Onstage Melbourne - November 2017

Hi Crafters,

The past few months have literally been a chaotic whirlwind of ups and downs for our family, but I am delighted to say things are finally settling down again & I'm back in the crafting seat :) And what better time.. there is LOTS happening in the Stampin' Up world so stay tuned for exciting updates in the coming weeks!

To kickstart, I want to share with you my first visit to...

Stampin' Up! Onstage Melbourne 
November 2017

It was amazing!! In all fairness, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect at one of the most anticipated Stampin' Up! events of the year but it didn't disappoint.  From meeting new people & catching up with others, to celebrating demonstrator successes & achievements, participating in "make & takes", previewing the upcoming catalogues, new product demonstrations, etc. it was a tiring but very rewarding day!  Here are a few highlights from my time at Onstage 2017...

Most of you will likely know I am a part of The Crazy Crafters, a team lead by the dedicated & lovely Kylie Bertucci (who sadly wasn't present as she is currently overseas).  One of my absolute highlights was finally putting faces to names of people I have gotten to know online over the past year & a half, forming new friendships & reconnecting with some I haven't seen ìn months.  Here are a couple of pics taken throughout the day...

So thankful to have enjoyed Onstage with fellow demonstrators & friends - Carolina Evans,
Irene Rahman, Michelle & Sharon.

 Top left: Carolina, Irene, Michelle, Sharon & I
Top Middle:  Rosalie Desmond & I
Top Right:  Sharon, Jessie Holton, Irene Rahman & I
Middle Left:  Amanda Shields & I observing a presentation
Bottom Left: Jacalyn Slegtenhorst, Carolina Evans & I
Bottom Right (from left to right): Irene, Michelle, Sharon, Lorin (me), Amanda & Jacalyn

One particular part of preparing oneself for the Onstage event is getting ready for "swaps".  You make a number of one particular crafty item, be it a card, gift box, gift tag, etc. and you swap them at the event.  This is an awesome way of meeting new people as well as getting some incredible inspiration from others, not necessarily from just your team. Here are the cards I made to swap..

The key thing with swaps is to keep it simple, particularly when making quite a few.  For the cards I made, I used a distressing tool to create the two tone blended backgrounds - the one combination was powder pink & melon mambo, the other combination was Bermuda Bay & Island Indigo.  I adhered this to the card & scored each side to create an elegant but simple effect, finishing off with gold embossing for the sentiment from the "Beautiful You" stamp set.  If you are considering attending Onstage at some point in the future, I'd really encourage you to participate. You don't need gazillions of card swaps - I made 27 and that was fine, so don't feel pressured to make hundreds, it's completely up to you, but definitely do take part!

And these are the amazing swaps I received...

Pretty amazing eh? Some of the talent and creativeness that fellow demonstrators possess just blows my mind! And if you think that is awesome, check out these beautiful freebies we received from Stampin' Up!...

One of the best parts of Onstage is being the first to get your hands on the upcoming catalogues, and this year's ones are superb!! As is the usual case each year, January sees the launch of Sale-a-bration - a fabulous time to get free products for every $90 spend, and bonus stamp sets if you decide to join as a demonstrator (for personal use to get the discounted products or to kickstart this as a business, the option is entirely yours).  I will likely do a blog post soon on the new catalogues and products coming soon, but for now check out the covers.. aren't they beautiful?!?

2018 Occasions Catalogue

2018 Sale-a-bration Catalogue

Throughout the event we got to participate in Prize Patrol - a highly anticipated round of obtaining a free stamp set depending on your allocated number (obtained when you signed into the event).  I was very thankful to receive a new stamp set "Perennial Birthday" featuring some beautiful floral stamps and a selection of sentiments, making it perfect for any occasion.  Stampin' Up! are a very generous company to be a part of, and they really did bless us with not one but four new stamp sets, products being released in the next catalogue and more! These were the free stamp sets I obtained:

Stamp Sets (from top left): Petal Palette (2 stamp case set), Picture Perfect Birthday, Bird Banter & Perennial Birthday.

And last but not least, we got to participate in "Make & Takes" - a selection of 4 beautiful items to create ourselves, using products from the new catalogues.  Here were the ones I made:

Stamp sets used include: Cake Soiree, Petal Palette, Fruit Basket & Bubble Over

This is just a condensed version of some of the highlights throughout the event but I hope I have given you some insight into this event and inspired you to attend in the coming months/ years.. it certainly isn't one to be missed!  And if you didn't attend Onstage, don't despair! These amazing products will be launched on the 3rd January 2018, so stay tuned as I will be sharing some sneek peaks in the coming weeks of some of the fabulous products on offer!

But for now, farewell till next time :)

Lorin xx