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 Two...and I'm EXHAUSTED!!

Well Day Two was another full and busy day!  It started with a breakfast at 7:00 am for first time convention goers.  Since I am one, I was eligible to attend, which meant a VERY early wake-up call.  Given that I had to be at the convention centre so early this morning, I forgot my camera!!!  So I sadly don't have any convention photos to show you today.  I can tell you that I spent the morning in breakout classes learning tons of new teachniques, tips and tricks that I just can't wait to show you!  My head is swimming with project ideas and I can't wait to get home and get busy on making them!  This afternoon I had my WOW card swap.  That's the one I made 120 Centre-Step cards for.  You can see them in this post  and in this one.  It took a while to get more than 100 people organzied to swap but it was worth the wait!  I got so many beautiful cards that will inspire me for months to come!  Again, I can't wait to get home and get busy creating with my new catty order that is sitting in my living room lonely and unloved! 
I did manage to take a couple of quick photos of two of the Make-N-Take projects we did yesterday.  Check these out:

Convention Make-n-Take using the Best Friends Forever stamp set and sentiment from Its Your Day set.  This card also uses the Timeless Portrait Designer Fabric...so gorgeous!

Another convention Make-n-Take using the Raining Flowers stamp set and sentiment from Its Your Day.

Sorry about the less-than-great photos...I did the best I could in my hotel room!  The only way I could get true colours was to use natural light...and that meant putting the cards on the window sill to photograph!  I really love the colour scheme of both of these projects:  Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White and Basic Black.  Such a rich and vibrant set of colours!  Wait until you see the other two projects!  I didn't get time to finish them during our Make-n-Take session, so I am taking them home to complete.  I'll be sure to post photos when I'm done!  For now, it is going to be an early night.  I am beat and need to get a solid night's sleep for the last day tomorrow.  I'm sure it will be just as busy as the last 3 have been!

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!

What a day...and convention hasn't actually started yet!!!

WOW!  What an amazing 24 hours I've had!  Convention hasn't even started yet and I've already had a wonderful time!  I already told you about the dinner and swap I participated in last night.  Today was just as much fun!  After picking up my convention bag (gorgeous!!) and my free stamp sets (awesome!) my upline, Jamilla Ivits and I met up with two other members of our team who had gotten up early to get in line for Memento Mall.  We found them right near the front of the line and had a group photo taken...

The Fab Four!  (L-R:  ME!, Jamilla Ivits, Denise Donald and Natasha Byrne)

Jamilla and I left the two early-birds to fight the crowds in Memento Mall and instead went to the Awards Booth for Jamilla to pick up her awards for leadership, sales and recruiting.  Here is a photo of my proud upline with her pins and Incentive Trip ribbon...so happy for you Jamilla!!

Way to go, Jam!

 Jamilla and I sat and had a coffee and  put together our stamp sets and while we were there one of my table-mates from last night's dinner came by.  Since I was not on the ball enough to take photos last night, I snapped a quick one today of Kit Gosha and I...

What a great lady...so glad I got to meet you, Kit!!

After lunch Jamilla and I headed over to Memento Mall and did some serious damage to our credit cards!  Lots of fun goodies...too much to show you all here!  Let's just say we both left there MUCH poorer!!  After that we headed back to the hotel for some R & R.  On our way back to the convention centre for the kick-off party, we ran into Denise and Natasha again...and found out that Denise has earned Founders Circle!!!  For those who are not familiar with Stampin' Up's incentive and bonus structure, Founder's Circle is a VERY big deal!!!  We don't know yet what awards Denise has actually won, just that she has earned this very prestigious recongition.  We are SO proud of you, Denise!!! You have worked SO hard and deserve this wonderful award!  We will find out tomorrow night at the Awards Night exactly what Denise has won...stay tuned for updates!  Of course, I didn't have the presence of mind this afternoon to snap a photo of Denise with her very chic and stylish Founder's Circle bag...but I'll have lots to show you tomorrow after awards night!  Tomorrow is also our Make-n-Take session and I will be sure to take pictures of all of our projects so that I can post them all for you!  Right now I am off to bed...it is an early morning and a long, action-packed day tomorrow!!

I'm Here!!!

This is going to be a really quick one!  I just wanted to tell you all that I made it safe and sound to Salt Lake City!!  I am SOOOOOOOO excited to be here for my very first convention!  It has already been  a great experience...last night I attend a dinner, swap and Make-n-take session organized by Lisa Rodrigues.  I just heard about it on our demonstrator forum and decided it might be a fun way to kick off my convention experience!  Man, was I ever right!  We had a blast!  I met a bunch of fantastic ladies from Western Canada and the US and we had ourselves a very fun evening.  Thanks so much to Lisa for organizing this terrific event!  This morning I am up early and off to check in for convention and go SHOPPING!!!! at Memento Mall.  I'll try to do a post later today and tell you what I bought!!

They're Done!!!!!!

FINALLY...I finished all of my swaps for convention!  I even did a couple dozen general swaps to help pass the time while I'm standing in all those wonderful line-ups!  I feel SO much better and now finally feel like I can start to get excited about going to convention.  Now if only my open house order would arrive, life would be perfect!  The card I have for you tonight is one I did for a Christmas WOW swap.  It also happens to work for this week's challenge at A La Card Monkey.  I don't quite know how that happened because I didn't really look at the sketch, just that it was a "Christmas in July" challenge.  I must have subliminally picked up on the sketch though...you'll see what I mean in a minute!  Here is the sketch...

...and here is my card:

Christmas card for Monkey 64 and Convention WOW Christmas swap using the Bells and Boughs stamp set.

See what I mean about the sketch?!?  I totally did not look at the sketch, but there you have it...the card I designed follows the sketch almost exactly!  Doo-doo, doo-doo (that's me humming the twilight zone theme).
Anyhow...I hope my fellow swappers in SLC like it!  I used champagne mist shimmer paint to stamp the focal image.  It gives a lovely, soft, sparkly effect, not entirely visible in the photo.  I have to say I'm loving the lace ribbon border punch!  Such a quick and easy way to add the WOW factor to a project!  The rest of this card is pretty self-explanatory...let me know if you have questions and I'll be happy to answer 'em for you!  I'm off to bed now...have to be up early to send my little guy off to a week at Grammy's house...sniff, sniff...I won't miss him a bit...sniff, sniff...

SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

This has been SUCH a frustrating day!  I was expecting to take delivery of my new catalogue open house order yesterday.  It was a very large order that also contains several items I need to finish my convention swaps.  The order didn't arrive yesterday...nor did it come today!  The only information I can get on the tracking website is that as of 12:30 this afternoon it was STILL in Winnipeg (where it has been since Wednesday!).  Since Winnipeg is a LONG way from my living room, I'm not holding out much hope it will arrive before I have to leave for convention.  The really frustrating part is that I paid an extra $50 to expedite the order so that my customers wouldn't have to wait until I get back to get their new goodies...so much for customer service!  I just hope they'll understand that this is completely out of my hands and that I've done everything I could to ensure they receive their purchases.  I am not loving FEDEX right now, let me tell ya!
Anyhow...enough ranting.  Let's look at the card I have for you!  I know that last night I said I would post my SIL's birthday card...well I did make her a REALLY cute cupcake card...but forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her tonight!  Instead I have another card I designed for an organized swap I am participating in at convention.  It is simply a vintage card swap and since I just designed it today, I used the sketch from Mojo Monday and the colour scheme from Just Add Ink as the starting point.  First of all, here is the sketch:

The colour challenge was to use basic black, cherry cobbler, very vanilla and soft suede.  Since these lend themselves perfectly to a vintage card, here is my vintage swap card:

Vintage Swap card for Mojo198 and JAI75 using Artistic Etchings, Notably Ornate and French Foliage stamp sets.

I love doing Vintage...it just is so easy to layer lots of images and embellishments to get something unique.  I also love playing with my Distressing Kit...so much fun crumpling, sanding and sponging!  I hope my fellow swappers will be happy with this card.  I had to start from scratch, since I won't get my new catty goodies in time!  As it is, I'm going to have to beg, borrow or steal some cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon...I ran out with seven cards to go!  Anybody out there able to spare some till after convention???
The good news (and I sure NEED some after today!) is that I only have one more set of swaps to make!  Hopefully I will be able to get them done tomorrow so that I can whip up some general swap cards on Sunday!  Off now to design my last one...I'll show you what I come up with!