The Collision of Cakes and Scrappers

Every hobby and group has its own "celebrities", those that the others look up to for advice, ideas, and info. The ones who give the demonstrations, the classes, the autograph signing.

In the world of scrapbooking, Lisa Bearnson is one of those people. And I am one of those looking for advice, ideas, and info from her books and magazine, Creating Keepsakes, the one magazine I always make sure to subscribe to.

This past weekend, I got to attend Scrap-N-On-The-River (I know, what a mouth full of mush!) with my sister, Jeni, one of my best friends, Melissa, and her mom, Lynne. We were there for three days of scrapbooking bliss, complete with gossip, good food, and great scrapping!

This year, the organizer of the event asked Lisa to come be the guest teacher at the event, and she agreed! Cool thing that my mom was doing the cake for the convention and is so nice that she traded the cake for our fees to get in (my mom got the short end of that stick, but I love her for it just the same...the cake was worth WAY more then $220)!

I decided to contact Lisa and see if she'd like to come to church with us on Sunday, after the convention, and go to my parent's house for lunch. She's also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints so I thought I'd give it a shot...well, guess what? SHE DID! How cool is that?

So, the convention was a blast (I finished two BIG projects and would have finished more, had I actually stayed at my table and not wandered the vendor booths, went to a church activity, ate lunch at a bunch of yummy places, toured an antebellum home and went home early one night) and I am so glad I got to go and spend time with Melissa, Lynne and JENI.

The best part of the entire convention? There are two:

1. Getting to cut the cake my mom made...It gets messy so you get to lick your fingers (when I am done or whenever I want? You might never know...), Oh and watching the ladies FLOCK to the cakes cut with the cricut when my mom entered...my MOM is a cake celebrity...just ask Brennan and he will say, "My Grandma Cupcake is a movie star because she has her own DVD."

2. Getting to talk with Lisa and her fantastic daughter, Brecken, during dinner one night...sorry we bothered you but Melissa and I loved it! And, it was suprising to see you all alone, too...I mean where did our southern hospitality go that the "star" of the event is alone for supper? I think people get a bit too caught up in the "star" stuff and forget that they are real people, just like you and me. Melissa and I had fun talking about ourselves and learning a bit about Lisa's family, too. Lisa, feel free to call anytime you are in the Omaha area...we can do it again :)

Sunday we met up at church for some great talks (I use the term great loosely b/c I gave one of them, though everyone else rocked theirs...including my sister, Lynne and Lisa...my dad is so sneaky!) and an even better Relief Society lesson (maybe I only say that b/c I have not been to RS in years!). Afterwards, Lynne and Melissa took Lisa and Brecken on a tour of Longwood (such a cool place, she took us on Friday afternoon) and we rushed home to get the food out for lunch. We had chicken and tuna salad from Uptown Market, Shrimp Pasta from Little Degos, and homemade banana pudding. Yum.

After lunch, my mom pulls out her cricut to give Lisa a demo on my mom's latest cake decorating technique...

This is by far my favorite picture of the day...my mom teaching Lisa using a scrapbooking tool!

After the cricut demo, my mom starts to talk about the sure-cuts-a-lot program and once again has everyone's undivided attention.

Our time together was short, but everyone left with a full belly and lots of pictures.

Lisa, I really enjoyed meeting you and getting the chance to hang out with you!

The moral of my little tale? Don't forget that you are just as important as all those "stars" out there...so don't be afraid to be kind to everyone you meet, even if they are a little more well known then you are. And, never, ever, ever let a visitor to your town sit alone for supper. That is just bad manners.

I am like a star shining brightly.
Shining for the whole world to see.
I can do and say happy things each day
Because I know my Heavenly Father loves me.