DIY:{Hot Pink & Black Themed Blogger Party}

Let us show you how it's done!!!!

We finally made it back from San Jose, California with just 2 hours
to make the final preparations for the Blogger Party that began at
6:45pm. We had such a good turn out last night at the Cheesecake
Factory! Mariel & I have been friends for years! Read our story  
HERE Ok so enough of the trip down memory lane here we are
together again 2011 at the Cheesecake Factory getting ready to host
the Blogger Party, we had so many girls there we seriously looked
like we were taking over the restaurant! We were so blessed to be
in the company of such talented, crafty, inspiring women. What
an amazing night of making friendships, learning more about each
other, bonding and teaching each other new things. Thank you
again to all of you that made it out, you really made it worth
doing all the little details for the party we knew YOU would
appreciate everything being crafters yourself!!
Let's get together again SOON!!!

Here's a picture of Mariel & I, your hostesses for the night!

Here's a cute picture I stole from Jen's blog {All Things Belle} she was
so quick to get her post up I was so happy to see it! Learn how to make
these CUTE hot pink pomander decorations HERE

The whole evening was so amazing! We worked with the manager of the
Cheesecake Factory Daniel to get everything set up on time! I picked up
our buzzer at 4:00pm and all the blogger girls showed up exactly at 6:45pm
like we asked!! BIG THANKS to all you girls showing up right on time!!
We really liked this venue and they were so good to work with us!
When we got to the tables the girls that showed up right on time helped
us run the hot pink fabric down the middle of the tables for a table
runner. I even gave out hot pink napkins, which now that I think
about it black would have worked well and contrasted rather than
more pink! Here are some pictures of the cute name tags I made for
the night, I made the flowers in California earlier this week and when
we came home I made the labels and hot glued the flowers to them,
we got back at 1:00pm from a 14 hour drive from the Bay Area, I'm
so glad I was able to make them on time! I stayed up till 4:30am in
the morning Wednesday night fabric synging the hot pink satin flowers
to go on the name tags, everyone seemed to like them so it was totally
worth it! View our over all Agenda for the night HERE

When everyone arrived we searched through the basket for their
name and had them put it on and sit down immediately!! They
browsed the menu and many ordered full meals, just like me
I was starving!! lol

I absolutely LOVED the Hot Pink & Black/White Damask Party Favors

made by Mariel! She is so talented she made cute White/Black Damask Fabric 

Yo Yo's with fabric covered buttons into magnets to dress up your fridge or 

any magnetic board! She wrapped the magnets in Hot Pink & Black Damask

scrapbook paper and stitched the paper edges with white thread sooooo 

creative! I LOVED them!! Big thanks to Mariel for making these wonderful 

favors!! Oh and we totally co-ordinated I bought the same hot pink/black 

damask scrapbook paper for the name tags so they matched her magnet pockets!!!

Mariel even made this cute little can with white/black damask

fabric around it to carry on the theme!! I think it was darling!

Here's a picture of the prizes she made! She brought Miss Charlotte

to giveaway - sooo cute!

I love this picture! I love the Cheesecake Factory's columns and candles around
the sides of the restaurant such a pretty venue! Here's picture of Mariel kicking
things off with having everyone introduce each other. Right before this we had
everyone write their name down on a piece of paper so they can enter the
drawings, we had everyone pick 2 names at a time so 2 people could grab a
prize, by the end of the night everyone walked away with a prizeee!! I loved it!

We had 10 tables pushed together to accomodate 25 ladies! We quickly
learned that ladies at both ends of the tables had a hard time hearing the
girls introducing each other so we decided to split the tables up so the
girls would just introduce each other with the 5 tables facing eachother.
That worked out a lot better than having to scream down the aisle lol

 

Here's the first division of 5 tables... from Left to Right all

the way around the table we have Camilla from {First Lady of the House},

Kaysi from {Keepin' It Simple}, Karina from {Karina's Challenge},

Sarah from {Hootin' Owls}, Colleen from {Mama Drama Princess Pieces},

Summer from {The Idea Cupboard}, Lilli from {Crafty Cupcake Girl}, Lori 

(Summer's friend), Lindsey & Brittney from {3 Peas and a Party}, Jessica 

from {Just Enough Style}, Meagan from {Meags and Me} and Jennifer from 

{All Things Belle} (she was towards the right corner & got cut off, but 

she won the vinyl tile so you can see her there!) and Amy from

{Naptime Crafters} was in the far right corner!

Here's the other division of party goers from Left to Right:

Trish & Cris from {At The Ivy Cottage}, Marissa from

{Rae Gun Ramblings}, Sarah from {The Words I Say}, 

Julie from {JXT photography} if you haven't gotten a chance 

to check out Julie's photography I would suggest you make 

time to do it! She is amazing!! Sherry, Larissa from {Larissa Explains It All}, Michelle from {StylesbyMichelle} 

(not pictured) and Mariel from {The Tootsie Wootsie} 

were in the far end of the table.

 

Here's a picture of Mariel & Kaysi! Kaysi helped out with the blogger

party so much, coming early helping set up, donating a cute 12x12 vinyl

block for the giveaways - we LOVE Kaysi!!! Here's the cute Halloween 12x12 

tile she made for the giveaways! Read all about her Vinyl from Vinyl Expressions! 

 

Here's a couple of the pictures of the girls standing up and introducing

themselves to everyone! Camilla & Kaysi were easy to photograph

since they were right on the end :) in between taking pictures

I was also letting the girls pick the names out of a basket to 

see who the next 2 winners would be!!

Here's Kaysi {Keepin' It Simple} introducing herself to everyone 

and telling us 3 fun things we ABSOLUTELY needed to know about her!

Here's Camilla {First Lady of the House} doing the same!!

{SHOW & TELL}

 So we had a cute agenda planned with the waitor's taking our 

orders and bringing out appetizers, food, drinks and dessert it was

a little tricky to get everyone's attention. Surprisingly everyone ordered

food & cheesecake because they were so hungry! We stayed with our 

side of the tables for {Show & Tell} then the division on the end 

all stood up and went to the other table to show off their creations! 

Here are some pictures of the girls describing their craft from a re-fashion/

up-cycle they were wearing to quilt patterns, baby booties, quiet books,

spooky Halloween blocks, Halloween Vinyl subway art, fabric rosette

necklaces and earrings.... we got lots of comments from people 

at the Cheesecake Factory like who are we? what do we do? have 

we ever met before? it was fun to explain why we were all there- just

the simple answer to share what we love to do CRAFT and 

to meet others in the area that do the same. We felt so blessed to 

be around such wonderful talented women, to be inspired and to 

make new friendships! It was very comforting to know there are so many

other crafty ladies out there, that are passionate about what they do,

perserving memories by scrapbooking, up-cycling, re-fashioning 

around the house, learning how to decorate on a dime. 

BIG THANKS for the fun time to learn more about you all - 

your just fabulous!

Meagan from {Meags and Me} brought this awesome 

quilt pattern! Soooo cute I love it!

Amy from {Naptime Crafters} brought these cute

booties from her Etsy Shop! She is also newly 

preggo here, big thanks for making it out Amy!!!

Congrats & can't wait to see the baby!

Here's Karina holding up Jennifer's from {All Things Belle}'s Show & Tell, 

a cute Halloween quilted pattern - soo adorable! Love it!

Karina from {Karina's Challenge} brought these

cute cupcake topper's she's using for a party!

BIG THANKS to Karina & Sarah for making it

out it was so fun to finally meet you now I can

match the emails with the face!!!

Jessica from {Just Enough Style} brought this amazing

quiet book she made for her daughter! I LOVE it I've got

to try this out, everything was totally interactive and made

of felt with pockets filled with things they can pull out!!

 Kaysi from {Keepin' It Simple} wore a shirt & skirt she 

re-fashioned from a turtle neck! Amazing I love all her creations, 

head on over to her blog and check them out with step by step 

instructions on how you can make it too!!!

Here's Colleen from {Mama Drama Princess Pieces}

showing off her cute pink bunny and necklace she brought!!

Lovin' it she is sooo talented & was so fun to talk to!! 

Thanks for sharing Colleen!!!

Here's Marissa from {Rae Gun Ramblings} showing off

the cutest red top she made!! If you haven't already checked

her Etsy shop out! Please do so... she is one crafty talented

lady I LOVE all her baby ruffle bum onesies check them

out here {Rae Gun on Etsy}

And here are some pictures of the girls from the

other table getting up and showing their crafts to us!!

Mariel kicked it off by showing her beautiful handmade

fabric rosette earrings they were soooo CUTE!

 I'm so glad everyone had a great time! I'm glad that everyone was 

able to order some big meals and some cheesecake to go. I was starving,

since the last thing I ate was a corn dog at 10am when we stopped

in Wendover to get gas, change diapers and get re-charged up 

for the drive.. driving to the Bay Area San Jose was a little

tricky with 2 small children but we made it safe and it was sooo

worth it! So, I had the Crusted Chicken Romano, as usual 

and the Strawberry Lemonade. I took the Ultimate Red Velvet

Cheesecake home for Adam and I to share! It was amazing this is 

NOW my all time favorite!! 

Crusted Chicken Romano

And the Strawberry Lemonade that is to die for! Probably

the only reason why I ever go to the Cheesecake Factory!

They must have something addictive in the drink! ha!

Here's a couple of picture of everyone enjoying their food, 

chatting and mingling! I'm so glad we had a great turn out

and that everyone had an awesome time!!

{PRIZE TIME}

Here's a picture of Lori with her Rosette Necklace prize from

The Tootsie Wootsie Boutique

Here's a picture of Summer's SPOOKY Blocks that was also a sweet prize!

We were so grateful for Summer's donation to the prizes!! We owe you

big time Summer - THANK YOU and it was really great to meet you!!

Summer's blog is {The Idea Cupboard} and she also owns an Etsy shop 

where she sells these awesome creations be sure to stop by here 

Etsy shop HERE Summer's Scraps! If you haven't had a 

chance to browse her shop I really suggest you DO SO, 

you will be so impressed with all her creations! I sure am!

Here's a picture of Mariel & Michelle from {StylesbyMichelle}

Michelle's Show & Tell was her "haircut" she is a professional

hair stylist with her own salon, she was gracious enough to give

away a gift certificate to her salon!! Big Thanks to Michelle!!

Michelle is also Mariel's Sister-In-Law so we were soo happy to have her!

Jennifer from {All Things Belle} got to take this baby 

home! Kaysi from Keepin It Simple's Vinyl Creation!!

Here's Jen with her prize! She is so on top of things she

had to run a race the next day and still was able to 

get her blogger party post up! Yay for Jennifer!

After the party everyone gathered outside the restaurant to take

pictures of course for everyone's BLOG! Woohoo... it was so fun

it felt like it was the Paparazzi, flashes coming from every direction..

we got some guys to take our camera's - one even took a picture of

himself and asked if he'd be in the blog post! Ohmygoshh too funny!

There were a few ladies that needed to take off early, it was about 9:20pm

when we were able to make it outside for pictures, so we are missing,

Larissa from It Explains It All, Julie from JKT photography, Sherry their

friend, Cris & Trish from the Ivy Cottage, Sarah, Michelle from Stylesby

Michelle, Summer from The Idea Cupboard, Lori her friend and Jennifer from

All Things Belle so there were tons more ladies! I stole this cute

pic from Karina's blog!! woohoo thanks for blogging girly :)

Mariel & I were the last ones to leave because we went in to 

personally thank Daniel the Manager of Cheesecake Factory for

accommodating our party and letting us do our thing! He was awesome

he also recommended the outdoor patio that people reserve for

bigger parties like this! We'll have to check that out next time!

I can't forget to include a picture of the Ultimate Red Velvet

Cheesecake I DID get and brought home for my husband 

and I to share! It was amazing and is by far my favorite of ALL!

Well there you have it {How to throw a Hot Pink & Black 

Blogger Party} hope I can link up and give you guys great ideas 

to inspire you to meet up with some crafty ladies in your 

state/town..it definitely is worth the time to meet and make new

friendships!! BIG THANKS again to all the talented, 

crafty ladies that could make it out!! Until our next party!!

Stay tuned!! woohoo!!! xoxoxox, Lilli, Mariel & Kaysi

Linking up here:

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