Hi to the girls at Paperific

A good friend of mine Jenny Crossley came back from Paperific on Friday and passed on a few hellos from friends attending the show this year. It was lovely to hear that Collections was missed and it would have been the 11th show (I think, lost count) that I would have done in succession.

I just wanted to say thanks to those ladies and that I missed the show this year. There were 2 reasons for not going this year. Firstly my daughters wedding was on that very day, however unfortunately Lauren decided not to get married and I guess I was not prepared to cover the huge cost of going on such short notice. There was also the downturn in the economic market as well to consider.

It has been a big year for me and in the last 6 months I have released more than 40 new products at Sydney, taught classes in Newman to 35 people and 5 classes in Canberra to 45 people and yes I have been really busy this year. I am also in the throws of building a house, so that's keeping me busy as well.

I do look forward to bringing you all new and exciting products from Collections, but all of the design and manufacturing does take time and you will be the first to see anything new here on my blog as I have it and thank you for all your kind support in using Collections products in your projects.

Ya'll have a great weekend, thanks for looking Julie

HALLOWEEN – DOWNUNDER? (UPDATED)

It would be true to say that I have too much time on my hands at the moment. It was a ghoulish nite in Tuart Hill and all Halloween broke loose on the chipboard here at work. Danielle my daughter, who turned 22 today, was asked to make Halloween decorations for her work. She is working at AMF bowling in Joondalup and I guess they are a US company and of course they will be celebrating Halloween on the 31st October. Here in Oz – we do not generally celebrate this US tradition, but we do have kiddies trick or treating, although I have not had any children come to my door since my kids were little.

So..... I said to Dan “I will help you!” Next thing you know I decided to make a haunted house. Well I do have lots of materials at my fingertips, and I only bought one thing to make this project, the black paint.

I started off with a rectangular shape, decided to have a pointy roof. Covered the roof in tiny tiles of black core board and trimmed the fascia with the scalloped edges. I really, really wanted a gargoyle for the roof, but I couldn’t get one or make one : (

I did fashion shutters using some of the frames by cutting strips and layering them behind the frames. One of the shutters is off at an angle to depict a broken down shabby look. By this stage all sorts of ideas are starting to materialise. Imagination is going crazy and getting out of control. Too late - I am in too deep now, I am committed to the end. I promise it won’t take over my life.

As you can see I have used several products from the Collections Elements range including:
0438 Sash Windows
0642 Pickett Fences
0633 Nesting Birds
0449 Little Windows
0650 Art Boxes
0487 Scallop Edges
0342 Baby Alpha (has the numbers in it)
0942 Super Sponges to dab on texture to the paint
0468 Flexi Sander to smooth out the edges

A few days later I decided that after making sash windows I had better put some xmas lights inside to light it up. So I dragged out some low voltage lights that I bought from Ikea about 5 years ago that had a nice long extension cord. Now we have windows, better put in some ratty drapes. Crikey! then if you look inside the windows through the shabby drapes you had better see a ghost. Holy cow “what next?”
The door was next – and guess what? I wanted a good looking door with a porch. Hey the art boxes will do with inserted little windows to give it the “Stanford look”. Great - I found a tiny door knocker charm, brilliant, just left some grey bits on so it’s not lost with all the black paint. Next came the porch roof, again used the black core board bits to tile it. The number 31 will look appropriate for the top of the door for the street number.

I had to anchor this entire crazy house onto some heavy chipboard, so I made a base for the house to slot into. Actually whilst all this was going on I was thinking that I will make it so it can be taken apart so I could deliver it with ease. The top of the roof also comes off. The trees on the side also come out of their supports, thank goodness I saved the inside roll of my dymo printer labels or the tree would not have stayed upright so easily. The house itself is hinged to form a tall square shape, it needed to be tall so it’s looks like a haunted house. I didn't paint the inside black because it needed some lighter colour to reflect out so I left that plain chipboard.

I was going through my purchases from Scraptivate (I had bought some charms) and hello! a cute metal spider popped out. Good that’s going on a wire hanging on the roof. My good friend Kelsey suggested I should make some cobweb from some open weave fabric. I stained it with a bit of black paint and hung the spider on a wire just below it.

Now the ground area looked pretty bare so I decided “tombstones!” Looking around at some of the scraps around my work area shouted cut some gravestones out of chipboard, so I did and then I spotted some crosses made out of the centres of the sash windows. I made some small ones and then three in row different sizes. Now I just wanted to finish this thing but I couldn't stop, one more thing. I needed some tree for the side of the house, not just any tree it had to be windswept and finely branched (is that a big ask?)Collections chipboard trees won’t suit I need something to match the scale of this tall house. Okay I admit it I walked the neighbourhood until I found the perfect one. So there it is the perfect branch, the dead branch came from a tree up the road, on the verge, near the flats not far from here. I’ll be honest I only spent about 20mins to find it, true!

Well there was something else (one more thing) I needed that I couldn't buy here in Australia, friggin pumpkins, tiny little pumpkins. Now the folks in the US probably have millions of these just rattling around in their cupboards but we just don’t here in Oz. So out came the plain flour and salt and hey presto baked tiny pumpkins were born today! Just the right size too, they got the paint treatment and a lovely orange contrast to all the black.

Earlier I had just walked past the laundry and the broom said “cut me” so I did and a witches broom was born. Not only was the coarse hair on the broom not synthetic it was real. I aged the satay stick handle with Frayed Burlap – sweet! Better glue that to the side of the porch, I reckon someone would like to souvenir that one.

What is a haunted house without bats and cats? A bat-less and cat-less house that is. So “one more thing” was born chipboard bats and a cat, and the answer is no, I am not making them to sell!

Where’s the cat supposed to sit? On a fence of course, so out came the picket fences. Do you know how long it took me to glue those little posts together? A VERY long time.
Finally when I took the photos I put my bright orange homemade candles flanking either side of the house to balance it all out. Now all I have to do is take it to Dan’s (and Lauren’s) work tonight.

I must remind myself not to get sidetracked with soap and making things, I need to concentrate on work, but it was a lot of fun making it. Hey thanks for looking!

BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR ALL MY US FRIENDS!

The haunted house is 640mm (25”) high, and the tree is slightly taller.


UPDATED:

Popped into AMF Bowling and wished the twins Happy Birthday and caught them with "twin friends" how cute are they! (sorry forgot their names by the time I got home!)

Oh had to add just "one more thing" Not a great shot but I made a witches hat and a sign that said "gone AMF bowling - the WITCH!

Below on the counter where it is displayed, hopefully it will remain intact! Lauren, myself and Dani pose for a quick snap.

Here is Dani behind the house so you can get a perspective of it's actual height, thanks for looking!

Springtime!

It's finally heating up here in Perth. They other day we had a temp of 36c, straight from the low 20's. It's crazy I know so what's going on with the weather? Yesterday I spotted this lovely flower - the design and detail are amazing. The colour is stunning and you may recognise it's from the passion fruit vine (which lives on the side wall of the neighbours garage). Worth a photograph I think.

Quite some time ago I purchased some really fine leather cord to make a bracelet, so yesterday I got out some Sterling silver beads, charms and findings and made this little bracelet that has been a vision in my head for ages.

I have also been making a few batches of soap, (it's good therapy you know) and I love to make goats milk soap fragranced with rose geranium essential oil. I also like it to be really white and creamy looking, well here it is just after I poured it into the mould and I am happy it's smells divine and it's nice and white. I made it yesterday so today I cut it up and it's still creamy and white- (happy dance). Goat's milk is excellent for the skin and in the soap is some shea butter and cocoa butter which are great moisterising and do not dry out the skin.

Getting ready to plant

It time I got going on my garden here at the "shack", so I have planted lots of seeds and now my seedlings are nearly ready to go into the garden that has been prepared for the next lot of crops. There are some tomatoes in already that are coming along nicely. I am not growing the huge plantation like last year but be more selective on the types of vegetables that I will use during the summer months. We have had good rain this year and setting records for September so I expect a bumper crop of salad veges to grace my table. I am particularly fond of Thai salad and who isn't when you have crispy "real" tasting produce to go in it? I make a Lebanese cucumber, tomato, lots of coriander and onion mix flavoured with palm sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, crushed garlic and chilli. Mmm I can't wait for that delicious taste! Beetroot is something I have raised from seed this year that I haven't tried to grow before and the seedlings popped up in no time! I have put them in a tiny hot house to raise them, see pic! Thanks for looking!

Girls Weekend Away

I had a lovely weekend stay with Jenny Jones down in Mandurah south of Perth last weekend. We actually stayed in Dawesville near the peel inlet. For those of you that don't know the area there is a huge estuary that houses tons of crabs in the summer months and that's the favourite place to go "crabbing". Mandurah also hosts a crab fest once a year, but I have never had the opportunity to go - maybe next year.

Jen and I stayed in this cosy 2 bed "shack" she calls it, but it was really comfortable and had everything we needed to make it a fantastic retreat.

During our stay we walked along the foreshore of the estuary, lots of girl talk, made lots and lots of soap, lotion, serum and Jen made16 shimmer bars for gifts. I am not counting but I think we managed to make about 70 bars of cold pressed soap. How relaxing, nothing to do but do what we liked. The big open fireplace was a delight as I have a firebug personality! Love to burn... and it made such a cosy room as the weather in Perth has been quite unseasonal. Three days were rainy and windy, but what the heck we didn't care. We didn't cook either so we were happy to just veg out and relax in front of the fire.

Here is Jenny's creation of Frankincense and Myrrh, with three layers (you need 2 sets of hands here for the mixing). Smells divine and looks fabulous! I love that Jenny included French Green Clay and some peppermint tea leaves for exfoliation.

So, thanks Jen for a top weekend and inviting me to the "shack". I hope you have enough soap to last you for the next few weeks! LOL!

Here are two batches of Honey Toffee & Patchouli and Musk. It was fun doing the layer and swirl work, but tricky! Thanks for looking.

PS we drove back on part of the new Forrest Freeway from Pinjarra Road and it took about 40mins to get home - sweet!

More Soap!

This morning I turned out this lovely soap that I have been wanting to make for ages. I saw one like it on Birch Bark soaps (she makes beautiful soap!), so I nicked the idea to make a Star Anise, Lavender & Orange Essential Oil Bar. This soap reminds me of Bali, Indonesia as it has a very fragrant scent full of cloves, patchouli and sandalwood. I can't wait to try it out in the shower. Star Anise is like licorice and I am not sure of the smell in the shower but it's been fun to make so let's hope it's fun to use. I have combined the lovely oils of olive, coconut, palm and shea butter, to this bar, like all my soap that I make.

Here is it is before it comes out of the log mould and once I remove it the soap is soft and it is the best time to slice it up. It turned out really creamy and buttercup colour. I would have liked it whiter but I am happy with the way it looks. With curing it may go a shade darker. The line through the centre is decorative and is made up of ground clove and cinnamon, might be a tiny bit exfoliating! Thanks for looking!

Soap de jour!

This is my latest soap popping out of the mould this morning its Peppermint & Rosemary with French Kaolin White Clay. (the fragrance is all essential oil and it has shea butter in it!) The specs are peppermint tea leaves only in the upper portion.. for a little bit of exfoliation. Yummy and creamy this one. It will be curing tho for 3 -4 weeks on my soap rack. I have made over the last couple of months at least 30kg of soap getting ready for Christmas gifts. I like the soap to cure for a long time as it makes the bar last longer. I get a lot of joy making soap and you only have to wait overnight to see how it turns out! Off to do some housework and errands!

New Soap

Not a lot has been really happening here in Perth for me... I have been making lots and lots of soap. My latest creation on the curing rack today is: "White Tea & Ginger". It's smells absolutely divine! I have also curing on the rack lots of Honey & Oatmeal, zesty lime citrus, blue gum eucalyptus, tea rose, lemon scented gum, lavender, peppermint & rosemary, honey toffee (like lush's Honey I washed the kids!), Orange & Sandalwood with poppy seeds, and a HUGE LOG for bonbonarie that is going to be 28 soaps. I have yet to make another batch of tea rose of 32 bars.

I have been catching up with Gabbie via the net, she lives in Melbourne and does amazing things with soap. Not only that she is the best web designer on the planet! check out her blog and look at her site for soap!

I guess that's about 25kg of soap I have made, so I will be offering that soon to my friends and family here in Perth. You can imagine what my lounge area smells like, well I keep my curing racks in there as the heater does help to dry out the soap.

On another note getting ready to plant out the vege patch with seedling etc, too bad the weather is a bit rough at the moment but all the earth is prepared with chicken poop! It will be the last time I can use that lovely space here in the rental as this time next year I will be moving to a new house. I am in the pre start stage at the moment but it will still take a year to build, just gotta be patient.

The twins and friends are back from their New Zealand trip a couple of weeks ago. They had the best time driving around discovering the south island. Skiing, climbing glacier, jet boating, motorbike riding. It was their birthday pressy and Christmas pressy combined!

Joined with 3 other girlfriends they drove around themselves in a 4 wheel drive. Lauren was still on her P plates and still did a bit of driving, what was she thinking! Moreover mum though it was a bit much!

The glacier climb was the toughest day with a 7-8km return walk with plenty of steps and crack and crevasses to climb through. I know I would have been scared if I did it.

Apparently they were ski legends and managed the intermediate ski slope straight off, having never skied before. Must be all that horse work and leg strength that helped them stay upright. Glad my babies are back home safe and sound!

Hope ya have a great weekend and thanks for looking! Julie

ACT Canberra!

I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching classes at Greehills, Canberra, ACT this past weekend. The annual event by the ACTSA organisers & committee was a special event that was set in the hills outside Canberra in this lovely setting. The attendees stayed over 2 nights (with a few day trippers) in the cabins. With meals, classes and the facilities open all night there was an enormous amount of time in which to create and spend time with fellow members in this beautiful setting.

The views of the hills and landscape outside were spectacular, the food was really fantastic, and most of all the company of the 45 ladies, their kindness and skills were just tremendous to say the least. Everyone made me feel so special and I thank you all again for such a warm and fun weekend. A special thank you to Lana who supplied everything I needed to make me feel comfortable including the poster of a rugged "bloke" in a 44 gallon drum! Rat's I wish I had taken a photo of that. (you needed to see the poster, really!)

How wonderful to look out the window and see this whist working! BTY the "kangaroochies" were the biggest I had ever seen in my life (and yes I was born here!), we nearly ran one over on the way in from the airport. I find it incredible that they are able to open the doors of the cabins. The girls warned me about it and I thought they were joking, so I didn't lock my door and alas I froze in the night and awoke to see the door of my cabin wide open. The temp did get to minus overnight, crikey! Okay I do not believe the emus open doors tho!
Lana (right) and one of the girls, sorry sweetie forgot your name (where is your name tag!!!)

The view from my side of the demo table, holy cow I must have said something funny at the time.

More views from the demo table!

A large portion of the girls love making cards and ATC's.

This is the last day in the afternoon on the Sunday and a few girls had to leave early but most of the girls were still working hard on the "art boxes". We started early with card classes on the Saturday morning with a break for lunch and then in the afternoon it was the tile journal class. I was amazed how dedicated the girls were in finishing their Collections projects and worked well into the evening and when I left at 11pm some were still hard at it. All I can say was that the whole group were so focused on working and working and concentrated on the task at hand which was great for me as it's not easy teaching such a large group.

Everyone made it easy for me and listened to all instructions given and embraced the "Collections" style. The finished work was exceptional and their skill was at a really high level. On Sunday afternoon they presented me with a beautiful handmade folder filled with ATC's that they had made with their names signed on the inside cover. What can I say they treated me like a princess! Not only did they take time to make this wonderful gift they presented me with a beautiful hard cover book on Asian Spas and Cuisine. That was such a wonderful thought and to know that they took time to find out about what things I like in life (and they got it so right) that meant so much to me, it really did!

THANKS TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE ACTSA GROUP!

What an amazing weekend with you all, I'll never forget it! TFL, Julie xxx

Packed and ready to go!

I am off tomorrow morning to teach at the ACTSA Stamp Camp in Canberra. Got my thermal underwear, my scarf, my possum gloves and a cool set of ear muffs I pick up in the US when I was last in the snow. Not sure if it's overkill! (it probably is!!). Looking forward to catching up with Lana Murray, Kaeren and of course, Susan Buckwell. There will be 45 ladies attending so looks like it's going to be a very special weekend and I am so looking forward to hanging out with stampers! Friday night I will be setting up and organising kits and a little display for inspiration. Well a few more things to do and off to bed! TFL Julie....

ACTSA Stamp Camp Tools List (for classes)

Hello fellow stampers, just a little update for everyone attending the camp in Canberra. I thought it might be a good idea to list the requirement for the classes I will be teaching over the weekend. In the top pic I have listed some tools which are fairly basic. Tools that most of you will already have in your stash.

scissors

cutting knife & mat

pva glue (fine tip) if it's small perhaps a refill bottle

double sided tape

inking sponge (super sponge)

Ranger Ink Pad, colour - Frayed Burlap (if you are going with a friend you can share if you are sitting together)

awl or poky tool

pencil & ruler

small paint brush (nice bristles not course)

medium paint brush (nice bristles not course)

small jar or container to wash out brushes

some paper towels to dry the brushes (not pictured)

a small plastic mat to paint on (not pictured)

If you don't have some of the items you can contact Lana via lanamurray@bigpond.com and she will be able to assist you in getting maybe the stamp pad or sanders/sponge etc.

In the pic below is my "Big Bite" hole punch. Now I don't expect you to run out and get one of these but if it's not too inconvenient and you have one already, please bring it. A Crop A Dile will also be handy if you have one as we are going to make some holes for a journal we are making.

I am really looking forward to the weekend and I will be packing my thermals, possum gloves, hot water bottle and my warmest clothes! I have been checking the weather in Canberra and the minus temps are not what this Perth girl is used to! (yikes)

I really hope to inspire with you "Collections" and get those creative juices flowing - all weekend! I can't wait to meet you all and I know it's going to be a fun filled FANTASTIC weekend! And a BIG THANK YOU to the organisers for inviting me and giving me this wonderful opportunity to come to your camp.

cheers

Julie

Kept off the streets

The reason I have been quiet lately and not blogged as I have been fairly busy with Collections work and been a bit naughty not keeping up blogging. I know I check plenty of blogs hoping to see updates and pics and when there is nothing I am disappointed, so here are some pics of some classes that I did recently. The pic above is of some art boxes that included many techniques, ageing and distressing and using various mediums like wire and fabric, metal tape to name a few. It was a fairly complex class and should take 3 - 3.5 hours to complete or longer depending on the student and conditions, like the more students in the class the longer it may take. There are also a few other variables as well like the level and skill of the students and we do get this when we are teaching, something that we accept when we take on the task of creating and designing a class. It's fun to design a class but then comes the time to put together kits! LOL!
Here is another little project that I taught recently, a small plaque for your studio/craft room to hang. Inspired by Audrey Underwood's amazing creation. Speaking of the little birds nest (small hint here), you'll notice that I have a shop on the right hand side of my blog. Well stay tuned there will be some product coming soon that you will be able to purchase right off the little shop! Sorry not telling whats coming, please be patient, I have a fixation at the moment with soap and my cosmetic stuff!!! (no I won't be selling that stuff in the shop!)

On another note:
I have been playing around with some oils and little serum bottles I bought recently and come up with a nice concoction to put on my ageing face after cleansing at night.
Here is what I have in the little bottle....

20 - 30ml jojoba - great for skin
10ml olive squalane - similar to natural sebum of human skin
4 drops vitamin E - always fantastic for the skin
few drops of east indian sandalwood EO - great for mature dry aging skin like mine!

It really smooths on nice and even though it feels like a really light oil, it doesn't take long to sink into your face and smooth out those lines and of course smells absolutely fantastic. I guess nothing is going to stop the lines but hey nothing wrong with slowing it down.

I also made some delicious fresh West Indian Lime and May Chang Lime Essential oil soap with a hint of oatmeal for light exfoliation for some of my citrus obsessed friends. I also have been carried away with diffusers as well. Mmm some of the metal tape thought the cuttle bug, distressed and wrapped neatly around the diffuser bottle looks very sweet. Hey its funny how my paper craft stuff gets mixed up in the soapy stuff! I guess you take the skills you learn everyday and incorporate it in everything else you do. Right now the twins are using their skills of sewing (they taught themselves to sew!) making saddle covers from micro fleece and jewellery to sell at a horse show to raise funds for a horsey camp. Now they have asked me to make pamper packs for the girls that are going like, lip balm, face masks, soap of course and some body lotion. I might even throw in some bug of balm for when they are riding but I would imagine that they probably accept flies and bugs as they don't mind getting their hands dirty and hanging out in weather and conditions that I couldn't. My idea of a nice time is by the pool in Bali sipping a nice coconut drink contemplating my next reflexology and massage!

Eeek! is that the time, oh well off to do some work now and get out the orders that are pending! Have a great day and I hope to post again soon than later, and thanks for looking! Julie

Cute Ponies

When the twins were small, they loved ponies, especially My Little Ponies. I found myself hunting them down on trips to the US to bring back ponies that weren't available here in Australia. I guess this video is a bit of fun - revenge of the ponies. I believe the girls still have a few hundred of them somewhere in the attic!

Hey girls better check on them they may be breeding in those boxes. You need to raise funds for your trip to New Zealand or your horse camp! (hint hint). Mum xxxx

Wow it’s been ages!

It has been a whirlwind month for me. Just busy busy! Getting orders filled for the Perth Trade and SIA have kept me off the streets for about 5 weeks now! That’s a good thing as I am happy about being busy and keeping things going here at Collections. Speaking of Collections I have a make and take demo night at Scrapbooks from the Heart in Canning Vale. I have made a sweet little wreath for you to display or perhaps give to your mum on mother’s day if you haven’t already got something nice to give to her. We will be using some new paper, chipboard circles, chipboard floral bouquet and some transparency. We will embellish with a small bird from the nesting bird range. I hope you can join me and fellow scrappers at Janae’s store tomorrow night. Give them a call on 9456 4515 and see if there are any spaces left. I will be taking some inspirational samples for you to see.

On another note, I spent last weekend in lovely chilly Melbourne - no offence it’s always freezing when I go over and I have to wait until I get home to thaw out! Okay I haven’t been over in full summer! Anyway I had a wonderful time at Scraptacular teaching 5 classes back to back (I did get one nights sleep in between). Julie Marshall and her team were so lovely and I was loving all the beautiful samples in the store, which have so much inspiration. When I get some time and Julie please send me the photos, I will post some here on Nirvana. Thanks to all the lovely girls who attended and you were all a pleasure to teach. Hey it was great to catch up with some friends as well at the same time. I did have a few hours on the Sunday before flying back to visit the Victoria Markets. I think I have been to Melbourne at least 20 times and never have had time to go on a Sunday as I have always worked Paperific and that is always on a Sunday. Well I loved the markets, didn’t do the retail merchandise but did the food hall. It was amazing! Loved all the stalls with mega rib eye steaks and those flavoured sausages, not to mention the seafood and my very favourite, French lamb chops trimmed down to bone and meat – no fat. You people in Melbourne are spoiled for meat and vege selection and really cheap prices! What have we got here?, well we had Peters icecream factory outlet now that is closing and you have that as well, so more good reasons to go back to Melbourne! There is not a lot to report only my hard drive failed last week and I lost a lot of photos and almost all of the last 6 months of designs. Luckily I did back up the latest designs (I completely forgot I did that!) and I was really happy to find that disk I burned. My IT guy said to me “you only have to back up once”! Well I will buy a terabyte portable drive and back up the LOT in one hit.

I did manage to squeeze in an hour of soap making on Sunday last. I made a delicious batch of Rosemary and Peppermint Essential oil cold pressed soap with lots of wonderful shea butter, olive and rice bran oils which create soft creamy lather. I am waiting on an order from Sydney to fulfil my need to make a really wonderful leave-in conditioner, which I happen to think are brilliant for your hair, especially if you have dry hair. I did get a chance earlier in the week to make some of those aroma diffusers – ones that you like to smell.. like rose for the bathroom and I made a lemongrass and west Indian lime essential oil one for the WC. Thanks Jen Jones for parting with some of those reeds, now all we need is some decorative bottles.

Thanks for looking.....Julie

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you get your share of eggs! I spent this lovely warm easter morning at the Darling Range Pony Club, where my daughter Lauren, her amazing horse "Condor" were competing in the unofficial hack division. It was so wonderful to see her ride as she was nervous and Condor was a bit fidgety. It was all very exciting and nail biting as I am listening to all the comments and comentary from all the girls! Congratulations Lauren! oh and Condor as well!
Danielle did the makeup on the horse, they get darker legs and shades of black around the eyes. They also have a major shampoo and tail plait and come up all shiny!

She competed in 5 events and placed one first and also three third places, so she was one happy camper! Here she is with her first place ribbon.

Lauren was with her good friends, Jackie, Anna, Rachael and sister Danielle who do several shows a month and they all go and support each other.

Have a great easter break!

(\__/)

(='.'=)

(")_(")
Julie

Give Away

Maxine Hazebroek made this amazing sample for SIA last week. (I pinched the photo from her blog! thanks Max). I can't tell you how intricate and how beautiful it looks in the flesh. Using the new chipboard Floral Bouquet, Max had put them to good use and created another stunning piece! Anyhooo there is a giveaway on Max's blog, check it out you could win it all by just commenting. How easy is that to get some of the Collections product for free! Now go on head on over!

New Products

New in store now are 2 new 6 x 6 papers from Collections - Baroque (Left) and Shabby Chic (right). Both ranges do match the previous papers Vintage and French. (Click on image to view a larger one). We had a lot of fun creating with these colours and I hope you will too. I think Baroque will be a lovely for the cooler months and they are rich and have a great contrast. Both were well received at SIA and we did the make and take with the Baroque.
The latest four designs for transparencies, fun to cut up and use, a style for everyone, Ornamental, Vintage, Flourishes and one for travel, Europe. (Click on image to view a larger one). We hope you like these A4 sheets with a rich solid black and on heavy plastic strong enough for pages in mini books. Speaking of mini books we will post more on them as we have a new set of 5 mini books that are so tiny but so cute. Well back to packing! Have a great day and don't forget to pop over to Max's blog as she has got some give away going on there!

We are back from Sydney

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the last post! Audrey and I got back this arvo from Sydney. I have been working since I got off the plane and packing orders etc. So if ya can pop over to Audrey's blog she has some photos of SIA and some really nice things to say! Max also is showing some really cool inspiration with the new product. Sorry I am pooped and I will hopefully post something worthwile soon. I really want to say THANKS AUDREY AND MAX for making it a really successful show, your samples KNOCKED EM' DEAD!!! and we had a blast! Thanks must go to all my customers who supported Collections and made it very special for us! gotta get some sleep! zzzzz

Sneak Peek #3

Collections are proud to announce these diminutive and amazing "Art Boxes". They will be the cutest items at the SIA Trade in Sydney on Tuesday 31st March. Everything the fiddley artist will love. If you love tiny, small, petite, these little art boxes are right up your alley. If you like the small nature of "paper tiles", you will love the "Art Boxes". They come six to a pack, three of each of the two sizes. If you are going to SIA, and are taking my class, this is what you will be making. I am not sure what you will complete in the hour given, but you will get the full six boxes to finish later. They allow you to mix and match different configurations, and are incredibly 3D. Gang up the same shapes to make a set of nine, and create an amazing visual piece of art. You will be running around looking for tiny objects to pop inside, or if you like put in your latest photographs or tiny anything really. They are so easy to put together, cover and paint. I have been busting to show you these, as we are very excited to bring you a very cool - "Make it your own" product. The best part about the "Art Boxes", they will retail for around RRP$7.95! Being released soon are TWO sets of gorgeous 6 x 6 papers to put on these, tons of chipboard and lots of new transparencies! We hope that all the new products will be in stores around the first 2 weeks of April, not long now. Thanks for looking Julie.

PS I am out of the office on Monday but will be back in Perth on Thursday after 1pm.

Sneak Peek #2

It's getting closer to SIA in Sydney, it's also getting busier organizing new product, packing and making samples to inspire you all. Here is the latest sneak peek. I know it's not much but it will all be revealed soon. Now with over 40 new products, things are hotting up here at Collections. I am busting to show you some of the new chipboard items, some will be extra special for making 3D objects and plenty off the page projects. Please stay tuned for more, I will endeavour to post more over the next coming days, it's all very exciting! The preview above is one of the classes I will be teaching at Scraptacular next month. If you are interested in the 5 classes that are available please contact the store.

Update at 4pm... This sneak by Maxine Hazebroek, very lovely, very sweet. Thanks for sending Maxine, I have seen the full image and you have outdone yourself! Some new flowers and birds!Max is going to have a special RAK soon, so keep checking her blog for it. I am donating some new, new, new product for the RAK (c'mon Max get it up!)

Well back to work for me.... day and night......thanks for looking! Julie

1st Sneak Peek!

It's getting close to SIA, trade show in Sydney end of this month, and I have been really busy putting together a pretty large release for the show. Above the first sneak peak, a layout of my daughter Lauren. As you can see some hint of the colour, but it is a teeny peek of what there is available. Thanks for being patient, there will be more to come, I promise. There will be some really inspirational colours, ideas and plenty of new, new, new! Audrey Underwood & Maxine Hazebroek have been busy helping me with samples, their input and incredible enthusiasm. (thanks girls!!!)

Max has put together a beautiful sample below, a wonderful card with colour texture and amazing design, thanks Max!I can't wait to show you some more peeks over the next couple of weeks, so please stay tuned for more exciting products and ways to use them! If you are going to SIA I still have 4 spaces left in my class, so if you want to try out what is new from Collections, please book in as soon a possible. Thanks for looking, Julie