Convention was AMAZING!!!

Hello all!!! I meant this to be a short post about Stampin' Up! Convention in Salt Lake City but I should know that with the awesome-ness of the three new product lines introduced that it would be a little longer - read on, you won't be disappointed! I was so excited this year because my fab upline Beth was able to go - in fact we booked hotel & plane before we could even register for the Convention itself! After we were all registered we went about finding random roomies on Splitcoast (I did this last year with great results as well) - Rose from CA & Tonya from right here in St. Joe (where Beth & I also live, can you believe it?). I've come back with almost 600 pictures, mostly with projects and inspiration, so I cannot wait to demonstrate some of these AMAZING ideas at workshops soon!

First off here's a picture of me with my roommates and a hint at a new product line debuting in our Holiday Mini Catalog!

If you guessed Build-a-Bear (BaB) you are totally right!!! Now I'll admit that before going to Convention I just thought the images in the new mini catty were cute but didn't think I really needed them. Now I want the stamps, the die-cuts (like paper dolls) and of course more clothes for my Stampin' Up! demonstrator BaB. (On Saturday, after Convention was over we rode the Trax to the nearby mall and Tonya & I outfitted our BaBs in some fun duds. It was a little tricky though because these BaBs aren't standard size. But I love how my little Melon Mambo-licious bear turned out, although she doesn't have a name yet! Ideas anyone?)

Cards made with the new Build-a-Bear stamps! They are too too cute! I love the cute little bear phrases!

Treat bags/gift sacks for Christmas/Halloween made with the Build-a-Bear Sizzix dies. Too cute!

Canvas tote bag made with the Build-a-Bear Sizzix dies and fabric! So cool that fabric is one of the 40 things the Sizzix dies will cut through.

Magnet board & paper doll set made out of the new Build-a-Bear Sizzix dies.


I'll try and share some more highlights another day but want to mention the other two product lines I'm nuts for!

My Digital Studio (MDS) - debuting sometime in September - is very very cool! You can download elements and use them in something like Photoshop, but when you see how easy the software makes it I think you'll agree that MDS is the way to go! I cannot believe how easy it makes not only digital scrapbooking or card making, but making entire albums!!! There was an area at Convention where we could see the products that printed out first hand and let me tell you it was amazing! You can design your own cover or get something simple like leather! The first word that came to mind was HIGH QUALITY! This product was incredible! The high quality results we saw will be attainable through SU!'s partnership with a printing company that guarantees that the colors printed will be the same as SU! colors (a must-have for those planning to combine the digital page with embellishments out of the regular catalog). You can also print them in other ways - I'm just excited about the quality guaranteed by this partnership!

Some pages from the album that was shown to us. You can see the ones on the left are hybrid as the new snowflake punch and buttons were used to accent what was done digitally.

Framed keepsake piece of artwork from the same skiing trip as the pages above. Sorry about the weird light in the upper left hand corner.


Finally the item I am most excited about!!! Simply Adorned is the new jewelry line!!! Until I saw it in person, I didn't really care one way or another. I thought it was pretty, but probably not something I would personally buy. HOWEVER, after seeing it in person, I fell absolutely IN LOVE!!! The charms come in 3 different sizes and the chains in 2 different lengths! The best thing about it? You can easily change out what is inside the charms to customize it for your outfit or the season or simply when you get tired of it. I CANNOT WAIT until September 1st, when I can order this product. I leave you with some samples of these beautiful projects. (I apologize for how blurry they are - I swore on my little digital camera screen that they were fine, dangit.) For more ideas/pictures, you can check out the fabulous post Patty Bennett made today about this same line HERE.

The one on the left is created with some of the new Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper & the stamp set designed to be used with this new line, Charming. Lucky winners received these pendants, made by Shelli & her family (signed by Shelli too) and you can see how beautiful they look on a length of ribbon as well as the chain (this ribbon is the new in-color Soft Suede Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon). The one on the right shows a frame image from Charming again as well as how to personalize the charm with your initial.

Personalization with your initial, as well as the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper (another favorite of mine).

Not only personalizing the charm with stamping & watercoloring, but also the box that comes with the charm and how you could stamp & watercolor elements to gift give these gorgeous pieces of jewelry!

These little pieces are showing the front & back of possible charm inserts! It is so easy to just change them out as the charm is hinged (the hinge is very unobtrusive and is on the back size of the pendant). I cannot wait until I can order these and start creating!!!