Layouts 6 & 7

Today we started packing the trailer for the holiday - and I still haven't worked out how to automatically load the blogs. Luckily we're taking the laptop and will have some interent access - so every now and then I'll be able to blog the rest of these layouts! I did spend all of yesterday packing the craft stuff that I want to take on holiday... it's about 1/5th of the trailer...


Layout #6
This page was such fun. I'd wanted to do some machine stitching for ages and now that we have a big workshop space I have been able to use it.

Shown in the photo is my good friend, her 2 boys and her neice. Theo was celebrating his 1st birthday in this photo. Today he celebrates his second birthday! (It only took me a year to scrap the page...)


All the bits and pieces were from the Daisy D's Wonder Years Sticker Collection and Daisy D's rubons. I love them!


Layout #7


Here we are in Laos at a Tourist Village with our good freinds Andrew and Karen. Strangely enough in the middle of nowhere there is a little photo booth set up to take advantage of us tourists. I wasn't going to say no! I'm not sure if I like this page or not though. I love the papers (Basic Grey Wistera Collection) and the matching stickers are fun too - but for some reason I haven't decided if I really like it or not. It might get a tweek in the New Year. Maybe the title 'friends' needs to run down the right-hand side of the page...


We're off on holiday tomorrow - I hope you get a break too!

Layouts 4 and 5

We love summer holidays! We go to the same place each year to relax and enjoy the Nelson sunshine. Each year we go with friends and this year we enjoyed the company of these sweet children. We enjoyed going down to the estuary area and playing in the shallow river that runs to the ocean. The water is really warm and is perfect for pulling a boggy board along. The kids love it too! The Cherry Arte papers are bright and lovely for summery photos.

This year our friend's daughter turned One! I created a gorgeous Kaisercraft cupcake album for them to keep and then sort of wished I had one myself....! So here's the layout with Bella's Kindred Spirit range (love that) and a bit of pink fozz felt. I love that stuff. Makes me think of Candy Floss!!
A bit of Kaisercraft Rhinestone bling, some sticky flowers and a Bella journalling tag and it was all finished.

Talking about Candy Floss, I'm looking forward to my yearly chomp this summer...

Layout 2 and 3

This layout was the first one I did. I LOVE the paper from Creative Imaginations.The edges on it so beautiful. A couple of years ago I went around to see her to talk to my Great Aunt (right) about the family history and to borrow her photos albums. I spent some time scanning them into my computer hoping that one day I will get around to doing to a Heritage album. Anyway, she had 3 copies of this photo and so I was allowed to keep one.

I have kept this page relatively simple - since the paper is very fussy and detailed. I used a lovely big black Petaloo flower followed by a couple of Prima flowers, a bit of bling that I shaped from the Kaisercraft rhinestone strips and some lovely antique looking lace. I originally had another title - but I didn't like it and changed it. So this one is Take-Two! I also painted the big letter S and added a touch of gold glimmer mist...


I can just see me not getting through these before Christmas (and we do go away on holiday for 3 weeks) so perhaps I had better show you another one. One of my lovely customers mentioned to me that you can set up your blogs to come on when you're away - so I might have to investigate that option.

Layout #3

I'll just keep to the Heritage theme today! This is my Grandad (brother of the 2 ladies shown in the first picture). This is also Creative imaginations paper and as I love doing double layouts I decided to use the same Prima flowers and Rhinestone bling.

I'e also used the Basic Grey Mini chipboard again. (You'll see that more than once). It's a perfect size for the layouts and it's alreay coloured... I also found an old frame that I had been hoarding for something - I just hope the glue holds it on.

Please enjoy and pop back tomorrow for another one or two...

Scrapping Bonanza...

After many weeks of renovating, moving and opening shop (then moving house, cleaning and gardening) I decided I really needed a weekend off. I was dreaming of scrapbooking layouts and planning them in my head. So I penciled in a weekend and 2 weekends ago I actually did it!

I started crafting on the Friday night and went through until Sunday night! Firstly I went to the computer and randomly selected a whole lot of photos that I thought I might like to scrap up. Just random ones - of friends and family. I banned myself from doing travel ones (that's what I normally do!).

I tottered off to Harvey Norman and printed out a whole heap of photos 7x5 (and was pleasantly surprised to see them on special!). I've never really done layouts with 7x5 before - and I had decided that I was going to scrap in a style that I'd never really attempted before - that really heavily embellished style!

Next I cleared all the tables (6 of them).

Starting out tidyily

Then I proceeded to dig through all my papers. I was looking for those papers that I have been hoarding. You know the ones - the ones that are too nice to use!!

Mmm - just a slight paper addiction...

The chosen papers were spread along 2 of the tables.

Then I got all my boxes of embellishments and laid them across another 3 tables...


Then I gave myself a little space and started working. Wow! What fun! Every now and then I'd open up a magazine - but on the whole I didn't need any inspriration - I was full of it just looking at the papers and the photos!


I had the best time. I went from layout to layout - about 15 mins on each one. I didn't let myself think too much about them - I just started sticking stuff down.

I did have a few interludes - the Christmas Parade on the Saturday and then a Christmas Service on the Sunday. My lovely husband even did the final tidy up at the house we'd just moved out of and went off to the dunp by himself to let me scrap. (xoxox)

But apart from that, my weekend was exclusively for crafts. At about 9pm Sunday night I just felt like stopping. (A bit like Forrest Gump where he just stops running and turns around and goes back home). So I photographed all the layouts (with the intention of blogging them the next night...) and then I started to tidy up. What a mess I made in such a short amount of time!

So, now the photos are on my computer and I plan on showing one or two of the layouts each day or two until they run out! You'll get a few days worth - I completed 18 in total...

So, please enjoy... Here's the first one. And maybe one of my favourites.. we'll I couldn't decide actually!

I've used the Creative Imaginations Holly Berry papers here and also a Hambly Screen print. The Transparency has been overlaid on top of me (and the monkey). And who doesn't love the Basic Grey chipboard letters?!

CHRISTMAS STORE AND CHRISTMAS CANDY!

We have been working hard (neglecting the blogging) to bring you...

Artfull Christmas Store

and our old favourite Christmas Candy...

Candy is back, we've missed it so
So many goodies, so little dough!
Christmasy bits and crafty delights
To keep you busy on Advent Nights...

I'll say no more. Head to the website. But be quick...

Roses Festival and the IRD

I love getting mail. So I was excited when Graham came in with a handful of letters. 6 of them ... but they were all from the IRD!! All in one day!

I grabbed the camera and thought I'd share it with you. This Government Department sent me 6 separate pieces of mail in one day. All the letters had different information - but it was all to do with the fact that I am now an Official Ltd Company and I'm employing staff. What a waste of postage!

Anyway, on a more interesting crafty note, we had a stall at the Timaru Roses Festival in the weekend. It's a big event and we spent a good week or so preparing for it. We made heaps of packs for Christmas projects rest of them will be on the website this week at discounted rates.

My lovely husband was the helper on the stall. He has a really important job to do ... he talks to the men who are waiting for their wives to finish shopping!!

We had a fun day seeing lots of people we knew - but the wind sure got cold and people starting packing up early at 3pm.


And on an even more exciting, about 3 weeks ago I booked in a weekend of crafting. I decided not to agree to do any other activities that weekend (unless I really really wanted too)! So I'll be doing that from Friday Night - Sunday Night (hopefully... apart from the Pea Straw in the garden, Santa parade, Christmas Carol Cafe and our friends moving back to town...)

So think of me rattling around in the big classroom, listening to Christmas Carols and playing with the loveliest papers I own. I've decided to dig to the bottom of my paper boxes and find the nicest papers and scrap them. I've hoarded them for long enough!

We had a fun night on Saturday in Christchurch creating the Advent Calendars. Some people had a late night...

What a mess!

Dear Santa looks fabulous!

The little wooden mallet sure did come in handy!

Clarissa worked on the Star Wreath. Just stunning!

If you are wanting an Advent Calenday pack now is the time to buy one. They are REDUCED to $50!! They really are fabulous and you still have time to get it made and filled with goodies before the first of December. Head to the website to see the options...

I'm alive!

I am still breathing. I can't believe it's been 10 days since I blogged. Naughty me! I suppose moving house was a pretty good excuse... We've moved into the back of the shop now. Well sort of. We haven't emptied out the garden shed, garage and workshop or cleaned the house or tidied the gardens yet... And Graham is still installing the Trade Me kitchen in the new place. We might have running water tonight...

And the boxes are still clogging up the hallway.

It's always a big job moving - but at least the business is sorted! Artfull Crafts is flat out and it appears that I've been needing an extra worker each day. How cool is that! Juanita and Vicki are fabulous and it's so much fun being in a larger shop.

We have a whole lot of things happening at the moment. There is the Spellbinders Sale (and people love those!) and then we have the Advent Calendars back in stock. Classes are filling up and we have lots of new stock arriving. The 6x6 Kaiser pads arrived back in stock again and I'm hanging out to play with those.

So, do I ever rest? That's a question I get asked all the time. The answer is YES! I sleep really well! And for quite a lot of hours each night. And every now and then I give myself the day off! Like this past weekend. We were supposed to be moving house, but our good friends were camping in Geraldine and so a few of us went out for the day and lazed around their campsite. I read a Scrapbooking Magazine and smiled when I saw a photo of Graham and me in it! It was the Scrapbooking Memories Mag and Kaisercraft had submitted the picture! Aside fomr that, the magazine is really cool and I was HUGELY inspired to do some scrapping.

So I might go now. We've done the postage for the day and we have 2 more hours to go until the shop shuts...

Juanita and I might just have to go and have a sneaky play with some new product..

Nested Poinsettia

What a lovely Spellbinders die. I think it's my favourite so far... and when I found some lovely red velvet in Thailand I just had to buy some to bring back and play with it!

We had a Spellbinders class this week and then a free Make-and-Take on Friday. Here are some of the creations:

You can't see it on any of these photos (because I forgot to photograph that card) but the flower looks great if you fold the velvet over and you put the two layers through the Cuttlebug at one time. It ends up cutting the velvet and embossing the edges! Saves time and it looks amazing...

As for the cool ''sanded effect" we just used Cor'dinations cardstock. It has an outside colour and an inner colour. You reveal the inner colour by putting the card through the cuttlebug and then sanding it. It's a hit!

So there you have it. Great looking cards that are really easy to make. Have a great weekend. I'm off to Christchurch to sing and dance at rehearsals...

Opening Party

What a great day! The sun was shining and we had friends and family from Christchurch to Oamaru come and join us for our first craft day and a BBQ lunch. We had 26 ladies attend the crop and then a whole lot of friends and family joined us for lunch.

My lovely husband was in charge of the food...

We even managed to get the lounge room looking a bit better for the lunch! The sun was shining so we set up tables outside too.

Kaisercraft generously gave us prize packs and so we had fun with a card-making competition. Everyone got a pack with card, ribbon, flowers and a stamp. They weren't allowed to add any other materials but they were allowed to use tools. The winning card was Lynley's! She didn't believe me when I told her...!

The submitted entries

Hilary from Christchurch (the Artfull Crafts Design Team member) and Vicki (the hard-working employee) finally meet each other in real life!

We also had a scrap competition where people were allowed to choose some free products and they had to create a page with the photo they brought of themselves. We'll be voting on that during the week and will announce the winner next week. The pages look great!

It really was a lovely day and thanks to all of you who made it so special. Many thanks to the people who helped out and for the great catering from Shirley (Shirley's Pantry Pleasant Point). She makes an amazing carrot and date cake and she even took all the dirty dishes away...!

WOW! The new shop has opened...

It's been busy and frantic but we did it! Yesterday Artfull Crafts opened it's new shop at 24 Latter Street, Timaru.

It was a most wonderful day. It started with lovely group of ladies bring morning tea, flowers and cards and then people rolled through the doors all day. I got more flowers and more cards!! I felt like it was a really special day - and it was!

We've been working long hours to paint and decorate and then the weekend saw a huge effort put in. Thanks to the friends who popped by and helped out.

Here are the photos of the work in progress:

Friday evening

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Early hours of Tuesday Morning...

Tuesday!

The new flower and ribbon station

A place to relax with coffee

I promised shopping baskets and now I've got them!!

So a BIG thanks to everyone who helped! It's an exciting venture and we'll see where this one goes.

Progress...

Today we start to move the shop from the house to 24 Latter Street. It's looking fantastic and I'm really excited (REALLY!). Last night Sherri came (again) and helped out and we had a painting party in the room that will be our lounge and kitchen. We had lots of paint left over from other DIY projects - so this room got the lovely deep orange/red. Funnily enough we painted out all the orange in the shop rooms and painted them pink...!

Here's the room in it's original condition.

It's a shame Sherri and I are so short! Someone else will have to do the ladder work.


Getting there. It's amazing how much you can do in an evening.

While we painted, Graham finished the new lighting in the shop.

Now I get to tell you our cool carpet story. We only saw the place 2 weeks ago - and things happened very quickly! By this week Tuesday I realised I'd better get the carpet sorted out... I went to 3 places and got quotes. They all came that day to do the quotes (I love doing business in this town!). At the end of the day all the quotes were twice what we had wanted to spend. I decided that maybe we couldn't afford to lay carpet in the classroom but instead we'll have a huge carpet mat that went right to the edges. That way we'd save some pennies!

I rang a friend that day as he worked at a flooring place. He was out of town but said he'd get back to me the next day. He rang at 8:30am and said they had some brand new carpet that had just been uplifted from a property and it was high quality Feltex carpet in the grey tones. We jumped in the car, saw it, bought it (at a low price) and then they said they could have it laid by Friday (today!) I couldn't believe it!

But the story gets better. At 12pm I get a phone call asking if they could lay it that day - in 45 minutes time!! I jumped in the car with the trailer, went to Graham's work where we had been given free underlay, went to the shop, emptied the room, laid the underlay in time for the carpet to go down...

So here's the classroom before and after the paint and carpet. Of course it will look even better once we get the furniture and some curtains!

BEFORE

AFTER

So today is the day we pack down the shop at Mountain View Road. Tomorrow we'll do the moving, Sunday we'll set it up and hopefuly on Monday I'll be able to do fun stuff! (Displays, banners, signs etc)

So we'll be labouring this weekend. Enjoy your holiday!