I thought this was a great explanation on Shelli's blog about the retreat:
"I know we call the Advisory Board Retreat a retreat, but it really isn’t in any sense of the word! We go to the home office (so we’re not leaving the workplace), and we involve as many people as possible so our new board members can put faces with names , and we have a jam-packed, two-day agenda that begins in the morning and goes into the evening (doesn’t retreat somehow imply rest and relaxation?)."
You can read the rest of Shelli's post here

We really did get treated like gold and it was so much fun getting to know all these amazing ladies. So, on Sunday after Founders Circle, we were flown from St. George to Salt Lake and met at the airport with this amazing Hummer Limo.

Left to Right:
{Susan Elise Morton, Meg Wheeler, Laura Barto, Deb Valder, Dawn Oleschke, Missy Shipman, me & Denise Sullivan}

We spent all day Monday and all day Tuesday in meetings with members of the Corporate Team and staff members hearing amazing presentations and discussions.

During our two days, we got to spend over an hour on the pick line…and from the stats…we did pretty good! I had such a blast picking orders, I really could have spend all day there. The staff I spent time with on the pick line were incredible!!!


On Monday night, we were invited to a lovely dinner at Shelli's house. The dinner was catered by Shanna (Shelli's daughter)…make sure you check out her BLOG.

When then had our "Favourite Things" time where we exchanged a bag full of our favourite things with each other. Of course the whole night was spent in our cute matching PJ's. We really had a lovely night and it was such a great way to get to know each other this way.

The last night , at the retreat was spent going out to dinner with Shelli and the Corporate Team. 

Of course there's so much more I did and learned this week at Stampin' Up!…all I can say is that spending this time with Stampin' Up! has given me a new light on their continued support of making being a demonstrator an amazing experience.

I'm so excited to serve this year!

Accessories make the card extra special!!!! Check out my Holiday Mini Product Share going on right now!!!! Click here for details!

Today is a bittersweet day….it was so amazing but it was also the last day of the trip.

I can't say that I slept much on this trip…so, today was a lovely morning of sleeping in a bit. I really didn't do very much during the day…I got to go to Target…which is a treat in itself since the closest one to my house is 3 hours. I really didn't buy too much, but, it was nice to go. I was also able to spend some relaxing time chatting with friends.

The evening event was our Grand Finale….each year Stampin' Up! plans an amazing Farewell event and this year they really did outdid themselves! We pulled up to a lovely Golf Course and a line-up of golf carts. We were so excited to hear that we got to actually drive the carts.

We each had a partner who we shared the driving with and drove from game to game. Some were golfing related and others were just stamping.



Intense concentration….

Wooohooo…I hit the target!

After the games, we had a lovely dinner:


I was also able to take some really special photos after the event…here is a couple of pictures of the Advisory Board members: |

Here is a photo of the "Inky Divas" who earned the trip with me this year….I love these ladies! They are truly INKredible!

Well…that's it for my Founders Circle Trip…I hope you enjoyed seeing highlights from this trip. I was so blessed to spend 4 wonderful days with the Top 100 demonstrators from the US and the Top 15 from Canada. I truly love being with Stampin' Up! and am so thankful that I made the decision to join 9 years ago.

I'll be posting highlights from the Advisory Board Retreat next!
 

Accessories make the card extra special!!!! Check out my Holiday Mini Product Share going on right now!!!! Click here for details!

Today we visited the Kanab facility where Stampin' Up! manufactures our stamps.

There's nothing like the rush of love we feel from the staff who work at Stampin' Up! I know we all tried to mirror back the love to make sure they knew how much we appreciated each and every one of them.



We can't show you everything inside the facility, but we got to take some pictures with friends in the lobby and inside the apartment.

After our visit to Kanab, we got to enjoy lunch at the park that Stampin' Up! donated. The park has the loveliest view and instead of sand….they used rubber of course!

Each year we get to keep the container that our lunch comes in….isn't it adorable?!

After lunch, we returned to the hotel and got ready to go watch "The Little Mermaid". I wish I could have taken photos of the actual show, but, we are not allowed…here's a cute photo we took before the show.  {Marlayne Hardy, Maggie Patterson & I} It was an amazing show!!!

After the show, we returned to our rooms to find another lovely gift from Stampin' Up!
{A home-made apron using our fabric}

Accessories make the card extra special!!!! Check out my Holiday Mini Product Share going on right now!!!! Click here for details!

Hello friends! Welcome to day 2 of my Founders Circle Trip.

Today I got courageous and joined a lovely group of ladies in a Ziplining Adventure. Holy Moly Macaroni…was it ever scary…..but FUN!

Here we are before we got started:

This is the point were I started wondering WHAT WAS I THINKING?! LOL I have to admit though…the first time was really scary…but, it got really FUN after that! I'm so glad I went!

The Adventures Company created a video of us…so here it is. {I'm the one with the yellow helmet}.

xx

After our adventure…I had organized a dinner out to the Olive Garden with the girls in my group PLUS some of our friends:

Apparently this was a really FULL day….later that evening, we had our Stampin' Up! PJ party and share night and card swap.


Then back to the room to check out our pillow gift: tonight we found this Popcorn Tub containing some yummy treats and an invitation to go to Tuachan the next night to watch "The Little Mermaid". I was so excited…cause Tuachan has always been a highlight for me each year when I attend Founders.

Thanks for joining me today….day 3 will come tomorrow.

As you can tell, being a demonstrator has tons of perks…if you've ever thought of doing what I do to SAVE money or to MAKE money…check out my info page! I'd love to have you as part of my team!

Day 1

I arrived at the Vegas airport today and met up with some other demonstrators and some of the staff. I have to tell you that it really doensn't feel real to me until I see some of my SU peeps! I was so excited to meet up with them. Stampin' Up! arranges shuttles for us to bring us to St. George, Utah. When I arrived, I had time to go to the gathering place and check out all the fun decorations and all the ymummies!

For the rest of the afternoon, I was able to catch up with some amazing ladies who I haven't seen in a while. In the evening, Stampin' Up! hosted a Welcome Dinner for us. On each of our names tags was the name of our "group" for the night and we had to find our group members and our table. I was part of {The Brits}! We had a really nice time getting to know each other.

After our dinner, we all rushed back to our room to find our first pillow gift! Tonight, we received our make and take supplies for the projects Stampin' Up! has prepared for us. We even got a couple of SNEAK PEEK items from the upcoming Occasions catalogue in January. {A brand new stamp set & a new Big Shot die….fun, fun, fun!!!!}

 That's it for the first day….of course I stayed up too late chatting with friends! I have lots to share for day 2, so make sure you come back!!!

Remember that I have a Holiday Mini Product Share going on right now!!!! Click here for details!

The inside uses the Petite Pocket Bigz Die  for the Big Shot.

~~Join me for CARD CLASS the 2nd Friday of every month. More info at: www.stampingjo.com/stamp-with-me/classes

Did I mention yet that it starts on September 1st??? You're going to love it! If you don't have a mini yet and don't have a demonstrator…let me know that you want one and I'll mail you one. (Canada only)

These adorable little holders are made to hold chocolate nuggets.
Here's the template shared by Kathryn:

This stamp set is made so that it can fit office labels on chocolate nuggets…but, please note that the glue can seep through to the chocolate so it is best to add a piece of cardstock or a piece of copy paper.
Here's the guidelines sheet

~~Join me for CARD CLASS the 2nd Friday of every month. More info at: www.stampingjo.com/stamp-with-me/classes

If you did not receive the Holiday Mini in the mail from me and don't already have a demonstrator but would like one…let me know and I"ll mail you one.  (Canada only)

The projects today feature our NEW "Christmas Stocking" products. We have a stamp set, a matching punch, a Big Shot Die and an accessory Die. As a demonstrator, we got to pre-order our products (for a discount) on August 1st and these 4 products were for sure on my first order!!!   All the samples were created by Deb Duval!

I'm going to start with card using the NEW Stitched Stockings stamp set and Stocking Builder Punch:

Check out how you can make the stocking into a toy horse…love how versatile this stamp set is!

From christmas stocking to baby stocking!

These next projects are using the NEW Holiday Stocking Die and Stocking Accents Die:

   ~~Join me for CARD CLASS the 2nd Friday of every month. More info at: www.stampingjo.com/stamp-with-me/classes

The first 2 projects were from an idea that Janet Wakeland had. She  challenged her group to come up with "change jars" to save up for next year's convention fees. It hought it would be a fun little contest for Stampin' Girls attendees so we borrowed the idea. Here are a couple of the jars that were made:

Here are some more amazing samples on our share tables:
 

I'll be back tomorrow with some FANTASTIC Christmas ideas!!! Don't miss it!

~~Join me for CARD CLASS the 2nd Friday of every month. More info at: www.stampingjo.com/stamp-with-me/classes

This year, I invited the AMAZING Ronda Wade to be our guest speaker and I know that we all learned so much from her.

 

On Friday night, we had our Team Awards night where we celebrated some INKredible ladies and their accomplishments for the past year:
 
 

On Saturday we spent the day learning techniques, hearing business tips, stamping and drinking LOTS of water…boy was it a hot day!

Make sure you come back tomorrow and check out some of the projects shared during the day!

  ~~Join me for CARD CLASS the 2nd Friday of every month. More info at: www.stampingjo.com/stamp-with-me/classes