CKU-A Chicago Alumna!

Well, I made it and let say that I didn't regret being away from my family one bit! Maybe a little! If you haven't been to one of the CKUs, you must give it a try...hint: the album one is VERY intense but sooooo good!






My album track/class was way KEWL! Although I didn't finish completely (like Ali Edwards would say...) - "It's OK!" LOL! The pages are put into place but the pictures and the journaling...other final touches are not done yet. There is no pressure to finish the homework...only the ones who wanted to go home with a complete album put the pressure on themselves. But who can blame them? Who has time to do it at home...we have a life, ya know?!

Wednesday, I met my friend/my roomie from Japan at the hotel room. Unpacked a little then headed off to Memories & Beyond on their great shuttle service from the hotel. We got there...we shopped, of course, and then ate a light dinner at the Chinese buffet before getting on the shuttle. Later we went to the informal crop because I had to pick up our name badge holder which were great to have btw! My roomie and I sat at the back to the room so that I could get some work done...yeah, right! Either I would go floating around to talk to someone or someone would hunt me down to say hi! We were there for 2-3 hours and I got absolutely NOTHING done! UGH!! My friend on the other hand had stuff completed!

Thursday, our other Japanese friend/roomie drove in from Aurora in the morning. Helped her with stuff from the car, unpacked a little and then headed downstairs to register. There was a line! They said it would move fast but I don't think it moved that fast...some SBers missed their AM mini class! Got lots of stuff so we decided to go up to our room and dump it but also ended up eating lunch before going back down again!


When we got there in the ballroom, within a minute of entering I hear my name...thinking it was one of my new friends, NO! It was one of my college friends that I haven't seen in 15 years! We spoke very briefly but she lives like 10 mins away from me! Must get together with her! Too funny! Well, we're in the ballroom and they had asked for a 15 min. lunch break for the M&T folks! Got to chat with Michelle (FM Girl) from the eboard and then went back into the ballroom. Lost my Japanese friends but when I found them, they seemed to be doing OK so off I went on my own!

Thursday night was crazy! Never saw so many people go nuts...LOL! Dressing up in costumes, doing songs/cheers and just well, crazy! It was fun! One of my roomies won a prize - JUNKITZ! That was cool! Swaps were being done like circle journals, rainbow swaps, receipe swaps..some others that I can't remember because I wasn't in them. I think we stayed up until 2:30am that night talking in our room.






Friday was track time at 8AM. It was exciting to finally come to the day that you'll start on your album! The only regret I did have in the class was I didn't wander to say hello to ALL my fellow trackers...there was only 53 of us! It was a great number and felt that all 3 of our FAB instructors had time for each student. It was truly a great honor to be in their first album track at CKU! Best of all, Tim Holtz hung out with us during the class time and he was helping students as well. He also gave us some inking tips which is always appreciated! I hope to finish my album soon!

My mini classes on Friday were all great! SueS and I were sitting in the back corner of the classroom, giggling so loudly that Sarah, our instructor from Michael Miller, was worried about us! Heehee! I think that fabric glue was making us HIGH! Always have a great time with SueS!!

Another fun one was Rusty Pickle's Lance Anderson (the co-owner), he kept coming back to our table...it helps to have chocolate with you! LOL! He was back here so many times, I made him punch holes for me. Couldn't punch holes if my life depended on it! GRRrrrrr!









Saturday was sad because our track was going to be over! Hated to leave our classroom...hated to say good-bye to our FAB3 ladies!










Highlights of the mini class was Canson's Encylopedia of Alterations and Tim Holtz's inking class. WOW...talk about speed album making w/ TONs of techniques! Canson is the class! Made a 12 page spiral album full of tearing, inking, pockets, distressing, stickers, tags...PHEW! Tim's class...OK, I admit it I never used his inks before! HA! I was fastenated with his way of ART since I saw him demo at CHA last summer. Bought the stuff but never played. That class was the first time I finally did something! LOL! He remembered my camera from CHA because it's so unusual...I don't think it's on the market anymore. Don't like it anyway...maybe I can talk my way into a DSLR? Hmmm... Anyway, he named my camera, the MacGyver (sp?). I told him I might ink it to add character :0)








Graduation ceremony...we sat with Sun-K people. They were there observing CKU-A as they will be involved in CKU-J in October. I know they invited Ali Edwards to come but not sure who else will be coming from the States. The format will be different...I don't think they'll have an evening event as most of their student will commute to the event. It should be interesting on how things will pan out. All the graduation caps were waiting on the table tops in the ballroom...some were red and some were black. Our table all had black. Each track was announced and all those who participated in that particular track would stand up. They would let out a cheer and move their tassles from left to right. After all the tracks were officially called, most of the students threw their caps in the air...I kept mine on! Want to keep it! Besides don't want to poke someone out! LOL!

Afterwards, we got our stuff from the room and went to the ballroom to crop some of our album. Oh, we had some cocktails while we cropped - VERY cool! Cropping in style with my "Elements of Style" album - can't get any better! Thanks to Susanne for taking this picture of me!















Sunday was miserable...it poured, lack of sleep and checkout time! I woke up a little earlier than my roomies so that I could pack up my stuff in the car = more time to help the others. Daylight savings kicked in on Saturday/Sunday so we lost an hour...basically we didn't get to bed until 4AM! AND I lost my voice! UGH! Let me tell you, it was good to be home! But it was worth it...I am now an official alumna of CKU!