Convention 2012 - Part Deux

Hi there! It's me. THAT girl, who is finally posting more Convention pics...a week and a half after Convention ended. *sigh* My schedule hasn't allowed me much free time recently, but I figured better late then never, right? I did share another Convention post HERE, if you would like to check it out. 

On that note, I FINALLY cleaned up my stamp room today and that meant putting away all of my loot from Convention. Before I did, I wanted to snap a few photos to share all of the awesome treats we received in Salt Lake City, especially that fabby chevron bag! Eeek! 

Here is the big picture of ALL of the goodies I returned home with. (....not including the items from the famous Momento Mall) Oh my WORD!

Look at all of the stamps and paper! That's a lot of rubbah to get crafty with, folks! Not to mention, all of the inspiration we received from the thousands of sample projects on the boards and presentations at Convention. You have to see those boards to believe them! Every time I walked through, I found something new that inspired my creativity. 

Here is a close-up of my canvas wall art project from the fantastic "I'm a Pattern Mixing Pro" class presented by the always fun, Carrie Cudney. 

SO many amazing ideas in this class on ways to use DSP. Swoon...

A close-up on the dimension of the flowers and leaves. I actually put this all together after I got home (...yesterday, actually) because I didn't want to smash these little pretties in my suitcase. 

Don't you love this project? Well, if you are here in the San Antonio area, I will be having a class to learn how to make one of your very own. Stay tuned for details....I have a surgery on both of my feet to get through this Friday (can you say stressed out?) before I can set up my class calendar. I have 8-12 weeks of at-home recovery to look forward to. Hopefully the recovery will go as planned and my sweet hubby can wheel me into my craft room. I am optimistic about a class at my house in the next month. If not, then maybe HE can host a class...and who wouldn't want to come to that? 

Thought I would also share a shot of some of our fun at the Make and Takes with Ann, Ginger (who is snapping the photo), Amy and the fabulous Sandie Conner. Although I have to say, we chatted more then we crafted. Please excuse my "cheese-ball" grin...I think we had just received a free pack of rhinestones and I was still giddy from the sparkle. ;) 

Yes, I took a photo of one of our lunches. I realized on Saturday that I needed to take more pictures of this wonderful experience at Convention, so anything was fair game at this point! Lol! 

Saturday night we went to dinner at a yummy Brazilian restaurant in downtown SLC, Tucano's. Here is one of my favorite photo's from the evening, with two amazing women who always inspire me, in so many ways: Mary Fish and Ann Schach. I really needed to turn my flash on for this one, the lighting was not so great...but these ladies absolutely ROCK!! 

I can't say enough about my trip to Convention this year! I have TONS more photos but I'm sure you don't want to see them all. Such a great experience and such wonderful memories with all of my stampin' friends, old and new. Thank you Stampin' Up for hosting such a fun and inspirational event. I will see you again in 2013! 

Thanks for sharing more of my my Convention memories with me! 
Have a HAPPY day! 

Convention 2012 - Part 1

Hi there stampin' friends! Wow, it has been a couple weeks since I have posted! Things have been crazy-busy around these parts and in the middle of it all, I took off to Salt Lake City, Utah for Stampin' Up Convention last week. After uploading over 1000 photos and finally unpacking my suitcases, I am finally back in blogging action, once again. Whew!

Convention was absolutely AWESOME!! Not only did I have an amazing time with my friends but I came back completely motivated and energized to create. What an amazing experience it was! 

I wanted to share a few quick photos tonight. These are mainly photos from the first two days of Convention and our tour of the SU home office in Riverton, UT. I will have more to share in the coming days, now that I am back in the blogging world. (Well, at least until next Friday when I am having foot surgery...but more on that later.) 

Here are a few photos from the Riverton tour, last Wednesday. Don't you just love this frame and the fabulous saying with the pop of color? 

 Speaking of color...isn't this room gorgeous? There is a creative museum set up right as you walk into the home office set up with awesome inspirational ideas for home decor. So pretty!!

 The last room on the museum tour featured a vintage typewriter and some pretty card samples.

 This is where the SU orders are packed and shipped. SO cool to see in person! 

 Here is a display from one of the meeting rooms. I love the bright colors, the framed words and the clean design. I really need to do something like this for our office here at home. 

Finally, here is a one quick shot from the first morning session last Thursday. Pictured here are my 3 roomies: Ann, Ginger and Amy...along with the fun-tastic Mike Funke.  

I just love my stampin' friends...even if we all have creepy eyes from the dim lighting at General Session! Haha! :) 

Thank for stopping by to visit today! I will be back soon with more Convention fun! 

Stampin' Up! Regionals 2012 in San Antonio

As promised, I wanted to share some photos from the Stampin' Up! Regional Event, held right here in San Antonio, TX last weekend. There were over 1500 people at the event, it was huge! I thought it was fitting to share my favorite photo from the event first. I was SO excited to meet Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up! CEO and Co-Founder. She is absolutely as wonderful in person, as I imagined her to be. WOW! Here is the fun project she shared on stage: 

I rode to the event with my dear friends, Amy Lazzell and Minnie Cieslak. (that's me in the middle) We started the early day with Starbucks for breakfast and a caffeine fix. Is there any better way?  

I was really happy to finally meet my friend and fellow "Stamping Diva", Sharon Tong-Robinson, who makes the most beautiful swap cards. 

She made me the cutest Valentine's Day treat box, from the Designer Rosette die and Heart Framelit Die from the Occasions Mini catty...filled with chocolate treats. Yummm! Thank you, Sharon.

I also visited with my friends Rita Wright and fellow Paper Player, Ann Schach. 

Rita was a "Prize Patrol" winner and went home with a super-cool new product that hasn't even been released yet. LUCKY! Here's a hint...you can use it with the Simply Scored tool. ;) 

...to create something COOL, like this: 

(don't you LOVE the chevron-style? Fabulous!) 

Here is a sampling of one of the ideas shared for our own creativity journals that we all received at the event! 

Look at this cute journal cover idea:

Jackie Ross did a fantastic workshop demonstration with lots of inspirational ideas, too:  

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I was so excited to have the opportunity to meet so many fellow demonstrators. I would list all their names but I would hate to leave someone out. I met SO many fantastic gals! I wish I took more then the 250 photos I snapped. There were hundreds of cool, creative ideas! 

After the event, a few of us headed to the Riverwalk for dinner (and margaritas...it IS Texas, after all!) As soon as my dinner arrived I felt a pinch on my hip. I looked down and saw this little lady: 

Yes, I was bit by a duck! But it didn't stop there. Throughout the meal, I was pecked at in the leg and the...um...bum. I kept throwing tortilla chips to her to make her leave me alone, but the basket emptied quickly and she had my chicken enchiladas on her mind. EEEK!! This is not the first "duck attack" on record this week. (there may, or may not, have been other SU! demos assaulted by a Riverwalk duck...or so I heard. *wink, wink Ann*) 

Group shot at Casa Rio of me with Amy, Ann, Ginger and Nicole: 

(the duck was busy with her tortilla chip)

All and all, Regionals was awesome! 

Next up: "Convention 2012" in Salt Lake City, UT!

 I'm SO excited!  :)