SU! Convention 2008 Day 1

First, let me give you another stamp set tease! This morning I was too rushed to retake a photo, so here it is this afternoon. There is an entire line of stamps called Silhouette that captures wonderful nature elements in--wait for it--silhouette! There are 5 sets in the line, and coordinating designer paper called Urban Garden, rub-ons, ribbon, accents and elements, brads, and chipboard. I can HARDLY WAIT for you to see it, and the entire catalog!! Also, there's a fabulous sale coming, starting Aug. 11, so be on the alert and watch for updates here, at my new catalog open houses, and via email from me. It's GREAT!

Okay, here are a few shots from today. Here is a picture of the uber-wonderful gals I'm spending the convention with, Neelam and Lydia, from Understand Blue!!! We finally got to meet face to face, and I feel like I've known both of them much longer than 24 in-real-life hours! They are making convention for me, truly!

Here is my brush with fame in the stamping world, particularly SU! stamping land. THE Kristina Werner, whose color inspiration challenges I've posted here in the past, works as a graphic designer for SU!, and she is working the convention!! I am not starstruck, in general at all, but to get to meet someone who is as genuinely nice and seemingly amazed by her celebrity as Kristina was very cool! She has a set of designer paper coming out in the new catalog that she created--you know that'll be on the list.

Today was a big awards day, with folks who earned lots of money through sharing what they love with others getting to walk across the stage. The company's first person to sell $1 Million--a very humble woman from WI named Mary Polcin--was acknowledged, and she shared her tips in a breakout session called Demonstrator Theater. So so so inspiring, and the principles she shared were transferable. One of the highlights of the day.

Another cool thing that I noted as I was looking through the catalog today was that a suggestion I made has been implemented!! I suggested to demonstrator support that the colors of card stock that coordinate should be published underneath each package of designer paper so that you would immediately know what to use with it when you make projects. They also included the names of the stamp sets that coordinate with the Simply Scrappin' Kits. I most likely wasn't the only one to make this suggestion, but what if I was? How cool is that that they listened?!!

In her keynote address this morning, co-founder Shelli Gardner announced that she's starting a blog on Monday, Aug. 4. It's called soshelli.com. Tomorrow she's also debuting her own signature line of items. But more on that tomorrow...

One of this morning's main session was all about decor elements, a brand new vinyl decorative rub-ons for your walls. AMAZING! Lydia's camera worked much much better, so go to her blog to see pictures that she will post about these. Much more to come, gals!!

The rub-on collection has been expanded extensively, exponentially, and a great benefit for a visual person like me is all the ideas that the creative staff share about how to use them. Oh, we are SOOO going to make something BEAUTIFUL for Thanksgiving, gals!!

There was also a beyond cute bear card that Brent Steele, our director of creative services, demonstrated, that you have to go to Lydia's blog to see. I don't even want to spoil it, but it is NOT to be missed. As I'm posting, I've checked her blog and her pics aren't up yet. I'm sure they will be in the morning, which is probably today for most of you reading this, so go see! (second Understand Blue link for your convenience).

Well, this has been a lot of words without a lot of pictures, so I'm going to close. Tomorrow I'll share about the culinary experiences of the day. Sweet, spicy, and fowl are my hints. Good night! Thanks for reading, and for your comments. Let me know what more you'd like to know about, and I'll see what I can share!