regional card

Here is another card we made at Convention. It's fairly simple. The hardest parts were cutting out the ornaments. The saying is stamped in Chocolate chip on kraft paper. This card is folded at the top so it's a 4 1/4 x 11 card folded in half. the strings are also in Chocolate chip. I just noticed I'm taking a picture looking up at the card, so you can see the edge of the string. If you were looking down on the card you wouldn't see the edge. I just love the polka dotted ribbon. It adds such a fun festive flair don't you think? There is also a little rhinestone brad added to the garden green ornament. Also, both ornaments are raised up with dimensionals. All in all it was a fairly simple card. If you didn't want to cut that much you could also use the Ornament punch and coordinating stamp set too. There are options. I love it when things have options. I just wish I had time to create everything I want to create.
So I hope you enjoy another Christmas card idea. Have a great day today.

Christmas convention swap

I got to sit by a very nice lady on the plane ride back home. Okay, my dd was in the middle and next to her, but she was extremely nice and put up with both of us talkers on the way home. It was nice to talk to her and cool that she was a demonstrator. It wasn't until later that I realized her bag was a Founder's circle bag that she had with her which means that she is doing really well with SU. It was a new bag and I don't know anyone that has reached that so I didn't realize it. So little did I know or I would have congratulated her. Anyways, we started talking about convention and thoughts about it and the new stuff. We talked about swaps briefly and she was nice enough to give me one of her swaps even though I was out of mine. I thought that a really nice thing to do. So this is the card she swapped me. It's a Christmas card and I'm so starting to get into the Christmas mood already. I think it's helping that it's been unusually cool here, but I am starting to get psyched about it already and it's only September 1st. I've been working on several projects and can't wait to finish them.
So I hope you enjoy my share today. This card was made by Laura Barto and the following is what she used to make this card.

stamp set: teeny tiny wishes
ink: basic brown, whisper white craft ink
paper: real red, old olive, chocolate chip, very vanilla
Accessories: modern label, word window, scallop edge, jumbo snowflake punches; SU Background #1 textured plate, brayer, gold brads, pennant die, dimensionals

convention swap christmas

This was another swap from convention and I thought it a fun card. It's super neat in person as the picture doesn't do it justice. I don't know who made this card as it didn't have a name on it. :( So I don't know who to give credit for it.
It's a little hard to tell, but the white part is covered in dazzling diamond glitter and is really sparkly. The new polka dotted ribbon fits in well too with the snow. I think the new polka dotted ribbon is such a fun addition to the catalog this time. It comes in all the new IN colors and also Real Red. So I hope this card teases your Christmas itch. It's only a little less then four months till Christmas now, so it will be here before we know it. So I hope you have a great day and enjoy another one of the swaps I got.

Here is what this card uses:
stamps: The more the merrier, itty bitty backgrounds, teeny tiny wishes
ink: melon mambo, crushed curry, dusty durango, soft suede, white craft ink and black stazon
paper: bermuda bay, whisper white, rich razzleberry, melon Mambo
accessories: dazzling diamonds, heat & stick powder, vintage brads, 1/2" polka dot ribbon in melon mambo, bermuda bay and rich razzleberry, modern label punch

Convention swap card 2

Hey everyone,
This is another swap card and I liked it for a couple of reasons. Every now and then I just like simple designs and I also love the colors and the cottage wall paper. They are just girly and although I'm not really girly, I like this paper. It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but the Orchid paper has also been run through the Big Shot with the textured die. She was nice enough to put the card in one of our clear envelopes, thus why there is a little bit of a glare. Those envelopes really let the card shine through. I also like the Good Friend set with the butterfly. It's one of my current favorite butterflies in the catalog. It's cut out and put on top of the white. Pretty simple and fun. My daughter loves the colors too and it has her two favorite things - purple and bugs. So I picked this one for her. So I hope you enjoy the card. This card was made by Debbie Engebretson by the way. So thanks to Debbie for swapping with me at convention. have a great day today and I hope to post more tomorrow.

convention swap card

Sorry, our schedule has been crazy this week. So I thought I would show you a few swap cards I got from convention. I'll be posting various ones that I liked. I won't be able to get to them all, but I picked out some that had some sets I don't have yet or used color combos or papers etc that I haven't used yet. I hope you enjoy some of these creations. I know I enjoyed seeing the different ideas so I thought I'd share.

This is a swap card I received from convention. This one is made by Carrie McHale.
She used the Best wishes and sincere salutations stamp sets. It also used the chocolate taffeta ribbon, which I think looks really yummy. I thought this was a fun card leading into fall. It won't be long and the leaves will be changing soon and it will be getting cooler. So even though it's in the 90s today, I hope you figure out a way to keep cool and start thinking about all the fun fall things coming up before you know it.

build a bear bags

Here are a couple of bags made with the new Build a Bear dies coming out in the mini next month. They showed us some ideas at convention on how to use these dies and stamp sets. We even got to punch out our own bear and pick out an outfit to put on it at convention too. That was fun to do too.
This set is really fun. You can put it on fabric like on these bags or a shirt. This top one makes a cute party bag. It included coloring sheets and crayons inside. You can make party invitations with this or the stamp set. You could make paper or magnetic dolls with the various clothes and outfit dies. These would go great on scrapbooks or cards or treat bags, etc. It's fairly versatile. You could even design your own clothes for it using your stamps, papers and scissors, etc. A little glitter here and there and you would have a cute girl bear. I can envision maybe some punch purses too. Hmm... I wonder what else I can come up with. I'll have to think about it some more. These could be pretty fun to play with.
so i hope you like the couple samples shown to us at convention. I'm hoping to post some swaps and/ or some other created items soon. I just need to get the pictures taken in some better light.
I hope you all have a great day today.

My digital studio coming soon

One of the items they talked about at convention was the new digital scrapbooking software coming out called My Digital Studio. It's listed in the mini, but the release date will be coming soon. There is even a hostess option coming soon to possibly earn this at a discount with a qualifying party (sales of at least $400). I'll send out more information on that as we hear when the software will be available.

It looks like a really cool program and of course they made it look really easy to navigate. It will be both Mac and PC compatible. It also includes almost 2000 exclusive SU product and images including stamps, inks, dsp, punches, etc. These can change shape and size and be adjusted. They will also have a place to print your projects too. The samples they had on hand for us to look at appeared to be different size books. Everything from a little mini book to a 12x12 album. You can also do cards and calendars too. Supposedly if you print from them you are suppose to have color matching of SU exclusive colors, that way if you'd like to embellish your books farther with accessories you have on hand you can as they should match. It's a new item being added for those of you that have tons of digital pictures you haven't done anything with lately.
These top pictures were samples that they showed us on the screen that they posted on one of the boards. This was of one of their ski trips. He created a little album of their trip (you can also print individual pages too, which are shown in the pictures.)

This second picture is the same as one of the pages above. He changed it in the digital software. He took his picture made it sepia colored, added the torn border added some stamping if I remember right in the corner and had it printed. He put in into a frame and then added some punched out items to his frame to give it a more 3d effect. It took him just a few minutes to do. It was pretty nifty for sure and what a great gift or item for your home. I can't wait to try this item myself as I literally have thousands of pictures on my computer.
So I hope you enjoy my tease of the new software coming out. I hope you have a great day today.

simply adorned

One of the new items coming out in the mini is a charm/jewelry line called Simply Adorned. You have a choice of three different size charms and 2 different size chains. It has beveled glass on the front and flat glass on the back. It's hinged so you can change out the artwork or pictures. It can be used to make ornaments or worn or put on little trees, whatever your mind can think of. It also comes packaged in a gift box. There is a little space to add bling inside too as you can see by the little gem.


At convention they showed us a few samples of some decorated charms. Here is one they showed us on the screen. The bird is on the front and the "beautiful" and the character is on the back. There is a stamp set meant to coordinate with this jewelry in the mini, but you can also try different ones like this one for example. You can also add pictures to the charm too. Lots of choices for sure.

At the same time they showed us other ideas for jewelry too including this pink broach. They also showed us earrings, headbands, etc made with other elements in the catalog as well as several broaches made with fabric cut out with the Big Shot. Any of the Big Shot Bigz flowers would be good for that kind of thing. I have some other samples but they are a little blurry as they were moving on the screen. If you are interested let me know and I'll put some more up.
so I hope this gives you some ideas to create new things. Have a great day today.

more conventin info

As I was saying earlier, there are all kinds of ways to get creative ideas at convention. Almost everywhere you look (okay the bathrooms aren't pretty :) ), there are ideas and creativity. For example, in the mall (where you can buy SU exclusive logo stuff) they had these two mannequins set up around the tables. What's unique about them? They are dresses made with dsp. The straps, the flowers, etc are all handmade with SU stuff. Aren't they cool. I couldn't resist taken a picture of them. Can you see the little flowers on the bottom of the one.

Makes me wonder what else I can decorate with all the stuff too. They showed us a bunch of stuff - Christmas decorations and ideas, Build a Bear parties, My Digital Study, jewelry ideas, lots of card ideas, scrap ideas, clothing and also room decorating ideas. All kinds of items. Does this help you come up with any new and different ideas on how to use what you have? I hope so.
There are so many ways to be creative. I hope these help a little in the process.

more convention info

this was the theme of this year's convention: Inspire, Create and Share. Different talks focused on each of these segments as well as different demonstrations and speakers. That's what I believe SU is making it's focus is to help us with each of these items in our business. They want us to Inspire, to create and to share what we know with you our customers and friends/family.
Their main focus is stamping and things that go with that, but they are also branching out in other areas too. They want to share things with you that inspire you to create. Because of this SU has added different lines to their merchandise - first the Decor Elements, then the Big Shot line, now in the new mini we have a Build A Bear collection, Simply Adorned Jewelry collection, and the new My Digitial studio (digital scrapbooking, cardmaking, calendars, etc). Those three items combined with all the other fun items coming in the mini will make for a great holiday season in my opinion.

One of the perks of going to convention is seeing tons of sample ideas and some live demonstrations too. See these boards? This is one of something like maybe 6 double sided boards (I didn't actually count how many, but kept going round and round) filled with sample cards, scrapbook items and 3d items. Like I said these are double sided, so can you imagine how many pictures I took. I finally only started to take my favorites. It's a good place to go and get ideas for sure.

I will probably be posting mainly convention highlights this week as we have several things going on this week to get caught up on. I forget how much extra work being gone a week causes. :)
The kids start school this week too and I have to get ready for club next Monday among other things, so a busy week. I'll also try and download my swaps too now that I'm home. I also got some of my mini preorder in and I'm so excited about the mini coming out September 1st. If you are on my mailing list you should be able to get those soon in the mail. So I hope you have a great day today and try and stay dry they are predicting more rain.

sneak peek - tree

One part of convention this year is that they had on hand some items from the new mini coming out that we could try out and play with. We got to punch out some items with the Big Shot as well as watch some demonstrations and such. They also had displays of all the mini items so we could see first hand what they looked like. I have to say I love the new mini catalog.

One of the items coming out in the mini is a Die cut tree cut from the Big Shot. It fits inside a card and folds flat. I thought it was adorable, but was curious how it went together. Well, I got to put one together here at convention. Now we just got different color pieces as there was a huge group trying to do it at once, but I still got the experience of putting it together and seeing how it looks. So here is a picture of what the tree would look like without any embellishments and not in a card. It folds flat to fit into the card. Wouldn't that make a fun Christmas card, where it opens up into a tree. :) There is also a sizzlet die for items to decorate it (ornaments, star, etc). I get my tree tomorrow after I get home and I'm so excited to get my new stuff. To me it's almost like Christmas.
These trees were fun, and you could really decorate them for many different occasions. I'll have to see what little animal stamps or other stamps and accessories will go with it. Hmmm, the creativity is already going.
Well, I may not post for a day or so. I'll have to see how whipped we are. We leave in a few hours for the long trek back home and we don't get home until really late and then it's back to the real world tomorrow and I'm sure the time change will get to me.
There were so many ideas shared I can't wait to show you some over the next few weeks. We haven't downloaded all the pictures yet either, so hopefully I'll get those soon.
So I hope you all have a great day today and hopefully we make the long trek back safely. Talk to you guys soon.

convention update day 2 09

Hey Everyone,
Sorry I didn't post last night. We really wanted to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice last night (they were good by the way) and we got in late and the kids were really tired. Convention starts really early for a vacation time and you know me, I'm not an early riser, so needless to say nothing was posted this morning. :) So here are a few things that I believe I can share with you.

One of our new lines in the Holiday mini is the Build a Bear partnership. After they showed us some really cute party ideas and ways to use the bear dies (think bags, clothes, party accessories etc), they brought out a special treat for convention goers. So far we can only get one, but it's a Stampin' Up! Build a bear. It has it's own apron and logo on it. It also has it's own stamp which says, "Life without stamps...unbearable" and has a little paw print in the middle. Isn't it cute? They even let us accessorize our bear by picking out a new IN color polka dotted ribbon bow to put on it. I picked Rich Razzleberry as that is one of my favorite IN colors right now. So anyways, I thought it was really cute and I liked the stamp set, so I had to get one (I've always like stuffed animals). I did have to tell my kids it was mine though, since I could only get one.

They also showed us examples of other things in the mini coming out, which hopefully your catalogs should be mailing out soon if you are on my mailing list.

Also since I didn't post yesterday, here is a picture of my free stamp sets I got in my cool bag, which I showed you last time. Nothing like free stamps. I love being a demo. Remember if you are interested in becoming a demo there is a special $85 starter kit, plus they are adding an incentive to the regular starter kit (get the new IN color pads and a set of IN color paper free). This is in addition to the great value of the kit. This is good through the end of August. If you are interested let me know. By becoming a demo, you will get to know what's coming out first, get to purchase most of the items first, get to make money, set your own hours, etc. You also get to see all that the SU site has to offer demos (training, printouts, samples, etc.) So if you have any questions or know anyone interested let me know.
Hopefully, I'll get to post more tomorrow. It's also our last day, so we do have to pack up also. So sorry for slacking on the posting, but we have been really busy here.
Hope you have a great day today.

Sign in day

hey everyone,
I'm writing today from Salt Lake City at convention. Today was sign in day where you get your new bag filled with stamps, agenda and such. I got to stand in line for hours (literally hours) to get everything and my feet are killing me, but I got to meet some nice new people and got to swap a bunch of cards and I got 4 new sets and a roller ball. I'm excited. Tomorrow my track time has make and takes so hopefully I'll get to make some really fun things with my new stamps.
I was hoping to show you my swap cards each day, but my husband emptied the camera before we left and those got downloaded to our home computer. I didn't find out until tonight that they were missing. I already gave out three versions today so I only have two left, so I'll show those next. The rest you will have to wait until after I get home. This picture is our new bag we got filled with stamps. Sorry, the bed area had the best lighting. It's full of stamps so that's why the bottom is doing that. It has several pockets inside and the inside is white and turquoise color and could really be turned outside even, which several people have done. So I start convention tomorrow, if they let us post the news I'll share some with you. I won't know until tomorrow though because they have cracked down on letting out new info. Until then I hope you have a great day and are staying dry. I've heard there has been a ton of rain lately. I hope everyone is safe.

my swaps for convention

5 swap cards.

I just realized I never showed anyone what I took for swaps. Here are some examples of what I took for my swaps. They took a lot of time to make. I hope you like them. The first is the purse card I talked about earlier on my blog. There is also a tutorial listed under tutorials on how to make it - what cuts to make and where, etc. It also lists all the parts.


This second card is again with the Boho Backgrounds, but what is hard to see in this picture is that each of the 3 areas in the scallops and the For You are all embossed in black, which makes them shiny and pop up off the card. In person it makes it has a cool effect. So I used Whisper white, real red, basic black papers. I used Versa mark and black embossing powder, black ink, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle, silver brads and red grosgrain ribbon.

This next one I call my ribbon weaving card. This was a fun technique that I saw how to make. I have had several people ask me about this, so we will probably do this real soon (maybe at club). I learned how to do this technique from a video by K. Werner. Again this uses the Boho Backgrounds and the One of a kind stamps sets. Again the middle and words are embossed in clear embossing powder over chocolate chip craft ink. The colors are Chocolate chip and brocade blue and whisper white. I also used the key tag punch, several circle punches, the scallop circle and a brad. if there is interest I might even do a tutorial. What do you all think?



This last card is a little bit of a catalog spoiler. This is with two new stamp sets. It is done with Wow flowers and Heard from the heart. I thought the flowers sort of looked like snowflakes and it made a cool effect. The paper used for this card is actually white. See the white snowflakes that is the color of the paper. This technique is called emboss resist. I embossed the images and used a brayer to color the paper. I used the new Baja Breeze color and then I embossed again after I colored the paper. I thought it turned out cool anyways. What do you think? The items used for this card are: Whisper white paper, versa mark ink, clear embossing powder, baja breeze classic and Night of Navy craft inks; brayer, heat tool, white grosgrain ribbon and a brad.


I forgot my fifth card. I had to come back and edit this. I kept running out of supplies so I had to do a fifth card. Here it is.
For supplies, I used the following: Cardstock: Night of Navy, Brocade blue, Pacific point, Close to cocoa, Chocolate chip, barely banana. Inks: Chocolate chip, appricot appeal, night of navy, white craft, and rose red and chocolate chip markers. Accessories: white embossing powder, heat tool, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamond glitter, eggplant ribbon, photo corner punch, slot punch, dimensional, snail, dauber
Hope you enjoy the cards, you'll have to let me know what you think.

Back home

Well, I have been officially home for a couple of days now. I feel slightly more recovered from my trip to Utah. At least I'm back to my normal altitude level although the heat index doesn't seem a whole lot different, just more humid versus dry. Of course, I have had to catch up with work and my family, so there hasn't been much free time. I'm even writing this after 1 am, so that says a lot. I'm not doing this on my laptop, so I don't have any pictures to upload at the moment. I hope to do that in the next couple of days. I just realized I hadn't put any pictures of my swaps out there and there were a few others I wanted to add to show, so I'll try and post those soon. I have several hundred pictures so it takes time to go through them all.
It was an exciting trip, but I'm glad to be home. There is just so much to do is all, as always. It's amazing how fast time goes. It makes it difficult at times to just enjoy the moment anyways. But I like to try. We are also trying to get ready for school. I can't believe it's less then a week away now. It seems like they just got out. At least for DD. My DS won't get to start his new preschool until after Labor Day. He will be disappointed that he has to wait. Well, I do need to get some sleep. I hope you all are having an excellent day. Take a moment and remember to thank the One who gave it to you. We are all truly blessed when it comes down to it. Thank you my friends for being a part of my life. I love you guys.

Convention day 3

Well, Day 3 (final day) of convention has come and gone. It was definitely an eventful day. We started out with classes today so we could end up with the large group sessions. They wanted to finish with a bang (more about that later). This morning I got to do my last make and take session and two classes. The make and takes were fun. We made a box with cards, a ribbon bookmark using the cool Incolor ribbon and some new hardware, a brayed dry embossed card and a mini envelope book - all so cute and cool. I'm charging my camera battery, I'll have to show some pictures soon. Before I put it on the charger I did take some time to download some pictures I took of some items that happened today. Most of the pictures are from the last large group session, where they demonstrated some cool fun items to do this fall. I can't wait to get the new stuff to prepare some of these items. There are several gift ideas, scrapbook ideas and they look like lots of fun. Also during the large group session they decided to have some fun. They played "Stamp-tionary" where they pitted west and east coast against each other and then Rookies vs "old timers". And then a playoff. I believe the West won.

In between sessions they gave out prizes to some of the crowd (I won a stamp set) and they played these funny commercials promoting upcoming events. One was a "Barbie" type commercial that was so funny. They decorated her house with several Stampin' Up! items and even gave them Stampin' Up! clothes (see the picture.) Can you see the clothes. The green top was the one in Momento Mall this year and the apron is one item listed too. Have you noticed the decor elements in mini on the walls? I think the pictures are small stamps too. It was too cute and funny. They even had a UPS doll show up with an order.


Speaking of UPS one of the last items that they did, which caused a ton of excitement, happened during the time that Shelli Gardner (President and cofounder) was speaking. All of a sudden a doorbell sounded and a UPS delivery man walked in with a box and the crowd went wild. He told her he had a delivery and she asked for who and looked at the box and said, "For everyone" and the crowd went bolistic, because that meant that the whole crowd was going to get a free stamp set - all however many thousands of us. Confetti went off and it got loud in there. Ladies were dancing around. It was so much fun to watch. And we all got a new set coming out of the new catalog. It was the one that matches one of the new punches, but best of all it was the one that if you order it they give a donation to Ronald McDonald house, which was way cool. Then they announced that all those sets were donated by UPS, the crowd went wild again. So a set got donated to the attendees, plus since it was purchased -donations go to Ronald McDonald house and we get to demo it to try and make more money for Ronald McDonald house, which is way cool. It's always cool to help out good charities. This picture is of Lynn and Kathy holding up their free sets (which matches our new scallop square punch), which is way cool. It was on my wish list anyways.

After all the excitement died down they did some closing statements and we were free to go. Our group decided to eat dinner tonight at Macaroni Grill and then we all walked back to our hotels to pack and get ready to leave. It was a fun time and I got to meet some very nice ladies on this trip. This next picture is some of our group that stayed at the same hotel as I did. They were a lot of fun and I laughed a lot when I was with them. By the way the brown building behind them is our hotel. Well this is a long post, but it was a very busy day. Tomorrow I get to come home and I will be so glad to get to see everyone. I miss my family a lot. I did get to see a ton of stuff and have gotten a ton of ideas. I can't wait to share them with everyone. Hope to see you all soon.

Second full day of Convention

Well, we finished our second full day at Convention and it was full of excitement. It was a pretty busy day overall. We had three classes again and a large group session. We also got to see lots of samples. I can't wait to try some of them out. They showed us a bunch of different ideas today. From party planning, to 3d items and cards (yes 3d cards), to clothing (more about that in a sec.), to fun kid items like masks and books. Plus all the traditional items too. I saw several new techniques, including a faux silk (don't let me forget to show you all that fun and easy trick). It's pretty cool.

So I'm guessing some of you are wondering what the new partnership is that I mentioned yesterday. They played it up a lot today and teased us several times, until they finally told us. Then they spent the rest of the day showing us all the cool stuff you could do with it. So are you ready (where is a drum roll when you need one).
Stampin' Up! is partnering with Sizzix. Stampin' Up! will be selling a Big Shot Die cutting machine and exclusives dies. We got to see several of them today and they are really cool. You can use them to make party decorations and favors, cards, vinyl clings for your wall, chipboard items, etc. They are coming out with new alphabets to use with it. Also several box dies to hold favors and such, and other coordinating dies. Including some holiday ones. They actually used the dies to plan whole parties and showers and showed us several ideas. They were so cute. You can also use it to cut fabric. They showed us several cool things made out of fabric. They decorated clothing with flowers and other items (see an item on display in the picture).

They even made a whole apron out of die-cuts. It was funky but cute. So that opens all kinds of new possibilities. So we've learned of the new die system and dies, new decor elements (and decor elements you can make with your dies), and a joint venture with Country Living magazine over the holiday season. All kinds of new and exciting things coming. Pair that with a pretty cool new catalog and it should be a fun next 6 months. Well, I need to get some stuff ready for tomorrows classes. Hope you all are having an awesome day.

First full day of convention

Thursday: first full day
We got up really early this morning in order to meet and get a seat. It was crowded when we got there. I have no idea how early these people get up, but we were there a half hour early and still sat on the side. They gave us several cool sneak peeks, which was really cool. They showed us some new decor elements which match some of stamp sets. Guess what - some have color and are so cool. Here is a sneak peek at some. They are also coming out with some holiday ones (halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas) and showed us some holiday ideas to use them with. Possible gift ideas for some of you. So cute. They also had some baby ones too. Different sets will come in different colors. They are coming out this fall by the way.

They also announced a few future happenings - a huge display in a magazine later with a special bundle. I'll have to share more about that later and it looks cool too. They are also suppose to announce something new tomorrow and we can't wait to hear what it is.
We had a large group session as well as three classes. One being a make and take session. The projects are so cute. Today we decorated a bag, 2 cards and a scrap page. I'll have to take pictures soon. By the way, sorry it took me so long to get these pics up. I didn't have my adapter and had to stop by Walmart to get one. So finally I can post some items.

Here is a picture of the gals that we knew were coming from Louisville. There could have been more, this is just what we knew. They are a fun bunch and very nice. Everyone got matching shirts that were a hit. On the back they listed the price of things (i.e. hotel $xxx, flight $, registration, etc. (it listed prices - I just can't remember this late) and then said being the first in the country to see the new Stampin Up catalog - priceless. Everyone kept taking pictures of them. It was too funny.

After seeing a ton of samples and sitting most of the day and getting inspired by all the cool demonstations, we ended up eating in the hotel, took our trip to Walmart and then went to see the Mormon Tabernacle choir rehearse. They were really good to hear. The grounds were pretty too. Here are some pictures of that too. (The temple in the daytime, at night and then the choir.)
Well that's about it for now. I have to get up early tomorrow and it's late. Hope you all are doing great. Talk to you soon.

convention sign in day

Convention pre registration - Wednesday.
Today, we got up early and went to the convention center to sign in and get all our stuff and check out Momento Mall. We got there right after it opened and it was totally crazy. It was worse then Disney. The line was like 3 1/2 hours long and some stood in line over 4 hours. With all that, they still ran out of stuff and that was for the people who got in line by 9. Just think of all the people after that. This bag is one item they were so hot to get. Of course I had to have one too. I always need storage organization, especially with things so torn up (basement being fixed) at the moment. Also, just so you know, it also matches some of the papers coming out in the new catalog.

By the way I have to say that the new catalog is awesome. Here is a sneak peek at the cover. I think it's one of the better catalogs I've seen in a while. It has lots of new stamp sets (especially holiday), it has 4 new punches - as well as coordinating stamps for those punches, several new ribbons, several new rub ons, tons of new papers and scrap kits. I love the new scrap kits, plus lots of other goodies too. My list is so long right now. It is so exciting. This picture really doesn't do it justice. It even shows you how to do some techniques. It's definitely cool.





I also got 3 new stamp sets, which are cool. They added two new styles to the catalog and some of the sets come from that. There are stamps that match the decor elements too. They also put some of my favorites from the last two minis in the catalog too, which is exciting. This picture is a picture of our convention bags, they are brown, kiwi, blue and some yellow, but mainly brown.
We also got to see several displays of lots of cards and 3d items. I took some pictures, but didn't to it all, it was all just too much. We also swapped till we ran out. There are so many pretty cards out there. That was a new experience and lots of fun. After we were pretty much dead from being on our feet for so long, our group meet that night at the Blue Iguana (what a name - Katie would love the name). It was mexican and packed with convention goers. They were having lots of fun for sure. Anyways, I think that's the highlights from this day. More about the first full day shortly.

update one of convention

Arrival day: Tuesday
Hey everyone, sorry I haven't written in a few days. It has been crazy here at convention. Tuesday which was travel day was very tiring. Besides the long plane ride, we had a marathon run in Chicago (we weren't suppose to change planes, but the air conditioning failed in mid-air, so they switched plans on us. So we had to go all the way down area A and then all the way down area B fairly quickly to catch the plane out. Luckily the luggage made it. We weren't sure at the time. Then just trying to find the way around town, to the hotel and such. Also switching time zones and altitudes has made a difference. The altitude thing was very surprising. We've found we have to drink more here both because of the heat but because of the altitude. It's like we are always thirsty even indoors. It's weird. It's also tiring. Even the fittest of us is feeling the effects. So I'm going to share different days postings with some highlights. Since this is arrival day I'll show you my room (it was an upgrade for some reason and is totally awesome and huge.) What you see is only part of it. It's hilarious, we have the whole family we get the small room. I come by myself it's huge. Go figure. Also my view from the room is great too. See what you think. This is one part of it. I see more and more mountains on the right too. It looks pretty at night too with all the lights. It is definitely nice for a downtown area.