Scrapbook Carnival Excitement 2016!
Another year, another amazing Carnival!  A couple of months ago I attended the Creative Scrapbooker Scrapbook Carnival in conjunction with Creative Stitches & Crafting Alive.  If you’ve never been to one, I say….why the heck not?!  It’s a show chock full of wonderful, crafty inspiration!
If you aren’t much of a scrapbooker, that’s ok…the Creative Stitches part of it has everything else crafty such as sewing, quilting, knitting, etc. Â There is something for every crafter! Â If you are any kind of crafter, you would have an amazing time!
I had been waiting to attend this all summer! Â This summer had been a particularly tough one. Â It started out great with my son graduating, but soon went downhill. Â My Father In Law was found to have a brain tumor, my Mother In Law’s dementia got considerably worse, and a very dear scrappy friend of mine passed away suddenly. Â I really NEEDED this weekend.
Day 1
I was getting ready the first morning of the first day. Â I went to do my hair. Â Grabbed my ceramic hair straightener to do my bangs. Â As I lifted it up to my bangs, my foot accidentally stepped on the cord. Â My hand slid all the way up the barrel of the straightening iron. Â Crap on a frickin’ cracker!!! Â (Well, I actually said something a little more offensive than that…). Â Way to go! Â I was going to have lots of time to get ready and get there, but now…not so much.
I ran cold water on it for a while then grabbed a cloth to wrap around it. Â I had to get to the carnival. Â I guess I won’t be able to get my total costume together now. Â Oh well. Â Now I have to go and find a drug store for some aloe vera lotion. Â I also still have to get breakfast on the way.
Went to one drug store, closed. Â So I had to trod through Walmart. Â Ok, medicinals bought. Â Now to find a drive through Tim Hortons. Â Really? Â I went to four of them and they were all walk in only. Â So I ran in, with my hand wrapped up. Â Looked a little ridiculous I must say. Â I finally arrived at the Carnival 2 hours late. Â Well, better late than never, right?
I was so incredibly happy to get a more-than-ever needed hug by Cathie Allen at the entrance. Â She told me to come see her later at the booth, she has some special cream for me to use on my burn. Â I was seated in the crop area by the lovely Jackie Ludlage and her Mom. Â Seeing Katharina Doyle, too…all the Creative Scrapbooker ladies are simply wonderful! Â It’s just like being with family!
I must thank the amazingly talented Cathie Allen (the Stamp Queen).  Her cream fixed my burnt hand!  I can’t believe it!  Whatever was in it sure did the trick!  By the next day I was back to (almost) normal!  Well…as normal as I can be anyway.  😉
Anyway, thank goodness I didn’t have any classes that first day. Â I basically spent the day relaxing, and chatting with my scrappy friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Â My throat was sore by the end of the day with all the blabbing I did!
Day 1: Â Etsy In the Evening
After the Carnival was closed for the day (5 pm), me and a few friends went to check out the Etsy Calgary craft show. Â There were a LOT of people there!
There were a lot of booths, too! Â But I just didn’t see anyone actually buying anything. Â There were a few purchases….lots of activity through the booths, but I just can’t see how they made much money. Â Maybe I’m wrong. Â Maybe I need to go to a few more Etsy events to give a more informed opinion. Â But this first one…not all that good.
Well, at least that filled up my evening for a bit.
Day 2
I took two classes today. Â The first was with the totally awesome, and talented Nicole Wright!
I love how it turned out! Â We used the new Tim Holtz crayons! Â They are quite easy to smudge, but I’m just thinking you might use them up awfully quickly. Â Besides that, though, I do like them.
We also did stencilling with water on top of the smudged crayon. Â I love the way it looks! Â Thank you so much, Nicole! Â Tim Holtz might be the “King” of grunge, but Nicole is the “Queen” of grunge!
The next class was a Technique Taster with Cathie Allen and Kelly Klapstein. Â I hadn’t taken a class from Cathie for quite a while….now I’m thinking…why the heck not!? Â She is definitely the “Queen” of stamping! Â I loved how easy it was! Â We did two tags using only stamps and ink. Â Oh…and a stencil.
Aren’t they beautiful? Â For the blue one we used Top Boss Embossing Ink Pad to get the whiteish-looking leaves on the background. Â Let me tell you…you NEED that Top Boss!
The next part of the class was taught by the lovely Kelly Klapstein. Â She is just amazingly talented at brush lettering! Â I tried and tried, but I don’t really think this is for me.
I just can’t seem to get the hang of the pressure of my hand while I’m doing the letters, ’cause I have a VERY heavy hand. Â I think I prefer to use my calligraphy pens. Â They are easier to control. Â But maybe I’ll try a few more times before I completely abandon it….because….I WON a lettering kit! Â How awesome is that?
Day 2: Â After the Classes
After the classes it was donut party time!  Yum!  Love donuts!  Love them so much….I had to have THREE!  Oops!  How did that happen???  Jackie (the co-founder of Creative Scrapbooker), and her parents were the co-hosts of the donut table.  Such gracious hosts they were!  🙂
At the end of the second day, I decided to take a look around at all the booths. Â Didn’t really find much. Â I have so much scrapbooking stuff already…nothing was catching my eye. Â Well, almost nothing. Â I found a cute coin purse kit to put together, a pink measuring tape, and a couple bags of trims. Â Happy, happy!
After the shopping, and everything else over the last two days, I was exhausted and ready to go home. Â Oh…I almost forgot! Â I was going to show you my costume. Â Every year there is a theme for the Scrapbook Carnival. Â This years theme was Superheroes! Â I was going to be Wonder Woman until I noticed that at the other carnivals across Canada…there were a LOT of Wonder Women. Â So the movie Suicide Squad popped into my head. Â I then came up with the Scrapbook Squad. Â My name would be Addy Hesive. Â Love how my t-shirt worked out! Â What do you think?
And to top it all off…I made some signs to advertise my “super powers”! Â Hee hee…LOL!!!
I had so much fun that weekend….THANK YOU CREATIVE SCRAPBOOKER!!!
Sounds like such a fun time! The projects you made are just fabulous! BL
Thanks so much Brenda!
Well, isn’t this the best blog post I’ve read in a long time. Thank you for sharing….and thank you for being part of a wonderful event 🙂
Thank you Kelly! And you are such a wonderful teacher, too! 🙂