Holy Scrap!

My Youngest Daughter has this great love of scrapbooking. I've always felt like I have enough hobbies and, therefore, enough hobby supplies in my house and garage. But a few years ago, when the Recollections stores were still open, she sucked me into a 4-hour class because it was for a Christmas album. I whined all the way there, cried while I paid for the class and bought some tools, then grumpily sat down to work ... and 4 hours later, they literally had to throw me out. No, please don't make me go - I'm having too much fun! It was ridiculous how fast the time went and what a great time I had.

So since then, she's asked me to attend some scrapbooking conventions, which are always fun, and yesterday we went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Mesa, Arizona. We had not pre-registered for classes online, so we headed out at 7 am. A couple of the classes we wanted were sold out, but we still signed up for 5 classes that looked great:

• The Six Degrees of Stamping - Paper Crafts
• Tool Time - Paper Crafts
• Scrap on a Dime - Keller's Creations
• Everything About This Class Pops! - SEI
• Clearly Creative Acrylic - Storyteller's Club

This cute T-shirt was for sale at the Registration Desk ...

The supplies for our Tool Time class ...

In every class they draw for door prizes. The very last prize in the Tool Time class was Card Creations Magazine, which I had seen in a craft catalog and picked up at two different stores, then put back. It's only $15, but I am a magazine and book junkie and I've been trying to cut back. So I tell YD, "That's the magazine I showed you, the one I want so bad" ... and they called my name. I was so happy!

We finished three classes, then had lunch outside. It was a beautiful overcast day. We've already had our first 90 degree day in Phoenix, but the cloud cover made it perfect. Here's our $10 lunch ...

We wandered through the Vendor Faire, which is complete sensory overload of all the amazing scrapbooking products you can buy. I picked up a couple of sheets of quotes printed on vellum from Keller's Creations. YD did a Make & Take, which is a mini project that you just plop down and make right there in particular vendors' booths, then take with you.

The Everything Pops class was great. We made several different styles of pop-up cards and I think this was my favorite class of the day. And I won another door prize, a tube of buttons. Talk about feeling guilty ... YD didn't win a thing at this convention. Although, the last time we went, I won a book about organizing your scrapbooking space (which I gave to her anyway) and she won ... are you ready for this ... a Canon printer/scanner! The latest model with all the bells and whistles. That was amazing!

Here's a picture of part of the room in our last class of the day, Clearly Creative Acrylic. We put together a mini album made of acrylic - all the pages are see through.

The instructor for this class was *gasp* a man! He started off by saying, "Yes, I am a male instructor. And, yes, I am straight. In fact, I need a date for tonight." He was very cute and did a very good job ... for a man!

We got home around 6 pm so that was a looooooong 11-hour day. Lots of fun - we were exhausted! Here are all of the projects I actually made in the classes ...

... and the kits they gave us in each class will make so much more. If you get a chance to attend one of these conventions, please do. Especially with a friend ... or a daughter ... or a daughter who's your friend!

And here's what we looked like after all day ...

This photo was kindly taken by a lady in line with us who moved as the shutter was snapping. :-D