Hi everyone. It's my turn to show something crafty - although I have to admit my mind has been overloaded with excitement about the new shop we are moving into! I've been spending my days measuring up the fittings and organising the layout. I even went so far as to use masking tape on the lawn to mark out the walls and doors and then I used old sheets and towels and laid them out as shop fittings. Then I pretended to walk down the aisles and see if there would be enough room etc! What a laugh - there's plenty of room!!

I made the most AWESOME purchase today. Viv and I were scrounging around the Timaru second-hand shops and auction rooms looking for some storage solutions for the new shop. We went into a seond-hand store called the Pink Elephant and right there in the middle of the shop were these 2 HOT PINK couches! They were 2.7m long each (try pacing that out in your lounge). Most 3 seater couches are around 2m long - so add another 70cm onto that!)

And they were new from DA Lewis 4 years ago and are so stylish. And they were worth thousands new... and I got them for hundreds... I'm over the moon (can't you tell?!). This picture is the closest I could find - but it's not even big enough. And we have two of them! The new shop has a huge foyer and so this will create the most perfect couch corner arrangement for people to hang out in. We have delicious wall paper ready to hang as well. I can't find the exact one online - but this is sort of similar (although ours has a black swirl as well):


Anyway, that's enough of the purchases! I was supposed to be looking for shop fittings (things for products to sit on) but instead I found something for the customers to sit on (well maybe I'll sit there too with my laptop and pretend to work...!)

So because I've been larking about I didn't really sit down and do my Christmas layout. So I'm showcasing one that I did a while ago - and it's not truly a Christmas layout. In fact there's nothing Christmasy about it. But it features snow. Strange how we still sing Jingles Bells during our summer Chrstmas season!

So this layout features Polar and Green Flower Soft (got to love that stuff), Twiddleybitz Lamposts (which are leaving Aussie this week - it's been confirmed!), and Heidi Swap Invisibles. Invisibles are fun - they look like plainish 12x12 bits of thick cardstock - but there is a pattern and when you rub inks or spray glimmer mists over it they resist on certian areas leaving the pattern whitish. Does that make sense! I think we still have a couple left in the Specials box.

So now is the time I encourage you to go and have some fun creating some layouts. We've only had TWO people enter the competition so far! That's a 50% chance that one of them will win the Bo Bunny Winter Joy papers and some embellies. The winner is drawn out of a hat and you have to be in to win! We are getting hundreds of hits each week - so send your pictures before Sunday 6pm and well load them up in the Competition Gallery.

And while I'm blogging I may as well make it a good one!! I'm sponsoring a Challenge at the Southern Girls Challenge on Thursday. Head to their blog, check out the talent, join in the fun and win a Scrappin' Sensations layout kit from October. The November one has just been loaded online too...

And finally we celebrated a year in the shop last weekend. Shirley was kind enough to make amazing cupcakes (ever tasted zucchini, lime and something starting with "c"?) as well as chocolate and orange. Yum and thanks Shirley! Shirley makes great food and has a business called Shirley's Pantri. (I tried to find a link but couldn't!). I made up the Kaisercraft Cupcake Stand with Candy Lane papers and some toothpicks with scallops stick on the top and some small cupcakes and teapots cut from the Candy Lane papers (thanks Viv). I was pleased with the result! Yes we ate the lot...
I've been loving the posts from all the Design Team and I know they appreciate all the lovely feedback. Have you been to their Galleries lately? Worth having a look to get some inspiration for Christmas projects, cards etc. Thanks for popping by the blog. I'll let you know the new theme on Sunday night and the winner of the free stuff. By then I might have some more pics of cool purchases for the shop...!

Have a fab evening. I'm off to ring England and speak to my new neice (well she's only a couple of weeks old..!).
:-) Liz