Inspire, Create, Share....

Did you know that this is the key message from Stampin' Up!  It says pretty much everything that I love about what I do as a Demonstrator.  Inspiration is something I hope I give as much as I gain, I certainly gain it from Stampin' Up! and my fellow Demonstrators around the world.   Creation is constant and sharing is the main reason why I converted from a customer to a Demonstrator just over five years ago.
The people I have met through Stampin' Up! are, for me, equally as wonderful as the products I have bought and used and all the new techniques I have learned.  I have made lasting friendships and together we have made fantastic memories and I hope will continue to make many more.  Let me tell you about how this happens for me by recounting some recent experiences;
Earlier this month I attended On Stage Live (our convention) in Amsterdam, I can't even begin to describe this event... it's just 'full on fantastic'!  This first photo starts to explain 'belonging', it shows Monica Gale (top rh), she is my 'upline', on my left is Donna Barrow who is my latest recruit or 'downline' team member.

Part of our 'team'

Shizzer Sisters!

Here is a photo of the 'Shizzer Sisters', we are a group of Demonstrators who just happened to travel together to a convention one year and were christened Shizzer Sisters by Alison (who is peeping round the giant frame at the back) as she calls me Issy Shizzy.  Our group name stuck even though we are not a team in Stampin' Up! terms, our group has grown too... we added Donna this year. L - R: Helen, Beth, Donna, Me, Alison, Pat and Barbara.  Pat and Barbara live in Texas and they joined our group last year when we were in Brussels, we love our American Shizzers and are so blessed that they were able to travel to Europe to be with us again this year. We were missing three Shizzers this year; Val and Nicola and newbie Karen were all unable to come.

 While we were in Amsterdam this year we also got together for pizza and drinks on an evening cruise with a much larger group of other Demonstrators who are all just friends, here are a couple of pics of the Shizzers cruising!

I don't know about 'I am' I know WE were having a fantastic time larking about!

During the event there were lots of presentations by Stampin' Up! showing us new products (like the beautiful stamp above) and sharing great techniques and business ideas... there were also VERY exciting moments when we got prizes... look how happy that made us!  Woohoo Donna and Alison!!

Once I was home I was so inspired I couldn't wait to share with my customers, here I am in a class the week after On Stage, although I didn't have any new products to share at this point I was excited to share my stories and some new techniques.

Yesterday the Shizzer fun continued as just five of us travelled up to see Nicola (one of my 'downline' team members) who was unable to come to Amsterdam.  We took her some of our new products to play with and three of us designed cards using new stamp sets, ink and paper which we shared. It was fantastic to see how they all turned out slightly different, this demonstrates to me how inspire, create, share works!

Same but different!

Here are all the cards we made:

Daisy Delight

I shared these two, they use a new stamp set and punch bundle and the first card just demonstrates stamping the daisy image twice makes a fuller flower and turns it into a gerbera. The second card uses the two stamped images punched out with the co-ordinating punch.

Bike Ride

Here is Beth's wonderful card.. I totally love the feeling that the bike is whizzing along sprinkling birthday wishes as it goes.  This is a builder stamp which means you build up the image of the bicyle with different components; the frame, wheels, wheel rims, basket and flowers are all separate pieces. In photopolymer so you can see right through and where you are stamping.

Fabulous Flamingo

For Alison's card we used the Fabulous Flamingo stamp set, I really do love this set and think that the flamingo is totally fab-u-lous! It's also a photopolymer set so you can see where you are stamping and build up the layers.  I have to say that I'm not a perfectionist stamper and although I wanted to make sure the flamingo legs were lined up I wasn't too bothered that the body outline stamping was slightly off the colour, for me this makes it reminiscent of that vintage print look.

I hope you've enjoyed this post and that I've inspired you to get creative... most of all I hope I've inspired you to join Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator and share your creativity through friendships you've yet to make.
Please get in touch if you would love to join my team; Issy's Crafty Bees... remember you will also become a member of the Shizzer Sisters and a whole world of fun times are here!! You can contact me by phone, email or PM all my details are on my contacts page.