P-A-R-T-Y Time!!! 

Got my business cards and hit the road!

Off to BASH Conference we went…..

Just about a month late but here’s a fun little recap of my adventures at BASH.

Let me start off by telling you my situation: 

Whether it rains or shines, if I give my word, I make it happen. This event was on the calendar months and months in advance. I was to teach a class and have a booth for JET-PUFFED at the exhibitor hall. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I recently had a baby girl. Since I am nursing, I had to bring her with me. Since I had to work and couldn’t really have her with me at all times, I had to bring my hubs. Since we don’t have anyone to watch the boys at home, we had to bring them too. Sooo it was a family trip! Next, you may recall that a week before Christmas, we crashed and totaled our van. By the time BASH came, we still were rolling in a rental SUV because we hadn’t settled with the insurance. Traveling in a  car smaller than what you need sucks, let me tell you. Then my boys had just gotten oven the flu which means it was time for someone else in the family to catch it. You guessed it, I caught it the night before we left.

But I said I’d be there, and I was there!

Regardless of the all that, I’m very glad we all went. The resort that hosted BASH was beautiful and so was the weather that weekend. Not hot. Not cold. Just perfect!

There were orange trees all over the property. I grabbed a few  from the hotel lobby to eat. They were juicy, sweet and delicious!

In between sessions and meals, I would run back to the room to feed baby and hang out with the boys. During lunch time, we strolled the grounds. The boys liked that.

   

 So back to business….

I regret not taking enough photos. I also regret not taking my DSLR camera. All the photos on this post were taken with my phone and they didn’t come out good at all due to the poor lighting and my unsteady hand.

The whole theme of the conference was travel – Let your dreams take flight!

Look at all those vintage suitcases and decor.

There was a creative business card contest. Those are always fun!

For the opening of the conference, there was a welcome reception.  We got to mingle, network, do crafts and play casino games.

Guess who was my “wing girl”?

That’s right. Baby Kamilla got her cute little outfit on and joined the party. She was such such such a good baby girl.

Finally got to meet Tiffany. She is a ball of energy and enthusiasm. Loved her.

She got to see some old friends LOL Michelle and her go way back to when she was 3 weeks old.

This girl was seriously the center of attention all night long.

I call  Ashlee the “baby whisperer”. She just knows how to make this baby laugh then knock out!

Here’s another one of her long time friends, Mariah. Kamilla guarded the door for a few minutes to make sure everyone who came in had a smile on their face.

The next morning we had breakfast and sat down to listen to some fabulous party rockstars talk about their journey including highlights and struggles.

Here are the fabulous girls: Chris, Jenn and Kim with Michelle.

While we listened, we got to get our craft on. It IS a crafty party conference after all.

I have to tell you that I LOVE these paint markers by Elmer’s. They are permanent and you can paint on almost any surface. I have them in every color!

After breakfast, the exhibitor hall opened up and the sessions began.

The girls from Sizzix were so sweet and very creative. Their booth was the prettiest.

Next to them was Modify Ink. I cannot find the photo I took of their booth but y’all gotta check out their website. They have some pretty cool products.

My girl Jennifer was in the house with her Easy Roller. You KNOW I love my roller and I’m always raving about it.

Across from our booth was the Jelly Belly booth. They were super sweet.

Next to us was Wilton. My favorite sugar art company. I had a chance to finally meet these girls and they did not disappoint. We hit it off as if we knew each other forever!

We had the opportunity to be co-sponsors with Create Ur Plate. They make custom decals for plates (their name pretty much says it all haha).

My partner in crime here was Sandy. She was such a hoot and did a fantastic job talking to bloggers and introducing their product.

I’m sad the photo of our booth came out horrible.

Anyway, we were handing out Mallow Bits canisters and bags of HeartMallows.

We  were also doing a “selfie” contest. Our backdrop stand never arrived to the hotel but the plate props did so we had fun.

How cool are these?! Shout out to Chris from Create Ur Plate for designing them and putting them together.

The first night we had the honor of listening to Amy Atlas speak during dinner. You guessed it, I was in lalala land listening and didn’t even snap a photo 🙁

Next was the “Dress like a celebrity” night event. I couldn’t think of a celebrity so I went as a country singer.

I took my role very serious. With fever and all, I hung the guitar around my neck and rocked on for about an hour or so.

According to these red carpet photos and the blister I got on my thumb from pretending to know how to play, I actually thought I was a country star LOL

The next morning I woke up feeling better. We had the opportunity to use our branded plates during breakfast.

Guests were able to use these disposable plate to eat on then remove the decal and keep it. Each plate had a different KRAFT Jet-Puffed recipe printed on it.

I caked on the makeup so that I wouldn’t look so sick. Here I am with Jenny about to have some “wake me up please” coffee.

I wasn’t part of the BASH Team but in my mind I thought I was. I knew half of the them and the other half were my new BFFs as soon as we met.

Right before breakfast, I gathered a few of them that weren’t running around like crazy and took a photo together.

 From left to right: Laura, Jamila, Keisha, Lindi, Mariah, Tonya and I.

How fabulous is this cake?!

Here’s Michelle getting ready to sit down with the second round of party rockstars for another coffee talk morning.

Kelly, Kim and Tori getting ready to take on the stage.

Right after breakfast, I was taught a class along with Mindy and Lynlee.

We talked about the publishing process.They discussed traditional publishing and I discussed self-publishing. I had 15 minutes to talk which flew by and I didn’t even touch all the things I wanted to.

Maybe another year, I’ll be able to go more into depth about the wonderful journey I took with my book.

   

Amy was lucky! Saturday  was “bring your baby to work day”.  She got to snuggle Kamilla and this little baby boy on the left who was just 2 weeks old. OMG, he was such a tiny cutie. His momma, Erin was a total sweetheart too.

   

Oh boy, Keiran found a new girlfriend. He totally charmed up Amy.

You know when you try and try and try and that darn photo never comes out right. Yup, that happened here but it’s okay… we’ll get it right when I see you here in a few weeks Michelle 🙂

Captured this fab group of friends chitty chatting on the hall.

From left to right: Ashlee, Jenny, Amanda, and Alison.

Here’s Toni enjoying a quick baby hug.

Kamilla tried to sit through a class but I think a boobieccino was on her mind. Too cool  for school.

Bummed I only sat in Loralee Lewis‘ class for a few minutes. I heard the info here was golden!

I came into Maria’s class toward the end. Wish I had been able to sit in for the whole class.

Check out the dessert table Amy styled for the class. After the discussion, attendees were able to come up with their own cameras and practice taking photos while asking questions.

I had the chance to be a part of this. I made custom marshmallow pops.

Here’s a sneak peek I posted on my Instagram account earlier while I was making this designs.

During the last session of the conference, a few fellow authors and I had the opportunity to set up shop at the author’s corner.  

Here’s my table where I was doing demos and selling my book.

This picture is super blurry and you can’t tell but this darling lady is Brenda. She made all the speakers a fabulous clutch purse with our logo on it. Her thoughtfulness moved me to tears!

From left to right: Kelly, myself, Vanessa, Mindy and Lynlee.

To end the conference with a bang!

There was a styled tablescape competition. I didn’t capture any of the absolutely stunning tables but you definitely should go to BASH’s blog to see them all. They were truly fabulous. These ladies went ALL OUT!

We got to hear Eddie Ross speak. I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about him until this night. After listening to him speak, I am a total fan.

He was kind, smart, charismatic, stylish, funny, talented and very generous. He has a contagious smile!

Thrilled I had the opportunity to meet him.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Nancy, Chris and I are good friends and were roomies at Blissdom. We hadn’t seen each other since then. This is another reason why it’s so awesome to attend these conferences.

Michelle had said her farewell to BASH 2015 and the clock was ticking… I took as many photos as I could with my girlfriends.

Here’s Ashlee and Keisha.

XOXO to my BFF Wilton girls – Desiree and Michele.

The fabulous dynamic duo behind Shop Sweet Lulu – Stevie and Jessie.

   

Another episode of “can’t get it right” photos with the fab and gorgeous Toni.

The whole event was a highlight for me. BASH had a very successful inaugural conference.

I leave you with the two moments that put things in perspective for me:

Amy reminded me that it’s okay to take a few steps backwards to take a big step forward. Right now my family needs me and I know professional success will come if I continue to do put them first because my heart will be happy.

Eddie motivated me to continue being myself and paving my own road in the creative way that I have.

Live life doing what makes you happy!