It’s been a few days since I’ve shared. I forgot how much time unpacking, catching up on mail and email, and adjusting my body clock (sleeping a lot!) takes.

My sister and I returned from our travels late Sunday night. And what an amazing trip it was! After our Rome, Positano, and Capri adventures, we were spoiled by Stampin’ Up! on our adventures during the Royal Caribbean cruise of the Greek Isles – the 2019 Incentive Trip that I earned thanks to so many of you!

We boarded the Jewel of the Seas ship on Sunday, July 7. This was a day of settling in, exploring…

…and catching up with friends. (Speaking of friends…I have SOOOoooo many photos from this trip that I decided to do a separate post soon sharing photos that I took with so many of them. The photos today are mainly about our adventures.) Here I am with Silvia Werner, Melissa Pauli and Jenni Pauli (friends from Germany) having some laughs before “setting sail.”

Stampin’ Up! hosts a morning event the first day at sea. We hear the latest news, get to see demonstrations of new products,…

…and get that new catalog in our hot little hands. This 2019 Holiday Catalog will debut September 4! Below you’ll find photos of all the new goodies (that include several of these new products) I received throughout the cruise. Yes! Stampin’ Up! gives us pillow gifts every day of the trip. By the time we have to pack to go home we need another suitcase!

I got together with Melissa Alvarez, Dawn Griffith and Wendy Cranford from my Stampin’ Anonymous team that afternoon on Monday, July 8 to swap and visit by the pool. Renee enjoyed relaxing by another pool during this time.

And then my sister and I did some more exploring of the ship. We found this pretty glittery wall and HAD to take a selfie in front of it.

We were at port in Santorini on Tuesday, July 9. Renee and I were with Kay & Steve Kalthoff, Jackie and Rachel Bultje, and Kathy and Bill Morgan. And our tour guide took us to see the best sites!

Of course we had to take photos of it all. Here is that famous blue domed church.

Our tour guide took us up to this high point so we could see a spectacular view of the island. (I’m sporting my new hat that I got for only 15 euro in Capri.)

We experienced a wine tasting at the Hatzidakis Vineyard.

And then we saw the Akrotiri Ruins – ruins that are still be excavated. It was an amazing day!

On Wednesday, July 10 we were in port at Mykonos. Our group of six (we were with Lynn Feldkamp, Shawn Perez, Carol Valentine and her sister, Joyce) had a relaxing day together. Our guide, Angelos from Private Angel Tours took us around the island so we could see the beauty and learn about some of the history.

We spent almost 3 hours of our time relaxing on Super Paradise Beach and swimming in the crystal clear (and super blue!) waters of the Mediterranean.

And we ended our tour with a late seafood lunch by another beach.

On Thursday, July 11 we were exploring again. This time we were in port in Athens with a much larger group. And our tour guide took us to see the Acropolis where saw the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Theatre of Dionysus, the Temple of Athena Nike, and more. It was amazing!

AND it was wall-to-wall people there. Thank goodness the weather was a bit cooler this day and we were one of the first groups to get in an out before it got too crazy.

We also stopped at the stadium where the first modern Olympics was held in1896 (1503 years after the original games ended in Olympia). And we stopped at the Parliament building where we watched the changing of the guards.

On Friday, July 12 our ship was in port at Katakolon. Here our tour took us to Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic games held 776 BC – 393 AD. We walked around the site, raced each other on the actual stadium grounds, and saw the amazing artifacts in the museum.

We did a little shopping in the port before getting back on the ship. Renee and I bought some fun purses. And I indulged myself with one more gelato at Maniera Gelateria. And oh my word!… The dark chocolate/ginger/orange flavor was THE best!

That was the last of our stops.
We didn’t want to get back on the ship and lingered on the dock as long as we could.

Again, I’ll share more photos of all the friends (old and new) in another blog post soon, because that is a HUGE part of the fun – sharing these adventures with fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and staff. But I had to slip in the rest of these as they recap our last part of the cruise.

Every evening we dined with these marvelous people: Tracy and Robert Penn from Victoria, Australia, Barb and Gary Tripps from British Columbia, Canada and Zahra and Rahim Premji from Ontario, Canada. We took this photo on Friday night after our last day in port.

Tracy and Zahra talked us into joining them for dancing after dinner that night. What a blast that was!

The ship was at sea all day on Saturday, July 13th. So I made sure I had taken all my photos of swaps and new products (which I will also share with you soon!) and gathered up all the unique candies (containers are filled to the top every day!) to take home to my boys. I also introduced Renee to Shelli Gardner, the co-founder of Stampin’ Up! and her husband Sterling.

Later that evening we enjoyed visiting and saying our good-byes at the pool-side Stampin’ Up! farewell party.

We were sad to go because we had such a fabulous time. But we definitely missed our families and couldn’t wait to see them.

Here are photos of all the items Stampin’ Up! gave me – pillow gifts, all attendee give-aways, and prizes. Most of the products are new from the 2019 Holiday Catalog which will debut September 4!

And the rest are bags, logo merchandise, and other treasures. So I am now officially spoiled.

I will forever cherish this special time I had with my sister. It was an amazing adventure. Renee and I truly had the time of our lives.

A PEEK AT AUGUST’S PAPER PUMPKIN KIT
The August 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit includes supplies to make 6 autumn-themed gift boxes and 12 gift tags. AND Once you have completed the August kit, you will have extra kit components so you can easily combine them with the Gift of Fall optional add-on bundle (available August 1st and purchased separately) to make 24 cards (with coordinating envelopes) without having to purchase additional kits. This coordinating product will allow us to turn our Gift of Fall gift packaging into cards in an easy and inexpensive way! Click here to see Natalie White share more about the August 2019 kit and the add-on option. Coordinating colors: Blackberry Bliss, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Merry Merlot, Mint Macaron, Old Olive, Pretty Peacock, and Soft Suede
Click here to get your subscription started by August 10th for this next kit.

BONUS DAYS ARE BACK
Bonus Days are back! And that means it’s time for you to start earning coupon codes to redeem in August! For every $50 you spend July 1–31 (before shipping and tax), earn a $5 Bonus Days coupon code that can be redeemed August 1–31. Click here for more information. Click here to learn more how to redeem your code/s in August.

BETTER THAN FLAT TUTORIALS
I’m so proud to be teamed up with five other super talented Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators so we can create Fun Fold cards & 3-D projects to share exclusively with our customers, paper crafting friends & team members each month! (Our July projects that each feature one of the new bundles or suites in the new catalog are now available!) CLICK HERE for more information.

EXTRA, EXTRA!
From July 1 until August 31, receive an additional $30 in product for free in your Starter Kit. So instead of $26 for free, you can get $56 in free product (and of course free shipping as always). Yep! Choose $155 worth of product for $99 + tax!! And if that wasn’t awesome enough, a $10 coupon code will be gifted to you the following month to use towards an order by October 31st. Click here for more information.

Plus you will be a part of my Stampers With ART community and receive discounts on future orders!!