Tuestorial - Baby Shower Planning

So this week I have exciting news - I'm going to be an Aunt! My big sister, Sarah, is having a baby boy...and it's my duty, as best future auntie ever - to throw her a baby shower that she'll never forget!

This week, I wanted to share my tips and tricks on how to plan a baby shower - or really any party without breaking your bank or your back in the process...all the while, looking like a professional party planner!

THE PRE-SHOWER PLANNING
My biggest advice for someone on a budget... use your resources! Ask your friends to take on a little bit here and there - and before you know it...you've got yourself a great party - with lots of meaningful details. This entry is broken down into two pieces...as you know, a lot goes into a great party...and I want to make sure I share my tips along the way.

The Theme for this party: Little Man

FIRST: Pick Your Color Story

For any party you might be planning, it's easiest to start by just picking the color story that you'd like to match everything to. Don't pick crazy colors - because in the end...it will be hard to find matching napkins...but look for something creative. I think I've mentioned this before, but Color Trends is a great online resource for all things COLOR. :) some people have already planned out great ideas for color stories.
Starting here is never a bad idea.

However, I started my planning a little different.
I looked to our own team member Shannon Hegarty who creates lovely digital scrapbook kits to provide the patterning for my invitations. I let her decide on the colors for the patterns – from there... I had my color story which I'll be carrying through the whole party.
Here's what she made:




SECOND: Invitations on the Fly

So this was my favorite part, because I got to use Shannon's patterns in my invitations & do a cute little baby drawing of my sister's baby boy - who has been given the name Odin (the Viking god). After I finished up my design (back and front) in Photoshop I actually ended up going to MOO.com and uploading three different color combinations for some extra whimsy. Look to your fellow Etsy team members if you're in need of a creative invitation for your upcoming party.




I also used my back design to make some great stickers at Moo later, which you will see on the cupcakes next week.

THIRD: Don't forget the cupcakes

I was going to order cupcakes from a local baker...but couldn't for the life of me think of where or how or or or...so many decisions! But then this little light bulb went off... my friend Cara! She runs a small bakery out of her home Brown Sugar Bakery over in the East Bay...and she would be willing to meet me on my way to the party so that my cupcakes are fresh and also don't get damaged.
Cara took the left over stickers I had from my invitation order for decorations... stay tuned for photos!

FORTH: Tie in the theme

To help tie in the theme (Little Man) into a couple other places. I made some Mustaches on a Stick which will be great for party photos.

Lastly, I purchased chocolate cigars as party favors to cheers to the occasion with a little fun sprinkled in!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Tuestorial: Group Painting Project

So I've been trying to think of an interactive Group Craft Project that could be fun for a group of friends to do together at a Craft Night as an Ice Breaker...
I guess I'm mentally preparing myself for this weekend's awesome Etsy Party!
Last night I tried out one of my ideas with a group of friends at my house.

THE PROJECT:
Pass The Painting
THE GOAL:
Break the Ice, have fun, giggle and take home a treat!

THE CREW! Some Artistic and Wonderfully fun people...
You'll want more than one person...preferably 4 or more for best results.

Allie Felton (Organizer)
Katy Atchison (Hostess)
Allie Zee
Angela Holmes
Also my friend Stu and his girlfriend came...which made a nice sized group of six people.

A spin off the Drawing Game, Pass the Garbage...this is pretty much exactly the same as that but more challenging because you have to have a basic understanding of how to paint or draw on a canvas.

Materials Needed:
Canvases (I bought a 10-pack of pre-stretched canvases at Aaron Brothers for $21), Acrylic Paint (because it's fast drying), Sharpies & Markers for detailing if you want...timer, water for cleaning, and various brushes.

STEP ONE:
Hand each participant a Blank Canvas...
On the back of the canvas...have them write one sentence that describes the painting.
Be Imaginative! The crazier your sentence is...the more creative your other players get to be.
My Sentence: "Don't judge a rainy day by the unicorns eating ice cream in a sailboat by the bay."



STEP TWO:
Pass the Painting to your left!
Without revealing your sentence to the group...pass the painting to the first artist.
It's fun for the artists to get to read your sentence as they receive the painting.



STEP THREE:
Each artist has 5 minutes with the canvas at a time.
Set the timer the minute people start to paint on the canvases.

You can increase or decrease the amount of time that you give each person...but please note that every person around the table will get 5-10 minutes with your canvas and you'll need to also have a bit of drying time at the end. Therefore, in this case...since there were 6 people who were part of this Painting Party, we were painting for 45 min. to an hour.

STEP FOUR:
Paint! Taking inspiration from the sentence on the back...paint on the canvas in front of you... Try to leave some room for other participants...but get creative...and QUICK! part of the fun is that you don't have a lot of time to think about what you're going to be painting.
Plus, if you're not a skilled painter...you're welcome to just doodle a little flower in the ground or paint some background color in during your 5 minute turn. Also remember that the painting you're working on isn't going to end up being yours...so don't be afraid!

STEP FIVE:
Be sure to let your paintings dry before your friends leave your house....or ask them to be careful while traveling home. What's fun about this game is that everyone takes home a memory of the evening.

STEP SIX:
Present your work to the group.
At the end... stand up and read your original sentence to the group....showing your masterpiece to everyone at the same time.
Here are some of what we did!








ADVANTAGES TO THIS STYLE OF GROUP CRAFT:
No directions... allowing people the freedom to go crazy with no directions to follow also allows you to really get to know the artists around you.

DIS-ADVANTAGES TO THIS STYLE OF GROUP CRAFT:
you need to have the space and the time to do it. A bit messy as well...but I didn't mind using my large craft table for it. Also...it takes a lot of letting go and allowing yourself to not get hung up in the end result. Personally, I like the surprise of it all. Some artists also don't like the pressure of having to work on something for 5-10 minutes...but others really like that type of challenge.

Here's the aftermath of the project: (can you tell we really got into it?)


Have any of you done something similar? What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

SF Etsy Folks and More! At Taste for Artisans

I had such a great time last night at the Taste for Artisans Handmade Ho Down party! Good ol' fashioned fun, fantastic shopping, and best of all I got to meet a bunch of SF Etsy folks and see their beautiful handcrafts in person. What a treat! (Plus, it's always fun to introduce myself as Jen from Mama's Magic Studio and have people know what I mean!)

Kudos to Rebecca (Jim Dandy's) and Erin (Eristotle), the talented women behind Mini Marizipan -- the ones who teamed up with East Bay Express to organize such a fabulous evening.
I really enjoyed browsing the craft booths and shaking hands with so many SF Etsy people. I tried to make it around to meet as many people as I could; apologies if I missed you! I'd gone armed with a list of shop names to check out, but it soon got overwhelming trying to track everybody down, so I just did the best I could.

I recognized Sheila's work (of SheilaSatin) right away -- I Dig Crystals has such a distinctive look!


I had a lovely chat with one of our newest SF Etsy members -- Hilary of A Slice of Delight. Her soaps smelled super yummy and were stunningly vibrant.


Velvet Otterhound's "vintage glam" is always a treat for the eyes. Tara told me about one of her pieces that was accompanied by a picture of the original owner (on the white bust in the center of the photograph below) which was just too amazingly cool.


As I was wandering around, enjoying myself and trying to meet as many people as possible, I thought (not for the first time) that one of the things we could really use is a fun, easy way to identify ourselves as SF Etsy members at these kinds of events. Happily, the SF Etsy marketing team is working on exactly that -- stay tuned for details! (Want to join the marketing team? Zip me an email or come to our meeting in the Etsy chat rooms tomorrow night, Monday April 5th at 8:30 p.m.)

Briana & Kim gave me a friendly welcome at the booth being shared by Briana's Look What I Made and Brandi's The Crows Nest. It's always impressive when a shared booth works well with two complementary shops. While she's not (yet!) an SF Etsy member, Kim runs an Etsy shop as well (Kim Jensen Mosaics) and was covering for Brandi for the evening.


Amy of Me Make Stuff told me that the event was her First Real Craft Show! Congrats, Amy -- hope you had a great evening!


Carrie of Moonpath Designs (purple shirt on the left) was having a very busy evening -- helping out with her own booth and also running the neighboring booth, whose shop name I alas neglected to jot down (I don't think it was an SF Etsy person...?) but which had some great Day of the Dead stuff like that mirror in the lower left. I have to say that my heartstrings tugged a bit when I saw Moonpath's Nurse to Live, Live to Nurse design in person. I'm still very proud of all the time and energy it took to nurse both my kids, though that time is now well and done.

Taryn of Taryn Lin Design had the pretty sparkly eye candy thing going on at her booth. My pocket camera definitely did not do justice to her exquisite jewelry, but it caught her smiling face!
I enjoyed talking with Nina of Gooseberry Press about her love of travel and her unique, map-inspired designs.


Amy of Left Bank had another one of those booths that I recognized immediately, though it was the first time I'd had a chance to meet the woman behind the work -- her bold, colorful, fanciful designs are definitely memorable.

After all that shopping and chatting, I wandered over to catch some of the other stuff going on. I tell ya, Mini Marzipan really knows how to throw a party!

Both my parents hail from San Antonio -- so while I was raised on the East Coast, I spent a lot of time Deep in the Heart of Texas. Little wonder, then, that the wholesome entertainment made me feel right at home. I wasn't up to riding the mechanical bull, but I had a blast watching other folks. This gal looked like she knew what she was doing:


The music was toe-tapping good, though I wasn't able to stay long enough to hear the whole lineup. Kit and the Branded Men were in tune for sure.


And I loved watching these little girls dancing. Obviously, the folks in the crowd were enjoying themselves thoroughly!


The square dancing sure brought back memories -- many a summer, we'd have a block party with the neighbors and hire a guy to call the steps. Good times.


And who doesn't love a good pie eating contest?


As if all that wasn't fabulous enough, there was another great angle on the evening -- it was a fundraiser for DrawBridge, the program that provides art programs for homeless and other vulnerable children in the Bay Area. They had a display of the children's art, and it brought tears to my eyes, thinking about the lives of kids who might benefit from such a program. I especially liked this drawing by Brooke:

Rumor has it that Mini Marizpan is planning many other first-class events in the future, and we're planning to continue the SF Etsy involvement. Because we'd be crazy not to; these gals sure know what they're doing! We'll be sharing details as soon as they are available, but trust me: there's lots of great stuff coming soon.

Let's Party!

Who: SF Etsy Members and their guests

What: SF Etsy Holiday Party/ Mini-Faire

When: Saturday November 17th, 2-5PM

Where: My place. Convo me for the evite

Why: What better opportunity to meet other Bay Area Etsy sellers!

Bring your inventory, yourself and a couple of friends. Meet other sellers, get some shopping done and maybe even make a few sales!

Convo me through etsy, or leave a comment here, if you have questions.