Founder’s Circle 2015: Part Two

I’ve shared quite a bit with you already about my wonderful trip to St. George, Utah for Stampin’ Up!’s 2015 Founder’s Circle – a retreat for the company’s Top 100 demonstrators in the United States and Canada.  What a trip.

  • On Sunday, I shared my swap card for this wonderful retreat.  I was so happy to share this card with some of the elite stampers in this company.  If you missed it, you can see it here.
  • Yesterday, I shared Part One of my Founder’s Circle getaway.  I shared some pictures from the Welcome Dinner, our trip to Kanab and some general tomfoolery.  If you missed those, you can see them here.

Today, I’m sharing some pictures from our Goodbye Dinner and Final Event, along with pictures of friends I already miss dearly.  I’m also sharing some new products we received and some projects we made with those products.  What fun!

New Products

Who doesn’t love to receive and play around with new products?  On the first night, we received our Founder’s Circle Make-and-Take products.  We received a pack of Designer Series Paper and stamp set from the Occasions Catalog.  What fun!  Here are some beautiful projects with these new products:

Stampin' Up! Founder's Circle 2015, Birthday Blooms Sneak Peek Stampin' Up! Founder's Circle 2015, Birthday Blooms Sneak Peek Stampin' Up! Founder's Circle 2015, Birthday Blooms Sneak Peek Stampin' Up! Founder's Circle 2015, Birthday Blooms Sneak PeekStampin' Up! Founder's Circle 2015, Birthday Blooms Sneak PeekWhile I don’t normally gravitate toward floral stamps and images, I’m really happy that these flowers are so versatile – as you can see from the samples above, they can be formal or casual or modern or vintage.  And the sentiments in the set are sublime.

Goodbye Dinner and Final Event

On our last evening in St. George, Stampin’ Up! surprised us with an amazing dinner in the gardens of The Roene B. DiFiore Center for Arts and Education.  What a beautiful night with amazing food and friendships!

final dinner wide photoThis is our table (before any of us sat down and messed anything up).

dinner closing

I was willfully sandwiched between Angie Juda (who I absolutely adore, y’all, and loved getting to know on this trip) and Linda Heller (does it get any sweeter than Linda?).

dinner with Angie and Linda

After dinner we were shuttled down the street to the St. George Musical Theater’s production of West Side Story.  The show is presented “in the round” which means that the audience is in a circle around the show.  It was great!

West Side Story 2

This is just one side of the theater – there were four walls of this.  We were so close.  There I am in the top, left corner of the risers.  I don’t like for people to come up behind me, so I thought I was safe and comfortable there.  What I didn’t realize, though, is that people would come down to the stage from the curtain directly to my right.  The first time that curtain ripped open and people charged out, I almost jumped over this collection of people.  Scared. Out. Of. My. Mind.

West Side StoryFriends

While Founder’s Circle is a great opportunity to catch up with “old” friends, it’s also a wonderful time to form connections with “new” friends.  I never got a picture with some of my “old” favorites because it doesn’t occur to me.  It doesn’t mean I don’t love them just as much.  Here are some fun pictures of me with some of my Founder’s Circle friends.

I spent most of my time at Founder’s Circle with Linda Heller – partly because she roped me into that really long Phase 10 card game (the one that went on and on and on) but mostly because she’s a real joy to be around.  Linda had a hard time, though, making it into pictures.  Here we are sharing a make-and-take from our trip to Kanab.

Founder's Circle 2015It wasn’t fair of her to willfully hide behind the project kit, so I made her take another picture that showed her perky smile.

Founder's Circle 2015I also shared a bit with you about my encounters with Ronda Wade – she’s the one who created a fire hazard by tying my door shut with jute ribbon (not really much of a hazard since I wasn’t in the room at the time).  I loved getting to know Ronda on this trip – it’s hard to believe she’s been a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator since the late 1940’s.  That’s just not true.  My point is…she’s amazing.

Founder's Circle 2015 And then there was Angela McKay, who I just adore.  Every time I made eye contact with Angela, I felt the urge to laugh.  She’s such a talented artist with a sweet and kind charm about her, but there’s also an intelligent naughtiness there.

Angela McKay  Selfie with Kim Vogel and Dawn Bourgette (whose real name is NOT Snowangel).Kim Vogel and Dawn Bourgette

I wanted to hug Karen Duke every time I saw her.  This kind, funny lady has a streak of blue in the front of her hair and a streak of naughty to go with it – gave a new meaning to “blue hairs”.

Karen Duke

Ann Schach and I posed for a picture at the park in Kanab.

Ann Schach Connie Steward, Michelle Zindorf and I had a quick picture at the same park – Jodi Reinert didn’t know she was in our picture (just beside Michelle), and Linda barely made it into the snapshot – see I told you she had a tough time.  🙂

park

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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21 Comments

  1. These photos are awesome!! Thank you for taking the time to post them Brian. What a beautiful photo of you and Ann, I really love the stunning backdrop in that photo. Linda looks like so much fun! Hope to meet all of them in Europe on the cruise.

  2. Love your pictures and tales of your Founder’s Circle experience!

  3. Brian, I just finished looking at all of the awesome pictures from yesterday’s post and this one, I love them!! you guys look like you are having a blast !!! I love seeing how them make the stamp sets, how cool you guys had the chance to see the process, I always wonder how it’s done.
    Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip, and looks like the weather was just perfect!!

  4. What a delightful photo “album” of the friends and fun you had. Still giggling about Karen Duke’s blue streak. She’s a rock star!

  5. Looks like a great time. Thanks for the peek at the Occasions catalog products. Hard to think abut since I’m still excited each time I look at the Holiday catalog!

  6. Love all the photos! Can’t wait fir On Stage in Nov!

  7. Hi Brian! I do appreciate all your pictures and ideas you share with us. Thanks!
    My question for you is, I do not recognize that flower stamp. Is that a new stamp that is coming out?

  8. Love all the great pics of your friends. The sneak peeks are also great. I do love the versatility of the floral stamps.

  9. I see there are a lot of “imps” in the SU family! LOL My kind of people! So very glad you got to participate in this event Brian. When the hubs saw these photos he said “hmmmmm, maybe I should become a demo so that I can be surrounded by all these beautiful ladies”! I told him that would be wonderful, then I could get the discount! LOL

  10. Good times and so fun to get to “meet” so many talented and funny people! Thanks for sharing all your fun Brian!

  11. Thank you Brian for all the wonderful pictures and update. But it warms my heart to see you with Linda, she got me interested in Stampin’Up, years ago in FL. She is a lovely women and deserves all the blessings God gives her!

  12. Brian, I love your wit and your blog! Keep up the great work! See you next month!

  13. Fun photos and fun people ! Really glad you got to be a part of this gathering of successful people because you deserve it !

  14. Looks like a wonderful trip! Thanks for sharing it with us.

  15. Brian, I love all your simple cards and check your blog every day. I am so glad you were able to spend some time in Shelly’s backyard. I love southern Utah and the opportunity I have to work on public lands in this beautiful area!

  16. Thanks for sharing all the great photos. I have seen you in so many of other demonstrators pics that Stampin’ Up is going to have to name you their Poster Guy!

  17. I love your blog and designs! Thank you so much for taking the time to write about the weekend in detail and for posting pictures. I’m going to have to take a look at the stamp set in the perpetual birthday kit again! I hope you’ll share some of your swaps! Thanks for sharing “sneak peeks”.

  18. I lived reading about your experience, seeing the great pic and your swap! Thanks for sharing and congratulations Brian.

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