It was quite an intense 3-day event, from 2 PM on Thursday to 4 PM on Saturday (3 - 5 November). The three of us (Kate, my friend and my up line, and Bev, her mother-in-law and also an avid crafter, and I) flew down from Melbourne and joined with lovely Judy May to stay in a hotel nearby the convention centre. When I paid for the registration, the flight ticket and the hotel fee, I didn't imagine it to be such a fun and inspiring trip. But I can now honestly say that it's money well-spent in every aspect.
Because it was my very first Stampin' Up convention, I asked Kate all sorts of questions, from dress code to things to bring and what will happen etc. But newbie as I was, my cards swaps fell short by a large degree compared to others. I only grabbed from home 6 cards with me (they were made previously during free time and all of different designs) with paper slips on the back scribbled with the supplies I used, whereas others brought 30-50 card swaps (most of them were cleverly made into panels rather than actual cards to reduce cost and weight) with paper on the back, cleanly detailed in the supplies, the maker's names and contacts, and the recipes! That was the first eye-opener to me.
There were many other highlights during the convention, from the registration to the speeches, the classes and hand-clapping moments, but the one that excited me the most, was when we were all handed down the latest occasion catalogues - hot off the press with the latest stamp sets, dies and other accessories, and the amazing works photographed in it. And I got to see how each presenter demonstrated their beautiful works with the new products. I was basically immersed in the creative pool for the 3 whole days!
And each evening after we got back to the hotel, the 4 of us would all sit down and talk about the things we saw and heard, and the stamp sets we got and what we could do with them, And we discussed about what else we wanted to get, and how lucky we were to be the first ones to order than anyone else. And we made our list of to-gets. It was truly a fun time.
Ah and of course the Prize Patrol.
Before the convention, I was amused when every time Kate gets so excited just talking about the Prize Patrol, until I actually was there getting the latest (and FREE!) stamp sets myself. Wow that was adrenaline-pumping!
During the 3 days I've also witnessed what a fun character Bev (Kate's mother-in-law) is. On the first day it just happened that she forgot to bring her boarding pass that Kate had previously prepared for her. And then when we finally got to the convention centre, she found out her name was not registered (and she couldn't find her payment record either.) It was one thing after another on the second day, I can't remember it all becuse there were too many. And on the third day just when we thought everything was okay, she lost her sunnies. Ah what a fun time I had with Bev. She made me laugh so much during the trip!
This short but fun-filled trip is simply fantastic. I got to meet and make friends with like-minded people, to really sit down just to talk about and make crafts, and away from my busy work, my husband and kid for just a few days. I can see myself signing up for the next event already. I think Kate is planning on that too.
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