Tacoma Regional

At the end of September, I took a rode trip with three of my demonstrator buddies and we headed north to the Tacoma Stampin' Up! Regional. We rolled out of the driveway at 5:00 AM a little sleepy-eyed, but excited for the fun day ahead! It is about a 3-hour drive from where we live and we all opted to make the day trip to avoid the extra costs of an overnight stay and to have more time with the family (especially because it was my son's birthday the day before!)

We got there after they had already opened the doors to let everyone in and by that time the only seating enough for all of us was in the way back. Oh well, it made us closer to all of the sample boards, so that was a plus! 

~ Shelli Gardner, CEO for Stampin' Up! ~

I {heart} Shelli! She's so stinkin' cute!

There were many inspiring demonstrations, fun make n takes, some pep talks for how to boost our business, and of course...FREE Stampin' Up! goodies! We each got to take home the Seasonal Sayings stamp set and the Merry Moments Simply Scrappin' Kit! Unfortunately, no one in our table group one Prize Patrol...maybe next time!

 

I officially decided to bring swap cards the night before and if it wasn't for the amazing help of my mom, there is no way I would have gotten it done before midnight! I decided to make swaps from cards that I had already designed to help save on the added stress. My two cards I swapped are seen here below on the swap boards (the ones that are circled if you hadn't noticed). For those faithful followers of my blog, you might notice that they are familiar as I posted them awhile back when I held my Holiday Catalog Open House in August. (Christmas tree card HERE, Snowflake mug card HERE)

 I think in the end I swapped 50 cards...give or take a few, and here are my top five favorite swaps I got in return...

So many talented stampers attended this super fun event! I think one of the highlights of my time was introducing myself to THE Becky Roberts of Inking Idaho. She has been such an inspiration to me as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so it was fun to meet her in person. Can't help but say I was just a little star struck. *wink*

And, here is the road trip crew after a long, but fun day...
Terri, me, Andrea, and Tami