Minneapolis .... Yee Hah ....!

I was so honored when Terri Gaines called to ask if I would come out to Minneapolis for her Stampin' Share for Leaders. I've always held Terri on a Stampin' Up! pedastal and couldn't believe my ears when she called to ask me to come speak at her event. What a blessing to meet so many talented and lovely demonstrators. And there were so many leaders that I haven't seen for over a year. It was such a wonderful event. (I can't believe that all of my typing this morning was lost when I went to publish post! ... so here I go again.)
Terri picked me up at the airport and whisked me away to the Mall of America. Now what woman in the world wouldn't want to go there! But the best part was getting to spend time eating dinner with 20 of her leaders at a lovely restaurant. Terri pampered me and took such lovely charge of me. I felt like the Queen of England. She put me up in a beautiful hotel and my 'hired' chauffer, Denise Jorgensen, shuttled me to and from the event and to the airport. Life just can't get any better than that.j

After dinner Denise and I went back to our hotel where she gave me a private, one on one tutorial on all of the different uses for the tiny take out boxes. Talk about an imagination. That gal is one fine stamper and always comes up with the most creative uses for our product. I'm always learning from that gal. I missed not seeing Iner, her husband. Perhaps next time!

After a leisurely breakfast we meandered to a swap meet where we met up with some of our other demonstrators. It was so nice seeing Joan Banman Cristo who drove all the way from Canada to the event!
Here's my view from the stage. Look at all of these beautiful women. Look at their gorgeous smiles. What a fantastic group of women to share my innermost thoughts. Love, love, love them all!
Just a sampling of a few of the projects that were on display. There were tons of samples ... I swear almost as many that are displayed at Convention!

When I saw those chipboard thingys that look like a briefcase, I thought to myself, "What in the world is Stampin' Up! thinking? What would I do with thosee lame things?" And lo and behold ... look what Terri Gaines came up with. Now I'm thinking, "Gotta place an order for those thingys so I can make this!"

Take a look at these darling card holders shaped like a purse!

A creative use of the bird punch -- look at all of the varieties of birds! Clever, pure clever!

A great hostess idea!

Sisters ... sisters ... While speaking to each of them individually, I thought I was speaking to the same person until I saw them together. And no, they're not twins ... just sisters. Isn't that neat? Stampin' Up! sisters! Well, in reality ... we're all Stampin' Up! sisters, right?

So, so good to reconnect with old friends!

It's been almost ten years since I was in Minneapolis ... my first Stampin' Up! Convention. Many ole timers relive that experience by saying that it was the worst convention they had ever attended. For me, I thought it was the best, because it was the ONLY convention I had ever attended. Fond, fond memories working with Cherie Manderschied that year. She did a wonderful presentation and I had the honor of coaching and working with her. We've been dear friends ever since!


My bud ... Denise. I met Denise in Mesa, Arizona at one of our first regional seminars. Denise was giving a presentation and I fell in love with her teaching style. She continues to amaze me. She's truly a master teacher! Love and miss you Denise!

Isn't this the most adorable mobile, hanging from a sweet, little tree branch!

I need to thank all of you for giving me the most beautiful cards imaginable. I received full cards, not card fronts from all of the demos at Janice Weightman's event and Terri Gaine's event. Not only do I have fabulous ideas, but I have a plethora of cards to send to our hospice and home health patients. This is wonderful and I can't wait to share them! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I will be posting my 2nd BIG ANNOUNCEMENT next week, so check back to see what I have up my sleeve. You WON'T want to miss out!

Happy Memorial weekend to you all. I think I'll pick some of my Mom's peonies and Irises, place them in a glass Mason jar, wrap tinfoil around the jar and place it on her grave. She was very frugal and ALWAYS placed cans or bottles of flowers on her parent's graves ... always wrapped in tin foil. I think the tin foil was out of necessity and she thought it glammed up the can or glass jar. I look at tin foil in a different light now, and think of her. Of course I could Stampify it, but I've just gotta wrap the jar in tin foil.