BOYCC Part 05–The Goodie Bags!

Well, we’re nearly there with the almighty BOYCC report, I have just to post about the Goodie Bags and then my final few days in the US and what adventures Joanie and I went on before I flew home and a review of all the wonderful new bits and bobs I brought back with me (or had posted – thanks Joanie!!).

So, the Goodie Bags!  These were just the most surprising, wonderful bags of goodies you could imagine!  I’ll apologise now for my awful photos in this post, it seems the only times I’ve been able to take photos lately has been when it’s been dark (quite an achievement considers the long daylight hours of Summer!).

So, those Goodie Bags – they really were something!  It seemed that everyone who walked in through the door had more goodies to add!  It was quite the operation just to fill them, so Amy Peck and I got cracking and soon everyone was chipping in with organising and filling.

There were at least 50 bags to fill – Joanie had bought some lovely brightly coloured bags, in a fresh blue, lime green and purple – can you guess which was my favourite??

The bags were filled and given out on the first day of BOYCC, however, as more and more people arrived, yet MORE goodies were provided, so on day two a new set of plastic bags were filled and given out as “top-ups” to the original ones.  After Gunner and Elli had provided us all with cocktails-a-plenty (perhaps a little too plenty in my case!!), I decided to retreat to our room for a quiet moment and though that would be a great time to record all those goodies!

I didn’t get a close-up photo of the awesome (and OH SO USEFUL polishing cloth given by Carol Johnson of Reins of Faith Farm (thanks Carol!!) which can be seen towards the left on the pic above (with the card with a pink flower) - mine was blue but I think I saw a few brightly coloured ones about.

Joanie’s addition was a lovely Pour Horse mug -  you can see the mug on the photo towards the right, it was presented in the little (red, for me) bag at the back of the pic, all wrapped up in zingy coloured tissue to keep it safe – thanks Joanie!!

One item I’m a bit curious about is the item shown to the right of the photos above, mine was purple, it is a quilted band, I’m a bit puzzled as to it’s purpose, perhaps someone could help me out on this one, it has two little Velcro fastenings to make it a loop.  Is it for keeping a drink cool/warm, or for wrapping around a model horse’s barrel to protect it?  Probably neither, anyone who does know please add a comment below

We also each received a teeny tiny little badge (button) from Melly, these varied, I think there were 3 or 4 types and each featured a different horse, mine is blue with a little foal on it – you can just about make it out on the photos above.  Thanks Melly!

At the front of the gifts shown are a pair of gorgeous little soaps, made with all-natural products (which is heaven, I have uber-sensitive skin!) in the shape of little paws.  I forget who added these, I’ll have to check and post that later.

Also I filed all the paper/card items separately and have yet to go through them, these included art cards from Tom Bainbridge ( a lovely clinky Deputed Duke image); Lynn Fraley (Poudre and Punjabi in all their clinky finery!); a set of EXTREMELY handy show cards from Susan Candelaria and a quirky little post-card style mini-poster with some really funny “miracle cure” adverts on, I’m not sure who those were from but there were some corkers in there!  Mine was for an “Age Defying Delution”.

I’ve not put anything here either about the two clinky medallions included in the goodie bags – one from Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, and one from Lynn Fraley.  Not all bags had a Lynn Fraley addition, it was pot-luck as to which did and which didn’t, however the people who helped to pack the bags were pointed to goodie bags with these in, as a thank you for their help.  Both of these clinky medallions will be covered in a future post, they are super-lovely!

Here’s the rest of the swag:

I’m not sure who added in the pencils, but I’m sure this will get some use given my note-taking obsession:

The pens were from Joanie, mine was used a LOT throughout the show – you can never underestimate the usefulness of a good pen!

From Kristina Lucas-Francis we were treated to a VERY useful bit of kit (particularly at a china show!) – this retractable dust brush:

This little matchbook of paper squares came from www.AmysLoveBugDesigns.etsy.com

I can see these being very useful at live shows!

Next up is a bag of goodies from Karen Gerhardt (slightly squished from it’s travels across the ocean home with me)…

The contents are a selection of yummy edibles and also some bubbles, though they’ve escaped in this photo!

I think the Award for “Most Innovative Goody” has to go to Liz Holm, who added these gorgeous little bags of M&Ms, CUSTOM GLAZED!!!  These really tickled me, with their “Shiny” and “BOYCC 2011” messages, and even little Pour Horse silhouettes too!!

Lynn Fraley treated us all to some Hershey Kisses (I’m told that’s what they’re called) – little chocolate drops which I have held off scoffing until now, but I don’t think they’ll last much longer, hehe!

In fact, Adam and I have said we’ll have an “American Night”, probably get a film on the we’ll try all the edible goodies, well, maybe not ALL of them, but a little of each, including these, which weren’t in the Goodie Bags but I sneaked into one of the boxes Joanie shipped home for me when I saw them during one of the many meals Joanie and the gang provided for us, I’ve heard a LOT of good things about these guys:

These awesome creations below were made (yep, MADE) by Jenn Kroll, ok, so there was actually only one in the Goodie Bag, but during the course of the event I somehow (*looks up at the sky innocently*) managed to obtain a couple more, including my favourite of them all – Pirate Parrot!  When offered, I added the yellow parrot to the group as, during the first workshop of the even I saw a beautiful yellow bird up in the trees over Joanie’s garden.

Aha!  And I got a photo of it (it was quite a way off sadly).

The chocolate parrots were all different, cast in coloured chocolate by Jenn and her family, and each bag they came in was decorated with a colour-coordinating ribbon, which I will keep and use on another project I’m sure, or maybe just tie around my studio to remind me of the show and these guys (as they are unlikely to survive much longer without being eaten!)!

In a just-as-sweet-but-not-as-edible way, this little keyring/tag/hanger doodad was in the bags – I’m sorry but I don’t remember who added these, please add a comment to the blog if you do!  I’m not sure if it wasn’t Joanie…?

More edibles!  This packet was given by Elli and Gunner…

…and to my delight contained three of these treats – Joanie had been given a box of these by the Hawaiian couple and she very generously let me try them while I stayed with her, so I KNOW they are super-yummy and I’m looking forward to enjoying these, they will be savoured!

Next up is an unusual little treat, consisting of a rather cute little piggy bank…

Containing two more treats!  A little pin, cast in lavender coloured bone china and a set of deadly dominoes.  The pin, I think was sculpted by Karen Gerhardt as we also used one of those (in white earthenware) for the Custom Glazing workshop.  I will put the Piggy Bank to work saving up for the next BOYCC and I will challenge my Dad (champion Domino Player of The Woodpecker, public house) to a Dominoes match at some point too!

Thank you Margaret Olson for the multi-goodies!!

I lost track of where some of the goodies came from, so here’s a few pics of the other yummies included:

I think the idea was that the foods included in the bag were to keep us going during the Event, but I was so fascinated by all this “Foreign Food” that I kept them all and saved them to show Adam and my family.

Probably the most poignant addition to the Goodie Bag, particularly from my point of view having never met most BOYCC attendees and not know if/when I might meet them again, was the Memory Books.

I wondered if I should post photos of the things people wrote in my book, but without their knowing I don’t think I should.  Ok, sentimental moment coming – thinking back to my school days, I never felt antisocial as such but, had I had a yearbook back then I think I would have struggled to fill a page, so when I picked up my memory book at the end of BOYCC to find ALL of the pages not only full, but full of wonderful, kind, positive and welcoming messages, I admit I was a little overwhelmed..

…and tickled pink – several people had added little sketches and some great funny remarks, I found a little chook-hen from Jenn and a few little horsey sketches, including this wonderful addition from Laurie Jo (hope you don’t mind Laurie but I simply HAD to share!).

Finally, the last little addition to the goodie bags was a model horse!  This I will certainly treasure, I don’t know who added these but, as official bag-packer, I got to guide this little purple* pony into my goodie bag!

I think I’ve covered all of the Goodie Bag contents here, if I’ve missed anything please let me know, I’m STILL working on unpacking from the trip (our house has been a bit up-side-down from the recent bathroom replacement) but I’ll post more as I find them.

More next time, and more to tell on recent sculpting/resin/medallion works too!!  Exciting times here at Studio Savage**

*can you tell what my favourite colour is?

**for the moment, as of next May I will be called Kelly Sealey :)