My CKU experience

[Tara]

I attended CKU in CT this summer and I'm seriously considering going to the one at WDW next year. The only thing holding me back is the fact that it's in June and I really don't want to be at WDW in June (heat, crowds, BTDT).

CKU is completely and totally awesome! I didn't attend the make-and-takes on Thursday at all, and I only went out shopping to one store. I took classes each day, but I didn't spend much time at all cropping. I didn't crop on Thursday after the pep rally or on Saturday after graduation. I did crop for about an hour after the Friday night party.

Honestly, the classes were the reason I went and they were awesome! I had 3 Becky Higgins classes, 2 Stacy Julian classes (Stacy Julian actually sat with me and looked through my pregnancy book at the Fri. crop and gave me her e-mail address and a list of pages she wanted me to send her!), 2 Rhonda Solomon classes, and others that were great. I didn't have a bad class. It is well worth the money.

I also got really lucky...thanks to my sister-in-law, I only paid $49/night for my room at the Westin, and I got upgraded to Club floor, so I got to rub elbows with all the stars...we (DH and DS who was 9mo at the time went with me) had breakfast each morning in the club room with Lisa Bearnson and her husband, Stacy Julian, and on the last day with Paula Danzinger, author of the "Amber Brown" series of middle-reader books. DS had his photo taken with all the celebrities, too!

If I go to CKU at WDW, then I probably will just attend classes and not crop or go to any of the parties in the evening. That way I could still go out and see fireworks or something light. I would also plan on being there a few days either before or after so that I had time for just Disney.

If anyone has any specific questions about CKU, classes, etc., ask away!

 

[DiznEeyore]

Tara:

Thanks so much for posting your experience! It's so good to know we have a resident expert on CKU!

 

[Disney Debbie]

How much are the classes? Do you pick and choose exactly what you want?

 

[BevS97]

Which CKU were you at Tara? I've heard some reports from New England as there were a couple of UK Scrappers there.

Do you think that missing most of Thursday was a problem? I am already planning on being at WDW that weekend, but we won't be arriving until late. (Flight due in at MCO around 4.30pm)

I don't know what to do for the best - I don't want to miss out on CKU, but don't think that dashing off to a conference within minutes of landing will endear me to my husband very much.

How did you find taking your family? What did they do while you attended the conference? I was thinking of booking us all into CSR, and they could go do Disney while I did the classes, then I could see them each evening.

Bev

 

[Tara]

Bev-

Not only were there some UK scrappers at CKU-NE, there was at least one person from Australia and one person from Japan!

I don't think missing Thursday is a big deal at all. I just barely peeked in on the make-and-takes and didn't feel like I was missing anything. If you attend anything, I'd recommend going to the beginning of the pep rally. That way you at least get to see what's going on and get your freebies...but that wouldn't take much more than an hour. IIRC, the pep rally begins at 7pm.

As for my family coming along, at the Westin in CT, there wasn't much to do. DH took the baby for some walks around the "grounds" and they swam, but the hotel wasn't within walking distance of anything and so they just sort of hung out. This wouldn't be a problem at WDW since there would be lots to do at the hotel itself and other fun stuff would be just a bus ride away.

I hope this helps...if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Tara]

Debbie-
CKU is a flat-fee event and it costs $295 to attend, plus room and meals. You can take 10 classes...5 on Friday and 5 on Saturday. 4 of these classes (2 each morning) are 90 minutes each and 6 (3 each afternoon) are 60 minutes.

The process is that you register online by giving your name, address, and billing information. That is processed and once you get through the payment screen, you are allowed to choose your classes. There are usually about 30-40 classes to choose from. You pick classes one at a time and you can see how many spots are available in each class as you are choosing. (Example: Design Dynamics, 53 of 110 seats available) You can change your schedule up until about a month before the event as long as there are class openings.

I know $300 sounds like a lot of money, but for 10 classes, plus all the stuff you get, plus the cropping parties, it is an awesome value. I wouldn't bat an eyelash about spending the money again!

 

[Pammy jo]

So Tara, I have never gone to any kind of convention before but am sort of considering this. You said that you didn't do any cropping yourself at the classes. Is this common? I think I'd like to see demos and learn things, but as far a sitting down and cropping there I'm not sure that's what I want to do. Especially with having to bring all my stuff to work with. So do many people just observe or are some classes hands-on? Also, are there lots of supplies to buy there all the time? And what kind of freebies do you get? Thanks for answering. I may have more ??? as time comes closer. Like now(whoops) when do you usually need to register by? Thanks!

 

[MICKEY M0USE]

That's my question, also: do you bring all of your scrapbooking supplies with you? Or just the bare necessities, like a paper trimmer, tape and scizzors? Can you buy supplies there, or do they give away free samples and you work with those? Thanks for your help!

 

[Tara]

Pammy Jo-
No, you don't do your own cropping in classes. Some classes are lecture style, like Design Dynamics and Simple Scrapbooks. Lecture style does not equal boring, however! These were Stacy Julian's classes and they were very inspiring and completely awesome! The rest of the classes are hands-on and you work on projects from the materials they give you in class. For example, in "Welcome to Watercolors" with Rhonda Solomon, we created a 12x12 layout with a torn and watercolored photo frame, painted our own 12x12 plaid background paper, and had materials and detailed instructions for a greeting card. In "Creative Cards" we did 3 different cards...Becky's classes are really great because it's a good mix of seeing examples on a slide show, then stopping every once in a while to make a card.

There is a cropping party each night...I did almost none of this, mainly because I was tired and wanted to spend time in the evenings with DH and DS.

Freebies: you get a lot of stuff...I'll be going by memory here, but we got at registration a Cropper Hopper supply case with different adhesives, MAMBI abc stickers, die cuts, a mechanical pencil, a black gel pen, undu, cardstock, patterned paper, a chalk pencil, etc.

At each class you get something...some of the standouts are a couple of chalk pencils, a Provo Craft bitty album and bitty pad of paper, 8 jars of radiant pearls paints and a stipple brush, lots of buttons, jewels and brads, rolls of Mrs. Grossman's border stickers, bundles of Twistel, etc.

Supplies to buy: At CKU-NE, they had a "school store" sponsored by Lighthouse Memories (I think) because there isn't a lot of local scrapbook shopping. I don't think this has been the case at other CKUs...they have "store tours" and most stores offer shuttles that you can take to do shopping. They ran out of stuff like white and black cardstock pretty quickly.

Mickey Mouse:

What to bring: your favorite adhesive and cutting tools, anything you need to make pages you already have planned, any other scrap tool you can't live without. I brought a Cropper Hopper paper keeper with some favorite papers and a small tote with x-acto knife, ruler, scissors, adhesive, some favorite coloring pencils, black pens with different sized tips, and a container with assorted embellishments. I did one page. That's it! If I had wanted to do more, I couldn't have done much with what I'd been given as freebies...I'm very picky and a lot of the free stuff wasn't my style...I gave a lot of my freebies away, actually! Basically, if you can't scrap without it, bring it.

Registration: you can check the CKU website (go to the CK site and look at the left for CKU), but registration is about 90 days before the actual event.

Hope this helps...ask away as the time comes...I hope my experience can help!

 

[Valerie3kids]

Thanks so much for posting your info. A friend and I already have reservations for the Coronado next June. We are already excited!

Thanks again
Valerie