Hi crafters!

Today I’m sharing my experience from attending my first (and definitely not my last) Concord & 9th event. I attended a three-day long Summer Camp and, oh my god, was it amazing. Since picking up cardmaking, I haven’t attended any events, so this was my first experience, and my standards are now set high! Back in March of this year, Concord & 9th announced their summer camp was open for registration. Around this time I was notified by my job that I was being laid off, so I hemmed and hawed over registering since the early registration fee was $299. I decided to do it since I literally love the company and their products, and I’m so, so, so glad that I did. The camp kit and the experience itself was so worth the price that I will likely be attending as many of their events as I can.

A couple months after purchasing the camp kit, Concord & 9th emailed to say that there was a private Facebook group that campers could join, and we were told that our camp kits would be shipping out at the end of May, and an unboxing event would follow in June. Because of who I am as a person, the moment my camp kit arrived I ripped that bad boy open. The box was literally filled to the brim with goodies. There were 8 ink cubes, 5 spools of twine, 3 bags of embellishments, enamel dots, a large die set, 4 smaller die sets with coordinating stamps, a turnabout stamp and coordinating dies, stencils, blending brushes, a plethora of cardstock, foam tape, and adhesive. Not to mention, a gift from your camp counselor, a cabin pin (shoutout to fellow Buttercups!), some saltwater taffy, and a field guide. Pretty much anything you could need to start crafting (with the exception of a die cut machine and a MISTI) was included in the box.

Fastforward to the Friday evening of the event, we kicked off the weekend with a campfire where campers were introduced to all the camp counselors, cabin cheers were selected, and some fun games were played. This year’s counselors were Ricky Burton-Romero, Carissa Wiley, Laura Bassen, Mindy Eggen, Cathy Zielske, Kristina Werner, and Jennifer McGuire was the ‘Special Activities Coordinator’. The three campfires were really special throughout the whole event, I was laughing so hard during some of the games that I was crying. Saturday consisted of 4 classes throughout the day with plenty of breaks between them. The classes taught were a cardscapes class, a class on shaker cards, one focusing on turnabout stamps, and the final class of the day was a floral die cutting class.

Day three started with a class on ink blending with Mindy followed by a break, then a special hour with Jennifer McGuire. After a lunch break, Kristina taught the final class of the event which featured an interactive cake die set. The day wrapped up wonderfully with the final campfire where some sneak peeks were shared, and lots of feelings were felt.

There was so much comradery during this event, which I didn’t really expect. Everyone was chatting during classes in the chat boxes, and instructors were chatting back. The setup of the classes was super helpful too. They kicked off with pre-recorded portions where the instructor put the card together, then went live where they demonstrated live and could answer questions. The best part is these playbacks are available for life. This event has shown me how wonderful our community is and allowed me to learn a plethora of new skills and to step out of my crafting comfort zone by making different sized cards. This event was put on so well, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Check out my class projects (some cards are using things from my stash) below!

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll catch you next time!