The Paper Loft...

This is the fifth year I've been to CKC and each year it's been a little less spectacular. Old favorites have gone out of business, fewer companies come to show off their wares, and the crowds thin every year (well that last one really it's only a bad thing because the less people come, the less vendors come). I really cannot wait for the economy to turn around so it can be the magical time it once was, where my feet hurt at the end of the day from walking through so many booths and I have an overwhelming sense of guilt at the amount of money I've spent.

All recession issues aside, I still did manage to spend a little money (but far less than I usually do so no guilt this year...). I didn't take any classes this year, but I did have to buy the "Totally Awesome Layouts" class pack because, well, the layouts were in fact totally awesome.

So here's the story... I walked three whole rows of the sales floor without buying a single item. That's right... three rows of stuff that looked great, but not quite great enough to get me to stop and buy something I would have to lug through the next few rows since I could get it at home for the same price. Then I stumbled into the Paper Loft. They had some cute camping and fishing layouts but then this one layout caught my attention. Actually, it was a saying on the layout: "I loved you yesterday, I love you still. I always have..... and I always will." Now I'm not usually one for mushy things. But it really just hit me the right way.

So I looked for the kit for that one. I couldn't find it. I found others that went with it, but not the one I was looking for. Then a super sweet sales associate asked me if she could help. She told me that it was the class project and wasn't available for individual sale. Well crap. I didn't have time to take the class to get it. She said I could take a picture and then just buy the paper and try to build it at home, or, better yet, I could ask if the supervisor would let me buy the class packet. Sure enough, she did. She started telling me how to put it together, but, really, it didn't look that hard. Those who know me know I rarely need instructions at card camps and such. For some reason layout and card construction just clicks for me.

So the hardest thing about this double page layout was finding portrait pictures. In fact, that was so hard that each one of these is actually a landscape picture cropped for a portrait opening. I have three more double page layouts from the class kit and they are equally adorable. Fortunately, I already have pictures picked out for one so I hope to finish most of them tomorrow before my sister shows up for a reality TV marathon.

Since I didn't spend as much money at the convention this year, maybe I'll just have to pick up more kits over at the Paper Loft.