Well I am back and finally feeling rested up. I took yesterday off from work too and I am
so glad I did. All that creativity is exhausting!! Ok no, really it was more the getting up at the crack of dawn, walking about a mile from the car to the ballrooms and a mile back, and the getting up early/going to bed late. I had a great weekend mostly b/c I got to spend a lot of time with two of my favorite people -
Allie and
Martha.
(Shamelessly stolen from Allie's blog)
I would first and foremost like to say that I was very, very disappointed that we were not being fed. I thought that for $400 we would at least be served lunch. However, I chalked that up to my not having read the details closely enough before I signed up - my fault! We were provided with snacks between the morning and afternoon classes, but you had to be quick b/c (1) there wasn't enough for everyone and (2) the hotel staff took the goodies away quickly. I went to the restroom one morning and came back to the staff wheeling away the cart. I learned my lesson after that and grabbed my snack before heading to the restroom.
As far as classes went, our first class of the event was taught by Jeni Bowlin. It was a great class where we learned some new techniques - like using rub-ons on velum to give them dimension, and making flowers out of paper. Jeni was a great teacher and I love how the project turned out. Here are mine:
Then we had the first of two classes with Heidi Swapp. Oh my did this ever stress me out!! The class moved very quickly and involved some of the infamous HS rub-ons. I opened the package and when I pulled up the sheet of rub-ons half the letters came off on the package backing. Eeeekk! Despite the rub-on debacle I was able to complete the project and I do really like the way it turned out, although I'm still trying to decide what to put in it. Here is a photo of the mini-book - if you can't tell the cover is a mirror.
And me with Heidi:
After Heidi's class we took a (much needed) lunch break. Allie and I opted to brown bag it for lunch to avoid the lines and expense of eating at the "Scrap Etc" food court and it's a good thing we did. We found out later that some of the carts ran out of food because they didn't think women would eat much rice. Yeah you read that right. Crazy!!
When we got back from lunch we took Angelia Wigginton's class. She taught a minibook class and was very personable and had the most soothing southern accent! It was one of those sipping-sweet-tea-in-Georgia southern accents. The subject of her class was "Between the Two." I made a really cute book about John and Dora's special bond. Here is my book that I was able to finish yesterday by adding the journaling and a few embellishments. My cover looks like Angelia's but I deviated on the inside:
I would also like to note that since Allie and I chose to brown bag our lunch we were not eligible for any door prizes after lunch because they required you to put your name on the back of your lunch receipt and put it into a basket for all the after lunch drawings. Not cool!
Gretchen McElveen was up next one the schedule. I LOVED her class. It was for sure in my top 2 for the weekend. We made a small album about the 10 people who had influenced our lives the most. Love, love, love that concept. She was a great teacher and I really love the simple little book we put together. Here is what my book looks like sans journaling - I really want to put some thought into it!
Then it was time for dinner. Allie and I hit up Cracker Barrel for some good old fashioned comfort food and over dinner decided to skip out on the last class. We were just exhausted from the day and decided our time would be better spent sleeping. Allie was kind enough to go and get our materials so that we can complete the project later.
Day two began on a really bad note. We arrived in our classroom (which was different than day 1) to find the only seats available to be the ones Martha had saved us (thank you so much Martha!!) We were jammed into that room like sardines - completely not ideal for trying to scrapbook! There were even people sitting in the floor! On top of that it was hot and dark. Just a really, really bad situation. The only thing that kept a bunch of angry scrapbookers from rioting that morning was the lovely Wilna Furstenberg. She is just a ray of sunshine! She was so nice, talented and creative! She presented a really innovative idea for a mini book using a Starbucks cup. I decided to make it into a Mother's Day gift. Here is my completed project and a photo of Allie, Wilna, and I:
The day pretty much went downhill from there. To their credit, they pulled in some extra tables and chairs so no one had to sit in the floor after the first class and several people with excellent foresight decided to leave, freeing up some much needed space. It remained dark and hot in the room, but again, to their credit they tried to make it up to us by giving us a 40% off coupon to the store (which I didn't use, the last thing I needed to be doing was spending more money) and extra giveaways during class. Also our group leader Brittany was great, she tried hard to meet our needs and keep the group in good spirits. I really liked her and felt bad that she was the one left to deal with our angry group. All that said, the planner in me is still really annoyed that we ever had to deal with issues such as these. It's not as if they didn't know how many people were in our group - they are the ones who assigned the people to the groups! Things happen, I understand that, but this is something that so easily could have been avoided with proper planning that in my mind it is completely inexcusable.
Up next was Monique McLean's class. We were held hostage in this class for 30-45 minutes because we had to listen to Monique "tell her story" before we could even get the kit with the materials for the class. And dang it I was going to get all my materials if it killed me - I paid enough for them. Monique tearfully told a story of her battle with Postpartum Depression and how it lead her into scrapbooking. While I did indeed feel bad for her there were three things that made this class completely horrible for me. #1 - I am not a mother and therefore cannot relate to Postpartum Depression at all. This was one of those points where I felt really isolated for not having children. Sadly, it is a feeling that a lot of us "sans children" scrapbookers can relate to. #2 - I have a personal issue with tears. I am not an emotional person and I do not like to be around strong emotions. For as long as I can remember I have always felt a strong urge to leave the room when someone is crying. It just makes me uncomfortable. And #3 - the project was fugly. Monique explained to us that the class was a filler due to one of her teachers backing out and I have to tell you it certainly felt that way. We were to make an acrylic sign to hang and help remind us to "tell our story." I cut up my pieces of acrylic to make a cute little clear mini book. I haven't decorated it yet, but I'll post it when I do.
Everyone broke for lunch at this point and thankfully (I'm guessing due to complaints) when we arrived back from lunch everyone was allowed to put their name in the basket for door prizes. Vanessa Hudson's "Everyday Us" class was up next. I was really excited to see what her project was since her homework assignments resulted in some of my favorite photos I took for the event. You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the class was about organizing and storing your photos in a photo album. We are scrapbookers. While we do also tend to keep photo albums, I did not come to this event and pay roughly $50 a class to be taught how to organize photos into an album. In the class we were taught to make 4x6 paper pieced "chapter separators" to separate the different photo subjects in the photo album - so not what I want to do with my photos. I ended up using the materials we were given + the packaging to the Scenic Route stickers to create a little mini book about our first house since one of the photo homework assignments was to take pictures of your home. Here's what I've got so far, I still have to print some photos, embellish further, and journal and then my little book will be complete:
For our final class of the day Heidi Swapp returned for the 2nd half of her class, "To Your Heart Be True." For the first hour we cut and pasted embellishments to the book we had made the day before and the 2nd half we sat and listened to Heidi's views on life and listening to your heart. Then came the folk singer. I have yet to mention her because I think maybe I was in denial of her existence. She was a cute girl and she had a nice voice, but she was singing songs about scrapbooking. It was beyond cheesy. It really kinda made me want to gauge out my eardrums with my craft knife. And hey, I'm sure there were some people there who enjoyed it - probably the same people who wanted to know what on earth I scrapbook when I don't have kids - but it certainly wasn't for me. After the singing stopped, Heidi tearfully (please see 2 paragraphs up if you are unclear on my dislike of tears) encouraged us to be true to our heart, to take a look in the mirror and see the women we have become, and to stop just dreaming and start doing. I get what she was saying, but this was yet another point in the weekend when I felt guilty about not having kids yet. When we got out of there Martha was kind enough to remind me that the reason I couldn't think of anything I wanted to start doing that I hadn't already done was because I'm not tied down by children. Now don't get me wrong, kids are something that I would love to have in the future and not all women are tied down by their children, but right now I need to be relishing this time in my life and not feel guilty for my lack of "fruitfulness."
Immediately after that class Allie and I made a B-line for the ballroom where Saturday Night Layouts were being held. This was a group event for all of the participants - kind of like a supersized make and take where the demonstrator was on a platform with an overhead projector. We had heard rumblings that there would be a very long line since we were being handed 7 different LO packages on our way in. Thankfully it wasn't bad at all. Since we were near the front of the line we walked right in and took a seat and just sat and waited while the packets were being handed out. As soon as we had received all of our materials we decided to head out. Allie had yet to see any of Nashville so I took her on a driving tour and then we went home, had a drink, laughed about our experiences, and crashed out hard.
Overall, I would say that I did enjoy my time at the event, but it's not something that I plan to do again. After the event was all wrapped up the local gals got together on Sunday for Amanda's birthday and a group crop with Allie. Here are a few of the pics from Sunday:
Alright I'm off to bed!!
