For the past few months, I had been looking forward to attending the first annual Great Lakes Mini Meet in Toledo and it only took me about two rushed hours to pack (the day before the event. I know, procrastinator). Now that it's all over, I've already marked my calendar for another round of shopping and cropping next year (November 9-10, 2012).
Let's have a look at my day... (Warning! This is a cell phone photo heavy post!)
After checking into the Park Inn hotel, my mom and I walked down to the SeaGate Convention Centre (connected to the hotel so we didn't have to walk outside) and entered a (mini) scrapbooker's paradise. I submitted copies of three layouts for a contest (the winner hasn't been announced yet) and then the browsing began. As my mom was paying for a few items, I looked toward the informal crop area and spotted scrapbook blogger Sue of Life & Memories:
I found Sue sitting with her sister and friend, busily putting together her beautiful Christmas cards. We chatted for a bit and then I headed back to the sales floor.
It wasn't long before I found something unexpected and absolutely perfect for me...
This is the Paper Alice booth and "turning junk mail into paper treasures" is the slogan. I made a beeline straight toward the booth with much excitement and the demonstration began.
Mix a little junk mail, add in heavenly fiber and iridescent flakes, toss in an angel wing, pour in water and blend. With help from the Paper Alice papermaking kit, we had a beautiful sheet of handmade paper in less than three minutes!
I was sold! And my mom was too! We BOTH purchased the 5.5 x 8.5 papermaking kit (we live two hours away from each other so we can't share). I can't wait to try it!
After lunch, we headed to our one and only class taught by Jill Yegerlehner of Jillibean Soup, who was super nice and funny.
During the one hour class, I completed five cards (I'll share better pics of them in a future post):
Of course I had to check out the Jillibean Soup booth...
I love these flowers...
This thread spool wreath is gorgeous...
There were also adorable sour cream containers on display that I forgot to photograph, but you can see them here, along with the tutorial. And I didn't leave the booth empty-handed...
Then...I needed coffee. My mom and I relaxed in our room, drank coffee and watched the Twilight cast on The Ellen Show as we waited for the hotel restaurant to open at 5 pm. This was the view of downtown Toledo from our room:
At 6:30, we were ready for 5.5 hours of cropping. We entered the crop area, found our seats, got a bag full of SWAG (see the photo here) and scrapbooked!
The lady in the center wearing red is my mom. This photo was taken late in the evening after some of the croppers already left. I completed six layouts and finally journaled on a page that I completed four years ago. Success!
Now to finish unpacking and play with all my new supplies...
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