Where did the week go ????

Ooops last time I posted was Monday. To make it worse at the bottom of the last post I added back with more tomorrow. My intentions are there, but I get sidetracked. Working from home will do that to you. No strict deadlines except for the ones you create for yourself. My hubbie is always having a go at me about this that I need to manage my time more effectively and well if I listened to my logical brain I would probably agree, for my own benefit of course. But sometimes you just have to make time for whatever comes up and be spontaneous as well. I figure I can always just stay up that little bit later and catch up like I am doing right now.

So this week has seen the arrival of Dear Lizzy products. Unfortunately some of the products I ordered were out of stock, so I didn't get everything I had intended to, however you will find the papers all here. Also some chipboard products here and some thickers here. These are all under the banner of American Crafts.

Don't you just love this paper above from the Dear Lizzy range called Spring Sunny Spot, this 12 x 12 paper could almost be framed as is and hung up in the laundry. How cute and bright would it be in a square 12" white frame. Laundries are generally a bit ordinary so this would certainly make it a little cheerier and nicer to look at whilst doing the ironing perhaps. LOL! It might actually make it more enjoyable.

Anyway I still have a list of things to finish tonight like wrapping some pressies and making a couple of cards for some birthdays on the weekend.

Anna xx

Smirk Glitter Markers

Hi Everyone,

Wow this long weekend has flown by. I have only just managed to get a few things done today, including baking two slices for a morning tea I am holding at my house tomorrow morning for a few school mums and packing a few orders as well as a visit to Mum's for lunch with the kids.

Aside from that the weekend has consisted of lots of playovers kids here and at other friends houses, a trip to Chadstone yesterday with my girls and lots of cooking and cleaning.

So just a quick post today I wanted to mention that I have added to the collection of markers on site. A cute and funky new brand called smirk.

Smirk Premium Glitter Markers

Add glitter without glue with these extreme sparkling markers. Metallic gold and silver, hot pink, emerald green, azure blue and inky violet pens are brimming full of dazzling glitter. Use Smirk markers for colour emphasis, embellishing , writing or outlines.

Zig Calligraphy Dual Tip Marker Pure Black

These pens are photo safe, acid free, Waterproof, archival quality,

Lightfast, Fade-proof and non bleeding pigment ink

You will find these pens here.

Back with more tomorrow

Anna xx

October Afternoon, Farmhouse, Fly a Kite, Thrift Shop

Jenni Bowlin Vintage Style Sew On Buttons Red

It never ceases to amaze me how with each passing season this scrapbooking industry just releases more and more gorgeous products and supplies. Really there is no excuse for not making stunning invitations for your childrens parties or handmade cards for your friends or scrapping eye catching layouts. With the selection of product available and inspiration found around the web, the only missing factors may be time and whether you have the patience and skill to pull it off.

The amount of time I hear people tell me they are not creative. Yet they dress beautifully and impeccably which is a sign of creativity or their houses have beautif decor all wonderfully put together according to their taste. That's being creative. However I think the scary part for a beginner is not knowing where or how to start. Sometimes its great to just attend a class first so you can be instructed on the basics and then once you have had a taste of it you will know either way whether you are instantly hooked or not. Oh and a little tip rid yourself of any perfictionism, because, being an artist there is no right or wrong way. I often struggle with my projects having to be perfect and balanced. I am still working on being a little less formal with my stuff, it takes time.

Anyway I have gotten completely off track of why I wanted to post today. Back to my very first sentence about new supplies. I have just been loading some new products from October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin, Basic Grey. I am so in love with every range OA comes up with. If only some of their lines would come in house decor it would be just perfect.

So here is some of what I have been drooling over this afternoon whilst loading on site and simultaneously thinking what I can create with this lot, female mulitasking at its best. LOL!

enjoy

anna xx

October Afternoon Papers found here

Below is the front and back design of each paper

More designs on site!

Coming Soon - Dear Lizzy

My absolute favourite, blogger and scrapper Elizabeth Kartchner now has her own range with American Crafts called Dear Lizzy and I have decided to stock some of her very first range. All stock arriving next week. Above is some of her gorgeous range. If you haven't yet discovered her blog you are certainly missing out. Go take a look here.

Anna

Handmade Mothers Day Card

I have had a great afternoon, creating some gorgeous Mother's Day Cards. I am just loving using the new stamp from Prima, Recital. I can think of so many uses for this stamp and can see that I am now addicted to it and it will be dominating my projects for a while. The beauty of this musical note stamp is that you can stamp it using any ink pad colour you require, whereas when you purchase musical note patterned paper you are limited to the one colour. You will find this card for sale here.

Products used for this card can be found in the links below

Prima Marketing Recital Clear Stamp

Punch Bunch Super Giant Flower Punch 50mm Middle sized flower

Anna Griffin Hannah Pink Strip Patterned Paper

E.K Success X Large Flower Paper Shaper Punch Large sized Flower

Kaisercraft Pearl Strip Pearl Colour

(Other items used are not available on site)

Happy Day

Anna xx

It's My Birthday!! and that usually means a special customer giveaway!

I received this gorgeous print from Meri for my birthday. I just love it and need to find the perfect place to hang it up. It's called Floral Love by Anahata Joy Katkin. Her artwork is amazing. You can take a look at her website http://www.papayaliscious.com/. Thanks Meri I love it.

Also woke up to these signs on our big double doors that lead to our meals area, the kids were busy creating signs and making pancakes for breakfast whilst I had a little sleep in.

So I just thought I would pop in to say it was my birthday, because usually on my birthday part of my celebration is offering my customers something special. So you will have to wait a little longer though because its a Sunday and I plan on spending time with family I will send a newsletter out tomorrow with my special giveaway for everyone on my email list. You must be a subscriber so head on over to the home page and pop your email address in at the top and you will also recieve the email with my special birthday giveaway.

Hope you have a nice Sunday

Anna xx

My Minds Eye Gorgeous New Collections In store Now

My Minds Eye new collections - Little Miss Muffet, Little Boy Blue, Jack & Jill, Mary Mary Quite Contrary.

I have purchaed some of my favourites from these collections and they are all on site.

Links to where you will find these items in store are below photos.

Can't wait to create with this goodies they are even more beautiful in real life.

Enjoy Anna

My Minds Eye Papers - Find them Here and Here.

My Minds Eye Accessory and Journaling sheets Find them Here.

Patience, Mindfulness and Moderation!

Hi Everyone,

Well I'm off on another tangent about the self. Have been contemplating things lately (as I so often do) and I am beginning to think that thinking excessively about things doesn't necessarily bring any sort of divine answer any sooner. Sometimes you just have to follow your path little by little and hope that answers begin to reveal themselves.

I noticed that having the kids home for the last two weeks meant really being in the present because there is no quiet time to think. You are just doing and being and interacting constantly and really there is hardly any space for wandering thoughts. Probably a good thing short term, maybe not so good long term.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people around me are not mindful at all. They just go through life never really contemplating their actions, their journey in life, never really stopping long enough to analyse it all. Just reacting and never really seeing the part they have played in where their life is today. I guess I am the complete opposite, I probably over think a lot, which often means wasted energy spent on things or people you just can't change.

I guess it's all about finding the perfect balance for yourself.

I came across this blog maybe over a month ago and I thought I would share it. Simple Balance for Busy People. The blog post specifically I am referring to here is 3 pillars of Life Balance. Do you have them in your life?

I think this post says exactly what I am trying to say here. Anastasiya Goers talks about 3 pillars being: Patience, Mindfulness and Moderation. This is a really great blog post like most of her others and I suggest if you have a spare 10 mins to have a read and find some inspiration. My favourite part of this post is

Patience gives inner calm and lets you flow through the waves of life. No goal is too distant, no task is too complicated, and no journey is too long for a person who has mastered patience. Sometimes we just have to wait patiently in life to get where we want to be.

This really resonates for me. Being an Aries Sign the last thing I am is patient. So I know one of my life lessons is indeed patience.

Maybe something in the blog post will strike a cord with you and perhaps it is something you can be mindful of bringing into balance.

Tomorrow I will finally have my first day with all the kids back at school and I plan to ignore housework for a little while anyway and spend time creating. A New Card Kit which is loooooong overdue is on the horizon.

Anna xox

Flutter, Flutter little butterfly

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." ~Hans Christian Anderson

Trio of Stunning Vintage Butterfly tags in store now. These tags are ideal for any gift or great for adding to customer orders.

Butterflies are one of the easiest and most beautiful images to create with. In store we have a huge supply of butterfly inspired products from punches to stamps, papers and more.

Here are just a few

Several butterfly punches and paper shapers

Butterfly Stamps

Butterfly Rub Ons

Butterfly Patterned Paper

Not limited to these items above there are plenty more in store, but this is just a sample of the gorgeous array of butterfly supplies.

Of course if you love purchasing ready made papercrafts then take a look at our handmade papercrafts for plenty of butterfly themed cards, tags and home decor. You will even find bags of ready punched butterfly shapes to use on your projects.

Anna

Work at home mums!

Image Link

http://www.frenchtoastgirl.com/weblog/2005/01/illustration-friday-balance-keep-going.shtml

I really would love to write a wonderful post and show you some of the beautiful creative things I have been working on but truth be told I am in the thick of school holidays and most of my days are consumed with entertaining kids and then for the last two hours of the day madly packing orders to get them out. Is this crazy or what?

I have been thinking that most working mums offload their kids to holiday programs or family or friends etc etc, so why is it that WAHM's try and do it all. Its a no win especially if you have perfectionstic tendoncies like me where I love taking the kids out and making sure they have a fun day and enjoy their holidays and then I am rushing to get my business side of things done and finished before 5pm only to then rush and get dinner organised and wash up and clean up only to collapse in a heap around 9pm. Absolute madness!! No wonder I dread the holidays.

So I am promising myself that next holidays I am going to make sure my kids are booked into holidays programs or spending at least a day here or there with grandparents. I guess its all about taking your business seriously and treating it as though you are at work even though you are working from home. Self Care above all is even more important as trying to paddle upstream is completely useless, so why even attempt it. I am sure I wrote a similar post like this last holidays, I guess eventually I will get the message and make the change.

Anna xx

Happy Easter

Wow, what a day!, actually what a few big days of drinking and eating and socialising. Lots of food and chocolate, oh man!! I love chocolate. Chocolate is my biggest weakness, not just at easter but all year round. It's my biggest food addiction I have to admit. But it has to be really good quality chocolate, otherwise I won't touch it. I hope your easter was yummy and fun filled. We had a beautiful lunch and my Mum, she is the best cook. I think I will need to do double time at the gym when the kids head back to school.

Anyway here are a few snippets of our easter day. I am posting a few photos for my sister because she didn't make it home for easter this year.

Finally just a reminder that free shipping ends tonight. Shipping will then be a flat rate of $7 from tomorrow onwards. Also just before I forget, just giving my sister-in-law Meri a plug with her blog, after a long break she is back blogging again. She always has some insightful things to share so take a look here.

Happy Choccie hangover!!

Anna

FREE SHIPPING AUSTRALIA WIDE

image from http://www.everythingeaster.com/

Hey Everyone

Just popping in quickly to say that at Koko Vanilla we are offering

FREE SHIPPING AUSTRALIA WIDE ALL WEEKEND

ends Sunday Midnight. You can heap your shopping cart to the brim and delivery will cost you nothing. More money to spend on yummy Easter Eggs, now that's something to be eggcited about!

Happy Easter to all!!

Anna xx