We had our annual Spring Fling "AZ INKers" event yesterday and we had 60 guests attend, it was a really great time! Diana and I cohost these events for our own local teams and our fellow sideline demo's and open it to other local demos and to customers! It's a great way for us to stay connected and everyone loves to come out and play! We challenge ourselves to give every penny of the registration fee back to our guests in their goodie bags and projects as well as to never repeat a project -- so far year after year I don't think you've ever done the same thing twice!
We arrived early and got all set up but I forgot to get a picture of the room before everyone started arriving .. it was so pretty to see the ballroom all decorated wtih the black table cloths, their nice clean white grid sheets, and to top it off a-to-die-for cute little Sweet Pea Reusable Tote bag sitting at all of their spaces! So next time, I'll try to snag a picture of the calm before the storm! But here's a picture of the bags, all packed and ready to go! Because of my knee surgery and not being able to lift things yet, we took all of our supplies out to Di's house and decided to bag them their, thinking they'd fit in her truck the day of... well you know when it fits in a box somehow when you open the box, the contents double and can never go back in the box... well this is about 20+ bags, we had 60 ... needless to say they didnt fit all in one car! Actually 3 trucks!!
These are the projects that they got to make yesterday! They started off with this Decor Elements Block and turned it into a cute memo cube or photo holder. It uses the SAB Welcome Neighbor (free) designers series paper (that they all recieved) in the Melon Mambo color with hearts and then a few patterns that were used with the Big Shot Daisies #2 die and some "melon mambo" polka dot clips that Di and I found months ago on one of our shopping excursions... well we finally decided exactly what to do with them! And we had just enough too, maybe 2 to spare! They were clearance a long time ago so sorry, don't think you'll find them anywhere now. But you can make your own by buying standard ones and covering them with our dsp!
You can decorate the sides any way that you want, the clip can hold a photo or calendar, special note or reminder ... and one of the gals at the event shared a great tip! Use the stretchy cord that we carry at holiday time to go around the block using mini glue dots to tack it in the top corners on each side... and then you can use the mini library clips to attach something to each side and your pics can be rotated or changed however often, or the months if you have little calender squares! Great idea!!
The leaves were made by punching a 1-3/8" circle and then repunching to get the leaf shape!
To coordinate with the cube we made this Top Note Desktop Organizer, which was inspired by Tammy at www.funpapercandy.com ... we modified a couple of dimensions but followed her tutorial! This uses paper from the SAB Welcome Neighbor DSP and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Pink Epoxy Brads! The drawer can fit the 4"x4" post it notes perfectly!
To finish out this desk set ensemble, we decided to stamp on one of our new Clear Acrylic Blocks (size B) and make it be a decorative paper weight! We used the NEW stamp set we received at Leadership from Shelli, which will be available soon in the upcoming Summer Mini catalog! Elements of Style is the name of the stamp set and we used white StazOn ink, then let it air dry and finish it off with white ribbon! You are actually looking through the block, so you need to use an image that works either way (not letters).
One of the other fun projects that we did was the Coffee Wrap Holders that we've seen everywhere! After leadership it seems that fabric in the Big Shot was all the rage ... well when we stumbled across the designs that were shared at www.cardalacarte.com, we knew it would be perfect! We went with dark chocolate wool felt which we purchased by the bolt. We simply traced a coffee wrap from Starbucks and used my rotary fabric cutter tool to cut them out! A simple stitch around the edges and then they were ready for them to decorate! We did decide to use a felt glue as it provides a really secure hold. They decorated with their Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Pink Epoxy Brads!
And we always try to include projects that can be duplicated in your personal stamping or in a class or camp, this way the demo's that come to our events can also use it in their own businesses with their customers! So I came across an absolutely stunning card packet at www.gettincrafty.typepad.com and it was using full size cards but I wanted to use something smaller ... so she inspired me to sit down and "make my own" ... what? well why not, right? So on one of our design play dates at Di's house, I sat and did my math thing while she played with some design stuff... then we brought it all together. Then we had to do a re-do when the Beautiful Wings Embosslit went on backorder (way too popular I guess!!) and ... tah-dah here is our final design that we came up with together and this is what they made at Spring Fling with the Shades of Spring DSP, Notecards & Envelopes, SAB Scallop Trim border punch, coordinating Scallop Trim corner punch, Pink Epoxy Brads and the Beautiful Butterflies BigZ die and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers! We call it our Butterfly Book of Cards!
We also were a little over zealous in our designing and we actually planned for 1 more project than our actual time allowed... so this Heart and Home Decorative Banner became an at HOME project! Most seemed happy to have the project and I'm sure they'll easily be able to do it at home! This features the Heart Chipboard Book, Serif Essentials Alphabet Die, Shades of Spring DSP, Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon ... a little bit of Hot Glue.
One last cute little project to share with you is a picture of the Thank You Gift we provided to our Workshop Wow presenters! Diana made these up at her house while I was busy working on computer files on my end... They are just adorable!! Scrunched ribbon band and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers all finished off with an adorable tag!
And I will have to post later some people pictures from the day! But for now I need to return to mommy duties as my youngest is having friends over for a Spring Break Sleepover! Big sister is off to Mexico with a long time friend, so little sister has the run of the house and all of my attention! <once i can free myself from this never ending post, are you still reading?>
I would like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH to each of you that came, that you trust us to put a great day together for you! That means a lot and it is really personally rewarding to me when I get to see you and spend the day crafting together! I love seeing all of your smiles, getting and giving hugs and the joys, laughs and mishaps that always seem to happen (ah-hem... can you say name tags).
Special Shout Outs:
Thank you to Barbara, Marlene, and Kimberly for bringing displays! Everyone enjoyed them very much!
Thank you to Dana, Elizabeth and Marlene for presenting Workshop Wow Demonstrations! They were awesome!
Thank you to Pat who met us in the morning and to Sharon D for helping when you arrived too!
Thanks to Julie, Angie, Marlene, Jen and everyone else that stayed to the end and helped us clean up in record time! From everything to helping fold table cloths, to packing supplies, to carrying things to our cars...
And if I missed anyone I sincerely apologize, it's truly by accident! Thanks again to ALL of you for a fabulous day!
And to Rute -- you stinker, you bought me lunch! wink and a hug!
And to my counter part in crime and wonderful downline, Diana Gibbs ... I love ya! Cheers to you baby for another wonderful event together!
Hugs,
Rhonda
