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.

HALLELUJA!

Thanks for all of your prayers and fingers crossed and positive thoughts! I was able to secure the entire 9th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building! That means that ALL 210 of you that registered will be able to attend. That also means that those of you who weren't quick enough on the 'draw' will have to wait until next year. So sorry, but fire code doesn't allow more than 210 in the room.

Because I had to pay more money for the entire floor, of course my expenses went up, which means that we'll do our best to still give you wonderful Make & Takes, but there will be a minimal supply list which I will ask you to bring. I promise I'll try to keep it at a minimum so you won't have extra baggage weight.

This evening promises to be fun! The food will be wonderful, the company 'the best', the stamping phenomenal, and I have a few more surprises in store for you. You'll just have to wait and see.

As I mentioned before, there can be no refunds for the evening. I have to pay in advance. If you're unable to attend, please make arrangements for someone to take your place. Just make sure that I'm aware of the change so we don't have complications at check-in.

The building is a non-smoking building, as all of the buildings are in Utah, but it also does not allow outside food or beverages into the facility and does not offer coffee, tea, or alcohol. But the Raspberry Lemonade is to DIE for and they offer plenty of water! :) Just wanted to give everyone a heads up so no one is disappointed.

O.K. ... now I've got to get all of the logisitcs figured out. Thanks to great helpers Dina and Di! Couldn't do this without you. As we get closer to the event, I may have to enlist the services of some of you.

Happy Mother's Day and have a fabulous day. (I mowed and edged my Mom and Dad's yard in honor of my mother. She would have loved that for her gift!)

Had a WONDERFUL brekfast with my girls this morning. Kneaders gave away, free, the most marvelous french toast in the world, smothered in whipped cream, strawberries, and caramel sauce. It was to DIE for! It's always nice sharing time with those you love. I sure enjoy my girls and am so happy to have two daughter-in-laws who I love like my own girls!

SOLD OUT!!!

An Evening to Remember has sold out!

What a FANTASTIC response. I never dreamed we would 'sell out' so quickly. I'm soo excited I can hardly stand it. This will be a wonderful evening.

We actually had 150 people sign up. I'm trying frantically to find a larger room so I don't have 50 disappointed girl friends! I'll keep you posted. You should have all received confirmation e-mails from me regarding your registration.

Regarding your registration ... there can be no refunds. I have to pay in advance for your seat and there are no refunds from the establishment. If you cannot attend after registering, you are welcome to sell your seat to someone else. Please keep me notified so we can have the registration rolls correct.

We haven't designed our stamping project yet, but I do know that you will need to bring your own adhesive for the Make & Takes. So, plan on that for sure!

It's late and I'm having troubles with the internet. Hope I can get my Pay Pal account removed from my site. If not ... please don't try to register. And pray we can find a larger room so all can attend.

Hugs and Loves to All --- especially if I didn't tell you that I love you in your confirmation e-mail! Consider you loved ... by me!

--Linda Lou

"An Evening to Remember"

First Big Announcement:

I'm having "An Evening to Remember" on Friday, July 23, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. til 9:00 p.m. at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at 15 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is just a short walking distance from the Salt Palace Convention Center.

The evening will include a beautiful traditional buffet dinner which includes Chicken Wellington, which is a breast of chicken stuffed with mushroom and ham duxelle wrapped in a flaky pastry with cream sauce. We will also have baked Pacific Salmon with fresh pineapple raspberry salsa. Included in the dinner will be a mixed green salad with condiments and dressing, assorted seasonal fruit tray, seasonal vegetables, parslied new red potatoes, hard rolls, raspberry lemonade, and New York cheescake with raspberry sauce. Yummo!

Dinner will be served promptly at 6:00 p.m. and stamping will follow. You may want to arrive a few minutes early to check in. We will stamp (4) beautiful Make & Takes and have time for swapping. We will have a themed swap and will let you know in plenty of time what the theme will be.

Our own Diana Gibbs, a 2009 Artisan Award Designer will be one of my hosts for the evening. Many of you have seen her beautiful works of art on-line and in Stampin' Success. Another one of my hosts is Dina Anker from Toronto, Canada. You'll recognize Dina once you see her. She's always the first to arrive in Main Stage at Convention each year and is always waving her Canadian flag! I'm so pleased to have them helping me with our event. They will be designing our Make & Takes and are both wonderful stampers!

We are pleased to have some special guests that will be attendance. I don't want to ruin the surprise just yet, but I promise you ... you won't want to miss out! I only have 100 spots available. Payment is only $50. Just click on the PayPal link on the side of my blog to register. Also, shoot me an e-mail at lindahansen1813@comcast.net to make sure that you are registered. I'll send you an e-mail confirmation which you can print out and bring with you to the event.

I need to have my final counts and payment by May 12th to the facility. This is not a money making event for us. We'll break even if we sell all 100 seats. :) I'm sooo excited to have this event for you during your free night at convention. No need to worry about where you're going to eat or what you're going to do. Come join us for fun, laughs, hugs, food, stamping, and loves. Can't wait to see you!

Love,
Linda Lou