And a great day was had by all - part II

I'm back with some more photos and tales from the Christmas Craft Day. My bestie and co-organiser (or is that co-conspirator??) Kim Tonnet has posted a lovely wrap up on her blog too. THANKS Kim! Certainly couldn't have done it without you either! The entire day was most definitely a team effort, with my husband Andrew, Kim's mum Robyne and our downlines Ryn and Clare all pitching in with abundant help.

From the top is a photo of one of the Make and Take projects, silly me forgot to photograph the fully assembled item, but you may be able to tell it is a calendar. The sample is still firmly buried in the piles of boxes in my studio, one day I may be able to find it again to give you ap proper look! I made it with some retired designer series papers, Afternoon Tea, and the matching (also retired) stamp set "live your dream" Sigh, I miss this set, especially the quote, very inspiring. At least I'll be looking at it all year stuck to the fridge!!

Next up we have the Wall of Inspiration. I am quite proud of my wall hanging displays. I was lucky to find some of the special "wall runner" fabric that velcro sticks to at a nearby Spotlight, and at a clearance price no less! My much under-utilised sewing machine roared into action. And the best thing is that I can roll them up and use them over and over again! We were lent a large selection of samples by Ryn, Clare and also Jayne Mercer, thanks to you all. There was also a large selection of cardmaking books and magazines to stir the creative juices of our guests.

Next we have the talented Ryn, who demonstrated some fab acetate cards using the new Stazon white ink in the Spring Mini catalogue. I will have to ask her to post some pics and instructions for it, it was very clever!

Lastly, we have our youngest guest, the adorably dribbly Miss Katie, with her mum Clare. Clare demonstrated a couple of cool embossing techniques, on ribbon and on Sticky Strip adhesive tape. Again, need to give her a gentle prod to post a step-by step on her blog with some piccies :)

That's it for now, Kim's turn again!

Stampin' Crop Day THIS SATURDAY 24th October

It feels like AAAAAGEES since the last one, even though I only skipped the chaotic month of September. The next day is zooming up, this weekend, Saturday 24th October. If you're local enough to Cherrybrook in North Western Sydney, give me a call to book a place. It's a casual day, designed for you to catch up on your creative projects of choice

When: 10am-5pm, come when you can, go when you must

Where: Cherrybrook, location details provided when you book in

What's included: Light snacks, tea, coffee, use of my extensive collection of stamps, punches and tools, casual instruction and creative advice.

Cost: $15 for the day

What to bring: Your projects to work on, basic tools such as trimmer, scorer, adhesives. BYO lunch, or take a short stroll to the cafe and bakery across the street.

How to book your place: Numbers are limited, so give me a call on (02) 9484 9447 to reserve a spot, or email me at michelle.dyson@bigpond.com

see you there!

Christmas Craft Day - the aftermath...

Phew! What a day! Weeks upon weeks of planning and preparation culminated in a fabulous day for us and all our guests on October 10th at the Epping Creative Centre at our "Get Ready for Christmas" Craft day. This year's event, like last year's was a fundraiser for "Pink October", Breast Cancer awareness. Our chosen charity for the day was the McGrath Foundation. We ran four different Make n Take projects for a gold-coin donation and raised a nice pile fo such a good cause.

Here are some images from the day, out of order because I gave up trying to shuffle the pics...

Top image: In the midst of the action, with guests busy creating and getting inspiration from our display of cards, books and magazines. The venue was beautifully light, with windows along two full sides and banks of overheads as well - perfect for papercrafting!

Second image: Part of the goody bag received by each guest - a personalised decorated mug. I was delighted to find some mugs in great Stampin' Up!-like colours - Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Perfect Plum and something between So Saffron and Summer Sun. Kim and I, with the help of my husband Andrew decorated them with Stampin' Up! rubons, and also tags made from scalloped circles and plain circles. They were a big hit!

Third image: Setup the night before, in progress! It was certainly quieter then, but not nearly so much fun!

Fourth image: Our two lucky winners of the Challenges, Suzanne L and Kim M. Everyone voted on the anonymous entries, and the extra-talented Suzanne won 2 of the 3 sections! They won a Simply Sent kit for each Challenge win, kindly donated by Stampin' Up for our Pink October Breast Cancer Awareness fundraising event.

Fifth image: Kim standing with the fabulous entries in our three challenges. They included a sketch challenge, colour challenge, and a non-christmas stamp challenge.

I did plan on taking lots more photos, but as with last year, the camera sat under a table for most of the day... Maybe next time!!

Corduroy Button Product Share - now open!

These delicious buttons and brads are in the Spring Mini catalogue, which ends on November 30th. They come in three colours, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss are both In Colors for this catalogue, and then you have Basic Gray as the neutral that looks great with both of them.

Now you can get a selection of each colour as part of my product share, for less than the price of one tub. There are three styles, large and small brads and large flat buttons. I will be dividing a tub of each colour into 4, so you will receive two each of each style, in each of the three colours - a total of 18 pieces, as shown in the photo.

There are four shares available, and each share is $15.35, plus postage to you. They can be sent in their tub in a plain envelope (unpadded) for the letter rate of $1.10, but if you prefer the added protection of a small padded bag, the postage cost would be $4.35. I can also send them with other Stampin' Up! products if you wish to place an order with me.

Want to join in? Please email me with your name and address, and I will contact you with my banking details for a direct deposit.