Stampin' Up! South Pacific Convention - Melbourne - 2014 Part Three

So, we're up to the end of Day 2 of Convention for demonstrators. (Managers start a day ahead of main Convention). Friday night is our awards night for the top demonstrators in Australia and New Zealand. We've known for several months that the group entertaining us would be Bjorn Again, an ABBA tribute band from Melbourne, who even impressed the real ABBA.
The awards take around an hour, as a lot of them are taken care of  during the General Sessions. We moved upstairs to find the daytime class area had been beautifully decorated with coloured wire chairs, luscious couches and inside, more tables, chairs and couches.
The food was good too, lots of savoury finger food and it just kept on coming out until you didn't want anymore. There were cute little chicken burgers. I love anything if it's miniature, do you? Spring rolls and different types of Dim Sum were on offer too. The photo booth was really popular, and the band had everyone on their feet. All in all, a wonderful night.

We had very balmy weather all week in Melbourne, most unexpected as we head into winter, so it was an absolute pleasure to wander back to our hotels, feeling very safe in a group, and enjoying the lights and other delights of Melbourne's night scene.

The Last Day

Saturday morning was another early start at the Convention Centre. I'd checked out of the hotel and dragged my bag, now a couple of kilos heavier with all the goodies I'd received, down to be stored in the cloakroom.
I'm sure everyone was as tired as I was, so it was a relief to see that the General Session would be amusing, not serious, when we spotted the slide, " um, um...I knew that." the format of the session was quiz show style, and it moved along very quickly and had us laughing all the way.

Then we had one more Make & Take upstairs, and some lunch. A packed lunch consisting of a roll, tub of salad, muffin, piece of fruit and a drink was supplied on each of the three days. I took the opportunity to check out some demonstrations with Blendabilities, and a very cute idea using the letter dies that will be released in the new catalogue.

Finally, I found the courage to try carving my own stamp, and I have to say that although I was nervous about slicing a piece out of my hand (I'm accident prone) I was kind of thrilled with the result. I chose a basic flower because it was about all I thought I could draw. That's why I stamp, because I can't draw!!!! In the end, I like the naivety of it, including the rough background.
Now that I've done it once, I'd be confident to help anyone who wanted to buy the Undefined Kit to try to make their own stamps too. You get quite a large piece of rubber and the tools are included in the Undefined Kit, mine was a very small sample piece, and there are refills too.

We had another General Session in the afternoon, and then it was time to say goodbye to friends old and new for another year. Would you like to join me at Convention next year? It's on the Gold Coast!!!!

Here is a link to the blog written by Shelli Gardener (with photos) about the South Pacific Convention. Looks like she also enjoyed Melbourne's good weather and the BUZZ that is 700 crafty women in several rooms!!!!!

Have you thought about becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? Did you know that everyone is welcome from hobby demonstrators who want to buy their own supplies at a 20% discount right through to those who make it a full-time career. Your minimum spend is $440 every three months, and if you don't make your minimum, there is no penalty, you don't need to return goods or pay anything back to the company. You aren't obliged to demonstrate if you're not wanting to, and Stampin' Up! is a great company with quality products. Usually it costs $169 to join, and you choose $235 worth of products, but there is a special on at the moment, only $85 to join and purchase $90 worth of product. If you go to the JOIN NOW tab/button, you will find both options pop up. There is some extra information at my previous post HERE.

Rachel
Here is a youtube clip put together by Christine Hajjar, another Stampin Up! demo in our extended team. It gives you a pretty good idea of what Convention is like.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09Euq90H7k&feature=youtu.be