Swapping, Swapping and more Swapping

One of the greatest things at Convention is swapping. In a nutshell, you make X number of the same project and trade with other people to get different ideas.

Organized swaps are swaps that you sign up for and commit to making, typically involving a theme with rules and guidelines to follow.

General swapping is a little more relaxed as there really are no rules and you make as many as you want. I have heard of demonstrators bringing as many as 400 general swaps! While not mandatory, swapping is an integral part of the Convention experience. It can begin right in the airport as you wait for your flight, in a line up waiting for Memento Mall to open, in the elevator, or even in the line-up to the bathroom. It is so much fun to meet new people and receive beautiful and wonderful projects.

Below is the card that I designed for my general swaps. It was very simple and quick to make which was a good thing as I decided to make 80 of them.



Paper: basic black CS, WW CS, brushed silver
Stamps: fabulous phrases
Ink: basic black
Accessories: vintage wallpaper EF, scalloped heart embosslit, silver cord, sponges, silver smooch spray

This is a card that I designed for a Christmas Card swap. It may look familiar as it is a stepped up version of our 2009 Hirst family Christmas card.



Paper: WW CS, cherry cobbler, brushed silver
Accessories: snowflake punch, 1 1/4 square punch, XXX embossing folder, dazzling diamonds, jewel

A shoebox swap is where you bring a box filled with supplies to make a particular card. You spend an evening going from station to station completing the cards, very similar to a stamp-a-stack. This is the card (CASEd from Ilina Crouse) that I brought for the shoebox swap.



Paper: crumb cake, early espresso
Stamps: fresh cuts
Ink: early espresso
Accessories: scallop border punch, early espresso satin ribbon, very vintage stencil, sponge daubers, log cabin smooch spritz, pearls

Oh the neglect!

First off let me apologize to those that follow this blog (I think there are 5 of you :)) for the lack of posts over the last 2 months. June was ridiculously jam-packed with soccer, 6 birthdays, soccer, end-of-the-school-year hoopla, soccer, stamp club wind up, and soccer. And that is only with 2 in soccer. Wish us luck next year as my youngest makes his debut onto the soccer pitch.

July began with a 4 day girls trip to Vegas which was soooooo much fun. Returning from Vegas, I realized that there were only 2 more weeks until the Stampin’ Up Convention in Salt Lake City and so began a string of sleepless nights in order to complete the 276 cards, 60 Big Shot, 12 charm inserts and 12 3D projects that I had committed to swapping.

I left for SLC *almost* done and thanks to a 2 hour drive to Grand Forks, a 5 hour flight to SLC and some angels named Leanne and Fran, I managed to complete all of my swaps!

Convention was an absolute whirlwind full of laughing, stamping, swapping, shopping and screaming. Thanks to my buddies Charlene, Alanna, Fran, Lindsay, Leanne, Jamie and Kris for making the trip so memorable — I had a B.L.A.S.T. My sides still hurt from all the laughing we did.



You may be wondering how I have the time to write this lengthy post. Well, I am currently on a 13 hour road trip to Rapid City, South Dakota where we are on a family vacation to see Mount Rushmore. At the moment we are at the border of North and South Dakota headed for a town called Lemmon which I am hoping and praying has a restroom.

So stay tuned for a slew of posts as I share some of the 837 photos I took at Convention.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the new 2010-2011 SU Idea Book and Catalogue and the new Definitely Decorative Catalogue.