Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Sign up for Tesoro del Corazon!

 It's time to sign up for our annual retreat in the beautiful city of San Miguel de Allende. Here are all the details and our workshop. Email Marjorie for details and sign up 

October 28 - November 5, 2024

 tesorocorazonretreats@gmail.com

The Book of Everything is a place to paint, a place to collage, a place to draw, stitch, and record our journey together in San Miguel de Allende. 

Our handmade metal covers will be adorned with beads, creating a colorful image to entice the viewer. 


We have a plethora of techniques to teach in creating your book of Everything: Beaded mosaics on the cover. Double coptic stitch to bring the signatures together. Contemporary watercolor techniques. New methods of transfers and collage and layering. Unique drawing and portraiture exercises. 


This is so much more that a journal. Its a work of Art. It is…Everything

click on the video below for a look at our project this year. 








Art Retreat cost per person is $3300 based on double occupancy. All rooms are non-smoking .
Single supplement $700 (limited single rooms available.) *
*If no single rooms are available at the time of your request are you willing to share a room? Y or N
Deposit due to confirm reservation is $550.

Participants MUST be in good physical condition and able to walk on cobblestone streets and climb stairs unassisted - see waiver below.
Retreat price includes:

Lodging at Casa de La Noche for 8 nights, October 28 - November 5, 2023
Full breakfast daily
Freshly prepared lunch included on workshop days
Four workshop days, space limited to maximum of 30 participants, 10 per class. Local excursions

Welcoming Party Farewell Dinner

Airfare is not included; Queretaro (QRO) and Leon (BJX) are the nearest airports. Airport transfers to and from the hotel are the responsibility of each participant . Casa de la Noche requires the use of shuttle service BajioGo , www.bajiogo.com and will coordinate the arrangements directly with you.
Trip insurance is
required for your protection and may be purchased at www.insuremytrip.com, Alianz Travel at alianztravelinsurance.com, or an insurance carrier of your choice. Note: Alianz offers an annual protection plan as well as individual trip insurance.

Payment and Cancellation Policy:

$250 non-refundable fee for cancellation prior to June 30, 2024
$550 deposit will be forfeited for cancellation after June 30, 2024 and before August 30, 2024 Payment of $1,375 due by July 1, 2023 and $1,375 final payment due by August 30, 2024
No refunds (unless we are able to fill your space) after August 30, 2024


Monday, February 12, 2024

Tesoro del Corazon 2024!


Announcing our 2024 Tesoro del Corazon Retreat

Tesorocorazonretreats@gmail.com





We are looking forward to seeing you this Year in October

Our Dates for 2024  are October 28 to November 5

we will launch later this month on February 24th

..so exciting! 

Hola future and past travelers! Our 2023 retreat was an amazing success with creativity in abundance. Laughter and joy was the theme.


Your instructors: Helen Shafer Garcia at henstudio.com,
Lynn McRae Leahy at Lynnleahy.com,        Katherine England at katherineengland.com
Retreat Manager: Marjorie Love






Thursday, March 2, 2023

Announcing our 2023 Tesoro del Corazon Retreat!

 We are rocking it and ready to introduce our 2023 San Miguel de Allende Retreat!

October 30 -November 7, 2023


Katherine England, Helen Shafer Garcia, Lynn Leahy and Marjorie Love, Present:

Chimera

 - creating a blend of mythical animals that symbolize desires and dreams

Registration Is Open!

contact Marjorie Love for registration and further details.

tesorocorazonretreats@gmail.com




At over 20 inches high this is a spectacular art piece. Sculpt,draw,paint and stitch with 
Lynn Leahy, Helen Shafer Garcia and Katherine England for this one of kind experience.

Retreat cost per person is $3250 based on double occupancy. 

All rooms are non-smoking .

Single supplement $700 (limited single rooms available.) 
Deposit due to confirm reservation $500.
Participants MUST be in good physical condition and able to walk on cobblestone streets and climb stairs. 

Retreat price includes:

Lodging at Casa de La Noche for 8 nights, October 30 - November 7, 2023.
Full breakfast daily
Freshly prepared lunch included on workshop days
Four workshop days, space limited to maximum of 30 participants, 10 per class. Local excursions

 Welcoming Party

Farewell Dinner


Airfare is not included Airport transfers to and from the hotel are the responsibility of each participant. 
 Queretaro (QRO) and Leon (BJX) are the nearest airports.  



Wednesday, November 16, 2022

A New Journey begins

We are back home from our 2022 retreat happy and tired and already scheming for next year’s project!    



As some of you already know, Laurie Mika and Leslie Harris have officially retired from our retreat.  
                                          

 Laurie and Helen brainstormed this idea around 13 years ago with the idea of a collaborative project driven workshop designed by Laurie. Brilliant! Lynn Leahy came on board as our partner and off we went. Leslie came aboard our second year as our extraordinary organizer. What a journey it has been! 


We are forever grateful for Laurie and Leslie's kindness, caring, joyful attitudes and love. One of our students described our relationships as one of respect. Respect for each other’s ideas and thoughts. Our brainstorm meetings were wild and exciting at times and filled with creativity. We will mostly miss Laurie’s creative and fascinating vibes and Leslie’s “mom” comments, bringing us back to the reality of organizing and timelines! 




Great News!  Lynn Leahy and Helen Shafer Garcia are continuing our art retreat with two extraordinary gals. Our new partners are Katherine England and Marjorie Love. 

                                                       



Katherine England has been our guest artist and friend over many years, bringing amazing talents. Mosaics, beading, sculpture, and journaling are just a few. Katherine is an extraordinary teacher and we are pleased  to have her as a partner. She will astound you with her skills!



Marjorie Love is our new partner/ organizer. Her valuable skills for directing and organizing from her administrative career (she’s retired!) will be perfect for this bunch of artists.  We are so looking forward to her fabulous spread sheets filled with info! 



So, without further adieu……we will be announcing our new project early January 2023 and registration will begin soon after! 


Our dates for the 2023 retreat 

October 30 through November 7th. 

Look for more information coming soon

Be sure to send an email to us to be added for our news and information.


Monday, July 25, 2022

Room for one more!

 Hello Tesoro artists!

We just had a cancelation so there is room for one more! Send out the info to your art buddies and friends. This is a great opportunity to fulfill all of those creative adventures you've thought about. We are all so excited to return to this incredible city of color, lights, and art. 

Contact Leslie at tesorocorazonretreats@ gmail.com. to sign up! 






Thursday, February 10, 2022

Tesoro del Corazon 2022

 Lynn Leahy, Laurie Mika, Helen Shafer Garcia and Leslie Harris are very excited to announce  our 2022 retreat to San Miguel de Allende! 


October 30 to November 7


Totem de los Pajaritos

Totem of the little Birds

Our guest artist this year will be the amazing and talented 

Katherine England


Registration information will be coming soon via email. 











Tuesday, February 16, 2021

2021 San Miguel de Allende retreat update

 Greetings to all, we know it has been a long time since we have posted anything here and we hope this note finds you all well. Hard to believe it has been a year since we first heard the words coronavirus. Not sure anyone would have imagined that a year later we would still be dealing with the repercussions of Covid-19.  

Our Tesoro group recently had a Zoom conference to discuss the possibility of holding our 2021 retreat this fall. Regrettably, with all the uncertainty about travel restrictions (especially in Mexico), the new variants and vaccine shortages, we made the decision to hold off once again until 2022. Your safety is a top priority to us and at this point there are just too many unknowns that preclude us from rescheduling this year's event. 

Stay well and stay creative! 

Leslie, Laurie, Lynn and Helen



Monday, April 20, 2020

Tesoro Del Corazon 2020 retreat postponed....

Dear Friends,
We are very sorry to have made the very difficult decision to cancel this year's retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  Due to the continued uncertainty regarding the pandemic, we felt it was in the best interest of all concerned to postpone our 10th year anniversary retreat in San Miguel until October 2021 when hopefully our lives will be back to normal (whatever that is!)
In the meantime, stay safe and create!
Warmest regards and again our apologies,
The Tesoro gang

Friday, February 21, 2020

Tesoro del Corazon 2020!

It's getting to be that time of year again when we will be soon opening up registration for our special 10th anniversary mixed media art retreat in San Miguel de Allende. We are very pleased to announce that our guest artist this year is renowned sculptor, Kirsten Stingle

 This is just a little preview of what is to come as Kirsten will be adding her unique touches to our little birds totem....
Keep an eagle eye out as Leslie will be sending out an email with registration information in early March.....looking forward to another GREAT year in San Miguel.

Friday, January 24, 2020

Welcome to 2020!

Hi friends,
It has been awhile since we have posted here.....since our last fabulous retreat in Oct. We had such a great time but now that we are into the new year, we are planning our 10th year of Tesoro Corazon's retreats in San Miguel de Allende, hard to believe really. With the exception of our one year in Santa Fe, the other 8 years have been at our "home" in Mexico.  We are looking forward to our 10th anniversary and have been working on our project. Here is a little teaser of Totém de los Pajaritos- Totem of the little birds! We have our incredible guest artist selected....and will reveal that soon! (As well as pics of the completed totem!) This will be a super fun project as the totem pieces will be able to spin on the the center rod.




I have to say after 10 years of working together, brainstorming and problem solving, I can say we truly make a great team who all get along!


Ok, we will be posting more information soon with registration dates, etc.....stay tuned!

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Tesoro del Corazón 2019

Another awesome retreat year! We had such a great time with you all! San Miguel de Allende is such a beautiful town...San Miguel was just named as having one of the most beautiful streets in the world by Architectural Digest.

We know and love this town of cobble streets, colors abound, festivities day by day and beautiful nights overlooking the city's magical lights. Perhaps next year you'll be able to join us.

Be sure and sign up for our email list so that you'll get an email for 2020 registration dates.

Happy Holidays to you all!
Hugs from Helen, Laurie, Lynn, Leslie and our very special guest Elitia!



















Tuesday, February 12, 2019

2019 Retreat Update

Hi there,
We are excited to say that our 2019 retreat sold out in record time within the first week! A few questions have arisen as to why some people received a registration email and others didn't and we wanted to explain the process as we know how disappointing it is when you are really looking forward to attending, so just wanted to clear up some confusion about lists for our retreat.

Every year you need to contact Leslie if you would like to be put on our "interest" list for the following year even if you have attended our retreat one or more times as people's availability/interest changes from year to year. This is not a wait list where your name moves up over time because every year Les sends out an email to everyone at the same time who has expressed an interest in going....and then rooms are allocated based on receipt of deposit and room availability....which is tricky trying to place 30 people in a variety of room configurations! Of course, we would LOVE to be able to have everyone join us each year if that were possible and I know Les feels horrible having to return checks when the retreat sells out as quickly as it did this year. The only time there is a waitlist is when the retreat sells out and people would like to be considered for possible last minute cancellations. 

We all thank you so much for your continued support and understanding!!
The Tesoro Gang 


Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Tesoro Del Corazon 2019 presents........

We are very happy to announce our guest artist and to reveal our project for this year's retreat in San Miguel de Allende, (October 28-Nov. 5th) This year, 2019, marks our 9th year that our group, Tesoro del Corazon, has been offering retreats in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. How quickly the time has passed!



Our project this year is called "Tesoros Y Curiosidades", (Treasures and Curiosities) and is a nature inspired house-shaped box that speaks to our mutual love for collecting and displaying small objects.  However, there are plenty of directions that students can take to follow their hearts in creating a unique box. These boxes can be hung on the wall or displayed on an easel/plate stand. They measure 9 x 16 inches.



Lynn will once again be sculpting with paper clay, breaking down the process in a way that makes it truly successful for students. Helen will be sharing techniques for creating a beautifully bound nature journal while Laurie uses polymer clay and transfers to create decorative front panels and also uses molds to fashion an object to place in the box.

And drum roll......

We are happy and so very pleased to announce that Elitia Hart will once again be joining us as our guest artist this year. Elitia, who is a Canadian metal repousee artist, shares her fabulous techniques for embossing pewter. She will be creating the roof section and also the side panels that will add a beautiful and rich detail  to our curiosity boxes. Students raved the last time Elitia joined us in Mexico as she is a fabulous instructor, a talented metal artist and just about the kindest person you will ever meet. 

We know this is going to be another great year. Hope you can join us! Our retreat coordinator, Leslie Harris, will be sending out registration information on February 1st.....so stay tuned! If you are interested in attending and haven't contacted Leslie yet to be put on our interest list, you may email her at tesorocorazonretreats@gmail.com.















Sunday, January 6, 2019

Tesoro 2018-It's a Wrap!

First off Happy New Year! Hard to believe another year has come and gone......
Our 2018 retreat was wonderful....such a wonderful group of creative folks who did amazing work!



 This year's project, The Dreamer, incorporated many techniques including sculpting with paper clay, and while most people were a bit nervous about this, their fears quickly dissolved as Lynn guided them through the sculpting process that led to these incredible and unique heads!

Julie Haymaker, our guest artist this past year, was a perfect addition to our group teaching students the fun technique of using shrink plastic and molds to create beautiful and functional collars for our Dreamers, that also doubled as bracelets. Very inventive....and cool!

 Students in Helen's class carved the most fabulous stamps to adorn the sides of their boxes while Laurie's class focused on painting the colorful legs with a bit of polymer and fiber added into the mix.

Being in San Miguel during Day of the Dead is an incredible experience that amazes us each and every time we are there. It is never the same which keeps us coming back year after year. Next year will be our 9th year returning to this charming town.
So now that the new year is upon us, we have already had our first meeting to discuss next year's retreat.....details to follow!!! We plan to open registration in mid-February and will release information prior to that about our guest artist and our 2019 project! Stay tuned!