Building Brands and Kiddie Forts at evo'12

When conferences offer any sort of craft or DIY break, I'm known to lose track of time and immerse myself for far too long. Besides the infamous 45-minute CheeseburgHer paper bag hat (@TodaysMama, you hush), I like how these crafts offer a quiet moment in the midst of visiting with friends and sponsors.

When I entered the tent for evo 12's Hands-on Craft Workshop with Lowe's, I knew it was going to be fantastic. Tables with three types of crafts were set up, and after a relaxing lunch getting to know my table-mates, we got to work at the craft tables: Terra cotta pot wind chimes, brightly painted jewelry boxes, photo holders, and Mason jars we painted into candle holders.

After the craft-as-you-will portion, we donned colored aprons and broke into teams. Each team was given a 5 gallon bucket full of assorted tools, and we had 1.5 hours to create....something. My team made a kiddie fort. It was a lot of work, and So Much Fun. We sort of naturally broke into carpenters, decorators, and painters. What do you think of our creations? You can vote on your favorite by Liking one of the projects on the Lowe's Facebook page. Our Amy Allen Johnson made the lemonade stand, and I worked on the striped tent with the light inside.

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Carrying on with my love of building, I attended a session called Branding for Bloggers, with Mary Fallon and Dori Graff of Itizen.com. Their presentation was straight-forward and informative, and really helped us all to see our blogs (or blog ideas) with more focus.

Figure out the Elements of Your Story:

1. Target Audience
2. Point of Difference
3. Reason to Believe
4. Positioning Statement

What I took away from evo'12:

• I like to color with crayons, make crafts, and build stuff.
• Avocados are filling.
• I can love my family, be passionate about my work, and make a difference. All in one lifetime.
• No one is exempt from the ability to make changes happen or dreams come true.
• There's a caged dancer spirit inside me, too. I felt it when the flash mob started and I almost joined them, even though I didn't know the dance.
• I work with the best group of women ever, and I feel blessed to call each of them my friend. Rachael Herrscher, count me in on the Next.