Congratulations Alison and Viv! You have each won a Kaisercraft magazine (170 pages jammed packed with their latest Q1 Products). Make sure you email your addresses through to artfullcrafts@gmail.com and we'll be able to get them to the Post today.

The new Kaisercraft products will be released on www.artfullcrafts.co.nz tomorrow morning! It's the first store in the country to stock the goods. Here's a sneaky peak at Juanita getting the new displays ready in the shop...
But don't despair if you've missed out on the magazine! There are plenty more chances for you to win...

If you want to win a FREE Kaisercraft magazine you simply have to leave a comment on the blog and 2 lucky people each day will be pulled out of a hat to receive one! Each day I will post a new blog and you can try again the next day if you missed out. I will announce the winner on the next day's blog. This competition will continue until July 5th!

Another way to get a Free Kaisercraft magazine is to go to www.artfullcrafts.co.nz and sign up to the subscription page. You will get a year's worth of Quarterly magazines for the price of less than 3. That's a great deal. If you choose this option you will notice the postage has been incuded for the next 3 magazines as well.

So, pass the word around - there are free things to be won. And you really won't want to miss the Kaisercraft Prizes and Celebrations that we will be holding from July 1 - July 5th. Be sure to keep your eye on the blog and the website so you don't miss out on anything!

Congratulations to Nic and Capture and Create! You two lucky ladies will be sent a FREE Kaisercraft magazine. Thanks for your comments and be sure to email me with your address: artfullcrafts@gmail.com.

There are many more chances to win of course!

If you want to win a FREE Kaisercraft magazine you simply have to leave a comment on the blog and 2 lucky people each day will be pulled out of a hat to receive one! Each day I will post a new blog and you can try again the next day if you missed out. I will announce the winner on the next day's blog.

Another way to get a Free Kaisercraft magazine is to go to www.artfullcrafts.co.nz and sign up to the subscription page. You will get a year's worth of Quarterly magazines for the price of less than 3. That's a great deal. If you choose this option you will notice the postage has been incuded for the next 3 magazines as well.

So, pass the word around - there are free things to be won. And you really won't want to miss the Kaisercraft Prizes and Celebrations that we will be holding from July 1 - July 8th. Be sure to keep your eye on the blog and the website so you don't miss out on anything!

Good news! The new Kaisercraft stock has arrived! It came in yesterday on a huge Mainfreight truck with my pallet sitting in the middle of it. Lovely husband Graham and blog buddy Hilary (from Christchurch) lifted all the boxes inside. I've still got stitches in my stomach so I had to stand by and watch them work...!We enjoyed rummaging through the boxes - Hilary is in Kaisercraft Heaven here! What a great set of new collections!


Then we had a play with some new stock and chatted over coffee and the magazine. My friend Jan arrived for the afternoon and she made an origami flower ball. I think we may have converted her to crafties...!
What a fun day! I then spent the evening dreaming up some great promotions and one of them starts here today...

If you want to win a FREE Kaisercraft magazine you simply have to leave a comment on the blog and 2 lucky people each day will be pulled out of a hat to receive one! Each day I will post a new blog and you can try again the next day if you missed out. I will announce the winner on the next day's blog.

Another way to get a Free Kaisercraft magazine is to go to www.artfullcrafts.co.nz and sign up to the subscription page. You will get a year's worth of Quarterly magazines for the price of less than 3. That's a great deal. If you choose this option you will notice the postage has been incuded for the next 3 magazines as well.

So, pass the word around - there are free things to be won. And you really won't want to miss the Kaisercraft Prizes and Celebrations that we will be holding from July 1 - July 8th. Be sure to keep your eye on the blog and the website so you don't miss out on anything!

It's been a funny old week or two. From the highs of Aussie, Kaisercraft and Simon and Garfunkel to the lows of being reminded that surgery hurts! I had a small operation on Tuesday - and of course you like to think that you'll bounce back immediately... but you never do!!

Thanks goodness I had the common sense to have my new workers (Juanita, Vicky and husband Graham) trained up earlier in the week!

On Tuesday morning I was busy scurrying around attending to last minute details (postings, emails, orders) etc. I wasn't at all worried about the op. I started packing my bags and preparing for it at about 10:55am (I had to be at the hospital by 11am!)

I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in there. I made cards (about 100 of them for the florist) chatted to the anaesthetist, the nurses and the surgeon. I phoned NZ customs (more than once to find out where my goods were and why they were delayed!). I even rang Kaisercraft while I was sitting in my op gown with those lovely blue booties on!

I read a book and waited for the surgery... Woke up feeling drowsy - as you do. Felt sore - as you do. Heard they had done more to me than expected and that they wanted to do another op soon to finish the job! FANTASTIC! Just what you want to hear! Next time they will be doing a proper cut along the belly (so that one will hurt more I expect).

Just as well I've started training up my helpers...

So yesterday and today I lay around on the couch directing all the workers! They did so well and even came back today :-) Many thanks! It's such a shame I won't be able to carry all those boxes from Kaisercraft that will be arriving this weekend ... but I'm sure there will be nothing wrong with me when it comes time to open them...

I get the feeling the next blog could be a photo of me surrounded by all that glorious product!

Well, what a busy 2 days we had with the Bag of Scraps promotion. We were in Aussie for the Kaiser launch over that weekend and came home to a LOT of parcels to package! I employed 2 scrapping buddies for Monday. Their job was to make up the bags and boxes with all the shop stock. Throughout the day we had fun raiding the shop for all the goodies to go in the bags. There were a mixure of card-making and stamping supplies - hopefully something of use for everyone! They all ended up having at least $25 - $60 worth of goods in them. Thanks girls - I think you did a wonderful job!

We got the 200 bags completed by the end of Monday. That evening my husband, Graham, taped all the boxes shut. On Tuesday I employed my Dad to help me package them up and courier them. We worked as fast as our hands possibly could and by 4:30pm we were ready for the third and final courier pick up of the day! I even photographed my courier man looking at the pile!

Wow! I was pretty tired after all that - but I still had to turn around and do all the Trade Me and website orders from the past few days as well! Talk about Fun and Crazy!

Thanks to all of you who participated. I got so much lovely feedback about the promotion. Thanks for your comments. Here's my favourite one:

"Oh my goodness, you have just totally made my day!!!!!!
So I'd say it was a successful promotion that bought a smile to your faces. In fact, I've got all sorts of wonderful ideas for another promotion next month...

THIS IS A LONG BLOG! BUT WAIT TIL YOU GET TO THE FABULOUS NEWS AT THE END!!

Today was a most amazing day!!! We went from Melbourne to Geelong on the train and then spent the day in and around Kaisercraft (and a couple of other lovely stores in the area). We had a tour of the offices and met heaps of all the fabulous people who work there. What an amazing team. Imagine working for Kaisercraft! They all look so happy...! We had a wonderful lunch with Christina (NZ Rep) and Clarinda. It's so great to see where people work when you're emailing them. We also did some SHOPPING at the Kaiser outlet store. Think big and filled with all the goodies we love...

We were kindly taken back to the motel (thanks Chez), rushed to have a quick peek at Geelong's beautiful waterfront, eat and glam up for the night at the launch party. We were warmly greeted by the owners Steven and Carolyn Kaiser and then thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people: Al Hannah, Melissa Kennedy, paper designers, managers, workers (oh dear I would love to name you all - but it's late!!) and of course other shop owners. People were so lovely and friendly and we really were having the most wonderful time. I think there were over 70 shops represented from all over Aussie (and 2 from NZ)

Then Steven and Matt did their opening addresses (a fine job) before the curtain was pulled open to reveal the new Q1 range set up in their HUGE scrap classroom. I was in there pretty early on to get photos of the most amazing creative dispays I have ever seen! Incredible - and even better was to meet the people who designed this stuff!!

We had a a bit of time to place orders (I wanted it all and decided to order it all). And then they had competition time! The first prize was INCREDIBLY INCREDIBLY generous so I got myself in a good position to take a photo of them pulling the name out of a hat... and then they called the name... Liz... (I'm thinking there are lots of Liz's)... from Artfull Crafts (I think that's the name of my business)... in New Zealand... WOWWWWWWW!! I waved to my husband and then it was a blur of photos and smiles and clapping and I really didn't know what to do or where to stand. They were taking more photos with us and Steven Kaiser and I then I had this terrible feeling the photo would look atrocious! (Whew it's okay!) Then I started getting teary... But I didn't faint (although that would have been hilarious!)

What an incredible blessing! I have never really won anything before (neither have I really entered any competition). This is an amazing prize for a small business like Artfull Crafts and it's come at the most incredible time. I've been wanting to expand the business, but unsure of how to do it.

The amount of stock I won is phenomenal and I will have to expand into the spare spare bedroom in the next couple of weeks. Our hunt for a shop-front house had already started - but we'll be getting more serious now!!

The rest of the evening was filled with people congratulating us and we were blessed to spend half and hour chatting with Steven (the owner) about business and how to expand and send it in a direction that works with our goals. He's also been the pastor of a church - so of course we talked about our favourite subject - the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On our way out the door we collected THE most amazing goodie bags filled with all the new releases... I will photograph them as soon as I've pulled them out and had a proper look!

What an incredible experience. The evening finished with being chauffeured by another generous Kaisercraft employee back to the Motel (thanks Conrad!).

Wow! So was it worth flying to Aussie on a whim for a product party? Indeed. It was already worth doing before I won the major prize! In fact, I really didn't think the evening could get any better...

I just love meeting people and sharing in the excitement of an amazing company like Kaiser. Now it's late (late) but I really did want to share this exciting news with you all. So the next question is: When is the stock arriving???? Apparently they will be packaging it up next week ... so keep your eye on this website. We are going to have a lot of fun sharing the prizes with you all!

I'm heading to bed now - but this time I will curl up into bed and read the fabulous Kaisercraft Magazine they just gave me...

Well I had such an overwhelming response to the Bag of Scrap promotion that the stocks ran out (twice over!!). So it has come to an end a few days early. I'll remember that next time. Now I'm dreaming up the next fun promotion and I have the feeling it will include new Kaisercraft products. Did I mention that I'm really excited to be going to Kaisercraft tomorrow? I'm in Melbourne now (and it's wet and cold) so I'm having fun checking my messages and blogs! I might just crawl into bed now with the new Scrapbooking magazine I bought today!

I'll update this blog really soon with fun photos of my trip around the Kaisercraft factory and the party (if cameras are allowed of course!)

CHECK THIS OUT! Grab a bag of Scrap for only $15. The value of the bag will be anywhere from $15 - $60.

Some items in the bags include: Nestabilities spellbinders, storage caddy, Basic Grey Collection packs, stamp sets, papers, embellishments or anything you see on the website! One thing is sure - you will certainly be getting value for money! The bags will be randomly chosen to match with website order numbers.



The bags will be generous and this SALE only runs until Saturday (or while stocks last). Tell all your blog friends to get in quick!
www.artfullcrafts.co.nz

Fridays come around quickly! What fun today. We used these gorgeous CD Mini Books from Daisy D's to create a quick album. I decided that I'd use photos provided from my Great Aunty. A couple of years ago I sat down with her to hear the old stories - and I did attempt to put faces to names after that meeting. But 2 years down the track I had to get the family tree out to see who was who and now I have more questions than ever!. I think this album has pictures of my Grandad, his parents, their parents and their parents ... but I can't be sure!

I used a whole lot of distressing techniques to get that ancient effect - sanding, inking, rolling and scraping the edges. Heather started the "Girlfriends" mini-album at the make-and-take. I just love the colours. We used the Nestabilities Circles and Labels One sets to create the shapes and an old CD on the front cover for decoration.

It's amazing what you can do in 20 minutes.

I really should have blogged in the past week! It's such fun but somehow I just didn't get around to it. And we all know that I won't be able to next week... (Off to Aussie for the Kaisercraft product release...)

Anyway, I had such fun in the weekend. My friend and I went to a 10am-10pm scrapday at Scrapbook Art in Christchurch. Allanah is so lovely and she runs a great crop day! I was so busy leading up to the day that I never got any projects organised - so I decided to work on Kaisercraft albums and projects. I managed to paint and paper 5 of them! (Some day in the future I'll add the photos and the fun stuff!).

I really love the Handbag and photoframe completed with American Crafts papers . The rest are copies from the Kaisercraft designers! They will look lovely hanging in my shop as samples.