First of all, I cannot believe I am up this early since it REALLY is 7:30 am! LOL I got home at 2:15 am last night–Yes, I had planned to stay in San Diego for the night at a friend's house but I drank so much caffeine that I was up for trying to get home. I did really well, chatting with the hubby on the phone all the way home and only got drowsy for the last 10 miles home. Katie passed out on the passenger seat in the car!
Here is how my day started: We got up at 430am!! Katie was so excited she got ready super fast which was nice. Silly me, I forgot they were closing the 215 freeway to do bridgework this weekend so I got caught up in that traffic on the way down–luckily we still made it there before 8am so we could help with some of the set up.
Our group, Who Gives A Scrap?, had our very own table and then some! I we had 13 members show up plus our fabulous and fun table fairy godmother Crazy Rachel! SO some of our ladies were off at another table right next to us. Everyone seemed to have a good time and they were in the mood for charity–they bid on auction items, bought items from the charity table (buy items and 100% of the money goes to charity), got massages, and just enjoyed the day.
There were tons of fun classes too taught by some AMAZING instructors–I took Michelle Hill's class and Stephanie Ackerman's class. Stephanie is the inspiration and main creative mind behind the magazine Home + Heart, formerly known as Homegrown Hospitality, published by CK Media. It was awesome to get the star treatment from her as she sat wit us and chitchatted and made a little mini book for us. Stephanie is also known for her signature doodling and lettering and she made EVERYONE at the event a name tag that she hand doodled!! Wow! Michelle Hill's class was equally fun and she also gave everyone alot of individual attention, joking, and keeping things fun.
I did not get to take every class because I was teaching one at the same time as some of the others. All the projects were really cute and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. And they were FREE! Can't beat that!!
I will post pics of the projects we made tomorrow.
We had so many ways to raise money at the event:
- Queen of A Lot–donate a LOT of stuff to be auctioned off. Whoever's box raises the most money gets crowned “Queen of Alot” (I was this in 2006!)
- Queen of Silent Auctions — Spend the most on silent auction bids and get crowned
- Queen of Philanthropy — bring the most in monetary donations and get crowned–the lady who won this raised over $1100 all by herself!!
- Queen of Handmade Items — I tied for this one but as I already have a crown and scissors, I passed it on–fetch the most money for handmade items donated to the silent auction and get crowned.
- Buy items from the donation table–all the money goes to the fire victims
- Buy items from the catalog table (such as from Laura Miller of Close to My Heart amd Elena of Stampin' Up!)
- Buy items from Treasure for Charity, Melanie and Elena's store donating 20% of all sales
- And buying kits from me!! I had past class kits there for sale–sold out of some too! I donated 20% (which came to $50) of all sales to SBR.
“Crowning” at this event also included a pair of Fiskars scissors that were engraved with the title they achieved!!
Just a side note–if you know of a family or individual affected by the CA wildfires from October who is in need of assistance, please nominate them! Send an essay of 400 words or less to Scrapbook Royalty explaining why this family or individual needs our help, including a list of items they need help to purchase. It can be as simple as needing a garden hose or a crib or household tools–whatever kinds of things they need. If the family is chosen, Scrapbook Royalty will use the money they have raised to purchase these items for the family.
Back to the event—there was yummy food, tons of fun, balloons, each table had a different theme and the bathroom–they just go all out! They had a place making donuts on site for dessert after dinner–YUM! And lots of ladies brought scrumptious sweets they made at home to compete for “Queen of Sweets”. And The SBR crew made sure we got Starbuck's at tea tie — if you registered during the early reg period you got a free tall Starbuck's!
Katie had a blast playing with my friend's daughter as well as playing in the childcare area–yes, they had childcare too!!
Pink Pineapple was offering shuttles to their store, just a few exits down the freeway from where we were cropping…
There was SOOOOOO much going on–I only got 1.5 pages done all 15 hours!!! That is crazy!! But I had a blast an my sore and achy muscles are a testament to that. I am so glad our WhoGAS group came out in force. And it was nice to see so many familiar faces and to make new friends as well (hi Shetara!).
Like I said, I'll post project pics later. I brought my camera but literally, there was no time to take pics. I'll have to borrow some links from SBR once they post their pics!!
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Sounds like you had a BLAST. Glad you got home safely! :)
it was a blast.. thanks for mentioning me and the fact that I donate part of CTMH sales. Your class was great.. the pictures doesn’t do justice. Great time as usual!
sounds like an awesome time! have a great week and catch up on your sleep :)
xoxoxo
Glad you had a good time!