SUStars Blog Hop - July 2011

Welcome to the last stop on the July SUStars Blog Hop.  The hop begins Saturday, July 23 at 10AM EST and runs through Sunday evening.  If you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and you'd like to join SUStars, just click here.  We'd love to have you!


If you have been hopping along, you should have arrived here from Bluegrass Stamper Studio.  If you are starting here on my blog, you can just keep going through the loop.  The next stop is the first stop!  


Our theme is Movers, Shakers and Summer Mini Make & Takers.  For my project, I chose to make a very simple scrapbook page using My Digital Studio.  I downloaded Beyond the Garden DSP for MDS, shown on page 24 of our Summer Mini Catalog.  I played around with the opacity of some card stock and "cut" the DSP to my liking. One of the benefits of using MDS is grosgrain ribbon in more colors!  I have used Pacific Point on this project.  I also used drop shadows to make the layers look more real.  You can learn more techniques using MDS software on MyDigitalStudio.net.  For now, here's my project:

All images © Stampin' Up!

You can click on the picture to see it much larger!


I hope you have enjoyed this month's hop!  If you'd like to start at the beginning, just go to our SUStars blog.  You will find clickable links to each blog there.


Happy Hopping-
Shari

Convention in SLC: Last Day

Today, sadly, was our last day of convention.  We started the day with a couple more classes.  If we attended at least five classes, we got a new stamp set!  It's a great set for demos, with sayings perfect for our business.  After our classes, we picked up our free set in the Gathering Place before lunch.  We had plenty of time to finish taking pictures of all the displays before they were taken down.  After lunch we had our final General Session, with some great demos and FREE STUFF!  (We cannot post pictures of products, so I had to erase the images a bit. Sorry!) I also got to take my 10-Year March today!  It's always so cool to walk across the main stage.  A few of my friends even saw me on the big screens.

As we exited the Main Stage area for the last time, all the displays and decorations were already gone, or nearly so, from the rest of the convention center.

I wish that I could attend convention every year.  It is always SO much fun, so inspiring, and so exhausting.  LOL  It's worth it!  I love it!!!  Wouldn't you like to come with me next time?

Shari

Convention in SLC: Day 3 Pt. 2 - Home Office

After General Session this afternoon, Carey bee-lined for the Bus line while I ran our bags back to our room.  We got on the first bus to the Riverton home office of Stampin' Up!  It is a beautiful facility.  When you first enter, you see the gorgeous atrium.  To the left you can stroll through the "Legacy Museum" where you can see the very first SU catalog (it's pretty pitiful), metal plates for making stamps and displays that are used in our catalogs.  We also walked through the idea room, and an adjacent room that is wall-to-wall whiteboards.  All visiting demos were invited to write their ideas or anything else on those walls while we were there.  We got to look into the HUGE distribution center where all our orders are packed and prepped for shipping.  (The stamps are made at another facility in Kanab, UT).  Near the driveway entrance are two large rocks with the SU! logo engraved on them. It is always a must-do photo op at the Riverton tour!

Convention in SLC: Day 3 - Holiday Mini Sneak Peek

 

We had our opening General Session first thing this morning.  Pam Morgan showed us a BUNCH of great stuff that will be in our upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog.  I have shown you just a wee taste of the awesome goodies we're about to get!!!  

You may notice the lovely wreath in the last picture.  Do you see what it's sitting on???  That's right - we're getting our own exclusive scorer!!!  It's called Simply Scored and it looks fabulous.  It has a track every 1/8" so you can measure ANYWHERE.  It also has markers (seen at top of pic) to point at where you want to score, so you don't have to keep looking at your measurements every time you score.  The rulers at the top are standard 1-12 inches, and another has 0 in the center (Wooo hooooo!).  The numbers on those rulers are printed under a clear plastic, so they won't ever wear off!  It comes with a two-tipped stylus and has rubber feet on the bottom so you don't need a mat for it.  For a little bonus, there is a compartment on the back edge that is big enough for your bone folder and extra markers, as well as lipstick.  LOL  Shelli put a lipstick in there to show the size of the opening.  :o)

We also did our Make & Takes today, but we only finished two of them.  Those of you who are local can come see them all on July 29th at my New Catalog Party!  Plus, you'll get to peek at the Holiday Mini!  You will LOVE IT!!!

Happy Stampin'

Shari

Convention in SLC: Day 2 Pt. 2 - Displays

Stampin' Up! has some great displays again this year.  Since our theme is GROW, some of these displays will grow during convention.  I'll have to come back and take pictures of all the same displays later!  You should be able to click on the pictures to see them larger.

Until later-
Shari

Convention in SLC: Day 2 Pt. 1 - Memento Mall

 

Today was a fun-filled day!  First we got our convention bags and M&T stamp sets and then we got in line for Memento Mall.  I did some swapping since we were in line for an hour!  This pic shows only a short portion of the line we were in.

There are tons of goodies at Memento Mall this year.  Decks of cards (a favorite souvenir for me wherever I go!), insulated lunch bags and cups, umbrellas, ribbon samplers, clothing, mouse pads and skins for your laptop, totes, SNAIL leashes, pens, and on and on.

Enjoy the photos!  The next post will be some of the displays!

Happy Stampin'
Shari

 

 

Convention in SLC: Day 1

I am at the 2011 Stampin' Up!  in Salt Lake City, Utah!  Woo Hoooooooo!  The activities start tomorrow, so today was arrival day for many, including myself and my roomie, Carey Rogers from Missouri.


We first exchanged some stamped gifts, then had some tastiness at the Blue Iguana, my favorite Mexican restaurant.  The Chimis there are SO good.  We also had virgin strawberry daquiris.  YUM.  After that filling meal, we walked a few blocks (to work it off a bit) to The Gateway, the outdoor mall.  We found some comfy sandals for Carey and some Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!  MORE YUM!  (We are VERY full right now).  So much for working off dinner.

This photo shows the view as we walked back to our hotel.  I am from Michigan, so seeing mountains is awesome to me!  Especially when they still have that pretty snow on them in the middle of July!

Tomorrow the swapping craziness begins.  I have about 200 card fronts to swap and 10 teabag holder booklets, for which I made three little pages instead.  We can also shop at Memento Mall, tour the Riverton campus (home office and distribution center - many photo ops!) and in the evening, a Convention Kick-Off Party!  Fun fun fun!

More news tomorrow, if I'm not too exhausted!

Shari

VC Rocks ABC Blog Hop - July 9&10

Welcome to another VC Rocks Blog Hop! If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from Mary's site, Mimi to Jett. If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here.

Our theme this month is ABC, which means Anything But a Card! I have decided to share yet another of my pieces from my Seasonal Frame class series, which just finished it's second year. This one is our summer frame and features products from our Occasions Mini. (You can click on the picture to see it larger). Luckily for us the stamp set I used, Nature Walk, made it into our brand-new 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog! Woo Hoo! Sadly, the coordinating DSP, Botanical Gazette, did not. Booo. However, you can get it for My Digital Studio! Woo Hoooooo!

The colors used here are Cherry Cobbler, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron and Very Vanilla. I also used a Chocolate Chip Craft Pad with clear embossing powder for two squares (butterfly and bee), and VersaMark with clear EP for the eggs and plant. I added some Moonlight Smooch ink on some wings and one of the eggs for a little shimmer.

Accessories used were the Scallop Trim border punch, antique brass jumbo eyelet, Decorative Label punch, Blossom Bouquet triple-layer punch (LOVE IT!), 1" and 3/4" circle punches, 1 3/8' and 1 1/4" square punches, Aqua Painter, Chocolate Chip Jumbo Brad, Certainly Celery button (retired), Chocolate Chip grosgrain (retired), Very Vanilla grosgrain, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot, Basic Pearls, Crop-a-Dile, Stampin' Sponge, Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.

BLOG CANDY: A random poster will get a prize! This time, I'll use the Blossom Bouquet Triple-Layer to punch every color in your chosen color family, or a few colors, or whatever you want. LOL I'm flexible.

Thanks for stopping by! Click on one of the GORGEOUS buttons below (yes, I designed them ;o) to back up or hop to the next blog. Your next stop is The Stamping Tree House! Carey will have something awesome, you can be sure.

Happy Hopping-

Shari