Stampin' Up! Fiji Day Three-Chalk Talk

OK, I'm sorry, I so don't know what just happened to 1 1/2 weeks! 
I wanted to show you a picture of the little gifts I did for my club members and others who came up to bat for me in earning our trip to Fiji.

These are spoons made from coconut, and I thought they would make perfect little sugar spoons, so everyone got a little pack of 100% Fiji sugar and all tied together with handwoven coconut rope!  And  if you look really close at the tag, you'll see a sneak peek of a new stamp set called Chalk Talk.  Thank you to everyone who supports me in my little business!! 

Make sure you RSVP for my 8th Annual PJ Party on May 30 from 6pm-9pm so I can spoil you too!
Just go to my website at www.robynscherzer.stampinup.net and go to events to RSVP!

Day Three in Fiji for me was probably the most satisfying.  We as a group were able to volunteer to go help clean up the Nadi hospital.  Painting, cleaning and other fixer upper projects needed to be done.
We are so blessed to live in our country and have the health care we do.  WOW, the hospital was....well let's say not up to our sanitation standards.  I spent 4 hours, mopping, wiping and scrubbing to get the dirt off of walls, counters, windows (and a little painting too).  And frankly praised God, that I didn't get sick while there.
It made me appreciate all the things we take for granted.  And it felt so GOOD to help!  It was hot and dirty and it was the best day!  And doing it among friends was even better!

Marjie S, who is in my sideline, me, Marla Anderson who is the guest of Sarah Schueler.  Marjie lives in Denver but Marla and Sarah just live up the road from me but I didn't know them before this trip.  We all became fast friends and laughed harder than anyone should be allowed to!

After all the hard work, we just hung out and relaxed.  This next picture is shot that Edwin took, its the beach in front of our hotel at sunset.  Heavy sigh..........it seems so long ago!

Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Well, its not a day, I usually go shouting about, after you hit 40, it just doesn't seem quite as fun!  Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait for your presents?  Now, I'm just happy to get a nap!

Well, I had to share this card that my hubby made for me!  And quite honestly, I'm not always a fan of his work, but when I opened up this little beauty, even our daughter was like, WOW he even used the Big Shot!

My picture is not the greatest but you get it.  He used the More Amore DSP #129309 out of the mini, (remember this ends in a few short weeks).  Oval Framelits #129381 also out of the mini.

I was taking a nap yesterday (see it all comes back to naps) and I noticed a piece of that DSP laying on my craft table.  So knew something was up, but didn't expect such a good layout!  I might have to CASE it for one of my convention swaps!

OK, now doesn't he deserve some sales towards the next cruise for this card?  Go place that order at my online store.  www.robynscherzer.stampinup.net.


Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Stampin' Up! Fiji Day Two

Day two on Viti Levu.  We stayed at an amazing resort called the Sofitel.  This is a view from the lobby looking down on the pool.  I spent every free moment I had there.  It was kind of weird relaxing that long, as when we are home, its rush rush rush!  I actually read 3 books while away!

It was Wednesday on our 2nd day in Fiji, as we traveled over the international dateline and totally skipped Monday, very strange.  We decided that would be our big adventure day.  So we booked a sailing excursion with our friends Bill and Tammi Oakley whom we met on the Alaskan Cruise, they were some of our table mates.
So off we went at 8:30 that morning and took a type of ferry boat 1 1/2 hours to rendevous with the schooner, The Seaspray,  we'd be sailing on her that day to Mondriki Island (among others). The islands we sailed through are called the Mamanuca Islands. If it looks familiar its most likely because you saw the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks.  This is the island they filmed it on, and it was truly deserted!  Fiji is made up of about 360 islands, you could take years visiting each one.

We got to hang out for awhile and snorkel.  The tide was super strong but once you get past a certain point it was so so nice.  The boat you see behind me is The Seaspray, it was so much fun traveling around the islands on it.  It wasn't huge and not alot of people on it.  And all the beverages your heart desired, from beer to soda.

While we snorkeled and explored, the crew cooked us an awesome BBQ lunch, with all the fixings.  It was wonderful.
If you look at the top of this next picture, you can see where someone spelled out Help Me in rocks.  Very funny....

After our yummy lunch, we were taken to another island to visit the native village of Yanuya.  It was super poor, but oh so beautiful.  The people called out "Bula" as we walked through their village.  Bula is kind of like Aloha in Hawaii.  I'll never forget the sound of the children calling out Bula from the doors of their homes.  In a sing songy way.  Everyone was so nice and welcoming.  We were brought to their tribal hall for a Kava Ceremony.  Kava is a root, that is pulverized and mixed with water and drank.  In this case as a welcome.  It is a type of drug and your tongue tingles a bit.  And of course if you know Edwin, he was picked as the "second chief".  The second chief is also the spokesman for the people that are being welcomed and again if you know Edwin, they picked perfect.  But because Edwin likes to talk, he spoke at the wrong time and said "Vinaka" which means thank you in Fijian.  But in this setting it meant, "seconds please" and he had to drink another bowl of it!  Refusing would be considered rude~ Of course that made me LOL.  You can see in the below picture the Chief is mixing the Kava in that big wooden bowl.  And its scooped out with coconut shells to drink it from.

Most of these types of villages support themselves with fishing and tourism.  We saw the handicraft wares everywhere we went.  And yes, I bought way more than I should have, as it just broke my heart to see the poverty and I told Edwin, I could never complain about my house again.  Hmmm....how long do you think that will last?

This is the couple we went with Bill and Tammi Oakley and we just had so much fun!  I could of snorkeled and explored each island every day!

Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Stampin' Up! Fiji Trip Day One

Good Evening!
I know quite a few of you have asked me to tell about our trip, so.....
I'm going to try my hardest to blog about our trip of a lifetime with Stampin' Up! and going literally half way around the world to the South Pacific and the little island of Fiji.

Our trip started on Sunday, April 28.  We had a layover in Denver to connect to a flight to LA and onto Air Pacific to Fiji.  Well, we kind of felt like we were on the Amazing Race.  We literally were the last ones to board the plane to Fiji.  The best laid plans......our flight from Denver was delayed and where we thought we had a comfortable 6 hours to hang out at LAX, we soon found ourselves in the throws of almost having to abandon our luggage and just get on the plane because we didn't have enough time to get our luggage from the domestic flight to go through customs onto the flight to Fiji!  YIKES, there were 6 of us and we are now known affectionately among ourselves as "The LA Six".  The travel agency that booked SU! was literally calling me every 5 minutes on my cell asking how far along we were.  Well, our luggage and all of us made it with the door closing behind us!!

After traveling for almost 20 hours, we arrived in Nadi, Fiji at 5:30am and were greeting by Fijian musicians.

You see the men wearing skirts?  Yep, their called Sulu's and they are worn out of respect for the tribe they come from.  I think I maybe saw one Fijian male wearing shorts everyone else wore Sulu's.
As we left the airport, Stampin' Up! had native Fijan women greet us with seashell necklaces and a bottle of South Pacific water!  Whew we needed that!

The hotel was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for better, SU! does first class all the way.  Here's the view from our room, Yep, I'm drinking Fiji water, I think between Edwin and I we must have drank 3 cases of the stuff!

The ocean is just on the other side of the palm trees.  WOW, just beautiful.

After after a yummy breakfast (and a nap), we had the most amazing fresh fruit every morning.  One of my favorite new fruits is Paw Paw.  Its kind of a cross between a mango and a cantaloupe.  Hmmm, wonder if Franks sells it!
We took a walk to Port Denarau and found a local sandwich shop and I drank from my very first coconut!

And to finish off our first day of paradise we had a SU! General Session and were treated to a Fijian Brass Band, man they were good!  Along with a dessert buffet, free NEW product AND the NEW CATALOG!!!
Have you ever seen about 225 women go ape??  And our spouses got a "Dude you"re welcome" kit AND a stamping survival kit for stamps nights at home.  It came complete with snicker's bar, deck of cards, a puzzle book and a whistle in case we forget where we left them!  Edwin of course, LOVED it!

And of course to end the day, I had a pillow gift when we got back to our room of a great beach bag, that was promptly put to use the next day!

Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Stampin' Up! All Dressed Up

Remember while I'm in Fiji to place your online orders to be entered into my mystery hostess workshop!

 Place an order online at www.robynscherzer.stampinup.net between now and May 7, 2013, but you MUST use hostess code W6WWEC34,  to get entered into the drawing for in FREE product!

When I return on May 8, I will contact the winner and you'll get to pick out all your freebies!   Your order will ship directly to you, you don't have to wait on me, ( just for the free).  And if I have more than a minimum workshop, I'll give away more FREE! What do you have to lose, you want to order it anyway, so why not get entered into the drawing for FREE!  But don't forget to use the hostess code above!  I won't have internet access while away so don't forget, I can't remind you! :0)  So do it today!


We made this cute dress with the All Dressed Up bundle, at my April workshops.  You can make so many stinkin' cute things with those framelits!  Don't forget the mini catalog expires at the end of this month!

Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Stampin' Up! Swallowtail

This card was made by my friend, Chris Schumacher, I wasn't crazy about this stamp set, but when I saw this card, it totally changed my mind!

Its #129216 Swallowtail out of the mini catalog.  She stamped it and stamped it again and cut it out so it looks like its flying off the page.



Thanks for stopping by! Email me at robynscherzer@hotmail.com if you have any questions!