Great American Scrapbook Convention

I'm tired!

Every year I volunteer to work at the scrapbook convention in Arlington, Texas. I usually work from Thursday morning to Saturday evening assisting instructors in classes or doing grunt work. This year I also worked on Wednesday. It is tiring but mostly loads of fun. So many of the volunteers, shoppers, students and vendors return every year and so its fun to meet up with them again. Of course my group of friends were there this year. Suzanne, Jamie, Clarissa and L'Ann all showed up this year. Gina was sorely missed. School was still going on and so many people were unable to attend. My friend Margaret came and shopped on Saturday. Margaret helped make many vendors happy.

I assisted in lots of great classes this year. My first instructor was Lauren Nwachukwu of EverythingAltered.com, I helped her with 2 classes. Everyone loved her, she's a great instructor with so much energy! I loved the projects that she taught. Next I had another great lady, Kim Mock of Keller Creations. Kim is someone you want to be like when you grow up. Self employed small business owner and Mom. Keller Creations is named after her proud and joy - her son Keller. This lady is so organized! I didn't even get to work in her classes! She had every single thing done ahead of time. Really, everything. This gave me the chance to listen to her wonderful stories and get to know her. If you ever need to know about how not to get back across the border, she knows a little bit about this. Both of these ladies must have drawn the short straw because they stuck them in the Sheraton Hotel classrooms. There was no air conditioning. The management promised to correct it all day, but it never happened. Not good.

Friday I played undercover cop on the showroom floor. Business was very slow for the vendors this year. There weren't many customers all morning and so I didn't get to catch a shoplifter. But that is okay, we really didn't want any shoplifters. Next I volunteered for Michelle Granger of Quick Quotes. Michelle had huge classes, there were around 65 students in each one. I was able to stay in her room for 3 classes. Michelle was able to keep her classes rolling. There was a lot to be done and she kept the students going. Just with the other ladies, these were great classes. I appreciate all the class kits that I received from the teachers. The class kits are a nice perk. If you have the opportunity to take classes from any of these ladies, do it!

Volunteering for the convention is fun. I really do enjoy it. Consider doing it next year, you will get to meet many people from all over the world! Oh and I was able to meet someone from one of my Yahoo groups. Karen Beavers is a member of Organized Studio and also Artist Crafters Trading Supplies. She let me know that she was going to be at the convention and so we had the chance to meet. It was great to meet someone who you have met online. Karen will email me a pic and so I will post later.