Stampin' Up Convention

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Stampin' Up Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah (without the family). It was the first time I'd been on a trip without the fam coming along, so it was a little different! Ryan and the kids survived with help from friends and family (thanks so much, by the way!) and I had so much fun!

I went with my upline Kresta and sideline demonstrators Chris and Michelle. We all shared one hotel room, so it was like a slumber party every night!

The convention took place at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake, where some Winter Olympics events were held - it was massively huge! The first day of convention, we got to go to Memento Mall (where they have lots of cool Stampin' Up logo merchandise).

This is us waiting in line to get into Memento Mall.

We also checked in and received our bags with lots of FREEBIES! We got 3 brand-new stamp sets and the new catalog! It won't even be released to the public until Aug. 11th. It is so amazing with so many fun new stamps and accessories! Can't wait for my workshops so I can show my customers all the new stuff!

Another highlight was going to the Salt Lake Temple with my demo friend Lisa. I don't have a cell phone and I hadn't been there since I was 12, so trying to meet up with her for a temple session was a little tough. We finally found each other and were able to attend the temple together. That temple is sooooo beautiful! All of the intricate woodwork and painting was breathtaking. I only wish Ryan could've been there with me as well. My camera wouldn't take any good pics of me in front of the temple because it was too dark, but Lisa is supposed to send me a pic from her camera, so when she does, I'll post it here.

We also got to go to Stampin' Up's head office in Riverton. It was an amazing building - when you walked in there was this huge rock formation with a waterfall and everything. We got to go to the Idea Room where all the head honchos come up with their amazing ideas. It was this huge room with comfy couches and bean bags with a great view of the Wasatch mountains and there was ping pong and air hockey tables also. This is a pic of me and my friends chillin' on a couch in the Idea Room.

In the same building is the shipping warehouse where all of our orders are filled. We got to see the "picking" line - it was pretty hi-tech!



We also had lots of fun classes and presentations to attend where we all got some great new ideas. One of my favorite classes was the Make n Takes. They had 6-7 projects for us to do with the new stamp sets that were freebies to us, with some new techniques, too.

Another fun thing to do was swapping. Basically, everyone brings card fronts and sometimes 3-D items to swap with other demonstrators. I made about 100 cards to swap, but some people made up to 500! People were swapping everywhere...in the elevator, in the hall, walking to classes, in the lunch line...basically anywhere you could find someone who was swapping! I got to meet some really neat people. One of them was a gal from Canada named Gerry. She was traveling by herself and was staying at our hotel, so we kind of "adopted" her into our little group. She is so smart with her business and had lots of tips she didn't mind sharing. She was also super nice. Here's a pic of Gerry with our group on the last day of convention.
So basically I came home tired from having a slumber party every night, but bursting with new ideas and excitement for all the new products, etc. I'm glad to be back home in my own bed and I really did miss the kids and Ryan so much!