Back to share some of the excitement of STAMPIN' UP! CONVENTION!!

I hope that the last few posts I scheduled kept you happy while I was away, living it up in Sydney!  I'm now home, after a wonderful few days away at my very first Stampin' Up! Convention.  Boy, am I tired!!  It was fantastic to meet in person my stamping friends who I've 'met' and conversed with online, and it reinforced for me what a fantastic group of women are involved with Stampin' Up! in Australia.  I have lots and lots of photos from the weekend, and I plan to share quite a few with you, so you might want to take this opportunity to make a cuppa and get comfy!

In Sydney, I shared an apartment with my friends (and team-mates) Judy and Nikki.  I think we had the pick of the accommodation, given that most of our team (and many other Convention attendees) stayed in a different block of apartments, that were evacuated twice during the first night's stay!  There were some tired girls around the traps on the first day of Convention.

I made a card for my 'roomies', since it was rather exciting for us to be away together, for such a major girls' weekend.  I forgot to photograph one of them before putting it in an envelope, but here is the other (similar, but different colour) card so you can see what they were like:

"Swapping" on the first day of Convention was sheer madness!  The idea is to make multiple copies of your own design of card front, to swap with other demonstrators/attendees, so we can all share ideas.  There were almost 500 women at Convention, crowded into part of the Darling Harbour Convention Centre.  It was rather frantic to begin with ... thankfully, the excitement level did ease a little!  This is what my swap looked like (followed by the 'ingredients' used to make it):

Stamps: Baroque (background), Very Vintage wheel, Cute & Curly

Ink: Melon Mambo and Sahara Sand stampin' pads

Card: Kraft, Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Other: Sponge daubers, Curly Label Punch, Melon Mambo Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon, Kraft taffeta ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, clear rhinestone brad, dimensionals, mini glue dot

 

Okay, now on to the apartment we stayed in.  It was very spacious and comfortable .. thought I'd show you a few photos of the inside, and the view we had over Darling Harbour.  Here's the dining area:

On the bench between the dining space, and the kitchen, we set up our own little snack bar:

.... and here's a shot of the lounge area:

From our apartment, this is what we saw:

and from the other side:

Really lovely accommodation, which helped to make the whole Convention experience very special.

I am very much a "details" person, so really appreciated all the lovely little touches provided by Stampin' Up! at Convention.  A couple that tickled my fancy were these gerberas at the registration desk:

and the delicious, and varied, lunch packs we received:

I was teased mercilessly about photographing the lunch, but, hey, if I don't have to prepare it, I appreciate it all the more!  The catering was fantastic. (Although I didn't get to enjoy the chocolatey-orange goodness of that cupcake, as it was whisked away when I made the mistake of leaving my chair for a few minutes!)

As well as listening to engaging and entertaining speakers, and getting to do some hands-on creating, we  got the opportunity to shop in Stampin' Up!'s own "Memento Mall".  Here's Judy indulging in some retail therapy:

I have numerous photos of my special stamping friends to share with you, so I hope you're not flagging yet!!  I will break up my blog posts, and share a separate post about the recognition of our high-achieving team members.  I want this post to focus on the friendship, fun and frivolity of our Sydney experience.

Here I am (in all my un-photogenic glory, hot and bothered), with some of my team-mates:

I am at the rear, with Judy and Nikki.  In the front are Miriam andClaire.

How gorgeous are these girls???

Left to right is Carolina, Jess (who needs to start a blog!!),Ange, and the adorable Bec.  Such fun.

Some more of my sweet team members are:

Left to right: Kristine, Arna and Alisha.

In this next photo are Di, and Kathryn. 

Just a few more before I go on to our night-time pics! 

This is such a lovely photo, don't you think?  These beautiful, sharing, women are Nikki and Sue.

Amidst all the wonderful friends I caught up with at Convention (sadly, several of whom I didn't get photos of), two highlights for me were meeting up with these girls:

This photo is of Jodene and me.  I hope to spend more time with you at next Convention, girl!

Next up is the gorgeous Rach, who I was so thrilled to catch up with.

I hope you girls appreciate me posting these photos, because I normally don't want to be photographed at my fattest!!!  However, this is me, and it was super-special to meet you both.

A few of our team came back to the apartment to look over swaps after the first day.  In this photo are Tanja (hilarious girl), and our gorgeous team princess, Kimmy  :

Alright, I am getting a bit tired of this photo-heavy post, so I can only hope you're still with me! 

After the first full day of Convention, a group of us ate out together at Darling Harbour.  The city had put on a jazz festival just for us ...

.... and we topped off a lovely evening by visiting the LINDT CHOCOLATE CAFE for a totally decadent dessert!

Judy didn't actually eat all three desserts herself .. she kindly shared them with Nikki and me.  Divine!

I hope you've enjoyed my overview of Convention with my friends.  I will be back to post about the awards night .... I just need a little rest!