Thank You to the ladies of Newman! Wow what a fantastic experience Newman was. A huge thank you to Rhonda & Tenaha & families (Rtlicious) for hosting me and giving me the opportunity to see an amazing part of Australia. The retreat ran over 3 days in lovely Mia Mia boutique hotel (house in the desert), which was very nice and great meals! It was very special to meet the "girls of Newman" and I worked them so hard with hours and hours of "Collections" elements and techniques. They completed a complex journal and several pages which encompassed 2 days. Very easy group to teach and a very poised group of ladies! Thank you for your interest in my soap making! Rhonda is bringing up some in the next week or two! I will pack a box of goodies and some lip balms etc. Those who wanted the recipe for liquid laundry detergent, please email me at collections@westnet.com.au

Picture above taken of the huge haulpac truck!

Rhonda and Tenaha and her daughter at the Newman airport.

Girls busy at work creating!

Rhonda with the view from Radio Hill of Newman town.

I would like to thank the girls for a fantastic tour of Newman, a visit to the top of Radio Hill which gave an excellent view of the town, 8,000 residents and another 2,000 transient residents (fly in, fly out) that live in quite distinct accommodation. From the hill you can get a little bit of a view of the largest open cut iron ore mine, called whale back in the world. What spun me out was the temperature, the hottest place on the planet that I have been. Whilst I was out touring with Rhonda it recorded a temperature outside of 47c (116F) and believe it or not that was at 6.20pm in the evening! The last 2 weeks in Newman the max temp was over 40c with an average of 42.3 for the month!

It's true when we were out looking around it was actually 47c, it felt like being in a toaster oven!

I was totally fascinated with the heat! The girls didn't even notice it at all, they said they we used to the heat!

The group outside (yes in the 40c degree heat!) at Mia Mia

Newman January 2009

Steak order at Mia Mia, er it should have said on the menu "Steaks"!

Newman airport, get there on a 717 fleaburner!
Thanks for looking, Julie
PS have a great Australia Day!
Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy, !

RTlicious Weekend Retreat

As promised a tiny sneek preview of my class at RTlicious Weekend Retreat on the 24th & 25th of January (next weekend). We will be using a multitude of Collections elements to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing. I am so looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing my ideas and techniques with you all!
Just a reminder to bring these items below

Equipment List for Class
Please bring these items to class as they will be essential to complete the project.
PVA Glue or Helmar, with a fine tip bottle if you have it
double-sided tape
Scissors
Cutting knife & mat
Sander
Awl - pokey tool
small paint brush
ruler

Optional Items (please bring if you have it)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Frayed Burlap)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Old Paper) **actually I just checked, its Antique Linen, sorry I had the wrong lid on my inks!
If you don't have these specific colours that's okay, but we will not be substituting with other colours.
The Big Bite hole punch or cropadile punch.

For the folks not from WA, Newman is right up north. I am so looking forward to seeing some of the north as I haven't been past Geraldton, ever! Thanks for looking, Julie

Calendars for 2009

Just to let you know that Collections Calendars Small have both 2008 & 2009 dates included with the product and any large calendars shipping as of January 2009 we are including additional {2009} so you have the full 12 months of the year 2009 to complete the year. You'll also have 24 x 2008 as well. For the sample shown above,I've used the small calendar in white (comes in cream and kraft as well) and used a clear cover, then bound it with my Zutter machine. It's a great quick and easy project to kick start the year. Oh and by the way, I am now designing new products for the SIA release and I have some lovely new chipboard and paper products that I know you will love. The great thing about "Collections" being manufactured in Australia is that all product lines will be available to purchase immediately at time of release, absolutely no waiting! Well back to the drawing board! Hope you are having a great day, Julie

Duck Savers of the World!

I had almost forgotten about this photo, but I was going through my files the other day and I remembered this one would be good to post.  I was on my way home from a party in Mindarie when a mother duck was going spazz on the roadway around this grate. There were two other girls that had stopped trying to open the grate. The little ducklings had fallen through on their evening travels leaving mum in a frantic mess. Luckily a lad with his strong hand managed to lift up the grate and I jumped in and pulled out the little ones, who ran straight away to their mother. If we hadn't come along mum may have been squashed from passing traffic and the little ones would have perished!