CKC - especially St. Paul, MN

[littlestamper]

I would love to have your thoughts/opinions if you have been to any Creating Keepsakes Conventions, especially if you have gone to the one in St. Paul, Minnesota. The classes look interesting and reasonably priced. Are there make & takes also, or just demonstrations. Have you found the shopping a good experience? I have been to ScrapFest at MOA sponsored by Archiver's in the past but the classes fill up so quickly (in minutes) that is hard to get all the classes I want. I am considering CKC instead in the future. I would love to hear from you!!

[BetzW]

I have been to the one in Tulsa. Classes do fill up fast but not as fast as Scrapfest. During classes you make what ever the demonstrator is showing. I usually end up with more than enough product for the project and they will usually give you coupons to use at the vendor fair. I have found the classes are a good mix of cards, scrapbook, altered items etc. On CK website blog you can see what people have thought about the classes etc. I enjoy the experience and in fact am leaving for Tulsa next Thurs with my BF to go have fun at CKC. Hope this helps

[skkirts]

I was an an unpaid assistant for the 2-day CHK when it was in Mpls several years ago, and I would say 2 THUMBS UP for the classes that I helped with.

The materials provided in general were awesome. One was a little short on instructions, but I think that the teacher made more complete instructions available later for download.

One serious caution: get plenty of sleep the night(s) before so that you are ready to look, listen and learn--- those teachers really move right along -- like FAST!!!

Digital cameras weren't as big then, but if I were going now, I sure would take my camera and ask if I could take pictures of the finished product if I didn't get finished in the time allow. ......... and I guarantee, that I for one would not get down because I am a slow stamper/scrapper.

Classes tend to fill up fast, so if you're really interested in a specific class, you need to move quickly for most of them.

HAVE FUN!!!!

~Cheers
SharonK-MN

p.s. "MY" teachers were quite generous with giving me "left over" material (packets). I heard that some weren't. I worked worked really hard helping during each class- always scanning the participants to help with missing materials, gals who were behind, etc., so maybe that figured in to the great materials I received. Also, the assistants were invited to a special scrap night at one of the stores then located in the Minnetonka area.
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more information than you wanted, but it was a great experience even looking from the outside in

[littlestamper]

Thank you so much for the info. It sounds like a great time. Anyone else ever been to CKC and would care to share??

[bonniejo]

I went to my first CKC in the spring in St. Louis with friends. It was loads of fun. We were able to get into most of the classes that we wanted. The one thing that we are going to do differently next year is not do the Saturday night crop. We spent Thursday and Friday night at a hotel and on Saturday drove back to my friend's house. She lives an hour away from where the convention was. We were exhausted and brain dead by the time we cropped Saturday night and not one of us got anything done. We could have spent the money on more stuff!!! We had a blast and plan on going again next year.

[like2Bcrafty]

My friends and I have gone to the one in St. Paul and I spent all the cash I brought and then some so I guess I had a good shopping experience! We don't sign up for the classes as we live about 2 hours away and are afraid something might come up that we won't be able to attend. There are some make and takes but mostly demos. A friend and I went to Scrapfest a few years ago but really didn't like standing in the lines to do the make and takes, we wanted to shop! I would much rather go to CKC! Lots of shopping and a great day with friends!