Stampin' Up! Convention - Brisbane Australia - Totally Awesome!

All I can say is WOW!! What a Weekend! Convention went for 2 days but I had 4 wonderful days!

It started with meeting Maggie and her entourage at the airport on Thursday afternoon and we all jumped into a maxi-cab and made our way to our apartments we were staying in - talk about loverly! Only drawback was we were on the top floor and there was NO lift .. ugh .. my body reminded me every time I went up an down those stairs that I have fibromyalgia and that my knees didn't like those stairs!

I do hope you like Maggie's shirt here and I'm thinking I might need to get me one too!

Friday morning started with check-in and Memento Mall and you do have to go spend here right - its like a pre-requisite for convention isn't it and all the lovely goodies inside.

I got some magnets which I'll use as hostess thank you's and the like, a mini catalogue bag (which also doubles as a swap bag) and 3 loverly new insulated coffee mugs. They have a stainless steel rim and do keep your coffee warm for ages. Now why 3 you say? well one to use, another to use when the first one is dirty and you always need a spare one right?? You'd never guess I love my coffee would you???

You can see the magnets & coffee cup here in this picture. It also shows the stamp sets I came home with ... what a stash! Fast & Fun Notes and the Happiness Background were in our lovely blue convention bags. Those attending the Leadership session also received the Garden Whimsy set. I won (yippee) the Fabulous Flowers in the Prize Patrol - so very happy about that as my name wasn't called last year.

The Short & Sweet set was part of my recruiting award and here I am getting my award.

Shelli is such a lady full of grace. In her opening she talked about 'dreaming' and the theme of the convention was Dream Big. An email was sent out to random demonstrators prior to convention asking for their SU stories and how SU has changed their lives or how it has impacted on them. Well I sent my story back and I shared more than I normally do. I mention about the Bank Robbery I was in and about losing our little baby Daniel and she shared all this. I wasn't told she was going to use any of my story so I was a little unprepared for what was about to be said as I dont tell everyone about these things in my life. Well after her talk there were a few tears shed (and not all were mine!) and I had a lot of friends come up and hug me and one of them was Bernadette from our Demo Support and I told her it would have been nice to be forewarned. Apparently she mentioned this to Shelli and when I did go and say hello to her she gave me the biggest hug and apologised profusely for not letting me know and thanked me for being so open and sharing so much.

We had sessions led by Pam Morgan, Linda Hansen, Carrie Cudrey, Bernadette Gamo and Shannon West. We also had the general sessions run by Shelli and Aaron Scott and Shelli also had a demonstration for us. I could just sit and watch Shelli, Pam and Linda for days!

We also had a great time doing the make and takes. Here you can see the finished products with the forever scrap booking layout, gift box, water coloured note cards and the friend card.

I am a little sad that its all over so quickly but know I have come away with a lot of ideas I can implement in my business and hopefully some will improve what I already do.

I also know that its a lot of money to spend on two days but it really is sooooo very worth every penny! You not only bring home a bag of loot and some great ideas to share and implement but also with alot of new friends who share the same passion you do. I really did enjoy this year's convention more so than last year - maybe a little of that is because I didnt know what to expect last year and this year I had more of an idea of the format and such.

After the Awards dinner on the Saturday night my brother picked me up from the city and took me back to his place and I got to spend a nice relaxing day with him and his family - something that I normally wouldn't have the chance to do.

I am feeling rather blessed with all the friends I have met through Stampin' Up! and I dont doubt for a moment that God has had a very big hand in all of this. I have grown so much since joining Stampin' Up! and my stamping has developed as has my scrapping and I have all these Diva friends as well - life is good and it really doesnt hurt to "Dream Big!"