Monaco 2010 – Swaps

I can't believe that it was this time last week, I was off on my little adventure to the village of Eze with my lovely Stampin Up buddies.  It feels alot longer ago now that I have settled into real life again – washing, work, making dinner.  Great news though, I have qualified for the next icentive trip with Stampin' Up which means I can look forward to sharing this amazing expereince again in Prague.  Who is coming with me?  Ask me for more info about becoming a demonstrator as there could not be a better time to sign with Stampin Up.  From 1st July as you will have tll the end of December to reach your first Quarterly minimum and get all the benefits from the last chance list, new catalogue and convention too, definitely worth considering……

So now for the swaps – I had been considering what to make for months and was really excited about making them for the incentive trip attendee's.  The design and idea changed several times until I settled on the Gratitude journal.  We were all so lucky to be able to go along on this trip and work so hard that it is easy to lose sight of the little things.  So I made a little journal that we can record 5 things each day that we are thankful for.  I translated the text from English to German with a little help from the gorgeous German demo Andrea Roose and from English to French with the help of my daughters French teacher.  One of the things I love about this journal is those clever people at Stampin Up have made the spiral punch so that it punches to fit the wire bound edges of the journal excatly – Brilllliant!  This saved alot of time I can tell you, here are the gifts I made –

This is one for the German demo's

 

And this one was for Moira a French demo but originally from Scotland, love this paper stack from the mini catalogue…

 

This is for the other French demo Danielle..

 

This is for Kellee who organised the trip and in my opinion has the dream job, love these little stitched felt accents from the mini and so quick and simple to use.

 

Shelli's journal and the embossed flourish if from Vintage Vogue also from the mini catalogue – one of my top 5 sets EVER! 

This one is for Monica and I love the purple and green combo, hope she did too…..

I did make some gifts for the men of the group too.  There were 4 men and I made them a little wallet which had a union jack pen inside as I was being all patriotic with the onset of the World Cup.  I stupidly forgot to take a photo but made a little card on the front with a union jack too all in red white and blue.  I hope they liked them and use their union jack pens and think  of the trip…

And after giving all these gifts, look at what I received in return –

Danielle's very clever card and bookmark combo in the new colour Rich Razzleberry

 

I love the way that Daniela used the circle as a fastening to close the box and chocolate bath essence – yum!!
 

I have ogled this on Monica's blog before we left and prayed she would be a sweetheart and make us all one, and she did – such a talented and clever lady…. And I just love the presentation too!

 

This is a bookmark given to me by Moira and it is made using Window sheets and is folded over so that you can slip it over your page in your book, see below…..
  

How clever, all finished off with some crystal effects.

Very clever techniques from Carola….

 

The teeniest tiniest choccie in an adorable treat pouch from Jacqueline.

 

Love this flip album that Jenny made, there are lots of photo's on her blog, she is such a clever lady

 

and when you open it, it nearly blew my mind!!!!!  She made us all one of these too…..

 

This is Irene's, she is hilarious – when she saw me and I had got too much sun – she shouted 'Roast beef' – I will get you back Irene 🙂
 

The colours on this are stunning, thank you Jeanette,  I have filled it in and it will be my lasting memory of Monaco

 

Julies, cute little choccie box, which would be great for wedding favours….

 

This was from Silvia and is so clever, it would be great to hold two Lindor or Ferreo Rocher chocolates and I loved the way she coloured the speciality paper.  Don't you love the M and the crown too?

 

This is from the very talented Amanda who seems to come up with truly unique projects for her swaps, no pressure for convention Amanda…

 

This is from Jenni and I love the bold graphic style

I had to steal this photo from Jenny's blog and my little box from Dawn became a casulty of my packing on my journey home.  I had crammed my case so full that my suncream managed to leak and spill over this cute little box.  At least it wont get sunburned!!

 

This is the little note that accompanied our menu at the last dinner and is signed by Shelli herself.  The attention to detail is amazing as the little flourish if from the Monaco embelem that adorned all our tickets, tags and labels.  I will treasure it.

And these are two of the make and takes we completed at our pj party.  Simple but very effective which was about all I was capable of as I was so giddy….

And that brings an end to all my photo's, I had the most amazing time and cannot wait to do it all again next year in Prague.  I have enjoyed posting every day so will plan to post more often.

I will be doing a class and tutorial on the little journals I made so stop back for more information shortly.

Thanks for stopping by