BlogHer 09 Recap Part I

You know?  BlogHer was fun.  There were things I didn't like about it but the good more than outweighed the bad. I always regret not taking more pictures.  But I also don't regret the fact that I wasn't behind a camera all day.  Here you have some pictures and my thoughts.

Here I am with Erin from Schlosser Designs and Sarah from All Hail Queen Mommy.  I sat by Sarah on the way to the Ford Ride & Drive event.  As we talked throughout the day we realized how much we have in common.  Plus, she totally used to live in the town where I taught high school so we know a lot of the same people.  Let's dismiss the fact that had she still lived there, she is young enough to have been one of my students.

 

Speaking of my students, I'm sure most of them were made to watch a little show I happen to love called Mexico: One Plate at a Time.  You know who made that show?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who is my favorite celebrity chef of all time?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who was at BlogHer?  RICK BAYLESS!  Who took hauled her cookbook all the way to Chicago?  ME!  It was great to chat with him and be a dork going on and on about how much I love him.

There were several people I wanted to meet at BlogHer and one of them was Andi from Udandi.  We follow each other on twitter and have had some good crafty conversations on there.  It is often serendipitous to be able to find someone in a sea of bloggers.  Lucky for us, we happened to choose to go to the restroom at the same time. 

 

BlogHer isn't really a crafty scene but there was one really cool demo in the Shutter Sisters lounge that we had to check out!  Design Mom was demonstrating the Yudu.  I even won one of them!  I'll be putting that baby to good use around here.  She's making a tote bag that says, "Oh. My. Blog."  Perfect.  I love that bag. 

 

 

Dave Lieberman did a great cooking demo.  I was front and center and got to eat a sample.  Yum.  Paula Deen was there the next day but the crowd was unbelievable so I didn't head over there. 

That night we headed out for a couple of parties.  Erin and I attended the EA
Sports Interactive party at the House of Blues.  The party was nice.  The food was great!  The limo shuttle was a blast!  It was there where we really got a chance to know Mummy Deals and Coupon Geek. 

We hit a couple more parties and we hung out a bit with Jenny from the Spot at the Mommy Needs a Cocktail party.  This picture tells me many things: 

1. I think I need bangs again.

2. I must find a powder that lasts all day.

3. It's time to get back on WW.

The next day was even more jam packed with goodness!   Stay tuned for Part II.

Make. Teacher Gift Box and Card Free Download

Erin Schlosser is our guest blogger today. Erin was one of my roommates at the Mom 2.0 Summit and she's been a great friend ever since! She even let me crash at her place during BlogHer. She's also half of the team behind Fresh Nest Design.

Erin made a slide show tutorial so you can see how to make this great card and teacher gift box. You can find the links at the bottom of this post for the free downloads.

Download the card here and the box template here.

Craft Challenge Info and a Feature

We had no additional entries for the semi-finals so I'm taking the top four from our first semi-final and will include them in the final voting to start on Monday, April 26th.  It will be a showdown to see who will be crowned this month's craft challenge winner and receive the great prize provided by Schlosser Designs. 

I was so impressed by the creativity this month.  There were so many unique ideas.  I'm sure it will be hard for people to choose a winner.  Here are the top four finalists:

I also want to give you a heads up about an article about me over at Maternal Spark.  I'm the featured Creative Mom this week.  Go and check it out!

April Craft Challenge Deadline

image courtesy of Spool {} via flickr

Can you believe that it is almost time to have your April craft challenge completed?  Have you even started?  If you haven't, don't worry.  You still have a few more days.  The deadline is Wednesday, April 22nd.   Email the picture you'd like to include for voting or you can go ahead and upload it to the Flickr group.  If you blog about the challenge, email me the link and you'll be included in the drawing for the free month. 

The winner this month will win a great stamping bundle (value over $60!) from Schlosser Designs.  I'm also pleased to announce that the sponsor for next month's challenge will be the Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team.  I'm a part of this great local group and they are getting together a bundle of their handmade products for a mega-awesome basket for the winner.  You won't want to miss out!  May craft challenge packets will be available for sale until April 27th.  This is a little earlier than normal.  I need to do this so I can be sure to get all of the packets ready to mail by May 1st. 

Did you know I have 3, 6, and 12 month subscriptions available?  Have a crafty mom?  What a great Mother's Day gift!  Are you a crafty mom?  Send your husband/kids the link.  I know this is kind of sounding like an infomercial and I might be a bit biased, but I think they make a great gift for yourself or someone else.  You will always be able to purchase them month by month, but if you purchase a subscription, you get a bit of a discount. 

Have no idea what I'm talking about?  Check out the Craft Challenge FAQs. 

Meet Our Sponsor Schlosser Designs

Today is the last day for any March participants to turn in their photos to me, or upload them to our flickr group. If you have yet to sign up for April's craft challenge, the deadline is quickly approaching. You have until March 27th. You won't want to miss out because our sponsor is Schlosser Designs.

I met Erin, the owner of Schlosser Designs, at the Mom 2.0 Summit. She is an interior designer by day and supercrafter and designer by night. On her blog you can find free downloads and great projects to try. Among other things, she designs clear stamp sets. Currently there are 4 stamp sets in her line but that is about to double in the next couple of weeks. They are so brand new that I can't even sneak an image for you. Let me just tell you that you will all be among the first to see them once they are unveiled.


Her stamp sets are so affordable. For $12.50 you get so many versatile images! I am truly impressed. I'm even more impressed that she is giving April's craft challenge winner a set of FOUR clear stamp sets PLUS the blocks you need to get started. This is over a $60 value. Did I mention that you can also choose from the brand new stamp sets that have yet to be revealed to the public?

I hope you'll take the time to go and look at what Schlosser Designs has to offer.