My 15 year journey with Stampin’ Up! – My first workshops
February 24, 2017|Posted in: Get Involved, Stuff
Last month I began sharing my Stampin’ Up! journey as a fun way to celebrate my 15th anniversary as a demonstrator. I explained how I met my upline and decided to join. You can read that post here.
The next step? Hold my first workshop, or party. Um, I hadn’t really thought about that. So I did what most of you would do: I called my sister and my best friend. It went something like this. Guess what I just did? I signed up as a demonstrator with Stampin’ Up! How would like to help me out and host a party? Thankfully they both said yes!
That was the easy part. Now I had to figure out how to hold a party.
The starter kit came with a video tape (yes, technology has changed in 15 short years.) and I watched that several times. Mimi, my upline, gave me tips and coaching, too. At the time, workshops were structured differently. Typically, guests arrived and made a simple Make & Take card. The demonstrator would do a brief catalog tour, then demonstrate a couple of projects. We might demo two-step stamping, or techniques such as embossing or using pastels (chalks). The interesting thing, in retrospect, is that both parties were the same weekend. I had unknowingly signed up during Sale-a-Bration and wanted my hostesses and guests to be able to take advantage of that. (It only ran for two months.)
Here are two pages from the 2002 Sell-a-bration catalog. These are both sets I owned. The two-step set, Watercolor Minis, and the fun all-purpose Year-Round Cheer. Anyone remember these? (leave a comment!)
The first party was for my sister. As an English teacher many of her guests were also teachers. At least I knew some of her friends. I was really nervous about teaching the teachers! But I love stamping and they were great. It went relatively well. In fact, several of those ladies are still customers! Thank you! The second party went pretty well, too. Shelly’s guests were gracious, no doubt in large part because my friend is such a sweet person. I even got another party booked!
And there you have it, the beginning of my Stampin’ up! career. Thankfully, I didn’t overthink these first steps. I just went with it and tried to make it fun for everyone. How I do things has evolved and will continue to, but the constant is the wonderful people I get to meet as I share my love of stamping. What about you? Don’t overthink it! Join my team, join the Stampin’ Up! family, and make it fun!
(Read about my February monthly anniversary drawing here.)
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