Wow. I can’t believe we’re at the end of the year! December seemed to have just whisked by in a blink. So before this month closes, let me tell you about our final Craft Party for 2015 which happened last Dec 5th — Very Merry Stamps: a rubberstamp making and gift wrapping party.
We were privileged to have been given the chance to hold it at the wonderful Museo Sanso at San Juan. It was such a treat for the workshop participants and for us, the organizers, to be in a very serene and inspiring environment. We were situated in the open floor in the middle of the museum where, coincidentally, we were surrounded by the dynamic etchings of Juvenal Sanso. I should also mention that we were able to meet Señor Sanso himself! As he was walking around the museum, he stopped by, entertained us a bit and let us take pictures with him. What an honor!
Now about the workshop… I have been excited about this for weeks because Christmas really is my favorite time of year. And what could be more fun than make some of my favorite things — rubber stamps — during my most-loved season! So this workshop really was a pleasure to conduct.
We a fun and interesting group at Very Merry Stamps. It was a good mix of new and familiar faces. There was a table of mom and daughter friends who have attended one or two of our other stamping workshops in the past so they very clearly knew what to do and happily carved stamp after stamp. We had first time attendees who won their slots from sponsors who conducted free-seat contests on Instagram. And there were also those who learned about the event at the Craft Festival at UP so it was nice to see them again. And of course there was a couple of regulars — always glad to craft with them!
I provided the participants design templates to turn into stamps but also encouraged them to think of their own holiday designs. It was very quick for this bunch to get sucked into carving! Later on, I gave some tips and demonstrated how they can use their stamps to create their very own wrapping paper and gift tags.
We were delighted to have Bee Happy Crafts provide all our blank Manila tags, greeting cards and paper bags which we stamped on. We also had an unlimited supply of brown craft paper and large sheets of white in our craft station, as well as rolls upon rolls of ribbon from Wrap It Up. Each participant also received a cute clay ornament from Noteworthy PH which they could use to embellish their gift-wrap.
While busy hand-stamping and wrapping, we were served sumptuous snacks by Cafe Sanso. Juice Hut Manila also introduced it’s new holiday treats in collaboration with The Vanilla Company — Vanilla Nutmilk and granola. Yum yum! It was difficult to choose what to focus on — the crafts or the snacks!
Aside from all the freebies that filled that day’s craft station, we also raffled off many awesome prizes: home-baked treats from Kate Baked Cookies, all- natural Vanilla Body Care kits and lip scrubs from A Vanilla Story, beautiful paper flower wreaths from Mabby Makes, metallic washi tapes and assorted paper goods from Bee Happy Crafts and gift certificates from Juice Hut Manila. To the best, most impressive finished projects that afternoon, we gave away a holiday gift catalog from Ni-Qua and a giant Scandinavian design wrapping paper book from Bee Happy Crafts. Every single one received something to take home and enjoy.
After all the crafting and after having taken the group picture, everyone took time to go around and see the different sections of the museum and appreciate Sanso’s brilliant creation. It was timely because that particular collection is scheduled to be replaced at the end of the year.
This Craft Party felt very special and I think it had a lot to do with the venue having such an inspiring atmosphere, simply perfect for crafting. We felt right at home! We are so grateful to Museo Sanso for opening their doors to host our event. We’re looking forward to having another one there!
The participants seemed happy to have joined us as well and I do hope they were able to use what they learned to put that personal touch on their Christmas wrapping and continue to carve in the days, months, even years to come! Like I always say, carving stamps is useful at almost any event or occasion.
That’s a wrap for this year’s Craft Parties! It was indeed a very memorable year for us and we are definitely looking towards making more memories next year! And in case you haven’t heard, we are extending the holiday celebrations because our next Craft Party on Jan 16 will be a holiday memory keeping workshop entitled, “Hold on to the Holidays!” See poster below for details. We hope you can join us because I know it will be a lot of fun!
Wishing you all a joy-filled new year!!!
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