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?!)