San Diego Scrapbook Expo

Marli and I braved south-bound I-5 traffic to get to downtown San Diego Saturday morning. The drive was NOT fun, but the Expo sure was. I hadn't been to the SD Convention Center in years, so it was a bit of an odyssey. It's a beautiful facility, but because of bad traffic we just barely made it to our 12:30 class in time. Of course, the classroom we needed was nearly at the end of the concourse....it seemed like a million miles from the exhibit hall! We took Michelle Hill's "Sweet Memories" class. Michelle is always bubbly and fun, and an energetic teacher. And it is a cute layout - who can not like fabric, chipboard, flowers, metal and pipe cleaners! We learned how to stamp with a glue pad and play with Michelle's industrial sized tub of glitter! Michelle is always generous with supplies, so I am not ashamed to say that I "confiscated" all of Marli's extra supplies for my stash (like I need more!)

After our class and some snacks (did anyone say hot pretzel?) we hit the exhibit floor, where Marli fearlessly took the job of bag carrier for me (nothing too heavy, mind you until I hit Embellish It and bought a bunch of Basic Grey and Bazzill). We stopped at so many booths to say hi to my friends that she did get a bit bored. But at Cut-it-Up, we finally met in person the one and only Scrapbook Diva Danielle. Marli made a cute make 'n take bracelet with the help of Vicki Breslin, and we hung out there for a long while, soaking in all the diva-licious crafting going on. We made the Creative Imaginations door hanger at the Ever After booth - and laughed it up with Camille and her Cinderella friend! Of course we hung out at the Zutter booth - nice to not need to work for a change.

It's good to see the new products selling well. Check out www.zutterzisters.blogspot.com for pictures and my cooing over the new items! The Zutter gang had one of my samples on display and I embarrassed Marli yet again by asking her to pose in the booth with the "Reservations" book.

I shopped more than I thought I would - but my major purchases were the paper, and a cool Creative Imaginations t-shirt from Ever After. Can't get enough of the pink skeleton with bows on her skull! Franny not only modeled it, but slept in it Saturday night! Did a bit of damage at Dollar Scrapbooking and Li'l Davis, and even Eyelet Outlet (thanks to Marli's encouragement).

Looking forward to the next Expo when I can take another class or two and just enjoy!