June 29 Last day of Convention

So we are still having so mush fun, there is just so much to do and so many fabulous people to meet.   This morning we are doing things just a little bit differently.  We are starting off with a Creative Session where we got to make this beautiful necklace.  Yes, you heard me right.  We now carry products for making some jewellery.  

This necklace comes as a kit for only $14.95, which includes the base, the bling, the textile fabric, and the adhesive, along with instructions.  Available to order August 1/13, this makes a great accessory to any outfit, and if you are looking for a gift that is just a little different, this is perfect.  I'm thinking that along with the other base pieces that are available that it would make an awesome girls birthday party.  (Contact me for more details, or to get your hands on a NEW Idea Book)

During this creative session we also got the chance to make some awesome cards using the New Spin cards, and New M-Size Stamp sets.  (Watch for upcoming posts where I will post some photos of some of these cards.)

From there we went for lunch, and then I helped Darla and Rosalynd shop for their families, as I had my shopping all done.  It was fun to help them find gifts for Darla's children, and for Rosalynd's husband and grandson.

After shopping we had our last General Session which was a Q&A with Jeanette.  Here are just a few photos.

There were a few side-splitting moments, and I'm sure everyone had a few good chuckles.  Even Jeanette and Monica had a few crack-ups.  She answered lots of questions, and told some stories....it was a great closing General Session which was followed by a closing crop where we could finish any of the projects we didn't quite get done earlier.

It was during this time when I was handing out my last few swap cards to the corporate staff that I found my Sticky Boy.  I was so excited, my very first convention.  Here I thought it just couldn't' get any better than winning Rising Star, but to top it off I got to bring home a Sticky Boy.

After we finished at the crop, Rosalyn, Darla and I ordered a pizza to take back to our room.  We had to pack as we were leaving very early the next morning.  Our bus was leaving the resort at 4:15am.....urggg!

Stay tuned for my next post with a few photos from the Dance party.  

Awards Banquet.....great way to end Day 2 of Convention

So, I ended my last post telling you that Darla and I had to rush back to our room to get ready for the awards banquet.  When we got to the room Rosalynd was ready.  So a quick change of clothes, refresh the makeup, and fiddle with our hair, we were out the door.  Trying to rush to the convention centre with heels on was slowing us down.  So we took off our shoes and hurried along.  

Thank goodness we already had our table reserved, and we had a fabulous view of the stage and screens.  Lucy had gotten there early and had secured the best seats so that we could all see the stage and screens.  Little did I know that all my friends knew something I didn't.

The meal was great, we started with soft mozzarella and tomatoes with a balsamic vinegar and a slice of prosciutto ham.  Then we had a salad followed by beef tenderloin and chicken with veggies and a risotto.( can't find a pic of the menu, so going my memory here)  The dessert was a chocolate bomb mousse, with Mickey Ears and a strawberry.  It was delicious.

While finishing our dessert, the awards started.  The numbers that some of these ladies bring is phenomenal, and someday, I hope to be pulling numbers close to that too.

So, here in this photo you will notice I haven't clued in yet that the picture you see on the screen is of me and my father......yep, totally oblivious to the fact that they are talking about me, as I am 1 of 2 recipients of the Rising Star award this year.  

Once I realized that I was watching a slideshow about me, I don't even think I heard anything that Monica said.  I was in complete shock.  I am truly honoured that my fellow Canadians nominated me for this award. Have I told you how much I love these ladies?

So to thank my Cross Canada Blog Hop ladies for nominating me, I'm going to thank each of you:  Darla, Brandy, Stephanie, Brae, Rosalynd, Dianne, Terry Ann, Janet, Nicola, Deanne, Candra, Chantal, Carol, Suzette, Joanne, Carrie, Krista, Sheri, Allana, Cheryl, Teresa, Sandra, Famida, Nancy, Arlene, Kathy, Pam and Karen.(if I forgot anyone, I'm sorry)  Thank you, thank you!  I love you all!

The flowers were beautiful, and heavy, and so was the award.  I even got the check to bring home too.  When my craft space is completed, I plan on hanging it on my wall.  Not everyday, you get presented with $1000.00.

Here is all the lovely ladies I had the pleasure to sit with. Starting left, Jennifer, Darla, me, Lucy, Ellen and Jolene(I think)!

Here you will see all the Canadian Winners along with the executive team, of Brian, Kristine and Monica.  It was a fabulous night, and one that I won't ever forget.  I am truly humbled to have been chosen as a Rising Star, and it is only pushing me to do bigger and better.

Friday June 28th, Convention is now in full swing......

So after watching the fireworks and the final parade at Magic Kingdom, we headed back to our room for a good nights sleep.

Morning time brought us the same routine, up, showered, dressed, head out for a coffee and a crossiant from the Pepper Market then off to General Session.  Oh wow, we had many slip-ups in the skits, but that just made them that much more funnier.  From Kristine showing us her underwear, to Bren and Kristine trying their hardest to stay sitting on the balance balls.  Wow, all I can say is super funny.

After General Session, we had lunch at the Pepper Market, then we headed into the Art Gallery and to vote for the album contest.(so need to enter that the next time I go to convention)  From there we had extravaganza where we got to see so many great projects by 6 fabulous artists.

One of our teachers was Jamie Turner, and then I got to meet Tresa Black.  There were so many fabulous creations.  I can't wait to re-create or create of my own version some of these projects.

After we left Extravaganza we had some photo ops with some famous Disney Characters.

We stood in line to meet these lovable Disney Characters, which gave us less than an hour to head back to our room, get ready for the awards banquet and get back to the convention centre.  Luckily, the day before, Darla and Lucy went and reserved our table.  We got a very good seat.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post detailing the awards banquet.

More from convention......

So we have these super fun bags that totally are Spanish flair, and the NEW Idea Books and now we are getting ready to head to a Buffet Lunch that Close To My Heart is providing before we head into our first Creative Session.

In between eating and creating, we got to have some fun with the photo display area that was set up for some fun photo ops.

Our first Creative Session had us making a mini album, with all pieces cut from the NEW ArtBooking Cartridge.  Here are some photos of the Mini Album.

After creative session we were treated to Twilight pass tickets to any theme park.  So since this was our first trip to WDW we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. We ate at Peco's Bill's, and it was good, it was pub type food.  Then we went on Pirate's of the Caribbean ride.  Then we headed to Toontown so that we could hopefully meet some characters.  Some of the girls wanted to do another ride, so Rosalynd and I headed right to toontown where we met some rather famous Disney Characters.  

Stay tuned for more posts from my trip to Disney for my first convention.

Oh my the excitement! Thursday June 27,2013 Convention Kick-off

Oh boy, you could tell Darla was feeling better after some sleep and her medication had kicked in.  We got up, showered, and headed to the Pepper Market to grab a coffee and a muffin and then to General Session we went. 

Everyone waiting for the doors to open, then running, and pushing to find the best seats.

Once seated we were in for a treat.  We had some entertainment including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles, and our very own 3 amigos, Monica, Kristine and Brian.

The excitement was just rocketing through the entire room.  It's really hard to explain, but you were sitting on the edge of your seats, and you had butterflies in your stomach.  It was almost like being a kid on Christmas morning, and waiting for everyone to get ready before you could start opening presents.  The anticipation of what they were going to tell us, show us, and give us.

This year marked the 10th year that CTMH has been in Canada.  With 58 Canadians in attendance we were all called up on stage.  After we went back to our seats, they then announced that we would all be getting one of the new Crush Albums.  Which is a must have, but  you'll have to wait until August 1st to order yours.

There was lots of laughs and some word slip-ups from some of the executive team, which was just too funny....and then we were let out to where we received the bag for this year containing the NEW Autumn/Winter Idea Book.

Here are a few more photos:

First Day at Convention = Shopping at Downtown Disney & More

After a late night exploring the convention centre and learning where the rooms we would be creating in all were located we awoke in a lovely air conditioned room.

Darla and Rosalynd were headed to Leadership day, as I had made plans with Janet McCormick to go shopping at Downtown Disney.

We did lots of shopping and I found a few things for the kids to take home, as I promised I would.  The girls asked for Disney Princesses and Nicholaus asked for Lego.  We had lunch reservations at the Rainforest Cafe, which was absolutely delicious.

If you haven't been to the cafe before it is full of automated jungle creatures.

After we ate I wanted to make sure I got Nicholaus his Lego, so we headed to LegoLand.

Janet and I then headed back to grab a bus so we could go register for Convention and get our name badges.  We ran into another group of ladies also attending convention, and I hit it off with Patty, and we've become good friends.

After Leadership got out for the day, I met up with Darla and lots of other great crafty ladies and we ate at the Pepper Market.(we ate most of our meals there)  We had plans to go swimming, but Darla starting not feeling well which resulted in us going back to our room where we assumed she was suffering from exhaustion.  Not the case what-so-ever.  We ended up calling 911 and Darla took a trip to the local hospital, where it was discovered that it was not exhaustion, but a severe sinus infection.  She ws given prescriptions and came back and got some rest.  Not to worry she was back to her hyper self come morning, and you can read about our first General Session at convention on Thursday.

My First CTMH Convention: Traveling Day

So, I've been home from Florida for 2 weeks now, and I've been compiling all the photos that I have managed to get from my roommates and other lovely consultants.  Convention was am AWESOME experience and I am so happy that I got to attend.

My roommates were Darla by BFF, and Rosalynd, who is another Nova Scotian, us Atlantic Canadians need to stick together you know.  We had 2 flight delays on our way to Orlando, the first one happened before we even left Halifax.  We flew into Philly and while there a huge Thunder Storm passed through.  We had a 3 hour lay-over, which gave us time to grab some lunch.  Then our terminals got changed.  The storm backed everything up and we were about 15 minutes late on take-off, which had us landing about 20 minutes late, as we had to fly around a storm coming into Orlando.

We've just got off the flight into Orlando.  We grabbed our luggage, then then headed to the WDW magical express where we got on a bus that would take us directly to our resort at Walt Disney World, Coronado Springs Resort.

This is a view of the convention centre from our section of rooms.  We had to walk about 8 minutes from our room to the convention centre a couple times a day.  The temperature and humidity is about the same as here in Halifax.  So we didn't mind it too much.

When we arrived and checked into the hotel we had been travelling for over 12 hours, it made for a long day, but we were super excited.

When we finally found our room in the dark, we were welcomed by these towels on the bed.

You would think that after travelling all day, we would be ready to go to bed, but you'd be wrong.  Instead we headed to the bar where we met up with Lucy and some other fabulous ladies, where we ended up closing out the bar.  Yep, they close at 1 am, and we were still chatting it up at 2 am.

Here you will see Darla posing with Lucy as they finally got to meet in person.  That is the wonderful thing about Close To My Heart, you form relationships with other consultants all over Canada and the USA, and when you finally get to meet it's a huge celebration.  We can't wait to meet all our new CTMH consultant sisters, as we have just opened in Australia and New Zealand.

So once we finally decided to go to bed, the excitement was just begining as come morning the girls would be off to Leadership Day, and I was headed shopping with Janet at Downtown Disney.

Come back on Tuesday when I'll be posting about my shopping trip at Downtown Disney.