Fall SATC

Life is a story...scrapbook it!

This past weekend was our biannual Scrap Around The Clock (SATC) and it was WONDERFUL! 24-hours of straight scrapbooking bliss, combined with movies, music, vendors, yummy food, door prizes & contests and creative inspiration - not to mention the social aspect that comes from scrapbooking with 48 other ladies who all love the same thing you do!

What we look like in action!

This time we had 49 ladies from all over Oregon and Washington, 9 of which were brand new to our event and had heard about it from friends and/or advertizing.  13 traveled over an hour to join us and 49 people all said they'd be back in Spring.  These women are die-hards!!! I love walking around and seeing the newest products and technology they're using... our gymnasium never sees more outlet use and extension cords than at Scrap Around The Clock - printers, personal die cutters, laptops, desk lamps and more, and they mean business!  Some pulled in RV's to our parking lot for quiet sleeping quarters, some brought sleeping bags and used our sleeping rooms, others drove home for a few hours and came back the next morning and a few crazy folk stayed up the entire 24-hours straight...

One of those crazies this year was someone very near and dear to me - my mother!

Notice the myriad of beverage containers from multiple caffeinated "keep me awake" type drinks.

Mum was a first-time registrant to our event, and because we offer free wi-fi, she bought her laptop down to work on her digital Hawaii album!  It was so fun to have her there, and not just to see me & Jodi in action as Scrap Staff, but to let her experience a hobby that we enjoy so much.  Not being a traditional scrapbooker, I don't think Mum ever really "got it" before...but she loved it!  And I loved having her there!

Mum & me

I got to sit with two of my dear friends - whom I don't get to see NEAR enough, so I really enjoyed my weekend with them.  This picture was taken on the first night when I still felt pretty alert!

Denae & Krista (sisters) and myself! 

24-hours later I was dragging my feet a little more...

My favorite page of the weekend

And yes, I'm a little behind.
Okay, a LOT behind!  These pictures are from August 2008, but I keep reminding myself that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time... so slow and steady wins the race.

Also... it is crazy to look back at pictures of Hayden when he was a baby...wow has he ever changed!!

How did I not notice how HUGE his head was???
Someone inherited their grandfather's genes (yes Dad, I'm talking about you).


All in all it was a great weekend.  We had fabulous vendors (Christina, Sarah, Kourtney, Cristy) who set up tables and sold their goods during the weekend, we had our espresso cart open (thanks Laurie), we had a massage therapist who came and gave massages for our ladies (thank you Cassie), we had fantastic caterers who prepared such amazing meals for us... and I was too busy devouring the food to remember to take pictures... but it was delicious!!  (Thanks Angey & Amy.)  And of course, all the great people that came.  Here's just a few:

I already can't wait for our Spring Scrap next March... we're making it even bigger: 33-hours straight - OH YEAH BABY!
Maybe I'll even make it into 2009!
(one can dream).

Scrap Around the Clock - Pt. 2

I'm back...and I've slept - and I feel a little more like me!!!

So back to the recap, this past weekend was WONDERFUL.  It was full and crazy and I got little to no sleep - but it was totally worth it!!

I'm one of five in a committee (headed up by my darling sister) that hosts a twice-a-year scrapbooking event that goes for 24 hours straight.  We call it "Scrap Around the Clock." 

Jodi & Annie manning the registration table.

Serious scrappin' space!

Friday and Saturday our school auditorium was transformed from a gymnasium into a giant crop station.  We brought in SIXTY-FIVE 6-ft tables, we showed movies on our big screen, gave away THIRTY door prizes and THREE grand prizes, we provided bell-hop service for people's supplies courtesy of our school's Key Club and we hired a caterer to provide amazing meals for our registrants.  We had a licensed masseuse on-site doing massages, and had five vendors with beautiful tables selling scrapbooking supplies and also handmade crafts.  We also had our espresso cart open (that much scrapping necessitates caffeine in a big way) and then had regular coffee, tea, cider & hot chocolate available all 24-hours.  Add welcome packets filled with goodies, sleepover rooms, Wi-fi, and plenty of creative inspiration -  I think we put on a really fantastic event!!

Me hard at work - and I need to be, I'm a little behind.  That's 2008 photos for goodness sake!

Our "give-a-ways" - gorgeous 12x12 double page layouts that people could choose from when their ticket was drawn.

Sarah Nofziger, AKA Sarie June with her beautiful creations.  I bought a ring and have a handmade ruffle scarf coming too!

Christina - our faithful Creative Memories consultant

One of my favorite scrappin' companions, and fellow SATC staff member, Carmajo!

Jana, Cara, Tricia & Jodi

Tina, Kelly & Jennifer

Tracy, Janelle & Krista

Erica & Cindy

Brianna, Christina, Mandy, Heather & friend

And our Queen of the Crop Cassi and Princess of Quite-A-Lot Kourtney, winners of the auction package that provided free registration plus a bunch of extras.

Friday night our local newspaper in town came out and did an article on SATC which was pretty cool. We had 56 ladies come from all over Oregon, and even some from Washington State and several of the registrants drove more than 3-hours to come.   13 were first-timers who heard about it from word of mouth and EVERYONE said they'd be back in the Fall.

Come on October - I'm already looking forward to our next SATC.

Scrap Around The Clock - Pt. 1

This is my short recap because right now I'm so tired and I'm losing the battle against my eyelids.  YAWN.

So with no further ado, here's my fancy recap - pt. 1 (the rest shall come tomorrow)

I came.
I scrapped.
I slept.

However... the sleeping part is only just now about to happen - and while the scrapbook weekend was wonderful in every way... I'm REALLY looking forward to crawling into my bed...right now!

So good night dear readers.

I'll leave you with some of the layouts I created before this weekend to be given as prizes for our hourly give-aways.

"Celebrate" layout

Lazy days of summer

Party page:  One of my favorite features was the tag that read, "Birthdays are good for you.  Statistics show that the people who have the most of them live the longest."

One of a kind

Fourth of July

Tomorrow the real recap comes!!

What A Weekend!!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending four nights away with some of my dearest friends at the Oregon Coast.  I have been looking forward to this trip for an entire year now.  It's my opportunity to get away, relax, talk, laugh and SCRAPBOOK!!!

Oh how I love to scrapbook.  And four days, with no interruptions, no children, no distractions... well that's just beyond blissful to me.

So last Thursday we packed into two vehicles (an amazing feat I must say) and caravaned our way to Lincoln City.

Can you spot Tricia??  Look close - she's there I promise!

Thank you having such a big car Tricia because we never would have made it otherwise!

Jodi, Tricia and I met Sarah & Laura in the local grocery store parking lot and we were off.  We got to our rental house only to find out that none of the pictures on their website showed it was a multi-level house... with the main living area on the second floor and the bedrooms on the third.

Scrap happens here!

Now stairs are not a problem if you're on a normal vacation.  After all, this is all I packed for myself.

Carry-on size suitcase and toiletries bag

However, this is my scrap stuff.

This is normal right?

Hello... my name is Kelly.  And I'm a scrapaholic!

And yes I realize one of my drawers has dropped off the track and looks very sad in this photo... it just traveled up a gigantic flight of stairs... trust me, it's just happy to be alive!

Hello treacherously narrow and slippery stair well!

When faced with hauling my INCREDIBLY HEAVY scrapbooking gear up this INCREDIBLY NARROW staircase, I was INCREDIBLY THANKFUL for my INCREDIBLY HELPFUL friends. 

Sometimes I like to overuse the word incredibly.

 

Without them there's an excellent chance I would have spent the next four days sitting at the bottom of the stairwell sighing deeply and tragically while contemplating the meaning of life, and questioning why I started scrapbooking at all.

 

But I was not alone.  And everyone pitched in and helped, because they all had great gobs of stuff too, and we hauled every last bag upstairs, and then rewarded ourselves for our hard work with dinner out on the town.

We also gave ourselves the freedom to complain about our aching calves, sore backs and tender knees the rest of the weekend without judgment! 


And the view made us feel better too.

Pacific Ocean right there out the window!

And we had a fabulous weekend.  Besides lots of scrapbooking, we shared stories, we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, we laughed til we cried and smiled until our faces hurt.  We ate delicious food (still dreaming about Laura's amazing fish taco's) and got amazing shopping deals at the Lincoln City outlet stores.  We talked about temperaments, and even went out and bought Florence Littauer's book to give Sarah & Laura the official "test" to pinpoint their personalities.  (And we were not surprised with the results - Sarah is a sanguine with a good shot of choleric and Laura is a perfect melancholy!)

Goodness I love these girls!

  
Oh, and we also got fun presents courtesy of Bobbi Villa here and her amazing sewing abilities.

She used fabrics and belts from Goodwill to make them all!

Yes, it was a wonderful weekend, and I'm already looking forward to next year... and a one-level house!

And let me just mention my husband for a moment, the man who allowed me to leave him alone with two boys for four days without complaining at all.  He did such an excellent job that I'm going to go ahead and forgive him for going out and buying this while I was gone.

He tried to tell me it was a present for me from the boys... nice try babe!

I'm linking up to my gals so you can see their recaps of our time too.  Sarah, Jodi & Laura.