Back home! Convention Wrap-Up! (part 1)

I am feeling really tired (of course), but inspired, motivated and positive after Convention.  If you are a Demo, you really should mark it in your calendar for next year and start saving a little each week.  It really is worth it!  Not only do you listen to fabulous presenters, get some business training and ideas, workshop ideas and meet the talented and funny team from Home Office and Head Office in Sydney, but you get to meet, swap with, network with and socialise with other Demonstrators.  I've made so many friends all over Australia through Stampin' Up!  and really enjoy seeing them again at Convention.  The other fun things about Convention are the sample boards, Prize Patrol (random free stamp sets!), the NEW stamp sets we got in our Convention bags, Memento Mall, not having to cook, or clean, or worry about school lunchboxes for a few days.....LOL!

I hope my blog updates weren't too sparse!  My iPhone's battery was getting very drained so I wasn't able to do as much as I'd have liked - also I was trying to soak in the experience, which is hard to do if you are texting/tweeting/blogging at the same time!

Anyway, here are the highlights:

The swaps - always fun (though time consuming to make).  I prepared 50 swap cards, and gave them all away.  Here are the cards I made:

I used my Big Shot and the exclusive Top Note die (from the Mini) to make both these cards and am pleased with the way they turned out.  Very different looks.  I also used the Labels die and the dotty embossing folder in makes an appearance in both cards.  

There was a basket for all the attendees to place a swap card in, and some of them ended up on sample boards - some will end up on the Stampin' Up! Demo website too.
Here are some photos of the sample boards (you can click on them to enlarge them).

The only "rules" with swaps are that you use current (not retired) SU! product and most also put a little "project recipe" on the back with their name, contact details, and a list of the products/technique they used.   It is a great icebreaker and really fun!

You can then use the swaps you have received as inspiration for your own work, or for display in your workshops, especially if they showcase a technique or stamp set you haven't tried.

The Convention Bag


This is different for every Convention, and is always highly prized!  You recieve it upon registration.  the girls from the head Office in Sydney did a beautiful job - they are seriously lovely.    The bag this year contained a SU! hap (very cute!), a pen, the programme of events, and 2 NEW stamp sets from the upcoming 2010-2011 Catalogue!!!!!!  They are called Printed Petals, and Party This Way, and if you look closely on the display boards coming up you might catch a glimpse!


Here is a picture of my bag:

Ack!  I'm getting an error message saying I've exceeded some photo limit!  How's that for a cliff hanger?  I'll try to figure out how to fix that.

In the meantime, I'll  continue to give you the highlights.

The Presenters
Shelli herself speaks at Convention, and gives a stamping demonstration, this year's being her interpretation of "Vintage."  Which was fabulous, of course!  She showed us how distressing, natural fibres, neutrals instead of white, spritzing, tearing, pearls, collaged images, can all lend a "vintage" look to your project.  She used Vintage vogue, of course!  She also made us all laugh by licking one of her stamps clean in lieu of a stampin' scrub!

Pam Morgan from home Office also gave a fabulous Big Shop Presentation with a hilarious new excersise programme and we learned that the exclusive Top Note die was originally designed as a Bag Topper.  It fits our cello bags precisely for that purpose, and when folded lengthways, fits the larger cello bags!  Of course, we have all found many other uses for it.

Bonnie from Home office had lost her voice, but still had us all entertained with her steady stream of banter as she showed us some cute projects using products from the Mini catalogue.

The gorgeous Shannon West used the Circle Scissors to create some fabulous scrap pages and cards.  She is so charming, beautiful and witty - the kind of person you instantly warm to.

In addition to the imported presenters, we heard from successful Aussie/NZ Demos, such as Ngaire Anderson,  Jaqui Pederson, and others whose names I have momentarily forgotten, so I'll come back later with those, LOL.

Prize Patrol
Everyone gets a different coloured wristband in their Convention Bag, and it must be worn at all times in the General Sessions, because they pick a colour at various times throughout the proceedings, and give away stamp sets!  Woo-Hoo!  On the last day they even handed everyone a NEW Catty stampset called Perfect Punches!  Awesome!

I'll be back with more convention highlights tonight most likely as I need to feed my cranky 2 year old, then go to a pampering session run by my 5 year old - should be interesting!