Melbourne Paperific 2006 Telstra Dome

Ebony - Julie - Marg - Jenny - Collections Stand MPE 2006

Wow what a fantastic show we had this year in Melbourne! Thanks to everyone who stopped by our stand at the MPE this year. It was for us an amazing show, bigger booth, tons of people on all days, even Sunday which is normally quiet day. We had a huge interest in the make and take this year, run by the very talented Jenny Crossley and with help from Jenny Sutherland (from New Zealand) and the lovely Annie van Leewin (from Perth). Industria was a big hit and we hope you enjoyed making a small sample of it to take away. Sorry the kits sold out in the first 10 minutes... oops had better make more of the limited editions next year. We also had some beautiful children do make and takes this year, the youngest was Matthew at 2 1/2 and his brother Michael at 4 years old, and they were the cutest boys. We also had a number of young ladies creating flowers on satay sticks. The whole show had a great feeling this year and even though many had to wait a long time on our stand to get product, everyone was patient, we are grateful for that! It was so nice to meet up with some old friends and make new ones, so many faces from previous shows. Hi to Bethel, who came a long way to join us for the first time...If you were at the opening, Bethel did a big countdown! Also to Sue from Canberra, who flew in for the day just to come to the show, great to see you again Sue. Also thanks to Greta for inviting Jenny C & I to your special MPE Dinner at Docklands, it was great to catch up with a great bunch of ladies. (yummy food as well!)

Special thanks to Marg Buhagiar, Jenny Crossley and Ebony who worked the booth for the 3 days. Saym, Annie and Jenny S as well for also working on our stand, and to Sharon our rodi for the setup, as it would not be possible to do the show without the help of these fantastic people!

And thanks to Audrey Underwood, Viv Bonder, for some of the newest samples which everyone adored at the show...and Jenny C's totally fantastic samples of Industria...wow they were so cool.

Here's a closeup sample of the name badges that we wore in the "Industria" style, thanks for the great comments girls! All made from the new heavy chipboard frames, wire mesh (metal fly wire), aged letter clips, steel ballchain, and different chipboard shapes and alphas. Ink pads were Tim Holtz distress, Frayed Burlap and Soot.

Jenny Crossley made this fantastic display (below) of Industria and glued them to old sheet metal and attached an old antique bulldog clip to finish the piece. A lot of the items were found objects of old fuses, antique pins, wire, watch parts, nibs, and metalic letters. The rest is from chipboard style tags, photo turns, baby chipboard alpha and the new mini uppercase alphabet. It's amazing what you can do with just metallic paint and Tim Holtz distress ink, Frayed Burlap.

Will try and post some more pics later of the show, not having much luck with blogger today....Julie

Melbourne Paperific 2006

Hope you are all excited about MPE this year, I know I am. I thought I might put up a little preview of a little product that will be available at the show. Collections is at stand 17 this year. We will be doing make and takes again as it was so much fun last time. I'm leaving soon so I hope you can come see us and take a look at what's new with Collections. We have been working hard this year to bring you some fun and new products. There will be some "Limited Edition" packs available, but there is a small supply so be early....

The accordian books above are really tiny (well you know me and how I love small things.....) And I have some really cool ball chain in "steel" just perfect for "Industria"!

See you soon, Julie

Danielle & Ideal - Moora Show

Danielle competed at the Moora Show last weekend. The town of Moora is about 180kms north of Perth about 1.5 hours drive. Danielle entered show jumping, hacking and galloway and won three ribbons for herself and her horse Ideal. The pic above she won a first for jumping. Her sis Lauren did all the strapping work so she could concentrate on her events. It was a really lovely day and 3 other of her friend competed as well.

This photo is an event earlier on in the year with both Lauren and Dan competing with a couple of their girlfriends, Naomi and Anna.

TFL! Julie

Milestones...

Last week my girls, Danielle, Lauren and their step-brother Adrian purchased their first home together. Here they are signing their first mortage! The girls are 18 and Adrian is 26, and plan to live in the house which will be built over the next 18mths. I guess that means they will be moving out of home for the first time! As long as they don't bring their washing back to me I think I will be alright! LOL.

Is this for real?

Please tell me Jenny C from the ratty has too much time on her hands? Can you believe "POSS MAN" checking out Audrey's butt, checking out my blog??? I believe "POSS MAN" is a tiny sugar glider that fits into ones hand, (how cute) actually we should call him poss-in-hand? Well apparently he glides everywhere, people, computers and is a mini flying 'rat'... oopps sorry "POSS MAN", just joking!!

I am sorry been a bad blogger of late, but I have a good excuse, been a tad busy of late. Getting new and interesting stuff ready for the Paperific show in Melbourne in a few weeks time. I hope all you girls from Melbourne are going? We are hoping to get you all motivated and crank up those creative juices with some really cool ideas....Jen C is going to do some wonderful make and takes. I hope we have the best ones (make and takes that is) this year. I am certainly putting my heart into those. I just want you all to have a very special time at our Collections booth. Margy B (Marg Buhagiar) is also going to be giving out all her inspirational ideas - did you guys see Stamping and Papercraft this last issue? Go check it out she had some beautiful pieces in it....for goodness sakes rip the bag open when no one is looking and take a peek!

BTW I am going to Christinas Craft on Wedneday, 25th October for a demo night, starting at 5pm. I am not sure if it's booked out yet but if you are around the Upwey area and want to come, email her at christinas.crafts@australiamail.com to see if there are any tickets left. We are going to make it a very special evening, and I am sure for $6 it will be really worth it...hope to see you there. If not don't forget the Paperific show at the Telstra Dome.. http://www.paperific.com.au I am so looking forward to that show. Right now I am packing a pallet of stuff to bring over, yer right that's a lot of goodies! Well I better get back as I have tons to do and I just wanted to drop ya'll a line about what is happening over here in the west. You know the side where the Westcoast Eagles come from, the ones that won by one today!!!! Ha!

Catch ya later, Julie

New Rubber!

I have had a few girls ask me for the new rubber that was at the ATC #3. I thought I would pop it on the blog until I can get around to putting it up on the website. I don't have codes or anything and if you want to order some just email me the number and description for now.

You can email me at collections@westnet.com.au if you have any question about postage and how to pay etc. The size of the calendar is about ATC size, great for backgrounds and the little girl fits on an ATC as well. The text stamp is perfect for stamping into texture paste, which is what we demoed on the 26th. I know I have been really slack not getting all of the photos up from the show but I need to work on them first to prepare them for the blog. Hopefully soon I can get them up and thanks for being patient.

Also apparently France has asked me to demo Industria at the next club meet, and I would love to do it if I can, if not the demo queen herself, Kelsey will do it, so don't miss the next meet will ya! October 6th! email France if you like at: france@iinet.net.au to find out about SAJ's (Stamping at Jans, here in Perth)

Thanks, Julie.....

I know it's good.....

I know the site has had a few comments and quite a few people are reading this, but.... what the heck" if only "gins" could read, pigs that is....

Apparently Audrey from Ballarat was snapped by Jenny Crossley reading my blog the other night. Good on ya Auuggee! I thought I would post a pic so that should make you happy, Riep, reip!

I reckon if pigs could fly, they could read too. Love ya Audrey!..... Julie

Photos from ATC #3 (at last)

With thanks to one of the newbies, Nicky, a little help understanding blogger I have some more pics to show. Sorry it's taken me so long to get these up as I know you are waiting on them...

Some of the ATC's that were posted up on the whiteboard during the day. Thanks to all for putting them up.
Jen and Audrey, well what can I say here, this was meant to be a family show! Hope you girls are embarrassed! LOL!
The make and take table for "Industria". We put out supplies so everyone (who wanted to, and you all did!) make a tag or similar in this new technique. Apparently there are swaps already going on using this style, that's pretty cool!
Some of the ladies checking out the demo.....
Ahh our first stamper boy, Giles and happy mum, Ann! This little guy is so cute and heavy too! It was so nice for Ann to bring him all the way to Banksia Grove so we could see him....

Demo Queen, Kelsey with her truly informative demo using watercolour paint. Photos supplied by Kylie - thanks!

Kelsey applying colour with her transdermal applicator. (Good one Kelsey!)
Moving that applicator around to get the technique right!

Allow it to dry. Sorry, we don't have the finished one to show as we had to wait for it to dry!

Using watercolour crayons, Kelsey applies it to watercolour paper and a stamped image.

I still have a ton more photos to post so I will do some more later, that should keep you coming back to the site!

Thanks for looking, Julie..........

Finally!!

Okay I know you have all been waiting to see this post, well after a bit of work this week I have all photos and gossip at hand! So it's going to be a big post! Firstly let me say WOW what a great time I had. I know a few of you had a blast and enjoyed the day... well because you have told me so and I thank you all for those kind emails. It certainly makes it all worthwhile to have a day when you get that kind of feedback.

The day started with a bit of a glitch really. I was driving to Banksia Grove and happily contemplating the day when I noticed I was on the wrong road!!! OMG! what's going on! Well main roads decided to change the road system didn't they. We were only at this venue 6 months ago. I was thinking of all of the newbies coming and that lovely map I put on my website. I tried to put it out of my mind and get on with arranging tables and putting out stock. At 9.30am some chicks arrived so I thought to myself, they made it so should everyone else.

We had a really full day and over 50 girls turned up to create, trade and share their ideas with the rest of the group. Everyone liked the ATC kit which was a tin filled with ATC making paraphernalia and included a rubber stamp, cards and some diecuts. Entry included a ticket for a door prize. Well that was a bit funny because at about tea time we decided to draw the raffle. I kindly asked Jen Jones to do the draw and someone suggested that she may very well pull out her own ticket. I guess I said that wouldn't happen as there were over 50 tickets in the container. Well sure enough she pulled out her own ticket! Talk about arsy! Oh sorry let me rephrase that, "Arty". Did you girls see her fantastic work she was creating at light speed with the texture paste? I hope you all enjoyed the demo on texture paste. It's really fun to stamp into and add some colour and bring out detail of your stamps.

Now onto the gos... First one was that I was asked what a reo is. Miss K (you know who you are!!) it's a little round reinforcement! We use them on some of our ATC's and they are fun to put an eyelet into. LOL! funny! The next thing is we had a couple of guys rock up. No one had enough money to to get them to strip so we were a bit disappointed and ended up with photos and chickens! Later in the afternoon we had a visit from France who is the lead on Stamp Gropers ATC and it was really nice to put a face to her for some of the girls. France has a blog.... she had put up a post with some of the work she was doing.

We also had a visit from Ann and her new baby Giles, who was so sweet, and I managed to hold him for 20 minutes, well until my arm nearly broke. Ann what are you feeding that baby?? He is over 6kg now! Ann was happy to create whilst I held him and I did enjoy my cuddle! I hope no one was offended at me calling out during the day and night how much time ya'll had left! I was hoping everyone was going to be productive and make heaps of ATC's!

Now to the demo's... Thanks Kelsey for doing your demo on watercolours and stamping. The girls loved it and I have had emails saying so! A big thanks to Kylie for taking some fab shots of the demo queen...We so enjoy your approach to the demo Kelsey, always clear and so informative and great to be a part of. I hope everyone had a chance to do some at home.

Now the "Industria" demo, and make and take. I think it was a good idea to give everyone the opportunity to have a hands on because going by the samples you all made you truly loved it. Heck is this going to be another craze? Well if it is it's an easy one, everyone said it was easy. I did tell you it was going to be and you had a lot of fun creating. A few times I had to drag some of the girls off the table so other girls could have a shot. Actually I wanted to stay there myself, all day! Next time we will do another one of these because it gave us a chance to create, out of our comfort zone, try new things (and finish them!) and do it with others in a confined area making you chat and get to know some of the newbies and girls. Hi to the newbies!! (Nicky, Lorraine, Debra!) What a lovely lot they were and I think we will see them again, maybe at club (SAJ's) well I really hope so! Let's hope we have some new friends now!




A rooly big thanks to Deb, my dear and special friend who I ask to work non stop for 16 hours without breaks and only let her out once for a smoke on the grass.... Thanks Deb you are worth you weight in stamps! We could not do this day without you, BTW you are already booked for the next one, so put it in your busy schedule....
And lastly, thanks to all who brought delicious food, which we all enjoyed......did anyone else love those puffy dogs? I only got one but I love them!
Until the next ATC day,
cheers,
Julie.........................

PS If you don't see any photos, blogger is being a pain, will keep trying for a little while longer...Update, just managed to get a few photos loaded, will try again later tonight, thanks for being patient!

Will post soon!

Sorry guys, will post about the ATC Day really soon, hopefully later today or tonight, just been a tad busy!

Thanks, Julie

Thanks Jodie

Just received a couple of photos from Jodie who owns a lovely shop in Melbourne called Scraptacular ( well I have never been there but I would love to see it!). About a month ago I was in Melbourne for a short visit to see some of my customers who came to the city to look at my Collections range.

Thanks Jodie for sending in a pic of us and one of your cute girls as well (sorry forgot her name!!)

Julie........

Will I or won't I.....

Okay girls I have been talking to a couple of friends and asked them if I should post the kit everyone is getting on Saturday for the ATC #3 Continuum and they said why spoil the surprise. Well should I name names? The kit is really simple but nice and I do hope you like it. I packed a few extra incase someone wants to buy one for a friend, but they will be limited so first in best dressed. So I guess you will have to wait till Saturday now, hope everyone is okay with that. I am sad our little Dawnie (huge technique girl!!) is not coming but we will have plenty of other girls to share ideas with and talk to. BTW before I forget, please bring a savory plate not a sweet one, I stocked up with all of the morning and afternoon teas stuff today. I am also still packing things for Saturday and will have a small amount of new rubber there as well, been pressing all day and got a full upper body workout! LOL It takes a bit of effort to press rubber plates for hours and hours! So thinking of you all and how excited you are about coming, well same...

See you all there, Julie...........

ATC Continuum #3

Just thought I would post a few details about the ATC Continuum #3 coming up on Saturday. For the most part it is now fully booked with around 58 girls attending. If you are a first timer reading this, don't worry not all 58 rock up at once, many come during the day and others come later in the evening depending on their schedules with work etc. We will hope to do some demos, I plan on one during the day and will repeat it again sometime in the evening so no one misses out, that is unless you are there only for a couple of hours. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone again and meeting some of the new girls. And for the newbies, it is a very special group of gals, I can vouch for that! Many love techniques and textures so I have decided we will do a technique for the demo. I will save all the details to the demos to Saturday, don't want to ruin any surprises! And Incase you are wondering I have a special kit for all of you that have registered this time. It is to do with ATC making and I have put together special a selection of stuff that I know your will enjoy. I would love to show it to you right now but one part of the product is making its way over from the eastern states as we speak and I will hopefully get it Monday and start putting it together this coming week. On Saturday we will have a small amount of "new product" for you to purchase. We will have the lovely Debbie looking after us again doing shop and helping me in the preparation of the days events. I do hope this time to get some ATC's made but as I know from past experience I might get "one" done! LOL. I also do want to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and sharing of ideas and friendship in regards to this third event. The response from participants has been overwhelming and it makes it really special and rewarding to organise an event with this kind of response.

See you all then!

Julie xxx

Something Wonderful

What is not to love about this piece? I'ts absolutely amazing and made by Jenny Crossley from Ballarat. At the moment this "J" is adorning my office here in Perth and sits proudly on display for all to see. I will be taking it to ATC Continuum #3 on the 26th August for everyone to enjoy. It is very inspirational and I love all the little elements of chipboard just put together so perfectly and the colours are so great. Every piece has so much detail and Jenny has put a lot of thought into it. The "J" is quite heavy and made from solid wood, I don't think it is pine as it is really heavy......

This wonderul "Fob Watch" also made by Jenny is multi layered and has a selection of transparancies and images on different levels. There are many single fobs mounted together to create this wonderful and creative little charm! I just love it....

Those going to the ATC Continuum will see it in the 'flesh' and that so far is 56 of ya'll
see you all very soon,
Best, Julie

Thank You

Look what came to my house today, these wonderful beautiful flowers!

Thank you Crozza for sending these they are so lovely and what a special surprise as well!

I guess there is no guessing why I have such beautiful flowers in my possession?

cheers,

Julie

Mmm Industria?

What do you think of this new little technique I am calling "INDUSTRIA"? Well it's looks like old metal from a machine shop but it's really made of chipboard (boxboard). It reminds me of a bit of old steel just chucked down on the ground and I have picked it up and worked it with my stamp pads, paint etc. Jenny C & I had a play with this style in Melbourne last weekend. A couple of chicks from Little Bits came to my trade and also had a little play, and they did a super job. I guess this look is not for everyone but I really like the industrial look and I have to admit I want to do a full tile kit in this style. Jenny made the dog tag above and amazingly the reos sort of look like a rusty old washer.


I made this one out of a small clipboard, same size as an ATC, old text (note the wording on the text) which came from a 1942 old calendar, one of those ones you fip each day to a page and get a quirky quote. Geez pretty accurate quote for guys these days! LOL! I am having an ATC day on the 26th August in Perth and I think we could be demoing this to the group on how to achieve this really cool effect, well to those who like it anyway. Sounds like a great theme for an ATC trade, and you won't believe how easy it is....really.

And for those of you in the east, perhaps I should do a little demo at MPA (Paperific) in Melbourne in October in few months time.

This gorgeous pieces by the girls from Little Bit's, Kerry (above) and Teresa (below), gosh this stuff is amazing and I really absolutely love it. I just got it out of my suitcase and I have to post this straight away as I know you will love to see it as well. I have chipboard arrows now and also the photo turns, which NEVER get used for photos but make the cutest little tags. And reos, well what can I say they look pretty spunky as well. The new baby chipboard alpha and numbers are an ideal size for small pieces as these. I am in the process of aquiring some steel ballchain in mega quantities, won't be available for at least 6-8 weeks but certainly worth the wait as the steel type I am hoping to rust. It's also coming in brass and nickle plate, 2 different sizes and that fine one you all love...

So get down and get dirty and DO INDUSTRIA! And the name comes from a shop in Melbourne that sells industrial really ecclectic old stuff!!! It's in Fitzsroy, not far from St. Lukes folks.....
Cheers,

Julie

Saturday Nite in Melbourne

The Journal
shot of the creating!
the mess on the table
da girls!

Here are the photos of our 5 hour class in our hotel room last Saturday nite. We had a lot of fun sneaking in the girls past reception with table chairs, craft supplies and dinner! It was a big challenge to set the room up for 10 people and get through the complex task of a mixed media paper tile journal in a limited space. We were fortunate to have a 2 bedroom with a lounge and dining room. A quick relocation of hotel furniture and a few additional lights we sorted out the room ready for the girls. They were good sports too as I kept threatening them not to make too much noise as the hotel had a strict NO PARTY policy. I kept telling myself that it was a craft meet not a party? However as the night wore on the girls did a fabulous job working really hard to complete the journal. I am not usually known for setting a simple tasks so there were several techniques and 16 tiles to work. And the girls worked their butts off. Congratulations to them all as I cracked the whip for over 5 hours, and absolutely no one crumpled under the pressure. I admit I was a little hyped up with snakes, peanut m&m's and a few cherry ripes and sushi chucked in for good measure. God only know what would have happened if we had alcohol in the room. We were joined by some very cool chicks, Greta, Donna, Jenny C (Ratty), Sue from Shepparton, Lai Sie, Eva, Michelle, June and Pam. When the class finished I sent them down 2 by 2 as not to arouse any suspicions from the management! LOL. Hey girls you were all great sports and if I had the chance to do it all again I would. I was also my longest single class I have ever taught.
cheers,

Julie

PS. I cut and pasted myself into the photo as we took 2 shots as there was noone available to take it for us!

Stamp-it's and Inky's Trade Night

I was at Stamp-it tonight teaching some lovely girls the Collections range, making samples and the like. It was great to teach a very creative and hard working group. I always crack the whip and make them work really fast - well to get a lot done!

And they did some beautiful pieces. It's not easy teaching 6 different things at once, but what the heck I have done it enough times now! Here is a small portion of one girls work. I just think the colours are so boho chic! Thanks to Susan for giving me some of the paper and the scraps! It was great to have in the group a longtime friend, Lexie! Always good to see her. Talk about get down and get the job done tonight! All the girls were fab since they had worked hard all day long and then do trade till 10pm. Well done! And we were joined by the sweetheart girls Lana and Becky from Frendz, who have a great store in Clarkson. Thanks girls for trekking all the way in peak hour to come to the trade night.

Here's a pick of the gals that were in the class....please don't ask me to name names! I am not good with names and I am the sort of person who needs name badges on everyone and yike no-one had them on! LOL!

Oops! I think I cut one of the girls off in this photo, sorry.....

Another sample of the flowers one of the inky crew made (so sorry, didn't get any names!) I know I am a shocker....

Well better get to bed, I have been up over 19.5 hours today, gosh where has the day gone.

Nite!

A Long Time Ago

I was cleaning out my garage a few weeks back and found some artboards that I had in "The Rubber Gazette" days and found this little tag I made. It was dated the 6th October 1999. I remember where I made it because it was a special trip I had made to the USA and I was spending time with a friend, Sue Giduck in Kemp (Dallas). Wow how time flies! Sue happens to be a very talented girl and has been published many times in Somerset Studio and also has her own book with Design Originals. The rusty paper in the tag is made by Sue under a big sheet (and I mean BIG) of rusty iron in her back yard. She dampens the paper or what ever she likes and leaves it there for 3 weeks and hey presto rusted paper! And that's where I made this little tag, on the floor of Sue's stamp room! I still have some of it left and have used it for various things, like the rust stamp, back ground for the "Rusty Tiles" and in many other projects. It's funny how we look back at our work from the past and how we change so much over the years and take on different styles, grow to like different media and follow the latest craze. Back in 1999 tags were all the rage, we even gave it a name and called it tag art! I bet if you look through Somerset Studio issues in early 2000 you'll find what I am talking about.

And another piece I found see below - dated 1997 (yikes) was about "Faux Postage" another mad craze, which I still happen to love. I am still a member of the Artistamp Group which is a worldwide group that have a fantastic annual swapping of artistamps. The image of Marilyn is hand carved rubber, again another craze way back then! Geez I nearly forgot about that one. So that what I was doing nearly 10 years ago!

Anyway, hi to all the girls from SAJ's tonight, well it was a buzz of girls wasn't it?
Looks like everyone was having a great time. Hopefully see you all soon at the next meet and I will try to arrange the next ATC day at the end of August or early September.

A Beautiful Graphic

I found this beautiful drawing Danielle my daughter drew, and then the twin sister Lauren coloured it in Photoshop CS, clever little pumkins! It would make wonderful logo for a teen company or something like that, or possibly a stamp??

thanks for looking, Julie