Simon Says Stamp CREATE Event

(to see the winner of the ‘Monogram It’ Sweet Stamp Shop Stamp Set go here)

Get comfy, because I want to tell you all about a wicked fun event I recently attended!

A little over a month ago my friend Cheiron encouraged me to sign up for the Simon Says Stamp CREATE Event, and I am SO happy she did! As a papercrafting teacher, I rarely get to attend an event where I don’t have a part in teaching or even planning. This was just the kind of event I needed. As soon as I saw that Tim Holtz, Shari Carroll, Jennifer McGuire and Kelly Marie Alvarez were teaching I knew I HAD to be there.

Did you know my VERY FIRST card making classes I ever took were with Shari and Jennifer? They were at a retail event I was attending for Colorful Creations 10 years ago! I have been very lucky over the years to take many classes with Shari, Jennifer and even Mr. Holtz himself and I have always tried to soak up all the knowledge I can from them. In return I use what I have learned when planning and teaching my classes, putting my own spin and style on it.

Anyways, back to the event.

The event was in Ohio, near where the Simon Says Stamp warehouse is. Cheiron and I planned our flights to get in just about the same time. Remember my crazy friend Dawn, who surprised me and attended my Loft Art Retreat? Well her and her husband drove down from Wisconsin to attend the event- so the 3 of us got to hang out again 🙂

We got there on Thursday and just relaxed for the afternoon and evening. The venue they had the event was beautiful. It was like our own little compound. It was a beautiful weekend, which was hard for me to be away from the beach- but at least I was able to sit outside at the pub a few times 😉

Everyone had to register at 7a on Friday, and the order you registered/checked in was the order you were let into the classroom to pick your seat. Having created a bunch of seating charts for 250+ people I felt this was a great way for them to fairly let us have a seat and be able to sit with friends. Everyone took the same classes at the same time so once we had our seat it was ours for the weekend. Cheiron, Dawn and I rolled out of bed Friday morning and stood in line to check in. We were pretty much in the middle of the group- our numbers ended up being in the early 40’s. Right away we realized we were going to be spoiled over the weekend. We got a goodie bag filled with all kinds of goodies. After securing our #’s we then decided to shower, and have breakfast before the first classes started at 9:30a.

There were around 100 people who attended the event. Everyone had a paddle with their number. Throughout the weekend during class if we wanted any of the products that we were using in class we just had to raise out paddle, and someone would come and take our order- then the products were waiting for us after class- PERFECT! There were a ton of Simon Says Stamp employees around to help throughout the classes. There were a bunch working in the on-site store as well.

The first class was “Stenciling Fun” with Jennifer McGuire and Shari Carroll. I loved the techniques we learned in this class! I definitely can see myself recreating them for future blog posts and classes. At the end of this class Shari and Jennifer treated us to a large pack of goodies gifted to us from Hero Arts. This was just the beginning of being spoiled throughout the weekend.  (Some of my creations from this class are pictured below with the other cards)

“Creative Collections” was the second class with Tim Holtz, it was a 3.5 hour class. This class was playing with Tim Holtz folios. We talked a lot about collage and laying down foundations for our projects. You can see some of my project below. I already have possible ideas for this folio foundation in my own creative time 🙂

As always Tim Holtz was very generous in his classes with product and goodies. We also got our very own custom Tim Holtz stencil from Stampers Anonymous. It was a combo of a few of his already existing designs. We were given a large bag filled with some of Tim Holtz’s Ideology goodies as well.  So even though Tim “made me” tie a bow I was a pretty happy girl. My hands were painty and inky, someone was teaching me and I was being CREATIVE!

After our dinner break was another card class- “Cute Card Making” this time with Kelly Marie Alvarez (one of the Lawn Fawn owners), Sandy Allnock (copic rock star and Operation Write Home organizer) and Stephanie Klauck ( an uber creative papercrafter who designs for Simon Says and others). We created a spinner card, a shaker card and 2 other fun interactive cards. We were given the pieces for 3 other cards we didn’t quite have the time to finish- but that was ok everything was prepped for us and we had images and instructions to take home. At the end of this class we were given stamps and daubers from Lawn Fawn and Hero Arts for goodies- still being spoiled!

Let me chat a bit about the kits. WHOA! I have done a fair amount of kitting in my life time, and I do not envy those that had to prep for this event. There was a lot of things pre-done for us. Stamping, Die-cutting, Scoring, Cutting- WHOA! We had to bring very little supplies with us so you can imagine how much was done- for 100 people!! Total respect and appreciation for everyone who helped kit. Word on the streets is Sandi Neumann did most of the kitting- AHMazing!!!!

Friday night a bunch of us gathered at the pub for some chit chat. It was really nice to reconnect with people I hadn’t seen in awhile and to meet new people as well. Kristina Werner and I compared cute kitty photos. I swear her Mannie and my Mister Harley look like long lost brothers. It was nice to meet Kathy Racoosin and Laura Bassen and chat with them. It was great to see Kelly Marie again and catch up. It was just a fun relaxing evening.

Saturday we had a full schedule! We started out with “The Artful Collage” which was a 2.5 hour class with Tim Holtz. For this class we played with his burlap canvases and even more of his Ideology goodies. Of course paints, and inks were involved as well. We were given a ton more products to go home with it was like Christmas morning for papercrafters!

I really enjoyed this project, but I just kept thinking how this burlap base would be perfect for a beachy theme! 😉 Tim kept our creative brains full while we created he told us all kinds of tips and tricks for using his products. He taught us how they work and why work a certain way. He let us know how Ranger is no longer going to be making the Melting pot- kind of sad to see the end of that era. Happy I have two in my stash 😉

After the lunch break on Saturday we came back ready for a FOUR HOUR class with Tim. We used all kinds of things we learned in the previous 2 classes with him and new lessons to create “Configuration of your Imagination”. I have been toying with the idea of doing a nautical one of these at a Loft Art Retreat so I was happy to create one with the master himself 😉 We used his Mini Configuration Book and tons of other ephemera, trinkets and found objects from his Ideology Line. We were spoiled some more from Stampers Anonymous- given stamps and a messenger bag. Ranger spoiled us with aprons for everyone, as well as inks we got to go home with. Oh yea, and Tim made me tie another bow!?! This time though it was a “Paula Cheney” bow so it was more of a trick bow that anyone can do.

I have said it over and over again I am always so happy after taking a Tim Holtz class- all that I can learn from him.. it is just awesome 🙂 Chris had requested an autograph from Mario since he is my Mario- So Mario was sweet enough to sign a Ranger apron for him 😉 Chris was wicked excited when I gave it to him. HE has already worn it helping me kit and helping me set up at my classes this past weekend at Papercraft Clubhouse.

We had one more break for dinner and then we came back for “Art Journaling” with Shari Carroll. We learned a few different things to do with gelatos. I also liked seeing Shari’s journals up close and personal the ones she features over on the Simon Says Blog. At this point we were all pretty creatively fried. After class Cheiron and I went back to the room to try and figure out how we were going to fit all of our goodies in our suitcase (not a bad problem to have 😉 ) There were so many gifts given to us donated by the companies I mentioned above as well as Penny Black, Paper Smooches, Winnie and Walter, Simon Says Stamp, Memory Box, and Faber Castell.

Heidi and Jason, the owners of Simon Says are just the sweetest in person 🙂 I even got to meet Simon the dog. I was so excited that my friend Jana Millen drove up to visit the event. Even though I only got to see her briefly it was nice to see her in person instead of just online.

Other highlights of the weekend- I hung out with all kinds of other new friends- either people I knew through facebook or instagram (Tina, Linda, Joy, Kathy, Ava, Leslie, May, Lorraine, Raul & Micaela (who came from Argentina!!!) and others I know I am forgetting :/ ). I shopped a little as well. I will share with you in another post the goodies I got at the on-site Simon Says Stamp store.

The event was very organized and SO worth the $ I am already hoping they offer it again next year. It was nice to treat myself and be the student for once 🙂 It was also nice to come home. Both of my boys had missed me and it had been a VERY hectic May. Hoping June slows down just a teeny bit.

I hope you enjoyed this recap- I know i was tormenting some of you on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter so I wanted to take the time and share the projects I was able to make and tell you about the weekend! You can read some other posts about the weekend here– there is a link up at the end of the blog post.