Convention Day 2

So much happening today it's mind boggling. First off Shelli will have a blog starting on Monday, how cool is that? Her address will http://www.soshelli.com/ so make sure you check it out!

First the opening ceromony was fantastic as usual. Here's just a glimpse of it.

I'm so excited about the Decor Elements line and it's expanding!! Woohoo! More colors, more designs, designs for the holidays, it's just so cool. Here's a little sample of what's coming.

Now, for my moment in the sun. I made my 5 year march today! I can't believe that it's been 5 1/2 years since I became a SU demo and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

My friend Linda made her 10 year march today and I was so excited for her. Her she is with a friend. Linda is on the right.

At lunch, I participated in 6 swaps and got some awesome things. However, here's the cupcakes that were on the table at lunch. Unfortunately by the time I got finished swapping, I didn't have a cupcake to eat. Oh well, I didn't need the calories anyway!

There were a few little announcements today but nothing earth shattering. More tomorrow Shelli promised! I'm off to awards night for now!

WOW what a day!

It's been a really, really long day and I'm already tired and convention hasn't really started! First off I'm sure a lot of you have already seen the awesome bags we were given along with our beautiful new catalogs. In case you haven't, here they both are.
Here's a close up ofr the stitching on the bag which is so awesome!



So, I arrived at the Salt Palace and immediately got in line for Memento Mall. I was on a mission to get a mag plate of Summer Sunflower. Of course, I had no idea if they'd even have that one or if it would be left. I arrived 1 hour before the doors were supposed to open and there were probably 500-800 people in line ahead of me! I finally got into shop and headed straight for the mag plates. I was looking through when the lady next to me asked what I was looking for. I told her and she said, "well this looks like a sunflower but it's not one I recognize." Guess what, it was exactly what I was looking for I hugged her and almost cried when I saw my lovely Summer Sunflower once again.
While I was looking through I came across Bon Voyage and decided it would make a nice gift for my DH. So, above are my two big purchases today. Now, of course, these weren't my only purchases. I had to get the great new bag and matching camera case/clutch. They are both just so cute. See for yourself.
After shopping I came back to the hotel and went to lunch with DH before my two organized swaps this afternoon. Both were fantastic! Oh, I almost forgot the pictures of new products. So here they are.




So, that's all the info for tonight. It's late and I'm off to bed. By the way the pictures from Riverton, most of those sets are not in the big catty so I'm thinking they will be in the holiday mini. I have to say that I'm very impressed with this catalog. So many great new things!!
Night all!
Sharon

Riverton Part 2

Ok, the wait is over!! Here's a sneak peek at some exciting new things to come! First off here's a peek at the cover of the new catalog cover. The picture on the left shows the very first Stampin' Up! catalog above and the new Fall/Winter catalog below. Look at the scalloped edge!! The one on the right is a close up at the cover of the catalog. It's just beautiful!!

All Images Copyright Stampin' Up!

Ok on to more new and exciting things. Here's a look at some new things for fall and a great new Definately Decorative set.

On to some fantastic new things for Christmas! I am so excited about these products. It's going to be a great catalog!

Now, if that's not enough to get you excited how about a few more!

And it's not over yet! Here's still a few more shots!

Here's just a few more pictures from the Legacy

Rooms.

I hope you enjoyed this trip through the Legacy Rooms at the Stampin' Up Home Office and the little sneak peeks! I know more is in store when I cross the street to the Salt Palace in just a short while. I'll be back later on to hopefully post more!

Riverton Tour part 1

DH and I drove out to Riverton today so we could tour before the big crowds tomorrow. Not that I don't love all my Stampin' Sisters but it was so much easier to look at everything (and take pictures) without a lot of people in the Legacy Rooms. First off, I love this area of the home office. You get to see so much about the company and of course get to see some great ideas on how to use Stampin' Up! products. I saw A LOT of new stuff including the cover of the new catalog but I won't be posting that until tomorrow. There were some other demos there that might choose to share it sooner but I prefer to wait so that the demos at convention see the catalog first. First up, several of the rooms had the new Decor Elements line in them. I loved seeing them up and I spotted a new one too. As always it's so fun to look in the rooms and see how the products are being used DH was very interested in how things were used and was excited about the chipboard letters with magnets on the back. He also got a kick out of the flash cards!

They had one room decorated for Thanksgiving and for Christmas all with new stuff. I'll post those pictures in the morning. Here's a few more to look at though tonight. I loved the spotted room! I could so use on of those in my house. The bedroom on the right was decorated by Shelli (Stampin' Up! co-founder), her sister, and her Mom! It is so shabby chic! I have more pictures of it that I'll post tomorrow along with sneak peeks!

This is the last "spot" as you leave the Legacy Rooms. It was such a great day to tour. To the right is me in front of the "rock" with the home office and mountains in the background.

500 miles in a day!

I'm back in the hotel and I wanted to share with you our day yesterday. When the day was done we had driven right at 500 miles but we did oh so much on the drive. Here's how the day went: We left Torrey, UT (near Capitol Reef) around 8 a.m. and headed towards Kanab. Kanab is where the manufacturing plant of Stampin' Up! is located and I had arranged for a tour. On the way we saw a sign for Bryce Canyon which is our favorite National Park. It was only 14 miles away so a side trip was warranted. We agreed that we could only spend about 1 1/2 hours in the park since we still had a lot of area to travel. We stopped at several of the lower points and just marveled again at the unusual beauty of this park. It was SO HARD not to head down for a hike through the hoodoos but we just didn't have the time. So, after a whirlwind tour through Bryce, we headed on to Kanab. We stopped for some lunch before heading on to the plant. We arrived and we were greeted very warmly by Josh who is the head of Human Resources at the Kanab plant. He gave us such a great tour and answered all of our questions. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the plant which I totally understand but I did take a few pictures of the building and common areas.










I have to say that is was a fascinating tour. To see how the stamps are actually made was amazing and I have even more respect for the people who do it day in and day out. It's a very interesting process and I was so pleased to see the many quality control checks that happen throughout the process. Most of all I thank Josh and Stampin' Up! for allowing the demonstrators to tour the facilities. It makes me so proud to be a part of such a great company.


If you read the post earlier, I left out a very important part of my trip to Kanab. While we were there, we went to the city park that has been dubbed "The Park that Rubber Built". It was in a state of disrepair and Shelly and Sterling donated the money so it could be rebuilt. The coolest thing is that the fall zone is the chopped up rubber bits from stamp sets! I even picked up a few as a keepsake.


So, we leave Kanab and decide to take a detour through Zion National Park so we can stop and visit the photography gallery of Michael Fatali. We have several of his prints in our home and we were so looking forward to visiting his new location which is right inside the park. We arrive to find that the gallery was closed and opening today. We were so sad but at least we got to drive through yet another one of Utah's great National Parks! No pictures from Zion though as it was a quick drive through. We then headed back to Salt Lake City and we arrived very late to the hotel and got checked in. This morning we slept in, had breakfast, and then went to the store to get some supplies for myself and some of my stamping buddies for the next few days. After lunch, we drove out to Riverton to the Stampin' Up home office and distribution center and had a wonderful time there. I'll be posting more on that later (including some sneak peeks!). More later....