Stampin' Up! Hawaii 2015 - Pearl Harbor

One of the optional events Stampin' Up! offered us was an excursion to the Pearl Harbor memorial (WWII Valor in the Pacific).  We left so early that breakfast wasn't open yet, so SU! provided a boxed breakfast on the bus.  We went through the 2 museums, watched the 2 documentaries, viewed statues and artifacts including the original anchor from the USS Arizona.

Then, we rode the boat over to the USS Arizona Memorial.

The memorial was impressive.  A wall with the names of all the soldiers that were killed was at the back of the structure flanked by walls with artistic cut outs representing the Tree of Life.  They have also added the names and remains of survivors as they have passed away so that they are reunited with their shipmates.

Our tour guide told us the story of the oil that still leaks from the sunken battleship after 73 years.  The legend is that the oil is the tears of the soldiers and it will continue to leak to the surface until the final survivor is reunited with his crewmen.  She also told us that photos of the oil sometimes reveal faces, so I did photograph some of the leaking oil...judge for yourself.

We also had a chance to meet Herb Weatherwax, a native Hawaiian Pearl Harbor survivor.
 

 The whole experience was very moving.

Aloha,

Stampin' Up! Hawaii 2015 - Polynesian Cultural Center

Wednesday morning Stampin' Up! treated us to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We watched an i-max movie, shows in different areas that represented several Polynesian islands including Hawaii, and watched a canoe parade showing all the islands with each one's particular style of dance, music, and native dress.

I tried my hand at making fire, but didn't even get smoke...harder than it looks!

Had to get a selfie of my daughter and me.  Stampin' Up! also provided box lunches for us to eat on the bus ride back to the hotel.  I had a yummy grilled vegetable sandwich.

After chillin' on our patio and walking around, we had dinner later with my friend, Suzie, and her husband, Kevin.  We ate down by the pool at Rum Fire which allowed us to view the light show on the pool again from another angle.  We saw everything we had missed from the angle the night before - so cool.  It was windy, but so enjoyable!  We all took photos of the beautiful sunset.

And, when we returned to our room, another "pillow gift" was there.  I draped the scarf freebie that I got from the hospitality room over the bag so you could see that too.  Everyday we get freebies in the hospitality room and freebies on our bed in our own room...life is good!

Aloha!

Stampin' Up! Hawaii 2015 - Welcome dinner

We walked the beach, picked out our sunglasses, then went to dinner.  They had an awesome light show after dinner that was reflected on the pool with fish, dolphins, sting rays, and other island images "swimming" around the pool to music.

And...guess who we ran into walking back into the hotel from our pool side dinner...Shelli, of course!

Aloha!

Stampin' Up! Hawaii Incentive Trip 2015 - Arrival

After a long 8 hour flight, I finally got here and met my oldest daughter, Samantha, at the hotel.  Stampin' Up! flew her in from Canada to be my guest on this trip.  Here's my photos so far:

Here's the package with luggage tags that arrived prior to the trip.  There were 4 tags and all my documents and island happenings inside.

Here's my swap card using the new In Color, Mint Macaron, and some new paper called Envelope paper.

We got a welcome gift in the room...free Maui Jim sunglasses to select at the welcome dinner the first night.  The top of the sunglasses case also has the Stampin' Up! Hawaii trip logo on it.

Oh and here's the view from our room.  It's like a postcard!

Aloha!

Retired List & My Digital Studio Retiring

Time to say goodbye to make room for new items.  There are many items discounted up to 50%.

Here are links to the lists in different formats or you can shop on my website in the Retiring Products category.  The lists are updated periodically for out of stock items.  However, stamp sets will continue to be manufactured until May 26th.  Everything else is while supplies last, so don't wait!

• Retired List pdf
• Retired List excel
• My Digital Studio pdf
• My Digital Studio excel

My Digital Studio
My Digital Studio is retiring as well.  So, if you own the software, please make sure it's updated and backed up including all your digital downloads by June 2nd.  Support and websites for MDS will be available until June 9th.  Websites and the download manager will be taken down at midnight on June 9th, so you technically have until then, but best not to wait just in case you have questions.

I use mine for various projects and will continue to do so.  Just because additional downloads won't be available, doesn't mean you have to stop using it.  As a matter of fact, I plan to order some more downloads since they're all 30% off to make sure that I have everything I wanted before they're not available.

While Stampin' Up! will not be selling MDS after June 2nd, they are working on additional ways for you to use your downloads and order print products.  In the meantime, you can print projects on your own printer or have projects printed by other companies.

Also, I feel sure that, as with anything, there will continue to be support and training videos out there from other users into the future.

Happy Shoppin'