Oh, Linda, twist my arm!
Turns out that I worked on Friday in the Nordstrom Court. When I worked the event in the past, I was in the event center, where it is much less chaotic and easier to hear instructions. But it is what it is! There were about 32 student spots.
The first class was from Inky Antics. They're the company that manufactures the honeypop paper, which is a honey comb paper that you can cut into shapes that make 3-D cards, and Gamsol, which is a blending medium. Cute stuff, not my cup of tea, but cardmakers would love it.
Next up was Creative Imaginations Life Album. The paper is amazing! Here's the link to the class:
http://www.scrapfest11.com/classdetail.asp?id=23
The paper is called the Sakura collection and would be beautiful for World Showcase Epcot pages. I really liked the instructor, organized, easy to understand, everything is going great to this point. They did two classes in a row.
Then came Liz Kartchner...Dear Lizzy. So scattered, disorganized, poor directions, but a scrapbook celeb. Joining her were Amy Tan (Amy Tangerine) and then Becky Higgins shows up! Crazy! Becky was teaching her Project Life class over at another convention and came by to say hello. Liz had NO samples to show everyone, and basically the staff had to instruct the class on a one-on-one basis - can I tell you how many times I had to say "that piece is cut at 10 by 7 1/2"? The Dear Lizzy line is much prettier in person that it is on-line, and it would be a great line for baby girls or girlie pages - the class was titled Pinwheels, Petals and Pearls. Yes, we had to teach everyone how to do a pinwheel. If anyone would like any instruction, give me a call, I can now do it in my sleep!
Next up was Basic Grey - Kelly was the instructor and she was awesome. She used the Back to School collection, which is wonderful, and would make terrific boy pages. Really a fun class to help with!
Lily Bee Designs did two classes - and those were pretty much train wrecks. The woman who owns Lily Bee designs had a baby the day of the class, so she sent her friend, who was a scrapbooker, and realized that the pages that were put together were not practical at all and were not kitted up properly. So we had to run hither and yon trying to find enough white paper and other stuff to make sure we had enough to run the class. Apparently what had happened is that designer did not consult any scrapbookers before she put the pages together, so the cuts were all messed up...and there were no samples. Anyway...yeah, didn't enjoy that. Did I mention that she taught two classes??
Next was the WeRMemory Keepers Sew Easy class. Earlier in the day, the instructor had come down looking for her booth materials so she could do here make and take and could not find them. Sometime over the course of the day, I found the box and did the 1 mile circuit around the mall to find her and get her the materials. By the time the class rolled around we were old friends.
This class was the most tool and supply intense class. There were about a million things to put out on the tables. They did 3 or 4 different fall-themed cards which were cute cute, and each card used a different sewing head for the sew easy. BTW, it ain't sew easy, but with practice it gets better.
The final class of the day was also WeRMemory Keepers, using their Cinch machine. Really, you need a machine for that? Turns out that the box where I found the make and take supplies was also supposed to have a Cinch machine in it, but the box had a big hole in it and the machine was missing! A $109 machine! Needless to say, the reps were not happy. Anyway, the class made a really cute mexican themed recipe book and bound it all together. Thankfully, there were only 24 student in that class, so the remaining 3 Cinch machines did not put a strain on the class. And there were really WeRMemory Keeper staff members to help work that machine, all we had to do was sweep up. Yay for organization!
Just to give you a flavor for these classes, they are 45 minutes long and start on the hour. In the 15 minutes between classes, you have to clean up the mess, sort the supplies from the class and set up for the next class. Thankfully, the class kits are usually complete and fairly well organized, so all you have to do is hand them out along with the evaluation forms. There is also some sort of tools on the tables, or paint, or something that you need to make the kits that may be too expensive or too hard to kit up. There is usually the expectation of a kit containing materials for 3 or 4 cards or 3 - 12 by 12 scrapbook pages. Nothing is ever completed by the end of the class, there is just too much to do even if the parts of the pages have been pre-cut. You usually get much more than you paid for - which is good since most of the classes are $25 - and then there are door prized handed out throughout the class. Some companies are more generous than others.
That ends the instruction/working part of Scrapfest. Part two will be the stand-in-line as a civilian part of scrapfest!
