Rome to Florence

So our time in Rome came to an end today.... but what an amazing time it has been....
I have loved it, I can't say my feet, knees and hips have enjoyed it, but I have loved it... cobblestones are definitely not my friend...
So, so much to see and do, definitely not enough time spent there... will have to put it on my wish list to return, but then I did throw a coin into the Trevi, and they say one coin to return to Rome... you never know...
The last couple of days have been so jam packed... we have seen the Colosseum, the Vatican, St Peters Basillica, the Pantheon Church, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast.... It's all just so amazing...

So this morning we boarded the Eurostar train and came to Florence... I taught a scrapping class on the train on the way, such fun...
Florence has a much gentler pace about it... not the hectic rush that Rome seems to have... this afternoon we went for a walk to the Ponte Vecciho... and explored some of the lane ways of the artisan area... tomorrow is another full tour day....so it's bed for me now....will post photo's when I get a chance...
xC

Rome

We are having a fantastic time in Rome....
We had a great trip over all the flights were great and half empty so plenty of room...
Our hotel is right near the train terminal, and we have been exploring Rome on the train and buses...
We've discovered the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Vatican City and loads of great places to shop...
Tomorrow we officially start the tour, full day of guided tour.....
Just a couple of pics only as the internet here is dreadful....
xC

Trevi Fountain

Cheryl, Amanda and I

Spanish Steps

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, New Zealand has come and gone, what a fantastic trip it was.  Not only was the retreat a truly wonderful experience, but the few days R&R were just what my soul needed.

The teaching was sensational I loved every minute of it, so many ladies eager to learn, and by all reports everyone had a wonderful three days.  Thank you to Adrienne (owner of The Scrappin' Patch) for inviting me to teach, and thank you to all the wonderful ladies who came along.  Also thank you to the wonderful Aussie manufacturers who sponsored my workshops, Darkroom Door, Kaisercraft and WOW, it was fantastic to be able to promote Aussie companies.

The couple of days of R&R that I had were just what I needed, time spent making new friends and growing closer to existing ones.  I was really lucky to be taken down to Mount Cook, and got to play in the snow.  I have to confess I did act like a kid, dancing around and throwing snowballs, such fun.  Another highlight was to see snow fall, it was awesome!  Again there was silliness and strange dancing about, but snow fell all over me,(that's my excuse anyway!) it was an amazing new experience.  A low note was being woken at 5.15am by the noise and shaking of a mild earthquake, 2.8 on the scale, quite shallow only 4kms and centred right in the area I was staying.  Nothing to be concerned about apparently, but wow, I don't know how they cope with the constant quakes and shakes. It was the first quake I've ever felt, and wouldn't want to feel anything bigger.

So now I have been back at it here madly trying to get everything ready for the Italy/Paris retreat.  Only, 10 days to go before we fly!! Busy, busy, busy.  Loads more to do before then, and I haven't even thought about packing yet!

Anyway, I will leave you with some pics from my trip.... xC

captive audience

the end result!! lol!! lots of inky messy fun...

the beautiful views on our way to Mt Cook

fun in the snow at Mt Cook

Mt Cook

the sun setting on the way back from Mt Cook

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Well I'm off to New Zealand tomorrow to teach at the Scrappin' Patch retreat... I have to be at the airport at some ungodly hour..... but it should be great... 

I am so looking forward to meeting everyone, getting grubby hands with them and sharing my knowledge...

In my absence I thought you might like to see some work I did recently for Kaisercraft...

Hopefully, I'll be able to get online over there so I keep you all updated of what I get up too...  I'll catch up when I get back around the 15th.... 

Till then 

xC

Time to Share

Last weekend I had my good friend Linda Baldock come and teach a class at the store.... 

As always the extremely talented Linda did not disappoint and an inspiring and fun time was had by all. 

 I actually got to sit down and participate during the class and here is my finished project...

without it's acrylic cover

with it's acrylic cover

xC

Well it would seem it's all or nothing with my blogging....basically, I get too busy and when I get the chance to sit down and blog I have too much to share....lol! But anyway I have been telling myself for days now I must put up another sneak peek of my upcoming New Zealand teaching trip.... so here it is hope you like it!!
xC

Words or Whatever... WOW....

Another generous sponsor for the NZ retreat...

WOW is an amazing Australian chipboard company on the lovely Central Coast of NSW that is owned by Suzanne and Neil Webster. They have been going now for over three years and in that time have expanded to take over RW Lasercuts. WOW use a great quality chipboard that allows us to use it with all sorts of mediums and products without fear of it falling apart like some of the chipboard products currently on the market.
WOW now incorporating both their own designs, and the RW Lasercuts designs have a very extensive range that Suzanne is constantly growing. To this end Suzanne now also makes Altamatz. Altamatz are amazing acrylic stencils. They are fantastic to work with. Being a bit thicker than most of the stencils currently on the market, you can achieve some amazing texture and depth with them using all the mixed media products that are so popular at the moment.
WOW also specialize in providing custom made items and can also create exclusive items for retail outlets upon request. So if you would like something personalized, why not ask Adrienne about getting WOW to create it just for you! You can check out all their designs on their website here, and they have an inspirational blog here.
What more can I say about WOW, they have a great quality product at the most reasonable prices around, and I am so grateful they are sponsoring us in September.

Cindy.

Darkroom Door

One of our generous sponsors for the NZ retreat is Darkroom Door.

Darkroom Door is an Australian company owned/operated by Rachel and Stewart Greig.

Darkroom Door designs and manufactures quality art rubber stamps and photographic based products for your papercraft and mixed media creations.

I have had the privilege to meet and work with both Rachel and Stewart, and they are amazing people, both very creative and inspirational. Rachel is an award winning photographer and many of their stamp designs and photographic print products are made from her original photographs.

If you are an ATC fan or card maker, then you are just going to love Darkroom Door products, and their blog is a great source of inspiration too. You can find the Darkroom Door blog here.

One last thing to note about Darkroom Door is the company motto: Unlock the artist within! I think that statement says it all, don't you.

Cindy.

NZ Teaser

Hi everyone,

Adrienne has asked me to put up some sneak peaks of some of what we will be doing at the retreat over in NZ in September....

I love to teach techniques. I enjoy nothing more than showing someone how to get the most out of a product or recreate a particular style or look, there is nothing else like it. So with that in mind I plan on teaching you lots and lots of techniques over our weekend together. We will be playing with a large range of products, including Distress Inks, Alcohol Inks, Ferro, Inka Gold and Impasto just to name a few.

I also have a very special project to teach you all once we have mastered our techniques. We will be creating a mixed media canvas using goodies such as impasto, glimmermists and Altamatz, just to name a few.

So over the coming weeks I will be putting up teasers of the techniques and our mixed media canvas to hopefully get you all geared up for the weekend....

So stay tuned for more sneak peaks and I'll see you in September...

xC

Bad Blogger

Well, I really am terrible at blogging....
No real excuses, just a busy girl who forgets to blog... I really will have to try harder...
Anyway, a little update:
My flights to New Zealand are booked and the Scrappin' Patch retreat plans are all going ahead wonderfully...
I have to thank Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door for her generous sponsorship of my classes in New Zealand.  Watch out NZ we are going to have some fun with Aussie stamps and some great Viva products...
xC

Look Out New Zealand.....

I am glad to finally be able to share with you all some very exciting news that I have been keeping secret....
I will be teaching for Adrienne at her Scrappin' Patch spring retreat in New Zealand in September...
and the most exciting part.... we will be using all my favourite stuff, and getting nice and inky learning lots of fun techniques....   As Adrienne has no doubt already mentioned I don't sleep much, so demoing and sharing can be expected at all hours of the day and night....
I must confess I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and getting messy....

x C

Canvas....

Just thought I'd share a canvas I made recently....
The photo is one of my favourites..... it was taken a few years ago by my mum and at the time she thought she was taking a candid pic of us from some distance away, but we are smirking cause we caught her taking it....  anyway here it is...

I coloured the canvas with Lindy's stamp gang products and forced dried it with multiple layers to get all the colour variation in the background, used lots of Prima products and a few other bits and pieces and held it all together with gel medium...

till next time
xC

Aaarrgh, Me Matey......Fun Times

This past weekend I had our 24hr birthday sale at the shop.... 9 years now.... boy it's gone by quick....
We had a whole lot of fun at the Pirate party crop, and several ladies managed to last the whole evening through till the finish at 10am!!
I thought I'd share a couple of pics from the evening...

Julia and Amanda

Belinda, the tiny peg leg pirate

Tricia and Cloe in a battle to the death....

Pirate zone!!

Aaarrgghh, me treasure!!

A smashing good time...

someone stole all me treasure

looking for the scallywag who stole me treasure...

Till next time
x Cindy

Time to share...

Thought I'd share some of my work with you today....
they are a few of my layouts that have been published....
hope you like them...
x C

Tiled title page

I love working with acrylic pages

I just love interactive pages, you can fit a total of eight 4x6" photo's on this one page layout... see below

another favorite.... interactive with loads of photo's

Finally back into it!

Got home a week ago.... it's taken me this long to get over the trip... I swear the older I get the harder it is to get over the jet lag... but life is now back into routine and back in full swing...
I thought I might share a few more images from CHA with you...

DCVW paper tree...

DCVW paper peacock- just amazing!

DCVW paper tree- these were fantastic!

CHA is over!!

I was so tired last night, I didn't have the energy to get on line and blog.... but today was the final day of the show and I will fly home tomorrow....
It's been an interesting show without Bill here with me... but happily I achieved all I needed too... and I am looking forward to getting home....
thought I'd share some pics from the show!!

this is the layout I made at Anna's class!!

enjoy, see you back home soon!!
xC