She Loves Color 2017 Recap

The second weekend in October was cray-cray! In the best way possible :) Earlier this year I was contacted by Bella Blvd and Crop & Create to teach - why yes of course, I would love to! Turns out I didn't check my calendar very well because the events were on the same weekend! I totally double booked myself and the announcements that I would be teaching had already been made. LUCKILY and THANKFULLY, both events arranged their calendars so I could teach all day Friday at She Loves Color and then Saturday night/Sunday morning at Crop & Create. All's well that ends well! First photo - a massive group photo of all the lovely ladies at She Loves Color!

My flight from Seattle to Chicago left at about 7 in the morning which meant I woke up at 3am. I was mentally prepared for no sleep the entire weekend so it was all good. Once in Chicago I rented a car and drove up to Milwaukee. When I crossed over into Wisconsin and my phone welcomed me to the state (such a fun feature!) I immediately wanted to watch That 70s Show :) The event was held at a beautiful hotel and convention center downtown. I only wish I had had more days to explore!

After meeting up with my roomie, the fabulous Jennifer Gallacher, we walked down to the lobby and caught up with the other instructors and organizers to go get yummy dinner at an Italian place. Much better than McDonalds which seems to be our go-to place when vacationing, but I was kidless and got to eat whatever I wanted! Funnily enough I ate things like mac'n'cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches :) :)

Megan Hoeppner's teaching table made my mouth water, for several reasons! She showed us how she used the Studio Calico mega date stamp in her TN - LOVE!

At the event opening Megan gave the keynote speech. Megan is a true gem of a human. She had us laughing, crying, relating to her stories, and got us even more excited about this hobby we love called Scrapbooking. I will forever remember to search for "lollies". From Jen's blog: "At the opening ceremony, keynote speaker Megan Hoeppner spoke on looking for your “lollies.” She shared how much her young daughter loves receiving a simple sucker, and how she truly cherishes it and feels joy at receiving it. Megan encouraged us to look for own cherished and happy moments. She pointed out that often we use other people’s happiness (including our children’s) as a substitute for our own happiness, but that we need to find those moments and those things that personally bring us joy." Scrapbooking is my joy. My "lollie". Guests could earn balls to put in this big rotating bin whether through spending a certain amount of money or completing a scavenger hunt, answering trivia questions, etc., and if they were lucky they'd win something awesome! And it's PINK!

Back in the hotel room, Jen graciously helped me collate and staple all my class instructions. She's an angel! The next day, Friday, I taught from sun-up to sun-down! 3 classes with about 60 wonderful women in each one and we learned how to make two layouts.  There were three big rooms just like this filled with scrappers from all over, coming together for the love of documenting memories.

Heeeey! Look who it is! It's funny that we spent the previous Saturday together at my house bookbinding and then all the way in Milwaukee the very next weekend! We're practically besties ;)

Shanna adapted my 12x12 layout concepts to fit in her Bible. So talented she is!

For dinner I got a recommendation to go to Doc's Commerce Smokehouse so Jen and Celine Navarro and I headed over. It was such an awesome experience with live music and yummy food. Truly a night I'll never forget!
Later that night it was make'n'take time! Megan and I shared a table and she taught how to make cute luggage tags and I did the make'n'take I was supposed to do at CHA this past January but since I didn't go it worked out to make them here - it was a mini album from a single sheet of cardstock made from a cut file by Bea Valint! And then I lost my voice, wah wah, haha. All that talkin' all day long!
The next morning I was up at 4am (which was 2am my time!) to head back to Chicago and fly to Thunder Bay for Crop & Create! I caught a glimpse of the Sears/Willis Tower on the way out of town, it was lovely.

Neeeeext up - Crop & Create Thunder Bay recap!