Meeting Teresa Collins!--Weekend Recap, Part I

This past weekend, I had quite the adventure!  I am really looking forward to sharing such an epic weekend (for me, at least) with all of you.  There will be two parts to this post.  Today, is Part I (obviously; it's in the title).

First and foremost, I finally met the lovely Kelster Jean!  So, just a brief history of my friendship with Kelly...

We met and became scrappy pen pals on a facebook page around the beginning of 2013.  We wrote back and forth, slowly becoming friends.  At this point, Kelly had her blog, but I did not have mine.  In September 2013, I finally moved past my fear about starting a blog and launched Coffee & Pretty Paper.  Right after I did this, I contacted Kelly through facebook (because, of course, we were facebook friends at this point!) and suggested we do something on our blogs together.  I don't know if the original idea was to start scrap challenges, but it did evolve to that.

Once we were hosting scrap challenges together, we thought, "Hey, we should text and talk on the phone!"  Which we started doing.  That is how we really became friends.  We would have text conversations, phone calls on our way home from our respective work places, and even Skype "dates."

I was finally able to meet my best scrapbook friend this past weekend!  We both signed up for a mini album workshop taught by Teresa Collins at Creative Cards and Crafts in Villa Park, Illinois.  We made plans for me to come up early, hang out, and stay the night Friday.

It's like we've been best friends for years!  We actually got a lot of comments that 1) we looked like sisters or at least relatives and 2) "I can't believe you both have only met in person today!".  

As you can see, we had to have a photo session.  There were lots of other ones, including more funny faces, but I decided to par down the ton of photos taken during this trip.

And the happiness and excitement did not end with meeting my scrapbook sister Kelly!

I MET TERESA COLLINS!!  Oh my goodness!  To me, she's like a celebrity!  But, can I tell you guys, she was so down to earth.  Teresa is just a sweet, kind, and inspirational person.  I will admit, I was nervous to meet her.  I mean, her company and ambition is kind of intimidating.  But, she's an incredible and lovely woman.  

Honestly, I've never really used her products before.  She wasn't in the "scrapbook world" in a way that other manufacturers were.  After this workshop, I now know why she doesn't fall into the "let's scrapbook pictures or less of a story to use all the new products" category.  Teresa Collins creates and documents memories and stories from the heart.  She creates and uses her own products to HELP document her memories.  

It was a refreshing take on scrapbooking for me.  Lately, I've been struggling with creativity.  I was starting to feel lost when it came to documenting my memories.  I was getting caught up in all the new product and wanting everything out that was getting released.  I was starting to lose sight of the reason I put pen to paper, photos to a page.  Teresa reminded me what scrapbooking is and should always be:  getting your photos printed and writing down your story.  

If any of you ever get a chance to take a workshop or class with Teresa Collins, DO IT!  You will not be disappointed.  I will absolutely be taking another class from her in the future.  Because of her passion for creating and documenting stories and memories that make us who we are, I will forever be a loyal follower and customer of Teresa Collins.  

And ANOTHER plus to this great evening was meeting a couple other gals on the Practical Scrappers design team!  I finally met Jennifer Haggerty, over at Live the Moment (also a design team member for Teresa Collins Designs) and Malika Kelly over at Scraps of Paper (former DT member for Practical Scrappers).  

Friday was an incredible day.  I am so thankful to have finally met Kelly in person.  I am blessed to have met an incredible designer, business woman, and scrapbooker.  Go check out Teresa's exciting news on her blog.   Cannot wait to see more of STUDIO GOLD!

xoxo,
Heather