Day 1 Founder's Circle - And So It Begins.....

Ok my dear friends....

Close up of Swap card

Arrived Wednesday in St. George, Utah for 5 days of unadulterated pampering and being spoiled.  Stampin' Up! definitely does it right when they lavish love and attention on us!

The theme for the Founder's Circle Retreat this year is called "Home For the Holidays" and since I am a Christmas junkie, I was excited like you wouldn't believe!  My swap card (the one I hinted at in my last post) was created with this theme in mind.  The close-up I showed you reminds me of wonderfully gingerbread-y type cookies.  It is, of course, merely cardstock that has been sponged, then coated with Irridescent Ice embossing powder.  As you can see from the next shot, it really is just cardstock.

More of my Founders Swap Card

At any rate - after a long day of travel we arrived at the hotel.  This hotel is completely taken over by us for the next 5 days and is transformed into a holiday lodge for our Retreat.

Right from the time we arrived, we were brought into the Holiday atmosphere (despite the 35 degree weather) with all the beautiful decor and attention to detail.

Each of our room dorrs were decorated with a lovely vintage wall-hanging that has the 12 Days of Christmas depicted on it.

And after *everyone* had arrived.....we built gingerbread houses together as an Ice-Breaker mixer event.  We were each presented with a "Participation prize" and it turned out to be a fabulous set of little gift bags and a Tag-A-Bag kit to turn them into cute little presents..  Then of course, it was time for a beautiful and elegant meal together.

We were given a wonderful "holiday-themed" meal of Ham and potatoes with a rich and delicious spiced bread pudding to eat for dessert.

And then....
And then...
And then.....

Wrapped Up Pillow Gift #1

One of the most exciting things about any Stampin' Up! trip -- the Pillow Gifts!

Look at the cute linen this gift is wrapped in!

There is nothing so exciting (for a demonstrator at least) as getting new product.  Wonderful new toys to play with and create with.  And when I returned to my room that first evening, this is what I found propped up on my pillow......

This wrapping just keeps getting cuter!

 It was so pretty I didn't even want to unwrap it!  And I have to show you the gorgeous piece of material it was wrapped up in!  How cute is that!!??

And inside all of this..a FANTASTIC photopolymer stamp set with 33 stamps (!!!!) and a set of framelits - ALL from the upcoming Occasions Catalogue.

Stamp set and framelits as a gift - woo hoo!

I have to tell you, if this is any indication of the products that will be in the Spring catalogue, I am very, very excited indeed.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and I actually *DID* go to sleep on evening #1, despite my level of excitement!

What's more, I got over 9 hours of sleep!  THAT never happens!

Well rested and ready to begin day #2.  That's how I felt.  Tune in later for the day 2 update.  

For now, I wish you all a wonderful day and a great weekend coming up.  
God Bless,    ~Cynthia    <><