Creative Escape 2010: day 2

It'S sO mUCh FuN to re-live Creative Escape 2010 through my blog, thanks for joining me to reminisce! The incredible "CE vibe" is still with me and I'm sure will stay with me until CE '11 when I can get another "CE fix" (Sal is wincing right now, I'm sure, LOL)!!

So I'm back to share more of my CE joys, there were SO many! Thanks for joining me for "day 2" at the event, which was actually the official first day of CE, Thursday. I was busy all week catching-up on work/home/life (thanks for your patience!), but tonight I'm hopped-up on a highly-caffeinated Starbucks chai tea so I'm up for a long post..... ready?

But first, I forgot to post about the clever way that the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort welcomed the hundreds of arriving CE'ers ... such a beautiful display of stones/pebbles, meticulously shaped into the words "Creative Escape", so very "Arizona"!
My 2nd day at CE got off to an early start ... got my breakfast "to go" so that I could eat it while waiting for the on-site "CE store" to open. Yes, I wanted to avoid the disappointment of missing out on special CE-themed, one-of-a-kind goodies. Turns out I overestimated how early I needed to arrive there --- I was FIRST in line, LOL !!! You can see my black bag marking my place at the head of the line of happy CE'ers:
A Phoenix scrapbook store called Scrapbooks, Etc. (which just happens to be the LARGEST sb store in the southwestern USA, whoa!) comes to CE and sets-up a "store" for us right in the convention center. We all go absolutely GAGA in there!!! All sorts of great sb'ing supplies ... many unique, and in the colors of the event (this year they were turquoise/teal/aqua/black/white --- such a gorgeous color combination, and so sophisticated). So the doors opened and the FUN began! Look at all that FABRIC too! Scrapbooks, Etc. has expanded their inventory to include sb'ing AND fabric, and they kindly brought tons of fat quarters to the CE store.
After shopping, it was time for the event to officially open ... the fun begins at the Registration Desk (those teal balloons look just like the ones Sal and I had at our wedding --- fond memories!!),
(Notice how even the signs at CE are embellished so beautifully?) No detail is overlooked ...

There we picked-up our tote bags, name tags (complete with gorgeous damask ribbon lanyard), and class project booklet (which CE calls our "inspiration manual", I love that!).

After donning my fab nametag and tote, I was off to the Technique Boutique ... a series of "stations" where we either pick-up essentials for our classes, or do a "make-n-take" that will be used in one of our classes. One of the best stations was the mini-class taught by Wendy, the creator of glimmer mist herself ! ... as the name implies, glimmer mist is a spray ink in the most amazing array of shimmery colors, and you know how I love bling so it's a favorite product of mine!

At another fun station we picked up a fruit bar, offered in lots of fruity flavors, yum!
And another station was set-up for us to have the event photographer snap our "official" event photo: Next it was off to the Trunk Show, which was a meet-and-greet with the 8 teachers and a chance to see lots of their projects and art out on display. My fave among the teachers is always Heidi Swapp, scrapbook designer extraordinaire and founder of Creative Escape. I always love meeting up with her and chatting, and spending time at her project table, in awe of her incredible creativity and talent!

This is a STUNNING "Italia" mini-album that Heidi made after teaching in Italy some months ago ... after admiring it on her blog, it was terrific to be able to see it in person, and look through it page-by-page. So glad she brought it to the Trunk Show, it's a work of art!

You might have noticed that in all the photos I'm wearing what I call my "Heidi necklace". It was designed by Heidi for Creative Escape 2009, and I loved the style and CE symbolism of it. Details of the various charms are in my September 7, 2009 post. It's a special piece of jewelry!

I continued around the trunk show, chatting with all the teachers, getting autographs, enjoying the creative scrapbooking displays. One project in particular, by teacher Pam Black (more on the teachers in my upcoming "CE: day 3" and "CE: day 4" posts), was a scrapbook page that captured my recent excitement over the book & movie Eat Pray Love --- how fun is this ?!
So after all the festivity of the Technique Boutique and the Trunk Show, it was time to wrap-up the day with the Welcome Ceremony. All 400+ of us gathered to hear about specific event details and for an introduction to the teachers.


After each teacher was introduced, she was given a special gift ... a handmade craft apron, gorgeous! Made from sparkly aqua and silver fabrics ... which were available at the CE store, of course!

(photo courtesy of Heidi's blog)

Then it was off to enjoy dinner and relax with friends and sleep (what's that ???) to be rested for an early wake-up on Friday morning to begin classes. I was exhausted, but oh-so-happy! :-)

I'll be back soon with "day 3" and "day 4". Stay tuned, and thanks for sharing my CE journey!