Stampin’ Up! Convention 2013 Day 3

Posted on July 21, 2013 by mauistamper

Crystal and I were very privileged this morning to participate in a “You Crew” event. Demonstrators are selected at random for exclusive, up close and personal convention experiences and we were invited to meet with a Stampin’ Up! illustrator early this morning.

Kathy Pitt has been a Stampin’ Up! illustrator for 23 years! She shared such interesting and insightful information about how stamps are designed and selected for the catalog, and a little bit of history too. She also shared some scrumptious cupcakes!

As an extra bonus, after our You Crew experience we were escorted into the General Session and given fabulous seats in the second row! With almost 6000 demonstrators in attendance, that was a real treat.

The morning sessions were filled with lots of product demonstrations. Stampin’ Up! does not disappoint when it comes to projects! I have loads of photos but it is going to take a little time to organize them, and then I will share. I did find pictures of Shelli’s cards made with the newly announced Flip Card thinlets:

There are two sets of thinlets – one makes a circle flip, the other a label shape. They will be available August 1 (I think – there were so many announcements and dates that my head is spinning more than usual.)

We had really informative classes this afternoon, and then the final general session of the day. I’m heading home with loads of loot!

It was a great day. We finished up with the Pioneer Day concert at the LDS Conference Center, a truly lovely and revitalizing experience. Late night dinner at the La Jolla Grove and then a couple of hours of organizing and packing! We are two pooped pineapples but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

RemARKable Best of Greetings

Posted on July 20, 2013 by mauistamper

Aloha and welcome to another RemARKable “Best of” blog tour! This month’s Best of Greetings set is a keeper! My hope is to show you how truly versatile a set like this can be especially when combined with other stamps you already own.

Ah, the sympathy card…the one we want to get right, the one we want to speak louder than words. I like the classic, elegant font of this greeting. I’ve paired it with a little DSP from the Quatrefancy Specialty assortment and used the image from the elegant Simply Sketched Hostess set as an accent. How many images do you have that would work here?

And yes, I did cut it out by hand. With such a simple, uncomplicated card that extra step didn’t take too much extra time.

Using the same color scheme and same greeting, I created an entirely different look:

By masking a rectangle in the center of your panel, you can create a clean, simple image that keeps the focus on your message.

Fortunately, we don’t always need a sympathy card. Bright colors and sincere messages let our friends know we love them!

Yep – same layout as the first card, but a completely different feeling when you change out the colors! These warm bright shades say “Love you girlfriend!” And if you’re wondering when we started offering Baker’s twine in that shade, take another look at the fabulous Tag a Bag Accessory kit! PLENTY of twine for your projects and some leftovers too.

And last but not least, those same colors make a very quick and cheery card to tell someone they’ve made a difference in your life. (Shout out to fellow RemARKable Beata Fiebelkorn for the inspiration!) I embossed the greeting to make it really pop, but it would be quicker and ALMOST as wonderful without the embossing 🙂

What you can’t do without are the new Candy Dots in the center of the flowers. These are brads without the bulk, the poking, or the manicure-destroying prong-wrassling!! You know what I’m talking about. Love these!

That’s it for Best of Greetings Maui Stamper Style…I’m sure you’re as eager as I am to see what Robin is sharing with you! You know what to do!

Nancy Amato   http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com
Melissa Bolinger   http://www.stampinup.net/blog/2089191
Jackie Bottomley   http://www.jackiebottomley.blogspot.com
Susan Carlson    http://stampinmomoffour.blogspot.com
Tamra Davis   http://www.thecardladies.com
Sherri Eddleblute    http://www.sweetestdesigns.blogspot.com/
Lynn Embrey http://www.possibilitiestamperstudio.com/
Kathy Hamrick http://www.countryroads.typepad.com/
Crystal Kondo http://www.card-ed.com
Deb Lehigh   http://thestampinhut.typepad.com/
Anne Matasci http://www.MauiStamper.wordpress.com      YOU ARE HERE!!!
Robin Merriman http://www.trinitydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Maria Pane   http://www.stampinandscrappinwithriri.blogspot.com
Andi Potler http://www.absolutekreations.com
Michele Reynolds    http://www.inspirationink.typepad.com
Sharon Tisdale    http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/coveredbridgesstamper/blog
Janet Wakeland    http://www.remarkablycreated.com

Convention 2013 Day 2

Posted on July 19, 2013 by mauistamper

It’s late, the hotel wifi is really slow, and we have been going 110 mph with our hair on fire!! So much to tell – check back and I will try to update more over the weekend when I have more time.

First off is a very very cool new product available NOW. Undefined is a carve-your-own stamp kit. I made one – a pineapple – and once I got past my initial fear of starting it was fun and very rewarding! Check out the video! You can order NOW – the kit is #133402 for $19.95 and the rubber/block refill is #134808 for $9.95.

Draw your design, transfer it to the rubber (pencil transfer), and cut it out!

Don’t you love my pineapple?? I do!!

Shelli also demonstrated two new thinlets for creating swing cards. I don’t have a picture of a card right now but I do have one of a booklet she made. Look for the circles that seem to flip in mid-card. VERY exciting!!

Lots more swapping today, more free product, more opportunities to learn. Stampin’ Up! does an awesome job of providing resources for the demonstrators and Convention is where they shine.

This is one of the Dress Framelits cards – cover and inside – that Shelli demonstrated online. Please forgive the extraneous hands, cameras, etc – EVERYONE wanted photos!

Don’t have the cover of this one but love this moose card!! Haven’t seen a moose on Maui for, well, EVER, but the card is fun.

I participated in 4 organized swaps and some general floor swaps – be prepared for some INCREDIBLE projects in the next few weeks! Swappers are busy people!

The evening ended with a 80’s cover band, lots of entertainment, and dessert: mousse, brownies, cupcakes, you name it!! There was also a Washi Tape giveaway (almost as sweet as the dessert!!) and the opportunity to view more creative projects. So much to tell!! So much to show!! So ready for bed!!!

Convention 2013 Day 2 pix

Posted on July 19, 2013 by mauistamper

Having a terrible time with wifi so here are pics from the phone!

Sorry I can’t do better than this but the photos are of demos swapping, my new Undefined pineapple stamp, Shelli’s main stage projects (ignore the various hands & phones it was crowded!) and a fabulous Sock Monkey (Cheryl).

Convention Day 1

Posted on July 18, 2013 by mauistamper

Day One was full of adventure, Stampin’ Up! and otherwise! I have lots of fun photos to give you a feeling for our day.

We were up pretty late last night, so we skipped the super-early call and headed over to the convention center about 9am to pick up our convention tee shirts and do some swapping. TONS of demonstrators – Crystal met someone who turned out to be the cousin of a co-worker, and I met a fan of the Maui Stamper!

We visited but I have forgotten your name!! Please leave me a comment and remind me of your name. 🙂

We left the convention center and headed out to complete yesterday’s unfinished business, namely a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. We got out to the wine store only to discover that THEY WERE STILL CLOSED.

Please don’t think I am a pathetic paper bag wino. We are eating our main mean at lunchtime (European style) and are having a little snack in the evening, and a glass of wine is a lovely companion to fresh berries, a baguette and some cheese. Oh, and perhaps a little chocolate. Anyway, we are standing outside the store with 25 minutes to go and it’s about 195 degrees outside. Crystal looks across the street and sees the next best thing to the State Wine Store:

Gourmandise provided a divine cappucino, beautiful air conditioning and lovely, warm service along with my scrumptious chocolate meringue. (Crystal had a rum ball, and she shared a little taste – also divine.)

The neon “Open” light went on across the street. Third time was the charm and we accomplished our task and then headed to Trader Joe’s. This is what people from Hawaii DO when we come to the Mainland because in spite of the fact that everything about TJ’s looks like the islands, they don’t have stores there.

Let me tell you something about walking around Salt Lake at high noon when it is 195 degrees outside. It will turn you into a crazy person in no time! You start standing in the shadow of the stoplight while you wait for the “WALK” sign to turn green. You consider opening the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in your bag and swigging it right there on the sidewalk. And then you make the excellent decision to take TRAX out to the Red Iguana for lunch (which was actually the plan all along.)

I have never had a bad meal – or a bad Margarita – at this restaurant. Today’s choice was the Mole Negro and it was delicioso! Once we were happily fed it was back to the hotel for a quick break before the Opening Session.

There are 5800 demonstrators and guests attending convention this year and it took a while to get inside. We found a couple of seats and quickly learned that our companions were from North Queensland! LOVED sharing Opening Session with our beautiful Aussie friends!! (Dearest Aussies, please let me know how to contact you so that I can send you a copy of this photo.)

Shelli shared some Stampin’ Up! history, we heard from Ronald McDonald himself about the impact Stampin’ Up! has made on Ronald McDonald House, and Pam Morgan shared some great stampin’ projects with us. We also got our bags!! Don’t know where my Convention Bag photo is now – I’ll share it tomorrow – but we have been assured that we will be heading home with plenty of convention swag. There were TWO Prize Patrols and then Shelli closed the session with an All Attendee Giveaway of new stamps from the Holiday Catalog.

Next stop was the Expo with 5,800 of our best friends! It was a little squishy at first, but things settled down a bit and we had the chance to see some great products and talk to some very knowledgable SU staff. Fabulous new stuff coming in the Holiday catalog!

I was one of the very last people to add my card to the Guinness World Record Smashing effort – 2,984 greeting cards mailed from a single location! And there’s that bag – a gorgeous backpack with beautiful Stampin’ Up! style.

It was a fabulous first day and I look forward to sharing more with you! Check my Facebook page for updates during the day tomorrow and I hope to hear from you soon!

Convention: the day before

Posted on July 17, 2013 by mauistamper

Crystal and I left Maui on Monday night headed for Salt Lake. It’s a long trip no matter how you look at it, but we are excited to be here and we’ve had a great first day. (Convention officially begins tomorrow – today is the “travel recovery” day.) Downtown Salt Lake is swarming with Stampin’ Up demonstrators, and I’m sure the regular shopkeepers are used to it but the newbies must be wondering what the heck is going on. We’ve done our part to enrich the local economy – it’s the least we can do!

While we waited to board the plane on Maui we worked on some swaps. Crystal did most of the work, I just pretended to help. If you see us around convention, check and see if we have any left – they feature the exclusive Macadamia Nut Hershey Kisses!

Our upline, Janet Wakeland, sponsored a guided tour of the Great Salt Lake for about 30 demonstrators this afternoon. We learned a lot about the lake – including the fact that the entire Salt Lake area was once under 850 – 1000 feet of salt water! There was a chance to float in the lake, and many did so, but to be honest the combination of the brine shrimp (aka Sea Monkeys) and the briny water “dampened” our spirits for a float. Instead we wandered over to the dock where one of our tour guides was catching brine shrimp and pointing out the spiders that eat the flies that come to feed on the brine shrimp stinkiness. There were a LOT of spiders. I am a firm believer in spiders as long as they stay outside where they belong. These spiders were outside. So was I. It was a very delicate balance and I was extremely grateful that the spiders stayed on their side of the weeds. Because there were a LOT of them (did I already say that?)

These are NOT spiders, they are the RemARKables!

This is how we ended the day. Crystal put the finishing touches on the Hershey Macnut Swaps and I called room service. Because this is a very very strange town. I had hoped to order a glass of wine with our late lunch, but the restaurant did not serve. When we finished our shopping we headed to a well known grocery store, but grocery stores only sell beer. The sympathetic clerk directed me to a liquor store just a few blocks away (it was 6 blocks – and Salt Lake City blocks are 1/4 mile). The liquor store was closed. I got back to the hotel just in time for our first organized swap and then headed upstairs to Maui Stamper Central (aka our hotel room) and called room service. This is what my bed looked like:

I’m not going to tell you how much we paid for this but it was worth it. And all that hauling around downtown brought my daily Active Link Activity Points Plus earned for the day to a grand total of 9.

I win.

Convention begins tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll do my best to share all that I can with you. Wish you were here!

Tag That Box!!!

Posted on July 16, 2013 by mauistamper

One of my favorite TOTALLY new products in our 2013-2014 Annual Catalog is the Tag a Box Gift Box bundle on page 158. Yes. Stop reading and go look. It’s that awesome!

You can buy the boxes on their own (and they are really cool) or you can buy them as a bundle with tags, twine, clothespins and adhesive to make your gift giving personal – without perspiration! Yeah, it’s NO SWEAT 🙂

(Thank goodness it was time for a photo…that was going downhill much too quickly!)

Everything you see was included in the bundle except for the Label Love image, the button and the Tangerine Tango card stock used for the belly band. LOVE THOSE CLOTHESPINS!!! I will be hoarding them and yes you will see them again!! Oh, and those are my sparkly shreddies inside the box, too 🙂

There are loads of options to personalize your packages – each bundle includes 8 boxes and the fixin’s for 10 tags. And there’s plenty of Baker’s twine (20 feet of each color!!) so you’ll see this again too.

I stamped the Label twice – once in Crushed Curry, once in Bermuda Bay. I trimmed the Bermuda Bay piece with my snips and adhered it to the Crushed Curry label with a few dabs of Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive). Faster and easier than markers!

What would you put inside of this package?

Chalk this one up: It’s RemARKable!

Posted on July 13, 2013 by mauistamper

Welcome to the July Stamp of the Month tour and the awesome, trendy stamp set Chalk Talk – and the coordinating framelits! I used elements of this set to create some fun labels for my stamp room.

I have a handful of re-purposed candle jars that I use for keeping odds and ends. They’re frosted, so sometimes it’s hard to see what I’ve stashed inside. These Chalk Talk images were perfect for making my own Designer labels!

The new In Color Stretchy ribbon makes beautiful curves! I really like the combination of Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar…matter of fact, I’ve yet to come up with a combination of ANYTHING and Baked Brown Sugar that I don’t like!

Three chubby jars, happy together on my shelf!

These labels are for my UG-LEE file cabinet. I have been researching how to renovate old office cabinets, but I haven’t found a method I feel confident to attempt. I’ll take your suggestions!!

It really is ugly…I want to refinish it with paint and give it a shabby chic look. But I’ve got my labels all ready!

For the record, that is NOT Retired DSP – I used genuine Old Book pages for those rosettes 🙂 And the old book I used was literally falling apart at the seams, so I don’t feel badly about re-purposing the pages. The Bigz XL Rosette die makes short work of all the scoring and folding.

Next stop is the Trinity Design Studio – I know Robin has a treat in store for you! And if you want to navigate the tour to the beat of a different drummer, the participants are listed below.

Nancy Amato http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com
Melissa Bolinger   http://www.stampinup.net/blog/2089191
Jackie Bottomley http://www.jackiebottomley.blogspot.com
Susan Carlson   http://stampinmomoffour.blogspot.com
Danielle Denhardt   http://www.purrfectlycreative.com
Tamra Davis http://www.thecardladies.com
Connie Deibler   http://www.conniestamps.com
Crystal Kondo http://www..card-ed.com
Deb Lehigh    http://thestampinhut.typepad.com
Anne Matasci   http://www.MauiStamper.wordpress.com         YOU ARE HERE!
Robin Merriman   http://www.trinitydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Audra Monk   http://www.thecraftyyogi.blogspot.com
Maria Pane http://www.stampinandscrappinwithriri.blogspot.com
Andi Potler http://www.absolutekreations.com
Michele Reynolds http://www.inspirationink.typepad.com
Vicki Soni http://www.paperinkle.com
Jeannette Swain http://www.stampsnwhatnot.com/
Janet Wakeland   http://www.remarkablycreated.com

Saying thanks

Posted on July 11, 2013 by mauistamper

If you’re not a demonstrator, you likely have never talked to Demonstrator Support (DS). You may not even know that they exist. But for those of us who are demonstrators, these people are angels.

A few weeks ago Crystal and I were discussing how much we had been whining to DS. We’d each had a couple of situations where we’d needed their help, and they’d gone above and beyond (as is customary for them) to address our concerns. We thought we’d tell them thank you.

These little tents were our response. Each one holds 3 Hershey Kisses. But they’re not just any Hershey Kisses – they have macadamia nuts in them! I’ve been told you can only get them here in Hawaii, and I have to confess I’ll just take that at face value because I haven’t looked anywhere else. We thought they would be a welcome treat.

There’s one now! DSP is so perfect for something like this. Having two different papers on each side makes such a difference.

These are simple strips of DSP, scored 3 times and folded into a tent. You could put a re-sealable fastener under the flap if you wanted to, but these are closed with a bit of SNAIL. I was afraid that if they were too fancy I wouldn’t get them done.

It’s a good feeling to do something nice for someone else.

June Paper Pumpkin: Hello to You

Posted on July 9, 2013 by mauistamper

Did you get your Paper Pumpkin for June? If you haven’t signed up, tomorrow (July 10) is the last day for the July Pumpkin – go HERE and say Yes to the Red Box!!

I confess that I added a smidge of ribbon, but otherwise this is the card as designed. Oh. Well, not quite. The example showed it as a landscape card, but I turned it on the side to make it portrait.

The stamps included the Hello to You sentiment (nice masculine font – we don’t see too many of those!) plus the little heart and a big square zig zag (I guess the trendy term is chevron) background stamp used to create the Soft Suede hexagons. (Once a nerd, always a nerd. You can call them honeycomb.)

Initially I thought I would make all the cards the same, but then I started looking at those pukas (that’s Hawaiian for holes) and I realized how much fun it would be to put different things in the openings. Flowers seemed like a natural.