Scrapbooking heaven! Every room was beautifully decorated and inspired creativity, especially the kitchen.

The living room is turned into a crop room with 8 foot tables, an otlight and cup/trash holder at each cropping space, a tool table with punches, stamps and a circuit machine with lots of cartridges. The crop room has a nice TV and DVD player as well as a Bose speaker to hook up your ipod and play your favorite tunes. Wireless internet access is also available…they thought of everything!

We were shocked to find out that every bedroom had its own bathroom! The house will easily sleep ten people with its four bedrooms. There is also a coach house in the back with two additional beds if your party is larger. My friends and I were very pleased with the comfortable beds! My sister, the clean freak, was extremely pleased because the whole place was spotless and sparkling.

There is a beautiful kitchen with a huge table and very long bar for all of your friends to sit down together for a delicious home cooked meal, or take out if you would prefer! The kitchen was decorated so creatively. We really loved the table mural and the light above the table! I had a friend with me that enjoys cooking, and she really raved about the nice spacious well stocked kitchen. The dishwasher made it a breeze to clean up. We also went out to eat a couple of times, although we had a difficult time deciding where to eat because there were so many choices in the surrounding community only minutes away. Catering is also available if you would prefer to just stay in and have meals brought to you.

By Saturday evening, one of my friends had buzzed through everything that she brought to work on. This is not typical! We really did scrap more pages than we have ever scrapped at a weekend retreat! She was worried about what she was going to do with the rest of her time at Scrappin Fun, Under The Sun, but with the beaches of Lake Michigan just minutes from the front door there were miles of sandy shores to walk. She also shopped at the Lighthouse Outlet Mall and visited the unique stores and boutiques located 10 minutes away in New Buffalo, MI. She was able to talk all of us into tagging along with her to the nearby Hobby Lobby and Joanns!

If I ever had any doubts about visiting a self-service scrapbooking retreat, they are completely gone! It was so nice to spend time with just my friends and eat whenever we wanted and whatever we wanted! Basically we rented a vacation house at the beach, accept this time we were there to scrapbook. Scrapbooking we did! I was able to complete my cruise album, with more creativity than I have had in quite a long time. I even went back and spruced up some of the layouts I had previously completed at another retreat.

My friend Amber summed it up best, “Under the Sun was a unique, relaxing scrapbook haven. I’ve never scrapped better, never slept better…and never had so much fun!”

Creativity abounds at Scrapping Fun, Under The Sun
. I can not recommend it enough! I hope to be able to visit again in the future!