I’m back after an amazingly inspiring and refreshing weekend up to Vancouver, BC Canada for the November OnStage Local event by Stampin’ Up!  This is the new event that replaces the traditional convention and happens every 6 months around the world.  This time, the closest location was up in Canada for the one day regional style event; and since that is only a few hours away, I just had to go!  I love these events because not only is it a chance to get my creative batteries recharged, but I always get to meet wonderful new people and reconnect with friends I don’t get to see very often because of distance.  And getting free stuff and a copy of the upcoming Spring (Occasions) catalog doesn’t hurt either!

So, now that I’m back, I thought I’d share a little bit from the event – and don’t worry there are lots of sneak peeks to come during the upcoming weeks!  And if you’ve been considering signing up as a demonstration – you know you can see the Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogs NOW on the demonstrator website, right?  Just saying, you wouldn’t even have to wait to see all the peeks.  Plus I’ve posted every picture I took at the event to my team page to help them get inspired and planning for the new year.  So, if you are on the fence, consider hopping off and joining my Fun n’ Crafty Stampers!

OnStage (November) 2016 – Celebrating You

Each event we get a back and this was the cutest one yet since they started the OnStage events!  I LOVE the Hot Air Balloon motif (a sneak peek of things to come!) and the colors were oh so cute.

The theme was Celebrating You because this was the time of year where they did recognition for achievements by demonstrators for the 2015-2016 SU year.  So, things like folks who recruited and had the team members successfully get started with their demonstratorship, folks who had a number of title promotions in their team, yearly sales, personal promotions, anniversaries with SU, etc.  One piece of recognition was a nice sit down dinner and training on Friday night (before the event on Saturday) for anyone with the title Silver Elite or above.

Thanks to my awesome team, I was able to attend and really felt spoiled! Plus we got a super cute bag as a gift to boot –

Then it was back to the hotel room to hang out with the gals from the Fun n’ Crafty Stampers group for a while before heading to bed… and by heading to bed, I mean staying up super late because I hadn’t finished gifties for everyone yet and I wanted to have something special for them the next day when the event kicked off!  I think they turned out super cute and the ladies seemed to like them too.  Each one had a card with a personal note inside, a pen decorated with Candy Cane Lane paper, and some chocolate.

Then it was time to finally get some rest before getting up WAAAY too early to get in the room and get ready for the presentations.  Isn’t the notebook they gave us super cute?!?

We started off with a video presentation from Sara Douglass with such a great message that wasn’t about how we can sell more Stampin’ Up product or build our team… but instead, about how we can become better people and have happier lives by focusing on what makes us unique and great and finding our success in being the best we can be.  I always come away from these events feeling like the company really cares about us as people, not as selling robots.  <3 this company!

Of course, there was the catalog reveal, and lots of stamping presentations and tips for the new dies, stamps, accessories, and more from the upcoming Occasions Catalog.  Eeek!!!!  Can’t wait to do my preorder on December 1st!  But I was lucky enough to be asked to be a display board stamper for the event as well, which meant I got my hands on some new product in advance and start working on a bunch of ideas with it.  We put them up the night before and it was so fun to watch everyone check them out. 

I also had to laugh because one of my projects that I wasn’t sure if I should even put it up on the boards turned out to be one of the favorites!

And I’ll give you one more sneak peek today and tell you this is one of my FAVORITE suites coming out in the new catalog.  Those are STAMPS!  and dies of course, and those sequins…squee!  I’m so ready to order them now, but I guess waiting until December 1st will have to do.

I was honored to get to walk across the stage for recognition three times – for recruiting, for team title promotions, and earning Thailand.  The crazy thing though, was learning that those were only achieved by a small percent of the almost 50,000 demonstrators!  See those numbers, that is the number of demonstrators ACROSS THE WORLD who achieved that.  Makes me even more appreciative of my tribe – my friends, family, customers, and Fun n’ Crafty Stampers team!

OnStage Local Swapping!

And of course, while you are at events like this, you have to swap!  It is always incredible to see what others come up with.  Especially with stamp sets or accessories that you didn’t think you liked all that much or had no idea what to do with.  I’ll be sharing more of the swap cards this week, but thought I would share a few of my favorites with you today –

Like this awesome card that mixes and matches from a few different stamp sets and die sets.  I love how products you don’t think of as being at all related can go together so fabulously.

Or talk about an amazingly elegant Christmas card that is so simple to pull together!  You just need some glimmer paper, basic cardstock, and one framelit set!

And this card was just so adorable I couldn’t get over it!  Wouldn’t this make such a perfect birthday card for that sweet girl in your life?  I have often passed this cupcake set by, but it looks so fabulous in the Sweet Sugarplum colors!

Well, I hope this gave you some fun ideas to try and gave you a little bit of a glimpse into the new OnStage events.  They are wonderful to attend and always exciting.  The next OnStage events are coming up in April and while I haven’t decided which location I may be attending, I know I have folks from my group planning on going to at least a couple of them.  So if you would like to join us – let me know!

Plus, if you join my Fun n’ Crafty Stampers team now, you’ll still be eligible to attend in April!  Since you have until then to meet your first minimum sales goal to stay active.  Sweet!

Get your free exclusive Tutorial pack from our amazing International demonstrator design team featuring the stamp sets that are on sale this month!  You can get your free copy of this SET of great project ideas by either:

Placing a $50 Stampin’ Up order with me (either directly or in my online store using the hostess code above) in the month of November
Join my Fun n’ Crafty Stampers!  My team gets a copy of this Tutorial Pack for FREE!

Save 25% on Selected Stamp Sets plus get the NEW Stitched Framelits!  Click the image to get yours!