More Convention pictures

I'm flying home tonight. It has been a wonderful 10 days here in Salt Lake City. Not only did I get to attend the 3 days of the Stampin' Up convention, I got to attend 3 days of Pre-convention activities sponsored by the Late Night Stamper's group (click on owl on the right to join) and I went to see a wonderful musical at the Hale Family theater, what a georgous facility! The play was full of energy and so funny, the preformers were so talented in both singing and dancing. It was The Wedding Singer and they did a fabulous job of presenting it.

First, a couple of "over the top" items. Although they are absolutely georgous, I'm probably not going to make either one of them. I just wanted pictures to share with yall so you could either be inspired by a great project or show all your friends how insane some people can be to spend so much time on a paper craft project! Maybe these didn't take as long as I'm thinking they might have but they are huge, 12X12 worth of punches and small pieces. I don't know who to give credit to for all the time and talent it took to create these beautiful works of art.

I am getting ready to do some redecorating in my living room and there were plenty of great ideas for me to consider. I thought the combination of frames and stenciling in the 2 pictures on the left was a very interesting wall treatment. That is in serious contention with the sponging technique I had been considering before I came out to convention. I love the ribbon lamp with die cut fabric flowers too. One of our lamps broke in the move and we need new lamps. Now I think I'll buy the lamp bases and see if my friend, Carolyn who had a bunch of lamp making supplies has gotten rid of it all. I could totally personalize my lamp shades to fit my personality. I reckon I'll start on the redecorating soon now that I'm totally inspired!

A couple of more decorating ideas, some of these were from the decorating booth at convention and some were from the sample rooms at the Stampin' Up home office. I loved both of these ideas, the ribbons used as table runners and the flowers strewn across the wall. The ribbon idea is actually a thrifty idea because when your event is over you can roll them back up and use them on projects. I'm wondering what my husband would think about a bunch of die cut flowers decorating the wall above my dresser. Hey, he might even want some around his dresser!

And last, a few more pictures of display boards. I have so many, I hope I don't post the same one twice! I hope you can get some inspiration from them like I have. I'm feeling the need to send some cards out.
















Due to the lack of sleep and an allergy to some kind of plant here in Utah I have HUGE bags under my eyes. I thought about taking a picture but you will just have to imagine it.

I Love A Parade!

I was kind of disappointed that I would have to miss the Pioneer Day Parade because the convention was all day Saturday too. If you don't know, July 24th is the day the Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley and knew that was where they would settle. They have a state holiday on the 24th and a huge parade, fireworks and lots of other activities to celebrate. The parade in Salt Lake City is maybe the 3rd largest in the country, only beat out by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade. I was
delighted that the floats were lining up right in front of where I had been parking all week! For the 3 blocks to the Salt Palace I got to see lots of floats and a few pioneers :~) It was funny to see people dressed up as pioneers waiting at the Trax station for the next train. I included the KFC float, did you know the first KFC was built in Salt Lake City? Colonel Sanders tried many times (I don't know the exact number but it seems like it was 80 something) to get a bank to help him open the first resturant. The first banker to agree to help him was in Salt Lake City. That was 1952, even before I was born!

Anyway, you might enjoy the float pictures and history lesson but I know you came by to see pictures from the convention! I've got lots (like hundreds) so on to the business at hand.

They always have a bunch of display boards with samples of all styles and colors. I took pictures of most of them so I can look back and get inspiration for future projects. It is fun to see all the great ideas people come up with. The first board on the left has projects from demonstrators all over. Do you recognize a layout from me??

If you click on the pictures you will be able to see the cards better. They are pretty microscopic here with so many cards in such a small space.

I also wanted to show how they do demonstrations to nearly 3000 demonstrators in the same room. We could all see great with the 8 jumbo tron boards they had! This isn't a very good picture but you get the idea. Even in the back I could see tiny details of the projects. More tomorrow!

Convention 2010 Meets MDS

One of the highlights of the convention every year is the convention bag and stamp sets we get on check in day. The bag this year didn't fail to please with it's bright orange and pink circles. So fun! You will see the projects we made with the stamp sets later.

Today was such a wonderful day at the convention, I won a prize this morning from the "Prize Patrol" in the morning meeting. Imagine 3000 Stampin' Up demonstrators in a huge convention hall, all excited about the possibility of winning a set of stamps, Designer Paper and bling! The cheering was nearly deafening! Then imagine my joy when I was one of the winners! I look way past goofy in the picture but I was pretty excited.

After a wonderful day of classes and projects on Friday I got a chance to go to the Stampin' Up corporate office and distribution center, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. It is an amazing facility and absolutely beautiful. We got to see where the staff works and creates and comes up with all the wonderful ideas that make Stampin' Up such a great company to work for. There were thousands of boxes of stamps in the warehouse, it smelled like opening a box of goodies when the UPS man delivers my orders. I love that smell!!!

On the way back to the convention I decided to put the time spent on the bus to good use. I had my camera with the pictures I had just taken and my computer so I did a scrapbook page in the MDS program. In less than the 30 minutes that it took to get back I had this page completed. So quick! It was fun to see the layout of where we had just been. I'll do the other half of the layout later but wanted to share the first page. The office building is impressive, just like the company. I'm loving the convention but I need to get some sleep so I can stay awake tomorrow.

More Convention Fun!

Wow, am I tired! I haven't been getting enough sleep and my brain is on serious overload! I'm having a ball though and learning so many new ideas. I can't wait to get home and share with everyone. Before I get to more convention pictures, I want to have a convention special. If you place an online order on my website while I'm away I will give you a $10 coupon to spend on your next order you place with me. A $100 order will get a $20 coupon! Take this chance to get some great products from the new catalog. There are some great new stamp sets as well as embellishments that are fantastic. I especially love the new pearls and rhinestones, so easy to step up a project with these goodies! I'm coming home Tuesday night but it will be Wednesday by the time I land in Nashville so the special will go till Wednesday, July 28. Have fun shopping!

OK, to get you in the mood to order, here are some of my favorite projects I've seen:

Amazing, wonderful, great!

I'm having so much fun! I'm seeing so many great ideas and wonderful creations here at the Stampin' Up convention. I love Stampin' Up demonstrators, they are so willing and eager to share what they have discovered, learned and created. I'll just post a bunch of pictures of swaps that I wasn't actually in. They had 3-D swaps and I didn't even think to make any of those, what was I thinking???? I'm going to post some of the 3-D swaps for you today. I wonder how many pictures I can put in one blog post. I reckon I'm about to find out!









Humm, that's 14. I'm thinking I will stop now so the poor souls without high speed won't have to wait 2 days to view all the pictures. I really do wonder how many pictures I can post in 1 post though. I'll try to post some more pictures later today. I think I'll change my blog to where it will only show 10 blogs per page instead of 25. That should help with the speed a lot since I'm crowding things up!

Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Here!

I'm having a great time here in Utah. The actual Stampin' Up convention doesn't start until Thursday but I've been going to some classes and shoebox swaps the past 2 days and have made some amazing projects. I'll share some of my favorites but I don't think I can put all the pictures I've taken in 1 blog post!

Yesterday afternoon I did a shoebox swap. I made 6 cards that were very impressive. Look how amazing this first one is. We used the Presto Paper to stencil on and then sponged additional color around the stenciled design so you could see the design show through. Notice the 3 little pearls in the lower left corner. They are a new addition to our catalog and I'm loving them! We also have clear rhinestones. They come in a package of 150 for $4.95. I think that is a great price for so many of them and since they are adhesive backed, they are a very quick way to add the "wow" factor to your projects. This beautiful card was designed by Virginia Killmore.

The elephants on this baby Congratulations are precious. You will see the half-backed pearls again on this card, they are on several of the projects I've done the last 2 days. The Scallop edge punch and corner punch are a nice addition to any card and I love the creative way the designer' Shermala Austermann, used them on the focal piece.

It can be very hard to make a card for a man. They might appreciate flowers but we steer clear of them anyway. I love the design Pam Rhodes used on this tool card and the way the polka dot embossing looks like a peg board when you turn it to where the dots go in. Love it!

I showed the brayered embossing folder technique recently on my blog and Diane Glenn's pink card features the same folder, Vintage Wallpaper. It looks great as the pink background for the Fabuloous Friend card. We also used 3 of the clear Bitty Buttons across the bottom with the coordinating punch and the cute flowers from the Birds and Blooms die. I love the shape of those flowers. I'm also pleased with the addition of 1/8" ribbon to the catalog. It is a great touch to finish off a project that needs a little something else.

I love the little frog that was watercolored on this card. It doesn't open up like a regular card, the blue piece is hinged on with the brad and opens up to reveal the message underneath. Very fun idea, thanks for sharing it with us Linda Romer! The dark spot on the green isn't a goof up with the ink. It is the camera strap that got caught in the light. Notice the 1/8" ribbon again. So cute!

The last card in our shoebox swap was another card that

is made differently from the "normal" card. We made a little pocket to fit the card tag into. I think it would be a fun card to get, you would certainly remember it! This fun card was shared with us by Chi Nguyen.

Well, I'm worn plum out so I reckon I'll hit the hay. I should have time to post more of the fun projects I've been creating tomorrow. It's been a long and very fun day though.

Flying to Convention

I made it to Utah safe and as sound. I took a great class last night but totally forgot to take pictures when I got to the motel and I didn't bring them with me so I will have to wait untill I get home to share those with you. We made 20 cards and they are great. It took about 5 hours to make that many. That averages out to 4 an hour, a little more actually since we had supper too. Not bad for 10-15 minutes a card.

Those of you who know me know that I tend to be a little late now and then. I just get sidetracked so easily! On the way to the class last night we heard reports on the radio that VP Biden was in Nashville and Interstate 40 was closed between the airport and the place he was going. We decided to go on Briely Parkway instead to avoid the traffic. What the traffic report didn't know was that he wanted to go by the Opryland Hotel and see the flood damage and the progress they were making in restoring it. We saw the back-up in traffic soon enough to get off but it took a lot longer to get there so I was a little late to the class. See, not my fault at all, I can blame this one on the VP :~)

This morning I figured I needed to be to the airport by 7:30 for my 8:30 flight. We left the motel about 7:30 but since the airport was about a 5 minute drive that was no big deal. My husband was going to park and go in with me but the parking has been changed and we couldn't figure out how to get in so we ended up driving back out and around and I told him to just drop me off in front instead.

Security, gotta love it! The bag that had my stamp supplies in it had the x-ray guy concerned. He ran it back through and still couldn't figure out one item. He asked if I minded if he opened it. No problem, just hurry! I told him it was probably a punch and he put that baggie through and sure enough, the Jewelry Tag Punch was what he was concerned about. I got everything put back in the bag (which was a major challenge) and headed to the terminal. I was departing from gate A4 and about the time I saw gate A1 in the distance I heard the intercom asking me to come to the gate. I hurried a lot faster but before I got there they said "Elaine Wright, your flight has boarded. Please report to gate A4". Yikes! I hurried even faster and made it there before they decided to leave me. I can blame this one on my husband, right??? Or maybe the security guy who didn't recognize a cute little punch. . .

I went through the door to go down the flexible hall to the plane and immediately noticed sunlight at the end. Had my plane left??? No. It was one of the little planes. I had to walk down a long ramp and across the tarmac and up the stairs of the plane. Every seat was full except mine. I was pleased that I was in the front row though, I have a tendancy to get sick on the small planes if I'm in the back. I look at the seat, it measures about 6 inches across! Well, that is an exaggeration but I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't lost 25 pounds the last few months I wouldn't have fit in that seat!

So, all the way from Nashville to Denver, over 1000 miles on a small plane. Luckily, there was no turbulance and I didn't need the barf bag. I got ribbon attached to the 75 swap cards I was working on and got the layers all adhered. All 4 layers. One swap down and another of only 70 cards to go. At least the other one isn't so complicated. I tied as many of the little bows for the second card as I could in the barely 1 hour flight from Denver to Salt Lake City. We got a big plane for that flight which was a good thing since there was a LOT of turbulance!

The weather is nice here but hot. Without the humidity it is so dry I've put lotion on my hands about once an hour though! I'll try to post pictures for you during convention next week so you can see all the great projects and fun. If you are still reading, thanks for staying with me for a long post with no pictures!