Fiskars Round Up (part 2)

What an fantastic trip. From the moment I stepped into the first meeting, I was shocked. I continued to be shocked all throughout the weekend. Let me go back and explain why I was even in San Antonio.
May, one of Fiskars leads called me on the phone and announced that I was chosen to be apart of something BIG that would be happening in November. I had NO IDEA just how big she meant. Before too long, an all expense paid trip was planned and I would be leaving for Texas.
The first night that we got there, I came in late and very ill but I couldn't help but smile as I walked into a room full of ladies at tables with orange hats with their fiskateers number on them! All around the room their were craft carts that were clearly our 'first gift.' Suzanne insisted that we brought our 'horse' to every meeting because we would be filling it up with goodies! Along with our 'horse' was a great pair of fiskars scissors that even had our name engraved on them! That night there was a wonderful class (that I missed due to being ill) but it was chalked full of fun stuff and I did get a kit to complete later.
Saturday morning, we started out early with breakfast and some history about Fiskars. WHO knew that this company had been around since the 1600??? And over all these years, it has been a company about people.

Caring for people has been the heart of it.

LOVE that.

So, the very first class we walk into, was like the best Christmas you could EVER imagine!!! Our chairs were piled high and over flowing with trimmers (4 different sizes), stamp presses, stamps, border punches, punches, templates, eyelet setters, and that's just to name a few. Of course, each class that we went to had a kit full of paper, ribbon, stickers, rub-ons... everything we needed to complete a project and then some. And tape... lots and lots of adhesive. Stephanie, Holly, and Cheryl each taught a fabulous class and every time we switched rooms there were new goodies to open. Unbelievable. We seriously could not believe our eyes.

We broken into four groups, the last class that we had was with the leaders from Brains on Fire which is like Fiskars 'PR' branch. It was informative and also interactive where we were able to give feed back. Awesome.

We spoiled not only with things. Fiskars way beyond that. We were spoiled with some excellent restaraunts and delishious foods (most of which I couldn't eat but I still felt spoiled!) These lovely gents playing the guitars serenaded us out of our hotel and onto a river boat where were taken on a little boat tour up the river walk. It was AMAZING!!! I will post more photos of that later. It was so special and so fun for all of us gals in our orange hats, to be hanging out together. People would ask what the hats were for and we pass them out a pair of scissors and tell them it was a gift from Fiskars. So fun to spread the LOVE! We were each given 3 pairs to pass out at some point.

Saturday evening was a special treat. Heidi Grace and Nancy from Cloud 9 each gave a class and blessed us with tons of product. It was neat to catch a glimpse into their hearts and lives to understand how the companies really came to be.

Toward the end of the evening, we were informed that they had extra boxes of supplies to work with and to help ourselves to all the stuff on the back table. Wowah! That was like taking off all the lids in a candy store where a 3 year old is standing free!!! It quickly became a spread the supplies party and you could tell that everyone was quite excited to be getting some more stuff! I left a little early because they were asking for anyone who hadn't got a chance to have any of their projects taped for Fiskars TV. So... I went off to do that. That was hilarious. I was sick and my voice was shot and I'm sure looked horrid and totally did not plan what I was going to say. It was pretty bad but hey... it was an opportunity so I took it! Can't even tell ya what they are going to do with it... if anything! LOL!

In the morning, there was still yet more Fiskars love being poured out on us. We got to hear a bit more about the heart of the company and how we are able to communicate that to others. Then, the 3 leads got up to say a few words and begin a 'graduation ceremony.' Kleenex boxes were flyin' as everyone spoke about how wonderful it has been to be apart of something so amazing and how it was so great to build friendships over such a small time. We were each called up one by one and given a necklace with a pair of scissors for a charm, a flower, and most importantly 3 big hugs from our fearless leaders. It was so sweet and so awesome.

My favorite part about this weekend was how all the leaders of this company, including Suzanne and the 3 leads just became one of us. They 'hung' with us, laughed with us and told stories with us. We were all just a bunch of happy scrappers bonding with our passion and learning a bit about one another. It was soooo personal and just sooo very awesome.

Obviously I got to spend more time with some than with others. I really didn't think I would feel like I got to know some of these people the way that I did. It's so fun to go on the board and actually 'know' the people you are talking to. That alone is special. But it was most amazing that this company invested so many resources, so much time, so much effort into us. It feels great to know that someone has that much faith in you!

Fiskars is about a company who really want their customers to understand their products so that people can get more out of their paper crafting and 'memory perserving.'

Thank you Fiskars and everyone one of you who put soooo much work into making this weekend so special for us. It was such an honor to be there. I truly have been blessed.

I wanted to share some these fabulous photos. The first is of Cheryl and I. She is such a dear. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have not only met her but really get to know her. The two of us have really connected through emails, phone calls, and a lot of common experiences. To actually hug and spend time chattin' about life really deepend our bond.

The second photo is of Heidi Grace and I. She is such a cutie! Heidi really shared alot about her life and was so REAL with us. She is smart, genuine, talented and beautiful. What an honor to meet and spend some time with her.

I have soo many photos to share. These are just a few to capture the feeling of the weekend. I may post some more later just for fun!

Now to pass on some Fiskars LOVE!!! We were given a 'bit' extra to pass on so the first one to post here and guess what my favorite fiskars product is will be 'feelin' the fiskars love when I RAK them!