NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

A sign-painting party and fundraising success

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Well, the big sign-painting workshop with Jen of Onion Grove Mercantile came and went. And it far exceeded my expectations. When I volunteered to host an event to support Dress for Success Quad Cities, I just crossed my fingers and hoped someone would show up and I wouldn’t embarrass myself.

Instead, we ended up with 40 women in attendance (my stretch goal) and more than $1,300 raised to help women on the road to financial independence and careers.

Hurray! I love it when things come together. And I couldn’t have done without these two gals. Thanks, Jen and Michelle.

Jen drove over an hour to make it to the party, put together four designs for attendees, helped me promote the heck out of it, and then led the whole group as our celebrity instructor.

Michelle was my trusty type-A assistant, helping me set up the room, inviting her friends, being a huge encouragement, and even cleaning the windows for me.

Needless to say, I love these two. They smiled the entire time. Even when I was ordering them around and even when they were carrying boxes in and out. Which is strange, because even though it seems that they did all the heavy lifting, it was me who woke up the next day feeling like someone had hit me repeatedly with a lead pipe.

Now that the important part is out of the way, let’s get to the details. I really don’t want this to become a excessively long post, so I’m going to try to split this up into a few different days. Today, I’ll just share photos and general info about the event. I’ll come back the rest of this week with tips to host a crafting workshop, and more detailed posts on the decor and favorite recipes for crowds.

The general gist
Beyond being a fundraising success, this was just a really fun event. I love getting together with other women. I love crafting. I love eating good food and drinking wine. This event covered it all.

Plus there were aprons for everyone. I really loved the aprons.

After Jen agreed to be our celebrity instructor, I immediately got started with lists. I’ll get more into the details, but suffice it to say that anything like this becomes more work than you originally think it will. (Or is that just me?)

I’m really proud with the how the decor turned out. I started with a huge roll of kraft paper from Amazon and a lot of mason jars. I didn’t want it to be too difficult or fussy, especially since the tables needed to hold supplies, too. I think the finished product was really cute.

The tree happened to be in the room, and Michelle and I used it behind the food table. (I’m planning to share the super simple steps for those rosettes. I’m thinking that I’ll be using these instead of the tissue paper poms at all my upcoming parties.)
The actual painting portion of the night was super fun. Since it was the main event, everyone got working on their signs right away as they arrived. First with a base coat in white/grey/off-white. Then, tracing the design onto the board and painting it. People really got into it and let their creative juices flow.

I love how different all the signs turned out. And I love that all those boards started in the barn that Ryan tore down. Now they are living on at 40 different homes.

The best part of an event like this is those people who say they aren’t crafty. You know the ones. But, they end up being the craftiest of all. I loved every single one of the signs that night.

I have to throw this picture in, because it wouldn’t be a night with Michelle without this facial expression.
All-in-all, a very successful event.

Oh, and here’s my sign. I only painted the background before I got distracted so someone else finished it up for me. I love it so much in my living room.

Comments

  1. What an amazing event you guys put together. I am so impressed with your party planning skills while balancing a job, a baby, a house, a blog, oh and a barn. Now I just wish I lived closer so that I could have attended and made one of those super cute signs. And drank some wine with you girls.

  4. This looks like an awesome time, so wish I lived near you (for lots of reasons, this being only one). You’re awesome, Kim!

  6. What a great event! Congratulations to you for putting something so successful together.

  14. I seriously wish I lived closer to you guys so I could have gone to this awesome event. You did such an amazing job, Kim!

  19. Congratulations on what looks like an awesome event, Kim. So proud of you for putting your resources together to help such a great cause.