Stampin' Up! Onstage Sydney April 2016

I have been away at Stampin' Up!® Onstage in Sydney for the last few days, hanging out with my CASE-ing The Catty Crew buddy Kathryn Mangelsdorf from Adelaide. To make it a little holiday, Kathryn and I got out of bed early Thursday morning, and timed our flight arrivals to within 5 minutes of each other at Sydney airport. We were happily surprised to be checked into our room on the 30th floor with a view of the very lovely Sydney Town Hall. It has been a few years since I've been to Sydney, and it was lovely to go with someone who loves exploring as much as I do {family holidays are never quite like that are they?}

We set off to have brunch before some sight-seeing catching the ferry to Manly for the afternoon. Enjoyed just wandering and finding places off the beaten track. We had to go back to the hotel for some warmer clothing though, before heading out on the harbour again on a sailing ship. It was pretty old, and not very luxurious living for the multi-national crew of young people who live aboard the boat. We went along for the experience, not the luxury, and were more than satisfied with the beautiful sunset we saw. 

After a great night's sleep, we headed out quite late to the Queen Victoria Building, across the road from the hotel. A magnificent building, opened in 1898 with stained glass windows, grand staircases and a large dome atop the four levels. I was amazed at the loveliness there, the shops, the floors - everywhere I looked. We also visited the Town Hall, as much as we were able and it is impressive on the inside too. A little wander down to Darling Harbour, buzzing with people enjoying the autumn sunshine and then we returned to QVB for afternoon tea with Sue Madex, my team leader, at The Palace Tearoom.

This was a delight with the fine china, yummy cakes and tea,wonderful service and great company. We sat and enjoyed chatting for an hour or so before Sue headed off to get ready for the Stampin' Up!® Manager's Event. Kathryn and I headed down to the Opera House. It was busy down there and a huge cruise ship was in port. I thought it would leave at 7pm and I was right, so we had the amazing vision of this ship, as long as the Harbour Bridge, slowly manouvering its way out to sea. Kathryn and I were finally ready to eat a delicious dinner and drink champagne at The Oyster Bar near the Opera House.

Saturday morning and we were ready for Stampin' Up!® Onstage very early. The excitement continued all day with product reveals and prize patrol. There is a lot of training included but it is always fun! I used Sheltering Tree for my swap card, because we already know that it will carry over to the new catalogue and it is such a pretty image. I've done a 'Reverse Spotlight' Technique and used many shades of green and Pool Party and Night of Navy for the trunk. I'm sure you can figure out what I've done, but if you aren't sure, I'm more than happy to share the idea with you. I received lots of beautiful swaps in return too.

The new catalogue is full of exciting new products, so many framelits and stamps and the new InColors are gorgeous! Customers will be able to order from June 1st, and demonstrators who haven't attended an event will begin to pre-order in May, to get their samples ready for the release of the catalogue. The retired list will be released soon, so don't forget that the retiring In Colors: - Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey and Tangelo Twist - will be exhausted within days. Here is a link to the online store. The other thing to remember is that the Weekly Deals will end on Tuesday 19th April, so if you haven't looked this week, then maybe you should.

Have a good week

Cheers, Rachel