Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Scrapfest 2010!

A bit of a long post but I've included a giveaway. :)

Just wanted to share my adventures with Scrapfest 2010! This was my first year going to Scrapfest and I sure hope it won't be my last. :) Thanks to my wonderful hubby for allowing me to go and my parents for making it possible too. (Steve said I could only go if I had someone to go with to share hotel costs, etc. and my Dad encouraged my Mom to join me). :) My Mom and I shared a room with Natasha and we had such a great time with her, getting to know her. Miss you Natasha!

Well, I think I'm getting ahead of myself here. Our adventure began with my Mom and I driving from my place in London, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan. We left around 5pm Wednesday evening and arrived in Windsor (just across the border from Detroit) at about 7. My Mom asked me to get her passport out of her purse and after doing so I took mine out too... only to realize I had my EXPIRED passport with me. :( We turned around and made our way back to London for my current passport, adding an extra 4 hours to our trip. I'm SO glad we decided to drive up the night before our flight. If we'd left my place in the morning we would have missed our flight Thursday morning and I would have been one sad little crafter. The rest of our trip went smoothly with only a slight delay with our first flight to Chicago. Once we arrived in Minneapolis we dropped our things off at the hotel and headed out to the Mall of America to check things out, do some shopping at Archivers, and register for Scrapfest.

Mom and I
 We then met up with Linda and Liz at Starbucks for quick hello before heading back to our hotel room. We were so tired and I had such a headache that we turned in early. Natasha showed up and we chatted for quite a bit before calling it a night.

Friday was blast! I had all 3 of my classes that morning...


Tim Holtz was a great teacher and SO funny!

Latrice, Anne, Barb, and Anita at one of the Hero Arts classes. We all sat in the front row. :)











Shari and Jennifer teaching away. They were wonderful! Such a fast-paced class. 


I was thrilled to finally meet Jennifer and Shari. Jen and I have gotten to know each other a little bit through email the past 2 1/2 years and meeting her in person was my biggest motivation for going to Scrapfest. :) Shari and I shared a day on the Hero Arts blog almost 2 years ago and so I was excited to meet her too. My two favourite card artists... and they are both as nice as can be. :) 

After class some of us at at Chipotle. I had researched restaurant menus quite a bit before the trip because my Celiac and the only thing I couldn't eat there was the flour tortillas. The food was SO yummy! We ate there 3 times during Scrapfest and were more than satisfied! Yum!

After lunch we hit some make and takes and hung out with some of the Hero Arts flickr girls...

Anne, Me, Barb
Jenn and I
Anita, Me, Jenn


Once we hit all the make and takes we wanted to do for the day we headed over the Cold Stone Creamery. I LOVE their ice cream and my favourite is chocolate ice cream with peanut butter. Absolutely DELICIOUS!

Saturday we took it pretty easy... did a couple of make and takes and some shopping. I had to hit the Lego store for the kiddos and the M & M's store for the hubby. :) My Mom and I spent some time in the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and watched a movie before the Hero Arts flickr group and Hero Arts ladies met up at Twin City Grill for dinner. Latrice organized the dinner and a card swap and we all had a wonderful time. Latrice was also so thoughtful and brought me some gluten free goodies from Trader Joe's. How sweet is she!?!? The staff at Twin City Grill were SO good at accommodating my gluten free diet. I had more food than I could eat! :)

Deb, Liz, my Mom
Anne & Brita
The whole group of us!!!
Me, Natasha, Mom
Jennifer, Me, Shari

 I know it was a working weekend for Jennifer and Shari and so I made sure to keep my expectations in check. I wasn't really expecting to spend a great deal of time with either of them but did secretly hope to at least sit at the same table as them during the dinner. Alas, it wasn't meant to be...

...BUT I was thrilled when Jennifer asked about getting together Sunday morning for breakfest with her and Shari. Natasha, my Mom and I met up with them at IHOP and it was so nice to get a chance to talk with them and get to know them both better. Thanks so much ladies!

Mom, Natasha, Me, Shari, Jennifer

Me and Jennifer
It really was a wonderful weekend! My Mom and I had such a great time together and Natasha was a great roomie. It was so nice to get to know her and some of the other Hero Arts flickr members and Hero Arts ladies better. Our flights back went well... no delays! We did show up at the hotel/ flight parking to a dead battery but the parking lot had a vehicle there specifically designated to give cars a boost! Yay! Only cost us 5 minutes of our time. :)

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in making this past weekend such a memorable one! I miss you all!

AND.... thanks to everyone who made it through this long post. :) I feel so spoiled to have been able to attend Scrapfest, for all the goodies we received there, for Latrice's generosity with the gluten-free treats as well as Nancy's generosity in the past week or two when I received tons of gluten-free black licorice in the mail, etc. etc. etc. I'm feeling very blessed and want to pay it forward.

So...I will draw one random commenter on this post to send these goodies to. You have until next week September 27th (my twins' 4th birthday!) at midnight. I will post the winner next Tuesday the 28th during my final pairing up challenge with Tanya.

Hero Arts Jingle all the Way catalogue, Happy Holiday Tags, Gift for You, Merry Always, Red Christmas Felt,           Spring Mixed Gemstones, Clear Mixed Gemstones

21 comments:

Lin said...

That sounded like Heaven! Loved all the pictures, seeing everyone; lucky you to get to actually meet so many! I need to make this happen next year! And thanks for the generous giveaway you're offering! Wow!

Tiffany said...

Ah...what a wonderful story and photos you've put together, I can really tell you had a blast, what an event to remember for your lifetime! So happy you got to meet the HA artist you worked with on Win-a-day, that's pretty special!! Traveling can be rough, hope you get all rested up again!

Barb said...

Hi Sarah! So fun to relive it all through your photos again! It sure was a great weekend! Love that last pic of you and Jennifer! Beautiful! No need to enter me in the give-away, just wanted to say hi! Hugs! :)

Natasha Kara said...

Awww.... Sarah. I am so glad I got to meet you too. I loved getting to know you and your Mom. I love the relationship you two share. Your love and respect for each other is soo evident.

I miss you guys too. A flat battery, yikes. Good to know that that was all it was. Your trip was really am eventful one from start to finish, lol!

Where are the photos of your decadent ice cream? I am sooo craving one right now. Wish I had gone back again. Maybe next year ;) ( I wish!)

Please don't enter me either...you saw what I brought back, LOL. Also I feel so blessed to have gone and met you all, that I would love to see someone else who was not so lucky get something out of this too. Spread the love baby :)

Joy said...

I am so happy Sarah that you had a great time, to say the least I am truly jealous and would love to live closer to all the wonderful friends that I have made through this journey of my life, but with you sharing such a beautiful post with wonderful photos, I feel like I was there with you all. Hugs to you Sarah and thank you for sharing this with us.

Virginia L. said...

I am so THRILLED for you to be at Scrapfest. This sure is a dream come true for you...I think I know you well! I really enjoy reading your post as if I'm right there with you! Just think back a year ago that we met-haha! Thank you for sharing these photos and I expect you to do a scrapbook page or two :)

Latrice said...

It was so fun meeting you and your mom. You two are beautfiful people seriously! I really hope to see you again. In the meantime we should Skype and craft together. I actually don't have those stamp sets! That's unheard of. Big Hugs and great pictures BTW!

Alice Wertz said...

awww.. looks like such fun! thank you so much for sharing your trip and all the photos, Sarah! i enjoyed reading it. so glad you had a blast! hope one day i'll get to meet the awesome Hero Arts Flickr girls, too! =)

Heather Maria said...

Wonderful post Sarah! I loved reading about and seeing your photos from ScrapFest - so wish I could go! I know it can be such a pain trying to find place to eat when on a gf diet so I'm glad that it all worked out for you. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Ayana Posadas said...

Thanks for sharing your pictures! It looks like you had lots of fun! Great post! :)

Kathy Wade (krolski) said...

I'm so glad you were able to attend Scrapfest! Sounds like a wonderful time and you have great photos to go with the great memories. Thanks for the chance at such a generous giveaway!

Kim McLaren said...

Wow, Sarah - so much fun in one weekend!!
Wish I had been there - maybe next time??
Very NICE giveaway, girl! Can I just say 'pick me, pick me'?? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Way cool. Thanks for the chance to win. I had a friend that was there. Thanks again. vsabartatcharterdotnet

Angela said...

Thanks so much for this post, Sarah. I really was looking forward to hearing about your trip! And I love that you went with your mom :) And may I just say that you are such a trooper...I think after bringing the wrong passport I would've just turned into a sobbing hot mess and tucked my tail and gone home right then! LOVE the picture of you and Tim (should definitely frame that and hang it in your stamp room {grin})and the special time you got to spend meeting HA friends. Hope you're having a good week settling back into school and routine with the kiddos, and Steve at home. I'm sure they're all happy to have you back! And thanks for the giveaway - you really are an inspiration to so many of us...thanks for reminding us to pass on the goodness :)

Krista Ritskes said...

Sarah, you completely deserve the treat you got. You are such a talented artist! Who knew, back at Redeemer, that we'd end up doing this stuff! We have got to get together again sometime soon.

Sue McRae said...

Looks like you had such a fun time Sarah. I enjoyed reading about your adventure and hope one day I can go to Scrapfest too!

Jill said...

Loved this post, Sarah! So fun to read about your trip and see all of the awesome photos. Talk about a TON of talent all in one place!!! :) Not only are you talented, Sarah, but you are so sweet, too. You are such an asset to our little flickr group- thanks for giving us all a peek into Scrapfest!

Nancy said...

Wonderful photos and some really great memories, thanks for sharing your Scrapfest adventures!
blessings to you!

Stamping Cafe said...

Lucky you to meet so many wonderful ladies, I hope one day I get to meet all of you! Thank you for sharing all the wonderful photos! Please don't include me for the giveaway, I just stopped by to comment! Hugs!!

Suzanne C said...

Yeah for you and your mom to have so much fun and meet up with everyone! Glad you shared all the great pictures.

donna mikasa said...

Wow, what a great post, Sarah! I read and saw some photos on Flickr, but had to come here and read all about Scrapfest! I'm so happy that you got to spend time with your Mom and got to meet all the Flickr and Hero Arts gals! Thanks so much for sharing......are you still on Cloud 9??