LindaBabe
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Oct 20, 1999
- Messages
- 10,205
Here is a first timer's experience at CKC.
Scrappers, if you ever have a chance to attend a Creating Keepsakes Convention - DO IT! Classes! CROPS! VENDORS! FUN!
This year, the closest one for me was in Hartford, CT. After years of attending engineering type conventions for work - this was heaven! LOVED IT!
Drove over on Wednesday afternoon and checked into the hotel - Marriott, right by the convention center. I had way too much luggage, and used every bit - cooler full of food, action packer with dry food and coffee maker, scrapbook tote, suitcase, computer bag, and a couple miscellaneous bags for purchases - people laughed at me for taking food, but at least I got fed on the days I was too busy/tired/pushed for time to go seek food. The only thing available in the conference center was starbucks and they didn't have "food" food, just the sweetie type stuff.
Hartford is cool - they have a free shuttle making continuous rounds of downtown, so you can park and leave your car parked for the duration (VERY expensive parking, oye). Wednesday night, Supper was at the Black Bear (in honor of Dimples), a brand new sports pub. A great burger, JUST the way I like it, fries that were done to perfection, and the best onion rings, bar none, that I have ever had in a restaurant.
Thursday, I had signed up for the all day Album class. Went over early and got my packet, found the room and got set up. It was expensive, but oh my! Each participant got a box about 13 inches square and 6-7 inches deep packed full - a nice album, full pack of Basic Grey paper, pack of bazzill cardstock for backgrounds and another pack for cutting up, rub-ons, thickers, stickers, packs of buttons, packs of ribbon, brads, two ranger inks, full color detailed instructions, even a needle for sewing, if one wished.
Then, we each had the use of a Revolution die cutter, two sets of alphabets and some other dies, beyond that, I forget. During the day, people from several vendors came in and gave us other stuff - glue pen, glue dot roller, and I forget what else.
The class moved right along - no time for fooling around. I forced myself to get up and walk out once an hour before rigor mortise set in. The description says "fast paced" and they weren't kidding! My goodness. Even though I"m an experienced scrapper, I could not keep up. Finally just concentrated on cutting the letters and stuff that I'd need and doing anything that I didn't have the tools for at home. Stuck everything in the appropriate page protector and called it good.
One lady in the back was done to the point of getting her photos on the pages. I bow to her - she is superwoman. :lol:
Well, by 5 pm, I was seriously tired, so I dragged my self and my tote full of the contents of the box back over to the Marriott. I discovered I could just go across the patio and in through the conference center to the elevator, skipping the whole lobby thing. Saved 5 minutes. This tired, 5 minutes matters.
There's something restorative about a nice freshly made up hotel room. I had a bottle of water and some snacks. A couple Disboards girls were coming over for the 7 pm class, and we thought to grab some supper, but we didn't get together until just before class. I'd got my second wind by then, so it was off to "Vacation Memories."
This would be a great class for beginners, and it was perfect for the end of a long tiring day. The project was a 4x4 rolodex album on a flat slotted base. It was cute, super simple and would make a great teacher gift or just to sit on your desk with your favorite photos on it. We chatted through the whole thing, because there wasn't any teaching going on - no need. I did discover I'm not a very good stapler. I managed to make a hash of it until finally I got one in the right place and to close correctly . . . and then found I had stapled 4 pages together along with the ribbon
After that we went in search of supper but clearly had hit the wall - the Marriott restaurant was too TOO, so the girls left, and I went up stairs and had PB&J in my jammies. Much easier than taking the shuttle somewhere.
Friday Morning was another glorious day. I watched the sunrise in the windows of the building across the street, as it flooded my room with light. Dressed and downstairs in a hurry because I had early entry to the vendor fair. Now to people who have access to LSS, that may not seem like such a big deal, but our store closed over a year ago, and i've been working my way through my stash ever since, so it was a BIG DEAL to me to be able to shop.
I had a list, and in 40 minutes had seriously made a dent in it.
Then, it was time for "Latest and Greatest with Basic Grey." My Dis friend Buffy had saved me an end seat, and it was definitely welcome. Hard for me to get in and out of a row of seats close together. Those girls were a godsend and took great care of me! Seriously, we did 4 layouts in 1 hour! I din't finish the last one, but they were fun, and I bought the companion kit. Definitely an intermediate class, and lots of cute product included.
This one uses their new Praire Collection.
I think this next one is Urban Chic, or something like that
Then a 1.5 hour break - thank goodness! I went back to the room and unloaded my tote, wolfed down a couple hb eggs and some veggies and a bottle of water. Back to the classrooms again.
On the way up, there were several women in elegant and flashy gowns. Turned out there was an Arthur Murry dance competition all weekend, so we saw lots of SO elegant people, and between classes the crowd of scrappers hung out watching through the door. Quite a visual contrast between the sometimes scantily clad dancers and comfortably dressed us, lol.
NExt up - a Disney Board book by Lickety Split. The rest of the DISboard girls had got there by then and taken over the front row. Two of them were fairly new at the craft, and this was not the class for them. Lickety Split. Yup! They weren't kidding. We got to laughing as we fell further and further behind, so the instructor had to shush us. lol
I'd been wanting to do a board book since someone else wrote about doing them, and this was a great one to start with. Happy disney colors and fun embellishments. Apparently they do a Disney book every year and they're different every year. I will definitely take this class again. AND I will be buying more board books at yard sales and designing my own. Making one is FUN! In fact, this would make a great autograph book, because the pages are hard as boards.
Scrappers, if you ever have a chance to attend a Creating Keepsakes Convention - DO IT! Classes! CROPS! VENDORS! FUN!
This year, the closest one for me was in Hartford, CT. After years of attending engineering type conventions for work - this was heaven! LOVED IT!
Drove over on Wednesday afternoon and checked into the hotel - Marriott, right by the convention center. I had way too much luggage, and used every bit - cooler full of food, action packer with dry food and coffee maker, scrapbook tote, suitcase, computer bag, and a couple miscellaneous bags for purchases - people laughed at me for taking food, but at least I got fed on the days I was too busy/tired/pushed for time to go seek food. The only thing available in the conference center was starbucks and they didn't have "food" food, just the sweetie type stuff.
Hartford is cool - they have a free shuttle making continuous rounds of downtown, so you can park and leave your car parked for the duration (VERY expensive parking, oye). Wednesday night, Supper was at the Black Bear (in honor of Dimples), a brand new sports pub. A great burger, JUST the way I like it, fries that were done to perfection, and the best onion rings, bar none, that I have ever had in a restaurant.
Thursday, I had signed up for the all day Album class. Went over early and got my packet, found the room and got set up. It was expensive, but oh my! Each participant got a box about 13 inches square and 6-7 inches deep packed full - a nice album, full pack of Basic Grey paper, pack of bazzill cardstock for backgrounds and another pack for cutting up, rub-ons, thickers, stickers, packs of buttons, packs of ribbon, brads, two ranger inks, full color detailed instructions, even a needle for sewing, if one wished.
Then, we each had the use of a Revolution die cutter, two sets of alphabets and some other dies, beyond that, I forget. During the day, people from several vendors came in and gave us other stuff - glue pen, glue dot roller, and I forget what else.
The class moved right along - no time for fooling around. I forced myself to get up and walk out once an hour before rigor mortise set in. The description says "fast paced" and they weren't kidding! My goodness. Even though I"m an experienced scrapper, I could not keep up. Finally just concentrated on cutting the letters and stuff that I'd need and doing anything that I didn't have the tools for at home. Stuck everything in the appropriate page protector and called it good.
One lady in the back was done to the point of getting her photos on the pages. I bow to her - she is superwoman. :lol:
Well, by 5 pm, I was seriously tired, so I dragged my self and my tote full of the contents of the box back over to the Marriott. I discovered I could just go across the patio and in through the conference center to the elevator, skipping the whole lobby thing. Saved 5 minutes. This tired, 5 minutes matters.
There's something restorative about a nice freshly made up hotel room. I had a bottle of water and some snacks. A couple Disboards girls were coming over for the 7 pm class, and we thought to grab some supper, but we didn't get together until just before class. I'd got my second wind by then, so it was off to "Vacation Memories."
This would be a great class for beginners, and it was perfect for the end of a long tiring day. The project was a 4x4 rolodex album on a flat slotted base. It was cute, super simple and would make a great teacher gift or just to sit on your desk with your favorite photos on it. We chatted through the whole thing, because there wasn't any teaching going on - no need. I did discover I'm not a very good stapler. I managed to make a hash of it until finally I got one in the right place and to close correctly . . . and then found I had stapled 4 pages together along with the ribbon
After that we went in search of supper but clearly had hit the wall - the Marriott restaurant was too TOO, so the girls left, and I went up stairs and had PB&J in my jammies. Much easier than taking the shuttle somewhere.
Friday Morning was another glorious day. I watched the sunrise in the windows of the building across the street, as it flooded my room with light. Dressed and downstairs in a hurry because I had early entry to the vendor fair. Now to people who have access to LSS, that may not seem like such a big deal, but our store closed over a year ago, and i've been working my way through my stash ever since, so it was a BIG DEAL to me to be able to shop.
I had a list, and in 40 minutes had seriously made a dent in it.
Then, it was time for "Latest and Greatest with Basic Grey." My Dis friend Buffy had saved me an end seat, and it was definitely welcome. Hard for me to get in and out of a row of seats close together. Those girls were a godsend and took great care of me! Seriously, we did 4 layouts in 1 hour! I din't finish the last one, but they were fun, and I bought the companion kit. Definitely an intermediate class, and lots of cute product included.
I think this next one is Urban Chic, or something like that
Then a 1.5 hour break - thank goodness! I went back to the room and unloaded my tote, wolfed down a couple hb eggs and some veggies and a bottle of water. Back to the classrooms again.
On the way up, there were several women in elegant and flashy gowns. Turned out there was an Arthur Murry dance competition all weekend, so we saw lots of SO elegant people, and between classes the crowd of scrappers hung out watching through the door. Quite a visual contrast between the sometimes scantily clad dancers and comfortably dressed us, lol.
NExt up - a Disney Board book by Lickety Split. The rest of the DISboard girls had got there by then and taken over the front row. Two of them were fairly new at the craft, and this was not the class for them. Lickety Split. Yup! They weren't kidding. We got to laughing as we fell further and further behind, so the instructor had to shush us. lol
I'd been wanting to do a board book since someone else wrote about doing them, and this was a great one to start with. Happy disney colors and fun embellishments. Apparently they do a Disney book every year and they're different every year. I will definitely take this class again. AND I will be buying more board books at yard sales and designing my own. Making one is FUN! In fact, this would make a great autograph book, because the pages are hard as boards.
And I apologize for teasing you about bringing food, 
especially after seeing the prices for food at the Marriott restaurant. Yowser! I hope I didn't traumatize you too much.
; mentioned that you came with an entire grocery store full of supplies; but failed to mention what a truly nice person that you are!!! I am sure we'd all be pleased to go to any future crop with you in a heartbeat! 
I hope to see you all in November and hopefully at the crop at the cape in March.
