San Antonio/Day 3 Leadership Begins

Feb 1, 2012 | Cards, Occasions Mini 2012, Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

My third day in San Antonio and the official start of the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference.  It was Thursday and we started with everyone in the Theater for the opening general session.  Our theme this year is MY WAY.

Stampin’ Up! CEO and cofounder, Shelli Gardner, welcomed everyone.  One of the first announcements was about a re-design of the Stampin’ Success Magazine – an exclusive magazine just for demonstrators.  All of the changes that I saw look really exciting and the March issue will be the first one.  There was a leadership march on stage for anyone that had a promotion during the last year.  So I got to walk for my Manager promotion.

Donna Griffith made an announcement of a brand new product that will be available in March – a Diagonal Score Plate accessory for the Simply Scored Tool.  It will be easy to create your own envelopes and here is a cute little card idea that she showed us –

Something everyone looks forward to at Stampin’ Up! Events is the Prize Patrol and my friend Michele was one of the lucky winners of a Diagonal Score Plate –

Michele Diagonal Score Plate Prize Patrol

This years Leadership had a large number of All-attendee prize patrol give-a ways – that meant we all got a prize – one included a brand new stamp set from the next catalog – along with a package of the large pearls from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

Monika & Linda - prize patrol

The morning was full of more announcements including changes to our Catalog program.  Our current Idea Book & Catalog will be ending May 31st with a brand new annual catalog starting on June 1, 2012.  That is one month early than past years.  We will also be switching to two seasonal catalogs instead of the 3 mini catalogs.  Each seasonal catalog will run for 5 months with the Holiday catalog starting in August.  There won’t be a summer mini this year.  And the seasonal catalogs will be bigger too.

Lunch at leadership is always a nice affair with service by waiters, nice linen table cloths and napkins and a fancy dessert – yummy cheese cake today.

There was so much going on that I’ll have to finish the day in another post! I’ll be  back tomorrow with more.

San Antonio/Leadership – Day 2

Jan 29, 2012 | Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

For me Day 2 of my trip to Leadership in San Antonio was Wednesday.  In the morning we got up and picked up our cute Leadership bags – made from brand new fabric that will be coming out in the next catalog.  I realize we didn’t even take any pictures of us holding our bags. After a bit of swapping I headed to the Make&Take area since I was a helper – we had to go help with a bit of set up and get some instructions and what our responsibilities were during and after the session.  And there was a cute surprise in there for everyone!

We all received a fabric organizer that matched our bags – with a tag signed by Shelli – plus a box of chocolates that were hand made by one of the Stampin’ Up! employees. Here is our gang at the Make&Takes.

All the Stampin’ Up! employees (well the girls) made their own aprons using the same fabric as our bags. Here I am with Carrie Cudney and Donna Griffith

After M&Ts were over we headed out to the Riverwalk for lunch and then visited the Alamo -oh look there we are with out bags – Becky and Diane are holding theirs.

After spending the afternoon at the Alamo – we hurried back so I could get ready to got to my first Manager’s Reception!  I received my promotion to manager this past year so this was the first time I qualified for this extra special evening of fun.  This year the event was held in the convention center so we didn’t have to travel anywhere – the show was in the Theatre –

Lily Cockrell Theatre

We started the evening with a mix and mingle in the lobby and they had waiters serving us Chinese inspired appetizers.  I spent the evening with my friend Pearl and later we met up with Patty and Cindee to see the show.  I also got to talk to Shelli for a few minutes and have a quick picture with her – although not a very good picture.

The show we saw was the Chinese Acrobats – here are a few pictures of their strength, flexibility, and balance.

That wraps up another day of my trip.

San Antonio – day 1

Jan 27, 2012 | Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

Last week Tuesday was Day 1 of my trip to San Antonio.  This was our travel day.  Diane and I flew in from Georgia, Linda also flew in from Georgia but she was on a later flight.  Fran came from Alabama, Michele from Iowa and Becky from Pennsylvania.  We all stayed in two rooms at the Grand Hyatt right next to the convention center where all the Stampin’ Up! activities were taking place.  After everyone arrived and we checked into our rooms our tummy’s told us we were way past lunch time!  The closest place to eat was at the hotel restaurant and lucky for us they had seating outdoors right on the river.

We took a nice little boat tour down the river as the sun was setting.

Linda, Michele, Monika, Diane, Fran, Becky

Later we went down to this restaurant and ate on the river – it was Casa something – I’ll have to go find the name.

That’s it for today.

The rest of the Make&Take Pictures

Jan 26, 2012 | Big Shot, Cards, My Digital Studio, Occasions Mini 2012, Scrapbook Pages, Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

here are the pictures from the rest of the Make&Takes –

Dreams to Plans Decor

This one is a printed page that was created in My Digital Studio and then we embellished with card stock, ribbon and flowers and some distressing ink.  It belongs in an 8×10 frame so that you can hang it on your wall.  I don’t have a frame for it yet.

Jar o Cards

This is the Jar o Cards – we did not get jars at the leadership conference but I happened to have a wide mouth mason jar at home.  The jar is supposed to have cards inside – here is the card –

Stick the cards and envelopes inside the jar and give as a gift to a hostess.  Pretty cute idea don’t you think?

Thanks box

This one was a fun idea – it is the Fancy Favor box on it’s side and then you make a slightly smaller box to slide inside of it.  Then a belly band to wrap around it.  Tuck a little treat inside and this could also be a hostess gift.

Wonderful You Scrapbook

This one is and 8×8 scrapbook page.  So imagine a picture in the middle of it.  I thought I would print a picture of myself – maybe one from Leadership if I can find a good one and put it on there.  The little tag on the right side is a place to write the date and/or place.  We had several projects that used skewers this time for little pennant flags.

I think that was it for the Leadership Make&Takes – as you can see there were a lot and it wasn’t meant for you to finish them all there.  Since I was a helper I had to make mine ahead and that means they are all finished – yeah!

Have a nice day – it is rainy here – a pretty yucky kind of day.  I’m finishing up scrapbook layouts for my class on Friday, then my downline meeting on Saturday night and I have workshops on Sunday night and Tuesday night.  Lots going on!  So if I don’t post don’t worry – I just ran out of time.  But I will try to get something up every day.  And if I don’t these last two posts had lots to look at and provide inspiration for you.  Bye for now.

Leadership Make & Takes

Jan 25, 2012 | Cards, Occasions Mini 2012, Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

First of all this time the Make&Takes for me were a totally new experience at Leadership.  Why you might wonder – well it was because this year I was a helper.  And it was a lot of fun!  Stampin’ Up! sent the helpers the project supplies ahead of time and we had to make them at home.  Guess what?  It is the first time I had ALL my Make&Take projects done by the time the event ended.  I think it served a double purpose – one so we knew how to make the projects ahead of time and two to find questions and problems with the supplies or instructions.

This year the Leadership conference theme was “MY WAY” and the Make&Takes were included in that theme – I think there were a total of 9 projects – which was way more than you would be able to finish – but it allowed everyone to work on what they wanted and do it “their way”.

So here are pictures of some of the projects –

Daffodil Thanks Card for the Ronald McDonald House

Everyone at the tables I was helping completed this card.  Stampin’ Up! provided supplies to make two of this card so that one could be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.  All the donated cards were collected in baskets and Stampin’ Up! will donate them.

Dream Gift Bag

The projects used the Mixed Bunch and Loving Thoughts stamp sets that every attending demo received at Leadership in their Make&Take bags.

Happiness Card

Most of the projects also used Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit – it included double sided printed die-cut flowers and PINK Rhinestones. It is in the Occasions Mini Catalog on page 18.

Lucky Limeade Thanks Card

We also received a full package of Brights Designer Buttons, a full pack of Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine and half a pack of Twitterpated Designer Series Paper and a full roll of Daffodil Delight Grosgrain ribbon.  We used some on our projects but had plenty left over to take home and use on other projects.

Wonderful Card

Those were most of the cards.  I think I have maybe one more plus some 3D projects to share on another day.

 

I am home from Leadership and it was Awesome!!

Jan 24, 2012 | Awards, Cards, Occasions Mini 2012, Punch Art, Scrapbook Pages, Stampin' Up! Events | 0 comments

Hi all!  I came home Sunday from San Antonio, TX.  Most of the week was taken up with Leadership activities and I stayed an extra day to attend the Regional Conference too.  It was such a wonderful week.  I loved the location – I enjoyed walking every day (or night) along the Riverwalk.  Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is always a ton of fun!  I took lots of pictures and have many, many new ideas to share and use for my upcoming classes and workshops – I can’t wait – the hard part is what should I start with.  It seemed that this year we got SO much free stuff.  There were lots of giveaways for everyone, plus prize patrol for those that were selected.  I got a few bonuses – first I was able to attend the Manager’s Reception this year – my first time – and those that attended got a brand spankin new stamp set.  Then I was a Make&Take helper – my first time for that too – and we got a special thank you gift bag for that.  In my Retaining & Engaging Your Downline class with Donna Griffith and Patsy Waggoner I was asked to be a volunteer, it turned out to be a little game (I wasn’t very good at it) but Donna still gave all the contestants (there were three of us) 3 stamp sets!  That was a big Surprise! And then the most exciting part was the card contest that Stampin’ Up! had this year – they chose winners for all the different stamp sets in the Occasions Mini Catalog – everyone put their entries – either cards or scrapbook pages – on these clothes lines that were set up in the Gathering Place.  Then the SU staff picked their favorites.  And guess what I was picked not once but TWICE!  and when I went to claim my prize they another another one of my cards in their hand – but I couldn’t get picked 3 times she said.  Hmmm I think i’ll send that one in for the magazine contest since they loved it soo much.  Anyway I got a little prize pack for that – the Sweet Shop Designer Series paper, Designer Stickers and Jelly Bean Brads!

Oh and one more super exciting thing is at the Manager’s Reception I got to chat with Shelli Gardner (CEO and cofounder of Stampin’ Up!) and I was carrying around my Holiday Mini catalog (the one with my picture in it) so I could get her autograph and I did!!   There is so much more to tell you but I’ll have to spread it out over time or you might get tired of reading and miss something.  Let me share some pictures with you now that I rambled on about so much.

These are all my Leadership gifts/prizes/take home goodies!

How do you like our cute bag?  New fabric – coming soon!  At the Make&Take session the tables were set with a matching folio for everyone and a cute little box filled with homemade chocolates.  I’ll share more about Make&Takes on another day.

My two winning contest entries were these –

features Loving Thoughts stamp set

This is the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set - an 8x8 scrapbook page

Click  here for the post on the scrapbook page. I must not have posted the card yet so I’ll put up details later this week.

These are the lists of the contest winners - the "M's" are on the third page.

My friend Linda was also a winner - here we are together with our prizes.

It was a super fun trip – now I can’t wait for convention to get here!  I’ll have more to share with you this week and probably next week too – including some announcements from Stampin’ Up! that you won’t want to miss.  So stop by again and don’t forget to say hi!