K8

I didn't even know about the whole certification thing till the last day

can you tell me which cakes were yours. I took pics of almost everything and would love to see what you did.

Reba1

I was one of those first timers and I had such fun. I was just amazed at how organized you all were. With the logistics of all those people, classes, demos, the cake room, all those vendors.............. It was just amazing how smoothly it went (at least for me)

I never met a grumpy person (a few hungover on Sunday ) and everything started on time. I was impressed with how down to earth all the "celebraties" were. I was a little starry eyed but seeing norm davis pushing his own boxes thru the halls made me laugh.

My only problem was picking what to take and what to buy. Too little time and money.

I think the organizers deserve a huge round of applause.

I didn't attend the week long convention but I did go to the cake gallery on Saturday and OMG!!!! It was so AMAZING to see these great cakes up close.....I have a list of skills that I can't wait to accomplish. It really makes want to work toward going to next year's convention. I did have a question.....were all those cakes up for judging like a cake contest??? If so who won?

There was no competition (thank God) just for the love of the art.

But from what I understand, at the next convention, there will be a competition.

What was voted on was to "allow" competitions. There may or may not be one as part of the convention. It is up to the host chapter. The Show Cake Gallery will remain as is: a venue for sharing all the amazing talent in an unjudged atmosphere.

I agree with Nannie, a big round of applause for ICES Show Committee and volunteers.



Reba1, do you think you'll have the opportunity to go to San Diego next year?

Anyone else like me and went home and filled San Diego ICES into the calendar for 2010 to block out those dates?

k8

I remember the monet and the baby they we just sensational

You are very talented

I'll go back thru my pic and look for the others.

OK, this was the first time I ever went to something like this for this industry, so I figured I would just do the day thing, go to the cake gallery and vendor hall. My wife was gracious enough to get a babysitter for us, and accompany me to the show- being it was my birthday gift. I sprung for the the vendor room and cake gallery for myself, and gallery for my wife. I was amazed at all the variety and detail of all the showpieces. I am still wondering how some of the string was done beforehand or on site. It just seemed SO delicate. Although my wife doesn't appreciate the intricate detail as much as i did, I still think she enjoyed seeing the work. I wee what I have to aspire to try to create and create such clean work... I'll have to admit I was a bit start struck seeing some of the masters there in the vendor hall, but all were kind and helpful as ever. I was a bit peeved, at shelling out another $40 for just to get my wife in the vendor hall as well, but if it goes to charity, I am ok with that. There was too much to look at, and things I could of course buy (like all the molds) Best thing would probably be purchasing sans shipping cost. Overall I was glad I went, got to see a few products I was interested in, demonstrated, and experience a whole new industry and glad it was only about a half hour from my home.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7632830@N08/sets/72157621821776889/

Marie, you don't have to worry about me keeping in touch. I was sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you, but after getting into the cake room to get my cakes out it was a little chaotic.

Nannie, do you happen to have a picture of the Father of the Bride she did in the demo? I got pictures of the one she brought but by the time I got to take ones of the one she did in class my cam battery died. Sigh.

Rylan, membership is $60. I'm looking at the website to see if they still have the prices up and listed. Okay, all I see is the onsite prices which was $315 for members and for $415 non members.

They have different pricing for the convention though. If you sign up early you get it cheaper. Then after a certain time frame the cost goes up. They are upping the cost of the hands on demo's from $50 to $75 next year (which is still very good for 2 hours with a 'cake great').

I looked back on my receipt, and the early bird registration was $190 before any demo's. This included the convention registration, breakfast ticket, banquet ticket, and access to the vender's room and cake room. Regular demo's where $7 a piece. You could sign up for 8 of them then also purchase up to 4 stand by tickets for demo's.

Since the information isn't still on the site (or I am not finding it) I can't give you the price difference between member and non member for all the different times you can register. I just know for the 5 conventions I have done, it was cheaper to be a member, even when you factored in the membership rate.

I'd keep an eye out on the website to see when the post the information. The registration for the convention is opens up around March 1st. You could also try emailing the future show hosts to see if they have that information as well.

As far as the comment on the vendor's room. I'm not sure that money goes to the local charity as well, I think only the cake room does. My guess is that they put a fee like $50 on the vendors room so you don't have people that aren't interested in buying going in there and hanging out. With the fee only people interested in the products are going to be in there shopping and buying and they won't have people standing around all the booths watching the demo's and getting in the way.

I've enjoyed every convention I have gone to and am already trying to figure out how I am going to get to the one in 2010. I always spend too much money, but that's part of it for me, and I go knowing I will. Now I just have to make sure I do use what I bought. You almost always run in to super friendly people and make new friends. I'm glad I got to meet the CCer's I did and am sorry I didn't get to met everyone. Thanks so much Cindy, for taking the time to do the name badges. Like DHG, I'll be saving mine for future conventions.

We went ahead and finished the drive home last night. After getting in at 12:30 unloading the car then loading my suitcase in my car and heading home I got home around 1:30 and was so excited to crawl in my own bed. My dog and cat were happy to have me home and both wanted alot of attention and got it. Then I slept and slept in late today!

Now I need to pull out all my cake stuff and see what all I actually bought. HeHe...

my stuff is spread out on the dining table

I want to play but leave for the funeral tomorrow.

I didn't get a pic. the front was mobbed and I couldn't get close.

Aww, I was hoping to get one in the cake room, but I didn't get a chance to look for it either.

I want to play too, but I still need to finish cleaning up the mess from all my display cakes. Hmmm.... clean or play, clean or play....

[quote="DuncanHinesgirl"]I agree with Nannie, a big round of applause for ICES Show Committee and volunteers.

Thank you so much -

Reba1, do you think you'll have the opportunity to go to San Diego next year?

No, I don't think I will be able to. It is so late in August, that our school year will most likely have started and I am not allowed to take off days that soon (unless I want to take days without pay - which would probably octuple the cost!) I am really bummed about that, since I've never even been to San Diego. So everyone pray that our school board votes for a LATE start date!

I also need to finish unpacking and see what I actually bought! One plus - I grabbed a table at Night of Sharing and we (me and the roomies) demo-ed several First Impression molds we had or had just bought. For a good hour, we had lots of people. My roomie Glenda said "this way, when someone asks if you have used the things you bought at convention, you can say yes!". VERY SMART GAL!

Reyba1, I think I stopped by your table! Were you showing one of the pretty border molds from First Impressions? I wish I knew to introduce myself, but by that time I had forgotten to look at badges and was only looking to see what people were showing.

Tracy, I'm glad you're home safely.

Nannie, you'll have to keep in touch one you get back from the funeral.

I've been playing a little with one of my new cutters (I can't remember which vendor) and I've tweaked some of the flowers on my display piece with the petal dusts from Ruth Rickey's starter kit.

My Mom-in-law from MO is coming for a visit so I will be the "hostess with the mostest" for the next few days.

Yes, that was me! Sorry we didn't make the connection! Have fun with your new cake toys.

I'm about to dig all through my boxes and finally see what all came home with me. HeHe. I'm pretty sure I remember everything I got, but lets see.

I'm talking to my brother today about a warming box. I bought some sugar stuff and I want to try it out, but I have to finish gathering all the supplies. I don't want to order a box for $300-$400 if we can make it cheaper. And anyone that saw my 'boxes' at the convention could see that my family are crafty people. So I'd rather have them build something cheaper but just as great. Now I just need to find a good Sugar for Dummies book.

Happy playing with your new toys everyone!

Whew! 2 days of driving to get back! Not fun.

We had a great time and it was SO wonderful to finally meet so many of you and put faces with names. Thank you for stopping by my booth, where I was held captive and not able to mix and mingle! LOL

I got home on Monday and am still totally exhausted. I keep looking at the dust on my furniture and can't bring myself to clean house yet.

I shipped all of my new toys by the UPS reps on Sunday. I should have kept a couple of things out because now I am pacing the floor wondering what to do with myself.

Sharon ~ I purchased all of your DVD's that came in a bundle. (In the UPS box). I can't wait to view them!

I also bought all of the gelatin molds, molds from First Impressions, they only had 1 out of the 6 - 8 on my list. I shopped from Nick Lodge's booth, Country Kitchens, Cal-Java, Petalcrafts, Mimiosa's Designs, Cake Connection, Queen Anne Confections.

I even have a charge for Thomsen Corp. and I don't remember who they were. Everything I purchased was hurriedly put in that box to avoid so much extra weight (I flew). All of my receipts, everything. I keep watching my bank for the charges. (The bank called me on Saturday to verify my debit card transactions, they said they were from all over the US and couldn't figure out why.)

Oh, I won the $500.00 worth of DVD's and cake supplies from the Petal Craft vendor!

I picked up so many catalogs and on Sunday I started thinking about the added weight so I threw everything in a box for the UPS. Now I am going stir crazy for not keeping one thing out to play with.

I found Loucinda early on and got my badge from her right away. They were terrific! People identified me by my badge. Great idea!

I haven't read this thread yet as I just found it, I will go back now and catch up on the ICES comments. Hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

cblupe aka Carol

OK, caught up reading all of the posts. My room at PR was just fine, I was on the 6th floor. It overlooked the roof with all of the a/c units there. I didn't have time to be looking out the window anyway so that didn't bother me at all. My room a/c could have worked better. I like a frigid room at night.

My one concern with the resort was an incident that happened Saturday afternoon. I finally got to shop at the vendors on Saturday and had to run up to my room to drop my loot off. I laid it spread out on the bed ~ housekeeping had already been there by now. This was about 2:30 pm. I returned just after 5:00 from more shopping and someone had been in my room. They came in with food because on the counter was leftover french fries, ketchup, mustard etc. just sitting there. I reported it and they sent a security guy up with new room keys and he took a picture of the food. Weird. I was there by myself and had not shared my room key with anyone. My theory is that housekeeping wanted to show my hands-on demos projects with someone and brought them into my room. I had 3 hand-on demos - Nick Lodge's flower, the girl int he red dress and the bug party.

I didn't eat much at the resort. A friend let me run into Target after dinner my first night and I bought coffee, water, fresh fruit, cereal bars and other snacks. So I didn't eat at the facilities too much to save on $$$'s. I love love love Starbucks coffee so I would fix myself coffee all the time although I did buy a glass of wine and the bar and would take it up to my room.

All in all my room was fine but the overall cost of the convention was probably one of my most expensive ones.

Carol

Carol

that is a creepy story

I would have been afraid to stay there alone after that.

Did you post pics of your hands ons? I posted the Bronwen Weber face but need to upload my pansy. Wasn't Nic great!

Did anyone meet Bundt Diva

I was so looking forward to seeing her but never met up

Hi Nannie-

Hope to see you in San Diego. Since my husband and I and another couple were staying with friends I ended up going ro PR Thursday and Saturday.

Friday - We skipped the breakfast and 2 demos I signed up for

Saturday had 2 demos shopped at the vendors and browsed through the cake gallery, did not attend the banquet and instead had dinner at Onesti supper club in St. Charles.

Sunday drove back to NY

I am saving up for San diego. hope to see you then

glad you had fun BD

cross your fingers about next year. Maybe I'll win the lottery

I am finally HOME!! (we left for PIB the day I got back from ICES) I HAD A FREAKIN' BLAST!!!! I have never met so many great people in one place in my life......I literally got up at 7 am each day and did not stop until 11 pm (or later) and 3 days I didn't even have time to eat! I think I spead myself a little toooo thin (not that I can't spare some of me) I volunteered quite a bit and took 3 hands on (Nic Lodge, Bronwen Weber and Mike Terry) LOVED every demo I took and volunteered for! Our room was great - although 2 days of no hot water kinda sucked, but I really did not care - I was having way too much fun! I did the shop owners breakfast (was setting at the back of the room by the exit door) Did the general breakfast, and the banquet (table 75?) got pics with all the famous cake folks from TV - talked with Norm Davis and Zane's wife and daughters for like 40 minutes one evening! Made my very first display cake (and it got to set beside Sue Tickle's best in show boxes of chocolates cake!) Bought sooo many new toys......the $$$ one is the new GREX airgun....OMG it is cooool! Met several of my CC buddies - HAD SOOO MUCH FUN!!!!

I ran out of space!! (how do you make long posts???) For those that want their badges that didn't get them, pm me and I will get them to you. They really are nice! I am sorry I couldn't find everyone.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO MADE THE CONVENTION POSSIBLE!! I was on such a fun high the whole time I was there, I just loved it.

Now, I have to go through all of my new toys and get them put away.

Sharon (Sugarshack) I will be sending you a package next week - thank you so much for all you do for us here. You are a beautiful person! I know one of my students has already ordered your videos, and I will reccommend them to many more.

I wish I could bottle and sell the good time I had there, I cannot wait to do it again! This was my first time attending and I don't have one negative thing to say about my experience. I LOVED IT!!

tHANK YOU! It was GREAT to see you. We had a wonderful time too. Glad you enjoyed it as well!

See you in 2010!

I know I'm a little behind ... didn't get CC's notices for replies So anyone want to share pics of their new fun toys??? I'm so sad I missed it this year