Song of My Heart Demonstrators

Color Name Guessing Game

After years as a direct sales consultant, it can get harder and harder to come up with new and fun games to play at events. Here is a fun guessing game I made up for a recent all-day scrapbooking event. I have changed the names of 32 of our current colors into their synonyms. Some are quite difficult and others you will guess right away.

For instance, "Wee Hours Inspiration" translates to "Midnight Muse."

TIP: You can make it harder or easier depending on whether or not you let them use their Idea Book & Catalog to look at the real names!

Note: I am attaching a generic PDF file of my game and the answers below, which you may print and use your convenience. If you are viewing this months or years from now, be aware the colors will probably have changes and you will want to make up your own handout from scratch. If you do so, feel free to use the synonyms I came up with--and I'd love to hear any clever ones you invent yourself!

Download Color Name Guessing Game (2 game sheets per page)

Download Color Name Guessing Game with Answers  (1 game sheet and 1 answer sheet)

 

Embellishment Bingo

Games are a good way to break up longer events, break the ice with groups where the individuals may not know each other well, and provide opportunities to give new product away as prizes. Here is a simple game I put together for a scrapbooking event using the Bingo digital stamp brush in My Digital Studio.

Each square contains the name of a common--or not-so-common--scrapbooking embellishment. As your scrappers work throughout the day or weekend, they mark off a square if they use that embellishment on a layout (only one square filled in per page). First one to get five in a row wins! At the end of a longer, multi-day event, you could also give a prize to the total most squares filled in.

You may print off and use the game below at your convenience. Please note that as embellishments come and go out of the catalogs, the printout may no longer be accurate and you will want to come up with your own handout.

Downline Variation: you could also do this game substituting beginner stamping techniques for the embellishments, and hand them out at your new recruit training nights. Everyone who brings it back with bingo filled in gets a prize!

(1 game per sheet) Download Embellishment Bingo

Creativity Journal Project

I recently attended a Stampin' Up regional seminar and was intrigued by the Creativity Journal project presented by Carrie Cudney and the sample journals shown by her associates. I thought it was a wonderful excerise for any stamper to work on, especially those of us who tend to think all our best work is CASE'd from someone else.

I'm a firm believe that every person on earth has a spark of creativity in them, placed there by the Creator. Some forms of creativity may not follow traditional lines of thinking or use common mediums, but everyone is creative.

I get a twinkle in my eye at the beginning of a workshop when someone announces they are "just not creative," because I know that by the end of the evening, they will be having a great time and they'll be so impressed with themselves. That remarkable feeling of accomplishment and creativity is addictive. Good demonstrators find ways to point out creativity of thought and technique and foster that feeling in their customers.

Consider hosting a creativity journal class for your customers, perhaps at your next Hostess Appreciation Event. You don't have to use the 5x5 chipboard albums that Stampin' Up gave us all at the seminar, but it does make sense to do your purchasing from yourself. Everyone will start with the same basic notebook or album, but where those end up will ultimately be completely different and unique to the creator.

The "rules" and creative challenges below are a combination of concepts from Stampin' Up along with my own thoughts and additions.

Creativity Journal Rules

• Don't go in order. Start in the middle or the end, anywhere but the first page.
• Use any papers, stamps, inks, ribbons, whatever that you like. Incorporate anything that makes you happy and can be affixed to a page.
• Don't compare your journal to others. This is about you and your likes and dislikes.
• There is no such thing as a "start over". Any "mistakes" are only "oops"portunities.
• Don't over think the exercises. It's supposed to be fun, and yes, a little silly. 
• Do any of the challenges you want to, in any order you want to, or come up with your own.
• Try to do at least one challenge a week.

 Creative Challenges

1. Find 10 quotations about creativity that inspire you or remind you of the importance of being creative. Find a way to incorporate them into your journal... one per page, or all on the same page.  Anything goes! Use your own handwriting. It's a part of who you are.
2. In your journal, write the phrase "I am creative" 25 times.  Make it look different each time you write it. Use different pens, hand positions, colors, art styles.
3. Dump all your markers into a shoebox. Grab random markers and color little circles or stars in groups of three or four. Mark down any unexpected color combos that grab your eye.
4. Doodle stick figures of yourself or even the whole family. Draw a fancy frame around them.
5. Get past your inner critic by doing some stream of consciousness writing. Nothing is too silly, too weird, or too trivial to be included.  Write it in a shape such as a rectangle or spiral.
6. Pablo Picasso once said, "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Do something creative that you loved to do as a child (put together a puzzle, color a picture, build a sand castle, play make-believe, etc.). Create a page in your journal inspired by your experience.
7. Do something creative to your appearance. (Wear brightly colored accessories, paint your toenails a fun color, wear your hair a different way than you typically wear it.) Take your photo, put it in your journal, and record how you feel about your creative new look.
8. Papercrafting is your medium. List in your journal all of the reasons why you are a legitimate artist and/or designer.
9. Make a two-page spread about the best dream you ever had.
10. Create a rebus about yourself--a short story that uses images instead of words, such as a photo of an eye instead of the word "I" or a picture of a tree instead of the word "tree."
11. Fill a page in your journal defining the word "Fun" by using only images - no words.
12. Make a representation of yourself stepping out of an imaginary comfort zone and finding something pretty outside the box.
13. Steven Spielberg once claimed that his very best ideas came to him while driving the freeways. On a nice day, go for an afternoon drive by yourself, put on some inspiration music, roll down the window, get comfortable, and let your mind wander - but please drive carefully! When you get back, record the ideas that flowed through your mind.
14. Ask at least two people you love to say something nice about your creativity and record their comments in your journal. Add their pictures if possible.
15. Describe yourself using the most adjectives possible. Say only nice things.
16. write down the nicest comment you got last month on your blog or gallery or Facebook page and embellish it in colors and images that remind you of how good you felt when you first read it.
17. use only shades of your very favoritest color to decorate one page. if your favorite color changes, decorate another page and articulate why it changed.
18. Cut out a photo of a celebrity you admire and adhere it in your journal with a "conversation bubble" in which they are saying something "way over the top awesome" about you.
19. Write down an idea you had that didn't work, and what you unexpectedly learned from it.
20. Finish the sentence: "Next time I am feeling stuck in a rut or uncreative I will_____"

Out of the Box Bingo

Recently, a fellow demo, Michon Dubbs, shared an idea that her husband had for our large Bingo background stamp. With her permission I share it and the following variations that were subsequently contributed by other demonstrators.

Bingo is available as a stamp and as a My Digital Studio download. I prefer the MDS download as it is easily mass produced and I can alter the size as necessary.

1. Workshop Bingo: Use the Bingo card as an icebreaker at the beginning of a workshop. Give everyone a blank Bingo card (or have them stamp it on the back of their grid paper). Have them write down the names of common Stampin' Up products (ink pad, paper snips, bone folder, etc). As you go through your demonstration, they can mark each one off as you mention it.  Winner receives the door prize.
2. Variation on Workshop Bingo--have the customers flip through the catalog and write down the page numbers of the items you pre-wrote in the boxes. First one to find all the page numbers (blackout) wins the prize.
3. Wish List Bingo: At your annual new catalog open house, have the customers write down the names of stamp sets , punches or other larger items they want in each square. When they purchase it, they can mark it off. You can do a reward for a bingo or for a blackout.
4. Loyalty Bingo: Use the Bingo card as a "frequent shopper" program, filling in a square for each increment of $$ specified. When the card is full, they receive the agreed-upon reward or discount. 
5. Appreciation Bingo: At your hostess appreciation event, pre-stamp the Bingo cards with incentive stamps or hostess or Sale A Bration sets you have broken up. Clean them all carefully and put them in a large jar. To play the game, draw a stamp from the jar and have everyone mark it off. The winner of the first bingo gets their choice of the incentive stamps. You can do several winners with this one, up to the number of stamps you wish to give away.
6. Downline Bingo: At your demonstrator meetings, have your downline stamp the cards randomly themselves, assembly-line style. You stamp one, too, and cut it apart to use for the random drawing. This helps you not have to stamp all the cards yourself in advance. Play bingo as you normally would.
7. Icebreaker Downline Bingo: in advance, put the name of each downline member in a square on the Bingo card. Have your downlines introduce themselves and initial each other's squares on the card. First one to blackout wins. 
8. Baby Shower Bingo: pass out blank cards before you open presents. Have the attendees write down different baby items they think the hostess will get in the squares. Check them off as the hostess opens each gift.

If you have additional ideas for use with the Bingo card stamp, please leave a comment here. I think we'll all be looking at this wonderful background stamp in a totally different way now!

Dream BIG!

My Own Private Island Game

I recently attended a Thirty-One party, and the consultant played a game with us which left me quite intrigued and determined to adapt it for Stampin' Up use. She was able to not only break the ice with this game, but work in recruiting statements in a totally non-pushy way.

It didn't have a name that I am aware of, so I am calling it "My Own Private Island" Game, for reasons which will become clear.

Start by giving each guest a blank sheet or half sheet of paper (if you have forgotten to bring these, in a pinch you can have them draw on the back of the sale flyer or grid paper.) They'll also each need a pen or pencil.

Tell the guests to close their eyes and not to open them until they are told to do so. After each step of the game, they are to lift their pencil up and hold it in front of their faces so that you know they are done. This also makes the game even more fun, as they tend to lose their mental place on the page and the drawings get crazier.

In order, tell them to draw the following things, pausing between each to allow them time to draw and lift their pencils between the steps: an island; a palm tree on the left; three coconuts on their palm tree; themselves on the right; a shopping bag in their right hand; money in their left hand; the word "free" under the shopping bag; and finally, three friends up in the sky.

Have them open their eyes and see what they have drawn. There are usually lots of giggles and comparing of scribbles. Have each person pass their drawing to the guest on their left. Then have them total up the points as follows:

• one point for drawing waves and/or sunshine with their island
• if the palm tree is on the island, one point
• one point for each coconut that is touching the tree
• two points if they drew hair on themselves
• if the shopping bag is touching the person, one point
• two points if the word "free" is under the shopping bag
• if the money is touching the person at all, one point
• one point for each friend drawn with a smiley face

Then as they total up their scores, you tell them the meaning of the drawing. The island represents the exotic locations they could visit as a result of their Stampin' Up business. The waves and the sunshine reflect how good they will feel when they accomplish their goals. The palm tree is for how relaxing it is to be your own boss. The shopping bag represents the wonderful products we carry, and the word "free" stands for the loads of product they will receive as a demo. The money reflects how they have a great opportunity to earn extra income. The three friends represent all the wonderful people that the new demo is going to meet during her Stampin' Up journey, and the smiley faces are to show that everyone is having a ball!

The highest score wins. Have a cute prize handy for the winner, and then tell them you'll be happy to answer any questions they have about how Stampin' Up can help them get on that island and make their own goals and dreams a reality.

Forgot your hostess gift or door prize? No problem!

I recently hit upon fun and practical idea to cover those occasions when you find yourself at the start of a workshop and realize you have forgotten to bring along a little hostess thank you gift, or something for those door prize slips that people are passing in.

Many demos fall back on "oh, I'll just offer them free shipping," or unobtrusively rifle through their sample basket looking for something that's not too dog-eared, but there is a cute way to cover your boo-boo that won't require you to sacrifice 10% of your income for that person, or give away and of your precious card fronts--and come out smelling like roses.

This idea grew out of my Scrap A Stack Club, where one of our projects is a single 12x12 page. After hearing the ladies mention a few times how they were going to try to match the colors at home and make a two-page spread out of it, I decided that a second page would be the hostess gift. So when I pass around the supplies for the single page project, the hostess takes a second set and that's her gift.

It has been working really well. It requires no forethought on my part, no real extra space in my bag, and extremely little extra weight to carry along. Sometimes I am able to use some specialty papers for that hostess which I can't use for the whole group, or showcase another embellishment that I don't have enough of for everyone. On the occasion that the club is held at the home of someone who is not the hostess for the month, I give them a second set as a thank you as well.

Translating this to the workshop setting, I started cutting an extra cards' worth for every project for a show (in addition to the 2-3 extra I always bring in case of un-RSVP'd guests or unexpected tag-along friends.) This gives you plenty of room to play. You can have the hostess make two as you're all working, or you can give her an extra set like a Make N Take packet, to make up later quickly and easily (to the envy of her friends).

Or, based on the size of the group, you can also do one or two door prizes with those extra supplies, and you can also string the excitment along and draw the names right before each project to see who is going to get to make two of something.

Variation #1--If all expected guests have arrived and you can see that you have plenty of extras cut for the evening, you could also announce that everyone who is planning to book a party that night can make doubles of one (or all) of the projects. Make sure to watch for people who do, and then hold them to it when you are closing up at the end of the evening. However, if they do flake out and never end up hosting, you are only out the supplies for a card, and nothing too costly.

Variation #2-- draw the door prize winner right before you begin the stamping part of the evening. Announce that she gets to make an extra of one of the projects--but that she can't see them in advance and must decide as the supplies are being passed around. Will she jump at the first card, or take her chances that she will like the second better? Door number one or door number two--or will she wait until project three?  The other guests will be urging her to make certain ones, or sighing in mock jealousy, wishing they could make two of a particularly delicious project.

I'm always looking for ways to streamline my packing and eliminate the potential for forgetting items at home. Enjoy this simple and easy idea to help you out of some of those awkward moments at shows, and possibly add some booking interest and a fun twist to your workshops.

Dream BIG!

Card Making Relay downline challenge

I've been saving this fun game idea until after I presented it at Leadership Conference during a Business Share session on Downline Retention. It's the perfect team-building challenge for your next downline meeting--and loads of fun as well as a learning experience!

The goal: each team will create a single card together, using only the supplies in the box, within a given time frame (10 minutes works well).

Set up: prepare two boxes (or more, if your group is large and you will have more than two teams) with identical stamping supplies inside. They should have everything they need to make a typical card--only there is no sample card. They have no idea what it is supposed to look like. There is no "right" answer here--they will "win" because they are learning to work together.

You will also need a stopwatch, and if you will be judging the finished results, a prize.

To play: divide the group into teams and give one box to each team. Once the supplies are out and the stop watch is clicked, the team members must pass the card around the table as each person does ONE step. They can only add ONE element to the card before they must pass it on. A punch counts as a step, a stamp, a layer, a fold, etc.

They can verbally encourage each other and communicate, but must rely on the other members to do their part and be open to others' visions. Whatever is handed back to them when it comes around full circle, they must work with. The card may go around the circle several times or just once, depending on how many people there are in the group. The game ends when the time is up.

Try this fun challenge at your next meeting and help your downline grow together as a team. By giving them opportunities to foster group unity and camaraderie, you will be increasing the likelihood that members will stay involved and active in the group for more reasons than just their love of stamping.

Dream BIG!

Stampin' Pictionary Game and Variations

Here is a really fun game idea for your next group meeting, which I first played at an upline meeting this month. You will get a lot of groans when you announce that you're going to play Pictionary, and everyone will claim they are really bad at drawing! But they will all love it, and you will love it as it requires very little prep.

All you have to do in advance is prepare a list of ten or so stamp sets, with a couple in reserve in case of a tie. To narrow it down a little, choose a theme such as "new this year," Christmas, or the current mini catalog--otherwise it may prove too hard to guess. There are a few rules: no drawing of words, no gestures allowed. If a team member says a part of the stamp set name in the process of guessing, that word may be written down. They have to say the complete real name of the set to win. They may draw the stamp images in the set themselves, or draw something else that leads people to think of the set name.

At the event, provide paper and pencils, and divide the group into teams or by tables. Each person can only draw once. Whisper in their ear or pass them a note with the secret stamp set name, and when everyone is ready, start. The first team to shout out the answer wins the point.

Have a small prize for the winning team (like chocolate) or hand them each extra tickets for your door prize drawing basket.

Variations: Instead of stamp sets, they could draw tools--punches, Crop A Dile, the Big Shot. Have them draw techniques--rock n roll, soot stamping, heat embossing. Have them attempt to get their team members to guess certain color names.

MDS Images game & variations

Here is a game I came up with to play at my group meeting tonight. I opened an MDS blank 8.5x11 page and "stamped" an image from ten different sets on the page. You can then print directly from MDS, or save the file as a JPEG and insert it into your favorite word processing or desktop publishing program.

The object is to identify the stamp set the image came from--most correct answers wins.

You can make this game more challenging by adding in images from exclusive sets only available through MDS, or by including more images to identify. Obviously, you will want to adjust the difficulty level based on your audience.

For your convenience, here is a PDF of my Birds & Bugs version of the MDS Images game. All of the images are of animals, butterflies or birds. There are ten images, so this game should take only a couple of minutes to complete. Feel free to copy & use at your meetings!

Download MDS Birds & Bugs Game

Product Challenges for your Downline Meetings

One of the aspects of my monthly Song of My Heart meetings that my downlines and adoptees enjoy is our Product Challenges. I will assign a certain embellishment, paper, or Big Shot die cut each month, and they must bring it back fully completed the next month. I sometimes award all them a little prize, and other times I put the names of everyone who completed the challenge into a drawing for a little larger prize.

This is a simple challenge that only takes a few minutes during a meeting, and takes very little time to prep, but acheives several desireable results with your group.

First, it gets them creating. We all know that if you only ever buy merchandise and never use it up, you will eventually become overwhelmed and quit. We have to create opportunities for people to use all the products they buy, and that includes our downlines. 

Secondly, a product challenge means you wind up with a wide variety of finished products, so each member's creativity is sparked not only by their own experience with the product, but with every one else's, too. Say you have ten downline members and gave each person a piece of lace to use one month. You will probably wind up with ten different ideas of how to use lace on your projects.

Third, a product challenge means you can get people out of their comfort zones (including yourself!) Many of my ladies would never have ordered the Waffle Paper, for example, if they did not see it in person, handle it, and use it successfully. Therefore, their customers are less likely to order it as well. It's a small investment to give everyone a Vintage Trinket, or a piece of DSP, or a die-cut Big Shot box, but it pays off down the road in multiple ways.

Lastly, a product challenge gives you the opportunity to reward members of your downline that might not ever earn any of the sales or recruiting awards every month. It can be disheartening when the same people win the prizes month after month, sometimes year after year. A product challenge will give you a chance to shake things up and send different people home with warm fuzzies each month.

So you can see there are many good reasons to start instituting a fun product challenge in your monthly meetings. When possible, I usually try to make the challenge revolve around a new mini or whatever is on special (and of course, whatever I have enough of on hand for my group). If you don't want to provide the item for them to use, just assign a technique (one that everyone should have the supplies for) or assign a color challenge (again, keeping it open-ended enough so that even newbies with a smaller stash can participate). Here are some generic ideas that you can do as a quick, inexpensive challenge:

• six inches of new ribbon or fiber
• die-cut item from the Big Shot (choose one that few of them have ordered)
• paper daisy or piece of Hodgepodge Hardware
• a piece of fabric, wood sheets, magnet sheets, cork, etc
• one to three specialty brads or other small embellishments
• 6x6 square of DSP
• a partial sheet of rub-ons or partial Simply Scrappin' kit
• a plain lunch sack or gift sack
• a particular punch shape (give them a couple so they can experiment)
• single stamped image on a rectangle of Very Vanilla or Whisper White
• a quarter sheet run through a particular embossing folder
• a Top Note shape cut from blackboard Decor Elements
• Chipboard pieces
• single unassembled card from one of the Simply Sent kits
• a Sweet Treat cup
• one of the laser-cut note cards and envelopes

Depending on the size of your downline, some of these may not be financially feasible, but most are inexpensive, and most require pretty much no planning ahead. So there's no reason not to try this at your next meeting, and every reason to give it a shot and watch the group benefit from this fun addition to your monthly get togethers.

Dream BIG!