Elegant Butterfly Birthday Swap and Convention Pics

Today's card is another swap I received at convention from Gwen E.  Definitely a cute way to showcase the 2013-2015 In Colors.  I thought it would be the perfect card for my niece's 12th b-day too, so I added a white base since this card was cut to fit on the base sheet also.  Definitely gotta love that!  

And since I'm talking about convention I thought I'd show you a few more pics of my time there...

This is the view outside our hotel window.  The mountains don't look very big in the picture, but in person they were a lot bigger.

This is me with my upline Glenda and her friend Belinda.  They've been going to SU! conventions for quite a few years together now.  Every year since I've been a part of Stampin' Up! I've heard all about it and was SO excited to go this year!  Thanks for letting me tag along and have some fun, Belinda and Glenda! :)

This is another friend of Glenda's...France.  They met a few years back on a Stampin' Up! cruise and have been friends ever since.  How great is that?!  A friendship that has lasted even though they are thousands of miles apart (and, yes, I was happy to get a pic with the famous Stampin' Up! Demo France Martin!)

I randomly took pictures of many of the samples they had up on boards.  Notice how they are all in the shape of letters.  I never did figure out what any of them spelled. lol  When I get some time I'd like to zoom in on the cards and see them close up.  I know there's a lot of great ideas for cards on these boards. :)

This is Glenda pointing to the card she made for regionals in Lansing last November.  I found mine too (actually Glenda found it), but Glenda has the picture of me pointing to mine, so I thought I'd put her pic up instead. lol

Oh, the dreaded prize patrol!!!  Yes, I cringed every time there was a drum roll before the color popped up on the screen.  Now why didn't Gumball Green get chosen first instead of one of the last?  Then I wouldn't have been so worried all the time about all that standing, waving and clapping we're supposed to do.  It would have been over and done with right away! lol  When Gumball Green was called I did stand and clap....and thankfully they gave me my "prize" pretty quickly. lol

I hope you enjoyed a few of my pics from Stampin' Up! Convention 2013. :)

Convention Swaps - 1

Today I want to show you a bunch of swap cards from convention.  I noticed I had a lot of cards with blue in them, so I decided to grab those and show them to you.  

This first card is from Candi R.  It's such a cute birthday card.  I really like how the blue is highlighted using the Alphabet Press Embossing Folder.

The second card I want to show you is from Shawnna T. I love these colors together and how she colored her flower.  I so need to get this hostess set!

When I saw the positively Chevron background stamp I wondered what I would do with it.  Well, this card from Kristy S. shows a really cute way to use it. I really like the new In Color Ruffle Stretch Trim too.

This card from France M. has my two favorite colors...green and blue, and a bit of shimmer on the wings.  I love sparkles or shimmer of one kind or another on my cards. 

This card really stood out to me when I had a choice of a few different cards from Linda F.  I really liked the bright flower against the blue.

To be honest I didn't even know we had this stamp set in the catalog.  I kind of get stuck in the rut of what I like instead of trying to look for something new and create with it.  This was a cute way to showcase a few of the new In Colors by Melissa M.

The last card I'm going to show you today is from Ellie B.  It's such a cute and simple way to say happy birthday to someone and it could be done in any color, or preferably their favorite color. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stampin' Up! Convention 2013

Today I want to share a few pics of things from convention starting with the pillow gifts I received from my upline Glenda, fellow demo Belinda, Glenda's friend France and a few ladies in her downline...Holly, Lynne,  and Stephanie.  Wow, did they make great pillow gifts!  Notecards, notebooks, candy, survival kits, knitted socks, goodies and even a working clock. :)

Here is a picture of the group eating lunch and trying to stay cool.  I don't remember the name of this restaurant, but four of the ladies ordered salmon and I'm told it's the best around.  Nope, I didn't try it because I'm not a seafood kind of gal.

I thought I'd also show you a couple of card swaps from two of these ladies.  I started with these because they did something I've never heard of...made the cards ready to place on the actual card piece that needs to be folded.  I thought this was so neat because I always had to somehow make the card fronts smaller so I could make them into cards from earlier swaps.  This first card is from Lynne and reminds me of the bike from the Sale-a-bration catalog that was a favorite of mine.  Such a cute card.

Holly made this second card and I love the simplicity of it, yet it's so elegant too.

I'm sure most of you have seen pictures of the backpack by now.  This is the bag we received from Stampin' Up! and since it was my first convention it the first bag I've ever received from them...and I love it! 

My upline Glenda made each of us a tag to put on our bags somewhere.  Guess that's a good idea when you have thousands of women walking around with the same bag! lol

I plan on posting more swaps and pictures for you to see.  We definitely got a lot of goodies. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

RHSSC - Field Flower...again!

It's Sunday so it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge card.  Yup, I used the same colors I've been using for the past week just like I said I would since there was not a lot of time and no space left on my craft table to get out new colors!  Tomorrow I'll start posting some of the swaps I got at convention this weekend.  And now don't forget to check out what the other Red Hot Stampers made for this week's sketch challenge HERE.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Field Flowers & Dictionary

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder & Pear Pizzaz

Punches:  1 3/4" Circle & 1 3/8" Circle

Framelits:  Circles

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer

Sponges

Whoo is getting married?!

Well, today's card is definitely not my norm, but I needed to whip up something for my daughter's friend who is getting married today...and I can't even be there!  And since she loves owls I had to make them on her card. :)  I wish them many years of happiness together.!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate & Whisper White

Embossing Folder:  Fancy Fan

Framelits:  Ovals Collection

Punch:  Owl Builder

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

Convention Swaps

Today I am in Salt Lake City, Utah for my first Stampin' Up! convention so I thought I'd show you the cards I made to swap.  All I can say is I was crazy to make this card!  When I made regional cards I was able to whip up 30 cards in 2 1/2 hours, but not this time!  Too many steps, but once I come up with an idea that I like there's no changing my mind.  So here's my stack...

And one up close in the pile.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers, Dictionary & Sweet Essentials

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum

Wisteria Wonder & Pear Pizzaz

Punch:  Bitty Butterfly

Framelits:  Window Frames

Ribbon:  1/2" Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer (diluted with rubbing alcohol)

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

sponges

Pillow Gifts for Convention

I sure don't know how some ladies can post on their blogs everyday.  All I know is they are a LOT better than me!  Anyway, today's post is all about pillow gifts for convention because that's where I'm headed! :)  I put together four 3x3 cards with envelopes and some Ghirardelli chocolates for everyone.  Do you remember on Sunday I said you'd see a lot of the stamp set Field Flowers this week?  I wasn't kidding...and you'll still be seeing more.  At least today's cards use the new in colors. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, 

Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding & Coastal Cabana

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Strawberry Slush, 

Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding & Coastal Cabana

Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer