What I learned from Virtual Stamping Night (VSN) at Splitcoast Stampers.

I have done a few VSNs at Splitcoast Stampers in the past.  One of them was the long Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening challenge.  I had a blast making lots of cards that I normally would not have made while trying to beat the clock.  At the time I made very simple cards and happened to have a lot of pre-stamped and colored images already cut out in case my daughters wanted to make a card.  I had pre-made card bases as well as some card tops cut.  I would have been hopelessly lost if I didn't just happen to have those supplies ready like I normally did.

Currently I prefer my cards to be clean and simple with a few embellishments as well as dry embossing and if I have time I prefer to using embossing powder for my sentiments.  There isn't enough time to accomplish most of this in the challenge, BUT I used new techniques such as making an acetate card, a stair step card, and a coffee filter background.  These were new to me and I actually had wanted to make an acetate card for quite some time.  Even though many cards were not my style, I still can use them for relatives.  The cards that were my style mostly were not up to my standards, however, it is a good start and I have ideas to change them up to my liking.  A few of my cards came out extremely well and are totally me.  I would not have made those cards had it not been for the challenge so I am grateful for what I learned as well as how much fun it was.

I did a mini challenge a few years back and was disappointed that it didn't last all weekend.  This year I discovered that the mini challenge AND the weekend challenges are all part of the same challenge.  You don't have to do both of them but they coordinate with each other.

I couldn't remember the timing of the challenges so I went into this years challenges thinking that the weekend challenge started somewhere between 4 pm and 6 pm on Friday.  Turns out is starts at 5 pm.  I couldn't remember if the Saturday challenges were from morning until dinner or from afternoon to evening or if they lasted all day.  I couldn't find the information in the forums or on the advertisement they had on their web page, but if memory serves me right this year I believe it started at noon and lasted until the 10 pm challenge.

So for me, I have figured out these things:

1. Having a ton of unused beautiful sticker sheets of realistic animals, flowers, beach themed items and etc was helpful since I didn't have as many pre-stamped, colored, and cut images to work with.
2. I could have used more black framing pieces of different sizes.  In the future I will be sure to have pre-made black rectangles in various card useful sizes to frame my focal points and etc.  White would also be nice.
3. I knew I had enough adhesive but I need to be aware of how much I have going in to each VSN.
4. I don't think they publicize the details of the VSN enough.  It didn't seem like many people were participating and it's a shame since it is a blast.  Maybe if Splitcoast stampers constantly posted the times as well as the fact that you don't have to finish all the cards during the time they are live; you just need to limit yourself to one hour per card.
5. I was ready ahead of time with snacks and beverages and a quick pre-made salad that I could eat in 15 minutes or less.  This is essential.
6. It is normal to run behind because you need to eat, use the restroom, pick up kids, etc.  That throws the timing off.  In the future I hope to stop trying to play catch-up.  This time I tried to do the challenges in order but at one point I was two hours behind and that was becoming stressful for me.  The challenge isn't meant to make you stressful so I switched to the most current challenge, then I finished all the challenges and was able to work on the ones I missed.
7. Once I fall behind (which everone will at some point) I can use any time while waiting for the next challenge to post my photos to the gallery and fill in the details.  I actually realized about halfway through the challenges this year that you aren't requried to fill in much detail.  I eventually just started posting photos and using the keyword for the challenges.  You are not allowed to upload photos on Sunday so I wanted all my photos uploaded by Saturday at midnight.  Leaving off the details sped me up and I was able to upload all my photos before midnight on Saturday.  On Sunday, even though I couldn't upload photos, I WAS able to edit my submissions and add the details.  
8. I wanted to "like" and comment on many of the submissions so I did that after midnight on Saturday as well as on Sunday.
9. I completely cleaned up and organized my craft room the day before the challenge.  I am so glad I did because I found the heat gun I had misplaced and had a fresh memory of all the sticker sheets I had which was helpful when I had to come up with a card design on the fly.

My next goal is to reproduce one card I made that my daughter immediately took to a birthday party before the challenges had even ended.  I did take a photo first though. I loved that card.  I also want to slightly alter a few others that I made to see if they can be as awesome as I think they can be. I have truly been inspired by the challenges.