More Swap Pictures

Ok, before I get to the swap pics, I have to show the projects we did at my SU Open House! The two white cards are the "2-minute" cards that we did, and the "hello" card and box are projects that we made at Convention. Below, my favorite swaps from other Demonstrators at convention. The card at the top right is an "over-the-top" card made by my downline, Susan O. It is gorgeous! Click on the picture to see them better.

These are the 3-D projects that we swapped as a downline group at Convention. This beautiful bag was made by Nena (gotta love Pomegranite & Brown!). It holds a lot, and Nena gave us all lotion in it. Emily made the gift bag with Flower Fusion felt. So fun -- way to take a plain gift bag and glam it up Emily!

This is an Altoid case decorated and made into the cutest mini-scrapbook ever! I've always wanted one of these, and now I have something I can put in my purse and show everyone my kids, my friends, and my craft! This was made by Tiffany -- so glad you are in our group -- it's about time :)

Somehow I got a fuzzy picture, but this is a great page by Tami. She used the new Halloween rub-ons, and they make the page!

Super-cute page Emily! Gotta love the Simply Scrappin' packs -- they make quick, cute pages by the dozen. Literally, I've seen 12-20 pages come out of a Simply Scrappin' pack + 1 extra pack of 12 X 12. A bargain!

This page is by Susan, and I love the bling! The close-up below has a shot of those spooky eyes. We only had to do a single page for our swap, but she is going to add another page during her stamp club, and I can't wait to post that one too!

I'm going to say again that I'm sorry that some of the pictures are blurry! Hopefully you'll get the idea though, and if you need a sharper picture, say so in your comments, and I'll let you know when my camera is going again so I can get a better picture. Once again, click on the pics for a much bigger, more detailed (and today, sometimes much blurrier!) shot.

This was my swap, and I did a double-page spread because we had one demonstrator who couldn't come at the last minute. I used the bulk kit that we as demonstrators could order, and I fell in love with this kit! Too bad that I waited until it retired to get going with it. I should have done a class! The pictures are of our youngest daughter, Cami, as she ran to catch up with our truck on the farm in Utah. She was so happy and cute as she ran that I had to take a bunch of pictures -- now I'm glad I did!

Materials: Sunshine Garden Bulk Buy Kit (You can still order this if you are a demonstrator).

Lots of Letters chipboard, Hearts & Brackets Die, Big Shot, Sell-a-bration paper (retired)

I need to give credit where it is due -- I cased this layout from "roseluvseric" at Split Coast this spring.

This beautiful page was done by Jen Neb using DSP that I didn't buy (retired) and now I'm scavenging to find some -- I love her ornaments! Also, notice the close-up of her tree. I know it's blurry, but what an original way to make the funnest Christmas tree ever! I'm copying!

She used the scallop edge punch, and just hand-trimmed it because, "you don't want your edges perfect, right?" (Jen's words, and she's right!) Scallops are edged with ink and glittered. So so so pretty in real life!

Nena's page, and it's the one all my kids "have to have". They love the cupcake, and how could you not? She crimped the bottom, crystal effected the dots in the frosting, and glittered the cherry to the max! With a little simplification, what a fun kids class this would make, right?

Ok, Melissa, I know that your page isn't on here, but my camera died, and I can't find the charging cable (haven't seen it since Convention), but as soon as I find it, I'll get all of our pictures on here! Sometimes I feel like a scatter-brain, but today I figured I'd get on what I had! Hope you all enjoy these great ideas, and that they motivate you to GET STAMPING!!!

Stampin' Up Convention '09 & My 1st Open House

Convention 2009 was such fun, and I came back saturated with new ideas and all fired up to make this the best year ever as far as Stampin' Up goes! I've resolved to be a better leader, and to share more of what we can do with stamps with others. I have so many homemade gift ideas thanks to our downline swap, and all the classes we attended at Convention, that I cannot imagine why I would have to buy a single gift! Well, at least for the women & girls in my life :) But how nice to be able to make wall art, card gift boxes, tags and albums -- things we all use and love -- for a fraction of what we buy them for! And ours are usually just as cute if not cuter! It makes me happy. So, here are just some of our downline swaps, and I will be posting more, but other pics wouldn't download right now, so here are these for now.

These adorable tags were made by Melissa D. and are so so so cute in real life!!! They make me start wanting to wrap right now, just so I can see these adorable tags swinging from the presents! Way to use the Catalog for this idea from page14 (Hostess set! --great reason to have a workshop!) in our Idea Book & Catalog.

This beautiful treasure box was made by Tami M., and I love it more than words can say! Our rules in our downline convention swap was that we could use any of our retired stuff so that we could use it up! And my girls did an awesome job! Tami made every box out of different paper, and each one had a unique top. I'm truly in awe of my downline's creativity! They are the best.

We also swapped 12 X 12 pages, and this was Tiffany C.'s page. It is so fun that I put it on the front of my family album. I would have had pictures already on it, but I'm out of one ink color, so of course my printer won't work! Hate it when that happens. Anyway, it will soon look super-cute with all the pictures on it -- don't you love the mini-album below?!!! Tiffany was a first-time convention go-er, and her swaps were fab. Keep up the great work Tiff!

At Convention, every year they do a game show (I was actually a contestant 2 years ago in Denver, and won $250 in merchandise out of the catalog!), and it is one of my favorite things because they always make it Stampin' Up related of course. This year they did a take-off of Family Fued, calling it "Demo Duel" and it was way fun. Some of the questions were: "What in the catalog is made of paper?" ('The catalog' was the last answer!), "Name a SU color that starts with 'B'," and "What animal is represented by any retired or current stamp set?" It was so much fun.

I'll have more pics from Convention later. I'm just getting my act together here in Las Vegas -- being away for most of the summer means lots to get done when we're back to get ready for school, college, etc. So I'm just getting my pics downloaded, communicating with my downline so I can get some of their pictures (One day I forgot my camera -- how can you do that?), and basically trying to catch up on life! The picture below shows an adorable album that the ladies in the row behind us made, and Melissa & Nena are showing how the half-circle lifts up -- can't say it enough that ideas are just waiting to be thought up, and we are so glad that lots of them showed up at Convention '09.

The one thing that I have done since I've been home that has to do with Stampin' Up is hold my first Open House! It was a great time, and I had the privelege to show some new customers how the Big Shot works, and of course all the ins and outs of many of our basic great products. I always love watching people figure out how our ink pads open (and realize that they last for so long since they are airtight!) and how our glue sticks work. They loved the sample board -- thanks to all who made these cute swaps -- they are all straight from convention.

This is my great friend Leanne who agreed to be in the picture with the display board -- she is such a sport! Below is a sample of how my table was set up so that hopefully my customers could follow instructions to make that fun box (it does actually hold 8 Hershey nuggets!).