Scrapfest!

This past weekend I traveled to Scrapfest and I want to say that it was one of the best experiences ever. Why?  Because it was soooo "out of the box" for me.  Seriously, this is so far out of my comfort zone that my family is still in shock.  The unusual part of this weekend was not that I went to Scrapfest per se....it was more because I drove 6 hours to spend the weekend with app 15 people who I have only "met" online.  In fact my fam dam laughs that I have broken the rule that I have drummed into their heads for a decade+ and that is "Do not EVER travel to meet an internet "stranger" in person at a hotel"....and here I was....meeting a whole slew of them!  And it was wonderful.  Each and every person was a delight.  And it is amazing how "honest" each of us are in our blogs...on our flickr groups etc because, in my opinion, everyone was so true, so like their online personalities.  Anyways, just about everyone in the group had never met each other in person before and I am so happy that each of us put forth this effort to connect.  I only had a 6 hour drive but there were quite a few who traveled much further.  In fact, we had people from Minn, Wis, Texas, Indiana, Canada, Ohio, New York, Mass, Alabama and California.   Scrapfest itself was also really fun.....how many times do you (except perhaps attending a sporting event or concert) spend so much time under the same roof with hundreds of people who all share the same interests?  Standing in line for the make n' takes was a pleasure as it gave me the opportunity to meet and chat with so many other people. We exchanged tips, ideas and just generally made a "connection" if even for a short time.  As for our own group, we split up through the day, reconnected, paired off in smaller groups, took classes together, ate lunch, oohed and aahed at Archivers (and all probably spent waaaaaay too much $  there!!!) shopped at non scrapbooking stores and then finally, each night we all met up for a nice dinner together.  Both nights we had the pleasure of having Virginia and Lin's husbands join us. And, both nights we also had the pleasure of Judy's daughter Kathy dining with us and it was wonderful to see such a warm and loving mother/daughter friendship at the table.  One night one of my own daughters was able to make it to dinner and I cannot tell you how proud I was to introduce Bessie around to everyone!  We also made cards for a Saturday night card exchange and Judy got my card.  I loved making it and I know that the image I used is one that she really likes so I am tickled that she was the recipient!  Here is my card.....

And here is the inside.....I think that the sentiment is a bit "off" in placement but right on in message ;-D

 
This second card is one that I made for Barb.  Barb lives very close to where Scrapfest is held and so was kind enough to coordinate the weekend for all of us.  It was so nice, at the end of each day, to have dinner plans set at a place that could accommodate such a large group!  I just love these colors together....and the sentiment is a sticker that I stuck onto some coordinating paper.  I had only known Barb from her online presence and one characteristic that struck me from her avatar was her wonderful smile....hence the sentiment.

I do hope to post some pictures from this weekend.....I just need to get some laundry done, a nice meal made, some major housecleaning accomplished...etc.....then some wonderful sit down time to craft with my new goodies ;-D  Thank you for stopping by and I hope your weekend was as nice as mine!

Be well,

Sheila