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

Rock Stars!

My son Alex's 8th birthday was last weekend. He wanted a rock star theme, so that's what we did! The kids got tattoos, new hairstyles with colored hairspray, and a couple of them even wanted black nail polish. Sweeeeet!

I took a few pictures of them posing with our Guitar Hero instruments (and one real guitar!) and printed them up. I had made the scrap elements the day before using the Grunge Rock set. I also embossed the large swirly stamp from Baroque Motifs in clear under the picture spot. While the boys were playing Guitar Hero, I assembled the pages. Then they all signed their "autographs" on them with a silver Sharpie marker. The moms loved them!

I love them, too!

Shari

Playing with Jack

On VC Rocks this week, we have a challenge to make a page all about "one." One color, one stamp, one sentiment, one accessory, one person. So far, I've done three pages on My Digital Studio with some favorite pictures of my pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow.

My Digital Studio is fun! It's great for designing your layouts, because you can tweak to your heart's content without wasting any paper or accessories. Once you have it the way you like it, you can re-create it with physical products, or have it printed! Don't forget that you can make DVDs with video and music included, cards, calendars, the list goes on and on.

The brilliant Ellen Kemper said something a couple weeks ago that stopped me in my tracks: "Will your kids want to inherit a bunch of heavy books, or a few CDs?" Wow, I'll bet you can answer that one in a hurry. My kids will be inheriting both. I still love a physical scrapbook! But I love that I can plan sizes for the pictures I'll need to print out for my layouts.

You can order MDS online anytime, day or night! Click on the "Feeling Inspired?" button in the right column. From that page, click on Shop Now at the top right, then Digital Designing on the left. The program comes with TONS of digital stamp sets and accessories, plus Stampin' Up! adds new downloads every Tuesday! You can get MDS express, and if you want all the artwork later, you can add on the expansion pack to get the rest. There are SO MANY GOODIES for MDS! It can be addicting - you have been warned.

Happy Stampin' & Scrappin'

Shari

VC Rocks Big Shot Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived here from The Love of Stamping. If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here to go to the VC Rocks blog.

This month, our theme is the Big Shot. Oh, how we love Mr. Big Shot! There are so many great things you can do with it. My favorite is the embossing folders, which I used on a project for our hop. I also love the dies, so I used my new Matchbox die, too. I had a comment last time around regarding the lack of pirates, so I'm making up for that today!

Nary a day goes by without thoughts of my gorgeous scoundrel, Captain Jack Sparrow. In his honor, I 'ave made some grand booty. Feast yer eyes on the treasure before ye. I 'ave used a fine set by the name of "Beware, Pirates" fer this project. It is Captain Jack approved, an' only available fer a few more days! Waste not yer time getting yer hands on this one, says I. Buy it online, ye can!

The pirate image is clear embossed on Basic Black card stock. I then used some Moonlight Smooch Accent Ink on it. I put some on a tissue and wiped it around the embossed pirate. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it is shimmery. For some extra treasure, I added three of our Rhinestone Jewels. The box is made from Basic Gray card stock and is sponged with Basic Black. The box is tied shut with black hemp twine which, sadly, we no longer carry. You could probably dye our natural hemp black if you really wanted to do it! Just be careful - our Basic Black is a permanent ink.

For you non-piratey folks (*gasp!*) I have also made a little treat box that would be perfect for wedding table favors. I copied most of it off another stamper, just changing the color and embossing folder used. The blue is Baja Breeze. The stamp set is Artistic Etchings, and the embossing folder is Elegant Lines. The ribbon is white taffeta. Of course, there are a couple Rhinestone Jewels for some bling. The label is one of three on the Matchbox die! Bonus!

A random commenter will get some BLOG CANDY! Ooooo what will it be??? Hmmm.... good question. How about some Big Shot die cuts? I have a few, you can pick when you win!

Thanks for stopping by! The next blog on your hop is Inkspiration by Dawn. I am sure she'll have something great to share, although there probably won't be pirates. ;o)

Aarrrrrg!

Shari

Retirement Stamp-a-Stack: June 17th @ 7PM

It's time for another Stamp-a-Stack! It will be on Friday, June 17th at 7PM. This time, we'll be using retiring stamp sets, and even a couple retiring punches!

The top three cards are those we made at the Retirement Party last week. I've added two more cards using retiring sets.

As always, you just choose your favorite cards and decide how many of each you'd like to make. You can click on the picture to see it larger. (The button on the top right card will be replaced by an embossed card stock version). Let's call them purple flower, green leaf, blue flower, blue bird, and giraffe when you choose your cards.

They are $1 each, including the envelope.

See you soon!
Shari

Just a little note - come back to my blog this weekend for a Big Shot Blog Hop! There are over 30 bloggers in this hop, I think, so you won't want to miss it!