Paper. Scissors. Chocolate. Louise Williams

a LONG post... grab a coffee...

Well SENZ is over for another year and I'm still CRAZY busy with lots of shows, classes, videos and blog posts coming up!! eek how'd that all happen? :D

Anyhoo this is a Tim Holtz configurations box that popped up over on the Aussie Scrap Source blog the other day. (Oh and before I forget, head over and check it out for your chance to guest design for Jenni Bowlin!!). Back to the box... I used a tonne of Tim's fabulous designs on it as well as some of the amazing steampunkey Twiddleybitz chippie (and some gorgeous Prima) but I'm thinking it's not quite done. Oh and yes, that really is our bedroom wall colour (remember I told you we had a circus themed house?)... that WILL be changing. Seriously. How we manage to sleep in there I'll never know. It's not like there's anywhere else in the house we could sleep either, every wall is another shade of sunglasses-required. One thing at a time and anyway, I digress...

I covered the box in Tim's paper masking tape (love that stuff - it covers so easily!!) and arranged and hot glued the boxes so they didn't all lie flat. I inked all the edges (used a mixture of Distress Inks and Staz on) and added those gorgeous feet!

The gorgeous Twiddleybitz chippie was inked in two colours, layered on top of each other and hot glued into place with a door knob just because I could :). I finished that section off with some Prima, and layered a butterfly cut from Tim's paper on top of his metal wings for a really eyecatching finish.

I used the film strip a bit differently too - I hot glued one end into the gaps between a couple of the boxes then twisted it like ribbon before hot gluing the other end into place.

This is the bit that needs work I think, just doesn't work for me now (it did but now... not so much). It feels a bit empty to me still... I think it's one of those things I'll keep fiddling with for years to come (and the piccies are going to change)... stay tuned for updates on this one!!

Speaking of Prima (as I do) I got my Educators box yesterday and Oh. My. Seriously, be still my beating heart... the things they have for you at the upcoming CHA... *sigh*... I seriously {hearts} them and I'm still expecting an email to say sorry, wrong Louise can you please return your box of goodies... (and my answer would be "no, it's mine and kind of crumpled because I've been rolling around in it"). lol

Onto SENZ. This year I decided not to teach as the only time slots were the last couple of hours of the show and I figured everyone would be shopped/classed out by then and I was right. With 87 different classes to choose from (and many repeated multiple times over the weekend), it wouldn't have been worth the time involved to prepare the awesome class I had in mind but stay tuned as I'm thinking I might run it online instead... ;)

Sooo anyway (keep getting sidetracked), I was selling my jewellery at SENZ this year instead of doing anything scrappy and I really enjoyed it! I didn't make a huge amount of money and probably wouldn't do SENZ again as it's the wrong place for that kind of thing, but I did get to talk to a huge number of scrappers who thankfully took the time to come and say hi! Loved meeting you all and it was nice to put a real face to all our facebook comments! All the jewellery and headbands etc that I was selling at the show will be heading into my etsy shop shortly (once I get a second to breathe and load them) and if there's anything custom you'd like just drop me a line.

I spent a fair bit of time (as did my mum who is always an amazing help) preparing my wee table for the show. Mum's currently addicted to making flowers and has been producing the most beautiful paper flowers which we sold a tonne of at the show, as well as sewing this gorgeous table skirt for me!

I saw a picture online somewhere, sent it to her and voila! she's too clever and it made the table look gorgeous. I've also been collecting bits and pieces off trade me for the last few months including a big old tin box, complete with a bit of rust that looked perfect!

So there you go. Sold enough to keep me happy and got some custom orders, had a very long (but fun) weekend and got to finally have a coffee with the lovely and uber-talented Jilly G (been such a long time coming!). Can't wait to catch up again in Brissy in September! Speaking of Brissy, if you're over there then come and check out the Paper Crafts Festival. You can catch classes from me, Janine Koczwara and Jane Clark (and get discounted entry into the show) but bookings are strictly limited!

Ok... that's all for now, be back with some stuff to share as soon as I'm allowed!!

L x

Busy, busy, busy!!

and I love it. It keeps me outta trouble ;)

Firstly, I'm heading off to Brisbane in September to teach with Your Creative Journey at the Australian Papercrafts Festival alongside the super talented ladies Janine Koczwara and Jane Clark. Check out the classes here: http://yourcreativejourney.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/whats-coming-up/

I'm teaching one of the gorgeous Altered Page Albums from Twiddleybitz and also featuring some gorgeous Shimmerz paint and Prima goodness... love this album... here's a sneak...

Class Description:  Do you often scrap about your family, children and pets but neglect to tell your own story? Join Louise in creating a beautifully detailled “Growing Up Me” Twiddleybitz album. Decorated with beautiful Prima papers and flowers, Twiddleybitz chipboard and Shimmerz paints, this album is full of little tips and techniques you can easily transfer to your layout scrapbooking. Louise also adds her own custom embellishments to the mix to give you a unique keepsake to treasure for years to come.

You can pre-book by emailing [email protected] as well as getting full information on workshop times. The cost for each workshop will be AU$55 this includes all materials! Make sure you get in early!!!

Also SENZ is approaching (as in this Friday!) so I've been head down, bum up getting ready for it. I'll be in the craft market so if you're coming to SENZ then don't forget to say hi! Here are some pics of some of the things I'll have for sale:

Looking forward to having a look around, meeting some new people and hopefully selling stuff! lol

The ArtLab is coming up fast and I'm in preparation mode for that too, it's going to be an awesome day!! I have room for a couple more if anyone else would like to join us :)

Ok, that's me for now... back to it!! only 4 days to go!!

L x

Watching in horror...

as more and more of Australia goes underwater. It's hard to comprehend the sheer scale of the devastation and other than making a donation there's little we can do to help. Aha... but there's also one other way...

Over on facebook the ever-entrepreneural Sherry Mendoza of Your Creative Journey is organising, in association with Pages2Scrap, a silent auction (click here for details). They've requested items be donated from scrappers all over the world, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross so they can help the victims of this truly awful natural disaster. So here's something I've donated:

Head on over and register so you can bid on some of the amazing items donated from the likes of Donna Downey, Karola Witczak, Jen Starr, Ngaire Bartram, Jilly G Groves and a whole lot more.

L x

a whole lot going on...

Wow. time to breathe. relax... what's that again? it's been so crazy around here for so long I'd almost forgotten what it was like to just stop. Finally there's a light at the end of what's been a very long tunnel. So an update.

Yesterday was my 39th birthday, it was a bit of a rough day and I didn't want to do anything special for it. I am however, super thankful to everyone that sent me lovely birthday messages and a special thanks to Deb who sent me a chocolate fix and some beautiful peonies, you totally made my day. I got some lovely presents (mum's the best shopper and knows me sooooo well) but I have to say my number one present has to be this:

Yep. Ain't she purdy? it's lurve... basically what happened was a couple of months ago DH started having issues with his car so bought a new one in case his went completely. After a few days he decided he wasn't 100% happy with the new one (a Legnum station wagon) so got his old car fixed, gave me the new one and I sold mine. Following me so far? anyway a few days ago his old car, after spending $1200 in repairs, did in fact, die. So I gave him back his Legnum and have been carless... not fun... I like my independence. I've had my own car since I learnt to drive and felt so trapped at home without it. Sooooo I had to have a car and I found this lil beauty. We got it for a lot less than it should've been and it's pretty mint. This morning DH announced he liked that more and I told him to stuff off! lol... we got it on my birthday so it's miiinnnnneee. :D

So that's been the car dramas. Taking up too much time, energy and money but now we're sorted. Phew.

Next has been the house. We have a house that's also been taking up too much time, energy and money and have decided to put it on the market as is. I think it'll sell pretty quickly as it's a decent street, we have sea views and it's got a nice feel to the house, even though it is a bit small. So it's up for sale. The house that's been in a state of constant, half-done renovations since we moved in 5 years ago, and yet I'm kinda sad to see go. We wanted to get it finished before we put it on the market, but after renovating 5 houses in a row we're over it. We're totally drained with the whole thing and figure our health and happiness of our family is more important than anything else. As long as I have a space to scrap and my boys/man around then I'm happy, life's too short.

Speaking of the boys it's been a rough few weeks illness-wise. Lukey was a bit sick while we were away a couple of weeks ago and then Joshie came down with chickenpox. He's has been home with me for the past week and a half but I have to say he's been a little trooper at dealing with it. He hasn't been that itchy (which has helped) and finally went back to school today (yay!). I'm thinking Lukey was sick wth the virus first but just didn't develop the spots, time will tell on that one I guess! Fingers crossed that's the end of it for a while.

Lucas has totally surprised me lately too. He's so advanced with everything he's doing, I just wish he'd slow down a little. He's able to drink out of a glass, has been walking for almost 3 months and the other day put my jandals on and was walking around the house in them! He holds onto me for balance when I get him dressed and steps in and out of his trousers to help me. He follows instructions really well too, the other day I was half way up the hall with him and told him to go back to the lounge and say goodnight to Daddy. He listened, toddled off down the hall so Steve could see him, waved goodnight and came back to go to bed. He's such a gorgeous boy. I can't imagine our family without him, he is just an absolute joy. He wakes up happy and although he's gotten VERY busy (and into everything), he's just fun to be around.

With the awesome change in the weather (woohooo for summer on its way!), he's been slip slop slapped and exploring the garden with Joshie. I love this time of year. Apart from my birthday it's when I start to fight the urge to put the Christmas tree up early and the casserole dish disappears into hibernation until next year.

Next year is filling up nicely with lots of things happening. I've just booked a table at the Craft Market that's being held at SENZ in June and will be selling my jewellery, hair accessories and embellies. I'm hoping to work in with a shop exhibiting there so that I can teach a class or two as well (hint dropping to any retaillers reading this who are looking to exhibit!). :D

I'm also booked to fly down Canterbury way in March and teach a very cool canvas album class at Scrappin' Patch. This is going to be full of techniques and dimension and a whole lot of fun! Can't wait to meet some of the lovely South Island ladies I talk to often, but have never met in real life. Yet. :D

Of course I also have the ArtLab in August and the Indulgence retreat in October to keep me occupied as well, PLUS I have a few other bits lined up to keep me out of trouble.

I'm finding lately that I'm becoming more and more experimental in my work and I'm really enjoying it. I'm playing with Shimmerz, texture mediums and a whole lot of things that are really inspiring me in ways I wasn't expecting. My first Shimmerz video is going up on 6th December so stay tuned for that one, in the meantime I'm going to hibernate in my scraproom for the night!!

L x

As promised...

to those that follow me on Facebook. The retreat is today (woohoo!) so last night I couldn't scrap... what's a girl to do? bring out the jewellery making instead. So here are last nights little creations, all of these will be up in my etsy shop after the weekend:

 

Also bring some change to the retreat, I'll be raffling off this one in aid of the Canterbury Earthquake Fund...

These ones will soon be on etsy too:

As for the purple hair (yes I'm going plum!), that's coming... lol

Have a fabulous weekend, I'll have some scrapping stuff to share really soon but in the meantime can leave you with these two that focus on journalling that popped up over at the Aussie Scrap Source blog yesterday.

Keep your eye out in Scrapbook Creations too, I have some work popping up in there shortly. :)

L x

Back to the beginning...

From when I was really young I had a fascination with jewellery. I used to pull apart broken necklaces and recreate them into something new... I even considered doing something career-wise with it but somewhere along the way I stopped and got a weeee bit distracted by my love of all things scrapbookey! Anyway it's back and it's lurve. The first piece I've created is this: It's up for sale now in my etsy shop, click on the image to go to the listing. And because I can stay tuned for a wee giveaway in the next week or so!! L x