SENZ 2013

It's just around the corner!  Figuratively and literally!  Next weekend at the Telstra Clear Events centre in Manukau (about 20 mins from my house!).

As always, there's lots of prep work involved in getting classes designed, tested and kitted up.  But I'm 90% of the way there (with the help of Jodi - aka Mrs Scrapaholics).

I mentioned on Facebook that Scrapaholics are renowned at SENZ for their Project Kits.  When the SENZ doors open on Friday morning, there is a mad rush for our kits!  So this year, Jodi and us tutors have worked really hard to bring you a fantastic selection of layout and card kits!  Just to tempt you, here are a couple of kit sneak peeks....

Remember, first in - first served.  The kits are limited in numbers.  They are fantastic projects to keep you going over the winter months, and particularly useful for taking to scrapbooking events since you don't have to pack everything including the kitchen sink!  They come with full colour printed instructions so there is no guess work involved.  It's a sit back and create type of thing!

Leave me a comment if you are coming to SENZ - better still, come and say hi at the Scrapaholics stand!  We're looking forward to seeing you!

Cheerio!

Vietnam Scrapbooking Retreat - Red ChiChi

Some of you may have been lucky enough to meet the gorgeous Aussie gal Lucy Muraca at Creative Adventure in May.  Lucy sported that magnificent pink sequined apron!  You couldn't have missed her!! Lucy is the owner of Skatkatz (who also very generously donated a great prize to C.A.D) and runs fantastic scrapbook retreats around the world. 

In October this year she is hosting a tour to Vietnam.  The itinerary sounds just luxurious!  So I wanted to share the details with you, you have to go take a look....

I have personally taken a class by the accomplished Angela Peardon, who will be teaching on the tour, at the Brisbane Expo and I can promise you she is a very clever lady!  Her work is incredible.

Click on this link http://red-chichi.blogspot.co.nz/p/vietnam-retreat-2012_06.html to read the full itinerary with pricing options.  It'll be a marvellous trip, a perfect mix of crafting, sightseeing, local activities and relaxing!  Sorely tempted I tell you!!!!  I'm guessing spaces are limited - contact Lucy on info@skatkatz.com.au to find out.

So, who's up for it?

Never a Dull Moment!

Not around here, anyway!  After a week of being housebound with a sick son (and me!) it's time to get cracking with preparations for SENZ (Scrapbook Expo of NZ).  I am teaching 3 classes again this year for Scrapaholics,  all of them layouts and all quite different in their own rite.

Prima Multi Layer Faerie Folk Layout - Mixed Media Scrapbooking

Strong - A Masculine Layout featuring Authentique's 'Strong' range

I Love You - A Webster's Pages Certified Class

 

 

If you are interested in taking any of these classes, click this link here http://senz.co.nz/Scrapaholics.php

 

Looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend.  Relaxing, maybe a bit of crafting and some baking are sure to be in order.  We are enjoying some lovely sunny, but chilly, wintery June days at the moment.  As much as I bemoan winter, it is nice to cuddle up in the evenings with the family and enjoy each others company.  It's also a time when we catch up with old friends for winter dinner parties, which is always fun.

 

Till next time!

 



It Was Wonderful.......

Creative Adventure Downunder 2013, from wo to go, was FANTASTIC!

So let me tell you all about it and show you some photos....

We kicked the event of on Friday morning at 9.00am.  I taught the first of my classes to the Pink Group, who were just amazing!  Buzzing with excitement and eager to learn.  And they all created gorgeous layouts. 

My class was a commemorative layout of CAD 2013.  One less thing the girls need to do when they get home right?  It was designed to showcase their photobooth pics that they enjoyed posing for on Friday night at the Carnival Dinner.

We used refined NZ beeswax melting it over a chipboard 'Create' word then sprinkling  blue/green/bronze coloured perfect pearls over.  The results were stunning.

Add in some soft white and teal polka dot feathers, with a trail of little paua shells and the result is a little 'Kiwiana' to remind our international visitors of the beauty that is NZ.

Lunch then followed, with classed resuming for the remainder of the day, taught by Teresa Collins, Donna Downey and Heidi Swapp.  Enjoyed by all.

Then on to the Carnival Dinner.  Delicious food and sterling entertainment!!!  And guess what?  We even had Ellen DeGeneres turn up!  Lots of laughter and fun, let me tell you!

Saturday we were back into it at 9.00am again.  A few jaded faces early on, but everyone soon got into the swing again!  More classes and more fun!

Sunday I taught my class to the Red and Orange groups.  Once again, a great group of ladies who embraced the messiness and experimentation that was part of it all!  Well done Red and Orange!

I was honoured to host our international guests along with Jodi, Michele, Michelle and our T.As for dinner at my home Sunday night.  Traditional kiwi roast lamb, followed by home made pavlova and hokey pokey ice cream.  18 litres of it!!!!!!  But let me clarify - even though there were 26 of us for dinner, I still have several litres of ice cream left!

Auckland turned on some beautiful weather on Monday so we took our visitors out to Maraetai for lunch and some fresh sea air. 

That night we said farewell to Donna who flew back home.  Heidi also left for home.

Teresa and her gorgeous daughter McKay and our cute friend TC Dye came to stay at my house for a few days before they went home.  Tuesday was rainy and cold so a heavy duty shopping day was in order.

Once again, Auckland came to the party and put on a stunner of a day on Wednesday.  So we hopped on the ferry to Waiheke Island and took the girls Zip Lining!  Michele and Michelle joined us.  I think there were a few nerves to begin with but once the adrenaline kicked in we were good to go.

Eco Zip on Waiheke is a fantastic operation, highly recommended to all!

 

What goes down must come up right?  Which meant that after the 3 zip lines we needed to walk back up the 'hill'.  A scenic and gentle 25 minute walk through native bush.  Peaceful and beautiful.

Back to Auckland on the ferry then a hurried but sorrowful goodbye to my sweet friends as they boarded a shuttle for the airport. 

Farewell till next year and roll on Creative Adventure Downunder 2014.  Teresa is coming back to join us along with Diane Shultz and her daughter Amy from Graphic 45 and Joey from Bazzill!  What a line up!

Till next time.



It's Nearly Time....

For Creative Adventure Downunder that is!  Less than a month to go before we kick off our amazing 3 day workshop and fun filled weekend with Teresa, Donna and Heidi! 

I have finished designing my class and I'm getting ready to kit it up ready to teach on Friday morning 24th May and again on Sunday morning.  In between, I have the greatest pleasure of assisting our American tutors with their classes. 

Can't wait! 

Nervous?  A bit. 

Excited?  Lots! 

Honoured?  Yes - to say the least.

Here are some sneak peeks of my class.  The layout incorporates some really beautiful and different mixed media materials and techniques which will be sure to kick start the creative juices!  I am especially excited about showcasing one technique in particular.  But keeping it under wraps for the time being.....

On a side note, we have just spent a couple of days here http://www.waipamustation.co.nz/about.html.

It truly is a slice if Kiwi Heaven, one that we plan to invest in, in the very near future! The fresh air and country side certainly elevated the childrens appetites!  Might have to take out a second mortgage just to keep up with the food bill!

Also popped in to Taupo to watch our nephew compete in NZ Secondary Schools Sailing Regatta.  So lucky with the weather for this time of year, the lake was superb.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Comments are always appreciated.  And if you are registered for Creative Adventure Downunder - then I'll be seeing you soon!

75c Workshop

Back in February I travelled to Hamilton to teach my Kaisercraft 75c 1 Day Workshop at Paperzone.  It was a fabulous day with some fun Waikato ladies!  Yesterday I taught the same workshop at my LSS, Scrapaholics - once again a great day!  I thought I'd share some pics of the projects.  The 75c range is one of my all time favorites - the colours and patterns lend themselves to so many themes and photos.

Layout 1:

And some close ups...

Layout 2:

Close up...
 

 

Then we created 4 cards:

Thanks to Paperzone and Scrapaholics for hosting me.  Looking forward to next time!

Cheerio
Maggie

 

 

 

Birthday Sweets

I'm fascinated by the whole faux minature food thing. There are some amazing books about it all in Japan (might need to take another trip there!!!) where it's a huge hobby.  I've attempted to make a few bits and pieces lately, with the help of a variety of differerent clays, whipped creams, fake sugars etc.  And I found the perfect project to use them on - a special little box for my daughters upcoming birthday to put her presents and maybe a few little sweets into...

 

I loved decorating the ScrapFX chipboard cupcake stand with glitter and whipped cream!  Almost good enough to eat!

 

 

 It's an addictive little craft - this miniature food! (and quite calorie free!) But so enjoyable.  And it has loads of opportunity for using in my scrapbooking and cardmaking. I wonder how long it'll take before it takes the scrapbooking world by storm??!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Beautiful

So easy to create soft, feminine and pretty layouts when you have a gorgeous little girl in your life!!  Here's a layout done with Websters In Love range - simply titled 'Beautiful'  - because she truly is a beautiful little soul.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

News Flash!

And on the back of my last post, I received this lovely badge from Brandin O'Neill today...

Thrilled to be part of the Websters family - can't wait to get started!

Wonderful Websters

How many of you suffer this syndrome.....you buy some beautiful papers, so beautiful you can't bring yourself to use them just yet so you put them aside for later.  12 months later you revisit them and - hmmm, well - they just don't seem to strike a chord in that same way anymore???!!!  And you kind of wish that you had actually used them when you first bought them!

That's me all over - but I'm getting better at using up current stash while it's still fresh and new.

However...............this is one of the reasons I love Websters Pages so much.  No matter how 'old' or how long I've been hoarding their pages for - I still love them and find them equally as beautiful a year later!  That's got to be a good thing, right?

Case in point.  Last year I started a layout using some Lullaby Lane and Winter Fairytales.  I got halfway, then put it aside for whatever reason.  This weekend, I rediscovered this half finished layout - and guess what? I still really liked how it was shaping up.  So I put my apron on and set about completing it.  Here is the finished product...

Having a gorgeous wee girl who quite likes to be photgraphed makes my job so easy!  So, that's another one done and dusted and ready for the album.  Hope you like it!

Happy Monday!

Winter Holidays

The winter school holidays begin today in earnest!  We have a few movies to see, some birthday shopping to do for a certain lovely lad who's about to turn 10, and a few day trips to cool places that we haven't been to for a while - namely the Auckland Art Gallery  and the Auckland War Memorial Museum (who run incredible programmes for kids).  Interspersed with some bike rides and winter beach walks, I think the holidays are going to finish far too soon!  I know I buck the trend with school holidays when I say I LOVE them, but the truth is I relish hanging out with the kids with no set schedule to adhere to. 

Auckland War Memorial Museum

Our local - Cockle Bay Beach

And I do want to pack in as much fun as possible before SENZ, which kicks off in Hamilton 13th July.

My lovely - soon to be 10 year old son - had some amazing news this weekend!  He was participating in the Honda Winter Swimming Carnival, and was selected to join the Junior Olympians Swimming Squad!  Wow!  That means 10 plus hours of training per week and swim meets galore!  It's going to be a big committment (for all of us!) but one that Will really is passionate about.  Congratulations my wonderful boy!  We're right behind you.

I'll leave you with a few more pics from my Prima Pop Up Keepsake Book class that I'll be teaching at SENZ.  It's fully booked, but I may run it again at Scrapaholics if there is sufficient interest.

Keep warm, all my antipodean friends, and enjoy your summer you northern hemispherians! (is that a word?).



Getting ready...

For SENZ that is! Lot's of cutting papers, preparing embellishments and writing/reviewing instructions. I'm in the middle of running 'dummy' classes with my friends to test that the instructions read clearly. My friend Libby will be pleased about that! All my classes are pretty much fully booked - very happy about that too! Jodi (Mrs Scrapaholics) has put so much time and effort and preparation into her booth (as she did last year) that I know she is going to be very busy at SENZ. She certainly doesn't do things by halves! She has some awesome bargains that will only be on offer at SENZ (listen up Smash book lovers!) and her incredibly obliging better half has organized the manufacture of some very cool things (think gorgeous card/book binding bits and bobs!). Yay Paul! There is also a lot of brainstorming and planning going on for Creative Adventure Downunder May 2013. Registrations are now open - go to www.creativeadventure.co.nz for details and registration. We are really looking forward to hosting Heidi, Donna and Teresa together - and hope to spoil them and YOU rotten! I am busy designing my class for the event, it's going to be a doozy so I'll need the year to perfect it! So that's a quick run down on the state of play in my neck of the woods! I have some cool ScrapFX goodness to share shortly. So stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm pretty excited to be able to share this news with you!

I will be teaching at Creative Adventure Downunder next May (2013) alongside the very talented Donna Downey, Heidi Swapp and Teresa Collins!

Here is the link from Scrapaholics...http://www.scrapaholics.co.nz/Ramblings.aspx  and here are some details..........start saving your pennies my offshore friends.  It would be FANTASTIC to see you there!

Creative Adventure Downunder

      
       Heidi Swapp           Donna Downey                            Teresa Collins

3 of the most exceptional designers around today, here to teach in New Zealand!

accompanied by talented New Zealand tutor, Maggie Armstong.

We are very excited to tell you about an event called "Creative Adventure Downunder". Michele Widdows and I will be hosting Creative Adventure Downunder 24-26 May 2013 at the Novotel in Greenlane, Auckland.... 
   
As you can see from the pictures we have a fantastic line up of extremely talented tutors. We are so excited to be able to bring you this event and I am sure many of you will join Michele, Maggie and I in welcoming Heidi Swapp, Donna Downey and Teresa Collins. 

Both Donna and Heidi have been to New Zealand previously and are very keen to return. This will be Teresa's first trip and I know she is very excited. 
   
If you would like more information on Creative Adventure Downunder please contact either Jodi Tomlin (Scrapaholics) or Michele Widdows (Memories Forever) and keep an eye on our Creative Adventure Downunder Facebook page where we will update you with all the LATEST happenings...

Registrations will be out very soon but before then if you wish to register your interest please email us at info@scrapaholics.co.nz

Happy planning!

The Creative Adventure Downunder Team

C/- Scrapaholics
Shop 9
219 Moore Street
Howick 2014

P: 09 533 5490 or 0800 678 258 
F: 09 533 5491E: info@scrapaholics.co.nz

Artful Evidence Workshop and Stencil1

On 19th May Tina and I hosted a local scrapday for 15 like-minded ladies  Included in the cost of the day was a 3 hour workshop, focusing on techniques with some very unique stencils from Stencil1, and the use of mixed media in scrapbooking.  Here's a pic of the layout we created:

We used the Patterns Stencil with Ceramic Stucco texture paste to achieve the honeycomb effect - highlighted with a touch of gold patina wax. The little dove is created from a mold and polymer clay.

For this tile we used the Hummingbird Layer Stencil with texture paste, distress stain, Shimmerz and gold wax. 

To get this layout done in 3 hours was quite a challenge but with the aid of an industrial heat gun to dry off the texture paste we were able to speed the process up.  The result was 15 STUNNING layouts.  Each and every hummingbird looked different, since handpainting was the key.  Lots of mess and happy chatter too!

Our next workshop will take place in August - and again will be featuring Stencil1 - using this Typewriter stencil.  For those Mixed Media artists out there I recommend you take a look at Ed Roths very cool stencils (Stencil1).

Thanks for stopping by.