I don’t know what your ‘work’ conventions are like, but I have to say that Stampin’ Up! events are WAY different from the conventions I attended in my previous life as a scientist. The science events were interesting and educational, but Stampin’ Up! Convention is all that PLUS more fun than you’d think could happen all in one place :-) I certainly don’t recall jumping up and down and screaming after any announcements about estrogen receptors or transcription factors.
I think the excitement in the expressions here show it all (check out some of the demonstrators in my LovenStampfuls group, L to R: Rae Anne Littrell, Kathy Stone, Mary Ellen Stites and Rachel Chamberlain). You have to really check out their faces–they were reacting to the announcement that Convention attendees might all get a free copy of the upcoming My Digital Studio software package. Ha ha… I was nearly too excited to take the picture! ;-)
Fabulous General Session demonstrations today included gorgeous gift-giving ideas created by Shelli Gardner (co-founder and CEO of Stampin’ Up!) and her daughters & mom. I’m always blown away by Shelli’s ability to use both her artistic talent and her business acumen, and I can’t wait to get home and start working on some classes and kits to offer you this fall!
We spent part of the afternoon in our Make N Take session, creating 8 gorgeous projects using the 4 free stamp sets we received at Convention this year.
Just picture a room with 800 women sitting at round tables, stamping up a storm. The sound of rubber hitting cardstock and ink pads opening and closing nearly rivaled the ‘buzz’ of happy chatting demonstrators. I always think it’s enjoyable to be on the ‘making’ end of the Make N Take sessions for once!
One of our free stamp sets is the ultra-flexible Hello Again set, shown here on 2 of the Convention Make N Takes. You might find this stamp set familiar… yes, it’s the Stamp Set that I’ve featured on my current Stamps in the Mail Club. And yes, you can still sign up for the Stamps in the Mail Club during August :-)
After stamping and a few more classes (including some fabulous ideas on how to simplify & organize your life–who doesn’t need help with that?!), we headed back to our hotel for one of my favorite annual events.
Each year at Convention for the last 4-5 years, we gather with my LovenStampfuls group and my sidelines (sister demonstrators) on a ‘free’ night to hang out, eat yummy pizza and share all the gorgeous swap cards that we’ve collected over the last few days. We ordered pizza from The Pie (wish they delivered to central Illinois!) and spread out in the breakfast room of our hotel. Each demonstrator laid out her collected swaps and we all went around the room to take pictures of all the cards we loved, but didn’t receive in our own swaps. There are sure some talented demonstrators swapping this year! I think I took over 50 photos so that I wouldn’t forget any of the great ideas :-)
I mentioned my Wings of Friendship swap cards earlier this week–turns out I still have 30 more to swap! I’m looking forward to picking up more new ideas tomorrow during our final day of Convention. I have another surprise to share tomorrow, but I can’t tell you today… you’ll just have to tune in tomorrow night late (or Sunday morning) to hear more about my adventures!
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