From the He{art}

What a week this has been. I have so much to share that I am sure this is going to be one loooooong post, so consider yourself warned.

Friday night was the holiday party that I hosted for our local scrapbooking meetup group. It was a blast, if I do say so myself. It has taken me all weekend (and two naps) to recover, but believe me it was all worth it. I set out to make sure everyone had a Happy Holiday season, and from what I can tell it was mission accomplished.

The night started with a little meet and greet with a toy soldier.




He was mildly amusing with his juggling skills, cards tricks and corny jokes. Oh yeah, and the wild eyed psychotic stare that is so fitting for a toy soldier???? I wish I had taken a picture of this guy before he changed into his costume, he has a mess of thick gray hair that stands about a foot high off of his head, and those fake eyebrows are just a bit thicker than his natural ones. Guess that'll teach me - next time I'll be sure to request photos of the actual performer before he shows up. No one seemed to mind though, and he did set the tone for an evening of controlled chaos and great fun.

As soon as the guests came in they were given four (free) raffle tickets , which represented the chance to win one of the four prizes shown below. The Photoshop Elements 7 prize came with the software, the book and a gift certificate for Jessica Sprague's class: Up and Running with Photoshop. The Sony camera came with a case and a 2GB Memory Stick. And then there was my favorite prize, a three month gift subscription to Studio Calico's Kit Club. I know I mentioned April and Scarlet in an earlier post, but their generosity deserves another mention. When I contacted these two amazing women about purchasing a gift subscription to give away at our Holiday Party, they upped the ante by donating eight Add-On Kits for me to give away as well. I can say that they were greatly appreciated by both me and those that won them. The contents of the kits were awesome so please, if you are considering joining a monthly club, check them out. Not only do I already subscribe and have never been disappointed, but they also have an amazing DT and their gallery is filled with inspiration - and hey, why not support those that support us. Scarlet and April, once again a huge thank you!

One of our members, had to leave the party early because she wasn't feeling well. At the last minute, I remembered the raffles, and told her to leave her tickets with me. I had Santa (did I mention we also had a visit from St. Nick) pull the raffle tickets and hers was the first one called, she was also the second, and the fourth. Good thing that I had set rules form the beginning that no one could win more than one raffle prize. I can't image what the odds are, and I'm sure someone more math savvy than me could figure it out, but all I know is that it was incredible that out of 37 women, the same one had her ticket pulled 3 out of 4 times. She was ultimately awarded the first prize that was raffled off, which was the photo printer, and hopefully winning helped her feel better.

Santa also helped hand out the Kringle gifts that we all brought, and then there was the tray game. I filled a tray with over 30 scrapbooking items and placed the tray on Santa's lap. Everyone had to line up single file and had a few seconds to walk past Santa and remember everything they could that was on the tray. Then I gave them one minute to write down all the items they could remember, the person who remembered the most items won everything on the tray - there were smaller prizes for the second and third place.

We took a short break for some more food and wine, and then the torture - I mean the games - continued. There was a scrapbook word search that I created here. Everyone had one minute to wind as many words as they could, and again the top three won prizes. There was also scrap bingo,some homemade scratch-off lottery tickets,and a round of trivia questions about holidays around the world. Here are pics of some of the prizes that were won:

After an hour with of photo ops and circus tricks, we said goodbye to our soldier, and hello to food and fun. I decided that we would jump right in and start with the games and prizes while we had our cocktail hour. Below are photos of just some of the prizes that guests could win by playing Scrapbook Word Search, Bingo, and Holiday Trivia. I also filled a tray and with tons of scrapbooking items. Santa held the tray on his lap while the guests were given a few seconds to walk past it and remember as many items as they could. They then had 1 minute to write it all down.

And then there was the LO contests. In the spirit of encouraging some pre-party scrapbooking (since there wouldn't be any time for cropping during the party), I challenged our participants to enter a few LOs contests, the incentive of course being that if they did they were eligible to win a prize. They could enter any/all of the contests with the only requirements being that they had to use at least one photo, include journaling, and use at least two pieces of paper and one embellishment. Entries could be of any size, digital/traditional/or hybrid, and could be a one or two page spread - their choice. Here are the categories they had to choose from:

1. Taken from the Effer Dares: Create a layout based on Dare 114 WRONG. As in "that is SO wrong." As in something that really drives you crazy or something you said that was so bad you can't believe you said it. Whether it's a silly pet peeve or something truly offensive, tell us what's diving you nuts these days.

2. Create a layout with a holiday theme. It can be any holiday (not just Xmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, etc.) past or present. It can be about why you like or dislike or certain holiday.

3. Taken from One Little Word, create a layout based on their Word Up Challenge #36: CHANGE "to become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's self or its former characteristics or essence." Change is inevitable for all of us, it may be a small thing or might be something really big, but we will all go through lots of changes throughout our lives. Some changes we might not even be ready for but we will have to go through it anyways. Change is good for all of us.... It helps us grow, it helps us become who we are.... it defines us....The biggest change that I have been through lately is the arrival of our grandson! This has been such a good change for me but a big change all the same.... It feels like not so long ago that I was going through the same things as my daughter is now.... plus going from 'mommy' to 'grammy' seemed like a big deal! What kind of change are you going through? Big changes? Small? Share.

4. Taken from the book Cut Loose: Break the Rules of Scrapbooking: Create a layout based on the idea that your life is not serious all of the time. Look at your life with a little humor and get a new perspective on daily life. Create a scrapbook page showing off your affection for an everyday object (the example layouts in the book included a woman's love for her Kitchen Aid mixer, another woman's quickly multiplying dust bunnies, and a third woman's tribute to her running shoes). These layouts should not include pictures of people, but of the everyday object you are honoring.

I was amazed at how many of our members found time to submit LOs, some even participated in all five. I wanted this contest to be fun, and for no one to feel as if their work was being judged based on skill or my personal design aesthetic. I also wanted to introduce some of our newbies to a few of the inspirational challenge sites and books that are out there and to get some of our veterans out of their comfort zone and try something new. Well it worked, the LOs came rolling in and for each one created, a raffle ticket was given out. At the end there were five winners, one for each category, randomly chosen from the raffle tickets. Each won a $50 Gift Certificate to a different company:

With a continued showing of generosity, the owner of the Portrait Bug, Kim, donated both the $50 gift certificate as well as 5 classes to the prize pool of the evening. She also attended our party, joined in playing all of the games, and let us know about a free ladies night/wine & cheese event that will be happening at the store this Thursday, December 11th, from 6-8pm. Anyone interested in attending should bring their camera and/or their memory card with them.

Our resident Stampin' Up Demo, Chi, also donated a Stampin' Up catalog, and is going to cover the cost of shipping & tax so that the winner will have full use of $50 certificate.

The finale of the evening came when I asked for three volunteers to give up everything they won for a chance to win something better, or possibly nothing at all. Well, I quickly found my three lucky ladies. One went home with all of her winnings, the winnings of the other two ladies, and all of the paper that had not been won by anyone during the other games (about 100 sheets of patterned paper). The next winner went home with Memory Maker's Slice and two additional design cards, but the big winner of the evening went home with a Cricut Expression and two cartridges. I think they were all happy they took the gamble. And really, everyone should have known better - was I really going to send someone home with nothing?

All in all, it was a fabulous evening. I must publicly thank Cheryl for continuing to provide us with a space to meet and crop, and for allowing me to orchestrate this madness without comment or concern. It was a wild night of laughs, scream, and even a few tears (of joy that is). It took me the better part of a month to get it all together, but I would do it all over again in a second (I think)!