Posts Tagged ‘Founder’s Circle 2009’
My Digital Studio: Founder’s Circle Gifts
I probably mentioned this in one of my other Founder’s Circle Retreat notes, but I had to create a page for the My Digital Studio scrapbook I’m designing.
The page will print in my book as 8×8″, and all the embellishments, papers, buttons, stamping and text were added using the My Digital Studio program (debuts October 1st).
Some common questions I’ve received already:
- Q. Will this work on my computer? A. If you have a Mac or PC, you’re set! There are some system requirements to check, but generally if your computer is less than 3-4 years old you should be fine.
- Q. Is everything on my pages from the program? A. Yes–I’ve only used the pieces that come with the program so far, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the possibilities! There over 2,000 elements in this program: buttons, brads, ribbon colors, Designer Series Paper patterns and stamp sets.
- Q. How much is it? A. he program cost is $79.95, which is a fantastic value. Other digital design programs that do similar things can cost upwards of several hundred dollars. Plus My Digital Studio contains the fabulous Stampin’ Up! artwork and colors that you already know and love.
- Q. How do I get My Digital Studio for half-price? A. When you host a workshop or a book party that totals $400 or more during October, you can order My Digital Studio at 50% off!
- Q. Are there any other offers? A. Yes! If you pre-order My Digital Studio from me before September 29th, I’ll send you a $10 Embellishment Pack with your copy of the program! Just email me to pre-order and I’ll send you a PayPal request for the total with shipping.
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Coming October 1st: My Digital Studio! (118108)
Subscribe to the comments for this postFounder’s Circle Trip: Day 4 Final Dinner
More pages created with My Digital Studio! (yes, these are all 100% created with the Stampin’ Up! program debuting October 1st, using the stamps, inks, embellishments and papers included in the program)
On our final evening of the Founder’s Circle Retreat, we traveled to a gorgeous Golf Club outside St. George, and were treated to a scrumptious dinner (with great dessert, of course!) on an outdoor patio with a wonderful view.
Shelli shared that she’d had a wonderful time visiting with all of us, and then continued by talking to us all about how we have all grown and changed over the time that we’ve been Demonstrators with Stampin’ Up!.
When she was finished, she had us each open the box in front of us on the table. 200 butterflies fluttered out, and a few were kind enough to stop for a few minutes for pictures:
That’s the butterfly pausing on my finger, before taking off on its own. The metaphor continued though: some of the butterflies stayed on our table for several minutes, some flew immediately into the air and took off on their own. Some stayed close, but left the tables. Shelli talked about how that mirrors our experiences as demonstrators, but I think it mirrors our experiences as stampers, too.
Some stampers take an initial idea and head off to make their own interpretation, or make a card completely differently. Other stampers like to stick close to the original idea, and still others like to copy exactly what they’re shown. No matter which path we choose, we’re all still stampers–enjoying our hobby.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing my Founder’s Circle adventures with you–there will probably be a few more as I finish up more pages from My Digital Studio. I think you’re going to enjoy using this program, too. Be sure to check out my other sample pages!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle Trip: Day 4
Bright and early, my friend Lynsay Mahon and I packed our water and headed for Snow Canyon State Park. We hit several of the trails, including the Whiterocks and the Butterfly Trail. Here’s a picture of me looking down into one of the holes along the trail side. We actually couldn’t see the bottom of this one!
The scenery was breathtaking, and this shot was taken from the Whiterocks Trail on the north end of the park, looking away down the West Canyon. If you look right in the center of the picture, there is a red mound of rock–that’s about where we started hiking in the morning.
Much of the trail was over sand dunes, and this is what I dumped out of my shoe at about the half-way point. Needless to say, I took a lot of sand home in my sneakers!
After reaching the hotel again, we worked on our Make N Take Projects–REALLY cute (more on those later 
using one of our brand new stamp sets. My friend Glenda Travelstead took this picture of us working on projects:
But when Shelli Gardner stood on the same chair to take her own picture, I couldn’t resist snapping a shot of her, too!
As I headed back to my room to get dressed for dinner and our final official event of Founder’s Circle, I couldn’t resist stopping to take this picture. If you’re a stamper, you probably end up with the little backing papers from Stampin’ Dimensionals all over your workspace. Well at my house, they sometimes get tracked all over the whole house–I find them in my bedroom, on the stairs, in the kitchen, etc. I had to laugh when I saw this little paper on the floor in the hallway of the hotel.
Make no mistake–Stampin’ Up! demonstrators took over that entire hotel–we left our mark
More tomorrow… I still have to share the excitement of the final dinner!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
My Digital Studio: Rapelling in St. George
I don’t really *have* to blog in chronological order, right?
I do still have one last day of my Founder’s Circle Trip that I look forward to sharing, but I wanted to interrupt to show a page that I created today in about 5 minutes using the new My Digital Studio (available beginning Oct. 1st).
This is one of the pictures taken by a guide during our rappelling excursion on Day 2. That’s me, hanging from the rope!! And the “happiness is:” title isn’t an error–I really was having a good time
I picked the colors for this layout by starting with the Tempting Turquoise Designer Series Paper background, to match the gorgeous sky. Then I used the Color Picker in My Digital Studio (think of a little eyedropper) and picked out one of the rich rust colors on the cliff face in the picture. So it’s no coincidence that the flourish from the Frames with a Flourish digital stamp set matches the cliff face–I used that eyedropper to pick up a drop of color and changed my stamp ink so that it matches perfectly.
Then I changed the ink on the “Happiness Is:” title from the Greatest Moments digital stamp set to match and added a strip of digital cardstock in the exact same cliff-face color.
I added a strip of Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, a tag embellishment from the Sunny Days Simply Scrappin Kit, and a Tempting Turquoise Button to match. I thought the layout needed just a little bit of silver, so I added a Silver Filigree Designer Brad as an accent.
Yes, all these elements are directly from the My Digital Studio program, and yes, I’m LOVING this program! Don’t forget my pre-order special for My Digital Studio (pre-order by September 29th and you’ll get a $10 Bonus Embellishment Pack for free with your preorder!).
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle Trip: Day 3, Kanab
Today’s activities at the Founder’s Circle Retreat included one of my favorite treats: visiting the Stampin’ Up! manufacturing facitilty in Kanab, Utah. We had a chance to tour the facility and try our hand at actually making the stamp sets ourselves, all the way from the huge ovens that ‘bake’ the rubber into the stamp shapes, to the machines that die-cut the stamp images, all the way to packing the wood blocks and sticker sheets into the little plastic boxes that we all know and love!
Sorry, no pictures of that part… it’s all top secret
We did get to take pictures when we toured Shelli’s beautifully decorated apartment at the manufacturing facility — here’s one of Shelli and I!
After our visit to the Kanab plant, we headed over to a local park for lunches–not ‘box’ lunches, but ‘pail’ lunches, packed in a cute metal pail! I can only begin to imagine how I’m going to decorate this tin once I return home.
This particular park in Kanab is unique, because instead of the traditional woodchips that line the ground under the slides and climbing equipment, the ground here is covered with little ground up rubber scraps, leftover from the production process of making, yup, you guessed it, STAMPS! So not only can you sit there in the rubber, surrounded by ex-stamp sets, but you can also rummage through the rubber to find little pieces of stamp sets that we know and love. Actually, I found the word “Love” right there on the ground, straight from the retired Word By Word stamp set!
Finally, after a fabulous dinner at a restaurant where we got to cook our own steaks on lava rocks, we had the pajama party swap (125 new card ideas!!) and our Business Share get-together.
And after returning to the room, I found my Pillow Gift for the night–a very cute pair of gardening boots! I almost hesitate to say that I hope it rains a lot this fall so I have many opportunities to wear them at home In case you haven’t noticed, the theme for this year’s Founder’s Circle Retreat is ‘blooming’, so these boots fit right in!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle: Day 2,
This morning started bright and early with a van ride out to do a little hiking and rappelling in one of the local slot canyons. For those who have never been in this part of the country, a slot canyon is a cut-through in the rock that’s taller than it is wide. So imagine hiking through a narrow slot that might be 50 feet tall (or more) but only as wide as your shoulders.
Imagining is what we had to do though, as this is the sign that greeted us on the road to our designated canyon:
Turned out that local (and national) law enforcement picked today to roust a bunch of ‘bad guys’ who had been hiding out in the desert. As a result, we weren’t allowed to head out and hike, to be sure that we didn’t get in the way of the action. We did try our Charlie’s Angels moves though, just in case they thought we might be able to help round up the bad guys:
You probably won’t be surprised when I say that they didn’t ask us to participate in the sting But we did head back to the Kolob Canyon region of Zion National Park, to do a little bit of side hiking and check out the fabulous views. Our guide, Feo, designated this as “the most scenic dead tree in all of Zion”, so I figured I should share it with you!
And here’s Feo, on a mission to get the best picture possible. He did have our scrapbooks in mind and didn’t want us to miss out on anything good. I don’t think this is the recommended picture-taking location though!
After the hiking (and strenuous riding around in the van we were starving for lunch, so we stopped and ate a gourmet meal, prepared for us by the guides. Here’s a shot of our desert… homemade chocolate ganache on a piece of homemade pound cake, all wrapped in a pastry shell and topped with powdered sugar. Yum! Good thing I don’t eat like this every day!
Then we set off to actually do some adventuring (outside the van rides and hiked up to the top of a route to do some rappelling. Here’s Todd, our other guide, helping my friend Lynsay Mahon get suited up for the first rappel.
And here goes Lynsay, over the side of the cliff! I’d show you my picture, but it’s hard to take a picture of yourself as you try to make sure your rope doesn’t slip away from underneath you.
I loved the rappelling though–and after two fun drops while hanging from a rock climbing harness by a single dangling rope, we headed off to another gorgeous Zion location to do a little more hiking and ride a zip line.
We had to hike down from the side of this canyon, aptly called “The Gap”. The whitish trail in the center is actually a wash that runs with water when there’s been some recent rain. In the slick dirt at the bottom, we found a recent cougar track–much better than seeing the actual cougar! Here’s a shot of me after we had to climb back up the other side of that ravine. And check out my climbing harness… don’t we look official and outdoorsy?
Here’s a shot of the spot where we tied in for the Zip Line. I really enjoyed riding across the canyon (dangling for a 700 foot ride, 150+ feet above the canyon floor) but I did have a moment to think, “and WHY am I jumping off the side of this perfectly good cliff?” Whew–I’d do it again in a heartbeat though!
The last part of our adventuring for the day was a short scramble back up the far side of the ravine again, roped in with our climbing harnesses, just to be sure we didn’t slip. “On belay?” “Belay on!” “Climbing!” “Climb On!” was heard each time someone got ready to head back up the few feet to the canyon rim.
That was the finish to our adventures, but not to our outdoor experiences for the day! After dinner, we drove out to Tuacahn to see a performance of Elton John & Tim Rice’s AIDA.
You can just see the state in the background of this picture (that’s me on the right). Tuacahn is an outdoor amphitheater created so that the gorgeous red rocks are the backdrop for the stage. And even cooler, there’s a river that runs through the scenery behind the stage, and at several points during the musical, the river actually flowed right across the top of the stage and down over the front of the stage!
The performance was fabulous–the costumes, the choreography, the music… “it was better than CATS, I’d see it again and again” Okay, you caught me, I’ve never actually seen CATS, but I did enjoy this show.
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings…but I have no doubt that it will be fabulous, and that morning will arrive before I’m done sleeping See you tomorrow!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Founder’s Circle Trip
I made it! After a whirlwind day of travel, I arrived along with about 125 other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators for the Founder’s Circle Retreat in St. George, Utah.
I can easily say that I enjoyed my travel day, which included a pedicure in the airport spa in the Dallas airport plus getting to chat with 2 new demonstrator friends on my flight from Dallas to Las Vegas.
Stampin’ Up! always welcomes us in style, and this year was no exception! After the fabulous Decor Elements on the outside windows of the hotel (in patterns of the Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, of course), our luggage was delivered to our rooms. Each of our rooms was marked with a gorgeous custom Decor Element, personalized with our name!
Here’s my scrapbook page of the day, created with the My Digital Studio software (new, available October 1st from Stampin’ Up!)
After signing in and playing the color-coded butterfly scavenger hunt game, we each received a brand new stamp set–you’ll get a chance to see it in an upcoming Mini Catalog 
Plus we each received a cute little butterfly net that we can use all week to “catch” candy from one of the many glass candy jars stationed around the Gathering Place. You name the candy, it’s here! I saw taffy, chocolate, mints, lemondrops, toffee, jelly beans, licorice and more… it’s a Candy Wonderland!
I spent much of the afternoon visiting with old friends and meeting new friends, and then it was time for the Welcome Dinner. The tables were decorated with satin tablecloths in Rich Razzleberry, and each chair was decked with a Certainly Celery stain cover and bow. At each of our places was a terra cotta charger with the cutest grapevine wreath napkin ring (complete with Big Shot diecut Beautiful Butterflies) and a hand-stamped welcome card from Shelli, Stampin’ Up!’s CEO.
Whew! After all that I was ready to head back to my room and crash for the night, but before I could put my head down, I had to check out this evening’s pillow gift from Stampin’ Up!. While we were at dinner, Stamping Elves had visited our rooms and deposited ANOTHER new stamp set (not yet released!) plus a set of the new In Color Stampin’ Write Markers and 3 rolls of Polka Dot Grosgrain In Color Ribbon, all nicely packaged in the fun Thoroughly Modern Gusseted Envelopes from the Stampin’ Up! catalog.
And now I’m off to bed, so that I’ll have at least a little bit of rest before the adventures of tomorrow!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Utah or Bust: 125 Cards to Swap
There’s something inside me that gets all warm and fuzzy when I see huge stacks of stamped cards, all ready to go into my carry-on luggage (gasp, NEVER my suitcase!) for a trip to meet up with other fantastic Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators.
Tomorrow morning I’m off to St. George, Utah for the 2009 Stampin’ Up! Founder’s Circle Retreat! There will be about 120 of us, and we were all recognized as top Demonstrators of the Year or Rising Stars at the Stampin’ Up! Convention this past August. The Founder’s Circle Trip is a chance for us to be pampered… thanks for all your support this past year in helping me get there!!
I’ve got something special in mind for you, too! Did you notice that my stamped swap picture above wasn’t just a photo? Yes? Well you may have guessed… it’s a scrapbook page that I created with the new My Digital Studio software from Stampin’ Up!! (available October 1st)
This week, as I’m sharing my fantastic experiences at the Founder’s Circle Retreat, I’ll try to post a few as My Digital Studio scrapbook pages.
The greatest part is that this program is QUICK to use–I created that scrapbook page in about 5 minutes! The Old Olive background page is one of the templates in the program. I just changed the background paper to match my Rich Razzleberry swap cards and a few of the elements to go with the Rich Razzleberry color scheme.
Here are a few features of My Digital Studio (I hardly begin to cover them all!):
- Intuitive design for quick learning and easy use
- Mac and PC compatible
- Predesigned, completely customizable templates for easy project creation
- Contains nearly 2,000 exclusive Stampin’ Up! product images including stamps, inks, Designer Series paper, card stock, punches, hardware, ribbon, and much more
- Digital content is true-to-size with customization available
- Professional Printing available: Color matching for Stampin’ Up!’s exclusive colors, enabling you to create unique, multidimensional “hybrid” projects that combine traditional Stampin’ Up! products layered on top of digital creations
- My Digital Studio is only $79.95!!
I’ll have more information for you as the week goes on–be sure to check back for more!
I know you can’t wait to get your hands on this fabulous new papercrafting tool, so I’m giving you an excuse to PREORDER your copy this week! The first 10 stampers to reserve their copy will receive a $10 embellishment pack, perfect for accessorizing your digital creations! Just send me an email to sign up — I’ll send you a PayPal invoice on September 29th and your order will be placed on October 1st to ship directly to you from Stampin’ Up!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Supplies Used: My Digital Studio (available after October 1st, 2009: 118108)
