Sharing Special Gifts from Special Friends...

Well I could do a month of this series after On Stage 2018... but for today... my gorgeous Centre Stage gifts from my fellow Jems Centre Stage-going teamies... Julie Wade & Sharon Glynn

I think these are so beautiful... and so personal... and (cough!) so time consuming girls... !

First up ... a gorgeous and beautifully embroidered "pocket calmer" to smooth away my stresses... (aka pin cushion maybe... which would be a stress reliever in a different way!... and as I need one of those in my craft space at the moment! And this is too nice not to be visible and hidden in my pocket...) from Sharon...

I could never attempt such beautiful free-hand embroidery (I need holes!!) so I am well impressed Sharon! Something to be treasured for a long time... Love it

Second up... a delightful & gorgeous machine and hand sewn fabric cover from Julie... It contained tissues on the night... but my phone now permanently resides in there... so it goes everywhere with me... just love it Julie!! Right up my street!! 

And spot the SU! logo... well our Julie was very resourceful... amazing what you can get from an old SU! event lanyard... too clever Julie!

And thirdly... though not for Centrestage... but for a secret mission that Julie and I have carried out/achieved for the last 6 months!!! 

So chocolate from Julie... in one of Stampin Up's Silver Gable boxes... and it was full!! of my favourite Lindor goodness... Note the use of WAS... as it all miraculously disappeared last night... yum! So ruining the diet this week!!!! 

Talking of diets... yes that was indeed the secret mission... and I achieved the loss of 1 stone in the last 6 months!!!! I set myself the target of 1 stone loss for this On Stage event 6 months ago in November... and I achieved it even with the Christmas blip!! YAY! 

And for those of you that are not demos... Centre Stage is an invite only event on the Friday evening prior to the Saturday full day Stampin' Up On Stage event... 

Stampin Up invite demos that have achieved Silver Elite+ in career title to a special evening of food, shares, training, gifts and information... and this year 80s themed Fancy dress as well... to celebrate 30 years of Stampin Up! So yup that explains this photo!!! 

In the UK... there were nearly 60 of us... so it definitely is an exclusive event... and one I feel privileged to be invited to... as well as proud that my efforts, customers support and team members efforts allow me to be invited! It is truly special... and I really hope that others in my team will join us in November... or even next year!!!

And nowadays we get the catalogue too!! Which means that we have to run for the hills afterwards... as it would be so awful to spoil that anticipation and excitement for our fellow team members for the following day... but we know that they are all having a great time with each other... so no guilt any more!!!

But it was hilarious a year ago... as it was the first time we were given the catalogue at the Centrestage event... I have NEVER seen such excitement and amazement in a room!!! I think we all spent about 10 minutes just not believing that we were actually going to get it in our hands that early!!

But then the 4 of us at Centrestage that year walked back to meet the rest of the team for after meal drinks as arranged... and we had the catalogue "burning a hole in our bags"... it was so hard not to squeal and tell!!! And so hard to hold a conversation!!! And not long before the 4 of us pretended that we were very very tired!!!