My Day At CKC- Valley Forge

I had SUCH a great time yesterday at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge, PA! 

First of all, I loved it because there were rows and rows of scrapbooking vendors – so much to see (and buy!).  I did buy just a few things…oh- who am I kidding, I bought WAY too much stuff!!!!  I bought mostly paper – have I mentioned that I have an addiction to patterned paper? 😉

Actually, I have an addition to paper crafting supplies in general, and taking me to the CKC was sort of like taking an alcoholic to an open bar – it was insane!

I bought some beautiful new papers from Basic Grey, SEI, My Mind’s Eye and K & Company just to name a few.  I also did a couple of make-and-takes – during one of which (SEI’s iron-on accents), I managed to burn my arm on the iron – OUCH!  But I didn’t have time to nurse my wound – there were too many more booths to visit!

The best part of going to CKC was volunteering to work there.  If you sign up as a volunteer, you get lots of little free goodies and special discounts too – can’t beat that for working a four hour shift!

I worked in the CKC store where they sold Creating Keepsakes and PaperCrafts books and magazines as well as T-shirts, tote bags, pins and other souvenirs.  While I working, I coudn’t help but talk up Stacy Croninger’s book, 40 Techniques for Making Cards.  I just love this book – I used it as a basis for a series of technique classes I offered last fall and winter. 

Well…lo and behold, who is working at the information desk, but Stacy Croninger herself!  Not only is she the author of this fine book (which I managed to sell a case-and-a-half of, no less), but she is also the editor of my favorite magazine, PaperCrafts!

Stacy also has a new book out, Scrapbooks to Cards, which was my first purchase after arriving at the convention.  So…since she was there, I had her autograph my copy and took a photo with her as well:

After I left the convention, I thought that maybe I should have given her my business card and a link to this blog and my gallery, but I was so excited to meet her, I didn’t think of it.  Maybe I’ll follow up with an email to her…that’s not stalker-like behavior, is it?

It’s just that I’ve been published in several magazines now, but I have yet to be published in PaperCrafts (did I mention it’s my favorite magazine?).  I have submitted a few things, but they only take digital submissions or photographs and I have never heard a single word back on any of the entries I sent to them.  So…if you’re reading this Stacy, can you take a look at my SCS gallery (link is on the sidebar) and see if any of my projects are PaperCrafts worthy? 😉

In addition to meeting Stacy, I also worked with Janice who has a chili recipe in Paper Crafts Gourmet:

Janice was so much fun – if I volunteer for CKC next year, I’ll request to work with her in the store again!