Top notes & my convention adventure

Howdy again! I've decided to start showing you my newest project & work backwards, so here's my swap for last weekend's awesome Stampin' Up! annual Convention in Sydney. It's a gift card folder made with my favourite Big Shot die, the SU Top Note. 

Inside the folder, there are two pockets made with folded DSP - one section holds a gift card & one holds a card to write a message to the recipient. The back of the folder is decorated too. The white & kraft panel is actually cut at the base, as it was too bulky to fold. The flowers are sponged in the centre with a sponge dauber & baja breeze ink - a quick & effective way to add subtle colour.

The folder was inspired by a gift card folder made as a convention swap made by Sharon Turnbull in 2008 (I don't think Sharon has a blog). You can see my version of her swap here.

To make the cover, I folded a piece of baja breeze card & laid it just inside one of the cutting edges of the Top Note die, so that one side wouldn't be cut. On a few of the swaps, I made the pouches with a note card envelope, as I didn't have enough DSP. The envelope was more in keeping with Sharon's original swap. If you'd like to know anything else about the swap or would like to come to a class to make your own, just drop me an e-mail, or just leave me a comment to say hi! I do love hearing from you.

Talkin' about convention...

This was my third convention & always, it was an amazing experience from start to finish. It's hard to describe the atmosphere, but imagine almost 500 super excited Demonstrators in one place, swapping, laughing, chatting & sometimes squealing in delight as you find friends, team members, online buddies or someone you've admired for ages. That's before you even get to our inspirational leader Shelli Gardner, the fantastic presentations from the US Stampin' Up! staff & a crew of very talented Aussie Demonstrators. Getting the picture?

Even though Convention was in my home town of Sydney, my fab friends Kellie, Leanne & I decided to stay at the Oaks Hotel near the Convention Centre for a bit more spoiling (it didn't necessarily turn out that way thanks to 2 fire alarm evacuations in the wee small hours of Friday, but that's another story). Our little group was completed with Cathy, one of my lovely Diamond Stampers team members & Anamaria, from Leanne's team, both of whom had their first convention experience. Here we all are with Shelli & new friend, Kim (l-r: Kim, me, Cathy, Shelli, Leanne, Anamaria & Kellie)...this was on Saturday arvo - boy I look tired!

Of course, a big part of the fun is meeting up & swapping with old & new Demo friends from all over Australia & New Zealand, & this year was no exception. I was very excited to catch up again with the gorgeous Sarah Klass, Karen Rogers& Chrissie Allen & meet some new & lovely ladies too, including, Kim & Krysta & Sarah Jane. I would have liked to find so many more Demonstrators I admire, but there were so many people, it was a little hard to find everyone.

There were so many fantastic swap ideas shared, many of which were displayed on idea boards. Even better, pics of all the swaps submitted to SU will also be available on our new online Demonstrator Community - Stampin' Connection, so Demonstrators who can't make it to Convention can see them too.

Oh, & did I mention we received 3 brand new stamp sets from our new  upcoming Idea Book & Catalogue which is coming in September & saw some sneak peeks of some more new goodies, I can't show you any pics of the new goodies for quite a while yet, but I'm sure you'll love them! I'm also looking forward to trying lots of the ideas we were shown for our current goodies & sharing them with you.

After all the day sessions on Friday & Saturday, the finale was our Awards Dinner, which was such a lovely way to end the our experience. It was an extra special night for Leanne too as she earned a sales award this year, which was fabulous. Go Lea! Here we are again all dressed up.

The food looked & tasted delicious & the room looked so beautiful too - I have to show you the centrepiece that was on each table.

So, as you can imagine, it's been a bit hard getting back to the day to day this week after all this excitement.

I've started counting down already to next year's convention though, which will be 3 fabulous days in Melbourne from May 12-14 next year (with maybe an extra shopping day... or two Kellie?). There will also be Regional Training days over Australia between September & November (including Sydney on November 20) to keep us going until then. So all I have left to say is, who wants to come with me?

Not a Demonstrator yet? - no problem! Stampin' Up! announced a fabulous offer at Convention just for you & I'll be back to tell you about it... or check out the link at the top right of my side bar if you can't wait.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my swap & hearing about my convention adventures. This could be my longest post ever, so if you've gotten this far, well done & thanks a lot for visiting & persevering.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies: Convention Swap
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Best Yet (Hostess L1)
Card/Paper: baja breeze, whisper white, kraft cardstock, Baja Breeze Patterns DSP (or note card envelope)
Ink: baja breeze ink pad
Accessories: kraft taffeta ribbon,
Tools: Top note die, punches – scallop oval, large oval, sponge dauber