Paper Craft 2011

About two weeks ago I went to Paper Crafts festival which was in Penrith. I arrive on the Friday at around 11 (the show opens at 10) and there's a line!!! Anyway, it's not too long a wait and then I head inside and get a sheep stamp (craft clubbing!)

First off I did a round, remembering the items I liked, comparing prices (of course there's an upside and a downside to that) and I did miss out on an edge punch and sheet music I wanted *Disappointed face* =(

I started off with "Scrapware's Make 'n' Take by Angela Connoly", held by the store Scrapware who were selling chipboard products. The class was led by a mixed media artist mamed Linda Baldock and we made this lovely brooch. I was gonig to put gold paint over the top of the red but she told me to try the gold gilded wax and it was pretty cool!!! You can also see the gilded wax on the bottom layer with the embossed chipboard!

I started making my purchases and since I wanted some Christmas stamps I looked at all the stores and was quite tempted to buy a large tree stamp with "Merry Christmas" written in several languages in the tree/triangle shape but ended up with these cute ones ^^ I also bought two mini stamps which were quite detailed... I know I have a dandelion stamp already but this one was just so cute!!!

As I've recently bought a Sizzix BigShot (which was the biggest pain to open and also missing the washer!!) I needed to scout out some nice embossing dies. I chose these two Sizzix ones since they were on sale and since I had to keep within budget it was a choice between dots and baroque... and baroque won!

Practical Publishing Australia were giving out free bone folders (used for scoring/folding cardstock) so I gave them some patronage too... though I got 3 magazines for $15 because it was supposed to be 2 for $10, so seems like they wanted to clear some stock!

Went back to the craft table and made the other one they too!

Also bought a heat gun (finally) so I can put away the toaster, some cardstock, a corner punch (I know I can just cut it with scissors but it was in the sale bin -_-), some cute chipboards and liquid pearls (bought snow colours for Christmas cards!)

Afterwards I went in search of a book and caught a glimpse of Nicholas Sparks on the way (A Walk To Remember, Notebook, Dear John) but did wait in line for his autograph.

Dropped my new stash off at home and then I went to a Christmas card workshop hosted by the Stampin' Up consultant whom my family friend has parties with and some some really nice cards while sipping on tea!

butterfly dancing

Craft

Made a few changes to the flower card I made a few days ago as I thought it was missing something! I realise I did actually make it incorrectly according to the instructions, you're supposed to cut strips from the card (that are next to each other) at different lengths so that the "flower garden" looks a lot fuller.

I added two butterfly stickers, these are made for cardmaking so have a clear backing and they're really nice!!

 

I added a tinkerbell sticker to the bottom, it's hard to spot!

Also found a cute quote online to add as a P.S.

Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.

Some cooking adventures!

Made some M&Ms cookies for the birthday girl. I substituted half the M&Ms with choc chips because (1) I wanted to eat the M&Ms and (2) thought I might as well finish the pack of choc chips! Tip: If you're using crispy M&Ms, the chocolates will stick to your teeth if you eat the cookies hot!

I also made some Coca Cola flavoured jelly, as Aeroplane Jelly have a new product where instead of just cold water, you use 200ml of a soft drink or fruit juice, and I had a spare mini Coke can which was just the right size! :)

http://www.createajelly.com.au/

Nom nom spotting for the day ^^

Cargo bar/lounge.

Azuma Pâtisserie.

 strawberry layer; chocolate mousse

 green tea latte

white hot chocolate

Ton Ton.

Craft Punk - in the loop @ Powerhouse Museum

Yesterday Sodalis and I went to Craft Punk - in the loop at the Powerhouse Museum which was a craft weekend with various drop-in workshops with textiles, thread, knitting related craft :) It was the first time it was held in what is planned to be a series or quaterly craft weekends.


We went straight to the Turbine Hall and took a look at what was available, there were several tables for learning about bobbin lace, crochet and knitting, a workshop about to start which was making a doily and looked to involve both crochet and cross stitch. On the wall was a giant artwork made of plastic bags where the public could contribute by following the colour grid. In the transport area were several tables circled around the exhibit for kids to learn about knitting, french knitting and paper weaving as well as a spectacular set of giant knitting needles and a giant french knitting loom.


We headed over to the crochet table but there wasn't anyone available at the time so we headed over to the wrap knitting. Since S knows how to knit already, one of the lovely ladies showed me how to knit the square by transferring the wool between the needles and I somehow managed three rows.Although I did need help with the stitch increases in each row. We had a great time chatting to another one of the ladies as we knitted and I somehow created a button hole in my knitting which she corrected.

The knitting was actually run by a volunteer run charity organisation Wrap With Love who knit, crochet etc and collect completed wraps from all over Australia to be sent to perople suffering from cold and trauma. They are a fantastic organisation and also have an annual knit-in at Ultimo with 702 ABC Sydney which is approaching its tenth year.


Powerhouse Museum - What's On: Craft Punk

Wrap With Love

CHOCOLATE gingerbread house kit YUM

My sister made a chocolate gingerbread house at work last week :)

Took some photos while it was wrapped up as she was taking it on a trip... and although she brought most of it home, we took it apart pretty quickly to eat it XD








The kit is available from Gingerbread Folk and there are details on their products and where to buy them on the website :)

I also went to the botanic gardens on the weekend, it was a rainy day but the water drops gave some of the photos something different.








On the way back, also bought this apple pie ;)