Scrapbook Expo

This last weekend was the Scrapbook Expo at St Charles. Patty, Sally, Krista & the twins drove all the way from Oklahoma to go with me. To say we had fun would be an understatement! They arrived on Wednesday evening here in Illinois. Thursday, it was a trip to Chicago on the train. We did Navy Pier, The Hancock Building, and took the Trolly. We were very tired kids. Friday morning the Expo started with a class from SEI at 9 am. If you ever have a chance to take an SEI class, do it. They are full of techniques and they give you TONS of products. We did a 2 page layout with a mini album on one side and a squash book on the other. I'll get a picture up tomorrow.
Shopping was good at the venders fair. We saw our Oklahoma friend Howard Doss running his Scrap-Mart booth. They were one of the busiest booths there. And the best place on-line to buy Quickutz, Sizzix, & other die-cutting products. (mmm, I pre-ordered some Slice cartridges that should be in soon...)
The crop was a bust, when it came to door prizes...it had 7 double-sided Oriental paper, a rub-on page with farm animal words in English & in Spanish (when will I ever use that?) & a page of card stock stickers. No bling, no flowers, no extras. We met ladies at another table who said it was the exact same kit as last year... But we had fun cropping and met a couple of girls who live close to me.
Saturday's classes included a mini album made with Basic Grey's Lemonade to put my "bucket list" in, a water layout made with the Snorkle line from Cosmo Cricket that we used flock to make the waves look frothy, and a 525,600 minutes album, using Everafter - also a Cosmo Cricket line. Our teacher Susan Keuter made this album after her Grandma died. She said, at the last days of Grandma's life, they watched Rent (hence the title) and they spent time talking about the little things is life. And how important it is to embrace those times and share them with those we love. She made hers totally with pictures off her cell phone...those impromptu, silly moments of REAL LIFE! It is almost more of a journal to document the important, everyday things of our lives. It turned out beautiful! (If you haven't seen the movie Rent, do so this weekend. Get past the outward things in the movie and listen to the "heart" of it. I wept and Slick & I hugged each other. )
After an all night crop at my house and about 3 hours sleep, we took another tour of Chicago. This time by car, stopping when we got to Millinium Park, Wrigley Field, & Hard Rock Cafe & RainForest Cafe. It was a great time, but we were all exhausted.
I'll start adding some scrapping stuff to my blog starting tomorrow...I promise. I know you don't want to just learn about what I had for breakfast. I'm going to an all day fundraiser crop for MS in September, and may even teach a class at it. And don't forget that Scrap Pink is coming up. Let's support these great causes and crop at the same time.
I hear Lisa is hosting a ScrapPink Crop at the new store location for Tops-n-Crops. If you haven't been in to see the new crop area, you have to go. She has 2 rooms for cropping! So now she can host a crop and a private party at the same time! And it has a kitchenette, to keep your drinks cold and for snackage! Please, if you aren't in Sand Springs, support your Local Scrapbook Store (LSS) before the big box stores.

AND, Keep Dreaming
Pam