Downline Cathy, Cherise and I are sitting in our hotel decompressing (this has been the biggest whirlwind of a trip – absolutely no down time since Tuesday til now). I’ve asked them to please keep their aching feet up but to call out bullet points to share. Here goes regarding what our 3 tired heads recall….

  • SU partnering with Sizzix to release our own Big Shot and exclusive dies!! A huge roar of approval when that announcement was made today! Customers will be able to order beginning September 2. Demo’s can order beginning today! The Big Shot will also be featured in the Holiday Mini. Not making it into the Holiday Mini but available then are: raw vinyl (12" x 24" sheets) and chipboard sheets. Demonstrators will be able to order a bundle, with or without this darling black & white checked bag, and includes the Big Shot with spacers, cutting pads, & exclusive dies.
  • Shelli Gardner, SU CEO and Co-founder, annnounced her new "Shelli’s Signature Collection" which will include products that reflect her personal style. They’ll be identified in future publications and catalogs with a heart symbol. Not sure if this will be available after convention or not (none of us can recall for sure) but I was able to buy a darling apron that has a pattern from the new Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. It has this floral pattern and the pockets have these darling little red bows – a cross between Donna Reed (a la 1950s) and Shelli’s shabby chic style.
  • Never Before Seen Promotion: From August 11 to September 30, a 15% discount on 10 selected new stamp sets from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog. No additional purchase necessary.
  • Announced the new "Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin’ Kit" which will be featured in a 21-page spread in the December 08 issue of Country Living mag. It will be available for demonstrator pre-order on 10-1-08 and available to customers Nov. 1 thru Dec 31.
  • Beginning with the 2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog, all stamp sets will be die-cut!
  • Phase 2 of the Decor Elements product line will be released in the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog in early September for demonstrator viewing and preordering. Customers may start ordering October 1 which is also the start date for the Holiday Mini.
  • Shelli’s will be blogging beginning this Monday, August 4! She will be sharing personal tidbits about her life, she’ll be sharing project ideas and offering gift ideas. On Monday go to www.SoShelli.com for her first blog!
  • "World Card Making Day" (October 4) Promotion: From October 4 thru 11, 20% off a selection of Simply Sent Card Elements and Simply Sent Card Kits.
  • Be a Demonstrator Promotion: From August 11 to October 11, sign up to be a demonstrator by purchasing a Starter Kit and receive any stamp set free from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog.
  • More Rewards Promotion: From October 1 through November 30, with a $350 order choose any stamp set from the Catalog Sampler free in addition to your hostess benefits.
  • 20% Off: From December 1 through January 18, when you spend $20 you will receive 20% off any one stamp set in the Catalog Sampler.
  • To demonstrators only: Stampin’ Success and On Stage are merging into one 32-page monthly magazine with the Sept. issue online on our internal website August 12.
  • Making A Difference Program: SU is giving $2 per set for the new Ronald McDonald charity set "Say It With Scallops" (on the inside back cover of the catalog). Set is darling! SU donates $100,000 annually to charity and has donated a total of $700,000 to date!
  • Did you know…. in fiscal 2007-2008: SU shipped an average of 4000 orders per day (10 years ago the average was 1000 per day) and during Sale-A-Bration shipped 125,000 orders (28,000 in 1998). As of June 30, we have 48,830 demos. We had 10,000 in 1998. Wow – growth is great!

These are the rare times when my being an attorney (by education though not practicing) pays off. I can take notes like a fiend! Old habits (from law school) die hard and who’d have thunk I could apply that skill to taking notes at a SU convention, LOL???!!

To customers: thanks for your patience in my not being able to post all the hundreds of photos I took. Where I am (hotel room using a downline’s laptop) is not conducive to massive photo uploading. I can only load 15 photos at a time, that takes a solid 5-8 minutes at least and 2 other people need to use the computer. I took so many photos of samples. I hope it inspires you for a decade!

To my downline: the big announcements are outlined in detail on the SU site today. Go there for further information.

Email: have not checked email since I flew out Tuesday. No access here. Will be home Sunday.

Convention has truly been absolutely amazing and I am now going to highly encourage my downline to do it at least once. It’s a must-see!

Still coming down off the clouds from my award last night. It was such fun to phone my hubby to tell him my new ranking and play guessing games with him as to the amount of the cash award. I even called Matt and Kirsten. The whole fam is so supportive of my SU business. They’re all ready for catalog shipping production line which shall start any day after I get home.