Anatomy of a Successful Crop

It's Monday. A day full of cleaning up, getting re-organized, and hopefully taking down my Halloween decorations finally!


This will be a long post with lots of photos, so if you're up for it, grab a cup of coffee and get comfy.

I just had to share all that was involved with my annual Fall crop which was held this past Saturday. I dubbed it the Candlewood Crop because we held it at our local Candlewood Suites hotel, which was a fantastic venue for this size crowd. The folks at Candlewood were so very accommodating, I can't express my thanks enough for all they did to help make this event a big success. The crop ran from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with lunch and dinner included. We had 17 croppers including me.

First off, each guest received a handmade name tag and a handmade gift holder (Cricut cartridge: Bags, Tags, Boxes & More/popcorn box) which contained a personalized name stamp, a package of sparkles in blues and greens, and a home-made dark chocolate embossed with "Thank You"...

Plus each guest received a two-page scrapbook layout make-n-take kit...

Of course, as any good consultant would do, I had to include a few flyers with promotions and specials...

And each guest was given a raffle ticket form, a crop tally sheet to keep track of their purchases throughout the day, and an envelope for their donation to Operation Smile.

At the end of the day, with all the generous donations, we raised $75.00 for Operation Smile! Thank you croppers for your kindness and generosity!

Finally, each guest was given a Christmas Wish List. I collected these lists and will forward them to their family member they listed at the bottom with a special letter explaining what they need to do.

If you would like one of these Wish Lists for yourself, please e-mail me and I'll be sure to send you one.

Now on to the crop room...

One large table served as the cutting station and included the Cricut Expression and Ellison Big Shot. Guests were encouraged to bring their own 12 x 12 cutting mat for the Cricut, and if they used the Big Shot, I asked for a dollar donation for the wear and tear on my cutting pads. I had various dies from Sizzix, Spellbinders, and QuicKutz available for croppers' use.

Available for purchase: Cardstock, Tombow adhesive & refills, new and used stamp sets, kits, handmade cards, and more!  One table served as the Prize Area so guests could get a glimpse of what was going to be raffled off. I held drawings every hour, sometimes giving away a few prizes at a time. 

At the end of the evening I gave away the grand prize package to one lucky winner (Harmony!) which included a Close To My Heart Shoulder Tote, Accessory Case, 6 x 6 Dark Cocoa Album, and Tombow adhesive. Harmony, by the way, won MANY times during the crop. It was simply her lucky day!

Sign-up sheets for upcoming workshops and kits were displayed along with the projects.

And a display of the Magnifique make-n-take project was on another table so that croppers could see up-close details they might not catch in their instruction sheet in their kit. This table also held my Stamp of the Month board, some Idea Books & order forms, and a work-in-progress album holding two-page layouts that were for sale for $8. All ready to pop in photos!

On to the croppers...

You might have seen the two photos on Saturday's post. If not, be sure to check them out. The room was full of happy croppers!

Here's Charmin with her personalized name stamp. Croppers were delighted when they found this gift at their table when they arrived.

Since the Candlewood Suites had free wireless, I brought my Mac with me and did a handful of Studio J layouts. At one point, croppers gathered around to watch the ease of using this online scrapbooking tool from Close To My Heart. I found it fun to play around with templates, paper packs and color combinations. And since I have a year's membership with Studio J, I was able to select some Members Only layouts and papers, and I will receive my pages for only $6.50 per two-page layout plus free jpg's of each, free shipping once per month (with a minimum of four layouts), and free page protectors! WOW!

Now, let's check out what the croppers were making with all their beautiful Close To My Heart products...

Donna was putting together her Olivia Kit of the Month.

Ellen was making Valentine cards already! Wow, she's on the ball!

Lori was working on several mini albums during her crop time.

Charmin was creating this great layout for her son with her Stardust papers. 

Tiffany was just getting started on her Cherish Club pages using You Rock papers.

And Lin was getting caught up on her Miracle Kit.

Finally, even though it was almost the end of the night, I asked Charmin to snap a photo of me so I could update my Facebook and profile pictures on various sites. Thank you Charmin.

And thank you to all the croppers who joined me Saturday. I enjoyed the day so much with all of you! If you weren't able to make it this year, hopefully we'll see you next Fall. 

Now... to tackle this mess all over my dining room...