Whoa! What a rush!!

Wow!  Scrapfest.  Kitchener 2012.  What a whirlwind of an adventure!  I know it is Thursday, and the show was LAST Friday and Saturday, but I only JUST feel like I am getting caught up!  

For those of you who have never been, I think you should mark April 12 and 13th, 2013 on your calendar right now!!  Seriously, go do it!  Scrapfest is Ontario's premier paper crafting event.  There is a huge shopping area as well as a crop area and special classes.  Many of the vendors also do make and takes throughout the weekend.  In my opinion, Lisa Sales Furtney and her team pull together one of the best and amazingly well run shows I have ever attended!

  

So have you ever wondered how we pull shows like this together.  Have a look at the process...

The Preparation

Each year I spend hours days weeks thinking and thinking about our theme.  What products will be featured?  How will I decorate our booth?  Who will help me?  What samples will we create?  Have a look at one of the members of my team.....Jules!  She is just one of the girls who helped prepare amazing samples for the booth.  Here she is one morning "smashing" with her mom on the Sunday before the show!  I just love what she did with these pages!  You can see my eco-smashbook on the table as well.  I decided to add ribbon, a spellbinder blossom die and some distressing to the front of my album.  Jules told me I did a nice job so that is all that matters...ahhhh!

Here is a look at another Smashbook I created for the event!  I ripped apart all of my Real.Simple. magazines.  I saved all the most amazing decorating and product ideas and created a book I just love!  No more flipping through those piles of old magazines for that cool-idea-I-know-its-somewhere-just hold-on-was-it-December 2010-no-maybe-11.  Now a dozen old magazines are out of my house (yay me!) and patiently waiting to be recycled.  And just wait for the best part.... all I have to do is pull out my Retro Smashbook for that "cool must-have planter idea".  Fun.  Efficient.  Smashing!

The Product Offering

From the above comments, you may have an inkling of what we featured.  Yes, Smashbooks were a big part of our booth.  I absolutely love how quick and easy scrapbooking can be with this product!  It is SOOO me!  Hey have I done this sales pitch already on this blog!  Ha!  Have a look at some of the product we brought in specifically for the show!  Yikes!  All I kept thinking is "Will it sell?!?  Is there room in the two vans for everything?  Yikes....no, double yikes!"

More Products

Here is a look at a fun embellishment I created with the Spellbinder Blossom dies (another featured product).  Again I love how quick and easy these dies can make designing and having fun!  These dies were featured during my demos and make and takes!  I used cork sheets (sold in store) for this flower and wrapped it around a gorgeous Prima wooden button.  A little bakers twine complete my embellishment nicely.

The Booth In Action

Have I told you how much I love Scrapfest?!?  The rush and stress of it all.  The fun ladies from all over Ontario that we see each year.  The amazing energy and love of the hobby felt over the two day event....ahhh.  There is nothing else like it!  Here is a look at our booth from the front left corner.  You can see me leading the make and take.  You can see the very popular Smash products.  You can see the ladies at the back rooting through our always consistent and loved ribbon jars.  You can see the style of our booth....very Pickle!  Burlap EVERYWHERE! Antiques a constant.  The theme....Quick & Dirty.  

Now here is a look at our booth from the front right corner.  There is Kell....hi!

The Secret Ingredients 

In my opinion, I could plan and plan and plan but without out the help of my family/friends (I know I am blessed that they are both!) the show would not have been a success!  We each had our role and we did it well!  Kell helped me with the ordering and running the cashout area efficiently and smoothly.  Krystle pulled together THE most amazing Smashbook and helped promote the product.  And Jen was such an asset the week of the event preparing and packing and kitting.  She also, brought in some Bailey's cupcakes on Saturday at THE most perfect time of the day!  Seriously....I am so LUCKY to have these girls on my side!

Our Next Event

So what's next?  Well, it is funny you ask!  We have a little event in the works for next Thursday (April 26th) at the store!  Hey, why not keep the fun going?!?  

It will be a little pre-Mother's Day shopping and crafting event running from 10am until 8pm.  All I have to say is that it will pull together all of these fun things that we (the girls above) do and then some!  More details tomorrow....