The Hunt for the Perfect Venue Begins

Venue #1, Sticks Event Center

 Gift table

 Ceremony area

 From front of ceremony area looking toward lounge and kitchen serving area. The gold chairs are $7.00 each to rent.

 The front of the ceremony area (how it was set up for the wedding they were hosting today)

 Kitchen/serving area.  The lower cabinets are actually metal, no need to cover them with brown paper.

 This is the lounge area that is to the left of the kitchen area as you look toward the back of the building. The atrium area, which is the main/largest room is to the right.

 Kitchen again

 Bar area.  Keep in mine the lace tablecloths are for today's wedding and not really part of the decor.  The things on the wall behind the bar are a bunch of votive candles.  I'll bet they look very pretty lit up in the evening.

 Looking along the back wall of the Atrium (main area).  Very pretty with all the windows. There are also votive candles all along the window ledge.  Again, it would be very pretty in the evening.

 This looks down the hallway that leads to the restroom.  To fit 300 people, we would need to have tables set up down this area, toward the rope lights.  They have the rope lights lit up during the event as a way to direct people to the restrooms.

 This is the door along the back side of the building in the atrium area.  Most of the doors are painted on the inside and outside.  Very cool Sticks look. The guy said a lot of couples use the area in front of these doors for the dance floor.

 The full photo of the door.  All of the doors are tall - lots of windows.

 This is the backside of the kitchen.  The wall area can have a personalized chalk design done (of course, at an extra cost of $50.00 per hour). But a cool thing.

 These are the lights that are above the counter in the kitchen.

 Business office.  This is an area where the bridal party can put their things.  It is above the hallway that leads to the restroom.

 The area below the business office.  One of the things I did not like about the venue.  Because it is the warehouse and this is where Sticks makes it product, you see all of their equipment.  The guy said that the area can be draped (about $300-400 more) to hide it, but he said in the evenings, the areas seem to "black out" and you really can't see the stuff.  He said there have only been a couple of brides that have had the areas draped.  It's a personal choice.

Signs and rope lighting leading to the restrooms.

 Ladies room.  Nice sized, clean, and a bowl of mints on the counter.

 Atrium.  You can see the chalkboard wall.  This view is from the painted door area looking into the main room.

 Same thing.

 Chalkboard wall.

 again.....

 Entry along the west side of the building.  This looks from the main entrance toward the parking lot.  It's on a very quiet street.  There is room for 80 cars in the parking lot and the rest of the parking is on the street, but I don't think street parking would be an issue since it's off the beaten path.

 One of the outside painted doors.  This is along the wall where the ceremony area is.

 Close up of the door.

 Another close up of the door.

 The entryway looking from the parking lot to the main entrance.  The main door is the furthest one.  A cool thing is the tiki torches.  They would be lit up which I think would be beautiful at night.

 The sculpture in front of the building.

 Front of the building.  The walkway/entry is on the left.

Walk way.  This is the west side of the building

The coolest part of the building.  If you look on their Facebook page you will see pictures taken of this in the evening.  The lighting is very pretty. You can do some amber uplighting along the back wall of these windows and it would be gorgeous.

Just another view of the east side of the building.  This is the side guests would see as they drive up to the facility.  It's a very neat looking building.

Scrapper Al's Card Swap, Month 1

A card kit swap. I needed an extra push to force myself into some creative time so when I saw Arlyn post about starting up a new group with her card kit swap I thought, why not?  I joined.  I'm glad I did.  I'm not very good at cards, so not only was it a way to get back into doing some crafting, it would also challenge my creativity.  So, here are my cards using the February kit (I forgot to take a photo of the kit contents before I started, oops).

Card 1:

I really liked the metallic paper included in the kit, so I let that be my starting point.  Using a tag included in the kit, I used a couple of stamps from Technique Tuesday. The gray and white stripped washi tape was a nice accent along with a button at the top.  I like the whole monochromatic look to this card.

Card #2

I was kind of going with a music theme as you can tell by the stamped sentiments on both cards.  This card I used the pretty metallic green brads and pretty ribbon to add a touch of color.  The patterned paper, doily and glittery silver colored card base were all part of the kit also.

Card #3

For this final card, I used the blue metallic patterned paper, blue cardstock base, ribbon and washi tape.  The colorful patterned paper was also included.  Don't really know what direction I was going with this card, but it all came together and I was happy with the results.

I ended up giving these cards to a co-worker.  She is always doing nice things for me and I wanted to return the favor.  She was very surprised and I think she liked them too.  All in all, a good thing.

Thanks Arlyn for the great kit.  Now I'm anxious to see what Susan has up her sleeve for the March kit.

Senior Photo Shoot

I had a lot of fun tonight taking this round of senior photos of Jasey. She's such a pretty girl and the evening light was wonderful!

Facing Challenges Straight on.

The last couple of weeks have been full of challenges to be met. But this post isn't about that, it's about a challenge issued by a dear friend of mine. She told me I needed to update my blog, well, that's what I'm doing. So here's to you Susan!

This photo was taken about 3 years ago when Susan and I attended a "Crop of a Lifetime" sponsored by Jackie and the gang from Lifetime Moments, a great little scrapbooking community. In the picture with us is Beverly. She was my secret pal at the crop - a way cool gal! Thru scrapbooking and events like this I've had the fortune to meet ladies from all across the country as well as Europe and Japan. How lucky I am to call these ladies my friends.

So now I've risen to the challenge of updating my blog. I may keep it up, I may not, who knows what tomorrow holds. As far as other challenges in my life, well, I'll rise up to meet them too. I've got great friends and a great family by my side to help me along the way.