More about Convention

Well I promised you more Convention news, but I really don’t know where to start. It was such a fabulous weekend. If you love crafting as much as I do – and I know you do – it’s worth signing up as a demo simply to get the chance to go on this trip!

I travelled down with three of my team: two Alisons and Jacqui. Despite setting off nice and early, we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 7.30pm, thanks to the M25. We had decided to save some money by staying at the Travelodge in Croydon, instead of one of the two hotels where Stampin’ Up!® had blocked rooms. It was perfectly fine... and we got a room each for half the price of sharing at the other two hotels!

After a snack, we spent the first evening in my hotel room. I held court from the bed (I was too tired to do anything else after the drive down – while the others did some last-minute stamping. I wasn’t surprised; I really hadn’t expected Alison to have finished her swaps in time! The other Alison helped her pack them into cello bags, while Jacqui made her bag tag. We all get given a bag at Convention, so it helps to make a tag to distinguish yours from everyone else’s. I WILL take a photo of mine when we get some daylight!

Eventually I turfed them out of my room so I could go to bed and attempt to get some rest – not easy as I don’t sleep well in towns, I’m too much of a country girl!

Next day we set off bright and early. Well, early – I certainly wasn’t feeling bright as I’d woken up at 4am to the sound of police sirens and couldn’t get back to sleep again. But we wanted to get to Addington Palace early to beat the queues.

No chance. Registration was from 8.30am to 11am... we arrived at 8.34am to a huge queue!!! The main Convention hall was in a marquee at the palace, which you reached through a tented walkway. It was a bit like queuing up to see Santa... only at the end we received our Convention bags and free stamp sets!

In the queue, the swapping began. I will take a pic of some of my swaps in the next few days – there are some stunning creations! It was good to meet lots of other demonstrators from all over the UK, France and Germany.

 

During the rest of the morning, we visited Memento Mall (see picture) – this is where we can buy special Stampin’ Up! memorabilia such as fabulous craft totes (sadly they ran out and are sending some more over from the USA so I will have to wait until Christmas for mine), gorgeous 12x12 bags (I use one for work – I need a big bag for all my snacks!), pens, rulers and other goodies.  

We also stamped some sheets with all of the 40 colours, plus the five In Colors – this is a really useful activity for demonstrators because, believe it or not, we don’t all have all of the ink pads, cardstock and markers! So this gives us something to show to customers without having to buy absolutely everything. This was quite fun as everything was laid out at very long tables which were decorated with this gorgeous cardstock bunting!

After brunch, the main session began, with the arrival of Shelli Gardner, Stampin’ Up!’s co-founder and CEO – you know, the lady pictured at the front of the catalogue with the big family! She is an amazing lady and passionate about stamping, just like the rest of us!

In the afternoon we had some business presentations and saw some fantastic demonstrations from some of the top demonstrators from here, as well as France and Germany. They were truly inspirational – and I’m sure you’ll be seeing my versions of some of their ideas over the next few months!

Then it was time to nip back to the hotel to change for the gala dinner... which you already know ALL about.

That’s all for now. Didn’t want to bore you with all the tiny details, but seem to be doing so anyway! Will tell you more about the even more exciting Day Two another time. I really want to get some photos to accompany the post, but it’s very difficult in this horrible weather because it’s so dark everywhere.