As usual, the Santa Clara Scrapbook Expo was an absolute fun filled time with my scrappin' Gal Pals. We celebrated two birthdays, went to two crop nights, won best decorated table contest (Woo Hoo, especially since we didn't even know about the contest -- just did a "surprise" circus themed table for our two birthday girls!!!), won some raffle prizes, found some great deals and had the absolute best time just hanging together. It was a little bittersweet because my sister-in-law was flying back to Bangladesh the day after Expo, but we crammed in as much joy, laughter, and fun (not to mention food and, ahem, beverages) as we could in those 2-1/2 days to celebrate us all being together and to give her a proper send-off.
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Our surprise birthday table for the two birthday girls. Biggest surprise was that we won for best decorated table ... prize was a certificate for a crop table for four at a Scrapbook Expo of our choice!!!
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Such a great bunch of gals - love our time together!
Our group would sometimes shop together on the Expo floor, but we would also go off individually to check things out. It was exciting to get together in my room later in the day and have a little "show & tell" to see what treasures everyone purchased. We all have different styles of crafting so it's really cool to see the variety of items we each get, although there were a few "where did you find that?" comments and mental notes of "I need to go get one of those" LOL!
With that said, it is also way too easy to get caught up in everyone's excitement and seeing all the latest and greatest products being offered for sale. I kept my spending in check this trip mostly because I wanted to shop smarter. When considering a purchase, the three things I asked myself were: 1) Where will I put it? (My Scrapbook Garden supplies totally runneth over!); 2) Do I really need it?; and 3) Is this something that can wait until the next Scrapbook Expo in October?
So I made what I felt were some really good, selective purchases and my handy new tote bag that I personalized proved to be just the perfect size for carrying them around. It was sturdy enough so that NONE of the papers I purchased got their corners bent...a HUGE PEEVE of mine... and was wide enough so no embellishments got smashed. Everything I got had a purpose and was sooo easy to put away after I got home. Patting myself on the back for sticking to the plan.
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My Expo stash
So there you have it! Until next time ... happy scrapping!
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