Aug 4, 2014 | Stampin' Up! Convention |
Thursday night during convention I had the special privilege of being invited to stamp with my 4th level upline (Sandy Hancock) and my 5th level upline’s (Margaret Goodfellow) house. And when I got there my second level upline (Kathy Thorn) was there too! What an exciting chance to be with them all. It’s my Stampin’ Up! Family and its always exciting to me to think it goes directly to the top. Margaret is demo #1 and Shelli’s Aunt – she is the first demonstrator! Also there was demo #2 Janet Baker – she is also Shelli’s Aunt.
She has a beautiful home in the Utah mountains and there were about 20 of us there. We had a wonderful dinner and then went down to her stamp room for some card making fun. Everybody made 4 different cards. I’ll get photos of those and post later. For now here are some pictures from the evening.
most of the group – it seems a few more people arrived after we took this group photo.
View from the porch
one side of the craft room. One card station was on the counter under the quilt. Another was at the table on the left. The Big Shots were under the window on the right.
The other side of the craft room. two more tables with card projects on them. And a wall full of display shelves and baskets of supplies.
I wanted to catch the sunset over the mountains but got busy stamping and forgot – so I was a little late…
Kathy Thorn and me
Janet, me and Margaret
Sandy and me
It was getting dark but the flowers were beautiful at the front of the house
We had quite the adventure driving and returning the rental car. Sandy rented the car and took 7 of us in it. I navigated on the way home and then got us through downtown Salt Lake City and through the concert traffic from Pioneer Park, over to the Radisson to drop off a few of the girls, then back to find a gas station and the rental car place. Then we walked from there back to the hotel.
It was a fun evening and I hope to be invited back again. I wish I had taken a picture of dinner – it was delicious and also of everyone stamping.
Thanks for stopping by come back again!
Aug 1, 2014 | Stampin' Up! Convention |
I love going to convention and seeing my friends that I have made over the years. I went to my very first convention only having met one person – that was my upline and I just barely knew her at the time. My family thought I was crazy to stay in a hotel with a stranger someone I met on the internet – in a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator group – but still. And let’s say I was a little bit nervous about it when I went to that hotel room all those years ago. But I walked in and met Michele from Iowa and we are still friends now and while we didn’t room together these last couple of years we usually stay in the same hotel and spend time together during convention. This year one of Michele’s downline – Kelly – stayed in my room. A new friend! I’m sure she was a little unsure staying in a room with 3 people she hadn’t met but I think she had a great time – made lots of new friends and we will see each other for years to come.
Then there is the Stampin’ Up! part of convention – the opening general session, on stage presentations, stamping presentations and variety of classes and things we get to do. Convention always starts with an opening General Session – all the Stampin’ up! staff come to the convention center and line up for all the demonstrators to walk through – it’s such an energy charged happy time – music playing, people clapping, and high-fives, cheering, dancing and more! And this year we had fireworks!! Convention is now called Inspire, Create, Share – and this was the main stage. The side panels flashed photos that were taken throughout the event.
We started with all the various departments coming up on the stage and then Shelli came out and welcomed us. Then we got to hear Pam Morgan as she introduced us to the new Holiday Catalog. They will be mailing out this month and you can also pick one up at my classes starting around middle of August. Here is a peek at the cover!
We also heard from Becky Higgins as she and Shelli talked about the new partnership and our new product line Project Life by Stampin’ Up! – a simple, quick, easy, guilt-free way of memory keeping!
Then everyone dispersed and did various things throughout the afternoon. I went to a few quick little classes and then a group of friends and headed to the Stampin’ Up! corporate office in Riverton, Utah. One of the things we always do is get a photo out by the Stampin’ Up! rock – Oh – as our group finished up one of the Stampin’ Up! photographers came out and combined us with a few other demos and took pictures of us – one of those was on the Stampin’ Up! Facebook page – did you see it?
Inside we get to tour through the Legacy Room – which is like a display area and has some of the displays that you see photographed in the catalogs, through the Idea Room, the warehouse and Demonstrator Support areas.
It’s Michele – leaving a note on the wall for Stampin’ Up!
Once we finished up we got on the return bus and headed back to the convention center. But first a photo of the beautiful mountains behind the office.
I’ll share more about my evening adventures in a different post. Thanks for stopping by.
Jul 30, 2014 | Stampin' Up! Convention |
Are you ready for some convention posts? We arrived in Salt Lake City on Wednesday and while it wasn’t an official convention day Stampin’ Up! did have a few things going on. I also planned my own dinner with a bunch of friends at the Red Rock Brewery. It’s good and we seem to go there every year – I even went twice this year – we had lunch on Sunday before we left.
Dinner at Red Rock – table 1 Monika, Connie, Cindy, Fran, Linda, Lisa (photo bombing from the other table), Diane and Fran
Dinner at Red Rock – table 2 Diane, Lisa, Marla, Sue, Tammy, Chris, Michele, Kelly
There were close to 20 of us so we were at two tables. Missing were Diane and Jeanna who were at another event prior to dinner and it ran late. Plus we all swapped cards – I’ll have to get pictures of all of them to share on another day.
We left and headed over to the convention center to check in and get our bags and stamp sets and stuff – and I don’t even have a picture!
Next we dropped in at the Paper Pumpkin Party that was going on. And shortly after we got inside I noticed Shelli over to the side – so I grabbed my girls and we waited to talk to her and take photos. Sometimes the lines to meet Shelli are so long – but this one was short. This is my downline and I with Shelli.
Diane, Sue, Shelli, Monika at the Paper Pumpkin Night Out Party
Stampin’ Up! had a make & take project for us – a sneak peek of the September Paper Pumpkin kit!! A fun Halloween treat project. So this is a sneak peek for the September kit….
You can join Paper Pumpkin now for half off for 2 months! So the August and September kits would only be $10 each! I think that is worth trying out. Join by August 10 to start in August and by September 10 to start in September. use the code HALFOFF2 when you join. To join with me as your demonstrator go to this link – www.mypaperpumpkin.com
At the party I also found my friend Karen – we met in Houston at Leadership in January – she is from California –
The party also included snacks and prize drawings and lots of fun. I stayed a little longer than planned. So we were a bit late heading over the Sandy Hancock’s Udderly Awesome Team meeting. We did make it over there but I didn’t get any pictures there either. Once that was over we walked back to our hotel and got ready for the next day and the official start of convention.
I’ll be back with more later.
Jul 19, 2014 | In Colors, Stampin' Up! Convention, Uncategorized |
I’m very excited this year to have two of my downline going to the Stampin’ Up! Convention with me! And since they aren’t staying in the room with me (so I didn’t make them roommate gifts) I decided to make them special downline gifts.
This little pouch idea was something I saw on Pinterest and the idea book was something I got as a swap many years ago at convention and decided to make them each one for their pouch. I also included a “ticket” for dinner – my treat during convention.
I actually pulled out my little sewing machine and stitched the piece of designer paper to the front of the folded bag. That creates several pockets and one has the idea booklet in it and the other has their dinner ticket.
i did go back and add a flower to the Mossy Meadow ribbon on the front – but forgot to take another picture. I’ll try to do that when I get them back out of my suitcase. As I write this they are packed away. Look for another picture on my Facebook Page.
I did use a retired set of dies to cut my letters but you could use whatever you have or even and e-cutter to add the letters to the front. The covers are a piece of heavy card board cut to size and covered with some Designer paper – the Park Lane paper is what I used for this project.
I love how they turned out and I hope Sue & Diane do too.
Here is a list of supplies from Stampin’ Up! –
Jul 18, 2014 | e-cutter, Stampin' Up! Convention |
When you go to a Stampin’ Up! event and you share a room with your friends (those you already know or perhaps those you are meeting for the first time) it is fun to have a little gift to share. Now that we are here and convention has started I wanted to show you the roommate gifts I created this year.
I wasn’t really sure what to do to begin with but ultimately decided to do a “Happy Camper” theme. I wanted to make a camper box and fill it with goodies that we might need through out the week. To create the camper I pulled out my e-cutter and some card stock and started cutting out pieces from a camper file that I downloaded. I made a few changes from the original design because I was trying to create something close to some cute little camper nail files.
I decided to use our big 6×6 Kraft box and glue the cut & pieced camper to it. And then fill it with good stuff.
I had recently traveled to San Francisco to visit Kyle and we went to the Facebook HQ and also to Ghirardelli square – so I wanted items from both of those places included – I found turquoise FB sunglasses for them!
There are also some snacks in there and lotion and I even found glow rings – I think we should wear those to the Awards night party – then I’ll be able to find them (I think) in the crowd or on the dance floor. I hope they like and will be happy campers all week long!
Here is a list of the Stampin’ Up! products that I used:
Aug 6, 2013 | Cards, family, Retired Stamps for Sale, Stampin' Up! Convention |
Gorgeous Grunge is going to be a new go-to stamp set – I can feel it! And I’m even going to sell my retired Extreme Elements stamp set. I pulled it out today because I’m preparing for a new event. A BOGO sale on Saturday, August 24th. Read about it here and come on over to shop that day!
But for now I have a card using the new Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.
This was another Make & Take project from the Stampin’ Up! Convention. This year at convention you had the option to make your projects there and take them home or take them home and make them later. Because there was SO much to do during convention I did the latter. And so did my roomies – Cindy and Diane. So instead we planned a day to get together once we returned home and we made him here at my house. It was much more relaxed and we weren’t so rushed. But I did tell them we actually have to set a date to do it other wise I’ll keep putting it off.
So now I’ll finish my story before I head out to our weekly My Digital Studio crop.
And now for the continuation of the journey home from San Francisco (in case you don’t watch Hell’s Kitchen – that’s what they say at the beginning of each episode – I’m trying to be funny – and I’m probably not – sorry).
Let’s see I left off with us waiting for the wheel chair. Our assigned helper (not sure what they are called) came and got Tyler into the chair and got our gate information (first to the 7:45 standby flight) which was already starting to board. And in another terminal which we had to go outside and down to the next building to get to. And she wheeled us right to the front of the security line! Yeah – finally something in our favor. Nothing big there – oh but that reminds me of a small incident that happened on our flight out – sorry brief side story here – when we left Atlanta I told the boys – shoes off, jackets off, empty pockets, laptops out of your bag. They assured me they knew. But as we went through the line Greg went first, then the boys and I came last – the boys double checked with Greg (he probably wasn’t listening) about taking out their laptops. I did not hear this and as I got ready to go through security – both of the boys backpacks got pulled out to be searched and they took the boys aside. I’m waiting to go through and wondering what is going on. They DIDN”T take out the laptops – apparently Greg said they didn’t have to! The security lady was very nice and laughing at them for listening to dad instead of mom. I assured her that I told them to take the laptops out.
Ok – sorry for the side story. Anyway in LAX we got through security (grateful that we didn’t have to wait in the long line). I told her I needed to find Sudafed – so we did that on the way to the gate. Then we went to the gate and she took our boarding passes to the agent. I ended up running back to get a really expensive pack of crackers because I wanted him to eat a little bit before taking the Sudafed. I came back to see that there are more than 40 people on the Standby list! And the flight was boarding. So we wait and watch the screen and watch the numbers and watch the people get on the plane. I thought there was no way we were getting on. But then I see that we are number 3 & 5 on the standby list. I ran to the desk to remind them that we were traveling together so either both or neither. As they finished loading the plane they kept calling over the intercom – everyone with a ticket board now. You will lose your seat if you aren’t on board now. Etc. I watched the board only to see the seats available change to 0 and we were now 2 and 4. They called our name to stand in front of the desk – so we did. Then it seemed the agents were becoming frantic – rushing around – telling people it was the last call. The girl with us pushing the wheel chair seemed to think we might make it. Then they told us to stand at the top of the bridge area – where they scan your boarding passes. The agents are now running around yelling – 3 min, 2, min – someone runs down to the plane. Someone needs to print a report. They tell us and a couple of other people to walk down to the plane but don’t get on. The agents start yelling at each other about the report and how many seats there are. The flight attendent lines us up in priority – I’m nbr 1, Tyler is 3 but they move the man between us behind him. Someone finally comes running of the plane to tell them there are 6 seats and he writes a number on each boarding pass and they tell us to get on quickly and get seated so we can leave. We do – they close the doors – I’m so happy we are on this plane and headed home. and we wait. the flight attendants check everything. and we wait. I talk to the girl next to me and she is traveling alone. I ask if she would switch with Tyler once we get in the air. She said she would do it now and tries to flag a flight attendant. Finally we see one and they find Tyler and bring him back to me. And we wait. Hmm. Why aren’t we leaving the gate…….
Finally the pilot comes on – there is a problem – oh no! The plane is out of balance and they have to correct it by removing fuel from the plane so they are waiting on a gas truck to come. He will check the numbers every 5 minutes and update us every 10. What! You have to be kidding me. And personally if I’m flying across the US I don’t think fuel is what I want you to remove! So now everyone is allowed to get up move around, turn on their devices. I think everyone took that to mean – let’s go to the bathroom (which we were sitting in front of) and don’t bother using headphones!
I even bravely told a man to have his child use headphones or turn off the sound on their game (believe me everyone could here it) – but it wasn’t the dad and when the dad heard us – he is on the other side of the plane – he is huge! He is probably the reason we are out of balance and he gave me an evil eye. And I gave him one back and the sound on that toy turned off.
Tyler is trying to sleep but it just isn’t working – finally he starts throwing up on the plane – luckily I had bags with me this time. And we still haven’t taken off. Finally the pilot comes on and says we are good and everyone get in their seat so we can go. But then we still don’t go because of too much traffic on the run ways. Ultimately we left TWO HOURS after we boarded that plane. We sat at the gate for 2 hours! And you couldn’t get back off the plane. The 9 something flight left before we did. And once we got in the air – they ran out of food at the row in front of us. Not that Tyler wanted to eat but i was hungry and so tired. We finally arrived at the Atlanta airport at 5:00 pm just in time for Greg to pick us up and sit in Atlanta rush hour traffic trying to get home. But we made it. And Tyler went right to sleep. I got a shower, some food, and then went to sleep.
We got Tyler on his meds – antibiotic and a steroid and then followed up with a doctor at home. Everything seems to be fine now and he still never had any signs that he was sick at all other than the head pain.
I’m done – that is my long drawn out story. I hope at some point you laughed because if I didn’t laugh about it now I would be crying just thinking about it. But that was the one thing I didn’t want to do even though I wanted to during that whole journey. And if you know me I’m pretty much a crier – it doesn’t take much to bring a tear. I held strong. Now to wait and see what the insurance will and won’t cover on all the bills we got. And if they deny anything i think i’ll send them here to read my story on my blog!
Bye for now.
