Board Book Workshop - what goes into it

You may sometimes wonder why I don't seem to keep up on my blog as much as I should. Believe me, I'd love it if my life would allow me to create something pretty each day and share it with you, and write all about it. But sometimes there's just labor to be done. A labor of love, for sure, but labor nonetheless.

So all last week and this weekend, I have been preparing for my Splendor Baby Board Book Workshop for 15 people. Five of which were home kits. I thought it might be interesting for you bloggers to see what goes into getting ready for something like this. Keep in mind the workshop was designed so guests could choose Baby theme, Pet theme or a more General theme.

Here's a peek at the book again. I posted it a few weeks back also.

Of course, the very first step is designing the thing. I cut a paper pack down into fourths and tried to stick with that, but it turned out that I needed additional cardstock, so I had to make adjustments. After it's all designed, I take down all the measurements of each piece of paper.

Then I cut all those papers, make little piles and label each one according to the pages they will go on.

A ten page board book for 15 guests is a lot of piles! This took a few days just for the cutting.

I try to keep the little details to a minimum for my customers, so I go ahead and cut the corners of papers, for example. Let's do the math here: 150 pieces with four corners to cut off equals 600 corners.

Then I sort each page and bag them up for each guest. This is an extra step, but keeps things really organized for everyone. I put these in little bins at each station so they can pick one up and quickly get to work. Each table has a photo on an easel of the pages they'll be creating.

This is what part of my family is doing while I am getting things ready the day of the workshop.

Then I bag up larger kits with all the basic supplies each guest will need to get started on the front and back cover: the board book, the ribbons, brads, cardstock for stamping, papers, and photo sheet to follow.

Then, my guests arrive and settle in for about four hours. These gals are just getting started on their first page. I had ten guests in attendance, and five that requested a take-home kit.

"Everybody look up and say Cheese!"

I made Christine and Charmin keep stamping for the photo. Good sports!

After some laughs and lots of creative time, and just a little bloodshed (we had two scissor injuries), they all finished their board books. They look pretty happy, don't they?

That makes me happy.

The effort going into a workshop of this degree is worth it when I hear little comments during the workshop like, "Oh, this is SO cute..." or "I love this stamp set..." or to be told at the end that everything was very organized and easy to follow.

So if you ever attend something like this with YOUR consultant, keep in mind the effort she puts into it. And most importantly, remember this before you cancel because you "just don't feel like going."