christmas crafternoon {part 1.}

Can't believe my little Christmas craft party has already come and gone. I had the most wonderful time on Sunday, welcoming 16 lovely ladies into our home for an afternoon of creativity, laughter, and a whole lot of cookies. When this idea first popped into my head (I'd been inspired by a few similar parties in blogland), I really just wanted to bless my friends with some girly time, projects, inspiration, and skills they could take home to create their own Christmasy crafts. I believe that everyone has a creative bone in their bodies, and it's a really happy+healthy thing for everyone to sit down and use their hands once in awhile. As it turns out, I felt double blessed by it all--everyone seemed to really enjoy it and all were asking when we'd do this again! Sharing my love for crafting with everyone made my heart really happy. After all was said & done, instead of crashing on the couch as I'd planned, I spent the whole night thinking of the next party; what I'd change, what I'd keep the same, and what fun projects we would make!Here's how it worked:

*I asked everyone to bring a batch of her favorite Christmas cookies, plus 10$ to share in the cost of supplies. I might have had a melt-down if I felt pressured to prepare a huge spread of food on top of the crafts. Having everyone bring treats to swap was both fun and stress-less!

*I set up 5 different stations around our house, each with a different project. {More details on the projects tomorrow!} At each table, I had a finished sample, all the supplies necessary for the project, plus a few options for creative variations. At first, I felt a bit nervous about being in 5 places at once to offer explanations and troubleshooting, but everyone helped everyone and it magically all came together. {I have the sweetest friends!}

*For practicality, I was armed with a brown paper bag with each girl's name on it, so they'd have a place to stash their finished products as they moved throughout the house.

*I also made little paper ornaments as party favors for each guest & tied them around the brown bag handles to add a little flair. Nothing like killing 2 birds with one stone. {What a morbid phrase.}
Jeff deserves high fives from everyone for being super duper helpful with all of this. I really couldn't have pulled any of this together without him. He pitched in all day long on Saturday to help make our house officially cardboard-free. (Yes, we still had about 8 boxes yet unpacked since moving in July. Deadlines are SO good for me!) He helped get our house clean as a whistle, watched G during the party, and even snapped a few of these pics for me. Every good craft party needs a good husband behind the scenes. :)

See part 2: finished products!