I had the privilege of attending the Third Annual World Cardmaking Day Event in Atlanta, GA on October 3rd.  It was hosted by two Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators, Brian King and Pam Morris.

They did a fabulous job of organizing the event.  They provided informative on- stage demonstrations, display boards, hands on stamping with great make & takes, stamping/papercrafting related games, and a fabulous lunch.  One hundred demonstrators from across the country attended.  I was able to meet up with demonstrators I have become friends with over the years and met new people, who I look forward to seeing at future stamping events.

Here I am with Pam Morris.  We were kindred spirits with our name tags for the Tacky Name Tag Contest.  She had on her Delta flight wings and I had my luggage tags from Southwest Airlines.  Neither of us won the contest but it was fun to see everyone’s creations. One of the games we participated in was to create a paper airplane using supplies that were provided to us.  Construction was a group effort but our table chose Mary Fish to be our pilot.  All of her past air travel paid off, because she flew our airplane further than anyone else was able to fly theirs!  For our efforts we each won a package of Snowflake Elements.  Here is Mary Fish holding our winning airplane.

At lunch we were treated to a fabulous meal of Southern Style foods.  Delicious!  Everyone raved about it and no one went away without feeling stuffed!

I imagine it is hard to design Make & Take projects when you know that other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators will be stamping them.  So much pressure!  Brian and Pam did a great job of incorporating new techniques into the projects; we all went away excited to  share the tips and techniques with our customers.

Here I am holding one of the projects I made – a decorated treat bag featuring the Spider Web Doilies and both the Kraft and Sketched Dots Tag A Bag Gift Bags.

I met Michelle Gleeson this past January at Stampin’ Up! Leadership in Orlando, Florida when we carpooled from Fort Meyers to Orlando.  Here we are at World Card Making Day in Atlanta – this time we were roommates so had lots of time for ‘pillow talk’ and getting to know each other even better.  One of the best things about stamping and papercrafting are the friends you make with both customers and other demonstrators!

The weekend ended with the First Silver Elite Retreat hosted by two of my uplines, Mary Fish and Lisa Pretto.  Demonstrators who achieved a certain level of sales and leadership qualifications were invited to attend.  We spent our time together mostly socializing and relaxing (some business discussion of course) in the suite of rooms provided by our hosts – The Silver Elite Retreat Suite!  Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?

Here is our entire group (pictured left to right): Brian King, Paula Butler, Katy McGloin, Deb Cozzone, Susan Itell, Candy Ford, and me, Deb Simonis.  We went home with fabulous memories, pillow gifts provided by Mary Fish and Lisa Pretto, and a desire to qualify for the next Silver Elite Retreat!  We don’t want to miss the next one – our time together was priceless!

Thanks for stopping by.  Check back again soon – I’ll showcase more of the Make & Takes and cards from the swap in future blog posts.

Happy Stamping!
Deb