Convention 2017 was held in Salt Lake City, Utah...home to the corporate office. It was held at the Salt Palace Convention Center...impressively huge. My sister, Shirley and sister-in-law, Tricia, were both able to attend as well. Tricia first introduced me to CTMH back in....maybe 2004 when the stamps wee still on wood blocks. Shirley became a consultant under Tricia in, I believe 2011 and they attended Convention in Dallas together and bugged me to join so we could have an annual sister trip, so that's how my joining CTMH began. Anyhow, it was amazing just hanging out with them, catching up, and of course Scrapping and creating!
Day 1 ~ Thursday, June 29th
The initial day starts with a General Session, evey year brings a different theme and this year was "Who Tells Your Story." The excitement and anticipation is UNREAL. The afternoon would consist of a Creative Session and Home Office Tours.
Everyone attending is excited to see what CTMH has created new, what product lines will be staying/changing, etc. General Session involves some type of "skit" to introduce the new products.
The General Session involved introducing changes to our papers (they will be dual toned original color on one side and a lighter complimentary shade on the other), new products such as foil papers and a new creative book, new cut above kits w/Picture My Life cards and more, as well as a completely new line of Basic colors (greys/tans/neutrals) and new Fundamental paper packs.
We knew there had to be more....but that would wait until Day 2! They did introduce the Holiday Inspirations catalog as well, with amazing papers. All throughout the session names were called for prizes and I won a set of the new Christmas papers! They are gorgeous, and I wish I could post a pic, but unfortunately we are under direct orders to not reveal until August!
Walking out of the morning session we each were give a copy of the new Annual Inspirations catalog and off to lunch we headed!
After lunch the first Creative Session commenced and we were provided new materials to create 4 12x12 layouts and 3 cards.
OH!!! I almost forgot, the new Annual color was introduced!!! BASHFUL is the color of the year and it is GORGEOUS!
We each received a new Bashful Ink Pad along with 2 amazing stamp sets to create our projects.
Our tour was reserved for 4:30, so off we headed. We loaded a nice tour bus for the drive to Pleasant Grove, UT which was about 45 minutes away. We did NOT think about the traffic when we booked and it took quite a bit longer, but we did finally make it!
The tour involved seeing the remodeled home office, the Art Studio where the creativity happens, a quick peek at the warehouse, Jeanette's office, her crop area, the "BIG" meeting room and the lobby filled with amazing creative pieces.
A HUGE Heart mobile was hung as a focal center pieces in the lobby, AND the largest wall had wallpaper created off a stamp set. Again, gorgeous!
It was here that we received the much anticipated BAG we get every year, and we each had our picture taken by the Close to My Heart business sign by a professional photographer (not available, just yet).
After the tour, we were EXHAUSTED and starving! We headed to City Center for dinner at the always delicious Cheesecake Factory. We returned to our hotel around 10pm and went straight to bed.
Day 2 ~ Friday, June 30th
The day began with another General Session, followed by lunch and then Business sessions. The General Session brought 2 inspirational speakers, each with their own "story" to tell. The first to speak was Stacy Julian. If you don't know of her, she was the founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine. She then started the very successful Big Picture Classes company which she then sold to Studio Calico in 2014. She was at first a consultant with CTMH before branching off on her own.
Stacy spoke to us about how ANYTHING, any moment, emotion, event, etc. can be "Story-ish." Based off the inspirational book "Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds in which he outlines that how a creative spirit learns that thinking "ish-ly" is much better than "getting it right."
What did this lead to? The introduction for a new Project she is partnering with Close to My Heart for, which is simply called "Story." It is still "secret" and as such, we do not have many details, but it will be launching in 2018. SO exciting! I do have to say hearing her speak struck a chord with me, and a light bulb went on. I struggle with creating scrapbook PAGES as I get stuck on who is going to look at this? I have no children, no one to pass these things on to, etc. When Stacy Julian spoke about "story-ish" I thought, "wait, this is ME. I journal, I post "tid bits" on facebook, I tell the story of my day, my experiences, etc. through one or two tiny pictures that I share!" OH MY!
We then had the honor to hear New York Times Best Seller, Stephanie A. Nielson. Her story was inspirational. To hear more about her personal journey and story, click this link. Again, we do not know where life will take us, but it is what we make it, even through heartache, pain and loss there is a story to tell.
Day 3 ~ Saturday, July 1
Day 3 brought about sessions in which Operation Smile was shared and the Operation Smile auction completed. Over $14,000 was raised this morning auctioning off VERY creative artwork by some amazingly talented Consultants and just a "few" Sticky Boy stamp sets....13 to be exact, each that went for $100 a piece! Speaking of Sticky Boy....I searched and did not find, though I was less than 30 seconds behind the finder of one.
It was announced via a video and "wedding" announcement between Sticky Boy and Sticky Girl, that Convention 2018 will be held at the Red Rocks Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada!!
A final creative session occurred in which we worked on layouts related to our Heritage (following speakers on the topic) we got ready for the Awards Banquet dinner and dance to close out convention.
The evening included Awards for consultants, including longevity, team and individual sales, recognitions and a top notch performance by Alex Boye. 
I received an award charm for my 5 years as an active consultant (which I was surprised by because I hadn't realized I've been involved that LONG already! (I didn't have to go on stage, however Tricia did, as she celebrated 15 YEARS and was presented with a beautiful heart pin with charm.)
I would love to have you join my team, joining is EASY, and then you can join us in Las Vegas next year! All you have to do is join my team at www.jenniferdistler.ctmh.com and YOU too can begin telling YOUR STORY!!!
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| Just a little pic of me :) Happy Place |
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| Ready for the Awards Banquet |
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| Creating! |
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| Look at all those Creative Minds! @ Creative Session |
