Embellish

Advisory Board 2013: My Favorite Things

I'm back home now, for a while, at least! I do love to travel, but I'll admit it felt REALLY good to pull into the driveway last night and know I am home now for several weeks. I missed my babies! I didn't have much time to miss them during the three-day Advisory Board working retreat, however, because they kept us really busy with meetings. Here we all are at the end of the last day with several members of the Corporate Team. We had just finished up and were about to head off for one of the most anticipated traditions of the Advisory Board trip!

One of the parts of the trip I was most excited about was getting to spend an evening at Shelli's house, hanging out in our pj's and exchanging little themed gifts. While our fearless leader is in recovery for a serious riding accident, and definitely not up to an extended visit, we were still able to go see her for a few minutes and tour the house, hosted by Sara. Yes, I got to see Shelli's closet... and more importantly, her stamp room! I loved seeing her house and all her little vignettes. She had the whole place (well, probably not her but one of the girls, this year) done up for Halloween, and there were all sorts of vintage "So Shelli" touches everywhere.

Out of respect for Shelli's privacy, I won't show pictures of her home, but I did want to share this cute photo of Genevieve sitting in Shelli's wheelchair as we sat around her bed and chatted : )  Not your typical Advisory Board fireplace photo, for sure! She was such a sport and wanted to get up for a picture but we insisted she stay put. We just want that dear lady to get better!

This year's board chose t-shirts instead of pajamas so we can wear them in public to stamp events. I designed them using My Digital Studio, and Jennifer got them all printed and brought them along. We were already working together even before our official duties started! Love these ladies.

We left Shelli to get her rest, then, and headed back to Brick Canvas. After a scrumptious supper from Fraiche, we exchanged our My Favorite Things gifts with each other. Shelli had given hers to us at the house. I won't share them here, but I did want you to see the gorgeous vintage Christmas ornament that adorned our bags. I am happy to say it made it home mostly intact!

I snapped this quick pic of my own Favorite Things boxes before I packed them up. In addition to the gorgeous silk flower pins made by a former SOMH team member, which I used on the packaging, inside was chocolate (naturally), a funny luggage tag, and coffee from Berre's Brothers Roasters here in town. The blend? Packer Perc, of course! It was so fun to open the gifts and hear why the board members had chosen the different items to help us get to know one another.

After the gift exchange and sharing time, we were hustled off to the spa at Brick Canvas for massages and facials, another wonderful "favorite thing" from Shelli! Oh my, did I ever feel spoiled after that! It was the fanciest salon I've ever been in, and we all felt so pampered and relaxed as we got back in the limo and headed for the hotel. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful retreat.

Snow Canyon Trail Ride

  Almost forgot to share these photos from our horseback excursion during the week of Founder's Circle 2013. A small group of us went on a trail ride up the backside of a mountain overlooking gorgeous Snow Canyon, Utah. The weather could not have been more perfect, and the views were well worth being a little saddle-sore the next day. The horses were extremely well-behaved and sure-footed, and our guide Matthew was chatty and knowlegable.

I can almost smell the sage... I grew up in Wyoming, so Utah feels very like home to me. I love the West! So thankful that Stampin' Up sends me to Utah at least once per year. As if Convention wasn't enough of a draw : )

 

I'm so grateful there's you

On Saturday at our demonstrator retreat, we spent a delightful afternoon doing the Make N Take projects everyone had brought. I'll be sharing a couple of them this week, and there's a planned photo tutorial in the works for one of them! My teamies are SO talented!

Jane made this gorgeous vintage card with the Soho Subway papers, Chalk Talk Stamp set and coordinating Framelets, the Shop Around jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel, Basic Rhinestones and Antique Brads. The torn paper overlay is actually a piece of paper bag, isn't that awesome?

I'm so glad we had this get-together. I love my demo team (let's face it, we ROCK!) and it's great to get to see some of the ones from other states that I don't get to stamp with on a regular basis. The ideas and inspiration were bouncing off the walls this weekend! I'd LOVE it if you'd consider joining our club, too. Even if you're not local, you'd still have the support of the team via our hoppin' Facebook page, with business tips, challenges, contests and giveaways, not to mention access to a pool of experience and knowlege that can answer any question you want to throw at it. I'm always available via email and text, and we can even do monthly phone calls for personalized one-on-one support.

I would be honored to be your mentor at whatever level of hobby or business that works for you. Learn to make a difference with your crafting talents! Email me and say YES to one of the most fun and fulfilling things you will ever be involved in!

Getting things accomplished

Getting things accomplished... is over-rated! I'm enjoying one last day of a wonderful crafting retreat, but now the crunch is on. All weekend there has been talking and laughing and lots of snacking and movies (we have a classic movies theme and there's also been a lot of singing along going on!) Now we all have our heads down and are working like crazy people to try and finish up all our scattered projects before we head home this evening.

I made a bunch of these adorable punch art Kleenex box cards to sell at craft fairs this fall. Aren't they cute? The tissue is just crepe gift tissue paper, and the box is the hexagon punch scored to look 3-D and punched with a hole to pull the crepe through. So easy! My kinda punch art.

If you want to make these cute tissue box cards and don't have the hexagon punch or the A Dozen Thoughts stamp set, click those links to jump to my online store and take a gander!

In Love With Color 9/29/13

Welcome to In Love With Color! Color combining inspiration can be easily found at your fingertips here at Song of My Heart Stampers each week. Updated with the latest Stampin' Up colors, and keeping an eye on trends in fashion, home decor and papercrafting, I'll share three different color combos early every Sunday morning for your inspiration.

This week's color combos:

1. Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip
2. Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky and Elegant Eggplant
3. Pink Pirouette, Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride

Playing along? Be sure to email me your entry to be featured on the first Sunday of the month if you are playing along! I love to see what you've done with it. Use "In Love with Color" in the subject line, please. [email protected]

Three simple sympathies

I came home and turned around and went to a private scrapping retreat for my demonstrator team! So I have some cute things to show you this weekend... not as many as I'd like, because I am apparently incapable of both staying focused and talking and stamping at the same time. But here's three elegant sympathy cards I made late last night.

The patterned papers I used are retired and long gone now, but everything else is still available. I used Soft Sky and Pool Party and Whisper White cardstocks, and the Boho Blossoms, Scalloped Trim Border and Bird & Branch punches, along with Basic Rhinestones and and a TON of mini glue dots! The stamp set is one of our 25th Anniversary Collection monthly releases, called Best of Greetings. You can find all these products and many more on my shopping website, www.lyssa.stampinup.net.

Four spaces left for the Scrapbooking Marathon!

You are invited to participate in our second annual all-day Scrapbooking Marathon on Saturday, October 19th from nine a.m. to nine p.m. held at Maranatha College in Watertown. Come when you can and leave when you must!

 Our fabulously fun day will be divided into three parts:

 **From 9:00 -11:30 a.m. approx, you will be participating in ten Make N Takes. Each one is designed to teach you something (or many somethings!) new and trendy right now in the world of scrapbooking. You’ll be using the latest tools, learning new techniques, and getting a lot of pages done, all at the same time!

 **Eat lunch at the college’s all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar, sandwich deli and pizza kitchen, with free drinks and desserts included. Other options may include waffle bar, omelet chef, pasta bar and more. Accomodations can be made for allergies.

 **From approx. 12:30-9:00, work on your own projects in a pleasant room with a comfy chair, plenty of space and nice bright lighting! Chat with friends new and old while you get some of your projects done. Put the things you learned in the morning session to good use! Stay as long as you can. We'll order in pizza for anyone interested, around six p.m.

Price is just $35 per person or $60 for two for the day, and includes lunch, bottled water, all 10 Make N Takes and a fabulous goodie bag. There will be a free paper swap table for you to take or leave papers you no longer have need of. We'll also be playing Embellishment Bingo and other fun games, where you can earn tickets towards a prize package that will knock your socks off!

The deadline to sign up is Monday, October 7^th. Space is limited. Payment in advance is required to hold your spot. Refunds will not be given for cancelations after October 11th. Adults only, please.

I hope you can come and participate in our Scrapbooking Marathon! Think of how much we’re going to get done. Awesome! Please contact me to RSVP or for more information— [email protected]

NEW! 20-card Everyday Occasions Kit

I can NOT believe the price on this kit! 20 cards for just $29.95 & shipping and tax--what a BARGAIN! Check out this new super-cute cardmaking kit released today from Stampin' Up.

Called Everday Occasions, our new kit makes 20 different cards for just that--everyday occasions like birthdays, thank yous, get well and congrats. While you can improvise if you want, there are large, full-color pictures of suggested cards you can stamp and assemble from the generous  pre-cut cardstock pieces and parts, plenty of embellishments, even Glimmer Paper! And everything you need to get started except for scissors and a basic adhesive is included in the kit. WOW!

Click here to visit my online store and read more about the Everyday Occasions Cardmaking Kit!

New photopollies set today! 9/25/13

Just in time to make your tasty treats for October 31st, Stampin' Up has released a trendy new photopolymer stamp set! Bite Me comes with ten unique new stamps that Halloween lovers will enjoy mixing and matching to create cute banners, cards, tbag tags and toppers with. Order yours today and you'll be able to begin planning your treats right away!

Here's some products that would come together in a snap and make you the envy of the neighborhood as you pass out adorably packaged goodies to your trick-or-treaters!

• Pumpkin Pie Goodie Gear bag/tag set, makes 10
• 1x8 inch long narrow Cello Treat Bags, 50 per package
• Sweet Treat Cups (self adhesive plastic, 3/4 inch deep), 12 per package
• Chevron-patterned small paper sacks, food safe, set of 10.

Click here to go browse the Halloween section of my store for these and other great products for all your October crafting needs! Have you checked out Stampin' Up lately? This is not your grandma's hobby! Be sure to ask if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help suggest products, color combos and solutions, and point you in the direction of plenty of inspiration.

Advisory Board Fun

The AB girls and I are having so much fun this week! We're up at Stampin' Up headquarters getting to know the corporate team and learn about some very interesting and exciting behind-the-scenes things about our company! I am so thrilled to have this chance to be of assistance to Stampin' Up. They have been such and incredible blessing to me and my family, it's great to have this wonderful opportunity to give back.

This is our ride for the next couple days! It was my first time in a limo. We had a ball turning on the disco lights and playing with the radio and windows. We each have a nice hotel suite, but we don't spend much time there! They are keeping us BUSY!

After a wonderfully interesting tour of the shipping facilities (I got to see bubble wrap being made--now that is cool!) they put us to work on the pick line. Yes, my friends, I may actually have picked your order this morning! It was really, really neat. I can see why so few mistakes are made (well, by the professionals, anyhow, not us amateurs! Sorry if there's a boo-boo in your order, whoever you are!) because of the cool system they use with barcode scanners and lights alerting you to items you still need to put in the box. I had no idea it worked like that. Although it was totally fun, it was definitely work, though... I was sweating by the end of my half-hour shift!

During our lunch and tour of Brick Canvas after a short drive to the gorgeous Thanksgiving Point, we got the boxes we had been waiting for... our Advisory Board rings! I am so proud to wear this beautiful reminder of our mutal commitment, trust and appreciation for each other and for the company.

Ok, now this will make you smile... although our dear Shelli, Stampin' Up's co-founder, has was not up to participating in Founder's Circle since her serious riding accident last month (broken collarbone, wrist, and multiple pelvic fractures), she wrote the nametags for our Advisory Board ring boxes with her left hand (not bad!) Her daughter Sara has been doing a fabulous job playing hostess, and it's been really fun to get to know her better.

Now, I have to get myself off to bed. I can't share what we've been discussing, of course, but it's been really interesting and I have appreciated the peek into the corporate world, since I've never worked in it previously. It's also WORK! I'm exhausted! : ) Can't wait for tomorrow. Good night, everybody!

Yee-Haw! Final Night Event at Founder's Circle 2013

Well, Founder's Circle 2013 is a wrap! I am up in Riverton, Utah, now for the remainder of my trip, but I won't have much time to catch you up on my adventures, since they'll be keeping us pretty busy for the next few days on the Advisory Board. I did get some fun photos of the Founder's Circle top-secret final night activity, which turned out to be a family ranch with all sorts of fun challenges that we did in our teams. The Tootsie Rolls rocked it! I even won a milking contest--not bad for a city girl from Wisconsin!

We drove a short distance out of St. George and then boarded a hayride. They told us to wear Western wear and good shoes, and I was so glad I had the jeans and boots along from our earlier horseback ride, because it was pretty rustic! The corn maze was especially challenging as the ground wasn't hard-packed yet since it was early in the season. But the intrepid Tootsie Rolls made it to the center flag! We were pretty motivated, because all the activities had Stampin' Up prizes. I came home with a lot of booty!

My friend Natalie T and I got some cute photos in the cornfield. The setting was so gorgeous, the food in the bunkhouse was divine, and although the wind was pretty rambunctious, we all had a great time. You just know you're going to have a ball anywhere THIS truck shows up! I will have to ship a box home because my suitcases are not going to cut it!

I can't believe it's over for another year... I felt like this was the fastest trip yet. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone today as we all went our separate ways. Each time a bus or shuttle left the hotel, and each group left to find their airport gate, our group got smaller and smaller, until finally it was just us Advisory Board girls. We're already fast friends and having a great time. I can't wait to share more of that! Stay tuned!!!

In Love With Color 9/22/13

Welcome to In Love With Color! Color combining inspiration can be easily found at your fingertips here at Song of My Heart Stampers each week. Updated with the latest Stampin' Up colors, and keeping an eye on trends in fashion, home decor and papercrafting, I'll share three different color combos early every Sunday morning for your inspiration.

This week's color combos:

1. Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Calypso Coral and Basic Gray
2. Calypso Coral, Night of Navy, Pool Party and Always Artichoke
3. Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Pear Pizzazz

Playing along? Be sure to email me your entry to be featured on the first Sunday of the month if you are playing along! I love to see what you've done with it. Use "In Love with Color" in the subject line, please. [email protected]

Where ink and paper reign

Don't you just want to dive in??? I would have cheerfully taken home a couple of boxes of Stampin' Up's cardstock scraps from the cutting area of the warehouse! Yesterday during our visit to the manufacturing facility in Kanab, Utah, the Founder's Circle ladies were treated to a VIP tour and got to see all kinds of fun stuff. I'll continue yesterday's blog tour so you can see it, too.

I really enjoyed seeing the amazingly precise cutting equipment, talking to the workers, and gazing at the pallet-fuls of Coastal Cabana.... check this out! These are called "parent" sheets, and these are "counted" by weight, before heading into the cutter to be trimmed into perfect stacks of 8.5x11.

We also got to watch an ink pad go from start to finish--super cool. This gal is putting the Firm Foam pads into the mixing bowls and then she adds the ink by weight. It goes into giant industrial mixers for a preset amount of time, so that each pad is completely saturated. It looks fun--and MESSY : )

This gal is inserting the wet foam pads into the labeled cases on top of adhesive that another person added. Then it gets tamped down with a special press, the case is closed, and it goes into a heat sealer for shrink-wrapping.

Everything was super interesting to see. This is me at the station where the lids are put onto the ink pad bases! It was tricky...

Look at this fun thingymabob! It's making multi-packs of In Color cardstock. Just think, I might have seen yours or mine getting sorted yesterday. And when we got to the end of this section of the facility, they gave us each a pack of paper hot off the press!

I am so glad they let us take some photos during the tour, because I have been wanting to share this with you. This is where they grind up the excess rubber that gets trimmed off after the molds come out of the oven. The rubber gets donated to a charitable institution that turns around and sells it for playground materials! So our rubber is getting used to the MAX, and for good causes all around. Love that! We demos had a little too much fun getting goofy photos at one of the parks with rubber mulch.

What an amazing day... we topped it off with a trip to the astoundingly gorgeous Tuacahn outdoor theater to see Mary Poppins, which was fantastic. The little Jane and Michael Banks totally stole the show. It was a late night, but one of the best days I've ever had. Thank you Stampin' Up!! And thank you all my wonderful customer friends and the supportive and encouraging Song of My Heart Stampers.

Christmas Trees from Ruffle Stretch Trim

Lots of random inspiration laying around here at Founder's Circle 2013! I thought these little Christmas Trees made from the new Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Stretch Trim were too adorable, so I wanted to share them with you right away.

One of my favorite things about being a demonstrator is when people ask me to help them find inspiration for a specific project. I can almost always help out at least a little bit in narrowing down a color scheme, or tracking down a technique or identify a stamp image. What can I help you with? Leave a comment and let me know what you're working on or puzzling out in your mind, and I'm happy to help. 

You Make Me Happy

SQUEEEE!!!! We got the most amazing goodie bag of upcoming sneak peek products and it is KILLING me not to show you! Luckily, I AM allowed to show you some of the samples made with these cute new things, that are decorating the Hospitality Lounge they have set up for us to hang out in here at Founder's Circle 2013. So don't ask me questions--I either don't know or am not allowed to tell you--but here's some fun sneak peeks!

Stay tuned for more photos... having a ball. Wish you were here!

Where stamps are born

Feeling so incredibly lucky today! I'm fresh off the bus from Kanab, Utah, where Stampin' Up has a fabulous state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. We got an inside peek at the process, like Founder's Circle attendees always do--but this time, they allowed us to take pictures! So I get to share with you some of the steps in taking rubber all the way from great big rolls of raw product all the way through to a packaged stamp set. It was SO stinkin' fun!

These are rolls of rubber waiting to be cut, put over the mag plates and sent into the ovens. On the left there you can see some of the shelves of labels waiting to go into the stamp cases.  This is me getting to cut some of the rubber roll off into measured sheets to fit the size of the plates. Looks like a giant paper cutter, doesn't it!?


I didn't get to put any stamps into the oven this time, but I did get to peel them off the mag plates and trim the excess rubber off, again with a giant paper trimmer type thing. That rubber was HOT! Recognize the stamp set? It's Hearts Aflutter! Below shows how they cool the rubber down before adhering the foam sticky parts....

Next we took them over to add the backing. I was making a clear-mount Hearts Aflutter stamp set for some lucky duck... sorry if I die-cut it crooked! I did get the air bubble worked out, I swear. The employees made it look sooooo easy. Everything was actually a little harder than it looked! This machine below was fun, though. It made the funnest "ka-CHUNK" sound as it die cut four stamp set's worth at a time.

And of course we all went home with a "sample" of free rubber... plus all sorts of things I'll have to blog about later, because this is long enough. We just had the most fun today! It was truly amazing. I just love seeing the process and feeling the warm welcome from the people who work so hard to bring us the products we love. I can never open a stamp set and see those funny little raised corners on the edge of the rubber sheet anymore without thinking, that's where they line it up for the die-cutting machine!

Founder's Circle 2013

I love this adorable tag that was on our Make N Take packet! "Do what you love and do it often." I am sitting here on a cushy couch surrounded by gorgeous displays, way too much candy, and the happy babble of demonstrators stampin' their hearts out at Founder's Circle, and you know what? That is what got us here. We simply did what we loved, and did it often. And the rewards were so, so amazing.

I can't show you what was IN our Make N Take packet... because it's all brand new product from the upcoming spring catalog!! But I will post pictures of the samples and some of the lovely displays in my next post.

Well, I'm here in sunny St. George and enjoying myself immensely despite having come down with a head cold yesterday. Flying with my ears clogged wasn't fun! But I'm doing better today, thanks to two visits to the hot tub, some time in the dry heat, lots of water and a blissful sleep. Did you know we get our own rooms at FC?? That's one of my very favorite parts of this retreat. We have the whole place to ourselves and the entire hotel staff at our service.

I have no agenda except horseback riding this afternoon... and guess what, I've already finished the first of six books I brought along! This is the life!

After I managed to do a u-turn and get myself to the Madison airport instead of the Milwaukee one at five a.m. yesterday, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Flying over Colorado was saddening as we could see so many flooded areas. Bryce Canyon from the air was astounding. Utah is being it's usual hospitable self and the weather is quite warm and the palm trees are a wonderful treat for this Wisconsin girl.

So our only official duty thus far was the welcome dinner last night. This year's theme is a gorgeous bohemian cowgirl type look and I just love it. Very shabby chic, with a Western flair!

My team is the Tootsie Rolls... we are all named after vintage candies, which are all over the Hospitality Lounge. I am going to come home several pounds heavier, I'm sure!

Don't forget to RSVP to for the Marathon!

You are invited to participate in our second annual all-day Scrapbooking Marathon on Saturday, October 19th from nine a.m. to nine p.m. held at Maranatha College in Watertown. Come when you can and leave when you must!

 Our fabulously fun day will be divided into three parts:

 **From 9:00 -11:30 a.m. approx, you will be participating in ten Make N Takes. Each one is designed to teach you something (or many somethings!) new and trendy right now in the world of scrapbooking. You’ll be using the latest tools, learning new techniques, and getting a lot of pages done, all at the same time!

 **Eat lunch at the college’s all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar, sandwich deli and pizza kitchen, with free drinks and desserts included. Other options may include waffle bar, omelet chef, pasta bar and more. Accomodations can be made for allergies.

 **From approx. 12:30-9:00, work on your own projects in a pleasant room with a comfy chair, plenty of space and nice bright lighting! Chat with friends new and old while you get some of your projects done. Put the things you learned in the morning session to good use! Stay as long as you can. We'll order in pizza for anyone interested, around six p.m.

Price is just $35 per person or $60 for two for the day, and includes lunch, bottled water, all 10 Make N Takes and a fabulous goodie bag. There will be a free paper swap table for you to take or leave papers you no longer have need of. We'll also be playing Embellishment Bingo and other fun games, where you can earn tickets towards a prize package that will knock your socks off!

The deadline to sign up is Monday, October 7^th. Space is limited to 20. Payment in advance is required to hold your spot. Refunds will not be given for cancelations after October 11th. Adults only, please.

I hope you can come and participate in our Scrapbooking Marathon! Think of how much we’re going to get done. Awesome! Please contact me to RSVP or for more information— [email protected]

Founder's Circle, here I come!

Ready to see what I've been working on to the tune of the entire seasons 1 & 2 of Downton Abbey, each night after the kids were in bed? These are my Founder's Circle swaps. I know they look simple, but let me tell you, it takes a loooong time to make 120 of these! I had to cut out four steps from the one I was going to do originally, because it became obvious that I was either going to cripple myself, or simply not finish in time. They're not actually quite finished--but as you read this, I''m (hopefully) in the air winging my way to St. George and will spend part of the evening after our welcome dinner tying bajillions more little bows, since I ran out of Pink Pirouette taffeta and it didn't come in until yesterday!

I know a lot of people have missed this adorable stamp set since it's not pictured in the catalogs and we've had so many new product debuts recently, so I'll share this link to read about the super-cute Spread The Joy set. I knew I wanted to use this image, so I started with that and designed the rest of the card around it. The flourishy oval I stamped behind the Apothecary Labels Framelits die-cut is from the Layered Labels stamp set.

So I saved this to share until we departed for our retreat, so hopefully it won't spoil the surprise for the gals that will be swapping with me. I can't wait to see what everyone else made--our theme this year was "Anything Goes," so there is bound to be a lot of fun things and maybe even some chocolate?!

Stay tuned for pictures and news from sunny and gorgeous St. George! I am still pinching myself that I get to go. How can it possibly be that I have been in the Top 100 Demonstrators of the Year again?? I feel so incredibly blessed. Thank you so much to my fantastic, encouraging team and my wonderful, supportive customer friends! Wish me happy travels!

Two new photopollies released today!

Breaking news! Stampin' Up just released two new adorable designs in our exclusive, trendy new photopolymer stamp collection! Check out these cuties:


Check them out, plus all the other great photopolymer options now available, on my shopping website!

www.lyssa.stampinup.net

There's even a wonderful online class with videos featuring photopolmer stamps in action.

Click here for more info!