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Day 68: Built a sandwich board out of old windows for tomorrow's #craftparty, you like? @etsy @steet @penningtonpoint

So the big party has come and gone! We had a great turnout and an awesome time crafting the night away–I’m still excited about it!

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The party was held at the local 1906 store and gallery. I have some items for sale in their shop, and when Stacy, Lisa, and I decided to join up for the worldwide Etsy MeetUp day, I knew this would be the perfect place!

We had some great door prizes for our guests tonight! #craftparty #alamocrafters

Guests arrived to a table of awesome door prizes (and DIY Duck Tape name tags), including donations from Michaels Craft Stores, and Plaid Crafts.

Thanks to @PlaidCrafts for all the Mod Podge and paint--our guests loved using them! #craftparty #alamocrafters

For our make and take tables, we had Texas trading cards (instead of artist trading cards) and travel journals with TONS of materials to decorate and alter them courtesy of Etsy and Michaels. We also enjoyed using paints, brushes, and an assortment of Mod Podge from Plaid Crafts, as well as paper from Astrobrights, and duck tape from the Duck Tape company (did you know they have mustache duck tape??).
I LOVED the mustache Duck Tape--especially lining the travel journals! @DuckTapeBrand #craftparty #alamocrafters

See? There’s that awesome duck tape lining the inside of this crafty lady’s travel journal (didn’t she do an awesome job lining the mustaches up?)


It's happening! #craftparty #alamocrafters
We had about 25 people come out, including lots of new faces I either hadn’t met or only knew online. It was fun making so many new friends!
Loving pomegranate lemonade! Thanks @TheLemonadeCo! #craftparty #alamocrafters

The gluten-free cookies are a hit! Thanks Little Aussie Bakery! @AlTasteNoGluten #craftparty #alamocrafters

To keep our crafters happy, we enjoyed donations from both The Lemonade Company and The Little Aussie Bakery and Cafe. The Lemonade Company’s pomegranate lemonade was delish, and Little Aussie’s gluten-free cookies were a hit! Both are local companies, and we greatly appreciate their generosity!

Thanks to Justin Parr for letting us use his #FL!GHTgallery space--it was perfect for our #craftwar #craftparty #alamocrafters

Now on to the Craft War! San Antonio artist and curator Justin Parr opened up his FL!GHT Gallery (also housed in 1906) for the teams to use, and it was the perfect space for the main event of the evening.

17 minutes left of the #craftwar! #craftparty #alamocrafters

We had three teams of four (some of whom hadn’t met each other before Friday night), and we gave them one hour to create the best San Antonio-themed piece out of recyclables and more materials from our sponsors. It was inspiring to see them get so creative–and take the challenge so seriously! 
It was really hard picking a winning team, they all worked so hard! Check out their work:
Craft War pinata explosion!
An exploding piñata with cascerones (confetti eggs), bottlecaps, palletas (Mexican popsicles), and a mustache-covered sombrero all spilling out.

Tower of the Americas Craft War style
The Tower of Americas on top of the Riverwalk (sorry I didn’t get the bottom part in the shot!).

The winning #craftwar project! Thanks for the inspiration @tlc and @michaelsstores! #craftparty #alamocrafters

In the end we voted for this little guy. An Astrobright, Duck Tape, and bottlecap-covered burro, made out of an oatmeal canister, egg cartons, and yarn (with a hand-drawn margarita or two thrown in). We thought it was both aesthetically pleasing and really embodied the light-hearted Fiesta spirit of San Antonio. Isn’t it amazing? We donated it to 1906, and I think you might be able to see it out front in their shop.

Last night's winning #craftwar team! Awesome job ladies! #craftparty #alamocrafters @vrtx09

And here are the ladies of the winning team (the baby’s did the majority of the work, of course)!

Thanks so much for joining us last night Veronica--excited you won our giveaway necklace! #craftparty #alamocrafters @vrtx09

Friend and fellow mama-blogger Veronica of Seven Lovely Things was one of our giveaway winners.

And one last photo booth shot! #craftparty #alamocrafters

And my crafty piece of the evening was the Duck Tape-covered cardboard Alamo for our DIY photo booth. 

Stacy and me at the SA #craftparty

It turned out so great and we all had tons of fun! Everyone was asking when the next party will be–I don’t know if we can wait until next year! Thanks to everyone who came out–it wouldn’t have been a party without y’all. 
And special thanks again to our sponsors, Etsy, Michaels Stores, Plaid Crafts, Duck Tape, Astrobrights, and Fiskars for providing all of our crafting supplies for the evening–you really made our night!

Special thanks to Yvette and Andy Benavides for opening their gallery and home for our #craftparty last night! You guys are awesome! @smartsanantonio #alamocrafters

And saving the best for last, thanks again to Yvette and Andy, owners of the 1906 mega-art space of San Antonio, for opening up their home and work space for our party!

Not only do they provide studio and gallery space for local and international artists, but they also run a frame shop, featuring local artisan goods, and run the nonprofit SMART (Supporting Multiple Arts Resources Together) dedicated to raising awareness of the developmental impact of the arts on our great city.

It was so fun working with them and to see their enthusiasm for uniting the art and craft communities of San Antonio–both very big and happening groups!

Thanks again to all who came out, and to Lisa and Stacy who both encouraged and helped me pull this thing together! We’ll definitely be getting our craft on again soon!

**Disclosure: I was not paid to put on this event or write this post. I did receive products from Michaels, Plaid Crafts, and Fiskars, as well as food and drink donations from The Lemonade Company and The Little Aussie Bakery and Cafe for the event. The Astrobright and Duck Tape sponsors were arranged by my co-hosts, Lisa and Stacy.**