Shoebox Shares at Convention 2010

Each year at Convention my friends and I each bring two items for the rest of us to stamp. I already shared the two from my second level upline. Today I am going to share the two items I brought for the ladies to create. I recently saw a really cute notebook in the Stampin' Success using the onboard journals. These journals are for goal setting. I wanted to create a replica of them to help me set concrete goals while also motivating myself a bit to do more with stamping business.

I decided to use one of my new favorite stamp sets, Notably Ornate and the super cute Greenhouse Gala designer series papers. I love the beautiful designs of these botanical papers.

My second item was a stamped card. For this card, again, I used the Notably Ornate stamp set and the adorable Celebrations designer series papers. I first stamped the images (birds) in Basic Gray using the second generation technique where you stamp your image off on another paper before stamping it onto your actual project without re-inking.

I hope you enjoy my two projects. Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Are You My Mother?

Washington D.C. (Notice the Sniper on the roof...safety first)

Have you ever been away from home for so long that you wake up not knowing exactly where you are? Well, I am now in Washington D.C. for a seminar for work. This comes just after being home for 2 days from Utah. My husband says my four year old was looking for me today. Makes me a bit sad. I will return home on Friday and then I ave no more plans of being separated from them for at least another year. I think every mother needs a break now and then, don't you agree? I am going to go back so refreshed and even smarter:-)

Today I am still sharing some convention fun. While away my friends and I created projects for the others to create. I am going to start with the two cards my second level upline, Gail Murray prepared for us...



Aren't these cute? I just LOVE her cards. Lots of fun making these.

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Maureen

Make A Monster - Convention Swaps

I am back home from convention...RESTING!!!" We had some FUN late nights. So much to see, do, and talk about. I am going to do my best to make this a nice relaxing day at home with my kids. Today I want to share my swaps. I pretty much stuck with the same materials and just played around with the layout. Quick, easy and cute...at least I think so, but then again I made them so I'm kind of partial to them:-)


Thanks for stopping by. I'll post more convention goodies and swaps tomorrow...now go stamp something!
Maureen

A Great Way To End It!

All good things must come to an end...at least for a year:-) Today (Saturday) was the last day of convention. I had a great four days with Gail, my second level upline, Christin, my downline, and her adorably funny and expressive little boy. This, I believe was my favorite of all of the five conventions I attended. We did and learned some great things to carry over into our business. Convention has sparked even more excitement in me about my stamps than I already had. I am eager to get home and get started sharing what I love with more people.

This is the Sweet Shop. It was one of the favorite areas in the Gathering Place. Awesome things were done with paper in this area. Take a peek!






Halloween by Brent Steel. He was awesome! Look at these amazing pumpkins using the decor elements. I guess I'll be shopping for pumpkins to paint once I get home.

Convention went out leaving every demonstrator very happy and appreciated. Each demonstrator was given a free stamp set, a pack of designer series paper, a cherry cobbler ink pad, and a container of stampin glitter glass in silver. I am excited to try many of the things I've seen demonstrated. Although I didn't win anything from prize patrol for 5 yrs. now at least I still got to home home a happy camper:-)

I have so many more pictures to share and I will do them when I get home. I must get some shut eye.

Thanks for stopping by, now go stamp something!

Maureen

Day 2 of Convention

Well our second full day at Convention has come to an end. It was another amazing day filled with dancing, walking, picture taking, sitting, listening, clapping, and lots of laughing....Also food!



One of my favorite things about Convention is getting to see other demonstrators stamp on stage. This year so many of my favorite people were up there sharing their creativity. It was riveting! Heather Summers was one of the ladies on stage and she demonstrated the many uses of punches for embellishing cards and scrapbook. Above are some of the goodies she punched and stamped. She was awesome. I love her blog but getting to see her in person, and witnessing her humor...priceless!

Thanks for stopping by.....so much more to post but running off to dinner.

Maureen

Convention Officially Begins...

I am still in Utah for my favorite time of year...Convention. Few things are better than being here for Convention.

Today was the official beginning of the much awaited excitement. When we walked into the main stage area, people were dancing, swapping, and tossing lots of extra large beach balls into the air. We had to keep our eyes on the balls or you might get hit by one. It was so exciting and engaging.

This is a picture of the Gathering Place. They made it so inviting by covering the tables with bright colored table cloths and hanging beautiful banners.

My second level upline, Gail Murray was celebrated for reaching the 600,000 level in career sales. Woohoo Gail!!



Since we have new colors, one of the special classes today was to make new color charts to share with customers at workshops. We did this in an assembly line style of a way. It was so well organized and beautifully set up with colorful banners of different designs. Everything here just feels like a big party, such great attention to detail could be found in all aspects of our day. The employees at Stampin' Up! are the best ever!They even had the day "off," so they could hang out and watch the events here at convention. That was impressive and you could tell they appreciated it.



I found these cute Disney character cards in the Gathering Place in the Incentive Cruise area. The set up is like a carnival. You can play games and win prizes. I committed to getting a new recruit by August 31st, then I spun a wheel and it landed on a free pack of designer series paper. I will share more pics later today.

Hope you are having fun where ever you are, with whatever you are doing. Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Maureen

Rockin' the Flower Power with Stampin' Up!

Today I am in Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s convention. Today was check-in day. It is always an exciting day. Each year we get a new bag to carry all of our goodies. This years bag is "groovy." It's really bright and cute and takes me back to the 60's/70's era. It has lots of pockets and compartments to keep all my goodies in easy to find places.

Today, I also went into Momento Mall and got a few items that I can use for my workshops. I purchased a Craft tote and a Laptop case. I can use the tote to carry my supplies for workshops and I will use the Laptop Case for my computer and some business materials so that I can have them easily accessible at a moments notice and in one place. The pattern on these two bags is beautiful and it is also available in a
12 X 12 pack of designer cardstock.




The day ended with a 70's party with a hula hoop contest and best 70's costume. People were really dressed for the occasion. It was lots of fun.

Also new this year is this cute little noise maker. My downline and friend and I have been going to convention together for years now and this year she brought her new bundle of boy. He is adorable, cute, and has LOTS of personality.



Thanks for stopping by. I will keep you posted on any Stampin' Up! updates...Now go stamp something!

Maureen

Newsprint Chic

I just received the new Newsprint designer series paper, among several other fun stuff, and I couldn't wait to use it. I especially love the musical note paper. It gives me such a happy feeling just to look at it. Today I was blog surfing and I came across a couple of cards on Dawn Olchefske's blog using the newsprint paper and I just had to give her adorable design a try. It was just my style simple and elegant at the same time. I used a different stamp set and gave it a different little twist but the idea is truly hers. First I stamped on the Crumb Cake card stock and the on the Very Vanilla card stock. I am not sure which I like best....It just may be the Very Vanilla one. Now I just need to figure out who to send it to.


Stamp set: Chic Boutique
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Newsprint Designer Series Paper
Accessories: 1" circle Punch, Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

A Chic Hello!

I am still playing with Stampin' Up!'s new color renovation. I recently went ahead and took out all of the retired Stampin' Up! colors to make room for the new color collections. I photographed them sitting on the shelf looking for a home???? If you are in need of any retired colors, markers and ink refills give me an offer and I will send them your way.

After taking out the retired colors I had so much room left over that I put back some of my favs of the retired ones that I am having a hard time parting with. All I need now is to get the new In Color classic ink pads and my collection will be complete. I also need the River Rock ink pad. I'm not really sure why I don't already have that ink pad. I love the color and even remember crafting with it but can't find it. I guess I sold it.


Here is my card for today. I used the Chic Boutique stamp set. (I won this set last year at convention. That was so exciting! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for winning something fun this year.) For this card I used Pink Pirouette and Cherry Cobbler. I really like the richness of the Cherry Cobbler. I am seeing some great Christmas scrapbooking in my future with this awesome color. I tried something different with the ribbon that I have seen on other cards. I used glue dots to fold over the ribbon in a cascading way. I think it gave it jooged up my card a bit.

Card Recipe:
stamp set: Chic Boutique
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Versamark, Basic Black
Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Accessories: Black grosgrain ribbon, yellow rhinestone brad


Well, thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Because I Care

It has been awhile since I have blogged. My life has been so busy. The school year ended so my kids and I are enjoying our days at home together. Last weekend we hosted a surprise birthday at our house for my younger brother, Lance. He turned 40 so it was a big day, so much of fun with family and friends, and more planning than I care to discuss. Now that, that is over, I feel that I can now try to turn some of my attention back to one of my truest joys....stamping.



It was so refreshing to get back into my stamping area and crank out a card...finally. I decided to use the new Marina Mist card stock and I am really loving this color. It is such a pretty blue. I pulled out the New Color Coach and it suggested Cajun Craze as a complimentary color, so I went with it. I really like these two colors together. I used marker to color in the image on the flower and stem and then stamped the wording in Marina Mist.

Card Recipe:
Stamp set: Because I Care
Card stock: Marina Mist, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink/Markers: Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Marina Mist
Accessories: Old Olive Striped Grosgrain
Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plates

Thanks so much for stopping by...now go stamp something. I finally did:-)