Crop & Create Moncton 2015

With the vast availability of paper crafting events to join and attend in our great Atlantic Provinces (feeling blessed about this), choosing which one(s) to attend can certainly be dependant on a variety of factors. Time, Location, Cost, Who will be there, past experiences, loyalty, etc all play largely into the decision we make.

Since closing my store, I've teamed up with a partner in crime sort-of-speak, and we have made a promise to each other to try as many crops as we can. Going to places that are not familiar to experience others peoples take on what makes a great crop weekend.

The below comments are my own personal thoughts, feelings and opinions which I will share with you. I plan on doing a little summary of all events I go to in the future :)

In Canada we have two very polished publications for paper crafters, Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine (SCT). Both compliment each other and offer different information and content. BOTH are huge supporters of Canadian Paper Crafters and do their best to keep the preservation of memories alive!

From SCT website:

Scrapbook & Cards Today is thrilled to announce the launch of "Crop & Create" - a series of spectacular events to be held in various Provinces across Canada! Designed with the papercrafter in mind, these events will combine fun and educational classes from some of the industry's top teachers, with loads of cropping time, make n' takes, and a host of fabulous prizes! Sound like fun? Then please join us for a weekend full of classes, camaraderie, creativity, and cropping!

I believe this was year # 5! Crop & Create travels to a variety of locations across Canada with our closest location being Moncton NB.

The organizers of this event have made it bigger and bigger each year, getting the attention of many manufacturers who donate generous prizes and designers who attend to offer classes at superb prices! It has been my experience that you get back more in product then what the class cost was plus you are taught by the designers of the products and receive first hand tips and techniques that you may not find anywhere else....the entire weekend was truly an experience! Thank you Catherine!

Catherine Tachdjian, Creator, Envisionary and Publisher of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine!

The event in Moncton has always been held at the Delta Beausejour. This has been one of the best hotel experiences as the staff are oh so super friendly, from the front desk to the housekeeping staff! They will do whatever they can to ensure your stay is as pleasant as possible. They have top notch restaurants/bars and cafes, as well as other services such as pool, exercise facilities and massage on location. Located downtown, walking to all the favorites is only a few steps away. The event pricing per night was $148 (for a 2 queen bed room, which includes parking and tax).

The food at the hotel was excellent as we dined in house both Friday and Saturday ($25/meal which included taxes and tips). Of course should you wish to go out there are more options then you can imagine within walking distance.

The event provided lunch Saturday as well as a dessert bar both Friday and Saturday night (sorry forgot to get a photo of these but OMG!!! wasn`t it delightful! Included items such as brownies, cheesecake, puff pastries, bread pudding, tarts, etc)

There were 3 stores on location for our shopping pleasure: My Stamping Studio; The Scrap Shack and Let's Capture Our Memories and they all were fabulous!

Onward to the classes that I took as those are the only ones I can speak to:

Spellbinders: I took 2 classes,  Spellbinding Elegance & Giggles, Laughs and Fun Cards

We were so blessed to have the Mother of Spellbinder herself, Stacey Caron as well as her #1 teacher Kim Hupke and 2 local gals Marielle LeBlanc and Tina MacDonald who are on the Spellbinder team, walk us through 2 amazing classes!

Spellbinder Elegance Class

 Giggles, Laughs and Fun Class

All the dies you see, we got to keep!!! Each class tallied to over $100 in just dies that we got to take home! Talk about excitement. They also brought with them 12 spellbinder machines that they raffled off for $50 US at the end of the weekend. These machines sell at Michaels for $189+tax! Along with the giveaways we got first hand tips, tricks and ideas around creating with spellbinders which are invaluable.

Stacey's keynote presentation on how her company (Spellbinders) started and grew was certainly moving and created a few tears among us. She is truly an inspiration and maintains a very high level of excellence for the products with the name "Spellbinder" on them.

Neo Watercolour with Angie Blom

Angie works with Unity Stamps and has her own line called "Angie Girl" These stamps are so much fun and I instantly fell in love! Angie has a great way of teaching that makes water colouring relaxing and oh so easy :) With her class we received a full 6x6 pattern paper, embellishments and other goodies. She also had Unity place a HUGE sale for the weekend with awesome shipping just for us Canadians!

 Texture Play with Vicki Boutin

Who doesn't know about this Canadian gal! Vicki is our Canadian, female Tim Holtz! She has a vast resume and has taught all over the world. She is certainly a people person and ALWAYS has everyone in stitches!

This class was all about techniques and learning about products that we love so much in the mix media world. We got to take home a Tim Holtz portfolio, rub-ons, embellishment as well as a lot of paper...which seems to be missing from this photo (sorry)

A few more photo's from the weekend:

Event: Would I go again to Crop & Create??? ABSOLUTELY!!! I had to save for this weekend as it is more expensive than most crops I've attended in the past but I feel the worth is definitely there for what you are getting! It is a totally different experience, in an elegant and prestigious sort of way.

Classes: Would absolutely take classes again. No more than 4 though and maybe even decrease to 3 as there was not enough time for me to do "my own thing". But then again, if I stayed out of the stores on site and didn't get distracted so easily, maybe :)

Hotel:  There are other hotels near the event but I would continue to stay here. I was told that by the time Crop & Create comes around next year the hotel would have gone through 18 million $$ worth of reno's....WHATTTTT??? I thought the present was excellent so I can't wait to see that! One word though of the conference rooms...the lighting was very poor (maybe this will be one of the upgrades) but in case bring a good table light.

Thank you for reading about my experience at Crop & Create and I hope to see you the next time!