Event | Yummy & Delicious Tour by Fun Stamper's Journey

[Disclaimer: Travel for this event was sponsored by Fun Stamper's Journey. I am under no obligation to post about or review this event in exchange for sponsorship, and opinions below are entirely my own.]

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of traveling to Virginia Beach, Virginia to attend a stop on the Yummy & Delicious tour of events being put on by Fun Stamper's Journey during 2015.

A look at the Fun Stampers Journey Yummy & Delicious Tour event in Virginia Beach | by Nancy Nally for Scrapbook Update

Fun Stamper's Journey, for those not familiar with it, is a fairly new direct sales company focusing on stamping. The company was co-founded by Richard Garay, who might be familiar to those in the industry from his previous line with Spellbinders and his long tenure at Stampin' Up!.

The Yummy & Delicious tour is a series of one day events that Fun Stamper's Journey has been running around the country in 2015, The event is a combination of coach (consultant) training, and make-n-take demo extravaganza. The training takes place on Friday night, and then the Saturday part of the event is open to the public.

A large portion of the event's attendees were Fun Stamper's Journey coaches, but I spoke to many attendees at the Yummy & Delicious tour who were there just looking for a day of crafting fun as well. Many had come from quite long distances for the event, even staying overnight at local hotels.

Richard Garay of Fun Stamper's Journey

Fun Stamper's Journey runs largely on the power of Richard Garay's personality and creative vision. His tireless energy in making public appearances to promote the company at Scrapbook Expos and his own company's Yummy & Delicious tour events this year have given Fun Stamper's Journey something that the industry's other, older, direct sales companies no longer really have: a leadership face to the public that is hands-on, visible, creative - and accessible. Many of the coaches who were in attendance had attended multiple Fun Stamper's Journey events this year, and Richard seemed to know them all by name.

The company culture this creates is striking (and visible in the photo above). It is a community, permeated by Richard's personality and sense of fun, and with him as its driving force.

Yummy & Delicious Tour in Virginia Beach.

The Virginia Beach Yummy & Delicious tour event was held in the beautiful Virginia Beach Convention Center. Attendees lined up outside the classroom's doors on Saturday morning. While they waited, there was coffee service and a small shopping area of the company's products (more on that later) to take advantage of.

Fun Stampers Journey event

Once inside the event room, the crowd enthusiastically welcomed Richard to Virginia Beach (or maybe it was just really good coffee?)

Richard Garay

Yummy & Delicious events start off with a presentation by Richard and then progress into the make & takes.

Yummy & Delicious Virginia Beach

The room was set up with large video monitors so that attendees could see the close-ups of the demos being captured by the event's camera person (visible in the shot below).

Richard Garay demo

A good chunk of the morning (and late afternoon) of the day was filled with Richard's demos, which he did from a table on the stage. Attendees made four different cards from the stamp set that was in their class kit that they got to take home.

Fun Stampers Journey class

It had been quite awhile since I had sat in a make-n-take class and it was challenging to keep up! It was fast paced and each card contained a new stamping technique. For those few who didn't finish a project, the take home booklet contained project instructions for each card.

Kimberly Kesti of Fun Stampers Journey

Midday, two other members of Fun Stamper's Journey came out to do demonstrations while attendees took a break from the frantic pace of the make-n-takes. One of the demonstrators was Kim Kesti, known to many in the industry from her time at CK Media. Kim is now a full-time designer for Arizona-based Fun Stamper's Journey.

Nicole Westervelt of Fun Stampers Journey

Also doing demos was Nicole Westervelt, who is VP of Marketing at Fun Stamper's Journey.

Richard and Gabby Garay

The third person who joined Richard on stage for demos and other events throughout the day was his wife (and company co-founder), Gabby.

Richard and Gabby Garay

I think Richard and Gabby were having the most fun of anyone! They truly seem to enjoy what they do - and it was infectious, leaving the audience smiling and laughing.

Yummy and Delicious Tour store

At the beginning and end of the day, and during breaks, attendees were offered access to a private store containing a selection of Fun Stamper's Journey merchandise. Basic supplies were offered for attendees who may have forgotten needed items for the day, along with some FSJ favorites.

Fun Stampers Journey bundles

One attraction of the day was special bundles of new product that were offered at discounted prices. Every time a new one was unveiled throughout the day, there was long lines at the checkout stations of attendees snapping up the new deal. A lot of these deals were for the newly unveiled holiday catalog.

Fun Stampers Journey jewelry

One of the offerings was the company's jewelry line, necklaces made up of modular lockets and charms.

Fun Stampers Journey pins

Another popular offering in the store were the colorful pins collected by the Fun Stamper's Journey crew, including the special Yummy & Delicious Tour one.

Yummy and Delicious cupcake break

The event included a hot lunch and snack breaks...in the afternoon, after lunch, attendees were served yummy & delicious cup cakes, in keeping with the event's theme and logo.

Fun Stampers Journey swap

Some attendees had coordinated ahead of time to arrange for swaps of items like cards to take place at the event. During one of the breaks, small groups formed to distribute the items to participants in the various swaps.

Yummy and Delicious event in Virginia Beach

At the end of the day, the crowd gathered for one last photo before going home!

There is still one more Yummy & Delicious Tour event in 2015, in Minneapolis on September 19th. Richard is also taking his demo skills and the company's products on the road at Scrapbook Expo events for the rest of 2015 where consumers can do the company's free make & take.