Creating Keepsakes Convention - Kansas City

(don't ask about the hammer...it's a message for Alex Ann!)
Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

CKC - Kansas City was *crazy fun* !!!!

Of course, this is my "home show" now that I live in Kansas, so it was fun just for that reason. It's fun when you know you will see someone that you know. And I did see a few people I know from Kansas.
But, I met some new people, too.

First of all, there are all the wonderful women in my classes!
I swear I have never met anyone that wasn't nice since I have lived in Kansas and it was the same way at the CKC Convention! Such nice girls!

Classes were fantastically fun! I just so love teaching!!

The biggest *fun* and the biggest challenge were one in the same. Alex Ann and I worked this show together, just the two of us. (Remember, you met Alex Ann here.) Yes, we had 3 booths and I was in charge completely for the first time. (nervous, I was so nervous!) But, we had trouble finding local help, so Alex Ann and I were on our own. But, we still rocked it! (normally, we hire local women to help in the booth....but this time, we had no one respond to our adds looking for workers) So, AA and I both rose to the occasion and really made it work the best we could. And it was GREAT!
She and I make such a good team. We really work well together and
we just had the BEST time!!! We are like sisters of something. We laughed so, so much! I totally love that girl!!!!

So...one cool thing was that we had the BRAND NEW Glue Glider Pro adhesive gun by Glue Arts! This thing is highly sought! And if you haven't seen it... here it is! It's so stinkin' cute, isn't it?! And it's so easy, too. All the cartridges are interchangeable. To switch to a different type of adhesive, you just pop out the cartridge in the gun and pop in the desired one, lickety split!
How cool is that?!

So, on the first morning of the convention, I'm working in the booth when a lady asks me about the Glue Glider Pro. I turn around to find....
CATHY ZIELSKE!!!

Oh. My. HotDog!!!!!!

Cathy Z is asking me for advice/info about something!
WOWZA!!!!

So, after deeming her as ~famous and fantastic~ ...both of which she graciously denied....I told her everything I knew about the new GGPro and she decided she had to have one! (and why not, Scrapbooks 'n Stickers has them bundled w/ the gun, and one of each of the 3 refills for 20% off the total price!) So, Alex Ann took a picture w/ my Blackberry to document my awe! FYI...Cathy Z is so nice and completely down to earth! REALLY enjoyed meeting her!! Take her class some day so you can meet her too!

Another highlight of the KC trip was meeting this fantastic chick! Even better was that I didn't realize she was coming.....ps...isn't she the darn cutest thing you ever saw?! Yep, she is. Even cuter in person! And SO NICE!
So, this is Charlotte. I met her online at Scrapbook Nook message board. She is friends with my *bestest girl* amber and therefore, my friend by association. So, I am working, demo'ing Bind-It-All and this cutey-cute girl came over and said, "YOU must be Roxann!" (well, I looked at her and she looked familiar -- so I figured she must have been in my class....NOPE...it was Charlotte from Scrapbook Nook!) WOO HOO! I was so excited!!!
I was so happy to meet her...and she was so super nice! We are trying to get a time to get together to scrap...and I hope we do very soon!

The most nutso part of the show was that we had a shoplifter. Not just us, but us and 7 other vendors were victims, as well. They got 2 packs of $4 KaiserCraft brads from us. (good stuff, she chose to steal...but reprehensible behavior, to say the least!) So, I am working hard, but all of a sudden I am approached by the head of CK and he asks if I can come with him for a moment. I could tell he was serious, so I was inside sorta freaking out. Well, as I followed him down the aisle, I leaned forward and said, "Did I do something wrong?" He turned and said, "No, we have a shoplifter." Well, if you know me, I really started freaking out. I hate cheating and stealing and it makes my stomach hurt! I'm just such a goody goody, that anything like that gives me a serious stomachache. So, I got the pleasure of identifying our merchandise and then identifying the accused. Then, I had to give the police officers my personal information. And the whole time, the accused is sitting right there, handcuffed in a chair, not 4 feet from me. Showing absolutely NO remorse. Apparently, this wasn't her first time. All and all...a nerve wracking experience. But, it mad me MAD, really MAD.

I worked so hard and on Saturday night, my hands, feet and ankles were so swollen, they looked like this....OUCH!!! I couldn't even get my ring on! The signs of hard work and not enough water!

The big thing I learned this weekend was about this:
THE OFFICE

Obviously, I've heard of The Office. I've seen the commercials. And of course, Ike has seen it a few times and has told me how funny it was. Well, Alex Ann is a huge Office fan, so she was making jokes from the office, that I really didn't get since I have never seen it. So, after hearing her talk about it all week, and knowing that Ike likes it, I bought Season 1 of The Office on DVD and brought it home to him. (after all, his job has been very stressful,so I thought it would be good for him to laugh!) And we got addicted to it. Over then next 3 weeks we watched every season, every episode of The Office.
I thought since I'm just a mom, I figured I wouldn't be able to relate or think it was funny. I was wrong. This show is stinkin' hilarious! So, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! Rent it today and start the laugh marathon!

"That's what SHE said...."

CKC - Charlotte, NC

So...who's ready to hear about my latest travel adventure?

As I dig out from under all the things I didn't do when I was traveling the first few weeks of the month, I am finally (mostly -- I was still hoping to receive a few pic in the email, which I didn't get...boo hoo!) ready to post about my *super fun* trip to North Carolina for
Creating Keepsakes Convention - Charlotte!


Now, I was looking forward to this trip so much. Number one, because I LOVE MY JOB! Number two, because I knew I was going to teach Taste of Scraptique twice to 2 SOLD OUT rooms and that is SUPER EXCITING! And last, but NOT LEAST, I had my Bestest Buddy, Sherry coming up from Savannah to work in the booth for the weekend!!
(and we had not seen each other in a WHOLE YEAR!!!)

Now, I know you must be asking yourself, why was I so excited to see her?

Well, short and sweet...I love her. She's a total sweetie and we had only gotten super close in the last year I lived in Georgia. And we were seriously sad when I moved. Last Summer, she came to Topeka in June. You can read about our adventures here and here.

Then, I went to Savannah in August of last year (the plane tickets were a birthday gift from Big Daddy- yep, he rocks!) And while I was there we had a TON of fun! From shopping for Kristine's "personal" wedding shower (purrrrrr!) to eating at our favorite Mexican place to getting spur of the moment decision, matching tattoos!! Read about that here.
Anyway, as much as we are alike, we are different.

And, we are great friends!


So, when I knew we might need some reliable help....I was quick to throw Sherry's hat in the ring to my boss as a possibility. And Sherry was quick to accept the invite! Yay!

So, as the date neared, I was getting excited, but I was just so busy at home. This time I was flying from Kansas City International Airport, which is actually in Missouri. It's about an 1 and 1/2 hour drive from my house to the airport. And upon further inspection of my plane ticket, I realized that I was going to need to be on the road no later than 3:30am to make it in time to catch my 6am flight. Well, at Midnight I was still waiting on the last load of laundry to dry and by the time it did and I packed it....it was about 1am.

So, I went to bed. But, as soon as I hit the pillow....I started panicking.

What if I don't wake up?

What if the alarm doesn't go off in an hour and a half?

What if I turn it off and go back to sleep?

What if I hit snooze and I'm late and miss my plane.

Will Kim kill me? (pause) Yep, definitely.

I WAS UP.
Bottom line, I was so freaked, there was NO WAY I was sleeping!!

So, at 2am....I took a shower.

But, unfortunately for me, I slipped while shaving.
(possibly...fell asleeep?!?!)

Take my word for it...
...shaving while slipping and/or falling asleep is BAD.

(just ask my poor leg!)

So...you remember those cuts that you got when you were like 13 years old and just learning how to shave. You were clumsy and scared. And it seemed no matter how careful you were, you almost always got nicks and sometimes cuts? Well, this cut was one of those BAD BOYS! Started burning the minute it happened. Blood pooling in the shower. BAD!
And when I got out of the shower, it took me like 30 minutes and the help of about 7 bandaids to get the whole thing contained. Seriously.
(THANK GOD I DID NOT GO TO SLEEP.....I WOULD HAVE BEEN SO LATE!!!)

So, I got on the road at 3:25am or so. Went to get gas and hit the highway.

I was really exhausted. But, cold air , loud music and some major caffeine were sure a big help to me and I made it to the airport just fine, with about 50 minutes to spare.

Sherry's morning started around the same time as mine.
Sherry drove up the 4+ hours from Savannah on Thursday morning, as well. As soon as Sherry arrived in Charlotte, her first "assignment" was to pick me up at the airport. Now, it's hard to load bags and say hello and give a good solid hug at the Arrivals loop at the airport, but we did it anyway! I was so happy to see her....and we laughed to find out that we have the EXACT SAME HAIRCUT!

After we got out of the airport and headed to the hotel to pick up boxes that had been shipped to us. Well, that was supposed to be easy, after all we were following a GPS in Sherry's van. Well, not so. Every single way we tried to reach the hotel, we kept encountering
NO TURN signs. After about 10 minutes of driving in a circle downtown (which the Charlottonians call uptown) --with much frustration, we "accidentally" turned because somehow "we just didn't see that sign" and made it to the front of the hotel!

After the hotel "found" our boxes, we loaded them up we went to the convention center.
After more search and find...and another few wrong turns....we found where we needed to be. As we turned the corner at the conventions center loading dock, we came face to face with this... (blurry photo...a drive by photo shooting!)...it's the SEI semi. (And the same thing that I freaked out about seeing the first time I worked for Kim. For scrapbookers, that semi means there's good stuff in that there!!!!)
I had to laugh because I felt that way the first time I saw it...now it's just old hat to me!

When we got there, Bev and Leanne had been there for a bit working before we arrived and the grid was up. Sherry snapped this picture, because she was like WOW!(what a mess, right?! And this is only one booth space, we always have 3 or 4 booths, so it's really this mess X 4!!!) This is how it starts! See....it's ALOT of HARD WORK!
So, after a quick meet and greet...we got busy!

We worked our little buns off and the girl kept working as I set off at 6pm to teach my Scraptique class. I had 100 women signed up for class, so it was a big one!

It was a *FABULOUS* class! I had so much fun!!!! And as I was getting started, I got a shout out from a couple of girls from Savannah about 1/2 of the way back. OLD FRIENDS who drove up from Savannah to come to the convention!!!! And they were in my class!
HOW EXCITING!!!!!! (Hi Girls!!) And it was so hot in there....I made some new friends and even one who gave me her paper fan, so I am wasn't as hot as I was!!!

After class, I went back to the booth and we worked until 10pm on the booth.
(They kick you out at 10pm...we weren't done, but we had to go!)

Then we had to hoof it a few blocks back to the hotel. (with the parking costs being anywhere from $8 to $18, we did a bunch of walking this trip!)

We picked up some dinner TO GO at the sports bar in the hotel, because we were all so exhausted we just wanted to veg out. (remember, I never went to bed and it's now about 11pm) So, we find our room on the Concierge level (woo woo) and open the door.

Look at this....NICE..........and see that white thing at the end of the bed? Yep, that's one of those white hotel robes! How cool is that? (except they only gave us one....and there are TWO of us! So, we ordered up another robe for the 2nd night. We were too tired to care on this night!)
And we had a bag of nuts by the bed and mints on the pillow. Classy!

And here are the remnants of our bed picnic. We had quesadillas and nachos, which we split. (have I mentioned we BOTH LOVE MEXICAN FOOD?) And we followed that up with a piece of divine carrot cake that we shared, until we were about to burst! Not Classy! And there is also a pic of the water bottle we shared because we were completely outraged that if you weren't paying attention and drank THIS BOTTLE OF WATER.......they will charge you $4.00!! Isn't this picture hilarious?!?! I was going for "Outraged!"

(ok, ok..I know I look like a demon spawn...but again remember....no sleep last night, flew 1/2way across the country, worked all day building booth and working on booth and taught 1 1/2 hour class to 100 women and it's now Midnight.......I WAS DEAD TIRED!!!)


Cue....passing out..............


FRIDAY MORNING....
(opening day of show)Here are Sherry and I on opening morning in my beloved Bind-It-All Section.
(Have I mentioned recently how much I Y my BIA?!?!)

This photo was taken like 5 minutes before the show opened. And as soon as the doors were opened, I heard the feet of some crazy lady running....and I was thinking....wow, she's looking for a good deal! And one moment later....she slammed right into me!
Turns out....I was what she was looking for!!! It was my old friend Trish R. from Savannah! (you see....she had emailed me quite a while back to ask if I was working at CKC-Charlotte and I told her I wasn't, because at the time my nieces wedding would be the same weekend. Well, along the way, the date got moved back a week to get the church. And at the last minute....Kim needed me to go. So, I went.)

Anyway, Trish had run into the other Savannah girls and they told her I was there teaching, and apparently she was a little excited!!!! (because, I wasn't supposed to be there!
Isn't that sweet?!?



So, that was a super happy start to my Friday! A huge hug from a good friend!


So, on Friday night, I taught Scraptique again. Another *spectacular* class with a bunch of *fantastic* ladies. Oh, man I had some sweeties in this class! Really enjoy this one!

When I was finished, we walked back to the hotel and went to get dinner.
Surprisingly, I can't remember what we ate for dinner. I have no idea.....

After dinner, we went back to our rooms. So, of course, Sherry and I had to take some silly "bathrobe" pictures, since we made sure we had 2 robes this time. Ya, were pretty much dorks! On Saturday, I was able to snap this picture with one of the "Savannah girls," my friend Joy P., while she was doing the altered clipboard make-n-take in the booth. Cute pic!
It was nice to see you, Joy!


And lastly, I wanted to include this photo with my friends from Rusty Pickle, whose booth was directly across from ours this show. It's Alaina, ME and whatever his name is?!!!!
(this is totally a joke....every single show he puts a different name on his nametag. And this show I even threw out some suggestions of what he might use as his alias next show!
I'm not naming him, just in case......)


And...I'm looking forward to next time.......

FINALLY, some scrappin' I can share with you!!

Are you going to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Houston, TX next week?!
THEN, hop right over to the Scrapbooks 'N Stickers booth and make this
super-cute Make-n-Take!!!!

This design features selected papers/embellishments from the Imagination Project Rawhide Collection. IT IS SUPER-CUTE!!!! This line is perfect for your any "Western" themed photo's. (I'm thinking....pony rides, cowboy boots/hats and those pictures I took of
my son's horsey-themed bedroom!)

The M-n-T will only be $7.00! (or just buy the kit for $7)
Seriously, $7.00 is such a fabulous deal!!! (I thought she was insane when she told me how cheap the M-n-T was going to be! :P Sorry, Kim!) Anyway, the IP accordion album itself retails for $5. (although, Kim...the deal maker she is....will be selling the blank IP accordion albums in the booth for $4!!!) So, for $7.00 you get the nice, sturdy IP accordion album and all the pre-cut papers, embellishments and ribbons, along with the step-by-step directions to complete the album!! What a deal!!!

And if you are dying to get this kit...email Kim here and you guys can work something out!

Without further adieu....here's the project.
When the Fed-Ex guy got here yesterday afternoon...I sat down around 5pm and worked off and on until 1:30am to design it. (I broke for dinner, cleaning of m's eyes and taking l's temperature and general soothing of him.) Busy, busy, busy.


(sorry for washed out pics...but I had to take them indoors and it's cloudy today.....
IRL the colors are more vivid!)


Front of Album:

front detail:

closure:
Junkitz Twillz tied w/ ribbon.
Can be untied to open album or slid off to open the album.

back cover:

detail:

"lucky me"
this is one of the first things I noticed in the "lucky shoes" paper...
...a gentle reminder to be thankful for those we have in our lives!

full view of front side of accordion album:center double-page spread:
...featuring button coasters. So cute!

full view of back side of accordion album:

panel 5: featuring Junkitz Twillz and coordinating ribbons.

detail:

panel 6:
pull-out tags tied w/ twine

panel: 7
Isn't this Junkitz Buckelz awesome?!?
(tied w/ grosgrain - these are so, so fun!)

panel 8:
featuring a circle collage of IP Coaster rings!!
(simple and impressive looking!)

details:

Creating Keepsakes Convention

Sorry, I am just now updating about the
Creating Keepsake Convention that I worked at last weekend....August 23rd thru August 25th.


WELL, IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!


If you remember from my previous post, I was hired to work in the booth for an online store based in Ft. Myers Florida, called ... Click the Scbks'nStickers logo to shop in her online store....


The store owner Kim was such a sweetie!! I really enjoyed working for her and working with her Booth Manager, Kara.

(Kara...what a hoot this girl is!!! Seriously, she is soooo fun! She and I really hit it off! Ooooh, and is she talented! Mmmm...yummmy scrapbooking pages and mini albums she shared with me.....AWESOME work!!!! Very inspiring!!)



Back to the story...so I showed up at the hotel at 11:30am on Thursday to help set up the booth. It was Kim, Kara, ME, Graciella and Marla. I knew what it was going to take to hang all the product (thanks to Jamie at Savannah Scrapbooking and the my old job at the Scrapbook Nook,) but I had never really given much thought to what it would take to "set up a booth" for a scrapbooking convention. WOW!!! It's a lot of work! More than I ever imagined...!!! I worked my buns off!! I was sweating like a dog!


Here I am...a self-portrait in front of some of the walls I built. I was in charge of Fancy Pants.....mmm, I love me some
Fancy Pants.....don't you?!?!?!Here are Marla and Graciella....workin' hard!


When we did take a break to eat lunch around 2:00pm....Kara, Kim and I went to the hotel bar to have lunch. During lunch, Kim and Kara had just found out that their page class for the crop that night was scheduled for 9:30pm. Well, they had both been up since like 4am to catch their flights and get to Tulsa before 11am. They were exhausted!! They were both discussing that they were so exhausted that neither of them were going to "feel like" teaching the class by the time that 9:30pm rolled around!


So, I piped up and said, "I'll teach the class."


Kim looks at me, surprised by this. She says, "Seriously!? You want to teach the class?!"


Me: Sure, Why not? I love teaching!


Kim: Seriously!?


Me: Absolutely, I'd love to do it. Then, you and Kara can get some rest. Seriously, it's no big deal!


Kim: Seriously!?


Me: Sure, Why not?!


Kim: Well, it's at the crop and there are supposed to be like 150-175 women there.


Me: SERIOUSLY!?


Kim: Yes, SERIOUSLY!? Do you still want to?


Me: (inside...freaking out....it never occured to me that it was a LARGE class....and I HATE public speaking.....)

On the outside: I say, "SURE, why not? I will just tell you I've never done it before. And I will be scared. Just don't hate me if I crash 'n burn!!!"



Kim: You won't. If you can teach for 10, you can teach for 175!


Me: I'm glad YOU think so! Ok, I'll do it!!


And, this my friends, is how I taught a 2-page layout class to 150+ women at the
CREATING KEEPSAKES CONVENTION!!!!!


HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


Here I am....getting ready to go on stage....about to freak out w/ nervousness!!!

And here I am...with my first "Vendor Badge" giving me access to most areas of the convention.....such as the "kick off" crop on Thursday night, where I may or may not make a fool of myself teaching a 2 page LO class w/only seeing the page just before....

I know, I know....I look goofy! But, I was trying to be silly......and seriously, the nerves were big-time getting to me! And....the moment of truth........

This is Debbie w/ Creating Keepsakes introducing ME and the 2-page LO I was teaching!!!! She was super nice! I was so nervous and she kept telling me I would do just fine.......




Here are pics of me teaching the class..... I didn't know when the pics were being taken....because I could not pay attention to that....I was too busy trying not to freak out!!

But, you know what, IT WAS AWESOME!!!! And, I wasn't really that scared once I got up there. The first 5 minutes were the worst. Once I got thru that, I was fine. And I even really enjoyed it. A lot!

And, I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I did a pretty good job. And throughout then next 2 days, women who were in the class and came by our booth kept saying, "Didn't you teach that class the other night?!" And then they thanked me for going slow enough that they could follow along. And they told me I did a good job.



(Now, this isn't to say I was perfect, or even thought I was perfect. I learned a few things I will do differently next time. And I hope to get the chance to try again, real soon!!)



And I guess Debbie from Creating Keepsakes thought so, too. Because when I was finished, she gave me one of the "croppers giveaway prizes" of my choice. And I didn't see her give any of the other presenters a gift!


So yea, me!!!!



So, what did I get?


Well, when I bought my Elsie book that I love so much.....I also wanted, but couldn't afford to have both, the Ali Edwards book about using patterned paper. So, that's the book I chose.......WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!



I know it's only worth $20, but to me, it was worth a MILLION!! (the only way it could have been better is if Ali Edwards could have autographed it herself!!!)


(You can click on the book to read about it and purchase it if you are interested in it, too.......)



And all this, before the I even got to work in the booth at all! Could it get any better?????


Well, the answer to that is YES!!!!!!



In the booth, I started out doing the Make 'n Takes, which were an adorable altered clipboard for Fall. They were so cute!


I was having a great time, but then, Kim asked me to sell the Purple Cows, as she thought I'd do better at that than my co-worker who had been doing it.




Umm.....yep! That was a no-brainer. When it comes to sales...I've got skillz!


Ha ha!!! (no, I'm not a bit cocky!!)



So, I was selling the Purple Cow Trimmers. Have you seen them?? I hadn't seen one in person, only advertised in the Scrapbooking Mags and online. But, let me tell you....Purple Cows seriously rock!!!! Within 10 minutes of getting my hands on those babies......I had them figured out and I was in love!!! (so yes, I came home the owner of 2 new Purple Cow trimmers!!!

But, that's another story.......)




So, it was super-easy to sell something that you are seriously impressed by........and that was all she wrote........in the first day I sold all of the $70 2-n-1 Trimmers (which was my favorite of the trimmer we were demonstrating....)and we started taking pre-orders to have them direct shipped to the customers.



And by the end of the 2nd day I had sold all of the Digital Trimmers Kim had like this one.... and I had sold all but 4 of the $90 Rotary Trimmers like this one.....!! Now, granted, they were buy one get one 1/2 off. But, of course, not everyone could afford 2 trimmers or wanted 2 trimmers or needed 2 trimmers, but it was still a significant financial investment, either way, whether you buy one or two trimmers. (and I will say because I had to leave at 3:30pm on Friday, I missed the last 1 1/2 hours of shopping....so it wasn't ALL me.......)



So, here is what impressed me the most about this 2-n-1 Trimmer. It has a guiloutine trimmer on it and the blade will not cut you (or a child who gets your scrappin' stuff when you aren't looking,) but it will trim paper into the thickness of a hair!! How awesome is that?!?!?!

Seriously, just ask me about my hands. I slammed my hand in that trimmer so many times showing people it won't cut me (or their kids) that I have huge black-n-blue bruises on both of my hands! It looks terrible!!!

But it will SELL TRIMMERS!!! (seeing is believing!)


And an added plus to all the convention fun was that I saw people I hadn't seen in a while and had lost touch with over the years, namely a friend since my Freshman year of college and my best friend for a really long time, Linda. (Come on over and I'll make you some ravioli and I'll even let you lick the bowl!! :-) Ha ha!!!)
And two good friends and sorority sisters, Sandra and Robyn. (Delta Zeta, baby!!!!)



I also so an old friend, Shannon and my old obgyn's nurse, who used to come into my scrapbook store in Tulsa, back in the day.... (sorry, Stacy, I don't mean to cheat on you....but it was nice to see her! And boy was she surprised to hear I had a girl!)



But best of all......was the FREE LOOT!!!!!!!!!


I got so much free stuff......1st of all, the page kit for the LO class I taught. Naturally, I am a scrapbooker and I needed it for MY album!
And Kim, well, Kim was generous and gave us a Junkitz Alphabet foam stamp set that came in a wood case and a package of refill rotary blades for my new trimmer!! Thanks, Kim!!!


And when everyone tears down, apparently, it's like a flea market. They just throw stuff out that might be slightly damaged (read: unsellable, but still completely usable!!) and you can walk around and scavenge for things that were tossed aside. Seriously.


I felt a little weird about it for a while, but Kim and Kara assured me it was common practice. (they've been doing this so long, they were too tired to do it.....and I was so tired, but I had to try it! I only wondered around for like 15 minutes.....) But, in that 15 minutes I got a Cropper Hopper Photo Case (with barely a small crack at the latch....still TOTALLY usable!) and about 5 sheets of paper!! (barely bent on one corner, but still totally usable!!)



Had I waited around a little longer, there is no telling what treasures I would have come home with!!!!!! Too bad I was COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!


But THE BEST PART OF ALL OF IT WAS.....
.....HOW PROUD MY HUSBAND WAS OF ME!!!!


He even sent me this i-card while I was gone...

Now, he gets it. (Well, he gets the dream, anyway....) He gets how scrapbooking consumes my thoughts and my heart the way it does. He heard it in my voice. He understood it. He was proud of me, even more proud than I was of myself.


And it meant more than anything else in the world to me. He believes in me. Even when I don't believe in myself!!!


And that felt INCREDIBLE!!!!



So, in my opinion, the Creating Keepsakes Convention rocked the house!!!!!
I can't wait until Kansas City in October!



(yes, they have already hired me to work it, as long as I can work out the babysitting issues!! Anybody wanna volunteer to help me out?!)