Why yes, this event happened almost two months ago, I know… that's how busy I've been since I got off the plane! Finally getting around to cleaning the pics off my phone and just realized how very many Stampin' Up events I have missed chronicling here on the blog. I don't know if I'll catch up on them all, but this Founder's Circle event was super-special because it was the very last one. I have been honored to attend the last five in a row, and I will miss them! SU has been globalizing their incentives to be the same in all countries, and this one, geared towards North Americans only, didn't make the cut. But we sure lived it up for The Last Splash!
We always start off with a fancy welcome dinner. This one was poolside! The weather in St. George is always stunningly perfect.
We got a leetle bitty bit excited about the chocolate cake centerpiece… we may or may not have eaten dessert first, too.
Everything carried out the black and white stripes and floral theme to the nth degree, naturally! The placecards were particularly creative, though–each one was a tiny, real oil painting on a miniature easel. They were ALL different! Natalie snagged mine as soon as I got home, for her Barbie house.
Getting dark by the time we finished eating and chatting, so we headed for the hot tub (no pictures, by mutual consent!) It was always SO fun to see the hotel completely taken over by demonstrators chatting in little groups all over the lobby, at the bar, outside on benches, in the pool, etc. The entire hotel always belonged to us for the week, with the helpful staff at our beck and call, and we have loved it.
Here's the cute signs that were on our doors this year (sorry! Cell phone+low light=blurry.) Every achiever had their own room… snazzy!
And of course, every night, there was something fun on our pillow! The first night it was a sneak peek stamp set and papers and fun accessories from the upcoming Spring 2016 Catalog… can't quite share pictures of that yet, but very soon!
Founder's Circle is about relaxing BUT the next morning we did have an important job to do. Before the trip, our FC Facebook group had plotted out a special surprise thank-you for all the employees at the Stampin' Up manufacturing plant in Kanab, Utah. Everyone was assigned to bring candy or treats from home, and certain people were assigned to bring tag-making and packaging supplies. I thought it would take us a couple of hours max to get them all done. Boy was I wrong!
It took us three hours just to make the tags, and then another two hours to sort out all the candy and treats, pack the 175 bags, make more tags when we found out we'd run out, tie them all shut and pack them back up. Lots of people helped make it happen throughout the day and I appreciate it.
Thanks to Tamra we also had a great vinyl banner, just plain black lettering on white when we started, but after we each added our thanks in colorful sharpies, it was a beautiful rainbow. I know it will have a place of honor at the manufacturing facility. We will sure miss getting to visit there every year!
Whew! This post is long! I will put the rest of the trip in Part Two of the Last Splash. We packed so much fun into our very final Founder's Circle!
