Hello Baby Stephen! PCCCS#133

I was looking for an inspirational sketch for a special baby card I needed to make and came across this one at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge. I haven't ever played along here, but the sketch is fabulous, so I will have to add them to my list of challenges!





This card needed to be special because my husband's youngest sister has finally become a mother. It has been a long journey to arrive at this happy conclusion, and she is so in love with her 'little prince'.

The card Shelli Gardener made recently using Little Baby Bumblebee inspired me to 'dress' him in Soft Sky, with his face stamped in Crumb Cake onto Very Vanilla. The Chalk Talk Framelit made a sweet blanket and it is all attached to a vellum Starburst.


The other stamp set used is Little Sunshine, also available in the Occasions Catalogue through till 2nd June. The Word Bubble Framelits and the long banner from the Gift Card Envelope were handy here for cutting these pieces out. The Painted Blooms Cotton Twine comes in a pack of three colours, and it is so soft in texture, as well as colour.

Hoping to get a cuddle with Baby Stephen this weekend, hope you have something nice planned too.
Rachel

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

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

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

Continuing on with part two of this tale, Stampin' Up! is very much like a family, especially here in the South Pacific (Australia & New Zealand) where the numbers attending Convention are more manageable (<700), unlike the US where Convention is HUGE! Demonstrators help and support each other through online forums, team meetings and we love a chance to meet up face to face once a year. Thursday afternoon was a very full one with six experienced demonstrators sharing business tips. We were also able to participate in three mini Make & Take sessions, two of them using the Kinda Eclectic stamp set we had been given in the morning. You can see two cards in my previous post. The project above resulted in another lovely stamp set to bring home, and you can see a couple of the new In Colors here too. I think they will be a nice addition to the range, although they are fairly subdued, except for the orange.

In our down time, not that there's much of it, we can admire gorgeous displays of new products (the fans are made from a new Designer Series Paper) and all the cards and projects made on stage, are displayed. Demonstrators usually hang one of their swap cards on the display board too and there is always a crowd around these boards snapping away madly.

On Friday, Shelli Gardener showed the NEW photopolymer stamps which must be stored away from light. They are a bit cheaper than the red rubber stamps but not quite as durable. However, the see-through aspect of these stamps is great for placement, and one of our Prize Patrols was a set of letter and number stamps in photopolymer from the upcoming catalogue. Shelli stamped some cards for us, her daughter Sara Douglass shared her Project Life albums and some hints on putting photos into them and getting the journalling done while the memories are still fresh!
I can imagine how useful this system will be for my travel photos too, I'm still working on the trip I took to the UK & Paris last August!

I know that I can order a limited number of items next Friday, and customers can start ordering from that range too on 10th June, before the catalogue goes live on 1st July, when the whole range is available to us all. Its even available on MDS if that's your 'thing' and you'd like to print original cards for the pockets.
Hop on over to my online shop after 10th June to check out Project Life.

Another point Sara brought up, it's a great activity to do with your children of any age. She said that she was having her five children pick out their favourite baby photos even, and getting them into albums so she can catch up with the back log.

Another new and rather exciting product we had a chance to try at Convention was Blendabilities. Like the Stampin' Write Markers, they are a dual tip, color coordinated to the Stampin' Up color range & acid free, but they are also alcohol-based (like a rather well-known alternative brand). This means they don't soak the paper and break up the fibres, they don't 'bleed' and they're permanent. Available in packs of three tones of the same shade they have simplified the process of choosing toning colours. We tried it out on a very small floral stamp, but in a later Prize Patrol we received Blended Bloom and a set of three Calypso Coral Blendabilities. I can't really try it out until I can buy a Memento stamp pad, although if I have time to experiment, I think heat embossing might work just as well.
In case you're wondering, Prize Patrols are one of the perks of going to Convention. That is when they announce that they are going to hand out free product to everyone, to give us a chance to try it before we offer it to you. It really is a terrific bonus, because every stamp set I received this Convention, was one I would have ordered anyway. I love that it saves me dollars.

There will be at least one more part to the Convention Tales so stay tuned...
Rachel

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

I have just arrived home from four days and three nights, staying in Melbourne for the Stampin' Up South Pacific Convention. Almost 700 Australian and New Zealander demonstrators gathered for fun and informative classes (and don't forget all the new product previews and give-aways!) Although it would have been possible to travel into the city each day, it would have meant an early commute on an overcrowded train, so I stayed on Flinders Street on the 10th floor, with a bit of a view, especially at night.
.

It was clean, comfortable and quiet, and that is all I ask of a hotel really. On a couple of mornings, I had breakfast out with my upline, Sue. For those who don't know, 'upline' is the title of the demonstrater who recruited you, so I am Sue's downline. Usually, we dine out at night in quite large groups, because everyone is so friendly, and we definitely have things in common, like stamping! {wink} These are friends who we talk to online and only see face-to-face once a year, so you have to make the most of it. Luckily, we are spoilt for choice in places to eat around Southbank.

Looking from the Melbourne Convention Centre along the Yarra River

Melbourne turned on the very best of weather, with temperatures between 18- 23°C (64-73°F) and it's only days away from the beginning of winter! On Wednesday I visited the National Gallery for a special exhibition visiting Melbourne until August sometime. The Italian Masterpieces from Museo del Prado (Spain) was full of fine examples of the Italian masters, which were greatly admired by Spanish Royalty and often given to the King as a gift. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed in the exhibition, so I purchased just one postcard. Afterwards, I had a rather long walk from the Art Gallery, back to the Convention Centre, to collect my gorgeous red bag, for an early start next morning. The managers had already had an afternoon of learning, and had been taken to a wonderful three course dinner at the Myer Mural Hall, with Shelli Gardener, the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!

 ThinkInk team members Sue, Toby & Judy, checking the new catalogue

Our days are filled with entertainment, information and new products, and there certainly are a few of those for us to learn about. Two of the most exciting are Project Life and Blendabilities. A limited release of Project Life will be available to demonstrators next week, and for our customers from the 10th June. Fantastic way to store your photos, so quick and easy, and they can be 'dressed up' quite simply too. I think I will need to start doing this to keep up with all the photos I take, mainly of my gorgeous grandchildren!!!! I expect to have some products to show you soon,so don't forget to visit my online shop after the 10th.

At the end of the introductory session, we had our first Make and Take. We receive the products we need, including the stamp set, which we keep. The first stamp set was called Kinda Eclectic, and we have used it to make three projects. The first was a pair of cards, very similar but one design was 'stepped up'. That means it had more embellishments and was fancier than the first. It's great fun to be the student, getting instructions on how to achieve a great card!

After that bit of crafty fun, it was time for lunch, and then we had the surprise we'd all been waiting for!! The staff came out carrying boxes of catalogues and we could hardly wait to get our hands on them. Now to check out all those new stamp sets, dies, framelits punches and In Colors. It is strictly one catalogue per attendee, but I will be placing my order as soon as the item numbers go 'live' and it will probably be another 10 days until I receive them. I am having a Catalogue Launch Party on Friday 4th July, but if you want one sooner than that, you can txt or email me, and I will let you know when they arrive.
Phone 0417 500 681 email  rpalmieri5@bigpond.com

After lunch on Thursday, there was plenty more to do with some 'Make & Takes' and other demonstrators sharing their knowledge in another theatre. I think it might be best to save those pics for another day, since I need an early night to prepare for my other work tomorrow.

Cheers...
Rachel

More South Pacific Stampin' Up! Convention

Part Two

This is the 25th Anniversary of Stampin' Up! and they are celebrating BIG TIME!

Stampin' Up! always treat the demonstrators very well, and demo support, situated in Sydney, are always so helpful and friendly, so it is almost like a big family get together. They arrive en mass from the US, Sydney and New Zealand and everyone has a role to fill. They hand out our bags and greet us, they show projects they have made, they man the tills in Momento Mall. At the end of Convention they must be exhausted - I know we all were! Convention is a HIGHLIGHT of our year, and this year was HUGE!

The Show Begins!

Convention opened on Thursday 23rd May with drumming and pyrotechnics.

Then Shelli talked about why she had formed the company with her sister, when they were young wives and mothers. Their needs at the time were similar to many of our own:- social, creative and financial. The first catalogue consisted of 64 pages, probably quite large for a small-scale home business being run from the lounge of the family home.

This year, the new catalogue has 210 fantastic pages, full of inspiration and tips, as well as the goodies available for you to buy. Every year they seem to get better, we were all thrilled to be given an early peek, especially as we'd been teased with a current copy in our Convention back pack.

The first catalogue.

Naturally, not every one of those 25 years has been positive and full of growth and the company has had to make some difficult decisions along the way. We all understand that while change can be difficult to deal with, it is often beneficial, so Stampin' Up! has always tried to be positive when those tricky moments arose.



Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald called in to thank us for sponsoring the Ronald McDonald houses associated with many children's hospitals. Last year was the first time we had the special stamp set for the Ronald McDonald houses in the Australia/New Zealand Catalogue. It was called Moving Forward, a great favourite of mine, but it will retire on 30th June. I have made a number of cards using this stamp set and you will find one here and another tricycle here and a boat here too. I haven't actually used the blimp yet, but I think I could before too long.

At the end of the presentation, all the demonstrators in the auditorium (and Ronald) received a copy of this years stamp set. I think it is okay for me to tell you that it is called Tag It, but I can't show you any images just yet. I can share with you that $3.00 from every sale of this set is donated to the Australian Ronald Mc Donald Houses.  I will try to get some cards made up soon using that stamp set, and I might be able to post a picture then.

I think that might be enough to go on with, thanks for passing to read my blog,
Cheers
Rachel

Moving Forward from $27.95

South Pacific Stampin' Up! Convention 2013

Part one: Where and Why.

Brisbane City Skyline

I’ve arrived back this afternoon from Brisbane, where I attended the annual Stampin’ Up! Convention for demonstrators. It’s four days of inspirational speakers, amazing WOW Workshops by other Australian and New Zealand demonstrators and similarly inspiring demonstrations by our CEO and co-founder Shelli Gardener and some of the staff from the US and Australian offices. This is one of the best opportunities for learning new techniques, finding out about products about to be released, and some of the cute things to be made with them. We also had tutorials on My Digital Studio and ways to let Facebook and Pinterest work for our business.

 

Shelli Gardener showed her 'This and That' Book

This year 680 demonstrators (mostly women) from all parts of Australia and New Zealand gathered at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, a wonderful venue, which served great food too!

Some Fun

In among this rather full program, there was also time to eat out with friends while enjoying the sunshine during the day and mild weather in the evening. A delicious lunch was supplied at the Convention Centre on two of the days.

Stampin' Up! are a very generous company, and even more so in this, their 25th year. We were given lots of free product to bring home in a special white and silver back pack, including stamp sets, kits and the new catalogue, which starts selling here on June 1st. I've spent time on the plane, jotting down the other stamps I want to buy, and we've had a chance to use the new In-colours and other new colours on our 'Make and Take' projects. They are fresh and lovely, and I 'm thrilled with all the stamp sets we have in our hands already, especially Gorgeous Grunge. (See below) This is one of the Make and Takes I had an opportunity to make using some new colours and my free stamps.

Retiring Product

With the new catalogue arriving soon, you might want to know when the Retiring list is released. Stampin' Up! have decided to release it this coming Friday. I have a good idea of items being retired, have already told you in an earlier blog post about the retiring colours and there is very little left in the way of A4 card or ink in those colours now. I think you may be best to jump in quickly if there is anything you want and it is so easy to do that now with online ordering. Oh, you can only order from me if you live somewhere in Australia.

Online Ordering

http://www3.stampinup.com/ECWeb/default.aspx?dbwsdemoid=4004988

The link above should take you straight to my online store, where you do need to set up a profile, similar to other online shops. I am offering a small gift (brads, stamps, ink pads) to any online orders in June, if you email me at rpalmieri5@bigpond.com and let me know you read about it on my blog.

I have to race off now to my regular day job, but I'll be back with more news about convention soon.
Rachel