One of my most treasured swap cards each year has been the one that I receive at the Founder's Circle event from Shelli Gardner, our CEO and co-founder for Stampin' Up! .

This year's card was yet another example of her beautiful taste -- it's a gorgeous card using A Cardinal Christmas from the new Holiday mini catalogue. I loved her clever use of the Top Note Sizzix shape, using 3/4 of it and crimped, too!







Not unlike a lot of us other swappers, Shelli was still working on her cardfronts even while we were there! People were offering to pitch in to help (and ooh & ahhh as well) -- it was great to see.

Now that I think back, I have a great memory of my first Founder's Circle event three years ago.

We were all taking a 3 hour bus ride to Zion from Salt Lake City, and Shelli and her daughter were in the seats behind me, frantically finishing her swaps up! I remembered my seatmate and I being just awed... "Wow, she really IS like us!!" Everyone wanted to help, of course, that should be no suprise to any stampers around, right?

I'll admit to thinking that it was nice to have proof that I wasn't the only Last-Minute Lucy still assembling swap cards at the last minute - phew! Although I do wonder what the housekeeping staff thought about all the excess glitter I spilled on my carpet... hmmm.

Anyways, there's a little snippet from my Founder's Circle trip for you. It was such a magical time and I'll be sharing some more fabulous cardswaps next week so be on the lookout for those!

Happy stamping,
Caroline