When you go "play" at someone else's house, what t

[rhodgson]

It is so much FUN to be able to stamp with girlfriends isn't it?! I have a bit of a problem though... It seems that my heart rate increases considerably when I begin the packing process (yes, it has been known to take me upwards of two hours just to pack and "organize" things into a couple of totes, okay and maybe a container...). In the end I have to make the decision, "what do I bring???" I realize that if you are working on a particular card already and just need to reproduce it a few times that this narrows down the possibilities. What I am talking about here is just getting together with a friend (or a few :-)) and coming up with a unique idea for the first time.
I hate to think of myself as becoming too much of a 'home-body' (i.e. "I'll only play with you if you come to my house." ;-)) Is there anyone else that struggles with this or has a useful tip about
1. How to decide what to bring
2. What you do tote along with you when you venture out
3. When you travel, a particular storage methods that you utilize, for traveling purposes only.
I do realize that this could be a possible thesis topic so I'll keep it to the materials that you bring (and what a reasonable quantity would be) and not venture out to the retail aspect of this (yet!).
Thank you for any and all ideas and/or recommendations. Maybe I will be able to make it out my front door more often after this! :-)

[kimilou]

We play once a month at my demos house. It's usually our 6/25 club, and Linda always has things to borrow on hand if we need/forget things. Our group shares often.We just "pay "whoever back when we see them again or when our order comes in. If your group is like ours you could probably lighten your load considerably. (I.E. if your card requires a heat gun and the "hostess " has one ,borrow hers.Don't lug yours around). If you're in the planning stages. Split up things to bring that the "hostess" might not have. HTH!

[Sunf1ower]

I have a group of friends that meets at various homes as often as once a week and as seldom as once a month depending on our schedules. I've been just as guilty of taking more time to pack than the time that remains to play once I get there.

I've started trying to think of just 1 or 2 projects before I start packing and then packing only for those things. For example if I feel like watercoloring I would take my sketches sets or other sets I like to watercolor, my watercolor pencils, aqua painter and just watercolor the whole time.

Also I like to take 'mindless' or 'busy work' things so I can talk at the same. The best project I've found for this is mounting stamps. It's not something I particularly enjoy, but it's easy enough that I can be involved in conversation while I'm doing it and it only requires the stamp sets and the craft scissors!

I hope my ideas help!

[crazy4stamps]

When I go to my girlfriends house to stamp I usually bring one or two stamp sets with me. Last Wednesday when I went over there I brought all my SAB sets so she could see them and we made a cople cards and talked alot. We do get together a few times a month either at my house or hers and end up stamping just a few cards or making a bunch for a monthly swap we both are in. I try to only carry exactly what I need when I go to demos. I take only the stamps I need not the whole set and just the supplies I need...I know its a little more work on my part to figure out what I'm going to be stamping before I leave the house....but it does save on time and not taking alot of things I really don't need to bring.
I just did a stamp class with 24-3rd graders at school yesterday, we stamped domino pins. I only took my dominoes, snowmen stamps, staz-on pads, scrub pad, cleaner, 3 heat guns, sharpie markers, pin backs, jewelry adhesive and spray sealer. I packed it all in the Stampin' Carry bag and it fit just perfect. It saved me alot of time not having to search through everything I brought to find just what I needed.
I am getting together with some of the teachers after school once a month to do a stamp class and I figure out what project I'm going to demo and then bring just for that project. If I do 2 or more projects then I make a list of what I need and only pack that. I know I'll have to have a few catalogs and order forms too, but I limit that to just taking for who is signed up usually 5 or less. I only sell 1-2 catalogs at my demos and if there's more than 5 people signed up to come then I bring more.
I hope this helps.....I found it saves my back from alot of pain too.

[prochman_is_addicted]

I too take more supplies, many containers, bags, stamps, ink then I actually even use for the day.

I always think that I will not know what I'm going to do, so I bring almost everything.
I need to just bring a few stamp sets, one new techique and play with that. But saying that and doing it are two different things.

Maybe next time!! :?

[kmjenkyns]

when I get together to play, I usually take several of my favorite stamps sets, some embellishments and ep, and cardstock and inks in my favorite colors (or whatever I have a lot of). then I can play around and experiment with different ways of using them.

[lovemykids]

On the website www.organizedscrapbooks.com there is an article that I just printed out that talks about how to pack for a crop. I am sure it can be modified for stamping!

[rhodgson]

Thank you for sharing the website; I liked what it said about being consistent about where we put things. It would seem that the most effective way to pack means some pre-planning (on my part), otherwise the temptation is to just bring way too much. It may limit innovation but perhaps that shouldn't be the goal when you are hanging out with good company! :-)

[AngFab]

Thanks for the crop article link! I printed this out because I always bring WAY TOO MUCH! Then I feel frazzled because I don't use what I bring, and I left this or that home and I need it...

I get together to stamp w/a buddy pretty regularly and we divvy up the bring it along duties. She brings 2 sets of inks/markers and I bring the other 2 sets. That way we have them all. Then we split up who's bringing the white, silver, gold, or spectrum pads. We each have a tote crammed full of eyelets, tags, buttons, ribbons, and other embellishments. We usally have about 40 phone calls the day of or night before we meet to make sure we don't double up on stamp sets. We try to figure out ahead of time what we need to work on - bday, wedding, misc holiday cards. We meet at a stamp/scrap store so we don't need to bring a lot of punches and scissors - those are there in the workroom to use. But one thing is guaranteed...as we pack up we say "Oh - I didn't use this, I didn't even look at that, I forgot I brought this..." so seems we always bring WAY MORE supplies than we need!!

HTH!