It’s time for another Q&A! As always, I’ve passed any new product or program suggestions on to the appropriate department. I haven’t answered all the questions, but I have answered most! And many of you commented on Sterling’s blog about the orphanage in Haiti—I was touched by your willingness to donate and help out. We’ll keep that in mind when he returns, and thank you for confirming again what I already know—you are all awesome!
Please share Makai’s birth announcement with us!
Of course! (smile) When I spend a week with the girls after they have babies, I tell them to give me a list of what they want me to do, and the birth announcement was the only thing on Sage’s list! (As an aside, that means I’ve been able to spend lots of time playing with Kona, holding the new baby, and just having fun with this newest Gardner family member!) I’ve asked a couple of sons-in-law to help out with taking pictures and some graphic design, but when it’s ready to go out, I’ll definitely share it!
How were your daughters named? And what about the grandchildren?
Hmmm. There’s not really too many remarkable stories about the girls’ names . . no real rhyme or reason, other than their middle names are family names. Their first names were just names we happened to like at the time. Jason’s ancestors are from Hawaii, and Kona and Makai are both Hawaiian names. That’s where their names come from.
Is there a way to get Glenda Travelstead’s workshop script (from her workshop presentation at regionals)?
Didn’t she do a wonderful job? I loved watching her—and learned a lot! All I can say is to stay tuned. . . . We would definitely like to make her presentation available on a wider basis!
Can you post Sara’s skirt as well? I would love to make one like that too. . .
Sure, give me a few days! I’ll be wrapping up my week with the Hoopiiainas soon, and then I’ll work to get that done. Watch for that next week sometime.
What kind of soup did you have at the Advisory Board retreat?
Shanna actually answered this one for me herself; she even added a link to her own blog (click here), where she’d posted the recipe.
Were any of your employees affected by the fire near Herriman? What about your house?
Most of you probably weren’t aware, but a couple of weeks ago there was a wildfire a few miles from our home office in Riverton. Although the fire never threatened us at all, there were several employees who were evacuated, although I don’t believe any of our employee’s homes were damaged. (Three homes were destroyed, and several other homes sustained smoke damage.)
I live about a half-hour from work, so my home was never in danger.
I’d love to see a close-up of the necklace that you are wearing in your blog header. .
I actually made that for our US/Canadian convention, and posted a picture and a few close-ups on the blog recently because so many people were interested. Click here to check it out!
When you have a chance, have your techno-geeks work on fixing the blog entries overlapping the fabulous header, and the left-sided blog archive menu bar covering up half of you! It’s hard (if not impossible) to read the first paragraph or two of your entry, and we want to see ALL of your picture!
We’ve actually heard this problem before and have investigated it. It’s a browser problem, not something we can correct on our end. So sorry!
I have a cute little story to share (a follow up from Convention), but I am not sure where to send it to you. Please let me know how I can e-mail it to you.
Anytime you’d like me to get any information, please e-mail it to ds@stampinup.com, and request that they forward it to me.
Can you show us the card pouch that you showed at regionals? And can you include measurements, instructions, even a tutorial?
Here’s the link to the post that shows the card pouch. I do love this idea!
As for the other information, I recognize the value in that kind of information, and in a perfect world, I’d have plenty of time to do that. But I have to be honest—if I had to include measurements and supplies and directions, let alone a tutorial, for the projects I post on my blog, I would stop posting projects! Most days I feel lucky to get a picture taken of the projects I want to share with you! My life right now just doesn’t allow me to do that—I hope you understand.
I do have to respectfully disagree with one thing--you have had incentives at regionals for people to sign up as demonstrators. I went to one of the first regionals in Portland, Oregon, in November 1999. If you signed up that day, you received a ring-bound album; I turned in my paperwork then and still have the album to this day!
You are right. I actually thought of that when I wrote that blog, but we have kind of split up our regionals into two “rounds.” Years and years ago, we did our first round of regionals and did offer sign-up incentives. We haven’t offered any incentives during this second round. It’s great to hear that the album—and YOU!—are still around! Thank you for your loyalty and support!
I’d love to see your Halloween tree—and Halloween vignette!
I’ve made a note and, once again, will work to get that up next week, so watch for it!
Do you have to order supplies and wait for the order to arrive at your house, or can you just go into the warehouse and grab some stuff?
I wish! We have an internal inventory request process that I have to follow, just like everybody else!
Although I do love stamping I have to wonder, do you ever go riding with Sterling?
I have ridden with Sterling in the past, but have reached the conclusion that, until I have the time to go riding on a regular, consistent basis—so both the horse and I feel comfortable with each other—I’m better off not riding. Sterling rides several times a week; he’d ride every day if he could, but weather and traveling with me don’t always allow that. I do go with him on his longer rides when I can and enjoy camping and spending time with him. (And while he goes on the actual ride, I work or stamp!)
I am a demonstrator in Australia and I would like to know if we will ever get anything Halloween here in Australia? I adore everything about Halloween and we do celebrate it!
As you probably know (because I’ve mentioned it before several times!), Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It’s really gained popularity here in the past decade or so. I didn’t realize that it was also celebrated as heavily in other countries! I’ve passed your suggestion on to our sales department, asking them to look into the feasibility of offering these seasonal products in other markets.
Where did you get the patterns for those adorable fabric bears?
I didn’t make those bears; they were a gift from a demonstrator—and they now reside proudly in our Gathering Place in the home office!
Wow, the photos you took at the Riverton summer picnic are great. What camera did you use?
Those pictures were taken by our in-house photographers, probably using a couple of different, very professional (and expensive!) cameras. They’re certainly not the type of camera I have tucked into my purse! (smile)
Can you tell us what they do in Kanab and how many employees work there? Do any of your family members work there?
We have more than 60 employees in Kanab, which is where our rubber stamps are manufactured; the stamps are then trucked up to our home office, where they are distributed. Our Kanab facility also does some packaging and other special projects, but their main responsibility is to manufacture our rubber stamps. While different family members have worked there in the past, currently no family members are employed there.
Where is the dinosaur museum that you take your grandchildren to?
The Museum of Natural LIfe is located at Thanksgiving Point, and is the largest display of mounted dinosaurs in the world! Here's a link if you'd like to find out more.
Do you give tours of the home office in Riverton?
Yes, we do. People call our main number and arrange tours individually.
I am concerned with American jobs. Do you use American manufacturers for your products?
Wherever and whenever we can.
I didn't realize that the Browns had moved back from Georgia. Are they back for good?
I thought I had blogged about this, but I guess I haven’t. Shalae has, though. (Click here to read her blog about it.) The children had some chronic health issues in Georgia, and they were doing so much better when they came home for the summer that Shalae and Jon just decided to do the coast-to-coast commute thing for this last year at school. Shalae and the kids are staying with us; Jon stays in Savannah most of the time, but will try to get home as much as possible until he graduates next year.
You’re talking a lot about change—how about opening up in Switzerland? That would be a great change, and I could be your first Swiss demonstrator!
We’d love to open up in every country! Unfortunately, that’s not in the plans in the near future! But I am so happy there are creative minds in every country who would love to join us!
Thanks so much for answering the Back-to-School tradition question. Love the picture! I mistakenly thought that your girls were home-schooled.
They actually were—but they attended public school initially. We started homeschooling when Shanna was in the second grade, and then as each girl reached high-school age, they also attended some high school classes (the classes varied with each girl).
Will you please go back to the post where you showed a picture of your daughters going back to school and let us know which one is which?
I’ll do one better. I’ve posted it here instead; the girls are as follows (from left to right):
Sage, Sara (older), Shanna (younger), Shalae.
I've missed seeing your workshop projects! These are awesome! Any chance "Shelli's suggested workshop projects" could be a regular feature on your blog?
That’s a great idea! And again, in a perfect world, I’d jump at doing that—I love creating and sharing projects with you. Maybe someday. . .
Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 05:30PM 
