Thanksgiving Point Gardens
July 16, 2014
I walked the Thanksgiving Point Gardens today. Beautiful but HOT! Next time I'll start earlier in the day.
Travel
Stampin' Up Convention 2012 - Day 4 Recap
July 31, 2012
One more day of Stampin' Up!'s Convention 2012 to recap from Saturday, July 21. I spent a lot of time during this convention checking out the boards full of stamped samples and also the product displays.
So many great cards, scrapbook pages and other amazing items made by demonstrators were displayed on these boards. Also, the product displays not only featured current products from the 2012 and upcoming Holiday catalogs, but also samples made by the SU Concept Artists, some of which were photographed for the catalogs. Nothing beats seeing them in person though.
Loving these flowers, and this is my current favorite SU paper...the Twitterpated line. It even has matching fabric!
Love the variety of flowers that were created here.
These adorable decorated packages were using the Birds of a Feather paper and the set Flock Together. Cute, cute!
And, last but not least, the beautiful ornaments made with the Ornaments Keepsakes set and matching dies. See for yourself!
I was able to get my picture taken with Shelli before the last session of the day.
By the way, I loved the chalkboard graphics that they used for the theme of Convention. I had to buy the My Digital Studio album template that has all of these elements, so once I get my album completed I'll post it here. They even had several large chalkboards in the middle of the lunch area, where we could write our own messages. One of my fellow Artisan Design Team members, wrote the Artisan Winner on the board, so i added my initials near it.
We had our closing session, and received two additional free stamp sets. So, just for Saturday, we received the Convention themed set, the Ronald McDonald set and a hostess set from the upcoming Holiday Catalog. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of all of my "loot" from Convention! We capped off the evening by going to Red Rock brewery. I had been to this restaurant back in 2005, which I think was the last time I attended Convention. I had an awesome salad, but couldn't remember the name of the restaurant so I could go there again. So in perfect symmetry, it was the restaurant that Susan suggested we go to! I had the chopped salad, which was just as good as I remembered.
All in all it was a wonderful trip full of friends and fun. Hoping I can go again next year for Stampin' Up!'s 25th Anniversary! Thanks for stopping by.
Stampin' Up Convention 2012 - Day 3 Recap
July 29, 2012
Last Friday I was in Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s annual convention, and enjoyed another day of classes, make and takes, shopping and looking at displays. Convention really is a fun thing. Today's main excitement for me was attending the dinner with Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up!'s president, as well as others fro Stampin' Up! and the rest of the 2012 Artisan Design Team. We had dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse, which is a very nice steakhouse right in Salt Lake City.
When we got to the table, I found this at my place setting. I also discovered that I was able to sit right next to Shelli! I was a little startstruck at first, but I managed to make some decent conversation afterwards.
We had scallops and mushtroom brushetta for appetizers, I had salmon in a barbeque glaze with mashed potatoes and asparagus as my main course, and there was even cheesecake with raspberry sauce for dessert.
I think it's funny that the sun shone on my dessert when I was taking this picture!
Here is a picture of all of us after the dinner. In the front: Erica Cerwin, Cindy Beach, Wendy Wexler. In the middle: Heidi King, Jane Lee, Marisa Gunn (that's me!), Heather Summers, Jeanna Bohanen, Sarah Sagert. In the back: Holly Lunsford (Concept Artist for SU), Amy Yingling (SU Concept Artist Coordinator), Shelli Gardner, Amy Schwartz (VP of Sales for SU), and Amy Bollman.
After that, I went back to the hotel, and hung out with everyone from my group: Susan, Connie, Patti, Vicki, Anita, Lois, Stacey and Dorothy. I looked at their swaps, and they looked at all of my Artisan goodies. And we got a little punchy near the end! Too much fun.
Also, here is a picture of all of the coordinated pieces I received for being an Artisan: the invitation, the menu, the napking ring, the box with a personalized Artisan stamp with my name on it. Even the contract was delivered in a fancy, matching pocket! So cool...still pinching myself.
Playing with Photos!
September 26, 2009
A while back Jessica Sprague offered a free class in using frame-ups and special effects to edit photos in Photoshop Elements. I went through a couple of the lessons, but didn't get very far. I don't think I had any pictures at the time that were inspiring me. But, I just started looking through my pictures from my summer vacation to Estes Park, Colorado with my family. I love to take both landscape and flower photos. Sometimes I have to remind myself to add some people too! Anyway, here are a couple of flower pics in their before and after state. I hope you enjoy them!
What is your favorite subject to photograph?
Yellow Flowers Before:
Purple Flowers Before:
Wishing You Sunshine!
September 21, 2009
I can't believe how warm and sunny it has been in September! I spent the extended Labor Day weekend in Minnesota visiting my friends Carla and Mike and their dog Cassie. I took Monty with me. The weather was gorgeous that weekend also...dry, not too humid and warm but not hot. Where was this weather in June, July and August? Anyway, here is a pic of Monty and I in the water at the Mississippi Head Water State Park on Labor Day. He wouldn't get in the water until I went first!
And, here is a card full of sunshine as well. I used the Scattered Showers Additions set (borrowed it from my friend Tiffany) for the greeting. The small tree is a 2x2 Quickutz double die that I used for the first time. I also used a QK scalloped circle and Nestabilities Pinking Edge circles for additional tree tops to go along with the same trunk. The sunshine is a scrap of a punched border usng an EK Success border punch. Also, I hand cut the clouds from a pattern I drew free-hand. I hope you enjoy the card, and the warm weather in your neck of the woods.
Stamps: Scattered Showers Additions
Ink: Stampin' Up Classic Chocolate Chip
Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, SU Kiwi Kiss, SU Summer Sunshine, SU Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP; Papertrey Ink Bitty Dots Basics Aqua Mist, SU Chocolate Chip
Accessories: EK Success border punch, Quickutz Tree die, QK scalloped circle dies, Nestabilities Pinking Edge Circle dies
Colorado Vacation
August 10, 2009
Well, it has been awhile since I posted. I spent a week Estes Park, Colorado and up in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was cool and rainy a lot of the time, but it was still fresh, crisp mountain air and smells of pine everywhere. Here are a couple of pictures after the fact of the trip.
This is me on the trail around Sprague Lake in the Park.
Mom and I in the park again, near Fall Creek.