Friday at Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte

 (After class)

Today has been quite the busy day.  Kathy and I left our room at 8:30 this morning for the convention center.  We were part of the early admission group to the Vendor Faire.  We also had a couple of errands to run on our way and when all was said and done our timing was almost perfect.  I checked my XXL rolling tote into the secure area at the convention complete with my tool kit inside.  We visited Starbucks and waiting in line for vendor faire to open.

I had two hours to shop before my first class.  Every year it seems that we find one "new to us" product that WOWs both Kathy and I.  It is funny that the same product appeals to us both each year.  This year proved to be no exception as we discovered Tami Potter mosaic page products.  We had both glanced over and past the mosaics in the past, but somehow this year was different.  We each purchased the starter kit and I used it tonight for the first time.  WOW.  You can visit Tami web site at THIS link.

The highlight of my day was meeting and having lunch with a group of ladies from the Cricut MB and the blogosphere.  I met a lovely woman Susan who has followed my blog for a while and that was such a treat.  In fact Susan and I are hoping to have lunch together again tomorrow.  The other ladies wore their circle bracelets and were all very sweet.  We did grab a group photo before we ran off to classes.

I had one great class today, Technique Tuesday, and one not so great class.  I did A LOT of damage shopping (ouch).  Kathy, Pat, Suzanne and I went to a wonderful Asian restaurant for dinner which was WONDERFUL.  We then finished the day at the Friday night crop.  Our table won a group prize and in the photo below Kathy is separating our flower pack.

I will post about Saturday after I return home. 

Charlotte CKC Scrapbook Convention - A Mini Recap

Wow - where to begin? Pat, Suzanne, "My Friend Kathy" and I rolled back into Aiken around 9:00 Saturday night, having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Charlotte at the CKC Convention.

We arrived in NC on Thursday afternoon, checked into the Hilton, ran over to the convention center and picked up our CKC registration kit, and then went for an early dinner. At 6:30 we attended a three hour class - Sketches for Scrapbooking.... though honestly I do not remember the real name of the class (and by the way, this will be an on going theme in this post). Essentially 10 different companies/vendors at the show were given sketches and were asked to create a layout and class kits based on the sketch. Over the next three hours all 10 companies presented there project and walked us through assembly of their 12 x 12 page. At the end of the evening we found out that most of the vendors had matching page kits at their booths! So cool, the first night we created the first 10 pages of 10 double page layouts!

Friday found us up and in line at the convention center for early vendor faire entry. Because we had each registered for at least four classes (okay in our cases it was 5+ classes each) we were able to get into the vendor faire an hour early. Sadly, think Disney early entry.... where many, many others qualify for early entry.

Heading toward the line:The early entry hype is part of what we enjoy. Vendors will walk the line encouraging shoppers to hit their booths; coupons and samples are dispensed... Did I mention that Starbucks is located next to the line? Think 1000 coffee hyped women waiting to scrap shop!!! A lot of the vendors have extra % off for the first 50 customers so it is important to have a shopping plan. ... Which we did!

Here we are doing that thing we do (note the $$ in Kathy's hand all set to be passed along):

The next two hours were a scrap shopper's dream..... Just about anything you could think of was available. Most of the big company vendors had their new paper lines available from CHA, as well as spellbinder new nesties, cricut products (though there was no gypsy), tools, embellies, .... you name it! The photo of the vendor faire DOES NOT show all of the booths... I couldn't fit it all in a single photo.

And this is where we do the thing we do:

Ohhhh, and guess who I met? Cricut Dan, the cricut man! Dan was just the nicest man and so informative. Almost every time I passed his booth he had a flock of women gathered around design studio and an expression machine. Gooooo Dan - the Cricut Ladies Man!!

I had two classes on Friday: an SEI class and a Quick Quotes class. SEI ALWAYS ( and I mean ALWAYS) does a great class. We always learn new techniques and they give out lots of door prizes. This was my first Quick Quotes class and I really liked the projects we created... and the instructor was fabulous. And of course for the four hours between my classes I was shopping.

Friday's haul of loot:

Saturday - okay we were getting tired. We started the day with another two hours of shopping, followed by classes again. Pat and I only had two classes on Saturday so we had more shopping time than Kathy and Suzanne. On Friday I shopped from a rough list... I was looking for a number of specific items and I found most. On Saturday I enjoyed strolling the booths and seeing what I had missed in my rush to fulfil my list. And the slower paced netted me a few unique finds as well as bargains.

Saturday's smaller haul of loot:

My Saturday classes were Basic Grey Latest and Greatest and a Technique Tuesday stamping techniques class. I love the BG class and take it every year. I liked the TT class as well.

Here we are in the Technique Tuesday class:

I realize that this is a "broad stroke" view of the convention. But I must add: if there is a CKC scrapbooking convention any where you are near, do not walk, RUN to the nearest convention.

My Bags are Packed (well nearly)....

My bags are ALMOST packed but I am READY to go... My friend Kathy, Pat, Suzanne and I are off tomorrow for the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte NC for three days of fun, classes and scrap-shopping!!!! I am currently deciding which adult beverage to pack.... I am leaning toward a bottle of red wine to help us settle down after our fun-packed days!

We have a long class/crop on Thursday evening and two classes each on Friday and Saturday. And.... I have my shopping list: Bazzill, new nesties, fabulous paper... and that one special find we manage each year!

If I have a decent Internet connection at the hotel I will keep you posted... If not, I will bring you up to date on Sunday.

The card above was a little stamped image I colored with my copics. I trimmed it out with Prima pink "Say it with Pearls". I had to add an image and this had not been posted yet!!!