My Leadership Swaps

Leadership was so long ago and I still haven't shown you the swaps I made.  I made 4 different swap cards and have 2 of them for you today.

The first features the Bordering on Romance Stamp Set found in the current Occasions Mini Catalog.  To add a little dimension I cut out one of the flowers and put it on a dimensional.  The bottom edge is cut with the coordinating Adorning Accents Edgelits Die.  The sentiment is from an all around great stamp set called Delightful Dozen.

The second card features the Faith in Nature Stamp Set.  This stamp set is available to hostesses of workshops $150 or more. To get the effect shown with the pear, I first used my aqua painter and water colored the background with So Saffron classic ink.  I then stamped the pear in Pear Pizzazz Classic Ink.  The pleated ribbon and button are also from the Occasions Mini Catalog as part of the Twitterpatted Product Suite.  Products in the Occasions Mini Catalog are available for purchase through the end of April.

VIEW THE OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG HERE.

ORDER ONLINE 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  Order $50 in Product (before tax and shipping) and receive a Sale-A-Bration item for FREE! and a Frequent Stamper Miles Token from me.  

Fresh Vintage

Fresh Vintage was a popular Sale-A-Bration stamp set to use for Leadership swaps last month.  I have three of them for you today with very different looks.
The first one, by Shari Fritz, uses ink shading and rough edges to achieve the vintage look.  The main image was done by coloring directly on the stamp with Stampin' Write Markers.

The second one, by Shari Caspers, is a more traditional design with bold colors.  Shari also features the Label Collection Framelits.

The last one is my favorite for today.  I love the soft look that Nelda Clements created.  She also featured the Paper Doily Sizzlet Die.  The simple colors make this card perfect for any number of occasions.

ORDER ONLINE 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  Order $50 in Product (before tax and shipping) and receive a Sale-A-Bration item for FREE! and a Frequent Stamper Miles Token from me.

Sprinkled Expressions

Did I mention how much I love the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets this year?  Well, I do.  Sprinkled Expressions especially.  It is so easy to use and make a quick card that looks like it took much longer.  Here is my favorite Sprinkled Expression swap from Leadership.

Card By: Sheila van Uitert

This technique is a favorite of mine.  Simply stamp your image several times onto Whisper White cardstock and then emboss with your favorite Big Shot embossing folder.  The Sprinkled Expressions stamp set comes with 3 images (Hearts, Star and Flower) along with 3 coordinating sentiments.

Close up of technique

ORDER ONLINE 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  Order $50 in Product (before tax and shipping) and receive a Sale-A-Bration item for FREE! and a Frequent Stamper Miles Token from me.

A few Sale-A-Bration samples

Sale-A-Bration (SAB) is in full swing.  I love this promotion and look forward to it every year.  The joy of getting something for free just because you ordered is fantastic.  I use it as my opportunity to stock up on cardstock and other consumables I use throughout the year.
This years FREE SAB stamp sets are so diverse in their design.  Add in the Designer Paper, Brad & Ribbon Pack and the Digital Download options and you have something for everyone.  The stamp sets this year are perfect for simple quick cards.  Here are a few of my favorites I received at the Leadership Swaps.

Unknown artist--Features the Elementary Elegance Stamp Set
and the Everyday Enchantment Brad and Ribbon Pack

By Barb Thomas--Features the Kindness Matters Stamp Set

By Susan Finn--Features the Outlines Occasions Stamp Set

ORDER ONLINE 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  Order $50 in Product (before tax and shipping) and receive a Sale-A-Bration item for FREE! and a Frequent Stamper Miles Token from me.

The Last of the Valentine Swaps

I wanted to show you this last set of Valentine Swaps I received at Leadership Conference.  There is still time to order anything you need to finish your Valentines this year.  I call these the "Love" group.  They don't specifically say "Valentine's Day" on them.  You could use them for any number of occasions.  Several of them are unsigned, so if you know who made the card please let me know, so I can give them credit.

Simple card using the embossing folder.  By: Unknown

This cupcake card could easily be for a birthday.  By: Unknown

A little hard to photograph.  Smaller 4x4 card with a really cute layout.  By: Unknown

Not the normal Pink and Red heart cart.  By: Kim Huffman

Order Online 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  All orders (before March 31st) over $50 (before tax and shipping) are eligible for Sale-A-Bration FREEBIES!

The people behind the scenes

Yesterday I shared a little about my roommates from Leadership Conference.  Today I want to share a few tidbits about the people who make Stampin' Up! such a great company to represent.

First is Shelli the CEO of Stampin' UP!  She is the most down to earth person to meet.  You can tell she truly cares about the demonstrators every time she speaks with us.  I couldn't imagine a more wonderful person starting this company.
Next is our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Nielsen, and our Marketing Manager Spencer Willis.  These two made the financial overview of the company so enjoyable to hear.  Scott dressed as Mr. Roger's, singing the opening theme song to the classic TV hit and even changed his jacket and shoes.  Scott has us all laughing as he came on stage as Mr. McFealy, with a Speedy Delivery for us.

At a Stampin' Up! Event even the home office gets in on the fun.  Each opening session they line the hallways and clap for us as we rush in to get good seats.  No picture as I was rushing to get to mine.  It makes you feel like a big celebrity.  Many of the fine men and women who work for Demonstrator Support and other departments at the home office, put in the extra time to prepare a dance to get us all energized for Leadership.  Their fearless leader was Donna Griffiths from the home office in Utah.

The People We Meet

One of the best things about a Stampin' Up! Event is all the people we meet.  I got the chance to spend the weekend with some great ladies.  It was so much fun to share the experiences of my 3 roommates.

Donna (on the right) got the chance to walk across stage as she promoted to  Manager this last year. 

Nola and I sat together for all of the general sessions.  

Pam had won the card challenge contest.  Here she is with her winning card  (green and white below her).

Here is Pam with her prize from the contest.  YEAH!  Free stuff!

There is no bad time to sign up with Stampin' Up! and become a Demonstrator.  You will get lots of great support and be able to attend these Wonderful Events in the future.  For more about the benefits of joining Stampin' Up! during Sale-A-Bration 2012 check out this post.  Or go to My Demonstrator Website and click on Join Now.

Leadership Gifts

Stampin' Up! loves to treat it's Demonstrators like royalty.  At Leadership last week they had all sorts of wonderful things for us.  I showed you the bag we got upon check in.  I take mine everywhere now.  Thank goodness it is washable.

On check in day we had our Make-N-Take session.  On the way into the room we got a bag with our Free stamp sets and accessories.

Once at our table we received our special gift from Shelli, CEO of Stampin' Up!.  She had for us a portfolio that matched our Leadership bag.  It is perfect for carrying a few cards and small note pad.  That cute little tag attached is signed by Shelli herself.  That may not sound too impressive, but there were 1400 demonstrators at Leadership.
Our final gift that day was in the center of the table.  Mike from the Stampin' Up! home office is from a family of chocolate makers.  He made a selection of chocolates for each of the Leadership Attendees.  There was milk chocolate with nut bits, dark chocolate with dried cranberries, and my personal favorite white chocolate with oreo cookie bits.

The cutest card we made for Ronald McDonald House.  I only have the tip sheet left as we donated the cards after making them and I forgot to take a picture.

More Valentine's Cards

Here is the second group of cards I got from swaps last week.  These are wonderful layouts also.  You can just change the sentiment and boom, new card.

By Jackie Groves--I love this technique.  The embossing folders add so much texture to the card.

By Donna Pelon --Classic Layout with so many possibilities. 

By M A Sanders--Who doesn't want a little bling on their card?  I absolutely love this Twitterpatted DSP.

By Gayle McCracken--She heat embossed the heart.  And the framed embossing folder is a must have for everyone.



ORDER Stampin' Up! Products online 24/7 at My Demonstrator Website.  Be sure to check back later for all the details about my New Frequent Stamper Program.  

Valentine Swaps

I love swapping cards with other demonstrators and Valentine's were a popular theme to swap last week at the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference.  I swapped approximately 100 cards and ended up with 16 Valentine's.  I have split them up into 4 groups.
The first group today has your traditional RED Valentine's.  This classic look is my favorite.

By Krista Jensen --Love  the new Fashionable Heart Embosslits Die from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

By Renee Piraino --The black embossing and letterpress plate are stunning.

By Erin Gonzales -- Hard to see in the photo, but she used  Silver and Cobbler Dazzling Details on the edges of the hearts.  This would be a perfect Valentine card for anyone on your list.

By Shirley Taylor --What a cute use of a stamp in another way.  Most people use it for a Christmas tree.

Stampin' Up! "My Way"

My most favorite thing about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is that I can run my business "My Way".  It has allowed me to hold workshops, classes and clubs in a way that fits into my family schedule.  I have had the flexibility to slow down my business when things got busy at home.  I even stopped for the last couple months while renovating my home.
I am ready to hit the cardstock hard now and went to Leadership Conference in San Antonio last week to help me gain some new ideas on how to enhance my business.

Each year Stampin' Up! selects a theme for their conferences.  This years theme is "My Way".  Focusing on the ability of each demonstrator to run their business in a way that suits him/her.  In the spirit of doing it "My Way" they gave demonstrators a wide selection of classes to attend.  I chose some great ones.  
First, after the opening group session was "Sharing the Stampin' Up! Opportunity" with Brian Pilling.  He gave all of us some things to think about when it comes to the relationships we develop with our customers.  Especially some thoughts to what things our future downline demonstrators are most concerned about when deciding to join Stampin' Up! and how we can ease the fears when starting a new business.
On the second full day I attended three classes.  Before lunch I had "Retaining and Engaging your Downline" with  Donna Griffith and Patsy Waggoner.  Patsy was so inspiring.  She told us "Her Way" of building her downline group to meet a personal goal of hers.  I can't wait to start implementing some of her ideas for recognition, training and simply enjoying stamping with my downline.
After lunch I went to "Coaching for Performance" with Natalie White and Jim Pitt.  I found this to be one of the most helpful sessions.  I have been a demonstrator for 6 years now.  I know what types of classes and workshops I enjoy doing the most.  But what works for me may not work for someone else.  Natalie and Jim helped us to work with our downline to see what they want the most out of this business and how to coach them to achieve their goals.
Before our final group session I attended one last class with Carrie Cudney titled "Why Women Buy".  This was a great way to end classes.  I found it entertaining to look at the way the female race determines what we buy.  She had several books for us to consider reading.  My Nook will be getting a workout soon.  I picked up a few tips from her already and plan to look more carefully at the products I group together for my next workshop.

There were many wonderful things about Leadership conference.  I will share those another day.  Before then how about I share the fantastic bag they gave us to carry all of our things in.  Demonstrators are so lucky to be associated with this fantastic company.  Who wouldn't love to get this bag?  The lower section is even reversable.  Sorry, you can't have mine, but contact me and I will be more than happy to help you develop a business with Stampin' Up! so you can attend Leadership next year.  The best part, you can do it "Your Way".