Caturday - RIP Pumpkin

This week at the cat shelter we bid a fond farewell to Pumpkin, who had to be put to sleep after his condition deteriorated. He was about 17 so he had a good innings, as they say. He will be missed!

Convention 2013 - the long report!

As I mentioned on Wednesday, Convention was amazing – even more so this year for being able to choose your activities.

It was fantastic this year that 10 of my team were able to go to Convention and we travelled up to Manchester on Thursday afternoon, most of us in a minibus but some by train or car. We grabbed an early bite to eat in our hotel before heading off to Convention.

I and my downline Tracey were honoured to be invited to the Silver 2 Reception at the Victoria and Albert Hotel. This was a special event for demonstrators who met certain sales and recruiting requirements.

We checked in to Convention here and received our Convention bag – every year we get a bag to carry our goodies around in – with our free stamp sets. All Convention-goers get the same; this year it was a lovely white rucksack with silver trim – loads of pockets and room for a laptop, too! Our stamp sets for this year were Tag It, Gorgeous Grunge and Hello, Lovely. Your bag also contains your special Convention pen, programme and your name tag with badges representing any awards you’ve earned

But at the Silver 2 reception, we received an extra gift of a handy conference folder and commemorative Parker pen. We were also treated to some stamping demonstrations and inspirational presentations, followed by a buffet and entertainment from a singer.

We didn’t stay too late, though, as we knew we’d be missing all the gossip back at the hotel, where we found the rest of the team exchanging gifts. You’ve seen the gifts I made for them – well they are put well and truly in the shade as I am proud to have a very talented team. There were baked goodies, handmade toiletries, beautifully stamped items and more.

Most of us have been to Convention before, so knew not to stay up too late as the Convention centre opened next day at – gasp! – 7.30am. No chance of getting there that early, so we arranged to meet up in time for doors opening at 8.30am. We could find each other easily this year as one of our team, Patsy, had made us all a distinctive flower to wave in the air. These worked brilliantly!

After some frantic swapping, Convention began with the words “the show will begin momentarily” which always makes me chuckle.

Sadly, this year our CEO and co-founder Shelli Gardner couldn’t be there as she was in a nasty horseriding accident several weeks ago and is still not well enough to travel, but she sent us a video message and her daughter, Sara Douglass, did an admirable job of stepping into her shoes.

I won’t give you a blow-by-blow account of the rest of Convention as that would involve writing a book! And I promise you that I didn’t take pictures of all the food, either! Suffice to say that this Convention saw the introduction of the “Expo” which was brilliant. Aside from the main presentations, we could wander round as we wished, visiting the areas of most interest to us – business talks, demonstrations, display boards, hands-on areas and more.

I was excited to see several of my own creations on the display boards – see if you can spot them!

After each on-stage demonstration there’s a drum roll for Prize Patrol, which is always very exciting. We all had a coloured wrist band and, if your colour comes up on screen, it means you’ve won a prize. Well, it has to be said that I NEVER win a prize at Convention – and my friend Alison ALWAYS does. She says this is down to positive thinking so, for the first Prize Patrol, I told myself (and her) that I would most definitely win. Didn’t work. The colour which came up was Alison’s and not mine! She won the new Undefined set which I showed you on Wednesday.

Never mind, there were plenty more Prize Patrols and I’m happy to say that I did win on the second day. This time I really DID know that I would win... as it was a stamp set I wasn’t at all keen on and that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes! But it didn’t matter as I quickly swapped with Ann, who loved it and had won something she wasn’t keen on! So everyone was happy in the end.

Even if you didn’t win a Prize Patrol, in among all the prize-giving were “all-attendee giveaways”. The clue is in the title and I was staggered when I got home and counted up to discover that there were FIVE of these! Stampin’ Up!® are always generous at Convention but this year were extra generous as it marked the end of our 25^th anniversary celebrations. This is what everyone received:

o               Undefined rubber, foam and block to carve (don’t forget to guess which was my stamp!)

o               Oh, Goodie! Stamp set with Real Red Goodie Gear Simply Created Kit

o               Gold Foil Sheets with NEW washi tape and trim which is coming in the Spring/Summer catty

o               NEW DSP pack – again from the Spring/Summer catty

o               NEW Language of Love stamp set – from the Spring/Summer catty

Friday night was the time for glad rags for Awards Night, where demonstrators are recognised for their achievements throughout the year. This was kicked off with a flash mob, where certain demonstrators around the room started singing “Stamping Queen” to the tune of “Dancing Queen”, and others joined in with a dance at certain points in the song. Soon the whole room was performing the same (or near enough) dance. I’ve never witnessed a flash mob before, so stayed at the edge of the room trying to capture it on film! Not sure if it will work here but here goes...

Then the Awards Night could begin and first up on stage were all those demonstrators who have served five years and received their commemorative badge. So up we went – Alison and Tracey and I – to do our five-year walk. I have to say that I wasn’t half as nervous as the last time I had to go on stage, partly because I knew it was happening this time and partly because I had my team-mates with me!

I had to do one more walk during the evening, for Leadership – but this felt rather fraudulent as it was the efforts of my team which earned me this award. Thank you Tracey and Tricia!

After the awards there was a buffet and live band, and a chance for some of us to squeeze into one of the photo booths…

Saturday saw more inspirational presentations, demonstrations, sneak peeks and ideas… until we headed back to the hotel on a high at about 4.30pm.

After a short rest we headed into the markets, which were just a street away from our hotel. What a crowd! I’ve never seen so many people in one place, but it was a friendly crowd and we picked up some exciting goodies, including a gorgeous Christmas wreath and a couple of Christmas presents.

We ate out that evening in a little Italian restaurant where Patsy got more than she bargained for from the waiters and the rooms seemed to be wall-to-wall demonstrators!

Then, I’m afraid, we stayed up rather late – but we had a great time, laughing until it hurt about who knows what now? Whatever it was, it was hilarious at the time.

After a lie-in and a short shopping trip on Sunday morning, it was time for our bus driver to collect us for a rather more subdued journey home.

For the next three years, Convention will be held in Brussels, so we’ll be heading off on the Eurostar for another fun-packed weekend. Why don’t you join us? All you have to do is sign up as a demonstrator – and I can advise you of the best time to do this.  With a little planning and effort, you could be paying for your trip out of your commissions!

Back from Convention with Undefined Stamp Carving Kit

I’m back from Convention and  wow! What a Convention it was – the best one yet! We had lots more flexibility this year and could choose the classes most appropriate to our business, which was great. And there was a fabulous hands-on area for us to try various products, including this brand new line called… Undefined!

If you visit US blogs you may already have seen this exciting line of products.

If you have always wanted a particular stamp but been unable to find it, this product is for you. If you like trying new things, this product is for you. If you have an inner artist just waiting to break out, this product is for you.

Take a look at the video to see how it works, then check out these two photos of the stamps carved at Convention and see if you can work out which one was mine! I’ll give you the answer in a few days.

My friend/downline Alison was lucky enough to win a full Undefined set at Convention, so I can’t wait to see what she creates with it.

The great news is that you can now purchase this kit – and an add-on set with extra rubber – and start carving your own stamps in time for Christmas! Wouldn’t a carved stamp, unique to your friend, make a fabulous little Christmas gift?

Undefined Stamp Carving Kit – 133402 - £17.95

Two carving tools

7.6 x 10.2 cm rubber

7.6 x 10.2 cm foam

Four wood blocks (various sizes)

One Island Indigo Stampin’ Write Marker

Three postcards

Instruction sheet

Stamp image templates

Undefined Refill Kit – 134808- £8.95

7.6 x 10.2 cm rubber

7.6 x 10.2 cm foam

Four wood blocks (various sizes)

Clear-Mount Cling Foam – 124236 - £9.95

This is an option which will allow you to create your own clear-mount stamps. Mounting your stamps on the cling foam allows you to make stamps any size you want, not just what will fit on the blocks in the kit.

And there’s more! When you’ve purchased the kit and carved your stamp, Stampin’ Up!® would love to see what you’ve made, so you can email photo of your stamp and any projects you’ve made with it to undefined@stampinup.com so they can pin your photos to the Undefined Pinterest board!

Team gifts for Convention - wood-mount cases

Don’t forget you have until noon on Friday, 6th December to enter my Mystery Hostess Draw. All you have to do is place an online order using the following code:

These are the gifts I made for my team members who attended Convention. It’s a simple idea which can be adapted for any small gift – or a larger gift if you use the full-sized boxes.

The challenge was making them all different – and all the notepads and pens different, too – so that they could be easily identified and not mixed up!

Cover inserts are easy to make for these boxes as they just slide into the plastic cover. Inside the box was a little trickier – mainly because of all the things I wanted to fit in.

The note pads fit almost perfectly and slide into a flap so that they don’t drop out but can be removed if necessary. I decorated the fronts very simply (well I did have to make nine of them!) and topped with this year’s Convention logo, cut out with the die from my new Label Card Thinlits.  To get the right size of notepad at the right price I had to buy 50 of them, so expect to see those at a future event – my Spring/Summer Catalogue and SAB launch perhaps?

The pen just nestles down the side – and each pen is decorated with a tiny piece of DSP inside the barrel. I use Zebra pens for this sort of thing, so was excited to find small ones.

At the top of each case, I stuck a calendar – handy for all those Convention announcements of dates for Sale-a-Bration, new catalogues, next year’s Convention, etc!

Below that is a tiny envelope containing a sewing kit. This was my son’s idea – not sure if that was because he thought a sewing kit could come in handy or if he knew that I had dozens of them stashed away!

And this was, in fact. the trickiest bit of all because there are no measurements for making an envelope for a tiny sewing kit on the Envelope Punch Board! But I was determined not to be defeated and, about 12 pieces of scrap paper later, I finally came up with the goods. I’ve stored the template and measurements with my stash of sewing kits so expect to see those cropping up at a future event!

Stamps: Morning Post Alphabet

Cardstock: Various – Midnight Muse, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Island Indigo, Pool Party shown

Paper: Gingham Garden, Quatrefancy

Ink: Various – Midnight Muse, Melon Mambo shown

Accessories: Gingham Garden washi tape, Label Card Thinlits, 1 3/8” circle punch, scallop circle punch, wood-mount cases (half-size)

Convention gifts - Mosaic Madness clouds

When my team members reach Bronze 2, they all receive a keyring with a bead on it. As they progress through the SU ranks, or attend SU events, I award them extra beads. Convention is an extra special event, however, so I try to give them a charm which relates to the destination.

Paris was easy – the Eiffel Tower. Frankfurt was really hard and I ended up with a not too attractive eagle, the official bird of Germany. Manchester? I admit I was a bit stumped for a while but then I remembered the British obsession with the weather and settled on these rather cute umbrella charms.

I really love the card design, with its contradictory weather of sunshine and rain on it – should have added a snowy background, too! I totally borrowed this idea from Emma Fuge, a hugely talented stamper from Wales. Hope she doesn’t mind! My version is slightly different, to adapt to the supplies I had, but I loved the way she stamped clouds using the Mosaic Madness stamp and made a fab sun with circle punches and paper snips. Clever lady!

To make the raindrops, I mixed a tiny drop of Soft Sky reinker with some Crystal Effects and applied it to the cardstock using a cocktail stick. Not all went well!

Stamps: Chalk Talk, Mosaic Madness

Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Gumball Green

Ink: Soft Sky, Crushed Curry

Accessories: Chalk Talk Framelits, 1¾” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Whisper White Baker’s Twine, Chalk Marker, Crystal Effects, Soft Sky reinker

And don’t forget...

Convention swap - Chalk Talk and Honeycomb folder

Now this is a much simpler swap – although I have to admit that, again, assembly was all done by my very helpful downline, Patsy.

For this design, I started with one of my favourite colours – Summer Starfruit – and “stamped” on it using the Honeycomb Embossing Folder. This is easy to do with a brayer and an ink pad – you just have to remember that the look you are aiming for is shabby chic so it doesn’t matter if your stamping doesn’t quite hit the mark. In fact, imperfect is perfect in this case.

I kept things simple by adding a die-cut greeting, a Midnight Muse banner and a few blingy stars. I think this would work for a man or a teenage boy… but I’d like to receive it, too.

I’m due home today but please don’t expect any Convention news for a while, as I am sure to be exhausted and very busy!

Stamps: Chalk Talk

Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Whisper White, Midnight Muse, Champagne Glimmer Paper

Ink: Midnight Muse

Accessories: Chalk Talk Framelits, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Linen Thread, Merry Minis Punch Pack, Brayer

And don’t forget...

Caturday: black kittens!

Why do I look so fed up? Take a look inside...

Yes it’s Convention, but it’s still Caturday... and look what turned up at the shelter last week!

Inititally it was thought that it was a tabby mother and four black kittens, all of which looked alarmingly pregnant.

But once they’d all settled down and could be inspected properly, it turned out that the tabby was a male, one of the black “kittens” was a very small mother, and the other three were all males. Worms are the likely culprit but treatment had, by then, already been administered, so things should settle down soon.

See? I'm being pushed out of bed by my brother!

One lucky black kitten has already been packed off to his new home. At the time of writing there were still two more and the mother, as well as the tabby male, looking for homes.

And don’t forget...