more Stampin' Up!® Convention 2012 adventures

This was my most favorite Make and Take from convention, and I actually finished it completely during the first, alternate session on Wednesday afternoon:

stamp set- You're Amazing; ink: Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Primrose Petals; card stock - Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla; punches - Ticket Duo, 1/16" Circle, Itty Bitty Shapes; Big Shot™ with Apothecary Accents Framelits™; Paper Piercing Tool with Stampin' Pierce Mat and Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack; Linen Thread, Basic Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals®, Glue Dots®, paper snips, needle

Aren't those little tickets awesome?  Stringing them on the linen thread was almost therapeutic after my frustration with the flower on a stick...

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the "actual" days of convention, when we attended General Sessions and class presentations.  I learned so much!

Donna Griffith introduced demonstrators Meg Wheeler, Dawn Griffith and Laura Milligan, who presented "I Am...Savvy" projects using fabric, ribbon, and kits (both card and scrapbook); of course now I have to buy more supplies {grin}!

Pam Morgan gave us tips on taking advantage of performance bonuses in "I Am...Making Money".

Shannon West (and her "sidekick" Brian Pilling) informed us of how beneficial smiles are and had us dancing in the aisles to show that "I Am...Having Fun" is the #1 ingredient to maximize workshop possibilities.

Emily Montoya taught me some texting acronyms I didn't know before (Y! = typical man) and really inspired me to do more with social media to improve my efforts at "I Am...Reaching Out" to the emerging demographic of GenY.  Emily and "Kate" made me feel better about preferring text messaging to telephone conversations - bonus!

Sandra Manwill, Natalia Danko and Teresa Giordano totally rocked Hispanic Night, an extra event held in the evening. It was full of awesome projects as well as ideas for connecting with customers from Hispanic backgrounds.  They had some of the best give-aways, too, and I came home with the new heat tool - WooHoo!

I hadn't seen Bonnie Thurber before, but I'm pretty sure she's my favorite Stampin' Up!® employee - she's so funny, and she's my generation!  She introduced demonstrators Ronda Wade and Tami White who told us their "recipes" for "I Am...Doing Business 'My Way'", which are methods any of us can adapt for our own success.

Carrie Cudney related a "Gone Fishing" story to illustrate the need to look in new places and try new things in order to find new customers; now I can show everyone that "I Am...Open for Business".

There were also stamping demonstrations (with give-aways), lunches (with give-aways), shopping at Memento Mall (with give-aways), and awards.  Oh my!  I'm already putting away $1s and $5s for next year - won't you plan on joining us?