The Glamorous Life of a Travel Teacher...Papertrail6

This past July I had the awesome adventure of traveling with Eileen Hull & Scotty for PaperTrail#6. We headed out to the Paper Arts Show. Eileen blogged all about our fun adventure which you can read Papertrail6Review . and review pt2 and review pt.3. As you can see we had a great time, Eileen did a fabulous write up so what can I possibly add? Well how about some behind the scenes stuff or what I like to call- "The Glamorous Life Of a Travel Teacher.

Here we are bright eyed and excited ready to go on Papertrail 6. As a mix-media/art journal teacher I already know that things can go wrong, product doesn't show up or is discontinued the minute you order it, you forget that 1 critical doohickey and you husband has to run it up to your local store for your class. Of course all the students ewww and ahhh over your 6ft5 Harley riding hubby- oh no wait that's another story. 

Going on this trip gave me a new appreciation of what exactly goes into that happy demo you see at local scrapbook convention. From the largest thing like 10 Big Shot machines to the tiniest brad. All these supplies have to be ordered, inventoried, packed and shipped or hand carried to the convention. Once you are there the crazy task of setting up, re-organizing, teaching multiple classes begins with little time in between for things like eating, sleeping, all those mundane tasks. As in local teaching that really important doohickey might be missing or packed in the wrong box, or shipped to the wrong show. Now what do you do? 30 students to 1 die. Well the fun begins after the show- late night kitting!!! 

For those of you who followed us on Instagram you got a peak at the behind the scenes stuff. Like me in my PJ's at 2am in our hotel room cutting out felt flowers. There is nothing else to do other than dig in and get the job done. However the secret is this is the fun stuff. This is where the zany stories come from. The late night giggles caused by sugar & caffeine overload that make trips like this memorable.

Another shot at the start of late night where we cut out 100 pieces of matt board. We - Eileen, Ann Butler & Cheri from Sizzix had an assembly line going from glue, to paper, to cutting. I bravely ran the Big Shot only realizing at pass #97 that I could turn the machine around and use my other arm to crank the handle. What can I tell you I was in the zone!

We survived!!!!

 

I also learned on this trip that when things go wrong there are strangers who will step up and help you like the police officer and the neighbor who got Scotty back on the road after he jumped the hitch, while his wife chatted with us as we blocked their driveway.

 Or the mechanic Eddie, who opened shop on a Sunday to help get us back on the road saving us a day and a hotel room all the while patiently explaining what a spark plug does in relation to coils. 

Or Madelaine who while friend to Eileen was a stranger to me but included me in a lovely dinner and even the wonderful gift giving that she had planned for her friends. Mine is the polka dot! Love this hand made case. So glad she did decide to adopt me in the end! Hop over to Eileens for the tour, Madelaine has the most amazing studio!

As we headed off the final stretch a big whopping 720 miles to go...

with amazing views of USA countryside...

 I learned my biggest lesson of all. If you eat a Dairy Queen Blizzard for dinner at 8pm you will have no problem driving until 4am!

I want to thank Eileen for this incredible opportunity and her generous spirit. It was certainly a full service adventure filled with life lessons, travel tips and teaching advice. I also got to knock some of those non-visited States off my list! Eileen even got me up & running on both Twitter and Instagram. I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of our adventure and for more fun keep an eye on Eileen's PaperTrail Adventures.