CKU was just awesome!!! Need I say more??? Okay, I'll go on...
I only went to one of the stores in the area, on Wednesday evening. I really wasn't planning to do any shopping because I have so much at home already. But we were in the store for over an hour so how could I resist. We left before any of the "stars" arrived, though, to go get some dinner.
CKU officially started on Thursday morning with registration and make-n-takes. The line waiting for registration to open was wrapped around and super long, so my roommate and I headed to breakfast instead. There was still a line when got back but much shorter. They gave us a cropper-hopper box filled with supplies and a canvas bag.
I got through about 15-16 of the make-n-takes, out of about 40. I think that was pretty good considering some people only got about 7 or 8 done. The lines for the more popular products were super long so I went to the others instead. Granted, many of the projects I did were lame. But some of them were cool. I did wait in line for a few - Making Memories where we made mini tag books and 7 Gypsies where we made albums.
My dorm - the Gypsy Chicks - performed at the Tailgate Party, along with 2 other dorms, on Thursday night. We actually won 1st place, by a vote of cheers and clapping. Thankfully I didn't sing. I just jumped and danced around in the back while the few in our dorm that could carry a tune sang our song. The prize they gave was pretty lame - paper and stickers from Bo Bunny Press - but that wasn't really the point was it?
I had 10 fantastic classes, some of course better than others but still all good. I'm having a hard time deciding which was my favorite. I absolutely loved
Exercise Your Options with Stacy Julian. She was so energetic and showed how to use those photos that aren't the greatest and still get a good layout. Another great class was
Designing, BH Style with Becky Higgins. In that class we started worked on a 6x6 album, got about 6 of the 10 pages done in class. I loved learning how to use a few different cardstocks and patterned papers to create a complete album. I had two classes with Lisa Bearnson,
All About Me and
Quotable Quotes. I really enjoyed both of them. I especially loved meeting and talking with Lisa B. She is so friendly and makes it easy to feel like you've known her forever. Of all my classes, I liked
Today's Traditions for Tomorrow's Scrapbooks the least. It was a good class and I liked the instructor, but I realized Anna Griffin products are not my style. And the project we did, although neat, I doubt I'll ever repeat or use. (It was a woven heart pocket.) I took
See Through Scrapbooking with Emily Adams. She's really cool. I found out Magic Scraps is based here in Dallas AND Emily and I went to the same high school. The other classes I took were
Zen of Embellishments taught by Faye Morrow Bell,
Under Cover taught by Carol Wingert (Autumn Leaves and 7 Gypsies),
Step Up Your Stamping taught by Jennifer McGuire (Hero Arts Rubber Stamps, Inc.), and
Fun & Games taught by Tricia Barrett (sponsored by Lil Davis Designs).
The crop Friday night was lots of fun. There were lots of give-aways. I won a bag of goodies from Scrap Works in a story game - some great stuff, too. There were contests and they had all the layout entries up on the wall for all to see. This was when all the other dorm contests were judged so there were lots of people dressed up. Here's a picture of my dorm...
I met pattievers at this crop, but it didn't dawn on me until Saturday night that it was her. And the funny thing is I also sat next to her at breakfast on Saturday morning and didn't put 2 and 2 together then either. Of course I didn't see her again once I had this revelation and I feel so bad.
Saturday night was commencement and when they announced all the contest winners. My dorm didn't win anything else, but then no dorm won more than once. It seemed they intentionally spread the winnings around because I just don't understand why some of them won what they did. They also announced door winners and let me tell you, there were some awesome doors. Mine got an honorable mention. They also announced layout winners. I'm still in shock over this one, but I won in the Journaling category.
Now it's time to get back to reality AND put everything away. I came home with a huge duffle bag and a suitcase just filled with all the stuff I got at CKU. Oy, where am I going to put it all???
Okay ladies, is this enough information for you? Does anyone plan to go (or at least try to get through registration) anytime soon? The next CKU is in Boston: July 8-10. Then there's Utah: August 5-7 and San Jose: October 7-9. And Master's is in Utah: August 25-28.
Inquiring minds NEED to know! 
I am sure you had a blast - just can't wait to hear all the details 
