Miss me? Want to see what's been keeping me off of my blog? I've been planning "Spring Fling" with my fellow demonstrator, Claire Lawrence! It's the first time Claire and I have held an event like this! And it was worth every second of the hours we spent planning!
We wanted to offer a day where Stampin' Up! demonstrators and their customers could come together to learn some stamping techniques, hear from long time demonstrators, hear from a Stampin' Up! employee (and demonstrator), stamp, swap, and make new friends. And, I think (hope) we succeeded!
But, Spring Fling started hours earlier for me - around 4:30pm on Friday! I had the pleasure of picking up our guest speaker, Maxine Conrad, from the airport! Max is a demonstrator. But, she also works for Stampin' Up! In fact, she works directly with the top demonstrators in the company (which includes Claire and I). She's able to bring an interesting perspective since she knows first-hand what it is to be a demonstrator while knowing what goes on behind the scenes within Stampin' Up! She's the first and only Stampin' Up! employee to earn the incentive trip. She's even been one of the Top 100 demonstrators in the US!
After picking up Max from the airport, we drove over to Claire's house in Philadelphia because two of our other guests were staying with Claire. Just shortly after we arrived, Karen Barber and Michelle Zindorf pulled up! Karen Barber is actually Claire's aunt! And Karen and Michelle have become very good friends through stamping. So, the five of us (along with Claire's sister/Karen's niece) headed off to yummy Thai dinner.
The next morning was the actual Spring Fling event. Max was a trooper! She got up at 6am with me to get ready and head over to the venue. But, she, of course, was still on Mountain Time and it really felt like 4am to her! The event started with an hour of swapping and demonstrations from four of our own demonstrators.
We heard from our uplines - Karen Barber and Tina Rosenkrans (the demonstrators WE signed up through), Max told some great stories, shared some fantastic tips, and inspired us all for the next 90 minutes. One demonstrator in attendance said she's not a note-taker, but took four pages of notes based upon the valuable information Max had to share! Then it was time for everyone to get up and move around and STAMP!
Every attendee had the opportunity to stamp with Karen as she showed them some of her wonderful watercoloring techniques. She also shared her FABULOUS White Gel Pen trick. WOW! So easy and SO great! AND, many people watched in awe as she demonstrated how to tie those GORGEOUS bows she puts on her cards.
In addition to the watercoloring, the attendees also made an alterned notebook, a scrapbook page, and a "Color Book" that gave them a sample of each color of cardstock in the current Stampin' Up! collection - a valuable tool for a demonstrator OR a customer. It's adorable AND functional!
After lunch, another one of our demonstrators, Beverly, presented a quick demonstration of My Digital Studio! She gave us some great tips that I'd never heard before! It's amazing how powerful that piece of software really is! Tina and Max both shared some more before it was time for more stamping!
After all of the door prizes were handed out, after all of the winning swap designers had been recognized, and after everyone was totally exhausted from a crazy few hours of Make & Takes, we said our goodbyes to the attendees. But, my Spring Fling weekend wasn't over yet! Claire, Max, Tina, Karen, Michelle, and I all had dinner reservations at an adorable restaurant in Elmer. (I think Max got to try almost every restaurant in Elmer this weekend!) The service was a little on the slow side (okay, maybe a lot), but at least we had great company for our three hour dinner! It's not every day that I get to enjoy a dinner with every single one of my uplines! In fact, I think I can only remember one other time that the four of us (Tina, Karen, Claire, and I) were all together at once! And, it was an added bonus to have Michelle and Max there, too! We shared so many funny stories.
But, we weren't done yet! I had a class today and I hadn't designed the projects!!! Max wasn't leaving until later in the afternoon so she was able to sit with me and helped provide feedback on the projects. And, of course I cut extra paper so she could make them, too! Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to Max here at the house while Mike ran her to the airport.
I'm already looking forward to our next couple of events this summer and fall. Although, I do need a break! But, never fear, I will be stamping A LOT over the next few weeks now that this event is behind me.
Before I sign off, I know there are a few people who like to borrow photos from my blog (you know who you are), so I thought I'd share a few more from the day!!!
I would like to know what they did with the hearts and cute flowers????
Posted by: Patty Jo | March 20, 2011 at 07:13 PM