Scrapfest 2010

I thought it would be nice to do a little recap of last weekend for you. We left for Kitchener on Thursday around 2PM for Scrapfest. This in my opinion is THE premier paper crafting event in Ontario. As a vendor, I can tell you that Lisa Sales-Furney (the organizer) has always treated us so well. She has people to help drive your trailers into the auditorium and help unload them. No where, I mean no where, do you get service like this!

We spent the entire evening setting up the booth. This year, we focused on Kaiser Craft products and of course our ribbon! As usual, we stressed about this choice. Most stores just set up 'mini' stores within the auditorium and that seems to work well. But not us....we always HAVE to be different. Why, I don't know. Maybe it all goes back to our very first show. We did the 'mini store' idea and basically packed up 80% of the store and brought along this 150 pound work bench from some friends barn along with 10 bales of hay, 6 pumpkins and us four sisters all in our cowboy hats. Let's just say when the first customer asked for that one scrapbook (you know that ONE!) that we decided to leave back in Chatham, we knew there had to be better way!!!

After our busy day of set up, we checked into our hotel (the Delta Kitchener) and ventured out around 9PM for something to eat. We came upon this great pub with a great open patio idea with live music. When the guy said the special was $2.99 pounds of wings with the purchase of a pitcher of beer, let's just say our minds were made up. It was so cool to think that at 9:30pm on April 15th, we were able to sit outside enjoying a beer on at patio without a coat on. Got to love that weather we have been having!

The next day, it was rise and shine bright and early. We had a big day. Not only did we have to put the finishing touches on our booth before the doors opened at 2PM, we also had to complete our projects that we were featuring! Nothing like a little pressure to get you making decisions! Honestly, I don't know about you, but I NEED the pressure...I work best under pressure.

As usual, we were literally running right up until the doors opened at 2! And boy did they open with a bang! The VIPs honestly came storming through the doors screaming and cheering (FYI....we were THE first booth as you walked into the Aud!). Thank goodness we had Debbie (you know....Aunt Debbie) and our cousin Lauren (Debbie's daughter) to help us! Debbie manned the make and take table while Lauren did her sales thing. Kell took care of the cash and I did a bit of everything. The day/night was a blur. We were told that over 750 people went through the doors that night. When the doors closed at 10pm you would think we would be ready for bed. Oh no.....Kell had all this energy because Will was at home with his Dada so she wanted to create. Crazy girl. I was all wound up from the night that I just couldn't sleep....crazy girl.

The next day was even crazier! The doors were open to the public from 9am-5pm. Over 2000 wristbands were sold by 2pm. And you know what? All the sleepless nights paid off. The people loved our projects! We sold out of a dozen designs. We loved hearing that people were thrilled we were back with our ribbon as their stock from last year was nearly depleted. And speaking of ribbon, we sponsored an event where the ladies were asked to guess how many inches of ribbon were in our pickle jar. The winner was Lee-Anne (pictured with us!). Lee-Anne guessed 5,555 and the actual number was 5,436! Pretty good guessin' girl! Lee-Anne got to take the entire jar home with her. And how nice was it for her to stop by our booth afterwards to thank us both in person for the ribbon! I ♥ when people get excited!

You asked and we listened!

Many of you that attended the event have asked us to post our projects so you can be inspired. Over the next couple of weeks, we plan to post 1-2 projects per week. Look for some very fun ideas including hanging notepads, ribbon holders, storage boxes, mini frames and more. We will also be featuring tips and tricks we discovered along the way.

And for those of you who stopped by the booth, thank you! We appreciate the business and kind words. And for those of you who didn't attend, I am telling you now, make SURE you go next year! You will be so glad you did!