The reason I started WCB (the blog & Etsy shop) was because working for a software company in Corporate America was not very conducive to me expressing my creativity, and I needed an outlet. Even after leaving SAP, I’m still in touch with my colleagues and every so often, they reach out for a craft project, corporate style. I love when my worlds collide like this 🙂

This time, the order was my biggest to date! SAP Latin America & Caribbean has a sales kick-off event at the beginning of the year, and they were going to do an activity involving a skit based on technology evolving through the decades. They reached out to me to create jumbo sized, extremely sturdy props for the attendees to use for the skits they created. The props would be in a box, which I decorated to look like space (to give the idea of time-travel), and there would be a corresponding small box with a “token” showing which decade the groups would get.

I had a couple of months to work on this, and I truly needed every second. Because I’d never done something this big, there was a lot of trial and error and a lot of winging it which thankfully worked out. Between doing the research of the technology of each decade, figuring out where to get high resolution stock images, finding the right images of the right equipment for each decade, figuring out which medium to use to make them sturdy, and if it was something thick, how to cut it… etc. Not to mention, this was going to be my biggest investment in materials as well, and I needed to make sure I’d break even – even though the good thing about working with a big company is that the budget is more flexible than for standard orders. So, in case this helps anyone else, these are the materials I went with:

• 32 x 40 inch Styrofoam boards, purchased at Hobby Lobby
• 16 x 20 inch pictures, printed at the Costco Photo Center (fastest printing for the best price!)
• Spray adhesive glue
• X-acto brand exacto knife
• Self-healing mat
• Large boxes
• Spray paint
• Small boxes
• Laminated prints (for tokens and logos to decorate boxes)
• New fingers, after cutting 40 props with an exacto knife…

And here are some pictures of the whole process! Keep in mind, I worked on these at night so the lighting for the photos was terrible –

First, this was part of the trial and error process. I tested out different papers and different glues, and they would crease and cause the styrofoam to curve and look terrible. This is why you have to do things with time, especially when you don’t have much experience with what you’re making.

Once I figured out the materials, I moved on to the sets of boxes. These are the big boxes that were painted like a trip to outer space, as well as the small boxes with the decade token inside and the event logo so that the groups would choose their decades at random.

And now onto the good stuff! I laid out all the pictures in columns for each decade. I pre-cut each 32×40 board into four mini boards, that came out to 16×20, aka, the same size as the pictures (#genius)! Then glued the pictures to the boards with the spray adhesive so they wouldn’t crease/bunch, and got to work with the exacto knife.

I also became highly delirious through the cutting process, and decided to have a photo shoot with the props. Don’t they look crazy realistic?! That Super 8 from the 70s was my favorite!

Also, if you think I was kidding about my fingers… But it was worth it ❤

I heard the props were a hit at the event, and everyone had a blast doing the skits with them. I’m so happy my old colleagues support my crafty endeavors, and that I get to mix together different areas of my life 🙂

Do you have a similar situation where your worlds collide? If so, share your story in the comments, I’d love to hear it!