Austin Craft Riot- Speed Networking Social

Networking groups

Every small business owner should be part of one. If you aren't, find one and if you can't find one, start one. Austin Craft Riot (formerly Etsy Austin) is a local group of artists, crafters, vintage & supply sellers promoting the handmade revolution in Austin, TX! This year we are boasting 102 members! That is a lot of great opportunities to share, collaborate and learn from other business owners. Aside from the monthly meetings held, that feature panels of speakers on topics from branding to photography tips, there are great opportunities to be social and meet new people!

This month my partner in crime (Tisa of Tisa’s Creations) and I were asked to plan some get to know each other activities. What better way to learn all about someone than a little speed dating, or speed networking in our case.

We wanted to make sure that we add our own special touches to make it fun and personal. The event was hosted at a local restaurant so decorating was limited. Chalkboard is one of our favs along with a great red and teal color scheme.

We used these amazing chalkboard stickers as name tags and the chalkboard tags for our jars on each table! (items available from Tisa’s Creations)

Meet and greet brunch fun! #austincraftriot #austin #speeddating vine.co/v/bgvtu9P5YI6

— Austin Craft Riot (@AustinCraftRiot) February 24, 2013

 

Just a little peek at the fun that was had! We came up with a great list of random and fun questions to place on each table. Every 2 minutes the bell was rung and one side of the table would move down a seat to have a new partner.

Planning your own Speed Networking Social? Here is the fun list of questions we used.

Why are you here today?

Have you been told, you look like someone famous?

If you were to name one piece of clothing that describes you, what would you say?

If you could eliminate one thing from your daily schedule, what would it be and why?

Which body part would you choose to get a tattoo done?

Tea or coffee? Earth or Mars? Crayon or paintbrush? Candy or ice cream?

What's the one thing, you can't live without?

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer?

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why

If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be…

What is your favorite way to waste time at work without getting caught?

If you could eliminate one thing you do each day in the bathroom so that you never had to do it again, what would it be?

What do you keep in the trunk of your car?

If you had one extra hour of free time a day, how would you use it?

If you owned a CB radio what would your "handle" be?

If you were to write a book what would it be about?

How many rings before you answer the phone?

What is the first thing you think of when you wake in the morning?

If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?

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We've Come A Long Way

Earlier this year I wrote a post about myself. It was all about me, and everything I thought you should know if we were gonna be bloggy friends. You can catch up {HERE} if you missed it. I figured almost a year has gone by {we have officially lest 20's welcomed 30's} and a few things have changed so I might need to update all of you.

I currently have 4 emails, yet I answer them all from 1 so what is the point?
I gave up cokes, with the exception {like 1 a month} root beer.
I have palpitations, everyday, and its annoying
I'm becoming a better business women
I'm working on my {elevator speech}
I'm traveling to my first business conference in 2013
I miss Red Bull and Diet Coke
I can't justify buying a new iPhone just because its new
There are days I want to give up capital letters & punctuation

It took me a year and a half to decide how to decorate my living room.
I'm giving up craft shows...completely
I still read a book a day, most days anyways
I miss blogging regularly
I always take on more than I should and then stress
I saw my family more when we lived halfway across the country than I do now that I live 5 hours away

I can't handle it when people doodle on my desk calendar
I LOVE sweets
I've been married for 3 years last month

I STILL love Jesus with all of me
I feel better about 30 and feel I have a goal in life
I am planning to attend 3 amazing business/blog conferences in 2013
I'm going on my first grown-up women's retreat next year

I have new goals for this year, 20 of them! I would love to be able to cross them all off by mid year and know that its done and I can relax. The reality is that I'd just make a new list to drive myself crazy with. 

Would love to know more about you! Share something fun in the comments. 


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Manic Monday: Weekend Fun & A Winner

It's just another Manic Monday... I wish was Sunday....because that means I would be at work! So that's not how the song actually goes, but sometimes I like to put my personal touch on things.


Sunday was a fun day, but so was Saturday. Market Days, craft shows, hanging out with friends, church and the thoughts of a festival.


I really had plans to work on redoing the shipping station in my sewing room....but I needed a shelf that is currently buried in the garage and I really didn't want to bug Hubs while he was studying to dig it out. So maybe next week I'll get around to it. in the mean time it will remain a heap of boxes, rolls of tape and tissue paper. Please don't cringe when you look at this picture. I promise I will make it better, eventually.

So instead of working, I played, but that didn't go as smooth either. My car started making a squealing noise earlier in the week and Hubs diagnosis was I needed a new belt, not just any belt but a important belt that gonns cost us like $500 to replace! So I couldn't drive the 20 minutes to Round Rock for the 1st Market Days. My bestie and I have been planning to attend for weeks! You know how I know she really is my bestie...she came and got me. Yes, she drove the 20 minutes from her house to mine to pick me up and then we drove all the way back.


Market Days was a hit, lots of different vendors and tons of shoppers. We sampled peanut brittle and chowed down on kettlecorn and sweet tea. Purchased some handmade soap and took in all the surrounds of a beautiful spring day in Central Texas and chatted it up with lots of friends.

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We hit up a local craft show and bestie's son's school. Chatted it up with tons of fun vendors, sampled some yummy bundt cake{I had the 7-Up and it was tasty!}. We ran a few errands, hung out at her house, and had a late lunch. I was exhausted by the time she took me home, but we had too much fun. Hubs came home for work, we had a delicious dinner and watched a old episode of SNL. Doesn't get much better than that.

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Flash to Sunday... Grand ideas of church and the Zilker Kite Festival. Church was amazing as always, a great sermon about fasting and the importance of it. Definitley something I'm looking forward to discussing further with out Missional Community.

By the time we got out of church, Kite festival was in full swing and I had a headache. I was ready to eat and then head home for a nap. So a passed on walking through the park. So these pics are from last years event where we had a great time.

It was a wonderful weekend. I spent the rest of Sunday napping{2 hours}, hitting the gym and crafting! Can't wait to share the tutorial I worked on today with you.

Thank you to everyone who entered the "5 Things I'm Really Liking Right Now" giveaway....

And the winner is.....Maryanne Campbell

Maryanne, you have 48 hours to contact me to claim your prize or another winner will be drawn. Check out the contact form on the blog for convenience.

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It'sTime, for a Missional Community

Hubs and I moved to Austin in June of 2010 from our hometown of Midland, located in West Texas. We came to Austin for hubs new job and I was in the middle of finishing my Bachelors in Nursing from Texas Tech University. Of course leaving our parents was the hardest part of the move for me, aside from that it was leaving our church.

We had found a church to call home after getting married and really enjoyed attending services there. We never joined what they called a COM group, or community group, it just never seemed like the right time.

When we moved to Austin there was so much happening that find a church was something we talked about but didn't really move to do. Hubs started the new job, I was staying home and running Elle Dee Designs while finishing my degree and working when I would travel the 5.5 hours "home" at my old job.  In December I finished my degree and by Spring we were both talking a grad class. We had heard about The Austin Stone from a friend who use to live in Austin, but hubs was nervous about the whole meeting at the high school concept.  We shopped around a little, went to a church service, decided it wasn't for us and went back to looking at websites and listening to the sermons from our old church.

In Spring, Hubs decided that he wanted to check out The Stone and we ventured over for our first visit and fell in love with an amazing group of people who are in love with the Lord. We've never looked back. This is where we feel God wants us to be and we are excited about it. We attended regular Sunday services for almost a year before we decided that we wanted to be involved on a smaller more intimate level. We looked at all the Missional Community groups online and narrowed it down to groups in South Austin near us, couple with and without children in our age group and so on. We ended up joining the first group we attended and love all of the people in it.

Part of the concept behind Missional Communities is that they believe that you are on mission, which means you should be serving...somewhere, anywhere. Our group recently discussed and decided to serve the South Austin Pregnancy Resource Center.

We met up on Saturday for 3 hours and did anything they asked up. Men tackled a rather large yard, ladies sorted baby clothes for their "boutique", we cleaned from top to bottom, helped with mail outs, and dropped things at goodwill and the post office for them. We had a great time fellowship and serving. We plan to serve here once a month as a group.

I can't tell you how happy I am that God has provided this Church and these people to be in Austin with us. Pin It

Meeting Aimee of byAimee.com

Today I want to introduce you to my sweet friend Aimee of byAimee.com. As I was preparing to write this post I had to ask Aimee, "Do you remember who introduced us or how we met?" She had a better idea than I did. No matter how it was I'm so glad to have this amazing women in my life! Only thing that could make it better is if one day we get to meet in real life {I see this in our future}.

Aimee runs an amazing company called byAimee.com that specializes in designing websites for small businesses & non-profits. They do amazing work and I love all of it! Aimee has helped me with several projects over the past year, everything from a adorable landing page for my business facebook page, to buttons for both my business and personal blogs.

 

 

When I asked Aimee what her favorite part of her business was she told me, "helping small businesses find their presence on-line with a beautiful brand/image to set their business a part." Who doesn't want to work with someone whose favorite part of their job is making YOUR business better!

Aimee and her family recently made a cross country move from the seasonal North East to sunny Southern California for her husband's job. Craig is a career Marine and has been faithfully serving our country for 13 years. She told me that the favorite thing about their move besides the beautiful weather is the family they have found at their new church North Coast Church.

So when Aimee isn't running byAimee.com, she keeps busy being a military wife, Mommy to Jack and Abby, and a blogger.

Starting this week byAimee.com is getting a makeover and I would love for you to head over and check it out. I know that with their new look Aimee and her team will continue to deliver quality designs that you will love and your customer will remember you by.

A few of Aimee’s personal design favorites are:

Smittin By A Promise - website

Ahmelie – splash page

LinkyHere.com

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Thankful Thursdays

1. My awesome and powerful God, who loves me unconditionally
2. My family
3. My marriage to a Godly man
4. My new soon to be sis-in-law
5. A job, when so many are without
6. An amazing group of new Christian friends
7. Desire to blog
8. Desire to be healthier (i've needed this one for a while)
9. My new niece or nephew that will be here this Fall
10. Safety as we have been traveling
11. Time with my husband
It's simple and sweet. What are you thankful for today?

Linking up for thankful thursdays with:

 



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5 things i'm loving right now

I was reading a great post over at Fancy Little Things my friend Aimee's page and thought why not. She got the idea from her new buddy over at Chesterrific I'm trying hard to do better at this blogging thing this year, so if nothing else I can take direction from others.  So here goes, 5 things i'm loving right now....

#1: Starbuck's Peppermint Coco- I know its only a matter of time before I have to say goodbye until next year when the red cups come back.

#2: Pinterest- Of Course! You are always in my browser, all day, every day. Helping me think of crafts, what to cook for dinner, the outfit I must have, and jokes to tell my hubby.

#3: Scentsy- I know it's been around forever, but I just bought my first one the other day and am loving the Silverbells scent. It's amazing and my entire house smells amazing!

#4: Sally Hansen Insta-dri Polish- It's the best polish I have ever used, I feel like I have to buy a new color everytime I walk in Target, someone save me! That flat brush means one swipe and that Insta-dry means I'm back to work in 3 minutes max. Love!

#5: My Tom's- I wear them pretty much everyday, don't know what I'd do without them. Might need more in lots of other colors:)

 

  

Now that you know mine, what are the 5 thing's you are loving right now?

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