More of Convention 2013

I can't believe it's been a week since Convention 2013!  I had such a fun time with all my Stampin' friends--I wish I didn't have to wait a whole year before I see some of them again! They live all over the country and even all over the world...good thing we have Facebook, right?

Here are just a few of my favorite swaps: 1. Debi Calandrelle  2. Cami Eastwood  3. Kevin Theesen  4. Judene Hale 5. Cindy Schuster 6. Jeanna Bohanon 7. Elisabeth Bellville 8. Monika Davis  9. Pam Hoffmann 10. Teri Hinckley
I had so many lovely swap cards, I thank all those who put so much effort and talent into your projects!

Check out the opening session streamed live for the first time!  I got to sit right on the front row with VIP tickets, thanks to the You Crew but you don't see much of me on the screen because I am sitting under the boom crane.  That's ok, I had a fantastic seat for the whole celebration!
Here's some photos of the highlights of convention for me:

Dinner with the MDS blog hop girls!

Jeanna, Monika and Julie getting ready for opening session!

VIP Seating!!!

Julie and Judene in VIP seating!

Besties on the front row!

WooHoo!  Ryan Innes from "The Voice" rocked the crowd!

The whole Gardner clan!

Silver backpack for the 25th anniversary celebration!

Prize Patrol!!

Oh yeah, gotta love FREE STAMPS!!!

Only about 1/10 of the demonstrators at convention!

Jeanna Bohanon, Finalist for Artisan Design Team

Jeanna, WINNNER!  2013-2014 Artisan Design Team!!

She can't even contain her emotions!!

Artisan Design Team gift!

There was so much fun and excitement going on during convention--amazingly, they get better every single year!  I know you want to join us next year!  It is $99 to sign up and for a limited time, every new demonstrator gets their choice of projects on top of all the great stuff they get to choose for their starter kit ($190+ value)!  That's awesome!

Come back soon, I have some more Artisan Contest submission projects to share!

Julie

My Convention 2013 Swaps

I have returned from another Stampin' Up! convention completely rejuvenated and exhausted!  Three days of adrenalin rush is not good for this old body, but somehow, I survived to tell the tale!  There were 5800 demonstrators from all over the US and Canada (along with a few from the South Pacific and Europe) and most of them brought cards to swap!  You can't believe the craziness that goes on when Stampin' Up! demonstrators get together to swap cards!  It's more like a swarm than a swap!  Cray. Zay.  I did two swaps this year, but I didn't make a bunch because I figure if I swap it I have to bring it home and store it somewhere--so I keep it to 40-50 cards.  I did a remake of my baby stacking toy card (don't you just love MDS!!!) printed four to a page and mounted them on coordinating colored card stock.  I had none left and I didn't take a pic before I left so I will show you the digital rendition:

I love how you can change a project in MDS to fit your needs, maybe next time I'll do it in pastels!
The second swap card was actually done for a organized swap, or a swap that has a theme and usually a set amount of people, in this case 10.  The theme was coordinating DSP and stamps which we have so many of!  I love that Stampin' Up! has "suites" of paper, stamps, and embellishments that coordinate with each other so you don't have to think, "Does this go together?" All you have to do is let your creativity run! (unless you're like me and you hit "the DEAD zone"! You know the one! Nothing, nada, zilch, zero!) Yeah, I started working on this weeks ago and all I had was the Chalk Talk tag punched out--that's it!  It just wasn't working!  I wandered around Pinterest and I saw a few ideas that caught my eye and then two days before I had to leave it all came together! (Sadly, that is my MO, hurry up and wait till the last minute! I finished my cards in the truck on the way to SLC!)  Luckily for me I only had to do 11 of them!  I used Soho Subway DSP and Hello, Lovely stamp set along with a little bit of Gorgeous Grunge on the Alphabet Press embossed background.

Besides the tag, the accessories I used were: Scallop edge punch; 1 1/4" circle punch; and a bit of 7/8" Cotton Ribbon which is easy to stamp on!

I don't know if you see a pattern here, but I REALLY like Summer Starfruit and Pool Party!!
Tomorrow I will post some of the swap cards I received! Stay tuned!

Julie

Ready, Set....GO!!

I'm just finishing all my last minute stuff before I leave for convention!  Yay!  I thought I would post this card I made at my friend Jeanna's a few weeks ago.  It uses Hello, Lovely stamp set, the 1 inch square punch, clear embossing powder and the Decorative Label punch.  I took some Basic Gray 1/4 inch stitched grosgrain ribbon and I pulled the center stitching to gather the ribbon (make sure you glue or knot the end) and wrapped it around the card.  Lastly, I added a Vintage Faceted designer button for some "pretty"!  The hardest part about this card is that you probably need to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the embossed images after you attach your squares.  It's more time consuming, but it still only took me about 20 minutes to make.

Make sure you follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week (links on the right)--I'll be posting fun photos and excitement from Stampin' Up! Convention in Salt Lake City!
Today is also Download Tuesday for MDS, so make sure you check out the fun new downloads this week!

Julie

One More Week...

...Until Stampin' Up! Convention!!  I'm so excited!  In the almost 17 years I've been a demonstrator, I've attended 16 conventions!  I only missed the Denver convention because I had just had surgery (and truth be told, I still planned to go, but my husband told me to rest!)  Anyway, I so enjoy being around all the demonstrators every year--their excitement, their talent, their friendships, it is all completely breathtaking!  New friendships are made; happy tears are shed; craziness ensues; ideas are shared; knowledge is gained; more craziness ensues; {PRIZE PATROL}; lots of laughter; photos, photos and more photos; even more craziness ensues; {PRIZE PATROL}; sleep-deprived silliness; lots of swapping; screaming, jumping up and down craziness ensues; {PRIZE PATROL}!!!  There, doesn't that sound like fun?  I am so excited that it's hard for me to even concentrate on anything else for very long--I think it's called "convention brain".  My family is pretty much used to it by now, but being compounded with my recent "brain fog", I'm sure it's driving them crazy!  Maybe I'll be back to normal in a few weeks...maybe not!!!
I have a few projects to post before I leave, so hopefully my "convention brain" will let me focus for a bit on blogging!  Here is my submission for MDS Monday 21:

I had taken some panorama photos on a drive up through the Red Rock Loop and I thought that they would be perfect for this technique.  If you would like to see how this is done, you can check out my photo grouping video here.  This image of the storm is so stunning that I didn't want to add too much, just a few elements with colors practically taken from the landscape.  I browsed through the MDS color combo tool and found one that was perfect for this page and with the recolor tool I could change all of my elements to coordinate with that color combination.  Here's my color swatch for this page:

Almost all of the elements on this page are from the Be Yourself May kit and were recolored.

I've got to hurry and get my swap cards finished and some shopping done before I leave, but check back, I'll have a few more projects for you before I leave!  

Julie