Stamp Shoppe Open THIS Weekend!

Don't forget: If you can't attend in person, you can "Shoppe on the Go!" — e-mail me at alystamps@gmail.com for more info!

Stamp Shoppe is open this weekend — and it's one you won't want to miss as we bring the Holiday Season to a close! Our Cards this month feature 3 Christmas Cards that allow you easily leave the sentiment out and simply have "Winter Cards", 2 "Winter Cards" with snowman and fun winter sentiments that are good for any time, and a Birthday Card. Our Scrapbook pages this month are the last Christmas Pages of the season! AND – it's your LAST CHANCE for handmade Gift Packaging at our Specialty Shoppes! Come make Gift Bags, Tags, Gift Card Holders and more! Due to some scheduling conflicts, I'm going to be cutting tomorrow (Tuesday December 6th) instead of Thursday — so I need to gather as accurate of a head count as possible today and tomorrow morning. If you're not signed up to attend yet and want to – shoot me off an e-mail as soon as possible! I will cut some extras, but they will be first come first served after tomorrow, so the best way to ensure your spot is to RSVP today.

This Month at the Card Shoppe…   December 9th from 5:30 – 9:30 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  OR December 10th from 9 am – 1:00 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  at 1000 Winton Road North, Rochester NY 14609     Cost: $15 or FREE with a $20 Order during class.     Here's a look at the "The Card Shoppe" line up for December! I can't wait to see YOU at the Card Shoppe this month! To RSVP now, CLICK HERE!   This Month at the Scrapbook Shoppe…   December 9th from 5:30 – 9:30 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  OR December 10th from 9 am – 1:00 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  at 1000 Winton Road North, Rochester NY 14609        Cost: $20 or FREE with a $25 Order during class.     Here's a look at 2 of the 3 pages we'll be making this month at Scrapbook Shoppe! I can't wait to see YOU at the Scrapbook Shoppe this month! To RSVP now, CLICK HERE!   This Month at the Specialty Shoppe…   December 9th from 5:30 – 9:30 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  OR December 10th from 9 am – 1:00 pm OPEN Hours; EXTENDED Holiday Hours!!!  at 1000 Winton Road North, Rochester NY 14609     Cost: $8 per Option or FREE with a $15 Order during class.    Here's a look at the two different Goodies & Gifts Class Options (do 1 or both!)    Option A includes a Wine Bottle Tag and Bow, a Decorated Box & Tag and a Stocking Gift Card Holder (or use it for candy canes or any other small trinkets!) Option B includes a darling punch art Santa topping a 1×8 cello bag with a Twizzler (or add a pencil or any other item from home), a gift bag that holds a card right in the front of it (you'll make the card, too!) and a gift tag that pulls out and also serves as a bookmark! I can't wait to see YOU at the Specialty Shoppe this month! To RSVP now, CLICK HERE!

I hope to see you this weekend, but if I don't, have a WONDERFUL Holiday!!!!

Last Call for Stamp Shoppe this Weekend!

Stamp Shoppe is open THIS weekend (Friday November 11th and Saturday November 12th). Tomorrow is the last day to sign up to attend!

At Card Shoppe, come and make 6 cards for $15 or FREE with a $20 order.

Here's a look at month's cards!

CLICK HERE for more details!

At Scrapbook Shoppe, come and make 3 12×12 pages for $20 or FREE with a $25 order.

Here's a look at month's pages!

CLICK HERE for more details!

Hope to see YOU at Stamp Shoppe this weekend!

More Grand Achiever’s Day Treats and Highlights!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's post — Part 1 of the Grand Achiever's Day highlights! Now it's time for MORE!

Here are some photos of the girls working on their albums. A closer look at the album will be coming soon, because it will be one of the classes available during December's Creative Tuesday!

After all of the stamping, it was time to head outside for dinner! My hubby grilled for us — hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad and potato salad – Camp Food!!!

We enjoyed the food around a Campfire : )

And then it was time for Games!!! If there's one thing that's become a ritual – it's CRAZY games…. I make them work hard for their stamps, LOL! But the girls were motivated to bring on the crazies at this event, because at stake were two 6×6 albums and two copies of the "Daring Adventure" stamp set that we used for the pages!

And what was their silly game to earn them?? A Mini Marshmallow competition!!!! They broke into Teams of 4, and started at a cup of Mini Marshmallows…

They had to put a Mini Marshmallow in their nose and run down to the other table….

And blow it out into their cup on the other side!

They had 2 minutes to get as many marshmallows into the cup as they could… and the winner got a FREE Stamp Set or Album!! It was so stinkin' fun (and FUNNY!!!!!)

And then…. it was time for Gourmet 'Smores!!!! I made each of the girls a Gourmet 'Smore Cookbook on My Digital Studio. I printed off all of the pages on Whisper Whisper White Cardstock and put them together with a Binder Ring and some ribbon:

Each of the pages had a different 'Smore recipe!

Here's what the actual MDS JPEGS looked like:

There were 8 recipes, I'm not going to put them all here, but will share a couple!

And the best part??? They all got a FULL 'Smore fixin's buffet with ALL of the options in the recipe book!!!

So they got to make DELICIOUS gourmet 'smores and roast marshmallows around the fire!

And when we had finally had enough 'Smores, it was time to wind down and share our Workshop Horror Stories around the campfire : )

What a BLAST!!!! I just love our Team Events, they are so much fun and the friendships that develop from them are priceless.

And now….. for a VIDEO HIGHLIGHT!

Untitled from Aly Schilling on Vimeo.

YOU can see what it's like to be a part of this active Team of Demonstrators today and receive a FREE BIG SHOT or $100 in product of your choice just for doing so! When you purchase the Starter Kit and get your free gift, you will automatically be eligible for all of our exclusive benefits and perks through March of 2012. If you decide to renew your Demonstratorship during this time, you'll reap the benefits for even longer! Click Here for even more information on our active Team of Heartfelt Stampers – there are many opportunities for both local and long distance Team Members!

Click Here for more information about this special promotion!

Grand Achiever’s Day Favors & Treats!

Hi Everyone! Over the next couple of days, I'm going to share with you the behind the scenes for why I've been SO DARN BUSY lately, and unable to do much extra stamping & blogging!

In September after I return from Founder's Circle (when I'm blessed enough to earn it!), I do an incentive event for my own downline called Grand Achiever's Day! Every year is a different theme.

This year's theme was "THE GRAND STAMP CAMP!" This is going to be a 2 part post…. today I'm going to share with you the favors and gifts!

I used both My Digital Studio (MDS) and "Traditional Stamping" on these projects. I just love how the two can combine!

First, they were invited!!! The invitations went out back in July, but I don't think I ever posted them…. I designed them in My Digital Studio — what I did, was design a card front and a card inside, then I saved the pages as a JPEG file. I then brought the JPEG files into a Word Label Template where I could tile them to bring multiples on one sheet. I cut them down to 4" x 5 1/4" so that I could mount them to a regular size card with a little bit of a border. I don't have a photo of the finished card, but here are the MDS JPEGs I used:

Here's what they looked like when I created the tile to print them on a sheet:

For the actual event, the first thing I made were these little 3×3 cards — these were all done with MDS — or at least, the images were. I printed them off on Whisper White Cardstock and mounted them to Cajun Craze Cardstock with Stampin' Dimensionals! I wrote each of the girls a little message inside.

The next thing I did was order a bunch of compasses and typed up a little tag on MDS, punched them out with the Decorative Label Punch and tied them on with Hemp Twine. I did a little "talk" about the North, South, East and West points of our business and asked the girls to keep these to remind them of what direction they're headed.

This goodie was mostly all hand stamped – aren't they super cute!? 'Smore Kits!!! The box was all hand stamped and paper crafted…

Where MDS came in was on the labels for the tops — I wanted the 'Smore image to be smaller than the stamp was, and wasn't really wanting to use my own hand writing — so MDS came to the rescue to help solve both of those problems, yet still coordinate with the rest of the ensemble!

Then there were water bottles! The Belly bands I used "traditional" Well Worn Designer Paper to wrap around, and the labels were done in MDS (this is a MDS exclusive image set!)

I ordered each of the recipients a bag and a hat as a memento of the day:

I tied a flashlight onto each of the bags with some 1 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon.

The hat was inside along with all of their make and take packets for a 6×6 album! And a full pack of Antique Brads!

And here's a look at what each spot at the table looked like all set up with the above:

All set and ready to go for the Achiever's to arrive!!!

MORE highlights and projects from the day coming tomorrow – stay tuned!

YOU can see what it's like to be a part of this active Team of Demonstrators today and receive a FREE BIG SHOT or $100 in product of your choice just for doing so! When you purchase the Starter Kit and get your free gift, you will automatically be eligible for all of our exclusive benefits and perks through March of 2012. If you decide to renew your Demonstratorship during this time, you'll reap the benefits for even longer! Click Here for even more information on our active Team of Heartfelt Stampers – there are many opportunities for both local and long distance Team Members!

Click Here for more information about this special promotion!

A Look at October Shoppe Projects!

Thank you to everyone who made September's Stamp Shoppe a HUGE success!!!!! September was the BIG 1 YEAR Birthday of The Stamp Shoppe, and we had a cake and balloons to celebrate!

Thank you to everyone for making the success of Stamp Shoppe possible – it's such a wonderful place to come every month – and we Thank You for making it what it is today!

But the celebrating doesn't end there!! The Stamp Shoppe has hit another benchmark — not just it's one year Birthday, but we've also reached about 90 participants in a weekend!!! Which means that starting with the October Stamp Shoppe, 4 of the 6 cards will now have TWO stations, allowing us to accomodate an additional 25 people per session, while still giving everyone their space and freedom to move around – while we want to grow, we don't want anyone to feel cramped and to be able to continue to have a memorable Stamp Shoppe experience.

I hope that you're able to join us for the October Session!!! Sneak Peeks of these projects are now available. Here's a look! Remember, you can attend Card Shoppe, Scrapbook Shoppe or BOTH — it's a la carte to better serve your needs and wants!

And remember – if you live long distance or local and just can't make it, you can do "Stamp Shoppe On the Go!" and participate in either or both of these classes from the comfort of your own home!

Click Here for more information on The Stamp Shoppe!

Click Here for more information about Stamp Shoppe on the Go!

Hope you can participate – either in person or on the go!

Founder’s Circle Day 4

I'm back home! Yesterday was rather eventful getting home between a massive Security Line that almost made me miss my first flight and delays…. but I made it home! Late! And today I'm snuggling on the couch with my little man who seems to have missed his Mommy : ) — and I'm working tomorrow instead. But, since he's sitting here next to me on his Nook I thought I would get caught up with some internet stuff, which includes sharing photos from the final day in St. George.

There aren't MANY photos because I SLEPT through half the day!!! I kid you not – I bolted up at Noon and couldn't believe it…. but it was perfectly OK because there wasn't anything on the schedule until 4 pm! So I headed down to the pool and soaked in the pool and read by the pool until I turned the color or Real Red, then it was off to get cleaned up for our final night surprise!

Our special closing event was at Coral Canyon Golf Course…. now…. they've taken us to Golf Courses before, but it's always been for the Country Club! So when we saw the very long row (about 70!) Golf Carts waiting for us, we were a little scared about what we were doing…. surely they couldn't expect us to actually golf!!! We were quickly assured that we wouldn't be golfing the traditional way, and that there would be different challenges on each green that would even include stamping — now THAT'S something we can handle!

This part was hysterical…. the entire first busload of us headed off…. in the wrong direction…. and got quite lost! There were a couple men there ACTUALLY there to golf and we got to them and they must have thought we were out of our minds…. a long row of golf carts filled with women and NO golf clubs anywhere to be seen, cackling our heads off…… They kindly directed us to Hole #1, and the games began!

In between the challenges at the holes, it was driving through the most BEAUTIFUL scenery I think I've ever seen… it was just BEAUTIFUL!!!! And of course, a little goofing off with the golf carts…

Then we headed back to the club house for dinner! These were waiting for us at our tables : )

While we were out on the golf course, we got prizes, too! There was also an AWESOME Plinko prize today, a whole slab of the In Color Paper! Here's a look at today's loot:

And back to bed also meant it was time for the final pillow gift! Here's a look:

Inside was this BEAUTIFUL key chain! It is FILLED with our Baubles and Trinket Charms! I mean LOADED!

The charm on the end was custom made for us! It's a tea cup for our Tea Party theme, and it has special Founder's Circle engraving on it:

What an AMAZING trip!!!! Stampin' Up! always outdoes themselves on ANY event (Leadership Conference, Convention, Cruise, etc.) but this sure takes the cake. I would love for you to join my Demonstrator Team and be able to participate in amazing events, too!!! While Founder's Circle is for the Top 100 of the company, there is a NEW TRIP just for NEW DEMONSTRATORS called the Rising Start Trip!!!! Anyone who joins has the option to earn this new trip in their first full year as A Demonstrator…. which means YOU could earn it!!! It's very manageable, and an unlimited number of New Demonstrators can earn it every year. Contact me for more information!

Founder’s Circle Day 3!

Yesterday was Day #3 of Founder's Circle!! It was a day at Kanab, Stampin' Up!'s Manufacturing Facility, where we make all of our Rubber Stamps! So at 8 am, we boarded 2 buses and took a 2 hour trip down South. . When we pulled into Kanab, I got so choked up — all of the employees were out holding up signs for us… upon talking to them… it was amazing to hear from then that it is the event they look forward to most in the entire year, because it's the only time Demonstrators come to visit them, and it's just amazing to hear how they think of us/how much we mean to them… I got very teary eyed on this visit!

It was just BEAUTIFUL there….. We weren't able to take any photos from inside the manufacturing facility (it's all very "secret!") but even though this wasn't my first time there, I learned so much and continue to be amazed at what goes into making our stamps. We got to help make a couple of sets…. and even got to  help make a stamp set that we then GOT to TAKE WITH US that is from the UPCOMING Occasions Mini Catalog in January!!!!!!! How cool is that!? Then when it was time to leave, they had another special gift for us…. they had turned some of their Mag Plates into key chains! Mag Plates are the heavy metal molds used to make our stamp sets. So now we have a piece of them to treasure! So special.

Then it was off to the Kanab Park for a picnic lunch! Our lunch was packed in cute mini picnic baskets, and it was SO YUMMY!!! There was even a chef there making us Creme Burle!

The reason that Kanab Park is so special, is because it's where Stampin' Up! sends its red rubber scraps!!! It makes the BEST playground floor ever… it's so springy and clean! Talk about "Big Kids" taking over your playground…… 100 demonstrators taking over the playground and rolling in the rubber had to be pretty odd for the kids that were playing there when we arrived!

Then we stopped off for some souvenir shopping, and on the bus ride back played Bingo for Stampin' Up! product prizes!!! After a couple hour break, it was back out for a super special evening….. we went to see the Little Mermaid Broadway Musical at the Amphitheater! It was AMAZING and probably the best performance I've seen. It was outside in these BEAUTIFUL rocks…. and there was real water that covered the stage during some parts… We weren't allowed to take pictures…. only somehow I didn't get that memo so took a couple before I got yelled at…. whoops! I wish I had more to show because it was just so amazing, but the photos wouldn't do it justice anyway!

Then it was back to the hotel for another pillow gift waiting for me, in another cute Big Shot Box!!! And inside was a BEAUTIFUL sewn apron made with our fabric!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'll post today's photos (Day 4 and the final day!) I somehow got off a day in posting, and don't want to put 2 up in one day : )