So Much to Share!!

Join me this Saturday, Feb. 27 from 1-3pm for my Lights! Camera! Action! photo class where you get super easy, non-technical, hands-on instruction and fun challenges that help YOU learn how to better use YOUR camera to capture great photos!!  And great photos are always more fun to scrapbook!!  Register at Scrapbook Pantry by phoning (403)455-1558.

AND... our Crop Tropical blog giveaway winner drawn by random selection was:

Betty said...

I would have to take the cruise event,any place warm.
Have a great trip in Cancun Allison.Look forward to seeing some pics.

So Betty, send us an email at info @ croptropical.com to let us know where we can send you your prize!

AND...  since "baptizing" my camera in the ocean while at Crop Tropical in Cancun, I am on the hunt for a new camera!!  This week I received a Nikon D90 to test drive and have been playing... I shot some "everyday" photos of my family last night... Lindsey baking cookies, Justin doing some homework and Brad washing dishes all while watching the Olympics (GO CANADA GO)!!

(growing up, my mom used to ration the chocolate chips in our cookies to just 3 so this one's for you mom!)

I was trying to shoot in low light with no flash so some of them turned out fairly blurry and grainy, but no worse than with my D80.  

AND... exciting news on the new home front... while we were in Cancun, they poured our basement and should be framing within the next two weeks!!!  Apparently the team that will be building it is a Mennonite team that can put up a home in less than 5 days with the best quality workmanship the site supervisor has ever seen!!!  Having some amazing Mennonite friends, I am not surprised!! I hope to capture photos of the process!!  Here's where we're at now...

AND... I can finally share some very exciting news about a great and talented friend... Christy Riopel!!  Actually, I'll let Christy share her own news (go HERE to read and please leave her a comment), but suffice it to say, I've known for years that this girl has it going on!!!  She ROCKS in the talent dept. as we got to experience first hand all week at Crop Tropical and I'm not the only one that has noticed!!!!  So any chance you get to take her classes... DO IT!!!!  Especially her 5 Secrets to Amazing Layouts!!

AND... speaking of talented instructors, we are still accepting applications to teach on our next Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking Cruise to the Caribbean in Nov. 2010!!!  If you are (or know someone) who is fun, talented and would make a great addition to our teaching team, please apply!!  We KNOW that there is so much talent out there and LOVE to be able to introduce them to this great country of ours!!  Deadline to apply is March 15, 2010.

AND... last, but oh so not least... speaking of Crop and Cruise...

are you interested in 

cruising for FREE??

Watch our Crop and Cruise website on March 1, 2010 for all the delicious details about how you could cruise with us to the Western Caribbean in November for FREE along with the chance to receive other HUGE bundles of scrapbooking goodness worth hundreds of dollars!!!  This is going to be FUN!!!

Back from Crop Tropical!!!!

Oh my!!!  Where does one begin???  Crop Tropical in Cancun was a most amazing event... fabulous on so many levels!!  Similar to our Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking vacations, and yet not... being at an all-inclusive resort holds a completely different experience!  Not better, just different (although much better for those who suffer from sea-sickness!!)

So let's begin with our oh so fun group of croppers...

Not only were ALL these ladies sweeties, but they majorly humoured me and put me in my EXTREME happy place by the ocean doing some "glamour" shoots leading up to sunset!!!  By the time all was said and done, most of us were pretty soaked, but oh the pictures we captured against the blues of the ocean!!!!  I'm still working on the photos for each, but here is one of my favs of Christy Riopel our featured instructor...

Christy is not only over the top talented (and stunningly beautiful), but she is just way too much fun to be with especially for a whole week!!!  I know I'm not the only one who learned a ton from her!  If you ever get the chance you MUST take her class on "5 Secrets to Amazing Layouts"... it has transformed my thinking on so many levels!!  It was sheer pleasure to teach along side of her...

And speaking of teaching, I had such joy not only taking photos for everyone, but watching them learn to take their own great photos too!!  Especially seeing the kids and hubbies join in!!!!

One of the best parts about this Crop Tropical event was that it was perfect for the whole family!!  The kids that came got along so well and made great new friends...

The husbands never seemed to be at a loss for something to do...

And our group excursions were extra special having each other along!  We did both a Mayan Ruins excursion and visited an ecological park called Xcaret.  Here are some sights from both those...

I loved having my own family along as well.  My gorgeous gadget guy husband is my partner in crime on these events and has fun doing a ton of things including videography for the group and even my kids got in on the action and designed a fun "photo scavenger hunt" throughout the resort!

The all-inclusive resort had so much to offer!!  This is the pyramid building we stayed in with this beautiful garden in the centre (our meeting rooms were on that level)...

And the ocean was so stunningly beautiful, I never got tired of watching the beautiful blues, searching for neat seashells and watching everyone else enjoying it too!!  And helping everyone capture their own fabulous photos was sheer joy for me as well!!  That is truly one of my favourite parts of these events!!

I will share more later, but couldn't wait to at least show some of the highlights of this trip!!  And I'm barely home and we are well underway for plans for Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking Cruise back to the Caribbean in November 2010!!!  Maybe this is the one you want to join us for???!!!!

And for those who still didn't hear... 

YES I, Allison Orthner, dropped my digital SLR camera in the ocean!!! 

A wave took out my bad knee (popped it out of the socket) and I went down completely submerging myself with my camera... I tried to hold it up out of the water, but had the darn strap on!!!  One of those rare times it would have been better to NOT be wearing it around my neck!!!  So both my body and my good zoom lens are toast!!  

The only "good news" besides this happening at the END of our trip AFTER almost everyone else had left, is that Brad caught it all on video!!  Yes folks, I can relive the agony over and over for years to come!!!  And I thought screwing up my Tim Holtz video at CHA was the oops of the year!!!! 

Actually... since then, I've decided that this is a great opportunity to do a little test drive / competition... Nikon vs. Canon.  So... what do you think?  

Should I stay with Nikon or go with Canon????  Let me know your thoughts!!!

Meanwhile, there is still time to enter our Crop Tropical BLOG GIVEAWAY posted below!!  Check it out!!!

Crop Tropical Here We Come!! And Giveaway!!!

I've had the idea of doing a scrapbooking vacation at an all-inclusive resort for about 3 years and I am beside myself excited that it's finally here!!  Crop Tropical Scrapbooking Escape in Cancun, Mexico is about to begin and I am so excited to be hosting an amazing group of new friends!!!!

This event is basically a sister event to our Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking Cruise, but instead of being a SEA event, it is a LAND event!!  Otherwise it is very similar... great instructors, great sponsors and a TON of goodies and fun just waiting to be had (not to mention the HOT, TROPICAL heat!!!)

Check out some of what's in store...

Someone attending Crop Tropical is going to win this fabulous HP A636 photo printer!!!!  HP understands that great layouts starts with great photos and what better tool to have at your disposal than a personal photo printer!!

Get a good look at this stunning www.MondayNightClass.ca kit that is exclusive for our Crop Tropical event!!!  And the bonus is that designer Christy Riopel is joining us as our featured instructor and has soooo much in store to teach us!  Here is another sample of her gorgeous work attendees get to create chalk full of delicious techniques...

All the layouts from Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, Tattered Angels, etc. will be stored in this to die for 12x12 acrylic album from Harmonie!!!

And the album plus all the extra goodies from Stix2, Scrapbook Pantry, Paper Pastimes, Scrap Hut, Scrapbooker's Paradise, Scrappin' with Friends, Scrapbooking Heaven, Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine, Connexia, Marvy, Westcott and Artytart will have ample room stored in this NEATNIX stuff bag!!

And Creative Imaginations has a new fun product that we are oh so excited to play with called Mudd Puddles!!!

Oh and I can't forget these Basic Grey doilies!!!

Okay... all this excitement has me feeling a tad bad for those of you who weren't able to join us in Cancun, so why don't we do a fun little giveaway while I'm gone!!!!  You may enter by simply answering this question:

If you could go on a tropical scrapbooking vacation, which do you think you would prefer... a LAND event at an all-inclusive resort like our Crop Tropical or a SEA event on a cruise ship like our Crop and Cruise?  And where would you love to go to?

Submit your comments to the above by February 19 to be entered to WIN!!!  Meanwhile, know I'll be thinking about you while cropping on the beaches of Cancun!!!

And just a friendly reminder... we are still accepting applications for instructors on our next Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking cruise to the Caribbean in Nov. 2010!!!  Check out the detais HERE!!! 

CHA Blog Giveaway Winner!!

Sorry for the delay on announcing our $100 CHA blog giveaway (but technically it is still Feb. 1 in Calgary!!)... we are pleased to announce the winning entry out of 512 total entries (using random.org generator) is...

Sacha said...

My son makes me laugh. The other day he told me that the worst tornado was an F150. He says the funniest things.

So "Sacha" please contact Scrapbook Pantry in Calgary and let them know that you are the big winner!!!  And if you know Sacha... let her know she won!!! Maybe she'll share some of her goodies with you!!!!

Thanks everyone for playing along!  We hope you had as much fun as we did bringing CHA to you via blogland :)