Hip Hip Hooray!

I just got back from Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event in Shreveport.

I haven't driven through East Texas since I was a kid, and I forgot how beautiful it is. Tall, beautiful trees, mile after mile of peaceful farms and ranches, and 60 billion brand spanking new baby cows dotted across the Ireland-green grass.

I was particularly excited to drive through Carthage, where the movie Bernie was set. My all time favorite description of Texas is from this movie - and Carthage is forever immortalized here in this clip from the movie. Completely accurate. :)

I was lucky enough to have my team member Katherine with me, and on the 11 hours we spent in the car, we pretty much fixed all the world's problems, so you are welcome.

The event was awesome as usual, and of course we got the first look at the new catalog at CentreStage on Friday night, so if you heard oohs and aahs, it was coming from Shreveport.

It's fantastic. I was completely amazed at the extra coordination of some of the products - this is a trend that has been growing at Stampin' Up! and I love it. It stretches your crafty dollar. So for example, the bow in the Holly Berry Builder Punch also matches the bow in the Baby Bear set. Each catalog brings us more of these product mixes and I love it - it respects the investment that all of us have made in tools and supplies, and rewards it.

But my absolute favorite one of these coordinations is in this upcoming catalog. Remember this Home For Christmas DSP from the 2016 Holiday catalog? I LOVED the retro look of this paper and the beautiful way they were colored.

Well that style is back in the new catalog in a big way in my absolute favorite product suite - the Birthday Delivery suite. It's a stunning vintage, storybook stamp set in the style of Home For Christmas / Greeting Card Kids / Storybook Friends line of products. It's like a children's book come to life and it is BEAUTIFUL. It was one of the prizes at OnStage, but I didn't win it, so I have to wait for my pre-order to show you more.

But the coolest thing about this suite is that the dies that match the stamp set ALSO match the DSP - so you can cut out as many foxes, banners and other images as you want and they are perfectly colored and oh so cute.

So I'm breaking one of my own rules for the very first time, and posting a card that I did not design. I've never done this on my blog before, because I want you to get my work here, not someone else's. But our make & take was so cute, I just had to show you. Christina Nielsen - a concept artist at Stampin' Up! designed this card - it's her original work, not mine. And I love it so. This is the DSP cut with the dies - both the fox (which matches the stamp set) and the banner he's holding. Then we stamped the presents and the sentiment on the banner - thank God Katherine brought her MISTI. The suite also features new honeycomb balloons in Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party, and some baseball-style stitched ribbon, in addition to the stamps, dies and paper.

EEK I love him so, so much.

We all lined up at the Big Shots to cut them, and I didn't have tape, so my die cutting is a bit off, but you get the idea. I can't wait to cut 40 billion of these out.

One of the stamping demonstrations showed how to make "Golden Book" style cards with the yellow pattern in the DSP stack - it was adorable.

If you want to get your paws on this catalog, you can request one here if you do not already have a demonstrator. You won't be disappointed!

Now on to the important stuff - the people.

Here we are eating Papa John's by the valet stand because our hotel restaurant food was slow, cold, expensive, and served by grumpy people. We made the best of it and had fun.

This was our team dinner at a really nice steakhouse not far away. I'm not 100% sure our waiter thought we were sane people.

Frenchie modeled the ADORABLE apron we got at CentreStage - see the In Color straps? That's Lemon-Lime Twist - AMAZING new color. Hard to see here - but there's a rose on that white pocket - beautiful, graphic image from a new stamp set. Really cute apron.

Sharon is showing off her beautiful gift from Bev for promoting to Silver! Bev couldn't be with us, so she let me surprise her with it.

Caron was MILDLY excited about her prize patrol!

We have so much fun at these things. I look forward to them and wish they happened more than twice a year. There's not enough time in the world to hang out with my crafty tribe, and it was just glorious. We are all looking forward to seeing each other in November in Salt Lake - and then NEXT November in Orlando - we found out that the 30th Anniversary celebration is going to be where our conventions first began, and I could not be happier. :) I most definitely will have a retreat prior to the event.

If you want to be a part of this fun, join us here. I'd love to see you at my next team outing.

PS - the new catalog starts June 1. The retirement list is here.

 Once the retiring list is posted, as of today - all items are while supplies last. Shop here while the shopping is good!

Loveyameanitbye.