2010 Stampin' Up! Convention: Day 3

WHERE do I even begin???  Today was AWESOME!!!

I think I'm going to have to start with my favorite part of the day, which was dinner with Shelli Gardner, Brent Steele, and the other Artisan Award Winners.  There is just no way I can describe how incredible it was.  I wish I could just package up all the little details and moments and keep them forever so I never forget a thing.  I felt like a princess tonight.

We went to Cucina Toscano in downtown Salt Lake, and the table was beautifully set with handmade menus and place cards that coordinated with our original handmade invitations. 

Each of us received a personalized stamp that Brent Steele designed himself:

Isn't is beautiful?  As soon as I saw it, I just got all teary-eyed.  Seeing my name look so beautiful on something that was made just especially for me was overwhelming.  Even as I'm typing this I'm getting all teary-eyed again. This is making it more difficult to type... ok, I'm ok now.  :)  We all talked and got to know each other better, and Brent even asked us each to tell about ourselves. 

They were really surprised to learn that I studied Biostatistics in school!  haha, it still surprises me when I say it. Shelli and Brent were so kind and gracious.  They even let us each take a picture with them, the rockstars of Stampin' Up!

One of the things we got talking about at dinner was how personal artwork is.  As a fellow Artisan Winner said, it feels like your underwear is hanging out where everyone can see it! It is both so fun and scary at the same time to have my artwork on display in front of everyone.  It feels wonderful when I see people taking pictures of my work (I admit I found excuses to walk past my board a couple of extra times). 

Alrighty, on to the presentations!  We had tons of great project demonstrations in our classes today.  One of my favorites was the Halloween House presented by Brent Steele.  I didn't great a super fabulous picture of it, but here it is:

Don't you love all that glitter and bats with the new bat punch??

Here's another that I think I'm definitely going to have to make for my Halloween decor:

Can't you just see those pumpkins sitting on your front porch??? I was just going ga-ga over them.  :)

We had so many incredible project presentations today, it is just too hard for me to choose which ones to post, so I'm just going to upload them all, and you can pick your OWN favorites!  The only catch is, I want to know what you think!  So, don't forget to email me or leave me a comment!!  I am just dying to chat with my stampin' friends about all this fun stuff! You can click here to go to my online album.

Happy Stampin'!!!

~Heather

2010 Stampin' Up! Convention: Day 1

Hi Stampin' Friends!!!

Today has been an incredible day.  For those of you not familiar with Stampin' Up!'s Convention, oh boy, you are in for a treat.  It is a huge gathering of all the demonstrators for Stampin' Up! and holy cow does Stampin' Up! ever put together an incredible show. I feel like I am just buzzing with inspiration!!

Oh my goodness, I am just so excited to share with you some fabulous pictures of what I have been seeing at Convention this year!!  AMAZING!!

First things first, I had to go straight to my display board that is showcasing all of my winning entries for the Artisan Award.  I just can't tell you what an incredible feeling it was to see my artwork on display.  I just got so teary-eyed seeing it there next to all of the work of the other artisans.  I still can't believe I won, what an honor and thank you again so much for your encouragement and support, it just means so much to me.  I can't wait to show you my projects on our Artisan's Blog Hop coming up on August 2nd at 10AM (EDT).  I hope you can come back and see all of the beautiful artwork I saw on the display boards of the
Artisans today!!

Ok, now I have to tell you about the "Color Confections" displays. OOOOOOOOOOhhhhhh WOW!! In the "Gathering Place" (a great big room with tons of displays, demonstrations, and just tons of inspiration), Stampin' Up! set up the "Color Confections" displays.  As soon as I walked into this area, I felt like I had died and gone to paper-crafting heaven!!  Each section has a color theme with all kinds of breath-taking projects.  To give you an idea of what I mean, here is one of the displays:

Click Here to view all the Color Confections Displays.

And now some close-ups of a few of my faves!!

Isn't this a clever idea?? They used the lattice embossing folder and the Big Shot to create waffle cones!  So clever!

Gah!  Someone pick my mouth up off the floor!! GORGEOUS!!

Can you believe these mouth-watering treats are all made of paper??

You are going to LOVE this!  This little house is a sneak peak from the upcoming Holiday Mini...shhh!  ;)

Oh!  I LOVE Halloween, and here's another sneak peak at some Holiday Mini goodies...the wrappers are made with waffle paper featured in the upcoming Mini.  If you are already on my mailing list, you have a Holiday Mini coming directly to you in the mail as soon as they are available.  If you're not on my mailing list and don't already have a demonstrator, email me and let me know you'd like to receive your FREE copy, too!!  Believe me when I tell you , you DO NOT want to miss this Holiday Mini!!

Ok, ok, you don't have to twist my arm to get me to show off more sneak peaks from the Holiday Mini!!

These fabulous treat boxes are going to be available for the Big Shot beginning Sept 1st! Exciting!

Next, I headed over to the Featured Stamp Set Displays.  This year, we received Just Believe, Paisley Prints (sneak peak from the Holiday Mini!), and So Many Thanks in our Convention Bag.  Because I was an event display stamper, I also have a bunch of my projects featured on these display boards, as well!! So cool!  It is such a neat feeling to see my work on display and people taking pictures of my projects.  Ya, it's totally one of those "warm fuzzies" moments.  :)

To view all my photos of the featured stamp sets, CLICK HERE.

And then, if all that inspiration and fun wasn't enough, Stampin' Up! threw one groovy party to top off the evening!!  I got my face painted, played twister, auditioned for a game show, saw tons of cool demonstrations, and even checked out Shelli Gardner's hip new digs!

Whew!!  And this was only the first day!!  I can't wait to see what Stampin' Up! has in store for us tomorrow at Convention.  You know, one of the reasons I signed up to become a demonstrator was so that I could go to Convention with my best friend, Shanna, several years ago.  I am so glad I did!!  I have just loved being a demonstrator, and I can't wait for Convention every year.  I just feel like I have inspiration leaking out my eyeballs after everthing I've seen today.  Plus, it has been so much fun to meet my stampin' friends in person, and spending time getting to be even better friends with my downline. 

Have you thought about becoming a demonstrator and coming to Convention?  If you'd like more information about it, email me! The theme of this year's convention is "Share what you Love" and I'd love to share more about becoming a demonstrator because I truly LOVE what I do!

Happy Stampin!
~Heather


Shop Online Anytime, 24/7! CLICK HERE to Shop Now!

Have any questions or comments? Please email me (I'm friendly!)

Let's be Facebook Friends! CLICK HERE to add me as a friend to get access to all my photo albums and paper-crafting ideas.

What's on Sale?? CLICK HERE to take a look at all of the current promotions, or take a look at my right side bar under "Super Savers Section".

Artisan Award Winner!!!

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I just can't believe it, I just got a phone call from Brent at Stampin' Up! and he told me I am one of the 2010 Artisan Award winners!!!

Holy smoke-a-molies!!! I seriously can't believe it, this is just AWESOME!!!

I can't wait until I can share with you all my projects I submitted. :) I think I have to wait until after convention, though, but as soon as I can, I will definitely post them!

Happy Stampin!
~Heather

Shop Stampin' Up! Online Anytime, 24/7! CLICK HERE to Shop Now!

Let's be Facebook Friends! CLICK HERE to add me as a friend to get access to all my photo albums and paper-crafting ideas.