Archive for the ‘Founder’s Circle’ Category:
Red Rocks, White Rocks and Hairspray
For our last day at Founder’s Circle, I hiked, stamped and went to the theater – pretty full day, but I enjoyed every minute.
Snow Canyon State Park is one of our favorite places to be outdoors right near St. George. It’s a gorgeous setting with several different kinds of rocks. The sandy paths tend to get into your shoes – it’s like a walking pedicure. A few years ago I took a fun picture of all the sand that dumped out of my shoe at the end of our hike!
The Make N Takes were our project for today. We worked together and stamped a 20 page 8 x 8″ scrapbook album in about an hour and a half. Whew! It’s a new kit that will be coming to the catalog sometime in the future – can’t wait to share it with you as a class when it comes out!
We saw some other great ideas for the stamp set we received – a set of fun observations done in a great text font. I can’t believe how much we’ve received for stamps, accessories and other goodies to take home! I think Target must have sold out of duffle bags for all the demonstrators purchasing extra luggage to take things home with us!
Finally the day wrapped up with a wonderful dinner at Painted Pony. A few of us and Shelli and Sara had delicious food and gracious company. The meal ended just in time for dessert and a drive over to Tuacahn to see the musical, Hairspray, under the stars.
Tuacahn is a red rock open-air theater, and it’s always a highlight of my trips to St. George.
As soon as we got back, it was time to pack and organize for the trip home. AND to receive one more fabulous pillow gift! I don’t have a picture of it here, so stay tuned. But it’s a bracelet to build on — this year we received a sand dollar charm, to remember our visit for Founder’s Circle 2012. The bracelet is a new tradition – each year we achieve Founder’s Circle we’ll get a new charm. I look forward to stamping adventures ahead this year and a chance to help you all enjoy your stamping so that maybe I can come back here!
Happy Stamping!
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Subscribe to the comments for this postRollin’, Rollin’ on the River
I {heart} a company where a group of women with backgrounds and different interests from all across the country can be brought together for a chance to talk, listen, learn and grow.
Founder’s Circle is such a unique place – and every year I marvel at how much I learn from listening to these amazing women. Of course learning about stamping ideas (we can’t help talking about those 
but also learning about our families, our children, our relationships and our faith.
Day 3 at Founder’s Circle was a great opportunity to learn more about the company we love to be part of, and a fabulous surprise adventure! Stampin’ Up! just told us to get ready for a top-secret activity, wear “casual or beach attire” and to “bring a sweater”. Yikes!
The speculation ran rampant (beach volleyball?) but I’ll let the pictures tell the story of our Colorado River adventure – slow-moving rafts from below the Glen Canyon Dam to Lee’s Ferry. Definitely my favorite surprise activity at Founder’s Circle!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Who Said You Can’t Have Too Much Fun?
Well I’d have to agree with them — the only way to pack more fun into one day at the Founder’s Circle Retreat would be to put 36 hours in day instead of the normal 24. If anyone figures that out, sign me up!
Just wanted to share a few photos from our first day here. The theme for Founder’s Circle 2012 is a fun beach-y nautical motif, and everything coordinates, from the sweet bags we received at Convention when we found out we were included in the Top 100 Demonstrators of the Year, to the name plaques on our doors here at the hotel in St. George, Utah!
Today also included a hiking trip in the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness on the Browns Point trail to Signal Peak, heading up to 10,000 feet for a yummy lunch. The air sure is thin up there! But the views make it all worthwhile.
And if you want to get up-to-the-minute details about my trip, be sure to “like” my new LovenStamps Facebook Page!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle 2012: Time to Hit the Rock
I know the Founder’s Circle Retreat doesn’t officially include rock climbing as an activity, but I have to admit that I love coming out here and having the chance to be outdoors! I wanted to share a few more pictures from our adventures with Paragon Adventures (best climbing guides ever!).
This year we climbed Kelly’s Wall (love the limestone) and at Veyo Park (super gorgeous climbing right next to the river). Some of these are our photos and some were taken by the guys guiding our trip. Thanks to Leo, Matt and Todd for a super adventure!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Meeeoooow: Cat Talk for Thank You
Yesterday was my morning card club for a group of friends who love to get together, stamp and catch up. Really, who doesn’t love a chance to catch up with friends? We made 4 cards, so I’ll be sharing those in the next week or so, but I wanted to start with the Animal Talk card (see the stamp set).
It’s a thank you note – and I also wanted to thank you all for watching my blog, stamping with me over the past year and helping to make my job so wonderful!
In a recent status update on Facebook, I posted that I was laughing to be getting a pedicure to prepare for my Stampin’ Up! trip to St. George Utah, wearing my Stampin’ Up! flip flops from the Stampin’ Up! Western Caribbean Cruise in 2005, and paying using my Stampin’ Up! visa gift card, all with a friend that I’d probably never be lucky enough to know without our association through, yes, Stampin’ Up!.
Have I mentioned that I love my job?
If you {heart} cats, or punny stamp sets, you’ll want to see more of this one.
Don’t forget about the free ribbon special this month! This is a great card to feature the Stitched Satin Ribbon rolls that you can pick up for free with your $50 order during September (through my online store).
I’m off to St. George, Utah for the annual Founder’s Circle Trip with Stampin’ Up!! Thanks again to you all for helping me achieve Founder’s Circle again this year! Here are a few of my posts from previous years. And you can watch my blog for new posts this week 
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Stamps: Animal Talk; Ink: Jet Black Staz-On; Paper: Summer Starfruit Card Stock, Whisper White; Accessories: 2 1/2″ Circle Punch, Stitched Satin Ribbon in Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple
Convention 2012: Registration Day?
Really? Only Registration Day so far?? Amazing, because there was an amazing amount of FUN and INSPIRATION packed into this single day. If today was the last day, instead of the day before Convention starts, I’d believe it…so much we’ve seen already!
Here’s a shot from last night actually, when we handed out this year’s green hats. If you’ve seen my Convention photos from past years (see last year’s photos), you know that our group always wears hats so that we can find each other among 3500+ stamp-crazed demonstrators. Personally, I think this year’s hats are the best ever!
This morning my first stop of Registration Day fun was shopping at the Momento Mall. Yay! I mean really, what’s better than shopping? Why, shopping for fun Stampin’ Up! goodies, of course!
And there were stamping ideas everywhere, even on the displays in the Momento Mall!
Then after shopping, I attended a class for several hours with other demonstrators at the Senior Executive level and above. We had some great discussions, heard from Rich Jutkins (President of Stampin’ Up!), and visited with friends we only see a few times a year. And as if that wasn’t great enough, we also received a gift bag of ‘favorite things’ personally selected by Shelli Gardner, Stampin’ Up!’s CEO. Watch out, Oprah!
After class I met up with my demonstrator group, and was excited to find out that again this year I earned a place in the Founder’s Circle by ranking as one of the top 100 demonstrators in the US. So a huge shout-out to all you who are a huge part of that achievement — I couldn’t have done it without you! Here is a picture of me with Tammie Rundle, my friend and LovenStampfuls Demonstrator, since Tammie also earned an award for her recruiting this year. Way to go, Tammie!!
Finally, after a yummy dinner (mmm… Buca di Beppo) we headed back for our final official event of the night — a bonus My Digital Studio Class. Don’t we look excited?
You may have heard that My Digital Studio 2 is coming out soon. No release date yet, but we were all cheering when we were told that we’d each get a copy of MDS2 for a free 30-day trial as part of our class, plus a printed Board Book to take home, AND a disk of new digital downloads. EEK!!
Want to know what I think of the new MDS2? It was “love at first click” for me! My favorite new feature is the selection tool for the digital templates. EEK!! (I’m feeling a bit repetitive.) But really, EEK!! When I start a new project, it’s so wonderful to be able to browse all the templates at one time, and pick the one that’s perfect. EEK!!
There are a slew of other great new features, but I have to get to bed so that I’ll be able to post tomorrow, on DAY 1 of Convention! Really? How can it be that we are not even started on the actual Convention yet?? All I can say is that if you were thinking about coming next year as a demonstrator, then you should start making plans now. You definitely don’t want to miss out!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Anyone for a Cup of Iced Tea Shoppe?
Only 3 days left to get the Make A Cake bonus ($48 value!) with the new $99 Demonstrator Starter Kit! (learn more) (or sign up now!)
One of my favorite things about being a demonstrator is the chance to attend Convention each year in July (it’s coming soon!), Leadership Conference in January and other fun events throughout the year. We get so many great ideas and the excitement over stamping is contagious!
Speaking of which, if you’d like to learn more about being a demonstrator and you’re here in central Illinois, be sure to join me tomorrow evening in Champaign for our monthly Demonstrator Event. Let me know if you’d like to attend as my guest and I can send you details!
This card was shared at Leadership in January, and the Tea Shoppe stamp set (see it online) was one I received for free during the Founder’s Circle Retreat last fall.
I love the idea though — very clever to cut a slit in the top of the Note Card so that the tea bag fits “inside” the cup! All the stamps on this card (including the frame for the Modern Label Punch) are part of the Tea Shoppe stamp set.
The Adorning Accents Edgelits (see them online) used at the bottom of the card are the perfect quick accent.
Looking for more quick projects to create this summer? You’ll want to see some other Express Stamping ideas from my blog.
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Tea Shoppe & The Paper Doily Sizzlit
Do you like tea? I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan until a friend shared some Cardamom Cinnamon tea from The Republic of Tea with me…yum! I’m a certified tea lover now, so the Tea Shoppe stamp set was a ‘love at first sight’ set, especially since Stampin’ Up! gave it to us for free at the 2011 Founder’s Circle Retreat!
I’ve had this project ready to share for months, and finally get to pull it out to show! I’m a big fan of looseleaf tea, and these cool “make your own teabag” tea filters by T-Sac. So here’s a little gift to share with a friend — a 1×8″ Cello Bag filled with loose tea, and a 1×8″ Cello Bag with several tea filters, tied off with a sweet sentiment by Louisa May Alcott from the Tea Shoppe stamp set.
The two pieces are wrapped with a doily cut using the Paper Doily Sizzlit for the Big Shot. Gotta love these fun new toys from the Occasions Mini Catalog!
A couple of tips on the Paper Doily:
Use a card stock shim (or two) between the bottom of the Sizzlit and the bottom cutting plate. These can help the die cut more cleanly — it varies from Big Shot to Big Shot (we’re talking a hair thickness here) so it may take a little trial and error to find what works best with your machine.- To get most of the paper pieces out (they stick in the doily a bit after you cut it), roll the cut doily around a Stampin’ Around Marker or other small cylinder. After rolling it a few times, most of the doily pieces will pop out on their own.
- If you don’t like poking the center pieces out, skip it Use the doily as a bottom layer on your projects, since the outside pieces will pop out using the rolling technique, and you can add a Scallop Circle punched piece in the middle to cover the ones that might take a little more poking.
- Finally, just take your time and use a Pokey Tool (aka Paper Piercing Tool) to get them all out. This is a gorgeous piece of die cut card stock — it’s worth the extra effort!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle Day 4: Red Cliffs to Golf Carts
Maybe you won’t be surprised, but our last full day here in St George started off with a hike. Lynsay Mahon and Claire Lawrence and I headed out to the Red Reef Trail in the Red Cliffs Recreation Area to check out this gorgeous trail up a canyon. Actually, we were here in 2009 on a hiking trip that was waylaid, so it was fun to re-visit a wilderness we’d seen.
See how the water runs down the middle of the canyon? We didn’t have to walk in the water like we did in the Narrows yesterday, but we did have to do a little climb around a precipice over the running water. There were steps carved into the sandstone so we could get across in our sneakers.
There were even a few caves along the hike. The red rocks were absolutely beautiful. The weather here has been perfect for being outdoors — not nearly as hot as it can be during this time of year.
After hiking we headed back to do our Make N Take projects using the new stamp set and a WONDERFUL new doily Sizzlit that will both be in the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog (check back on January 5th).
Here are two of our projects:
There was also a new set of desserts… yum! All week Stampin’ Up! has had different special treats for us in the refrigerator case. Yesterday my fav was a lemon bar, and today was these cute tarts. I like tarts because you get more pie crust per filling, and YUM for pie crust
At 4 pm we boarded the Stampin’ Up! buses for our final “mystery” event. Stampin’ Up! is GREAT about surprising us, and this year was no different! The funny thing is that when we pulled up to the Coral Canyon Golf Course, no one suspected that we were there for the golf course! In the past we’ve had all kinds of activities and events at golf courses around St. George, from a movie night to a dinner with a butterfly release.
But this year there were LOTS of golf carts waiting for us, and we even got to DRIVE our own carts! We had 17 teams for a golf scramble, except each hole had a stamping-style game. At one hole we putted to try to hit the Stampin’ Up! product that we wanted to take home (I missed, but the consolation prize was a Card Keeper Box, so no big deal). At another hole we answered Stampin’ Up! trivia questions: What’s the maximum number of items shipped from Stampin’ Up! in a single day, ever?
And several of the holes had marshmallow golf games, like trying to hit a marshmallow down a driving range, or a relay carrying a marshmallow on a golf club head. After the scramble events, we headed back to the club house for a yummy dinner and more great treats! Each of us found our table seat marked with a golf trophy to commemorate our Tea Time “TEE” Time.
Shelli thanked us for coming, and we applauded the Special Events Staff who put this fabulous week together for us.
Back at the hotel, demonstrators congregated in the lobby for awhile, since no one wanted to head up to their room and have Founder’s Circle be that much closer to the end. This week has been too much fun, with so many different adventures and surprises.
Stampin’ Up! had one more surprise in store though… our last night Pillow Gift. Each of us received a key chain with a special custom Tea Cup and filled with our own Stampin’ Up! Simply Adorned Baubles.
What a whirlwind of a week. It has been wonderful to be pampered and spoiled by Stampin’ Up! at the Founder’s Circle Retreat. I feel so fortunate to be included on this event and to have the chance to be around this amazing group of 100 women who love to share stamping as much as I do.
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle Day 3: Zion National Park to The Little Mermaid
Still here in southern Utah for the Stampin’ Up! Founder’s Circle 2011 Trip! Today was another great day to be outdoors! I’ll have to share more with you when I get my pictures, but for now, here’s a shot of the Narrows in Zion National Park. The Narrows is the deepest and narrowest canyon in the world–there are some deeper, and some narrower, but none deeper AND narrower. We hiked about 2.5 miles up the river and back down again, and yes, we walked through water up to chest deep with our backpacks held over our head. More on that when I have some fun pictures to show!
After our Narrows trip, we headed back for a wonderful dinner at our hotel and then grabbed our buckets of candy and popcorn from last night’s Pillow Gift. We boarded buses for Tuacahn, which is a gorgeous outdoor amphitheater here in St. George (photo courtesy Tuacahn). Stampin’ Up! took us to see Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and the show was wonderful! There were puppets, incredible costumes and of course all the fun songs from the Disney movie.
Hard to believe it was nearly midnight when we returned to our hotel again… to find ANOTHER fun Pillow Gift waiting for us! I absolutely love tonight’s gift… it features the Beau Chateau Designer Fabric (see it online). Isn’t it a cute apron? I can’t wait to wear mine!
Whew, okay, more tomorrow, but for now I need to catch up on a few hours of sleep!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
