{Me}

Every so often I choose a stamp set to challenge me or because it has some hidden meaning behind it. This stamp set, Sip by Sip, fits this category. After returning from Convention I had to buy this set. Why? One of the speakers at Convention was the inspirational Derek Christenson. Derek's talk was about how we deal with stressful events. To quickly summarise the story, imagine placing a carrot, an egg and coffee beans into boiling water for 20 minutes. How would they all cope? The carrot would turn soft, the egg very hard but the coffee beans would change their environment to something positive.

He then discussed further how we should and could all try to look at stressful events from the coffee bean's perspective.

So here's my first card using the set.

Meet Betty!

When I saw that we had a Sock Monkey set in our new catalogue I decided that I needed a sock monkey so Betty came to live with us!

Betty came to Convention with me to meet Mr Sock Monkey. Unfortunately Betty was very shy and only made it out of the hotel room on the very last night!

She is pictured here with the card that we sent anonymously to Mr Sock Monkey before Convention. Unfortunately he had moved house and never received the card.

Demonstrator opinion on the Sock Monkey set is quite strongly divided! What do you think? Would you like to receive a Sock Monkey card from Betty?

This card is for my grandad's birthday next week. It uses the grass from Inspired by Nature. The background uses the baby wipe technique. To make the grass into bull rushes I used the horizontal slot punch and black cardstock.

The crimper, twine and spiral punch add more texture to the card.

Here's the second card we made at our team training. This lovely card was designed by Beth Stewart.

This one fits Nicki's criteria by using the crimper, stars, twine and a masculine image. How cute is this card. The stamp is from Pun Fun.

The one tough part of team training is that I always get to play with new stamp sets and then my wish list gets even longer! Thankfully I have enough team members close by that I can borrow from!

At convention the lovely Nicki Tidbold did her Workshop Wow section on masculine cards. A common comment I get at workshops and classes is that making cards for the males in our lives is often difficult. So this month at my team training I decided to take Nicki's suggestions and create a make and take card for the team suitable to give to a male.

The card above fits Nicki's criteria by using circles and twine. It's also a great way to use up scraps of patterned paper. The stamp set used is Circle Circus - a very versatile set. Check back tomorrow for the other card designed by Beth Stewart that everyone got to make.

This card was made using Friends 24-7. When I first saw this stamp set in the new catalogue it made it to my wish list. When I'd finished that initial wish list I had to remove some off the list to a more reasonable spending level and Friends 24-7 was below the cut off.

Over the last few weeks I've seen lovely work on other blogs using it and kept having to say to myself that I really needed to ink up all my other stamps before I could justify buying more (anyone else struggle with not being able to listen to the 'sensible spending' person in their head?!!). So you can imagine how happy I was when I was one of the lucky recipients of this stamp set in a Prize Patrol at Convention.

I was talking with someone the other day about people's different styles of cardmaking or scrapbooking. Some people have very distinct styles - I used to think I did but Stampin' Up! has pushed me out of my comfort zone quite a bit over the last three years and I think my style has probably become a little more diverse than it used to be.

What do you think? Do I have a distinctive style?

A little over 3 years ago I first viewed the video in the link below. It used to only be available as a DVD that demonstrators could send out in the mail. As of today you can view it online.

Click here to view the Introduction to Stampin' Up! video

I've just sat and watched the presentation again for the first time in a long while and was touched by how true everything said on the video is. Whilst some of it is a little out of date in terms of the stamp sets shown and other parts are referring to USA demonstrators the sentiment and statements made in it are why I'm so passionate about Stampin' Up!

Occasionally fellow team members will say that they're not comfortable asking people to sign up as a demonstrator as they don't want to appear pushy. I feel completely the opposite about it. I want to share the experiences and opportunities Stampin' Up! have given me with everyone I meet. Why would I want to keep the passion I have for Stampin' Up! just to myself - it's much more fun sharing it!

If you've fallen in love with Stampin' Up!, love checking out Stampin' Up! demonstrator blogs (both here in Australia and overseas), can recognise and name Stampin' Up! colours, can't live without your Stamp-a-ma-jig, look forward to attending workshops and classes to learn new things, help out your demonstrator by showing other customers how to use products then why not take 10 minutes out of your day to watch the video.

Leave me a post to say you've checked out the video and I'll randomly choose one name to receive the lovely Level 1 Best Yet hostess set.

If you'd like to receive further information just contact me today and I can send you further information.

To finish off I'd like to use two quotes from two new stamp sets:

"We grow great by dreams" Woodrow Wilson

and

"The happiest business in the world is that of making friends" Anne S. Eaton

Those two quotes are so meaningful to my journey with Stampin' Up! so far - tomorrow I'll share a card using one of them. Leave me a comment below with which sets they're from and you'll also be in the running for the Best Yet stamp set.

PS If you knew which set they came from without having to check the catalogue and you don't own the actual sets it sounds like Stampin' Up! has you hook, line and sinker!!

Wow what an amazing weekend. I'm back from a fantastic weekend in Canberra at the 3rd annual Stampin' Up! convention.

I spent 2 days catching up with friends, being inspired by great presentations and coming home more motivated than ever!

The photo above is a very big reason why Stampin' Up! means so much to me.

This was the photo of the INKling team members that attended Convention (and a few members missed the photo too). If it wasn't for Stampin' Up! I probably would never have met nearly all these fantastic women. I feel very blessed to have them in my team. They are such an amazing group of women that continue to inspire and motivate me. We were lucky enough to have Shelli Gardner (CEO and Co-Founder of Stampin' Up!) walk past us as we were taking the photo so she joined us in the back row in the red jacket.

At the Convention Awards Night I received awards for Sales, Recruiting and Leadership.

I took 2nd place overall in the Leadership category which was a lovely surprise and as well as the stamp sets and pin I also received a gorgeous Tiffany necklace.

I finished 10th overall in the Demonstrator of the Year Category and also earnt the Incentive Trip to Noosa later this year.

I couldn't have achieved these awards without the support of my lovely customers, team members and family support. Thank you.

I'd like to say a special hello and thank you to the many demonstrators who came and introduced themselves to me over the weekend. Many of you said that you read my blog - I'd love for you to leave me a comment so I can say hello in return from time to time.

The hardest part of Convention is saying goodbye to everyone. For many of the interstate team members and fellow demonstrators it's the only time we catch up each year.

Even though we only meet once a year the connection and passion we have through being part of the bigger Stampin' Up! family means that the hugs and laughter (until tears are falling!) we share each year are just enough to last us until next time.

I just know that 2009-2010 is going to be a fantastic year.