Our Annual Breakfast

Today we celebrated our annual employee appreciation breakfast, a day I look forward to every year. This tradition goes back years. . . I’m not sure when we started it. We did things a little differently this year. Typically, the corporate team members cook breakfast for all the employees, with different teams assigned to different shifts throughout the morning. This year, since we’d also scheduled our monthly Innovation Day for today, we needed to have everyone eat together in about an hour, so we could move on to our innovation projects.

That meant that we couldn’t spend all morning cooking, so we ended up catering the breakfast. So instead of cooking breakfast, the corporate team members mingled and chatted with everyone, trying to make sure we thanked everyone there for everything they do. It was nice to have everyone together in one room—and the food was fabulous! So I’m pretty sure no one minded the change.

Our theme for the event was “You make a difference,” and I loved the way our HR team used that theme in the decoration. There was a framed mirror at the first table, so employees would see themselves as they picked up plates, napkins, and silverware, and in the frame were the words, “You make a difference.” And that same theme played out throughout the atrium. . . . wonderful message!

I also present our Heart of Stampin’ Up! recipients at this activity, and I did that this morning as well. There were five all together (three at the home office and two at Kanab—I’ll present those awards tomorrow at our breakfast there), more than we’ve had before!

These employees are nominated by their colleagues and coworkers, who share why they think certain employees exemplify our Statement of the Heart. Of course, we have so many Stampin’ Up! employees who deserve this award . . . so many amazing people who give and serve and care. I always look forward to the opportunity, however, to officially recognize a few of our finest.

This year, our home office recipients of the Heart of Stampin’ Up! award were Mary Ramirez, Brian Pilling, and Claudia Dall. Congratulations! (Brian is out of town, so I didn't get a picture with him. . . )

After announcing these winners, I gave the mic to Rich, who had said he wanted to kick off Innovation Day with a few remarks. I was totally taken by surprise, when instead of talking about Innovation Day, he said that dozens of our employees had actually submitted my name as a Heart of Stampin’ Up! nominee, even though they knew I would never choose myself. He read some excerpts from some of the letters (which they had taken out of the pile of letters that were given to me) and had me come up, crying like a baby, while everyone stood and clapped. I was overwhelmed and so touched!

I work with wonderful people, and I was grateful that today I was able to express my appreciation for them—and it felt nice to be appreciated as well!

Back East in Baltimore

I just got back from Baltimore—the last regional of the year that I’ll need to travel to. (We have one more this Saturday, but it’s here at the home office, so I get to just hop in the car!) Loved it for so many reasons. . . .

First, it was good to be back East. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there (as more than one demonstrator reminded me!), and I always enjoy touching base with our East Coast demonstrators! (I love touching base with ALL of our demonstrators for that matter.) I got to talk with so many demonstrators one on one and give hugs and thanks. . . one of my favorite parts of regionals!

It was one of our largest regionals of the year—850 demonstrators! And the energy was fabulous! It’s always easier and more fun to present when the crowd is energetic, and that was definitely the case. Looking out at smiling faces and feeling everyone’s enthusiasm was awesome!

The weather was great, which I especially appreciated when I woke up to SNOW this morning here in Utah. Can you believe it? It was warm and sunny in Baltimore; we even walked down to the harbor for dinner.

And when I say “we,” I mean Sterling and me. Yep, that’s another reason this regional was so good—my sweetheart came with me. It’s the only regional he’s been able to go to this year, and so it was nice to end the year on that note, and it made it extra special for me.

Because it was so close to the release of the new catalog, our demonstrations were focused on “sneak peek” products that will be available in the new catalog (our demonstrators will be able to check out the online catalog on April 24.) I showed these two birthday cards—a male and female version of the same basic design. These are the cards I’ll be using for our employee birthdays next month, and they feature tons of new stuff—a new stamp set, new folder, new DSP, new punch, new envelopes. . . .lots of fun things to get excited about!

A Look Back at Incentive Trips

We’re preparing to leave on the Fiji incentive trip in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve been thinking back on all the incentive trips we’ve had through the years.

Of course, the first one is fairly easy to remember—1991, a four-day Caribbean cruise, and 10 of us took the trip (three demonstrators earned it and brought guests, Vonna and I and our husbands were the other four). We sat together on one table for all our meals (that was a one-time gig!) and took most of our excursions together; it was a sweet, intimate trip and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Fast forward 15 or 16 years, and we had enough incentive trip achievers to charter an entire ship to ourselves!

In the olden days (don’t I sound ancient!), I was the entire Events team and planned, booked, and facilitated the entire event. I learned the hard way that it’s important to check out the cruise line and ship that we were sailing on; there are some really old, small ships out there! We also learned that the quality of food and entertainment differs from ship to ship. . . I definitely appreciate our Events team and love that these days I just board the ship, knowing that all those details have been taken care of and I can just enjoy spending time with our demonstrators!

We don’t plan nearly as many activities during the incentive trips these days. We have a welcome reception and plan a few gatherings. Because of our numbers, we simply can’t do everything together, plus we’ve learned through the years to make this trip truly about the demonstrators. We want to give them as much leisure time as possible so they can kick back, relax, and enjoy the trip they’ve worked hard to earn.

One of the many things I love about our incentive trips is the change I see in our demonstrators’ spouses. The trip is an ideal opportunity for spouses to see what Stampin’ Up! is all about, and if I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a thousand times: Spouses come on board, a little tentative and reserved, not quite sure what to think. A few days later, they leave the ship with a whole new understanding, more excited and supportive than ever, and already looking forward to the next year’s trip!

We’ve been a lot of places since that first cruise and traveled with a lot of demonstrators and their guests—and I’ve loved each one! If I had to choose a favorite, it was our first cruise to Bermuda—everything was perfect. . . weather, excursions, food, entertainment. We went there again a few years later and the weather didn’t cooperate nearly as well! I loved Alaska too, because the scenery is so breathtaking. And I’m really looking forward to our worldwide incentive trip next year because, for the first time, all of our incentive trip achievers from around the world will be together on the same trip! Awesome!

But truly, our incentive trips aren’t about the destination; they are definitely about the people! As I look back at photos of past trips, I forget about the creaky ships and icky food (well, kind of. . . ) and I focus on the incredible people I’ve been blessed to enjoy these experiences with. I can’t wait for Fiji because I know it will be yet another opportunity to tell some amazing people how much I appreciate them!

I've Been Waiting for These. . .

I’ll keep this short and sweet, but I couldn’t resist just calling out the announcement of a new storage solution Stampin’ Up! is offering. I’ve known about these new storage cases for wood stamps for a long time, and I’ve been waiting impatiently. . . I am so excited to get these cases in my stamp studio!

The new cases are great—they store neatly, you can see the set name and images on the spine (saves tons of time!), they line up (and match up—two half-size cases stack on top of each other and are exactly the size of a full case). . . they offer all the advantages of the clear-mount storage PLUS all the things I love about wood stamps. (If you don’t know, I’m a wood stamp purist and can’t imagine stamping with anything but our wood stamps! That said, I definitely respect—and appreciate—those of you who have fallen in love with our clear-mount stamps!)

Plus, because these cases are wide to accommodate the wood-mounted stamps, you can store other things in them as well, like markers, punches, embellishments. . . I’m sure we’ll all find lots of fun uses for these cases!

I've Been Waiting for These. . .

I’ll keep this short and sweet, but I couldn’t resist just calling out the announcement of a new storage solution Stampin’ Up! is offering. I’ve known about these new storage cases for wood stamps for a long time, and I’ve been waiting impatiently. . . I am so excited to get these cases in my stamp studio!

The new cases are great—they store neatly, you can see the set name and images on the spine (saves tons of time!), they line up (and match up—two half-size cases stack on top of each other and are exactly the size of a full case). . . they offer all the advantages of the clear-mount storage PLUS all the things I love about wood stamps. (If you don’t know, I’m a wood stamp purist and can’t imagine stamping with anything but our wood stamps! That said, I definitely respect—and appreciate—those of you who have fallen in love with our clear-mount stamps!)

Plus, because these cases are wide to accommodate the wood-mounted stamps, you can store other things in them as well, like markers, punches, embellishments. . . I’m sure we’ll all find lots of fun uses for these cases!