The Second Batch

Here's the second batch! Happy Stampin'!

 

First Five

As promised, over the next several days, I'll be sharing my 25 projects from our 25th anniversary convention celebration in the South Pacific.

Enjoy!

A South Pacific Celebration

Sterling and I returned from our South Pacific Convention yesterday. . . best one yet! After every event, we always review and evaluate and talk about what we could do differently and how we can improve next time. And there are always some things, of course, but I have to say that this convention was fabulous—and I think our demonstrators agreed!

From beginning to end, the convention had a great feeling to it. . . definitely a celebration! We asked our Events team to make this year especially memorable, and as always, they  exceeded our expectations! The group was the largest we’ve ever had. . . almost 700 attendees, and everyone was so enthusiastic.

We had our first-ever South Pacific after party. We’re too big now to have dinner together, so after our Awards Night, we partied. The treats were yummy, the music was great, and the demonstrators were dancing all over the place! In fact, there were so many demonstrators dancing, they filled the dance floor and then some. . . I even danced once!

Our general sessions and classes were inspiring; I attended every one and learned something in each one. Our presenters, both demonstrators and staff, were wonderful; they prepared well, were entertaining and professional, and their information was timely and invaluable.

As always, visiting and seeing our demonstrators was amazing! I mentioned in our Managers’ Event how much I look forward to seeing everyone, both familiar faces whom I’ve seen at past events as well as new faces of family members who have joined us for the first time. I love our South Pacific demonstrators and am so grateful for their gracious, enthusiastic, and professional support! (I’m excited to see a few of them, along with our European demonstrators,  in less than two months when we welcome them to Utah for their incentive trip!)

Even after the last general session, nobody was ready to leave. We watched the convention highlights video, had our last giveaway, and said good-bye. Everyone stood up, clapping and cheering, and that’s when they generally head out the door. But not this time. Even after several long days, lots of fun, and tons of excitement, our demonstrators still had energy left over, and they didn’t want to leave.

We typically take a staff photo after convention. After demonstrators leave, we gather on the stage, take a photo, then tear down the show and head home. Working together at convention is like a family reunion in a way; we come together from all parts of the world once a year and spend a few days together, loving what we do and sharing it with our demonstrators, and I love the staff photo to remember it. This year, we gathered on the stage for the photo, and all the demonstrators waved and clapped and took their own photos. We all waved good-bye again, then waited for them to file out.

They still weren’t ready to go.

We ended up being the ones to leave first. After all, we did have to start tearing down!

It was definitely a great celebration—and I can hardly wait for our North America and Europe conventions!

A quick note: In case you’re wondering where my projects are, I actually did a little something special this year—25 projects, one to celebrate every year Stampin’ Up! has been around! That’s an awfully lot of projects, so I’ll be sharing those with you, a few at a time, over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Swap Inspiration

Note: I arranged for this to post while I'm attending our South Pacific Convention. . . wanted you to have something to read. (smile)

Sara has great group meetings every quarter, and in the past I’ve blogged about them. This time I was thinking I probably would skip posting, just because I’d blogged about the last one. But when we got together and I saw the swaps, they were so adorable I wanted to share.

So here they are. . .

As always, I loved her meeting. Sara’s group is small, and I love the casual, informal atmosphere. . . it really does just feel like we’re getting together to stamp with friends. Her agenda is simple: a Make & Take (everyone takes turns sharing), sometimes a technique demonstration, swaps, questions and answer, and treats. Never takes longer than two hours (unless we do an overnighter—which is WAY fun!), and I enjoy them.

I don’t do a swap. Sara does one that counts for both of us (she didn’t give me one, so hers isn’t in the photo), and her group members always bring one for both of us; I’ve told them they don’t need to, but they are so thoughtful! I supply the house and treats (something healthy and something sweet) and just enjoy spending time with fun stampers who all share a love for Stampin’ Up!

A Rainy Spring Game

The season for watching children’s (and grandchildren’s) spring sports games has begun! We went to one of Sidney’s lacrosse games this morning and enjoyed watching her play. I was impressed—she was fast and good and looked like she was loving it!

The weather this morning wasn’t great—we were wet and chilled by the end of the first game, even though we brought an umbrella. Sid played two games in a row, but we didn’t stay for both games . . . we did find out her team won both games, though, and even more importantly, she enjoyed it!

I spent most of the rest of the day preparing for our South Pacific Convention--we leave tomorrow. Not sure if I'll blog before I get back. . . I won't make any promises, so if I do it will be a pleasant surprise! Either way, I'll definitely be sharing how our first 25th Anniversary Convention of the year goes when I come back!