In early February 2015, I attended a very fun scrapbooking event called “Play All Day” put on by Shelby at Embellish IT! Inc. I wanted to give you a review and share my day :)
BACKGROUND
I’ve shopped at Embellish It over the years for scrapbook supplies. They carry a lot of products from 2 of my favorite brands: Basic Grey and Simple Stories, and lots of others, too. But the best thing they have are packs of Bazzill cardstock with colors selected to match specific scrapbook product lines. It’s pretty dang cool, especially for Bazzill snob like myself :P
For instance, THIS pack of Bazill . . .
. . . coordinates with THIS line, Carta Bella “Hello Again”
So, I’m on the mailing list for Embellish It and have heard about their “Play All Day” events for years – always wanted to go. I decided to finally pull the trigger when I saw an event that was only 3 hours from me (yes, I live in the boonies; NOTHING is held close by) and it was close to my mom’s birthday. She’s also a scrapbooker so I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate.
Wait! Was this one of those “Oh, look what I got you (for me)!” type of gifts? Hmmm… Anyhoo, we signed up with an Early Bird coupon code that saved us $9 off the $79 price, made our hotel reservation with a special rate at the event hotel ($99 at a Sheraton), . . . and had to wait for several months, LOL. But, yes, the day finally did arrive!
THE PLAN
A few days prior to the event, we got an e-mail detailing the day:
*9am – midnight*
This will be a FUN day of scrapbooking & we will keep things low key.
* The event will officially end at 9pm BUT we have the room reserved until
midnight. Those who wish to continue scrapping are welcome to do so at *no
additional cost**The schedule for the day will be:*
*9am- Doors open *(i always try to open the door a little early but it is
all dependent on the hotel)
*11-1: Class #1 Layouts* – 2 double-page layouts
*1pm: Italian Buffet Lunch*
*3-5pm: Class #2 Cards* – 8 cards w/embellishments
I was excited about the layout class since scrappin’ is what I do (as opposed to project classes like banners, home dec, etc. that I’m not as interested in). I’m not a cardmaker so that was ‘meh’ but I figured I could make my mom’s birthday card, LOL!
THE BIG DAY
On the day of the event, I woke up at 4:45am (so excited! couldn’t sleep!), left the house at 6:30 in pouring rain, got there around 9:30am, got unloaded and unpacked, changed into dry clothes, and met my mom in the event room by 10:30. So I was bummed to miss out on that 1 1/2 to 2 hours of scrapping time before the first class but oh well. My mom had already met and been chatting with the nice ladies at our table for 4 and the ones at the next table, who were all friends.
Okay, I’m going to confess right now that I don’t have any photos to share of the day. I did have my phone aka my BFF. I guess I just felt awkward taking pics in that close of an environment with a roomful of people I didn’t know. Sorry! I’ll do such a good job of providing vivid descriptions with my words that you won’t miss the photos, LOL.
Back to the event . . .
CROP SPACE
It was basically a ballroom or huge conference room and it was pretty full. Regarding the tables, I don’t know the measurements but there was plenty of room to scrap for the day, complete the class layouts, etc. If I were at a retreat, I’d probably want a little more room but it was fine for Play All Day.
SHOPPING AT THE EVENT
At the front of the event room, there were tables with lots of collection kits, Bazzill packs (!), page kits, mini album kits, card kits, etc. I didn’t have time to shop before the first class began at 11:00 but was able to later. That was actually by design because I didn’t bring any paper to scrap with, knowing that Shelby would have plenty of paper for sale. I bought 2 collection kits and a Bazzill kit.
WHAT I PACKED
This was the lightest I’d traveled to a scrapbooking event in quite a while! Only 2 bags and here is what I brought:
– Tool kit in flat pack with adhesives, photo cleaning cloth, erasers, Undu, etc.
– Tool tote with pens, scissors, stapler, and other tools
– Photos, about 15 from 3 events. I had just printed them the morning of the event, of course, ha!
– Paper trimmer, my trusty old Cutterpede that I’ve had for years (that’s why she’s not that pretty but I love her!).
Things I always keep in my crop bag:
– Ott lite & extension cord
– Extra blade and cutting pad for Cutterpede
THE FOOD
The Italian buffet lunch was delish. Iced tea and coffee were provided throughout the event (although the hot coffee ran out and wasn’t replaced in the evening, when I really needed it, lol). We just ate snacks the rest of the time. I was there to scrap, baby!
SHOPPING NOT AT THE EVENT
I wrote a post about my little shopping adventure HERE.
CLASSES & PRODUCT
Remember how I said I was kinda’ ‘meh’ about doing the card class? Well, I lucked out. Majorly. It turned out that Shelby had just received new kits to do a Simple Stories “Life Documented” mini album or planner. So she offered us the option to do that instead of the card kit and most of us took her up on that. Duh. The value was crazy. The entire event cost $70 and that Simple Stories kit had probably $50 worth of product in it.
There was also the layout class and I enjoyed both of them. Shelby walked around the room, gave instructions and encouragement, but it was pretty relaxed. There were great instructions you could follow at your own pace, too. I’ve been to some classes that are so stressful that they’re not even fun but this wasn’t like that.
THE HOSTESS
Shelby is a dynamo. She had the loud voice needed to keep us rowdy scrappers in line (ha), was very upbeat and fun over the course of a long day, was organized, and what I loved most – very open and flexible. She asked several times what WE wanted to do (when to eat, the room temp, okay to substitute the planner project for the cards, etc.). I also chatted with her one-on-one and found her lovely. We had some “mom talk” and it was nice. Speaking of which, she had the cutest helper EVER, her little blondie cutie pie son. What a great sport he was!
SUMMARY
I’d give it 10/10 stars. I can’t think of anything that went wrong or that I didn’t like. I mean it was over a month ago and I’m old so there’s a possibility I forgot something but, no, I don’t think so. I’m not THAT old! If you get the chance to attend a Play All Day event, I recommend it!
ETA 04-12-15: Miss Shelby stopped by to say hi. Check out the Comments!
