Pinners Conference AZ 2024!

 

I recently had the chance to attend my first ever Pinners Conference here in AZ & It was a lot of fun! This conference is a two day event that is perfect for anyone who loves DIY and learning new hobbies/crafts. Between the 100+ classes available and dozens of shops selling take home do it yourself kits, you are sure to find something to keep your hands busy and happy. They sell different ticket levels that range from just visiting the vendor alley to tickets that include classes with prices ranging from $12 all the way up to $199 for a VIP pass. 

The classes they offer cover so many different topics & hobbies ranging from how to do your makeup or creating bath bombs from scratch to baking bread, sewing a bag or creating a handmade cutting board. You can choose to just sit in on the class or many of the classes offer kits you can purchase to follow along with & complete or take home and create at your own pace. I think they did a fabulous job setting up all of the different class room areas & crafting sections like the sewing room or the painting area. Everything was separated & organized well, that way no one was left trying to find the right area. 

Vendor wise, there were over three hundred booths set up! So you could shop till you dropped. The vendor area was a great spot to not only shop for DIY kits & goodies for yourself, but it was also a great spot to look for a few early holiday gifts. We loved that they had just about everything including clothing, pet treats, food/drinks, tools, jewelry & home goods. Even if you visit just to check out the shops, you will have a great time interacting with everyone while shopping & are still likely to spend at least two hours at the event. 

While browsing the shops many of the food & drink booths had samples they were giving out. So you were able to try out some caramels, some pretzel/chip dips, hummus, energy drinks, teas and more. Beauty wise there were samples of vitamins, lotions you could smell or try on your hands and some booths have mini samples you could take home. If you were hungry & wanted a bigger meal than the samples offered at the booths the event had two food trucks outside plus there were actual food vendors inside offering things like coffee & chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. 

I also liked that many of the booths who offered DIY take home kits also had small tables set up in the middle of the vendors area where you could work on your kit if you wished. For example one of the booths had unpainted wood kits to make your own signs, ornaments, etc that just needed to be glued together and painted. So you would find a few round tables just a few feet away from their booth that included the glue needed to connect everything plus a large assortment of paints and brushes for you to use. 

The event was family friendly! We went on a Friday & I honestly didn't think it would be as busy as Saturday would have been, but I heard a lot of people at the event talking about how they took the day off to attend. Even though there were a ton of people, the flow of traffic in the building went smoothly & quickly with no issues due to how everything was laid out. The Pinners Conference is hosted in Arizona, California, Utah, Texas, Kansas & Georgia. Keep an eye out for the event again next year! 

What kind of classes would you want to take?

Disclaimer- Thickets to the event mentioned above were provided by The Pinners Conference for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Check out the Spaltter room at Pinspiration!

 

The best kind of mess, is the mess that you don't have to personally clean up! If you are looking for a way to unwind a bit, make a mess and then leave with a souvenir of your time then you should check out the splatter rooms at Pinspiration in Mesa,AZ. Pinspiration is a craft store that has a wide range of crafting supplies & craft kits set up to where you can pick out a project, & then complete it in store. You can craft without having to worry about running out of supplies or not having something on hand that you need. One of the biggest draws for me is their Splatter room, where you can hang up a canvas or even a shirt on the wall then use paint & paint brushes to splatter, flick and splash paint onto your project. The store was packed full of fun projects to work on & they even had a small food area where you can order items such as DIY cupcakes, smores, and drinks to upgrade your experience. 

The cost of your experience will depend on the size or type of canvas you would like along with the type of paint used. Regular experiences with a 12x12 canvas + protective gear & one hour in the splatter room start at $35 per person. Regular paints are cheaper than if you were to do a glow paint or fabric paint. While we were leaving, I saw a girl prepping a canvas bag to use in the splatter room which sounds like a fantastic idea as well. How are you & your clothing protected? You will be provided with a poncho, a pair of gloves, shoe booties to cover your feet and are provided with protective eyewear if you choose to wear them. I opted not to wear the googles, they started fogging up a little & I knew I wasn't going to go overly crazy to where I would be splashing paint back into my own face. For our experience we each received a 12x9 canvas along with some glow paint to use with the black lights on. For my canvas I requested one that had already been painted black, they also have white which you can use as is or use a solid color to paint the base then splatter over that. 

It takes only a few minutes to store your personal belongings then get into your protective gear, everything else will already be set up in the room for you. You & your group will be in the splatter room by yourselves so you can shut the door & turn the black light on and off as you please. Inside of the room you'll also find a wash station for when you need it, tape so you can tape off areas of your canvas you wish to leave unpainted, extra brushes along with a fan to help keep you cool plus an Alexa you can request to play music for you. We did the splatter room as part of our staycation girls weekend my mom, my daughter & I did together. We found the experience to be a lot of fun, we enjoyed the paint colors they had to choose from and each one of us left with a unique piece that fit our personal colors and preferences. I also really enjoyed having the Alexa in the room, it was a blast playing some of our favorite songs while we splattered away. 

Depending on the weather & how much paint you add to the canvas your drying time will vary. I didn't put nearly as much paint on mine as my daughter did so mine only took a few hours to dry, but her painting took a bit longer. So keep this in mind & be prepared to carry the wet canvases home in your vehicle, they will provide you with a sheet of brown paper to place under your canvas to help protect yourself & your car a little more. When we got home my son enjoyed using his black light spy pen on the paintings to see the black light paints shine. I need to get a small black light to hang above these in the hallway so we can light them up at night when it is dark out. 

Does this sound like an experience you would enjoy? Would you prefer to do a canvas, or something else?

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Disclaimer- The experience mentioned above was provided by Pinspiration for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

STMT DIY Geode Canvas Review!

 

Summer is quickly approaching which means the kids will be out of school & looking for things to do, that is where Horizon Group USA comes in. They have several different product lines that offer engaging craft kits for kids of all ages, and best of all most of the kits cost under twenty dollars. I have a few kits I will be sharing with you soon, but today I will be focusing on the STMT D.I.Y Geode Canvas kit which can be bought from amazon for $19.99 it can also be bought at retail stores such as Target, Walmart, Craft stores, Etc. This kit is for ages 14+ which I recommend sticking close to the age range if they are doing it on their own, otherwise if you will be supervising children slightly younger can do this kit as well.

The geode canvas is a resin pouring kit, it can get a little messy so make sure you are using proper protection over your work space. I laid down a table cloth & we also used one of the plastic pieces the kit is packaged in to do the actual pouring over so no drips were on our workspace or table. The kit comes with three different colors of paint, a paint brush, glitter, glass crystals, a canvas, plastic gloves, resin parts A & B along with stirring sticks. You will still need some mixing bowls or cups, a pencil & something to protect your workspace. I recommend using disposable cups or bowls to get mix the resin.

Instead of going with a traditional geode look my daughter went with a design from one of her favorite anime, the project turned out a bit messy but she had a lot of fun doing the project. The steps are easy to follow & the colors included in the kit are nice. Even with the resin on the canvas, the canvas still remains light weight.

Disclaimer- Horizon Group USA provided the product above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Distinct Papers Review & Giveaway!

****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Distinct Papers for the review & giveaway free of charge.****

The holidays are coming which means it is time to start getting Holiday cards together, the kids will be starting their Christmas wish lists and holiday event invites will go out. During the holidays I enjoy sending my greeting cards in colored envelopes, I typically just stick with the traditional red and green but depending on who I want to send it to I may go with another color. Distinct Papers is a company who sells a large assortment of paper and envelopes in various sizes and colors, they also offer packing supplies. 





I recently received a sample set that included a selection of papers and envelopes for me to check out. Everything was wrapped in a ribbon with a paper flower attached, it was a very lovely way to receive the samples and I kept the paper flower by hanging it on my fridge. The paper and envelope samples I received ranged in weight from 20lb paper to 80lbs paper and I also received two different sized papers with various sized envelopes. I really like how smooth the paper and the envelopes are, your pen (or pencil) will glide across the paper with ease while the paper soaks up the ink. I use a lot of gel based ink pens so it was nice that the ink didn't smear off onto my hand if I accidentally touched it while writing, as you can see from my sloppy Christmas wishlist above the ink is un-smeared. The colors of everything I received are vibrant and bright it is sure to be eye catching while being sent through the mail, used for party invites, corporate newsletters or while being used for any of your paper needs. The thicker card stock would be great for crafting or card making.

I love the selection of colors and sizes of both products they offer, the only thing I wished they offered more of was self sealing envelopes it seems like the only color they have for them is white or a brown kraft. Their packing supplies selection is pretty great as well, they offer mailing envelopes, corrugated boxes, mailing tubes, tape and more. New customers can receive a coupon code for 20% off if you look in their "Special offers" section.


PRIZE ALERT:

One lucky winner is going to win a $25 Gift card to Distinct Papers to buy the paper or envelopes of your choice.

This is open to US Residents ages 18+, please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email!

Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.

 Giveaway entry question: What color paper or envelope would you like to buy from their site?

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