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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Cropping, Cropping, Cropping - Embellish IT's Play All Day

WHEW...I'm so behind!!!

I intended to post about my Saturday cropping experience earlier this week, but alas, the hours in the day didn't last.

But, better late than never, right?

When I first started paper crafting, I steered clear of events and crops because I was never sure what to expect. I sort of searched around the net for posts about what the events are like, but pictures, information and reviews can be kind of scarce about crops. These days information about preparing for a crop and what to take to class is easier to come by. However, I never knew what to pack, how to plan, or what sort of other paper crafters I would meet at any given event.

Believe it or not, one of my first events was a CKU...which was awesome because at the time CKU attendees had their own Yahoo groups, arranged chats, delivered secret info on registrations, etc. Through that CKU, I made friends that have remained friends to this very day (and even found a long-lost college friend!) and also got exposed to the world of the LSS crop, home crop, charity crop and a number of other kinds of events.

I vowed that if I attended paper crafting events, I would start posting reviews so other's would have some more information to work with when trying to decide whether or not to spend our hard-earned money to attend a crop.

A couple of friends and I attended the Charlotte version of an Embellish IT! Play All Day event on Saturday. This is an event that runs on a Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm.  One little aside, the event "ends" at 9 pm, but the croppers can still remain in the room until midnight.

We arrived at 8:30 and, as usual, were greeted warmly by Shelby and Steve. These two were MADE to do group events. They are truly the nicest people.

Here we are - fairly early in the day:



Now, this event is literally a day of playing for paper crafters. In our particular space, we had 4 feet of dedicated space on straight tables. There are outlets for devices and lights if you choose. The chairs, as you would expect, are the standard padded hotel ballroom chairs. As is always the case in attending events in hotel ballrooms, wear comfortable clothes and bring a sweater or sweatshirt. The temperature can change dramatically, so a sweater is a must.

This is the room we were in...great space and lots of room for everyone...good for conversation...



My space (yes that is my travelling washi collection). Its hard to tell, but I had more than enough space to do my projects:



One of the things that Shelby does for these events is teach two classes during the event. The kits this year were two double page layouts and then eight cards.


I happen to break Shelby's page kits apart and use them to create 4 one-page layouts. But she gives an amazing amount of product and the layout designs are very usable for customizing, so the kits/classes are a great addition to the crop time.

She brings a wide selection of page kits, mini-book kits, collection packs and cardstock packs for purchase if you choose.(I always shop! ALWAYS!) The selection is good and always current or brand new product.

Cropping is something we do once per month, but the events where we basically get to spend all day chatting, having chocolate, creating projects and just hanging out are my favorites. If you have a chance to attend one of these as a card maker or scrapbooker, you should...I highly recommend them.

1 comment:

Meghann Andrew said...

You're looking great! That is one heck of a travel washi collection!