Every summer I look forward to one of my favorite times of the Stampin' Up! year, (yes, the new catalog is great, but even better is going to the Stampin' UP! Convention in Salt Lake City every August!)

Last year there were 7 of us who went to convention: Linda, me, Jan, Melinda, Janice, Cathy, & Lorelei!

We swapped great swaps:

Did fun Make n' Takes:

Received FREE stamps!

Had great fun eating out together in the evening! (Here we are at Benihana's!)

Took lots of pictures of sample boards:

and enjoyed meeting up with old friends!

Convention is the BEST! I can't wait to go again this year!

Every summer I look forward to one of my favorite times of the Stampin' Up! year, (yes, the new catalog is great, but even better is going to the Stampin' UP! Convention in Salt Lake City every August!)

Last year there were 7 of us who went to convention: Linda, me, Jan, Melinda, Janice, Cathy, & Lorelei!

We swapped great swaps:

Did fun Make n' Takes:

Received FREE stamps!

Had great fun eating out together in the evening! (Here we are at Benihana's!)

Took lots of pictures of sample boards:

and enjoyed meeting up with old friends!

Convention is the BEST! I can't wait to go again this year!

I guess I am just playing catch-up with everything that has been going on Stampin' Up!-wise for the past year in my life this week! Today I am taking a walk down Memory Lane to Founder's Circle in September 2008!

After flying us in to Las Vegas, Stampin' Up! boarded us onto this bus for the ride into beautiful St. George, Utah, in the heart of Red Rock country! During the ride I had a chance to talk to other top-level demos who had earned this getaway too!

I had opportunities to get lots of great ideas and take lots of pictures for class ideas:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

We each had our OWN ROOM at the hotel in St. George, and had plenty of good food time to relax! One day we took a bus trip to Kanab, Utah, to visit the stamp manufacturing plant:

We were able to tour the plant floor (no pictures allowed), but we were allowed to take pictures in Shelli's private apartment upstairs. Here's me sitting on Shelli's bed!

Beautiful, although the pic is fuzzy!
The entire apartment was decorated exactly as I would expect Shelli's home to be, elegant yet comfortable, and filled with unique antiques! Here's her kitchen:

We ended our day at Kanab with lunch at the local park where Stampin' Up! has donated all the playground equipment and the surface under the jungle-gym was ground-up stamps! Stampin' Up! doesn't like to waste anything!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And of course a fun new stamp set for our Make n' Takes:

One new thing I learned is that is you put a piece of DSP inside a cello bag so you can punch it with an oval punch!

Our swap & share night in our jammies was great fun! The best holiday swaps ever!

And of course new stampin' friends: Kristina, Deb, Martha, me, & Barb!

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a great experience, something I would never had had the opportunity to do without Stampin' Up!

I guess I am just playing catch-up with everything that has been going on Stampin' Up!-wise for the past year in my life this week! Today I am taking a walk down Memory Lane to Founder's Circle in September 2008!

After flying us in to Las Vegas, Stampin' Up! boarded us onto this bus for the ride into beautiful St. George, Utah, in the heart of Red Rock country! During the ride I had a chance to talk to other top-level demos who had earned this getaway too!

I had opportunities to get lots of great ideas and take lots of pictures for class ideas:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

We each had our OWN ROOM at the hotel in St. George, and had plenty of good food time to relax! One day we took a bus trip to Kanab, Utah, to visit the stamp manufacturing plant:

We were able to tour the plant floor (no pictures allowed), but we were allowed to take pictures in Shelli's private apartment upstairs. Here's me sitting on Shelli's bed!

Beautiful, although the pic is fuzzy!
The entire apartment was decorated exactly as I would expect Shelli's home to be, elegant yet comfortable, and filled with unique antiques! Here's her kitchen:

We ended our day at Kanab with lunch at the local park where Stampin' Up! has donated all the playground equipment and the surface under the jungle-gym was ground-up stamps! Stampin' Up! doesn't like to waste anything!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And of course a fun new stamp set for our Make n' Takes:

One new thing I learned is that is you put a piece of DSP inside a cello bag so you can punch it with an oval punch!

Our swap & share night in our jammies was great fun! The best holiday swaps ever!

And of course new stampin' friends: Kristina, Deb, Martha, me, & Barb!

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a great experience, something I would never had had the opportunity to do without Stampin' Up!

I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! Bet you couldn't tell that already from looking at my blog, can you??? Well, I love every minute of it, even after 6 1/2 years of running my own Stampin' Up! business, I can't begin to tell you the satisfaction and pleasure I get out of teaching stamping techniques to both new stampers and more experienced gals!

Another perk I have comes from the fact that I have been blessed to be able to continue to earn the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip every year. I get to take a fabulous all-expenses-paid trip every spring  with my wonderful husband, Mark! Here we are at the beautiful Hilton Waikaoloa Village Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii:

This was our "Beach Day"!

The Stampin' Up! Hospitality Room had lots of great swaps on display:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Stampin' Up! is SO accomodating that when I asked if we could fly in early to visit Pearl Harbor, they allowed the travel agency to book our flight a couple of days ahead and PAID for it! Here's our view from our hotel room just a block away from Wakiki Beach:

And here's the gorgeous sunset we watched while sitting on a pier at the beach!

Stampin' Up! had a great breakfast and fun Opening General Session for us the first full day in Hawaii, but after that our time was our own!

We took a 10 hour bus tour around the Big Island one day which included a visit to this volcano crater!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And a "Share Night" where demos brought projects from camps, classes, and workshops that have really been enjoyed by their stampers, and we had loads of time to browse, take pictures, and "talk shop"!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

One of the best things about the Incentive Trip is making new friends! Here I am with Heather, who I swapped some great swaps with at the final night luau!

The Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip is one perk of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I hope to help many of my downline achieve!

I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! Bet you couldn't tell that already from looking at my blog, can you??? Well, I love every minute of it, even after 6 1/2 years of running my own Stampin' Up! business, I can't begin to tell you the satisfaction and pleasure I get out of teaching stamping techniques to both new stampers and more experienced gals!

Another perk I have comes from the fact that I have been blessed to be able to continue to earn the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip every year. I get to take a fabulous all-expenses-paid trip every spring  with my wonderful husband, Mark! Here we are at the beautiful Hilton Waikaoloa Village Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii:

This was our "Beach Day"!

The Stampin' Up! Hospitality Room had lots of great swaps on display:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Stampin' Up! is SO accomodating that when I asked if we could fly in early to visit Pearl Harbor, they allowed the travel agency to book our flight a couple of days ahead and PAID for it! Here's our view from our hotel room just a block away from Wakiki Beach:

And here's the gorgeous sunset we watched while sitting on a pier at the beach!

Stampin' Up! had a great breakfast and fun Opening General Session for us the first full day in Hawaii, but after that our time was our own!

We took a 10 hour bus tour around the Big Island one day which included a visit to this volcano crater!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And a "Share Night" where demos brought projects from camps, classes, and workshops that have really been enjoyed by their stampers, and we had loads of time to browse, take pictures, and "talk shop"!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

One of the best things about the Incentive Trip is making new friends! Here I am with Heather, who I swapped some great swaps with at the final night luau!

The Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip is one perk of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I hope to help many of my downline achieve!

Today I am on a plane bound for Southern Utah! At convention this year I was shocked, surprised, and reduced to tears to find out I earned the honor of attending Founder's Circle! What is Founder's Circle? It is an honor Stampin' Up! gives to the top 145 demonstrators for the previous stampin' year, and is based on personal sales, recruiting, down-line promotions, leadership, etc. After I found out I had received Founder's and had cried off all my make-up, THEN they say, "Come over here and get your picture taken for the Founder's Circle yearbook"! Oh well, I didn't care, it was such an honor and all 6 of my downline who went to convention with me were so happy for me!

Anyway, the SWAP this year for Founder's Circle is Holiday-themed, and I can't wait to see what everyone else is bringing! Here's mine, two versions, one with Riding Hood Red taffeta, and the other with Kraft taffeta ribbon! Let me know which one you like best!



You can't really see it in the pics, but I stamped the "Snow Swirled" tree (on sale this month for 15% off!) first in Creamy Caramel, stamped the snowflakes in Riding Hood Red, then used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the tree again in Versamark, sprinkled with Heat & Stick powder, heated just until the powder melted, then sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. A quick swipe with a Swiffer cloth to remove the excess diamonds and there you go! I also use the Top Note Bigz Die in my brand-new Big Shot die-cutting machine from Stampin' Up! to cut the Whisper White and Riding Hood Red mats for the tree!

Today I am on a plane bound for Southern Utah! At convention this year I was shocked, surprised, and reduced to tears to find out I earned the honor of attending Founder's Circle! What is Founder's Circle? It is an honor Stampin' Up! gives to the top 145 demonstrators for the previous stampin' year, and is based on personal sales, recruiting, down-line promotions, leadership, etc. After I found out I had received Founder's and had cried off all my make-up, THEN they say, "Come over here and get your picture taken for the Founder's Circle yearbook"! Oh well, I didn't care, it was such an honor and all 6 of my downline who went to convention with me were so happy for me!

Anyway, the SWAP this year for Founder's Circle is Holiday-themed, and I can't wait to see what everyone else is bringing! Here's mine, two versions, one with Riding Hood Red taffeta, and the other with Kraft taffeta ribbon! Let me know which one you like best!



You can't really see it in the pics, but I stamped the "Snow Swirled" tree (on sale this month for 15% off!) first in Creamy Caramel, stamped the snowflakes in Riding Hood Red, then used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the tree again in Versamark, sprinkled with Heat & Stick powder, heated just until the powder melted, then sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. A quick swipe with a Swiffer cloth to remove the excess diamonds and there you go! I also use the Top Note Bigz Die in my brand-new Big Shot die-cutting machine from Stampin' Up! to cut the Whisper White and Riding Hood Red mats for the tree!