Scrapfest 2007 Second Helpings

I'm almost recovered now from our trip to Scrapfest at MOA. Back into the swing of things at home and work. Just wanted to share a few more things we saw and did while we were there! First I want to add that most all of the booths provided a "shopping list" of the products used so that you could march right up to Archiver's and buy them. Or at least know what the heck you did use when you got home and dumped everything out on the living room floor! This was a new practice this year (I think) and it was very well received, at least by me! Also, apparently I overlooked a few make 'n take booths that I really should point out in all fairness. When I looked back over my "I Scream for Scrapfest" entry , it occurred to me that I subconsciously purged all of those vendor stations which included competitor stamps! I really don't think I did it on purpose... but I'm not sure what Mr. Freud would have to say about that theory! Stampendous Here we made a clever little book using several funky stamps. The paper and acetate cover was pre-cut for us, but we got to use the bind it all to punch the holes for the ribbon binding. Project featured shiny dot sparklers and Hallowe'en phrase stickers. They also passed out "I Stamped with Stampendous" buttons - if you were caught wearing one, you won a prize of a groovy little paint can filled with goodies including stamps, stickers, and other fun stuff. I'd show you a picture.... but I never got caught! No fair - I even jumped up and down. Good thing I wasn't trying for a spot on the "What do ya know" quiz!

Hero Arts Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not make a stop at this table. This made me especially sad when I found out that our new friend Tami had been working as an instructor at their booth and I missed her! However, up at Archiver's they were passing out really helpful idea sheets and they of course sell the stamps there too.

I found many sets I liked, but here is a set I think I'm going to have to purchase at my next trip to my local store! These little birds are everywhere lately and these are a nice compilation.

Stampers Anonymous & Ranger Ink Oh my. What can I say. They pretty much just gave us free reign here! Ton's of their cling mount stamp designs to play with anyway we wanted using Ranger's Distress Inks. I'd love to show you a picture of Tim Holtz hard at work demonstrating Ranger's new line of products Crackle Paint- but the area was always three people thick and I never got close enough! I find these stamps very unique and I'd grab up every single set if I could. I made a little montage with their "Anthology" set along with the sentiment from "Pattern Pieces". (Shhhhh..... Anthology may be coming home soon as well!)

This year we did some advance planning and signed up for some classes. From what we had head from the year before they were a lot of fun, the instructors are often some of the hottest freshest faces in the industry, you do terrific projects, and often a mind-blowing amount of freebies. Keep in mind, many of these classes sell out within the first 10 minutes of on-line registration! Back in July (the day I flew out for Stampin' Up! Convention as a matter of fact...) we began registering. All told, we signed up for three classes. Celebrate with 3M! (3M - Scotch Brand ®) You have to appreciate 3M products. Even though they don't have beautiful papers like Basic Grey or Daisy D's, have no impressive stamps like Stampers Anonymous, or any of the fibers or embellishments we go ga-ga over - they are one of the most critical part of our creative process! They hold stuff together! The class itself focused around using their templates to cut out shapes, and then applying glitter with their glues, and then laminating them the pieces to make cards. A really polished look in the end. But! The best part of this class was the free product give-away! We received a craft stick, scrapbookers glue, pop up foam squares, photo corners, and a roll of decorative tape. Due to an issue with supplies not being ready for Edwina - they graciously provided her with double product and an entire set of their shape templates as a consolation. Very unexpected. One lucky class member walked away with a laminating machine like the one used in the class - lucky her! Although the 45 minutes provided was not enough time to complete the projects - they gave us instructions in full color to make it simple to finish when we got home. It was extra nice to work with 3M - Scotch Brand® since we recently learned that they will have a partnership with Stampin' Up! and feature projects with our stamps, paper, and embellishments on their packaging. We love 3M! Hallowe'en Accordion Album (Doodlebug Designs & Xyron) What a charming little book we made! They provided us with a Doodlebug 3x3 black and white polka dot album, alphabet and tags & tabs sticker sheets, instructions and supplies to make a complete book. We had enough goodies left over to make maybe 3 more! We were able to use the Xyron design runner (very cool!), the 2" adhesive runner, and the create-a-sticker. (I already have a Xyron Creative Station 500 - love it!) Again - the 45 minutes for this class was not enough, so I worked on them as well at the hotel in the evening - didn't want us running around the town wild did you!? I was fortunate to win a 8x8 Doodlebug album and Edwina won a Xyron 2" adhesive runner - lucky us!

Bling Ring Book (Archivers) A glamorous girly project for sure! I knew it would be when I read the description for this class and the companion purse class offered separately. I had a plan to include pictures of the women in my family: me and my sisters, their daughters, my mom and her sisters, both of my grandmothers and their sisters, and even my great grandmother and her sisters! Can't show you a completed picture - because it's not quite done yet. Because of the unusual shape (which we didn't know before we got there exactly) I didn't have the perfect photo for some of the pages. Now my printer thinks it wants more ink! With luck you can get an idea of how it will go together. We used paper form Basic Grey's Phoebe line - a personal favorite! - as well as their Perhaps line. We got to paint, stamp, use a Crop-a-dile (still warming up to that creature...), and got lots and lots of embellishments, sparkle, and ribbon. Another 45 minute class. Are you getting the picture that you should be prepared to be awake, attentive, speedy, figure out which tools you must use before you leave the area, and be prepared to finish up at home? I must say though, that the instructions were nicely written, very detailed, and included color pictures once again.

We also heard that classes offered by Bazzil and Die Cuts With a View gave mega give-away stuff..... Next year! Are ya coming with us?!