Papertrey Ink: Stamp-A-Faire

Hi guys!  It's about time I posted about the Papertrey Ink Stamp-A-Faire, right?  I will warn you, this post is going to be long and pretty much all about me, me, me.  Let's get started!


ETA: Just a little something I learned: If you are expecting to meet people that know you from your avatar/profile picture, don't drastically change your look a week before meeting them (for example dying your hair from blond to black)  And yes, I know this from personal experience.  Check out my profile picture on the right side of my blog and then check out these photos, he he.


The day started on a bad note when I woke up late, but thankfully my husband noticed and I was able to get up and out of the house on time.  Once I got over that it was smooth sailing.  I arrived at my sister-in-law's house at 8:00 along with our scrapping buddy, Katie.  We made the 15 minutes trek to downtown Cincinnati to the convention center.  It's quite funny that we drove 15 minutes because there were people from all over the country, and a few from out of the country.    Papertrey Ink has quite the following.

We hauled our supplies into the convention center, checked in and found our table for the day.  Here's a picture of use girls, right to left it's me, Carrie (my SIL), and Katie.  At check-in we were given a very generous goody bag.  It included three stamp sets (one of which was the special edition set for the event), 2 pads of patterned paper, a note pad, and a bunch of papercrafting odds and ends like flowers and brads.

Here's a little glimpse of the room.  It accommodated seating for 200 stampers, 5 make-n-take areas, a retail area and many displays of cards using Papertrey Ink stamps and supplies.  

Here's the shopping area.  My photo doesn't do it justice.  Is was striking to see all the colors lined up together.  

The day started off with Nichole welcoming everyone and laying out the schedule of the day.  There were 5 make-n-takes in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.  Each make-n-take was led by one of the Sr. Design Team members.  The design team did not disappoint.  They were as lovely and kind as expected, but they were hilarious as well.  It was such a fantastic day.  

My stamp area, messy as always.

In between the make-n-takes we had some time to work at our table on whatever we liked.  I think I made four or five cards.  We spent a lot of time chatting and looking at the card displays.  Here's some of photos of card I took.  I've seen almost all of these online but it was really neat to see them up close in real life.

(click to enlarge)

Here's Heather Nichols in action at one of the make-n-take stations.  

When you finished a make-n-take card you received a stamp from the design team member for your passport.  I had them autograph all of mine, *squeal*!

We had a four hour break for dinner.  We went to eat at Rock Bottom Brewery and then for coffee at Starbucks.  We went back to the convention center at 9pm for a dessert reception.  That's where I was able to get my picture taken with all of the Design Team members.  Unfortunately a couple of them are blurry, but that's okay since I'll remember it forever.  

Me & Betsy Veldman

Me & Dawn McVey

Me & Lisa Johnson

Me & Heather Nichols

Me & Michelle Wooderson

Me & the Design Team
*squeal*

My fellow Clear & Simple Stamps design team member, Amber Daigre was there.  We've never met before, so that was super fun.  I also met a few people that I knew by name, but not by face.  I'm really good at remembering names, but not faces.  There were a few names I recognized from seeing there cards in magazines.  I even met a few people that had heard of me and my little blog.

Me & Amber Daigre
(fellow Clear & Simple Stamps Design Team member)

Me & Leigh Ann Baird
(She gave me some wonderful advice, hope it pays off *wink,wink*)

Dawn McVey wrote me a little note, it says "Dana, Loved spending the day with you! XO, Dawn McVey".  Betsy Veldman's autograph is there too.  So fun!  

Well, that's pretty much my day.  It was absolutely everything I thought it would be.  As always, Papertrey Ink thinks of everything and it's so well planned out. My only disappointment was that I didn't get my picture with Nichole Heady (or her autograph) but she was super busy coordinating things and being a super hostess.  I'll be back next year for sure, and I know I'll get a photo then.

Have a great day!

PS.  A shout out to some of my new friends: Deana Woodland, Maria Fiscella, Avril Tanner, Regan D'Agostino, Leigh Ann Baird, and Suzanne Dahlberg.  Hi girls!
PSS.  I'll share the make-n-takes tomorrow and I'll be sharing the cards I made in my free time over the next week or so.