Creating Keepsakes Mesa Convention

I had the chance to volunteer at this event, and I participated in some classes for free because I volunteered. It was a good experience. Tiring, but really fun.

THURSDAY
On Thursday night, I arrived at about 6:20 pm, and checked in at the volunteer station and then headed to the ballroom to work at the crop. At this crop, it was no ordinary crop, it was an album crop, and each of the pages was sponsored by a different company and therefore had a different teacher to guide you through the creation of it. Because I was not participating in the actual crop, but just there to volunteer, I decided to make it my goal to learn one thing. I spent the evening helping girls out with their pages when they missed something, handing out door prizes and displaying the pages in the book so that all could see (aka, being Vanna). It was great fun. I learned a really cool way to make scalloped chipboard circles turn into chipboard hearts. You just cut into the center of the chipboard at two places leaving two scallops in the middle of your cuts. Then just sand it off and ink it up and how cute is that?? Simple, but cute and I know I will use it!

FRIDAY
I was unable to attend Friday because I had volunteered my house to have my church's monthly scrap night at it, so I had to stay home for that. I only had one person show up, but we had fun anyway. We watched The DaVinci Code and I managed to get two cards stamped for a card call that I needed to get done.

SATURDAY
I left my house bright and early (7:20 am) because I needed to arrive by 8 am. When I checked in at the volunteer station, I was assigned to the door prize table for the morning. I thought that sounded like fun because I would then get to be on the vendor floor and since it was me and another girl we could take turns looking at the vendor fair. We got set up and then I ran to put some gas in my car because I knew I would not be leaving until midnight and had just barely made it there on fumes cause I was in a hurry that morning, and the other girl I was working with went to go get breakfast. When we got back, there was someone else assigned to that job. Apparently they do it every year, but they had arrived late so the volunteer coordinator had thought they were not coming. Anyway, I got reassigned to help in the Palo Verde I room.

The first class that was being hosted where I was to volunteer was the free class - Get Started! - hosted by Simple Scrapbooks. I got to meet Wendy Smedley who was just too super sweet and nice. She spoke with the class and what I learned in this class is that there is such a thing as teflon coated scissors and that they are awesome for use when there is an adhesive involved in your cutting (like a glue dot or something), because they adhesive won't stick to them. Very cool. She also talked about a site called www.scrapbookpictures.com that she had heard was very good quality.

The second class that I helped out with was called "Holiday Highlights Made Simple" hosted by Simple Scrapbooks. This class was taught by Kris Parkin. She was very charismatic and fun! After we set up all the tables and handed out kits and collected tickets, my job was basically to be the "Vanna" and hand supplies back to rows that needed them that had not had them yet. Really simple. The class made a 6 x 12 book with 4 different schemes (layouts) that were repeated twice. Most people only got done about 4 pages and the covers. New volunteers came to replace me at noon so I could go to the first class that I had signed up for.

I got to attend the class called "Board Book Mania: Disney Magic" sponsored by Lickety Split Scrapbooks. They have some great board book kits on their site and once they are gone, they are gone -- they redesign them each year I think I heard. I signed up for this class because our family is planning on going to Disneyland next month for a weekend, and I thought it would be the perfect little book to put our memories in. The one thing I found about these classes is that they are all very slow paced and yet some people are still frantically trying to finish. I managed to get my book together and leave early.

Since I got out a little early, I decided to check out the vendor fair, since I did not leave a lot of time for that. There were lots of vendors, however, nothing really struck me as "hard to find" or "new" and I think that is because in Phoenix and Mesa we are super spoiled and there are a ton of scrap stores locally. I did shop the dollar scrapbooking booth (which is always crowded and has cool stuff). I got a great Heidi Swapp album for only $6 and a bunch of awesome goodies for $1 each. I also had a chance to browse through the "Write On" booth, but I decided not to get anything cause they had a website I could order from later.

My second class of the day was "Through the Years" sponsored by Cara Miller Designs. There were only 4 people in this class, but Cara was absolutely darling. Loved her. We were allowed to choose to do her "Through the Years" board book, or another one if we wished, and I chose to do a recipe book that she had designed. It turned out cute! I sent it to Jody as our monthly swap but when she has it I will add pictures of it here.

My third class was called "Tool Time With Tina" and I took it on a whim because there were no other classes really left that I wanted to take and I still had lots left on my vouchers for helping. Tina Masterjohn was a lot of fun as a teacher and made us laugh more than once and had fun stories to tell. We made an folded album that used zip ties, and air conditioning tin duct tape stuff, and washers, and these cool rubber letters. Basically the goal of the class was to make us want to raid our husbands toolbox, or look differently at the things that were piled in the junk drawer, and I think it did that.

At the conclusion of my third class, I looked at the time and realized it was 5 pm and I had not eaten yet. I skipped breakfast because I was in such a hurry to get there on time, and then lunch never even crossed my mind. I was shaky and so I went and got myself a big drink and a chicken burger and fries. I felt MUCH better after I ate it. I would not recommend scrapping that long on an empty stomach.

I came back to help out with the Saturday Evening Send Off crop. It was a lot of fun. Each participant got some magazines and two goodies bags. Door prizes were given out throughout the night and the Technique Tuesday girls got everybody laughing and having fun with their "Cheer" contest. Hysterical to watch the ladies come up with their cheers and perform them. After the last door prize was given out, we were allowed to go home. Micaela kindly allowed us to take magazines for ourselves and then gave us the goodie bags that everyone had received during the crop, so that was a nice surprise and fun!!! I bet you are wondering what was inside the goodie bag . . . we got paper, some adhesives, two DVD's - one with fonts and the other a digital scrapbooking program, eyelets, and all sorts of small gifts from sponsors. It was a blast! I fully intend to volunteer in Phoenix in the fall!