My Girlie Getaway!

Last week I really got to get away from it all and have a little girl time.

First, I got to spend a little time up at Girls' Camp with my cute young women.  I have such wonderful memories of going to Camp as a girl, and I was so excited to be back - if only for a day (and a night!)  I was so sad that I had to get up really early to head back down the mountain, but I had a plane to catch!  I drove from Big Bear straight to Dennis' office where he took me to the airport.  No time to loose!  I was leaving the fun of camp behind, yes, but I was off to where there was more fun to be had - the 2009 Stampin' Up! Convention!

Off I flew to Salt Lake City for the Stampin' Up Convention!  SU's conventions are always first-rate, and so very much fun!  Thousands of women (and a few guys too) gather to swap handmade cards, learn and share new stamping techniques and ideas, look at stamps, eat, and just have a blast!  (Plus we got a darling reversible convention bag and a bunch of free new stamps!)  Oh ya, and we also get to STAMP like crazy!

The theme this year was "inspire, create, share" and I got a lot of all three!

This was an exciting year for me, because I got to walk across the main stage and be recognized for my remarkable accomplishment. No, I didn't have high sales (HA!) or remarkable recruiting (ya, right!).  But I hung in there long enough and bought enough of my own stamps that I recieved my 10 year pin! (It will actually be 11 years come October!)  This was my 8th convention in 10 years. (I missed one when my twins were born, and another a few years ago, when all the slots filled up before I got my ticket.  So sad.)

I really enjoyed my moment in the limelight, since I'm sure I won't be recognized for anything actually important on stage ever again. I am just not the most motivated business women in the company.  I do the BARE MINIMUM it take to get my discount and go to convention.  Maybe I should try a bit harder.

Too bad I was having a bad hair day!

For me, the best part of convention was hanging out, in person, with my dear friend Diana.   Diana and I actually met last convention standing in line for the Make-and-Takes and hit it off immediately!  We got to know each other a bit that week, and then a lot more via blogging/email afterward.  She is an amazing, darling gal!  A speech therapist, a triathelete, an amazing singer and musician, the ward choirster, and a STAMPER too!  It was especially fun to see her in person becasue she has lost 40 lbs since last year!  Way to go Diana!  

Here are just several hundred pictures I took of the thousands and thousands of stamped cards and projects that were on display there.  It was pretty overwhelming!

Not wanting to get too stamp-crazy, Diana and I took an afternoon off from convention and pampered ourselves a bit.  First stop - pedicures!  Nothing says "I've had a girl weekend" like pretty polished piggies!  We kept looking at them for the rest of the trip.  (They are all messed up now since I went to taekwando class as soon as I got home, and had to kick the bag about a hundred times.  Oh well.  It was fun while it lasted!)

Of course, no girlie getaway would be complete without a shopping spree!  Our rounds included one of my favorite inspiring stops in Utah, Gardener Village.  I just love the cute little old buildings and pretty boutiques.  We also got to the Black Goose, the mall, the Rack, and Target (always Target!)

All that candy was for the kids, OK? For the kids.

And dinner was Diana's suggestion - Cafe Rio, where I was introduced to their pork salad.  Super yummy!  Wish I didn't have to go all the way to Utah to get another one!

And of course, there was one more element necessary to having the perfect girl weekend - talking to you girlfriend late, late, late into the night!  We had a few good chats, I must say!  Came home completely exhausted!!!  But Happy!

Dennis and the boys sure were happy to see me, and the house was clean too!  It was so great of them to let me have this time away!

I sure enjoyed myself on this getaway, and loved spending quality time with my friend Diana!  Again next year - definitely!

Stampin' Up! Party

On Thursday night Mom and I had a Stampin' Up! catalog unveiling party (yes, the catalog came out in August.  So what?  This was the best we could do.)  We worked really hard and I think those who came really had a good time.  For those of you who missed it, here are the highlights.

P.S.  please forgive the bad pics, as I was using the point and shoot camera rather than my SRL.  Just lazy.

This is my Spooky Jar.  I LOVE it.  I bought the jar at Target, the lid was already black.  I used this cutest "spooky" spider, from SU's new Decor Elements line.  I love his long legs.  It was so easy.  Then I added some gloomy ribbon, and a fun tag that says "yum yum!"  I am thrilled about it, and so glad it is October so I can keep it out all month (though I know the candy won't last all month, or all weekend, for that matter.)  

Here are the table decorations I helped Mom make for the woman's broadcast dinner last weekend.  They turned out so absolutely terrific and colorful.  We displayed them again at our SU party.  They were pretty easy to do, once we figured them out, and so festive.

This is a get well soup can my mom made.  I thought it was so clever.  She took a soup can, and unsealed the bottom to get the soup out and washed it.  Had lunch.  Then she filled it with a tissue pack, cold medicine, chocolate, etc.  whatever you think you sick friend would like that you can fit into a can, and glue the bottom back on.  Then she decorated it to look like a soup can.  It says "making you feel better one can at a time."  Then, when your sick friend gets it, they have to open it with a can opener.  Good one mom!

This was a poster advertising my Stampin' Club.  These are just a sample of the fun hands-on cards we have made in the past at my stampin' clubs.  People sign up to be in Stampin' Club, 6 people per club.  They are basically a monthly class where I get to teach the latest techniques and ideas.  The classes are free and all hands-on.  The members usually take home 3 -4 cards and projects that they have made.  They are more advanced and intricate than one would normally make at a stamp workshop.  Each person commits to spending $25 each month for 6 months.  We do that because a party must total $150 to earn free hostess prizes, so each club member gets to take her turn being the hostess and getting all the free hostess stuff.  It works out great for everyone.  I get to stay home with my family and meet my minimum requirements, and the ladies in my clubs get stamping classes, hand-on projects, and get to earn free hostess stamps and merchandise without any work of throwing a stamp party or inviting people over to their house.  The gals in my clubs just love it, and it is fun to get together with them every month.  Just ask any of them.  Good times.  There are still a few more spaces open in my Stampin' Club if anyone is interested in joining us.

Here is a class I am going to be having in November, these little Christmas mini-notes that are all made from a simply scrappin' kit.  There is hardly any stamping at all - just a lot of assembling.  They came together really fast.  They are much like the Emergency Birthday Card kits we made a few months ago, only the cards are half the size, which means we can make 32 different cards with just half a kit.  Really really easy and very pretty little cards for Christmas packages.  The cost for all 32 cards, and little square envelopes is only $19.  Once again, they are much cuter in person than in this picture.

 I am also going to be teaching a Punches class, where we will try to make a sorts of pretty things using mostly punches.  Here are a few ideas.

I am SOOO excited about this super fun PARTY pennant banner I made with my new favorite toy, my Big Shot.  The picture is lousy, but it is such a fun banner to hang on birthdays or when ever you have cause to celebrate with all it's ribbons, glitter, pleated rosettes, and danglies.  Again, the cost is only $19 for a fun new family tradition.

A close up of the banner.

Here is a hands-on project Mom came up with for everyone to do.  It is done using the big grass stamp, with the bottom masked off.  Then using the ribbon slot punch she punched out some brown paper, and glued the punched pieces onto the blades of grass to look just like cattails.  Fun! 

Here is a card I demonstrated. The colors are blue and black, not brown.  Sorry.   The shapes were cut using the Big Shot.  I brayered the lighter blue onto glossy paper, then masked out the moon using a circle punched scrap of paper, then brayered again using the deeper blue, then stamped the black silhouette daises on top.  I thought it came out very striking.

It was a fun time, and because there were so many people who couldn't make it, we are thinking of doing it all again. Feel free to let me know if you'd like to come to that, or any other class or Stampin' Club.

Thanks for all those who came, and for Mom for all her hep an hard work!

Happiness is... FREE STAMPS!

We came to Utah so Mom and I could attend the Stampin' Up convention at the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake.  It was three days of non-stop fun, great ideas and inspiration, hands-on stamping , a peek at new products, thousands of card and scrapbook samples to view, and of course swapping 'til you drop.  This was my 7th convention, and Mom's 2nd.  They are always SO FABULOUS and they get better every every year!  This year there were over 7,000 ladies and a handful of men at convention. The theme was "Celebrate '08" because Stampin' Up! is celebrating it's 20th anniversary.  I started demonstrating for SU during it's 10 year anniversary, and the company has come so far in those 10 years.
 These are my swaps that I made to bring to convention.  I made almost 200 cards and notebooks to trade with other demonstrators.  I thought my cards were really cute, and I had so much fun collecting all those cards from other ladies.  Swapping is pure madness - people stop right in the middle of the hallways, drop their stuff, and swap!

Here are just a few of the many items we stamped at convention.  The Make and Takes are so much fun, and even better because they gave us 3 great stamp sets to use and keep.  The silhouette daisy set "Inspired by Nature" is my new favorite.

At our first Make and Take class we met a new friend, Diana Crowshaw, who is also LDS from Springville, Utah.  She was darling and we really hit it off right away - like we'd know each other forever.  Diana has 3 little boys, so we speak the same language.  We hung out with Diana for the rest of the conference, and everything was even more fun with her there, right mom?

Notice my darling bag that they gave us, full of stamps and products at check-in.  It is really cute with flowers embroidered on the flap.  Very fun!

Also notice the sample boards behind us in the background.  There were literally thousands of beautiful card and scrapbook samples sent in by demonstrators and SU artists for us to view and photograph.  We got so many fun ideas from those samples.  Amazing how creative people can be!
Beside the 3 free sets we got at check-in, mom was super lucky to win this terrific set as a door prize.  It is always so exciting when they give away FREE STAMPS!  Go Mom!!!

 Then, at the very last session of the convention, right before it was all over,  a UPS delivery guy came on stage with a SU box and said he had a delivery - Free Stamps for everyone!!!  The gals went crazy as a couple UPS trucks drove onto the stage, through the smoke and sparkle of pyrotechnics, and cute UPS guys jumped out and started delivering free, and darling, I might add, stamps sets to all 7 thousand of us.  It was the perfect ending to a great convention!

Diana and I thrilled about our Free Stamps.  I am so easy to please - just a bit of rubber and wood.  Then we had to say good-by to convention, and our new friend Diana.  We'll see Diana here next convention - same place, same fun, different free stamps!!!