Congratulations card made using Stampin’ Up! supplies

I was lucky enough to make some congratulations cards to congratulate my downline on achieving the Stampin’ Up! Incentive trip to Madeira next year.  We have from 1st October to the end of the September each year to earn enough points to get the trip for ourselves and a guest.  And believe me they are worth all the hard work and determination! I am so proud of Carmen Morris, Caro van der Straaten, Sam Donald, Sarah Berry and also Janneke de Jong from Carmens team who have all worked incredibly hard to earn this amazing trip!

I am lucky enough to have been on all the incentive trips off to the European group. They have been to Monaco, Prague, Vienna & Utah and next year will be Madeira. We are spoilt rotten and it is a lovely opportunity to spend some time with my husband as well as my fellow trip achievers and their guests.

Everything about this trip is extra special. Stampin’ Up! go out of their way to make you feel appreciated and we get to mix and mingle with the Staff who fly in from the U.S. to be with us.  We get organised activities as well as free time and every part of our stay is meticulously planned.  I am in awe of some of the activities we have done on the trips, real once in a lifetime opportunities which are sure never to arise again!

I had dinner in the Cafe du Paris in Monaco but not just that,  in Winston Churchill’s private dining room overlooking the harbour with the million ££ yacht’s. Here is my blog post from the Monaco trip.  I stayed in one the best hotels in the world and got to visit the Casino as well as have dinner in a Michelin starred restaurant in Eze to name but a few wonderful things!

In Prague we had a private tour of the Castle which included a tram ride on one of the wooden trams which was specially commissioned just for our tour of the city. We had a private dinner in the Archbishop’s private residence which is normally reserved for the likes of the Pope when he visits!

Simon joined me on the trip to Vienna and not only did we enjoy a wonderful tour of the city on Segways but we got to make authentic studel as well as being transported across the city but horse drawn carriage to the Museum of Fine Art to be dined in the museum gallery followed by a private tour of the artwork.  The cherry on the top was a private performance from the Vienna Boys Choir.

Utah was to celebrate Stampin’ Ups 25th year and boy did they celebrate.  We were able to attend the US convention before the trip started and then we had the chance to meet and visit with the staff at the Riverton Office and also the manufacturing facility in St George. Stampin Up charted a private plane to take us all to St George and back in one day and the staff from Stampin Up were simply lovely.  They were so friendly and welcoming and we all truly felt appreciated.   We went white water rafting, we enjoyed a performance from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and we were able to extend our trip and visit Vegas and the many sights en route from Utah to Vegas including the Grand Canyon.

I wonder what the events team have in store for us in Madeira.  I will miss holidaying with my US, Canadian and South Pacific friends next year but will so look forward to working hard to earn the European Cruise with all demos from across the world in 2016. Thank you for letting me wander back through my wonderful memories of the trips with Stampin’ Up!……

Back to the cards, I made two in silver tones and two in gold tones.   I used the four feathers stamp set and matching dies for the first time and embossed some of the feathers.  As always the cards are much nicer in ‘real life’ and I used the world map background stamp to stamp a map in the polaroid background.  I added the heart but my geography is so bad I did not even attempt to pick out Europe let alone Portugal or Madeira!

Below are the supplies I used, I went to town on these cards, the ladies truly deserve it and simply click the images below to go direct to my online shop to order anything  you need. Wishing you all a great weekend x