Paperific rundown

I'm back! I have been since Sunday night, but have been so tired! I feel like I am hungover and considering that I didn't touch a drop of alcohol, well enough said!

It all started Friday morning when I had to be on the plane leaving at 6.30am! I am not normally out of bed by then! Arriving in Melbourne was so easy - get off the plane, buy bus ticket, grab bag and jump on the bus, very cool. I got to Spencer Street station and didn't have the patience to wait for a hotel transfer so started walking. I was told I was going in the right direction by a Melbournite but after a few minutes I realised that it was wrong and just after that I ran into Grace from Canberra! Freaky! So she pointed me to the right way and I got to my hotel, dumped my bags and walked over to the Telstradome. OMGosh, how cool was that, I really wish I took my camera. Seeing the stands and playing field empty was just awesome. I can imagine the atmosphere when there is a game on.

So on in to Paperific and I head to the Buzz and Bloom stand, Helene looks up and says hello quite casually, lol, then she recognised me and I got a huge hug! It was such a buzz to see all of my work up on the stand, hanging on the walls and my torso on the shelf.

(Blogger isn't letting me upload pics, will come back and edit later)

Just before I left for Paperific I had also received an email to say that I had received a special mention in the Get Creative ATC competition and my ATC would be on display, so I found that plus the magazine spread, that was a thrill too. You can see it in November's issue of Get Creative (a Spotlight magazine).

Then came the countdown for the customers to come it, very funny. The ladies who acted as MC's for any messages over the loudspeakers over the weekend were very entertaining.

I snuck into the trade show before it opened to meet the lovely ladies from Bumblebee Crafts - Dorlene, Joy and Jini. These girls are the best! The nicest! Nothing is ever too much trouble for them!

Then onto serving customers, doing the make and take table for a bit, a tiny bit of shopping, back to the hotel to freshen up. More shopping, then the tradeshow again.

On Saturday I did the make and take table all day, lol, this is a recording.... cut here, sponge here, fold, score, stamp, punch, tie and voila! How many people did I meet! It's all quite a blur. I met people I have swapped with, emailed, names I recognised, and lots and lots of lovely people. Saturday night was the StampHappy dinner organised by Liz which was just amazing. Everyone got a goodie bag with lots of freebies and everyone got a prize! I got an e-zine from Auzzart, which is very cool. I didn't think it would be me, but something changed on Sunday with my thinking and I have come home with so many new ideas and the e-zine fits in with that, so now I am enjoying the mag!

Sunday - more of the same, bit of shopping, chatting, meeting people, then saying goodbyes which is always hard. I headed back to the hotel and got the bus to the airport. Checked in, read my book and a mag, got on the plane, nearly threw up on landing, poor young, trendy guy next to me, lol, off the plane and was attacked by my children! Peggy would not let go of me, she held onto my hand tightly and each time the car stopped, she would unbuckle, lean forward and give me a hug and a kiss.

I didn't spend as much money as I thought I would, so we went out for dinner to treat the kids.

So much more happened, oh yeah I met Gabbie, lol. You can see a pic of us on her blog. That was really cool, we've been chatting for a good 18 months or more now so to meet in real life was just so normal, there was nothing uncomfortable about it at all, we just chatted, laughed, gossiped and giggled.

I also got to meet Deb, and you can also see an atrocious photo on her blog, lol. Those spotlights were hot all weekend!

So many other peope too - Barb, Linda, Ange, Sharon, the Canberra girls, the lovely Ellen, oh and Helene, Devorah, and Moshe, and Claire, Ruth (Claire's mum) who I've met before but didn't know was Claire's mum, Niamh, Jenny (Jendo), funny story there, lol, Gabbie introduced me to 'her friend, Jenny'. I said hi, she wandered off. Then Gabbie told me it was Jendo, lol, well why didn't you say so! Jenny said she thought my hi was a bit cool, lol.

Is that it? I'm not sure, I'll probably think of more later. Will I go back next year? Yep!

Paperific ATCs

Well I'm off to Paperific tomorrow morning for two nights. I can't wait! It will be so nice to meet lots of friends in the flesh :)

I started and finished my ATCs to swap last night. I sponged, stamped, masked, stamped again, sewed, mounted, glued and printed 40 of them! Yes 40!



Now I have to go and pack clothes, lol.

Announcing the Lime Tarts

I can't wait to work with these girls.

Go check them out on the site :)

School's back!

Breathing huge sigh of relief here, lol.

We went to the movies (Ant Bully), the National Museum, shopping, Billy did three days of basketball and won one of three prizes out of 50 kids! *proud mum moment* What else did we do? Craft, painting, made papercup and string telephones, yelled, fought, broke up fights, swimming, watched dvds..... you get the picture.

I've been struggling today with narrowing down the list of Lime Tart design team applications. Who would have thought it would be this hard :( Back to the grindstone.

Oh and don't forget my Carnivale ATC swap if you want to join..... just scroll down for details :)

Soccer mum

Yes I know the soccer season is over, but I only just got my film developed. I also got my 'to do' list whittled down this morning so treated myself to scrapping time! Trying to find the right shade of white cardstock was hard! I can't believe how many different shades of white I had in my stash! I do like this one though, it's called Avalanche, look out for it in a future Lime Tart kit, although it won't be teamed with red, green and blue, lol.



The title is using the white Heidi Swapp alphas from the July 12x12 kit, I've coloured them with chalk ink and clear embossed. The coloured cardstocks are scraps from the patterned paper from the February 6x6 Kit.

New ATC Swap

Inspired by Carnivale.

We went to Floriade yesterday and I took lots of photos. Unfortunately all the good ones are on the film camera and all the icky ones are on the digital. So instead of having some cool photos to upload here for inspiration, I am just going to link to the Floriade site and you can get inspired from there.

Rules:
Make 6 atcs, send them in, get 6 different ones back.
If you want one of your own, make 7 and keep yours at home.
Address to post to is here.
Major rule is the size of atcs - 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches.
Due date to me: Tuesday 31st October
Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for me to return your atcs.
Overseas players, email me and we'll work something out.

Buzz & Bloom's newsletter

It's out! With some fantastic step-by-step projects in it. Go check it out. Here's a pic of my project, but you'll have to go to the Atelier to see it all :)