Our first convention is over...and it won't be the last! We're exhausted, but thrilled, after Scrapbook Generation's first venture into the world of Creating Keepsakes' conventions. We were busy up until the last moment printing and binding sketch books and packing kits, arriving in Tulsa about 6 pm on Thursday. We had to have the booth set up by 10 pm, but Stacey was so well-organized that we didn't have a problem. She had set up the booth in the store on Wednesday, planned where everything was going to go, and packed everything in numbered and labeled boxes. I was impressed! We were also lucky to have her husband Jeremy's help in doing the heavy lifting! We did catch him talking to some of the ladies and trying to take credit for making all the scrapbook pages hanging up in our booth, but other than that, he was a great cashier and convention employee!

Our booth was the smallest size (10x10) and we quickly discovered that we will want larger booths at future conventions so that people can move around more freely and so that we can bring more things to sell (on Monday, I'll be trying to expand our booth size for our October CKC in Kansas City!). We were located across from the Tattered Angels booth (selling Glimmer Mist and more), which was an extremely busy place. Allison has struck up a friendship with Liz who works there and teaches classes for them, and Liz gave Ali a private lesson in all the latest things you can do with Glimmer Mist, their stencils, stamps, and more. Allison will be sharing these techniques later at Scrap-a-Palooza and here at SG!

We tried to get photos of the gals we knew who stopped by our booth, but if I missed you, my apologies! It was so nice to see "hometown" faces in the sea of strangers. We were also in constant contact with Karin, who was holding down the fort at SG. It was fun to call her and tell her how things were going! And I'm pretty sure she was glad we were in another state and she wasn't having to sort buttons or cut ribbon or pack kits!

Our kits and sketch books were very well received at the CK Vendor Faire! I didn't know what to expect, but we were thrilled with how well our booth did. It was a great deal of work, especially the past six weeks, but it was a great experience for us. Several of the "experienced" vendors like the gals at Tattered Angels and Technique Tuesday shared information with us about how to maximize our results and make set-up and tear-down easier. Watch for us to add more conventions in 2010, although we have to work around our three Scrap-a-Paloozas and our four Branson retreats, which are already booked.

We didn't see much of Allison, because she taught 11 sessions of three different classes, with about 60 ladies per session! It was fun for me to watch people recognize her! Lots of the people who stopped by our booth were huge fans of her work, and they were so excited about the sketch books and being able to create her pages with such ease.

Anyway, thanks for all your good wishes and support! Now it's time to get ready for Scrap-a-Palooza!