Convention Recap

Well, I'm back home from convention and completely exhausted!  What a whirlwind few days it was.  I had an absolutely fantastic time meeting new people and catching up with friends.  The best part was, of course, the unveiling of the new Holiday Catalogue, which is off-the-charts AWESOME!  Start saving your pennies, because I can guarantee you will fall in love with the entire book!  Before I give you a sneak peek of some projects made with new Holiday Catty products, I thought I'd share a few photos of my time at convention:

I spent my first evening in Salt Lake at the Olive Garden for dinner with friends Michelle Suit and France (Frenchie) Martin and her team.  

I was very honoured to celebrate my five-year anniversary as a demonstrator with the awesomely talented Michelle Suit, who was also marking her fifth year.

This group of amazing ladies were among the top achievers in the US last year and I am so honoured to call them my friends: (l-r) Cherie Hunt, Yours Truly, Connie Stewart, Patty Bennet, Michelle Suit and Jennifer Blomquist. This photo was taken after Awards Night when they were recognized for their hard work this year.

I made some special gifts for each of them...I think Patty liked hers ;)

One of the all-attendee give-aways was a pack of gorgeous hand-painted DSP from the new Holiday Catty.  So fabulous!

I also won Prize Patrol on the last day:  an adorable new stamp set from the upcoming catalogue.

Check out the haul of loot I came home with...all free product from a company that knows how to make it's demonstrators happy.  I LOVE what I do!

The first convention bag I will actually use.  I love it!!

Mainstage was beautifully decorated.  Stampin' Up knows a thing or two about colour and design ;)

Now for the Make-n-Takes we did using one of the new stamp sets from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue called Your Presents.  It is a super-versatile set!

Christmas card featuring the Your Presents stamp set available September 1st in the Holiday Catalogue.

Check out that striped ribbon!  It is fabulous...perfect for Christmas. And that crisp black ink?  It is our new Basic Black archival ink...totally fantastic and we each got to bring home a free ink pad!

Birthday card featuring the Your Presents set...this one has so many possibilities!  See that silver cord...another new product to look forward to!

Notice the absence of glue dots peeking out from behind those sequins?  They are adhered using the new Fine-Tip Glue Pen. It puts a tiny amount of glue exactly where you want it.  No more sticky fingers!

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into Inspire, Create, Share 2015 and the sneak peek of new catty products.  I will have more sneak peeks all week with photos of samples from convention, as well as my Convention-attendee pre-order that arrives tomorrow...yippee!!  Stay tuned...

Now for this week's Weekly Bonus Deals.  Remember that quantities at these prices are limited so you'll want to take advantage of them sooner than later to ensure you don't miss out :)

Basic Black 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Price: $11.25   Sale: $8.44	Happy Patterns Decorative Masks Price: $7.50   Sale: $5.25	Hearts Border Punch Price: $20.00  Sale: $14.00
Lost Lagoon 5/8" Striped Cotton Ribbon Price: $8.75   Sale: $6.56	Melon Mambo 1/4" Cotton Ribbon Price: $7.50   Sale: $5.63	Melon Mambo 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Price: $11.25   Sale: $8.44
Metallic Foil Doilies Price: $5.00   Sale: $3.50	Pacific Point 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Price: $11.25   Sale: $8.44	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Washi Tape Price: $6.25   Sale: $4.69
Very Vanilla Thick Baker’S Twine Price: $4.50   Sale: $3.38

Home Again...

Well, I'm back home, safe and sound.  I had such smooth travels, unlike some of my other team members who spent a night in the Chicago airport or who had to come home to Toronto via Los Angeles!  Yikes!  Nothing dramatic for me...just smooth flights...and my luggage followed me too!
Today has been all about spending time with my son (he started swimming lessons today) and trying to get caught up around the house.  I came home to a BIG mess, which is never good!  Since I have had zero time to stamp today, I thought I'd show you some photos of some of the projects that were on display at convention.  I only photographed the ones I really liked and thought I might try to recreate at some point.  That said, there were a lot of photos!  Some turned out better than others, so I'm just posting a few of the highlights.  See what you think...

I love this litte 6 x6 scrapbook page.  So sweet!

This is a great colour combo

How I love this set from the new catty!

Love the simplicity of this card

Absolutley LOVED this card...actually the whole Beau Chateau suite display was gorgeous!

Sweet little 3 x 3 love notes

More great project ideas!

Are these not darling??

A lampshade made of die cut DSP flowers...beautiful!

Another project idea to use up all those empty embellishment containers!

LOVE that little owl!

Gor-geee-ous!!

Sorry this is blurry...there was a lot of jockeying for position going on!  I just love that embossed frame!

Another use for that same frame

And another...

Beautiful note board using Beau Chateau products

 Well, this is just a taste of the incredible projects on display at convention.  So many ideas...so little time!  I so can't wait to get down to my stamping corner and play...but I have to be Mommy this week.  Maybe when I recover from my trip I'll be able to do some late-night stamping...but then again, I first have to clean up and organize my space!  One of these days I'll have something new to show you...hang in with me...I'll get there!

Day 3: Its over already??

How the heck is it possible that convention is already over?  It seems as though it just started and here I am heading to bed early because I have to be up at 4:30 am to catch my flight home!  What a fantastic week this has been.  I can't say enough about how wonderful the convention experience is.  I have always known Stampin' Up! was a great company because they produce wonderful products, but today's sessions made me realize that more than the great products, Stampin' Up! is about people, not stamps.  Let me try to explain...One of the final speakers today was Rich Jutkins, the president of Stampin' Up.  He spoke about what is important in life...not about the dollars and cents of doing business or about the number of demonstrators on staff, but about finding one's purpose in life.  Is was a very powerful talk and Rich challenged us to find our own purpose and then to put our energy into living our purpose, not into making sales or signing on new recruits.  He argued that if we live our purpose all of those other things will come.  He spoke from the heart and to the hearts of everyone in the room.  It was a wonderful way to end an amazing week!  I have always loved Stampin' Up's products, but now I can honestly say that I love the company I represent too.  Thank you, Stampin' Up for a wonderful week...I can't wait for next year!!

Day 1: WOW!!!

Ok...I thought yesterday was a great day, but let me tell you, today was even BETTER!!  I don't really even know where to begin to tell you all the exciting announcements that were made today.  First off, we got to see the upcoming Holiday Mini.  This not-so-mini catalogue is FILLED with fantastic new products including...wait for it...a new scoring board called Simply Scored!!!  It is what we've all been asking and waiting for and its fabulous!  One of our team, Natasha Byrne, won one for free from Prize Patrol!!  We are all looking forward to playing with it when we get home!  I have to say, though, that as great as all the new announcements were today, the highlight for me was walking through those doors before the first general session.  Stampin' Up closed the home office and had all the personnel come to convention to line the aisles as we entered the room.  They were cheering and high-fiving us as we walked in.  It meant more to me than I can express.  I have never felt more valued and appreciated.  I said several times today that if only someone would show just a fraction of that kind of appreciation for the work I and thousands of other teachers do, our kids would be so much better educated and our teachers would be so much happier.  I'm actually tearing up as I type this because it was such a powerful experience for me...and I'm not a rah-rah kinda girl!  It just was so amazing to have the company I work for show their appreciation for the work I do in that way.  I can't put into words what that was like.  Every demonstrator should have this experience!
Now, on to some photos!  Here are the four of us as we waited for the first general session to begin:

It certainly didn't feel like 8:00 am...it was a huge party!!  Can you see the tears in my eyes?  This was taken right after we walked through those doors!

One of many ways Stampin' Up recognizes it's demonstrators is by having them walk the convention stage for various accomplishments.  This year, a new recognition walk was for those who recruited.  This photo is of three of us (Jamilla was taking the photo, but she recruited too!) as we took our walk:

Another highlight was our Make-n-Take session this afternoon.  We got to create 5 great projects AND Stampin' Up! provided us with a "Workshop in a Bag" which contained three additional projects along with enough materials for a workshop of 8 for each one!  What a great bonus!!  Here are Jamilla and I doing our Make-n-Takes:

I also got a chance to look at some of the display boards containing hundreds of fantastic project ideas.  I was thrilled to find THREE of my cards displayed!  Here they are (sorry the photos aren't great...we can't get close enough to take a really good shot!)

Those of you who have been following my blog will likely recognize these.  I made them last year and submitted them at our Regional Seminar in Hamilton last September!  Man, was I flattered to see them up on those convention boards!!
By far the biggest news of the day had nothing to do with me.  My sideline, Denise Donald, had a VERY special evening.  Tonight at Awards Night, she won the top Rising Star award for new demonstrators in all of Canada!!!  We are SOOOOOO thrilled for her and couldn't be prouder!  Here are some shots of Denise's moment:

The BIG announcement!

On stage with Shelli Gardiner (far right) and the 2nd and 3rd Rising Stars for Canada. 

One gorgeous and VERY happy lady!

Congratulations, Denise!  You have earned this...enjoy every moment!

Well, that's it for Day one...can't imagine what tomorrow will bring!  I'm off to bed to get some rest...I am exhausted...exhilarated, but exhausted!  I'll be back tomorrow with Day 2 highlights!