Good Morning Everyone!

As a lot of you already know we are holding Art Journal classes this term…. below is a little more information:

Hello! This post is well over due…..sorry it has taken me so long!

Last term Jenny taught a 10 week course in mixed media, this term she was going to repeat the course but unfortunately for us she now works full time at Suncity Christian Church in charge of the children’s ministry. So a BIG congratulations to her, but it did mean she no longer had time for the classes.

Luckily Fiona was willing to take her space.

Fiona has over 10 years of experience in teaching craft. She used to teach at TAFE and has also been published in national craft magazines. Fiona has brought her own flair to our mixed media classes and they have proved to be very popular.

Due to demand Fiona will also be teaching the popular Saturday’s class on Wednesday from 11.00 am till 2.30pm (finishes in time for school pick up!).

You can sign up for one class or all classes – pick and choose the techniques you want to learn. Join us this Wednesday and learn various techniques using alcohol inks. You will make up to 5 finished projects (3 with instruction from Fiona, and 2 freestyle). Class costs $40 which includes all product and expert tuition.

Come and see me in store or ring me on 0408 913684 for futher information.

I have heard about the Dowerin Field Days, and have seen the ads on the TV every year but I always thought it was just for Farmer’s…..boy was I wrong!

It is a HUGE massive event with lots of different stalls. Yes you do have all the machinery there, there is also a sideshow alley, petting zoo, lifestyle pavillion and that is only what I had a chance to look at.

Last Tuesday Dad and I drove down to Perth (day started off well – no power so we couldn’t even make a cup of coffee!). We stopped at one of the service stations along the way and had some coffee (won’t be doing that again – didn’t taste that nice). I noticed my back tyre was a bit low but dad reckoned it was only because the car was so full of stock, so we continued on our journey.

When we reached Perth we picked up our hire car and took mine to a secure parking place.

It started raining just as we were transferring all the stock from my car to the camper….and just when we finished the sun came out again 🙂 Driving one of these things is a whole new experience I probably could have done without. But I did it!

We headed to Dowerin which is around 200km inland from Perth. We arrived in Dowerin around 4pm, unpacked the car and set up our stall. It was then time to park in the Caravan park (adjoining the grounds).

The camper has 2 double beds, one upper bunk and one lower.

top bunk.

 There was a great atmosphere in the camping grounds. Bonfires, laughter and happiness.

The next mroning was an early start to finialize the stall.

Table 1

It was great meeting so many new people, including some ladies from Geraldton, Mingenew and Dongara. I enjoyed helping the men choose gifts for their wives. One gentlemen bought a gift for his wife, then noticed that we were form Geraldton – he said “You’re not the ones one Flores Road are you? I have spent hours outside in the car park there while my wife shops!”

Suprisingly we sold more here than we did last year at the Melbourne craft show! At 5pm on Thursday it was time to pack up and start our journey home. We made it to Perth by 8pm, then when we picked up the car saw that I had a flat tyre. Changing the tyre was easier than I thought it would be – but it did mean we could only drive 80km per hour. (do you have one of those space saver spares in your car too?). Stopped in Cataby for a 10 minute nap (its way to dangerous to drive tired!) and woke up 1.5 hours later! Finally reached home at 5am. Just in time for a shower, unpack the car at the shop and pick up the kids for school.

We then had a busy day at the shop with Amber unpacking all the new Christmas stock.  We have 3 new collections:

There are also lots of new wood flourishes, bling, wood items + lots more.
Which collection is your favourite?

This is such a beautiful and versatile range! Perfect for both boys and girls.I have already scrapped a couple of pages, and there have been a number of items created by our wonderful customers. All can be seen on our group facebook page. (here). We have the full collection in store now. 

PP782 – Cat Tail Pond	PP783 – Bunny Tail Trail	PP784 – Crab Apple Orchard
PP785 – Magpie Field	PP786 – Rose Garden	PP787 – Willow Path
PP788 – Blue Sky	PP789 – Minnow Creek	PP790 – Gooseberry Falls
PP791 – Birch Hollow	PP792 – Old Mill Bridge	PP793 – Huckleberry Hill
CB840 – Printed Chip Shapes	SS430 – 12×12 Shape Stickers	CB841 – Printed Chip Shapes
SS431 – Word Stickers	DC160 – Miscellany	SS432 – Label Stickers
SS433 – Mini Market Stickers	SS429 – 12×12 Alpha Stickers	SS296 – Sticky Keys
DC161 – Journal Cards	EM887 – Flower Sack	EM885 – Little Flyers
EM883 – Tin Pins	EM884 – Buttons	EM890 – Designer Brads
DC176 – Tidbits	DC174 – Here & Now Chapter	DC175 – Doo-Dads
SI980 – Sprinklers (set of three)	ST390 – Variety Rubber Stamp Set	ST391 – Background Rubber Stamp Set
EM888 – Washi Tape	EM889 – Washi Tape	EM886 – Wrap Pack
PP794 – 8×8 Paper Pad	PP781 – Collection Kit

I have just had a look at the Kaisercraft blog and found this beautiful layout created using the new Save the Date collection.

Upon arrival at our weekend last week everyone was presented with a little pill box full of “pills” to help survive the weekend.

Inside the lid I had put a little note with the following:

Refill as needed during moments of creatve blockage, butt cramping and blurred vision.
Blue – Stress Relief
Green – Energy
Brown – Hand Cramps
Red – Anxiety Attack
Orange – Mojo Loss
Yellow – Memory lapse.

The “pills” definately worked as there were a lot of layouts, cards etc being completed. If anyone would like to recreate this I can order in the little pill boxes. They come in blue and red.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Marijke

We have just spent a wonderful weekend crafting away with a lovely group of ladies. Some Scrapped, some made cards, one lady created a beautiful picture in a frame from a paper bag! and a couple of ladies created some awesome wood storage items, and I made a canvas for my little girls room as well as 16 cards :).

On saturday for morning tea we had some home made Chocolate Brownies and orange cake. The brownies were a big hit so I thought I would share my recipe with you.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
125g milk choc buttons
100g nuts (I used cashews – but you can use your favourite, the recipe actually said walnuts…)
180g melted butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
4 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

How to make:
1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius (that is for a fan forced oven – little higher for non fan forced)
2. Lightly grease a slice pan and line the base with baking paper.
3. sieve four, cocoa and baking powder together in a bowl.
4. chop chocolate and nuts roughly (if you are lucky enough to have a thermo mix – 3 seconds on speed 6)
5. Combine melted butter and sugar and whisk well with a fork until smooth. Whisk in eggs until smooth.
6. spread mixture evenly over the base of the prepared pan.
7. bake in preheated  oven for 45minutes or until risen and just firm to touch in the centre. Remove from te oven and cool in a pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

With mine – I had obviously not greased the tin well enough (and yes I forgot to use the baking paper) so it stuck to the bottom. I removed it as well as I could. The bottom didn’t look to nice so I cut the brownie slice in half, and turned them over so  you could see the uneven bottom. I spread a layer of ganache on it them put the other half on it. So the brownie was extra high 🙂 but no messy bottom to be seen as it was hidden in the middle with ganache.

Hope you love them as much as everyone did on the weekend 🙂

Calling all bargain Hunters!

We have some awesome specials on Pink Paislee products online only. You will not find these items in our store. Most are over 50% off their RRP! The collections available are Nantucket, Vintage Vogue and Butterfly Gardens as well as mistable ribbon and wood letters.  You can go to our online store by clicking here.

Go shopping by clicking here.

We were running a competition in store during the month of June, with the entrants being voted on by our customers during the past 2 weeks.
The votes have been counted and the winner has been notified….A BIG congratulations to Fleur B on her magnificent work of art 🙂

She covered the games board with the very popular Rock Pool collection from Kaisercraft. (and we have all the items in store in case you are feeling inspired and would like to make one yourself 🙂 )

We will be running a Show and Tell again, so start getting your entries in.Entries close  15th August. You can enter layouts, cards, BTP’s, canvas’s…anything paper crafty 🙂