How about Friday and Saturday, July 31 and August 1, 2009? Up here in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior. Doesn’t it sound fun???

A couple of my local friends, JoAnn (sarahzoe) and Deb (Dream in Color), planned a stamping event herelast summer and it was a blast! We had good attendance for a first time event and as most who came are wanting to come again, I guess that’s a pretty good indication they enjoyed themselves!!! You may click this SCS thread to read all the details about Stamping in the UP II. Registration is still open and it is important for those planning this event to have approximate numbers of those interested to determine sizes of work rooms needed, etc., so if you are interested in attending, PLEASE be sure to check in at that thread and leave a comment indicating your interest. You can then follow the thread to keep up-to-date on all plans.

But I’ll just quickly tell you about last year’s event, knowing they will follow the same general outline for this year. The event was hosted at the Baraga Bestwestern Lakeside Innwhere most out-of-towners stayed, but this is less than 1 mile from Baraga State Park if you care to come with your family and camp. There are a few golf courses (here and here)within driving distancefor the guys if they are tagging along!!! You can also check out the Baraga County Tourism Bureau to learn more about our beautiful county!

We gathered during the late afternoon on Friday which gave us time to get toknow each other as people were arriving. Quite a large group chose to eat dinner together Friday evening at the in house restaurant at the Lakeside Inn, while still another group chose to get out their stamping supplies and work on some projects while they visited in the conference room. There were enough snacks there to feed an army!!! We eventually all ended up back in the conference room where some fun games were hosted, and I may be mixing up the order, but between the 2 days several fun games were played (with prizes, TONS of prizes), several challenges were run for all to participate in, and several demos took place, along with a time for questions and answers and an opportunity to try out the new product being demoed. There was also a card swap for those who chose to participate (you came with your cards made and ready to swap), as well as a shoe box swap where we rotated stations making up the projects others had prepared!!! The projects were all great and much fun was had by all!!! Participation in any of these projects was completely optional. You were also free to take along any of your own projects to work on at your leisure.

And back to the food — LOL — a large group again met for breakfast at the in house restaurant at the Lakeside Inn, while others chose to munch on the fruit and snacks in the conference room. We all enjoyed a very generous supply of pizza, salad and pop at lunch in another of the conference rooms, provided with the registration fee. Closing time dragged on for quite a while as no one was in too much of a rush to leave — LOL — which is a good thing!!! It was a wonderful 2 days — 3 meals out with NO cooking, stamping, friends and FUN!!! What could possibly be better!!!

So if you think you’d like to get together with a bunch of us Yoopers (a person from the UP(Upper Peninsula) of Michigan)this summer, check outStamping in the UP IIand leave a comment indicating your interest! We’d love to have you ALL, but need to know interest to continue with plans!!!

Thanks, everyone! Hope you are enjoying your weekend and hope to see some of you in person come summer!!!