Kwerner's Color Challenge

I have always loved Kristina's Color Challenges but have never had the time or energy to go down and actually make a card on a Wednesday night! So here it is. I finally did it! You can see her Color Challenge here.

I love this new Level 1 Hostess Set...Live Like You Mean It. It's so cute!

Color Challenge Results

Hey everyone! Here are the results from the color challenge that I posted last week. This was a hard color combo!

This is my card. I made it for a freind that having a baby that is due just a few weeks before our little one. Sending it out tomorrow.

Here is a close up of the letters with the little handprint over it. And look at that cute little clip. That is from the new Stampin Up clips assortment! I love them!

This card was made for Baby Ryden by Grandma Jean. Love the ribbon and the Designer Series Paper that you used!

And here is Heather's card. Love the way that you tied your ribbon and the build-a-brads! So cute!

I know that there was one more submission but I didn't bring my camera to the crop and my mom hasn't sent me a picture yet. I will post once I get the picture. Thanks for all your submissions ladies!

Color Challenge

I thought it was about time for another color challenge! So here is the picture that I have chosen to pull colors from...

I see: Basic Gray (or Going Gray), Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Whisper White, and Lovely Lilac (I'm pretty sure on that purple...don't have a catalog in front of me)!

There are no other rules...just a color combination this time around! And you are welcome to make a card, scrapbook page, or 3D item. Just have a picture submitted by Sunday evening, 8/24. Or bring it to the crop or club and I will snap a picture of it to post on my blog! Can't wait to see your creations!

I can now tell you all...

That Sam and I are having a baby! We had our parents over tonight so now it's official that we can tell the world! Our little one is due on March 4, 2009!! So that makes us almost 12 weeks along! And...we do have a family blog so that you can get caught up on what you have missed for the past few weeks since we have known and kept it a secret! www.therydenfamily.blogspot.com

And here is how we told our parents. I created the first page of a scrapbook with the family and a little baby...kinda like a family picture but I dated the picture on our due date! You will have to read our family blog to see how it all went down...fun story!

Recipe for those YUMMY pretzels!

So at a few events recently I have had some yummy pretzels sitting out and many people have asked if I made them and so I decided that you all deserved to know the recipe!

Ranch Flavored Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 bag of sourdough pretzels
1 package of dry Ranch seasoning
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:
Pour pretzels into a big bowl. In a smaller bowl mix the ranch seasoning and olive oil (just mix in olive oil until it dissolves the dry mix...you can always add more olive oil later). Pour ranch mixture over the pretzels and stir. Stir every 10 minutes for 30-45 so that the pretzels will be marinated in the mixture. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or just until the olive oil is dry.

The original recipe also had a few tablespoons of dill in it but I like it better without!

And I have to admit...this is a relatively healthy snack too!

He's Home! :)

Sam made it home this morning and my boss was lovely enough to let me stay at home today with him! YEAH! I think everyone from their team is now home safely. What a trip they had.

Anyway...I'm up watching the women's gymnastics while Sam is sleeping. Shhhh...

Still not home...

This cute man is still not home. He's sleeping in the Atlanta airport tonight. They are almost home. Just a little flight from Atlanta to Kansas City and I will get to see him tomorrow at 8:45 am...HOPEFULLY!

:(

My favorite man hasn't made it home yet. :(

His group was supposed to fly in yesterday (Sunday) around 5pm. Well they got to NJ (from Scotland) and then learned that their flight from NJ (close to NY) to KC was cancelled. So they spent the night walking around Times Square and Central Park...cool! They got to the airport this morning for their 6am flight and found out that too was cancelled. So now they are on a flight to Washington DC, then to another city, they home by around 7pm tonight.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly, I want to see him tonight. It's been 13 days so far! :(

Friday's 10 - It's Back

So I haven't done this in a while and I was thinking today that it's time to bring it back!

1. It is SO cold in our office. I think the temp is set on 65 degrees (Colette you would love it in here). I have learned that the key is wearing layers just in case one day the air is broken or something. So today I'm wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a long sleeve jacket! I could be wearing socks and gloves and I think I would be just perfect! :)

2. I'm so excited for Sunday at 4:44pm! That's when I get to meet my husband at the airport and see him for the first time in 12 days! That is just too long! But it's only 2 days away!

3. Last night I went to see a $5 movie with my sister. We saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. It was a cute movie but I came to the conclusion that I will no longer go see teenage girl movies until the kids are back in school and I can go late on a weekday! Those 13-15 year old girls were annoying! I hope I wasn't that bad when I was a young teenager (but probably was)!

4. Tonight I'm going to Archiver's to crop with my church girlies for Danielle's birthday! So excited to get the cruise scrapbook done! I will post pictures tomorrow!

5. Guess what I'm taping tonight on TV? That's right, it's finally Olympics Opening Ceremonies time! YEAH! I have been watching the beginning of the Today show all week and I've been learning so much about the Olympic facilities and China. Kinda fun! I think I should make it my goal in life to attend the Olympics at some point in my life.

6. I have my first new catalog workshop tomorrow morning! I'm very excited to show off some new stamp sets, meet some new people, and let everyone have a chance to look at the new catalog soon! YEAH!

7. I need to clean my house. After my workshop tomorrow I will have to go home and clean up the clutter. Since I've been living alone for the past week (even Jess left on Tuesday) I have not really cared about cleaning up the clutter! So on Saturday I will have to get to work! I have stamping stuff everywhere!

8. Saturday evening I'm having my demo/ex-demo stamping friends over to hang out and look at the new catalog! I'm excited to see all of you again! It's been too long!

9. I am so not into working today! Can you tell?

10. I have the urge to stamp just for fun today. To make a card that I only make one of. I think I might have to do that at Archiver's tonight!

Well I hope to see all of you soon! Remember: Open House on Monday, 8/11 from 7-9pm!

Look what I found today...

Yep...I just received 2 out of my 3 boxes today! That's 16 catalogs that I have to give out! Who wants one?!!!

You're Missin Out

On Monday we had our last technique club at my house. The hostess, Jean, wanted to learn how to do a scratch and sniff card. I'm sure glad that Tart & Tangy is in the new catalog. What other set would I use to make smelly!! below you will see the two cards that we created:

This circle card was made by using the Couzzle. And don't you just love that ribbon technique?!

This card is a little 3x3. The green is the new Kiwi Kiss...gotta love that In Color!

To create the scratch and sniff: Use one part sugar free drink mix, two parts clear embossing powder. Ink the part of the stamp that you want to smell with Versamark Ink. Use your Stampin Write markers to color the stamp. Stamp on paper and cover with the drink mix/EP mixture. Use heat gun to emboss. DONE. So easy and so cute!

If you would like to be part of a club like this and meet at my house monthly just let me know. New clubs starting at the end of August!

My Little Family

I love my little family!

I flew in today...back home from convention. And headed to my parent's house to pick up my babies. My parents fed me lunch (thanks!) and we watched a baseball fight on TV. Then we headed home to relax and unpack.

I guess Grandma and Grandpa really tuckered the puppies out. Here they are just lounging around.

So sleepy!

As some of you may know, my husband is in Scotland on a mission trip with our church for the next week. Well I went to go get some dinner out of the freezer today and found this card addressed to me with some very sweet words inside. He commented in the note, "I really like this card...Hopefully you made it." Yes...he took some cards from my stash but that's ok with me!

This one was found in my craft room!

And this one was by the TV!

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can find any more love notes from my wonderful husband! Hope you have a great night! It's back to work tomorrow for me! UGH!

Day 4 - Saturday

Sorry that this is so late! But here is the information about the last day of convention!

Today Jaron gave a presentation on the mainstage all about scrapbooking! It was awesome. His wife and kids were in the audience. They are such a cute family!

Then towards the end of General Session when Shelli was on stage, there was a doorbell that rang. In comes a UPS man with a SU box. Shelli asked if he was looking for someone and he said well yes he was. Shelli said that she could probably help him find who the package was for and asked whose name was on it. He said, "It says it's for EVERYONE!" And from there we all went wild! FREE STAMPS! There was confetti and a UPS truck came out with UPS employees and Stampin Up employees that were handing out stamp sets to EVERYONE! Yeah!

I'm so excited!

Here is the UPS logo because we later found out that UPS bought us all this set! Stampin Up uses them exclusively for shipping so they were kind enough to buy us all a stamp set! YEAH!

Here is the stamp set that we were given, Say it with Scallops. It is the Ronald McDonald stamp set this year. So for every stamp set that is purchased, Stampin Up will donate $2 to the Ronald McDonald House charities!

I was so excited!

And here is Shelli saying goodbye to us all until next year. Boo!

That night my roommates, Margie and Jeanette, and I went to eat dinner at Red Rock Brewery. YUMMY! I had that yummy burger Colette...are you jealous?! After that we decided to go to the mall and then we went back to the room and hung out while procrastinating packing! Here are some funny pictures!

Here's Margie taken a picture of me!

And Jeanette being a model! So sexy!

And me with a goofy look on my face...I was tired!

Animal Stamp Sets

Cassie...thanks for reading my blog! There aren't really any new animal sets for cats and dogs. This is the only set that I can see a doog and a cat...but it's geared more towards teachers.

I wish they would come out with a dog accessories set! That would be so cute!

Oh Jaron!

Every year I get my picture taken with Jaron Winder, a demonstrator trainer. He's my favorite! So there will be some great observations of the past convention pictures!

2008: (Today) Jaron is wearing an orange shirt and I am looking good!

2007: Denver - Jaron is wearing the exact same shirt and I'm weighing a little more.

2006: Salt Lake City - Jaron is wearing a different shirt but it's still orange and I weigh about 30 lbs more and look gross!

I like 2008 the best! Make sure you check out all of the posts that I uploaded today...there were quite a few!

Friday - Day 3

Day 3 started early as well! But the Stampin Up All-Star band was there to keep us entertained while we waited. This band is made up of all Stampin Up employees!

And Jaron joined them for a song!

Interesting Tid-bits from this morning:

*Stampin Up ships out 4,000 orders daily.

*There were 125,000 orders placed this year during SAB.

*There are currently 48,000 demos.

*Starting in the September issue of Stampin Success (a demo only publication) they are going to combine the On Stage information in the same catalog to make it 32 pages. And every month we will get current information that would have been in the On Stage magazine!

Ronald McDonald stopped by...

This is for Colette. This was Linda's presentation on the main stage. She talked about the new DSP. She made this really cute bag!

Here is Shelli's daughter Sarah teaching people about a new product that we will be selling. Stampin Up will now we carrying the Big Shot diecut machine with our own exclusive diecuts! I will take pictures soon. If you are a demo, you can read about it online now and you can preorder it NOW!

Here are some other Decor Elements that will be in Phase 2. So cute!

Here is a sneak attack picture that I took of myself...fun huh Colette!

During Make n Takes...

Look at this super cute ribbon flower that we made...I'm saving the secrets for when I get back! Open House - August 11th!!!

Me with a cute bookmark and a card! Love them!

This is a fun picture that I took for Colette and my past convention buddies! You can tell that Sandy doesn't know what to think about me!

Sandy and me!

Me and Tina.

I spent the rest of the day just chillin in the hotel room! So fun!

Thursday...Day 2 of Convention

Day 2 of Convention started early! The doors now open at 7:30am (instead of 8am) because they make sure to check everyone's nametag. Here is the main stage...

And all of the people that were there. There are around 6,000 demonstrators here! WOW! And now, Colette, I didn't sit way back there...I just went there to take a picture!

Then before the presentation started I spotted Kristina Werner and got my picture taken with her! Check out her blog for a Stampin Up employee's view of covention. She is a designer for SU...designing stamp sets and papers. She does videos every Monday! They are fun!

I took this picture of the regional announcement for Kansas City! Can't wait for that one ladies! August 6th is sign up!

Here are some announcements from today's General Session that are worth repeating:

*Shelli is starting a blog! http://www.soshelli.com/ Her first post will be on Monday, August 4th!

*Shelli is going to have her own signature product line. So she will start picking things as new minis come out. They will be marked with a heart and will represent her style and what she likes the best.

*In November Stampin Up will be partnering with Country Living magazine again. They will have a holiday kit this year (Christmas) and a 21 page spread in the December issue of the magazine.

*The Spring/Summer Idea Book and Catalog will have ALL die cut stamps!!!!!!

*Phase 2 of the Decor Elements will be ready for ordering in the fall...no specific date yet. These will include colors and more seasonal images. Pictures below.

Here is a picture of the cupcakes that were on our table at lunch today. That piece is actually chocolate! How cute is that?

This room was on display. They stamped on the walls, used Decor Elements on the desk and chair, and used Designer Series paper for wall decorations and office supplies. So cute!

New Decor Elements - Phase 2! Cute!

Here is Sandy, Kristina Werner, and Tina (one of my roommates). Sandy and Tina are my new buddies.

And I did something that I have never done at a convention before. I attended Awards Night. They changed it to be on the 1st night of convention instead of the last so I thought I would check it out.

It was pretty amazing to see what some demos sell in a year. Here is the top US demo. She sold $130K! WOW!

And then the entertainment was Tonic Soul-Fa. They were a great group and there is rumor that they are coming to KC close to the holiday. I'm excited!

And that is the end of day 2!