CONVENTION - 2009 ! (HOORAY AT LAST!)

Hi everyone,

Well as you may have seen on everyone elses' blogs, we have just been to Canberra for this year's Stampin' Up! Australia / New Zealand Convention.

This was the second SU event that I have attended in the last 6 months and I had a ball! It was so exciting to be there and meet up with other demonstrators from Australia and New Zealand and get to know the ones I have met through comments on each other's blogs.

DAY 1 - Thursday 30th April -

I flew up to Canberra that morning with my upline Yvonne Campbell and some of the girls in our team, Debbie Pamment (my roommate at the hotel), Kellie Winnell and Kristy Young. There were also other demonstrators on our flight who were as hyped up as we all were and excitement was in the air!

(Debbie and I talked so much on the flight up that the guy sitting in front of us moved over to the other side of the plane to sit in a spare seat where he could enjoy some peace and quiet !) ROFL

Here is a photo of our hotel Crowne Plaza taken from the rooftop of the apartment block where Kerri Hunter was staying.

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and Yvonne, our upline, presented us with a gorgeous little gift bag and tag set which she had made as a personal gift for each of us. Isn't this just beautiful ?

(Needless to say, the chocolate didn't stay in this bag for very long ! ) LOL

Then we went sight-seeing through the streets near our hotel. We had lunch sitting outside a cafe in the beautiful sunshine - yes, Canberra put on some glorious weather just for us - everyday that we were there, we had lovely sunshine and only one foggy morning which was on the Friday. No cold weather there to spoil the event !

We then went to do some shopping for Wine and nibblies, we headed back to the hotel where we descended on Yvonne and Makeesha Byl and crowded together in their room along with about another 30-40 other girls who 'dropped by' when they heard we were in there.

(This photo is of Kellie Winnell and 'Princess' Kristy Young, members of our team from Victoria.)

We had so much fun, talking about the upcoming 3 days, swapping our cards with each other and just 'letting loose' - some of the girls spilled out into the hallway and the laughter and noise was enough to prompt one guest to peer out of her door to see what was going on!

I felt sorry for any guests in the neighbouring rooms who were trying to enjoy some peace and quiet because they weren't getting any !! LOL

DAY 2 - Friday 1st May -

Waking up to a foggy morning, we went for a brisk walk through town and had breakfast at a lovely cafe where the food and service were fantastic! (It was so good that Debbie and I went there again on Sat. morning for another wonderful refill !)

Then it was a quick walk to the Convention Centre just a few minutes away from our hotel where we checked in and received our Stampin' Up! carry bag with lots of goodies inside!

Two free stamp sets, a copy of our new catalogue, Convention workbook, lanyard, badges, lip balm, etc. Here is a photo of the lovely bag and the items we found inside.

We met up with Robyn Clarke (another member of our team who had driven up with her husband) and we attended a general session in the main hall where Shelli Gardner, CEO and founder of Stampin' Up! welcomed us and thanked us all for attending and also for joining her company.

Shelli is such a beautiful woman - so warm and friendly and accessible to everyone. I had the privilege to meet with her for a quick chat and a few photos between sessions that morning and enjoyed every minute of it.

This is the photo with Debbie Pamment (my roomie) on the left, Shelli, myself and Robyn Clarke on the right. What a buzz it was to meet Shelli and actually chat with her !!

The rest of the day was spent attending seminars and workshops run by other demonstrators from Australia, New Zealand and the United States and it was a great experience - I certainly learnt so much from each of them and came out of each session feeling very inspired and eager to try out new things that I had learnt once I had returned home.

We also had a chance to buy some lovely Stampin' Up! souvenirs in the Memento Mall upstairs.

I bought quite a few things to take home to remind myself of this fantastic weekend - a lovely pink drink bottle, a note pad block, an umbrella with our Fifth Avenue Florals on it, a cute keyring calculator, some pens and the great keyring book of our Designer Paper swatches which is such a great idea.

Congratulations to the person who thought of that idea - it will come in very handy at workshops to show my customers what fantastic papers we have available this year!

After lunch in one of the rooms at the centre and another seminar, we were able to sit down and try out our new stamps making some of the lovely projects in the kits we were given. It was great to get stuck into the thing we all love best - stamping !!

That night groups of demonstrators went out to dinner at the various restaurants nearby in the city and our team ended up at the Pancake Parlour where we had a nice meal and some great fun though we were feeling a little tired after such a long but exciting day.

Soon it was time for some well deserved sleep back at the hotel andto get ready for the next day's activities though some of us didn't really sleep that much - too much fun, (wine) and excitement !

DAY 3 - Saturday 2nd May -

Another day of learning new ideas, techniques and gaining inspiration from the presenters and jotting down notes about some of the lovely cards, 3D items and scrapbook pages which these demonstrators shared with us, lunch in the Convention centre again then a final session before we went back to our hotels to relax and get ready for dinner and the Awards presentations that night.

Dinner in the huge dining room was wonderful - we were all dressed up in our evening best (lots of glitter and beautiful ladies in that room) and there was a small group of musicians playing in the background as we ate our lovely meal and we had a brief time to catch up with each other again before heading over to the main hall for the Awards ceremony.

Here is a photo of our table - the flower arrangements were just beautiful and the food was wonderful - thinly sliced barbeque pork and crispy noodle salad for Entree, chicken in a delicious creamy sauce with seasonal vegetables for our Main course and for Dessert, we were treated to individual citrus tarts with blueberrries, strawberries and a lovely drizzle of berry sauce.

(Wish you were there with us ???)

Here are some photos of the girls in our group on the night - don't we look fabulous ??

From L to R - Debbie Pamment, myself, Kellie Winnell and our lovely upline, Yvonne Campbell.

This photo is of Robyn Clarke standing with me before we sat down to dinner.

Kellie and Yvonne looking very glamorous !

We also met up again with Makeesha Byl (Yvonne's room-mate) - she is so gorgeous! We had so much fun with her that night and also on our first night when we were all in her room doing our swaps - she's a hoot to be with!

Here are some lovely photos of Keesh with our girls -

Debbie with Keesh.

Keesh with Robyn,

and a photo of myself with Keesh.

After dinner we went over to the main theatre for the Awards Presentations.

Our upline Yvonne made the walk up the stairs and across the stage so many times, winning lots of awards and receiving flowers, stamp sets and other beautiful gifts - one of them being a fabulous bracelet from Tiffanys, her eyes sparkled like the bracelet for the rest of the night !!

Her prizes were well deserved as she has worked so hard during the last 12 months holding workshops, team get-togethers and building up her team of new recruits - Congratulations Yvonne, think of us all when you're in Noosa later this year enjoying your Incentive Trip prize :-)

DAY 4 - Sunday 3rd May -

Well, after finally catching up on some sleep, Convention was over and we were about to head back to our homes later that day.

We shared our final breakfast together in the hotel restaurant and talked about all the events of the past few days and pledging to start saving money now towards next year's Convention which will be held in Sydney in May 2010.

Feeling happy but weary, we grabbed our luggage again and headed out to the airport where we boarded our flights home. I know we'll all have fond memories of those wonderful days spent together making new friends and enjoying ourselves and we're looking forward to repeating the experience next year.

If you have enjoyed reading this Post and looking at the photos of the great time we had, now is the perfect time to join our Stampin' Up! family and you too could be sharing in the fun next year.

For this month only, we have a fantastic offer - you can join up for only $150 instead of the usual $324 !! We are offering a Scrapbooking Starter Kit with stamps, papers, ink pads, cardstock and other items if you decide to sign up.

As the joining fee is heavily reduced for the month of May, we have also reduced the items in the Starter Kit but you won't miss out on any of the benefits offered to new Demonstrators.

You will still receive an extra 10% discount on top of your usual discount for the very first order you place after joining as well as all other regular discounts and promotional specials.

What a fantastic offer - if you have ever considered becoming a Demonstrator with Stampin' Up! then now is the perfect time to do it and save money at the same time!

Contact me now by phone or email (see my details at the right of my blog) to take advantage of this great Starter Kit special.

Not sure about signing up ? Please get in touch with me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

We welcome all types of Demonstrators -

The Hobbyist - (join up just to buy your own supplies at a discount and maybe sell to one or two of your friends)

The Part-time Demonstrator - (hold workshops at odd times of the week / month that suit you)

The Occasional Demonstrator - (work for short periods of time during the year to coincide with your family's holidays and lifestyle)

The Full-Time Demonstrator - (make Stampin' Up! your career - enjoy working at a job where you spend your days doing what you love best - stamping !)


I'd love to hear from you so don't wait any longer - take the plunge and join my team and you'll start to enjoy all the fun that I'm having too!

Well, that's it for another day - please drop in again soon to see what I've been up to.

Have a great day - keep stamping :-)