Another convention!

I'm headed to another convention this weekend.  I'm sure getting my fill this summer of creativity sessions!  Marianne and I are going to Charlotte today through Saturday to the CKC Convention.  We'll be leaving as soon as she gets off work.  I'm all packed and ready!  We have a full schedule this year.  We start our classes Friday morning at 8:30.  Most classes are an hour - we are taking 4 classes on Friday finishing our last one at 4:10.  We have a 3 hour break from 9:30 to 12:30 which I'm sure we'll spend it downstairs at the vendor fair!!  On Saturday, our schedule is just as full - starting at 8:30 for a 1 1/2 hour class and going straight through until 3:00.  We do have an hour break from 10 - 11 so guess we'll get some nourishment then!   I really enjoy the classes at CKC and hope these are just as good as the others we have taken.  We are taking some projects down to work on in our hotel tonight.  We stay at the Hampton Inn right across from the convention center.  The Hampton has a very nice area with tables and tv's that we can spread out and scrap while we watch some football (think the Panthers are playing tonight).  Plus, they have cookies and tea for you!!

When I get home Saturday, I have to get my things packed to go to Texas.  We leave on Sunday morning so it is going to be ... unpack one suitcase and pack another!  

I had a massage this morning so I could be relaxed and ready to play!! 

Here are a few of my favorite cards from the display boards at Regionals last weekend.

This kraft box will be available in the Holiday Mini!

Have a wonderful weekend!  Not sure if I'll have time (or energy) to post for a few days.

Charlotte Regionals

Regionals on Saturday was great!  I learned a lot of "tricks of the trade" - now I just need to remember everything I saw!  Neither Marianne nor I won any of the "Prize Patrol" give-aways, but we came away with a few goodies anyway.  Stampin' Up was pretty generous and along with the make-n-takes that we did, we came away with a Card Keeper Box (featured in the next mini), a journal and a couple of card kits to make.  We also got a bunch of card swaps so there are always good ideas in those.  I stood in line to talk with Shelli (CEO of SU) and had my picture made with her.  We have decided that she may be one of the most photographed women in America!  It is so funny to hear how excited people get when they meet her for the first time!  She is a very warm person and seems like she really cares about us demonstrators.

Shelli even helped give out the goodies to the crowd!

Stampin' Up has a box where they ask that we drop off a swap card to take back to the home office.  Shelli judged all the cards that were submitted and picked three of the top cards.  No, unfortunately, mine was not one of the top three (darn!) but here are the winning ones that she picked:

 Isn't this card just a scream?  Look at all the punches that were used - Butterfly punch for the dress; hearts for the shoes, circles, ovals, tags ....  Really cute!!

 This one was my favorite of the 3 she picked.  I love all the layers on it.  That stocking is a sneak peek from the Holiday Mini as is the DSP used!

Again, a clever use of punches with the tags.  Guess Shelli is into using punches as evidenced by her choice of picks.

Well, bedtime here for me!  I am playing bridge tomorrow.  I had hoped that my friend, Margaret, was coming for a quick visit tomorrow but since I haven't heard from her, I guess not.  We haven't had a visit since last March!  I'll be starting to get things packed this week for our trip.  I packed Ashley's suitcase today with all the stuff she left here plus things I've picked up for her while she has been gone.  I think we are going to have a full carload!

Stampin' Up Regionals

I will be attending Stampin' Up Regionals tomorrow at the Convention Center in downtown Charlotte.  Marianne and I came down late this afternoon when she got off work.  We met up with my convention roomie, Nancy, and 10 other gals from the Wilmington area for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  While we were there, they started a game of trivia so we signed up!  We were doing pretty well we thought.  At halftime though we found out we were in 8th place.  It was already a little past 9 and most gals were ready to call it a night, so we didn't get to finish our game.  Marianne and I were excited though .... one of the categories was Football.  Most of the gals groaned but we felt confident and had our fingers crossed that it would have something to do with our beloved Steelers!  The question was - which two teams only have their team logo on one side of their helmet!  Marianne jumped up and shouted out the answer - Steelers.  (We were not supposed to shout it out but to write it down!!)  Now, we just had to come up with the other team .... we looked up at the tv and the Cleveland Browns were playing and low and behold, they didn't have a logo on the side of their helmet!! 

Well, Marianne is snoring beside me so guess I better call it a night and turn out the lights.  7 AM is going to come awful early for me!!  But I am excited about tomorrow.  There are rumors that Shelli will be in attendance and we will be getting some cool products!  So good night all!

Swap Cards for Charlotte Regionals

I am going to Stampin' Up Regionals this weekend in Charlotte.  We are able to take a guest so Marianne is going with me.  We are going to drive down tomorrow evening and stay at the Hilton so we don't have to fight looking for a parking place Saturday morning.  Also, a bunch of NC demonstrators are also going to be downtown Friday night and we are meeting up with a group from Wilmington for dinner.  So it should be fun!  Marianne came over a couple of weeks ago and we worked on some cards to swap on Saturday.  Marianne used Snow Much Fun for her swaps.  I am doing 3-4 different designs and taking about 40-50 cards with me.  Here are a couple of the cards that I will be swapping:

 This car uses the wonderful Fabulous Florets stamp.  I stamped directly on the DSP except for the topmost flower which I stamped and cut out.

 This card was different for me.  I stamped the Medallion stamp with bleach - I actually used a Bleach Pen - onto the Crumb Cake cardstock.  Every one of them came out a little different.  Then using Elements of Style, I stamped the swirls with Versamark and embossed them.  This one is embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

 These cards are similar to the one above it.  I stamped the bleached Medallion onto Chocolate chip paper and embossed the swirls with Black.

Here is one I embossed with Silver Embossing Powder.