What a month

Well it has been nearly one month since I posted last and what a month. It has been a constant rush but and exciting time as well. Last time I posted was the night before my happy everything party. What an day that was. It started at 10am, well earlier really trying to get last minute details sorted, and finished about 9.30pm. We had about 30 stampers join in our celebration and from the feedback, everyone had a great time. It was exciting for me to share the new Ideas book and catalogue with my customers and to hear the positive remarks about it.

My helpers for the day, were Sarah ( my darling daughter) who was my door opener, food waiter, prize drawer and general helper and my loving husband, who was constantly making tea and coffee and washing up all day. Without them, I would not have made it through the day. Sarah thought it was such fun and in the last session she sat and made the two make and takes and gave herself a new catty survival kit.

I set up tables with displays of new product that everyone could look and see what was new. I made some quick samples of my new sets and my mate Kim lent me some beautiful samples she had made with Bodacious Bouquet to show off that set. We had a scavenger hunt with questions relating to the displays and to the new catalogue and everyone that participated in the hunt received an extra ticket in the lucky door prize. At each session we had 3 draws of the door prize and Sarah enjoyed doing the draw. And at the end of the night the final basket of goodies was won by Karen P.

Everyone who attended made two cards, this one using "take three" stamp set. This set just appealed to me as soon as I saw it in the new catalogue. It is a set of six stamps with a variety of sentiments. For this card we used my Stampin' Write markers to colour the image and words. The background paper is from the "Sarah" scrapbook papers (had to hide the name of this paper from Sarah who thinks they named it after her, but someone leaked it to her). Barely Banana was the main card colour, Certainly Celery and Bordering Blue were the other colours used. The Bordering Blue card was put through our new crimper and white and celery grosgrain ribbon finished the card.

The second card we made was using "Seeing Spots". This set was a special Christmas Gift to all Stampin' Up! Demo's at Christmas. I wasn't sure about it at first but the inspiration for this came from Splitcoaster's. It is a simple card but everyone enjoyed making it and it showcased the set, I sold quite a few of this set that day. I have used Night of Navy as the main card, Old Olive as the layer, Very Vanilla for the stamped image and Bashful Blue for the word. Inks used were Bashful Blue (you will have to look closely for the circles in Bashful Blue), Old Olive and Night of Navy. It also showcases my favorite technique, Tearing.

Everyone that attended received a New Catalogue Survival Kit. Another idea cased from Splitcoasters. Included in the kit was a toothpick, band aid, lifesavers, star burst, post-it notes, Rubber band. They also had a pen in them. The back of the stamped card had an explanation for the different items.

The backing card used "Simply Said" stamp set and Bold Brights inks.

I had a great day and caught up with a lot of my customers. Thanks to all who attended and made the day a success. A big thank you to my main supporters, Glen and Sarah. Check back in the next day or two for an update on our first Stampin' Up! convention downunder.