Inspire•Create•Share: Convention 2015

July 27, 2015

Inspire create share 2015 was a blast! What a fun way to spend a couple of days. Nice to make and craft, take classes and learn about new Stampin' Up! products. It was beyond nice, and a rare opportunity, to catch up with dear old friends. I sure miss my SU peeps. After three full days I am tired and inspired.

The event looked fabulous! It was the perfect size, just crowded enough. It's always great to leave with new free products, a super cool bag, win some prizes and receive deals on future purchases! I attended a great class on making quick & simple videos which I've challenged myself to create. SU Convention events will be changing in the future and it was great to see the "last" convention of its kind.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I participated in a few organized swaps. The samples I received in return are pretty amazing. I'll do a quick post about those later this week. Fun stuff.

Until that happens below are some random display sample inspiration. These samples were created by the thousands of demonstrators that attended Convention.

Snippets of display samples from 'Sprinkles of Life' Stampin' Up!

Snippets of display samples from 'No Bones About It' Stampin' Up! — Snippets of display samples from 'No Bones About It' Stampin' Up!

Samples from Watercolor style sets: Work of Art, Over the Rainbow, & Watercolor Words Stamp sets. — Samples from Watercolor style sets: Work of Art, Over the Rainbow, & Watercolor Words Stamp sets.

Samples from Watercolor Wings — Samples from Watercolor Wings

I can't wait for the Holiday mini to be released! Makers ... you will LOVE it! Below is just a few snaps of samples created from products in the Holiday mini. So much cute stuff. You can see an official catalog after August 4th. I would love to get one of these catalogs in your hands, drop me a note if you'd like me to send you a Holiday catalog. I barely scratched the surface on showing any Christmas products ... or really any of it!

2015 Holiday mini catalog samples - fun products are coming! Stampin' Up!

And just for fun... It is cool and rewarding to see such darling samples created with from sets you worked on. These are a few cards that I snapped pictures of. I wish I had more time to review the hundreds of display samples.

Preschool Graduation!

June 5, 2015

Nicholas has graduated from preschool! Today we celebrated him in a closing ceremony at the Acton Coop. He started with this preschool class in January. He loved attending the Frogs class and enjoyed his teachers (Kelly & Emily). In Utah he attended the VIP preschool with Mrs. Bascom for the last 2 years. Thanks to all he is well prepared for kindergarten in the Fall! Yippee.

Kelly created a darling scrapbook for Nic document his last few months at school. I've compiled of few of those pictures from his book into this PL layout. What a great year!

And, of course... here are the end of year teacher gifts for Kelly & Emily. I created the Tag from the Sprinkles of Life RMHC stamp set, Tree Builder punch and some BARC Wood paper. Nicholas signed the back of each tag and gave these gifts shyly to his teachers.

Sprinkles of Life Apple basket Tag using Tree Builder punch. Stampin' Up! — Sprinkles of Life Apple basket Tag using Tree Builder punch. Stampin' Up!

Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set

$21.00

Tree Builder Punch

$18.00

Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack

$8.00

Banner Triple Punch

$23.00

Ornate Tag Topper Punch

$23.00

Tip Top Taupe 1" Dotted Lace Trim

$6.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Look who just turned 5!

May 27, 2015

We are floored that our baby is now a great big 5 year old boy! We are so excited for his birthday and so is he. Nic has been counting down the days this last month to the big day, and it's finally here! He has already received a few gifts from loved ones in the mail and let me tell you - happy mail makes his day! He's anxious with anticipation to open all of his presents.

Nicholas is a super smart and fun loving boy. He is hilarious and also kind. He is the most social of all of our children and makes friends easily. He even makes friends for me! Everywhere we go he introduces himself and asks to play. Regardless of the kids age/gender. At Andrew's last baseball game he talked a 10 year old into playing freeze tag with him for almost an hour! At the vet he asked another dog owner if their dog wanted to come over and play with Lucy. We are so blessed to have sweet Nicholas in our family.

Nicholas favorite things at age 5:

Pokemon!, My little pony, Super Heros (Flash and the Green Lantern), board games, red licorice, playing the in the dirt, collecting sticks, spotting animals to check off his list - chipmunk... check!, freeze tag, dancing, making up songs, singing and making videos (which he calls "radiations"). And he wants his own You Tube channel. "I really want to make a video and put it on You Tube so everyone that likes videos and watches You Tube can watch my video..." "Can you just get my video on You Tube?"

So... as a gift to Nic on his Birthday here is his first video... posted on You Tube. I'm not super familiar with You Tube posts but I think if you click on this link you should be able to see the video.

We celebrated Nic at preschool with cupcakes and treats. Nic wanted everyone at school to receive a pokemon ring. Tricky but I found some online, only problem is they never arrived in time. I ended up placing the #5 cupcake toppers I made sans ring. When the rings finally do arrive Nic will have another gift to open!

Below are the other crafting cuties I created for his birthday. I can only get away with this for another year or so. This color scheme would have worked nicely with Pokemon, don'tcha think? A card, cake topper, tag and the cupcake toppers. It's always so fun to create with a purpose. I used the new Build a Birthday stamp set and other sneak peak products from the new SU catalog. I found it was really easy to create a variety of projects. I even ended up with another card sample that I'll share later this week.

Nicholas 5th birthday card using Build A Birthday

Build A Birthday Cake topper for Nic's cake

Build A Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set

$16.00

Boho Chic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$7.50

Banner Triple Punch

$23.00

2015-2017 In Color 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock & Classic Stampin’ Pads Kit

$32.50

Cherry On Top Designer Washi Tape

$8.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Remember these?

How about a little trip down memory lane - Nicholas first year. Happy Birthday Nicholas! We love you. Happy tears, five years vanished overnight.

St. George weekend retreat

October 12, 2014

I drove home today from a fun filled weekend in St. George with mom. Girls weekend. No kiddos. I had a blast. We went down to attend Jill Olson's Fall Stampin' get away.

Mom and I drove down with Grandma Great Thursday night and dropped GG off at Julie's house in Cedar city. It was a fun drive chatting with mom and Grandma the whole way. I don't get to do this enough.

Friday, the day before the stamping event, we enjoyed a day of garage sales, thrift shopping, good food and a night at the movies. I did take a few photos of some cool things at Urban Renewal.

Urban Renewal has cool displays and random finds.

Saturday we both enjoyed a day full of stamping and chatting. We made around 15 projects. I didn't take very many project pictures but here are a few...

We spent the evening shopping some more and had a nice dinner at Benja's (Thai).

I made a few swap projects for the Stampin' event (most I posted earlier last week) I made one last-minute swap before I left for the event and that card won a prize ($25 gift certificate) woo hoo! I'll post a picture and supplies later this week.

A huge thanks to Leslie for helping Chris watch the kids so I could go down with peace of mind. Thank you!!!