Today my very good friend, Melissa Chadwick Levay, hosted Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up! co-founder and CEO! Shelli was the guest of honor at an afternoon open house for the Philly Inkers group (my downline), before the main event this evening, Melissa's "Workshop of a Lifetime." Melissa won a recruiting contest in January, and she and the other 23 winners (out of 40,000+ demonstrators!) all got to have Shelli demonstrate a stamping workshop at their houses!

What a wonderful way to spend the day - the Philly Inkers got lots of uninterrupted and personal time with Shelli and also her long-time friend Sue, another east coast demonstrator, who travelled up to NJ with her. We got to ask Shelli lots of questions, hear about her life and work, as well as a little of the history of Stampin' Up!, which began 22 years ago. I am sure we got to know Shelli better than we ever could have at a larger demonstrator event like Convention or a regional conference. What a wonderful opportunity! If someone told me 5 years ago - or even a year ago - that this day would happen (and that I'd have a downline of 50 people, almost half of which got to join us today), I would have had a very hard time believing it!
I was so impressed that even though Shelli has done over 20 of these workshops (she's doing 24 total across the country!), she made us feel like the demonstrators must have felt at her first workshop, like we were the most important demonstrators ever. :0) Shelli is an amazing and gracious guest, and this was a great day for the Philly Inkers!
Here are some pictures with Shelli and Melissa, followed by some group shots and stamping, of course:0)
