Swap Party (Tutorial)

This party was a LONG time coming…. My friend and neighbor Sarah came to me with the idea of a ‘SWAP PARTY’ back in March. She saw this idea on Studio 5 and thought it would be a fun thing to put together and host. Many months passed and we did nothing about it. Finally around September-ish we decided we just needed to do this party! We planned the details, got the invites out (4 weeks before the actually party so people had time to RSVP). The day finally came for the Party and it turned out to be a blast.

If you don’t know what a ‘Swap party’ is here is the Studio 5 link that talks about it

We made the invites as well as an ‘information sheet’ to go inside. Since this idea was new to most we wanted people coming to understand what it was all about. The information sheet explained that they needed to bring 3 items from around their house that they made, didn’t use, never used! This item’s were supposed to be FABOULOUS and wrapped fun! The were each given 3 ‘tags’ in their invite. These tags were supposed to be filled out with ‘selling’ points for their item and then attached to it. They were NOT supposed to buy anything so that this was a free party.

We made juice and desserts for the ladies to enjoy while we SWAPPED TIL WE DROPPED!!

We will be doing this again next year since it turned out so great!! I hope they all enjoyed it as much as Sarah and I did.

( I wanted to give a Thanks to Sarah for these pictures, and for hosting the party at her house)

-If you want to host one of your own..here are the details of how we did ours to help you plan your own-

1. We made the invites

(Each invite included)

-the actually invite

-3 ‘tags’

-the info sheet

This was the poem on the front of the invite

“Swap til you Drop”

We're totally in a recession;
At least that's what they say.
I don't want to face it,
Just want to play, play, play!

It is time to get the girlfriends,
All together for a bash.
We could always go shopping,
But, who has the cash.

I've got a fab solution,
to this financial jam.
Just bring all your older stuff,
for a night away from your fam!

We'll eat and laugh and have some fun,
and drink some diet pop.
In the end we'll choose the goods,
We'll Swap 'til We Drop!

This idea will bring for sure,
Joy beyond measure!
Remember, one girlfriend's junk,
Is another girlfriend's treasure!

2. The back of the invite had the ‘when’ ‘where’ info on it.

Thursday Nov.4^th

6:30pm sharp

Sarah Diederich’s home

R.S.V.P: Ashlee 801-000-0000

or

Sarah 801-000-0000

By Mon. Oct 25^th

3. The info sheet said…

Important info:

*Please bring 3 fabulous items

to swap. These items should be in

your home. Look for items that are

not being used anymore, never used,

made by you etc. the whole point

of this party is to not spend money!

*fill out your “tags” with info/’’selling’’

points about your item, and bring

them with you

*make your items “fabulous” by

wrapping them with ribbon, cellophane, bows

*please r.s.v.p Ashlee or Sarah by

Mon. Oct 25^th so we can plan

accordingly based on the number of

attendees

Once everything was put together we had delivered the invite and explained to them a little about the party. 2 weeks after we dropped off the invite we called those who hadn’t RSVP’d to make sure we knew how many were coming.

Once we had the total amount of people we bought clothes line clips, painted them pink and used mod podge to put everyone’s name on a clip. (each person received 6 clips at the party and we had a total of about 18 people at the party). We put each persons clip in a little bag with their name on it, and had them sitting on the counter when everyone arrived to the party.

The day of the party we had the clips in bags, desserts, drinks and tables set up for the gifts to be put on.

When everyone arrived to told the ladies how the party was to work. They each were given their bag of clips. We set the timer for 10 mins (after they had already about 30 mins to visit with each other and view the gifts) I explained once the timer beeped they needed to have places each of their 6 clips on items that they wanted to take home.

Once the time was up we went from item to item putting the clips in the bowl and then picking a name. Once a person had received 3 items, or the amount of items that was supposed to be brought, they were no longer allowed to get any more.

The Party worked GREAT however here are a few things we would probably change the next time around!

* We thought it would be best to have the host add in a few additional items/gifts (some people left with only 1 or 2 items instead of 3)

*any items not picked would be donated to a family, the DI, neighbors etc…

*When picking names and passing out the gifts we thought it would be best to start with the ‘most popular item’ i.e. the items with the most clips- to the items with the least clips.

I hope this helps you plan your own swap party…email me with any questions!!

*the invites*

*The info sheet/ and the 3 tags*

*The invites ready to be delivered. I wish I had a picture of the front of these. Sarah made them so adorable*

* Some of the gifts that were brought*

*This is the best party juice. It’s so good and makes so much. I got the recipe from Emily (another friend and neighbor)*

What would I do without all these wonderful ladies?!?!

*These cupcakes were so yummy..thanks Sarah!*

but next time I vote I’m not making the cupcake toppers. These little crowns were the BEAST to put together because of the darn little dots!!

*These were two of the 3 gifts I brought-

This is a ‘baby gift box’ it included 4 baby headbands and head flowers/bows

and a new version of my ‘minky lovie’ with the minky on one side and a soft knit on the back…I LOOOOOVE it I almost had to keep it!

This was a purse I made..turned out pretty good! The last gift which I didn’t get a picture of was a large canvas back with LOTS of scrapbook supplies in it!

Now.. go plan a party!

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Tomorrow (Friday) I will be doing a giveaway over at The Polka Dot Chair. Make sure you take a look and enter to win!!!

From a shirt to a Cardi re-fashion (Tutorial)

I started with this older shirt. It was a perfect legth for a cardi, but you can use any shirt you have..or even find a thrift store one!

(if you look close you can see a bleach spot in the middle of the shirt, that’s why I decided to do this re-fashion)

Take the fabric you are going to use for the ruffle and cut 6” strips.

You can always cut them thicker or thinner, depending on what you want

6” strips… sew the strips together end to end….then iron flat

Fold the strip in half and sew along the edge to ruffle.

Use your long stitch length setting

Don’t push or pull the fabric through, just let your sewing machine do it’s job.

Once you are doing sewing pull the bobbin thread to ruffle.

Now that you have completed the ruffle part you need to cut your shirt. fold the shirt in half opposite of normal.

this means you are going to fold the left side seam to the right side seam. That make sense?

Once you have the shirt folded cut a straight line from the bottom of the shirt to the top!

Take your cut shirt and begin to pin your ruffle (right sides together) from one side of your shirt/ around and back down!

Then sew the ruffle onto the shirt and serge (if you have a serger)

Once your ruffle is attached flip the serge or raw edge under and either top stitch it down with a coordinating thread, or sew ribbon/lace etc onto the shirt. I had a larger rick rack and decided to sew that on for a little extra flair..

So what do you think?

Will you try making one?

If you make one will you email me a photo so I can see what you came up with??

until next time….

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My Version of the Anthro/ Grandview Bag

Isn’t this the cutest purse you have ever seen? Well for some of you it might not be the cutest EVER..but pretty close. I saw this awesome purse at The Boy Trifecta  and knew I needed to try it out.  Go check out her wonderful tutorial and try making one for yourself!! Here is my version.

My picture doesn’t look as great as The Boy Trifecta’s but it works. I changed the handle and made it tie up top, put a bunch of pockets inside and used two snaps to keep it closed since it’s a wide purse!!