Oh, Canada!

Kristine again, newly returned from an amazing visit to our sisters in the North. Last week, several of my CTMH peeps (specifically Tiffany, Jill, Stacy, Sheena, Yvonne, and Amy) headed to Toronto for a two-day Regional Celebrations. The snow may have been a flyin', but they gave us an incredibly warm reception! What a great experience and extraordinary Consultants.

We had nearly perfect attendance—which really says something about the commitment and enthusiasm of these folks, many of whom had to drive long distances to join us. Everyone was so friendly and outgoing and just darned genuine. It was a joy to spend two days creating fun layouts with new techniques (there was a WHOLE LOT of spray pen action going on, I can tell you. With all the Tulip mist flying, I was glad to be in dark clothes!), a cheery Fanfare banner, and half a dozen glamorous cards that were so darling you'd never believe how easy they were.

I was so impressed by how engaged and willing everyone was to participate in business classes (a bounty of fabulous prizes surely helped motivate everyone!), and each attendee was given the chance to create a free Studio J layout. It was pretty cool to see this gallery of digital diva-ness on parade—you guys did a tremendous job! And when we had some serious technical difficulties during our Family Feud game show at the open crop, nobody batted an eyelash—we just improvised and the Scrapaholics, Scrapinsons, and other loony families played their hearts out for hilarity and free products.

But perhaps the greatest lasting impression I have of the weekend is one of honest, true, down-to-earth hospitality. Each of us on the staff commented how kind, appreciative, receptive, chatty, witty and warm the attendees were. Our Consultant art presenters—Brae, Allison, and Sarah—received raves for their innovative and inspiring presentations. Our silent auction garnered $848 in donations for Operation Smile. And at the end of the day, Allison donated her kraft border artwork to the auction as well, and without batting an eyelash, Consultant Rhonda waved her hand and bid $152 for the artwork…just to get us to an even $1,000 in Operation Smile donations. It was such a generous yet natural gesture, it literally left us all in tears. Pretty representative of the entire weekend and the sisterhood we shared.

As the event wound down, Stacy whispered to me, "Kristine… you KNOW you're speaking in a Canadian accent, right?" Couldn't help myself. After such a great experience, who can blame me for wishing to be a little Canadian, eh?