Winder Wonderland Wrap-Up

This will be loooongggg post, go grab some coffee I have lots to share on the Winter Wonderland Craft weekend!  These craft weekends are done by my awesome downline Michelle, you can read more about attending her craft weekends on her blog here.  Her next one is in the Spring, Craft in the City!  So excited!  I'll be there for sure!!!  I don't think her upcoming events are updated on her blog yet.  Michelle does an amazing job organizing these craft weekends.  Most people scrapbook, I don't, I even made the statement while there "I can't scrapbook at scrapbook weekend."  It's so much more than scrapbooking though, people bring all sorts of stuff to work on.  Angela had some amazing cork projects going on, Michelle was planning for upcoming classes, Carmelita was cutting on her silhouette some vinyl and iron on transfers for shirts.  So it's so much more than scrapbooking, but that was going on too :)  Michelle gives everyone an assigned seat.  This time, she set up a winter neighborhood so everyone had a different address I was at 122 Winter Avenue. So cute!!!! 

These weekends are held at a hotel in Albuquerque, so while I'm gone, I'm not exactly out of town.  Though I tell my kids I am :)  Here's what our spots look like when we arrived.  (I snapped a picture of Carmelita's spot because I had already put all my stuff down on my spot).  We got a sheet of glimmer paper (love!), a marker, our address, a pencil, a glitter covered mug (more on that tomorrow!), a snowman friend from yesterday's post and our agenda for the weekend along with a door prize slip and other papers all topped with a happy penguin!  Michelle makes sure to remember every detail!  Everyone gets an entire table to themselves, so there's plenty of room to work :) 

Here's my spot all set up for me to work for the weekend.  I have my paper cutter on my right, all my cardstock in that big bag, some of my adhesives in the smaller bag in front of that.  Then to the left I have all my ink pads, and in the blue bag, accessories like scissors, bone folders, blocks, pens, etc.  I have a notebook too, that has all my projects that I want to do over the weekend sketched out.  It looks so nice and pretty......it doesn't stay that way long :)

This is the view from the door, looking to the right, before everyone arrived.  All my stuff is over there, can you see it!!!  The tables down the center of the room hold all the punches and big shots, etc.  This is all soooo helpful and sooooo generous of Michelle, she brings all her punches, all her dies, all her embossing folders, all her framelits-that's all stuff I know she has and I don't have to pack.   

Here's the rest of the room, from the door looking left.  Michelle was all set up too.  We were the only ones there (I got there early to deliver the snowmen).  I think Michelle had 24 people there, it was so much fun, and there was so much creativity flowing through that room! 

Here's a better look at the tables with the big shot and punches.  I'm pretty sure Michelle owns every folder, framelit and die!  She seems to have it all!  Everything I needed she had!  I know there's a few punches she doesn't have (I checked), but her supply of punches is pretty huge!  She also has a lot of retired punches that I didn't hang on to, so it's always nice to play with those again. 

When I do my punch art here though, I make every effort to use current stuff though, mostly so I can either recreate it at home or use it in a class.  But don't you love all those boxes of punches!!!  Happiness in a box! 

Here's my table right before I started cleaning up....told you it wouldn't stay clean.  I think at this point I had spread onto the table to my left and the table in front of me :)  Off to my right are Angela and Carmelita still hard at work.  And Olaf too!  What would a Winter Wonderland be without Olaf!!! 

All through the weekend Michelle gives out make and takes and gifts.  She spoils us rotten!!!  But it's also one of the reasons I love her weekends.  Let's face it we all love being pampered once in a while and like all moms we rarely put ourselves first.  I know for me this is a fun 48 hour break that let's me 'recharge' so I can take on those battles over snacks, pj's and homework!  Here's all the extra stuff I brought home! ***Please don't look at the rest of my messy desk :)***  If you followed me on Facebook over the weekend you saw that I posted every time there was a gift or make and take, here it all is!!!

There's Christmas tags, Project Life cards and page protectors, we made coasters at the PJ Party, there's boxes and ribbons, sequins and soooooo much more that I can't even begin to name it all.  My favorite though is the custom Holiday Planner she made!!!  It's amazing!!!  She has 3 months of calendars, there's stickers to put on the calendars to keep us organized, there's a holiday shopping list, a folder to put receipts in, she thought of everything!!!  I can't wait to use it!!!  I'm already looking forward to the next weekend!!!  I know I've said it before but every time I come home and unpack I'm completely blown away by the amount of work, time and planning that Michelle puts into this weekend.  I know Michelle loves to do it, but it's such a rewarding weekend for us, every bit of hard work that goes into pays off.  She's amazing!!  I can't say enough wonderful things about these weekends.  I have more to share about the weekend coming up!  I have all my projects to share, plus one more project I helped Michelle with :) Don't miss it!!! 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!