Joyful Scraps

we are packed up and moved.....

whoo hoo, we have moved our blogging world over to.....

http://joyfulscraps.blogspot.com/

so come on over and visit, we would love to see you soon!

Hugs

L

what do these things have in common?

What do these three pictures have in common? .....

They were all taken last weekend on our retreat! Flowers filled the room with fragrance, the waterfall added a lovely sound (on the rare occasion that the music wasnt playing) and there were little bags to welcome everyone to the retreat.

Such a great weekend. The ladies were all fantastic, well behaved - most of the time LOL! up for a challenge - once they were plied with alcohol! And the projects we taught if i do say so myself totally ROCKED!

We even built a house!

and just look at the scenery out the windows. Such a great venue :)

and we all know what we really do when we go away for a weekend of scrapbooking

hmmmm ahh yes they were kinda like cordial - NOT!

Look out for our next weekend and come and join us:)

hugs

L

Dreaming of Summer

hey I admit it - I am so not a winter person and really would like to hibernate - bet you thought that's what had happened to me as it's been a while since my last post.

LeAnne and I were so inspired by Creative Block & SIA that we have been busy creating classes for a special event coming up....that's what I've been up to...and it kind of limited what I had to post about, as we don't want to give everything away before it happens. No doubt we will post all about it afterwards- intrigued? Well I guess you'll just have to keep watching the blog to find out.

So I have been dreaming of Summer....

Well, one thing I did recently do, was teach a class inspired by a mini album from CreativeBlock by BoBunny. I changed it up a bit and used papers by (you guessed it) Fancy Pants Designs - the On a Whimsy range. The SUMMER album was all about sun, sand & water and the range perfectly fitted in with that.

Then, just for fun I made up a set of cards from the leftovers and a double page layout inspired by another CreativeBlock class - this time by Making Memories, though once again I used the On a Whimsy range for SUMMER FUN.

It's nice when you can chase away the winter gloom by scrapping summer photos.

TTFN

xxpeabee

The long drawn out final instalment

Disclaimer: Well it wasn't meant to take this long. Actually it wasn't meant to take long to get this post up at all, but and it is a big BUT, the lurgies have come to live at our house and slowed everything down.

Our last day at SIA was fabulous, and one of the main reasons for that was that I got to catch up with two very dear friends Paula and Debbie from 7 Gypsies. This creative duo work so well together and inspire me so much.

It has been such a long time between visits and emails are sometimes not enough it is good to spend time with those people who inspire you to create, people you like to have a diet coke and a chocolate with ;0)

Paula Cheney, PeaBee, Me and Debbie Crouse.

As well of heaps of laughs we did my favourite project of the show.

Using the Artist Printers Tray and the Paula and Debbie magic, we created this...

absolutely gorgeous wall art. (This one is Paula's, mine is waiting for photos)

I love the simplicity of this project. The little individual accents that together make a stunning whole. Lots of ideas here that can be taken away to other projects too.

If you are looking for inspiration make sure you check out Paula and Debbies blog here. Always good for ideas and inspiration, they are very generous with their photos and instructions etc.

And for all of your papercrafting needs pop into Joyful Scraps and stock up. We have the 7 Gypsies papers all on special at the moment at a crazy 60cents each!

Hugs

L

 

Highlights

We are completely exhausted after our adventures and on our return, threw ourselves into all sorts of projects for classes that were inspired by both Creative block & SIA. So now that we have come up for air we wanted to share some of the highlights.

For me personally, one of the high points was actually getting to do a Pink Paislee (here are some of the new range that we used) class with Becky Fleck - you may recall an earlier post I did singing the praises of her sketches, so it was great to get to meet someone who's work I admire so much.

 

It is always great to get insight into other scrappers mojo, but the bonus for me was I won a coveted Pink Paislee bag filled with all sorts of goodies, so just had to have a pic taken with her (and the signed bag).

TTFN

xxpeabee

So there we were at Homebush, home to the Olympics and SIA

So we started SIA off with Heidi Swapp. And by the time we grabbed our registration packets and fell through the door to the first class room we were ready to go. (Secretly I may have been a touch relieved that this was a repeat of the class that I had done on the Monday - gave me time to breathe).

This was the first time for PeaBee to be doing this class, but she is a whiz at Glimmer misting. I on the other hand found that I had much more confidence on how things would finish and so played with the colours a bit.

Hard to believe that these two examples are from the same kit. Using the same colours and just different quanities produced such different looks :)  The one on your left with the bird Glimmer Chip is from the Monday Class, so this time I made it a bit more boyish and finished up with this very cool rust orange - sigh.

Heidi is always such good value as a teacher as she drops little hints in here and there. 

I first met Heidi in Brisbane a few years ago ( I have aged, she seems not to have!) and I loved the tips and tricks she gave us then and was looking forward to hearing new ones this time.

I am now totally besotted with all things Tattered Angels!

Inside the two books;

 
Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Glam (glaze with sparkle) Glimmer screens, Glimmer Chips - Oh yes all things Glimmer :)

We have Tattered Angels in stock here. We also have some on their way and more on pre order, all things Glimmer a great way to be :)

Hugs

L

A funny thing happened on the way to SIA...

You know those stories that start off with "a funny thing happened on the way to...." well I was never a believer in them, thought that the story teller made them up as a way of bringing in the event - well I'm now converted.

Going to SIA for the first time,

make sure you are up early (who knew morning started while it was still dark!) - check

make sure you take everything on the list (and then some) - check

make sure you creep out of the house as to not wake anyone up - check

make sure you have the directions to the parking - check

Organised right? - WRONG

The first clue was when we sailed into the parking station, cruised around two floors of parking and could have parked in any of the spaces as the whole thing was empty. Well we were early.

The second clue was the lack of women with big bags/totes. Well we were early.

The third clue was there were no signs - any where, early or not this was a worry.

But with optimism born from a bit of desperation, we sailed forth looking for the venue, or women with large bags/totes.

The Olympic centre is big and empty at that time of morning. Lots of signs, none of them about SIA. Check the dates, right dates, right time - not so early anymore.

Desperately look around see in the distance, woman (singular) with big bag/tote on wheels (box balanced on top) ok start to breathe and feel better.

Check with security guard, she didnt know.

Call husband and get co ordinators phone number.

Ring co ordinator, get building name.

Talk to security guard for directions.

Make hasty exit back to car park.

On way go over to lone woman (who's name is Dawn) and offer her a lift back to correct building and car park!

No longer early, quiet flustered, finally made it, still no signs!

So "a funny thing happened on the way to SIA, we got lost and made a great new friend"

 

And I love this photo taken inside the building (so thats where the signs were). Showing Me, Dawn Lewis and PeaBee. I think this was the first time any of us had ever been told we were to tall, we are crouching in front of the sign LOL!

Lost and found, swings and roundabouts..... good thing we found Dawn as she was teaching!

Hugs

L

Becoming de Mystified

Well I had so much fun in Brisbane at Creative Block, that really I did not want it to end. Back home and unpacked, received a great minute by minute description of what my youngest got up to ;0)

Caught up on some work and before I knew it, it was time for more classes.

I went to Mystified. I got to hang out with a dear friend for the day and do a full days worth of classes, playing learning the new techniques for glimmer mist. (Did I mention how much I LOVE my job)

The teachers for the day Wendy Senger and Heidi Swapp, two of the nicest Tattered Angels you will ever meet.

3 of the cutest projects you ever did see.

First off we hit the ground running with Wendy, and Glimmer Mist 101. How much fun was that! I think of my self as a painter first and a scrapbooker second, and so had always rather smugly thought that I knew a thing or two about paint, ink and any other thing that is messy. Boy was I wrong LOL!

This little folder holds a treasure trove of techniques. All put together at lightning speed with Wendy steering us into new directions with each page....

Gimmer mist is my new fav product ;0)

This little album was Heidi's project - sorry, actually it is my take on Heidi's project kwim.  When we opened up the kit (and what a kit it was!) my friend N said "don't think much of these colours" and then we started to use them, well she ate her words didn't she LOL!

inside the book is so pretty, and we used Glimmer mist on all of it - see new fav product ;0)

And to wrap up the day we made this little keepsake from House of 3.

I love all the details in this, from the little butterfly

that floats on the clear cover, to the 'tulle' bow

I wish I had of taken a photo of my hands..... word to the wise, Glimmermisting for a day, requires gloves to be worn all day.....

So much fun and more in store as next post we are off to SIA. (Scrapbooking Industry Australia)

till then

Hugs

L

Our Creative Journey

It seems amazing that we are already half way into May. This year has flown by, especially the past two months. I would really have liked it to slow right down, given me time to catch up and see what we have experienced. Lets back track a bit....

In April PeaBee and I packed our bags and flew to Brisbane, even though it was school holidays here in Sydney we took it on the chin and left husbands and children to cope on their own while we slaved away at Creative Block. (sometimes I just LOVE my job).

It was fast paced, challenging at times and so inspiring. Manufacturers had flown in from the USA as well as our talented home grown designers. Booths were set up to show off new ranges as well as holding really great make and takes.

We took classes with Sizzix, Bo Bunny, We R Memory Keepers, Fancy Pants Designs, Fiskars and many, many more. In between time we charged through the ware house to stock up on some great buys for you.

The great thing about doing these classes is that you get to see the way the designer had imagined the product to be used. So eye opening. This was a retailer only event and at night when we were dropped back to our motel, we regrouped and talked about ways of bringing this energy to you. (more of this in coming posts....)

Just one shot of the lovely Graphic 45 booth.

The lovely Lynette Carol, designed and taught a fantastic K & Co class.

Trish Germain, an Australian designer set her company Paper Vogue up as a lolly shop, had us coming back again, and again - sometimes just to steal some more lollies ;0)

so if this little post has wet your appetite there will be more shortly about our next creative journey, this time at SIA....

Hugs

L

last day of November - yikes

Ok who stole November? Surely it was only a little while ago that we were contemplating  October and here it is the last day of November!

Well I have not done the Christmas shopping but I am feeling pretty good about the Christmas projects. This year I have a few up my sleeve already, just waiting for the photos to go in. And I used one of the Purplescraps sketches to finish off another layout from lasts years Christmas - whoo hooo on a roll

Don't you just love the ribbon? it is the Green Tara Christmas shapes you can find it here.

So with projects here being completed here is your chance to join in, this weeks class....

to book in just drop us an email :)

Hugs

L