Need Moral Support...HELP

Okay, I am hosting my first national scrapbook day event this year. Its at a resort in Scottsdale and I've been advertizing for over three weeks. I already have some people coming and now I'm starting to get nervous. Has anyone put on a major scrapbooking event. Any tips?

KellyAnn

No words of wisdom but lots of moral support hon!! I am sure everything will be wonderful and great....and when all else fails just give them lots of chocolate! =)
kelly

My first thought is plenty of room and good lighting. I would also have everyone stand up and introduce themselves (even if you give out nametags) and maybe tell when they started scrapping and what they like most about it. That will break the ice a little, especially for someone who comes on their own. Prizes are always good. I have hosted a couple of scrapping parties (just friends coming over to scrap for a day) and I treat them to lunch and have a small favor for everyone there (stickers, die cuts, punchies in an envelope or something like that). Everyone likes a little something to brighten their day! Handouts are good, maybe some ideas printed off the internet (not everyone has access to the net). Have fun, and try to relax - everything will fall into place and it will be fun! Hope this helps - let us know how it turned out!

Monica

Monica-where would you find idea pages online to share? I am hosting an 8 person Crop Party tomorrow night and would like to do that. We are having dinner and dessert too. I'm going to have a few prizes for most creative page and most pages done.

KellyAnn- I say ditto on the space issue. That is my biggest Pet Peeve at a crop if the space is too small. Also have a little trash bag for each person. I went to a CM NSD Crop last year and they also had a little happy meal like box with candy, snacks and a bottled water for each person. All croppers love freebies.

I have never hosted anything like this but I have been to plenty. Everyone will know what to do & be fine as long as they can scrap!
Good luck, tell us how it goes!

I am sure it will be GREAT...the only complaint I have ever heard at a big crop was not enough space per scrapper. I mailed your Mardi Gras stickers Tues. Let us know how everything goes

what I want to know is why I don't know about this crop! hahahaa

You can find idea pages all over the net check out some of these sites to start you off:

http://www.paperadventures.com
http://www.michaels.com
http://scrapbooking.about.com/hobbies/scrapbooking/cs/freepatterns/index.htm

or http://www.scraplink.com

Thanks for everyone's support. Here is what I have planned so far. The event is at a resort so I have a the conference room that says it hold 15 but because we need so much room I am planning on 10. It's small but that will be good because I'm going for 10 hours and would like not to be fully exhausted. The participants will have access to the pool, hot tub and other resort amenities so not everyone will be scrapping all the time. I am going to provide tea and lemonade as beverages because they a inexpensive and look nice. I'll have light snacks like popcorn available all day. Dinner will be provided at about 5PM and I am working with a Mary Kay consultant to do facials. I even talked to a massage therapist last night as she's considering doing massages but I don't know if that will really happen. So what do you think? Have I covered everything?

KellyAnn

One thing my CMC does at NSD events is has a list of different scrapping-related accomplishements and then every hour, she pulls a number out of a basket, and if you have done that accomplishment, you get a little goodie -- sometimes a strip of stickers or choice of diecut, etc.

Some accomplishemnts she lists are ...

1. All completed pages have a page protector
2. Used the circle cutter
3. Used a specific design line ruler
4. Has done journaling on a page
5. Purchased xxx (any type thing you might have for sale)
6. Done a calendar page

I know there are more, and some of these are more geared to CM-type things, but it might help spur on other ideas.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes! I am truly bummed because my kids have Opening Day for their softball and t-ball games that day. I just don't understand how they could schedule that on the same day as NSD!!

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God Bless!
Denise *Ü*

Denise, I'm sorry you won't be able to celebrate with your CM consultant but you might ask her if any consultants are doing it on another day. Most of the CM consultants in AZ are doing it on the 5th but I have to work which I why I planned the Mother's day event.

KellyAnn

I find ideas all over the place... gracefulbee.com, scrappingbyalaine.com (she has great punch art, paper piecing patterns, etc.), I love stampinandscrapping.com's consultant board - there are good ideas on there all the time! As mentioned above, scraplink.com is a great site for over 700 scrapbooking links - it is awesome, and very few broken links. I forgot to mention that one of the prizes I gave out at my last party was a notebook with over 50 pages of titles - organized by theme (wedding, love, school, sports, etc.) which I put together by combining lots of lists I had found. It is really nice to have all those title ideas in one place, and my friends love their books! Happy scrapping! Monica