Home from Canberra and the bags are (mostly) unpacked. Wow – what an amazing few days we had for our annual Stampin' Up! convention.

I don't think Canberra knew what hit it when nearly 500 Stampin' Up! demonstrators from Australia and New Zealand descended on the Convention Centre.

We had sneak peeks of new products that'll be hitting our catalogues in a few months, as well as fabulous and inspirational 'Workshop Wows' from fellow demonstrators.

We were treated to fascinating guest speakers that were not only informative but entertaining as well. (Note: if you ever get the opportunity to hear Michael McQueen speak, take it! I have a new-found understanding of my Gen Z son after that one!). There were make & takes (of course!) and I even finished a couple of projects this year which must be a record for me.

As always, it was a pleasure to be in the company of Shelli Gardner and the other fabulous Stampin' Up! team members who made the trek over here. 

One of the treats at Convention is attending the Managers Reception, and this year it was taken to a whole new level. Check back for tomorrow's post to read all about that.

Of course, the best part of attending Convention is catching up with old and new friends and getting to know fellow team members from all over the country.

The Convention experience finished on Saturday night with the Awards night. We are so lucky that we have a sitdown dinner at our Convention, which always includes delicious food and this year was no exception.

After dinner we returned to the Main Stage for the Awards presentation, and to celebrate the achievements of many demonstrators.

We also heard announcements such as the venue of next year's Convention (sunny Brisbane – woohoo) and the next destination of the Incentive Trip (now called 'Grand Vacation'). Can you imagine how thrilled beyond belief we were to learn that next year it'll be to Salt Lake City, Utah. The home of Stampin' Up!.

And not only that, it will be a combined trip with achieving demonstrators from Germany, France and the UK. Oh. Wow. We'll also have the opportunity to attend the US Convention, which will be a celebration of Stampin' Up!s 25th Anniversary. Ok, that's big.

I was so proud to celebrate the achievements of 3 team members who were all in the Top 25 Demonstrators of the Year. Such amazing women, all of them. Congrats to Maureen (13th), Juliana (9th) and Tracy (10th). I cheered on as the girls walked the stage many times for a variety of awards. Lots of happy tears.

I came #6 in the Demonstrator of the Year, and #2 for the Leadership Award. A very big thank you to Stampin' Up! for the Leadership Award gift – a gorgeous watch which I'll treasure forever. Even the packaging was stunning!

During the night I was given lovely flowers, yummy choccies and certificates for the the annual $30K+ sales award, $100K Milestone sales award and Incentive Trip Achiever. Can't wait to head to Broome later this year with a great bunch of demonstrators. And to top off an amazing night, we learned that one of our team members came third place in the Rising Star award, which recognises the efforts of demo's in their first year. Well done, Nicole!

A very humble and grateful THANK YOU to my wonderful customers, stamp club girls, stamping friends, team members and of course family. Your support and encouragement means more than any award.

Phew. Well it sure was an action-filled few days… no wonder it took a couple of days to recover. Nothing was quite as good as the huge cuddles I got from the kids when we got back to Melbourne though. Arms flung around my neck and big squeezes –  nothing beats that.

Happy stamping,

P.S.  If my computer doesn't have a meltdown from all the photos, I'll be back tomorrow with highlights from the Managers Reception. Then I'll follow up with a separate post on swaps. So much to share…

Tags: 2012, canberra, Convention

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