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You know it's cold when you stand your butt against the dishwasher to get warm.  It took me a full 2 minutes before it occured to me to lean over just a little and flick the kettle on to make a hot milo and that would cease the need to hug appliances. 

Anyway… Autumn Escape is over for 2009.  We had a blast.  I guess I was going to say that anyway, even if it was a disaster, but we REALLY had a blast.  One of the best things out of the whole weekend for me was reading the feedback forms.  Lucy and I worked so hard on that retreat – we spent uncountable hours organising and figuring things out.  It was so good to read the feedback forms and get perspective on really how people felt.  So many people asked AT the retreat to register for next year.  We have too many details to iron out before opening registration, but we'll let you know – rest assured though that there will be an Autumn Escape 2010!  Stay tuned!

Just a short post today.  I'm battling a cold or flu.  It's been with me for over a week and it decided to be at it's ugliest at the Autumn Escape over the weekend. I'm still recovering.  Worst thing is that I have no voice and raising my voice to the kids using sign language just isn't effective.

I just can't extend my thanks to everyone that helped out with the Autumn Escape enough.  It was an amazing experience that I can't wait to repeat.

Leaving you with a layout from the Aussie Scrap Source blog.  I LOVE this Pink Paislee.

Laters.

Quick post because I'm running around getting ready for the Autumn retreat.

* Happy Happy Birthday to my Dad for tomorrow (Friday).  Love you.  I'll eat cake in your honour since you can't :o) Will be knocking on your door at 8am with 3 kids wanting big hugs.

* We have picked up Kim and she is all GO for the Autumn Escape!!  Car is packed and we are out of here early in the morning.  Looking forward to seeing you all there!!

* For those that can't make it to the Autumn Escape… maybe next year… and for those that emailed – texted – rang me with good wishes, thanks so much, it means a lot!

* So proud to have my next workshop (4 week one!) up at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Projects, ideas, step by step instructions, and lots of examples.  Check it out here.

Right.  Gotta run.  Things to do.  People to see.  Prizes and giveaways to collate. 

Laters.

School holidays are all but over.  We've had the best time.  We walked the skytower. The kids went 10 pin bowling and I watched twilight with the boys.  The kids swam every day to get them ready for swim club in the next term and they did art work beside me in the office as well as the occasional day on the playstation.  A real treat to be allowed to do that around here.

The boys were awake at 5.30am to attend the ANZAC dawn parade locally.  My grandfather still marches at dawn each ANZAC day so we feel good to get the boys out there to support them all.  It took a lot of explaining the night before to let Abby know it wasn't a fun parade and she was best to stay home. 

Some gems of the holidays that I know I need to get on a layout somewhere:

Jacob: (upon hearing his brother boast that he can make himself burp and go on to burp the entire ABC…) "Man!  If I could figure out how to make myself burp like that, I'd burp like every second of every day!".  You actually had to be there to watch the facial contortions and noises as he attempted…

Abby: " Mum – I think the good bugs have inny tummy buttons and the bad bugs have outeys"  No idea where the theory came from but it followed explanation of how medicene gives good bugs energy to fight the bad.

Alrighty.  Time to start the day. 
I'll leave you with a scrap-lift I did for the Aussie Scrap Source blog. 
Firstly, here is the layout I lifted….this layout is by the lovely Heidi Swapp.
It was the placement of the pics and the embellishing down the side I was going to focus on…

And here is my version of Heidi's layout…  I was inspired to use a masking technique that Heidi showed us at Create 08.  It was using a Tim Holtz ink and mask.  I used the 'negative' or leftover from some Heidi Swapp Clear Extras as a mask for this dotty paper effect.  There was a place in the glossy extras where I had popped out 4 circles.. that is the part I used as a mask.  There is also a green butterfly there but you can hardly see it.

I absolutely LOVED doing this layout. It pushed me to use 'snapshot' type pics that I had stashed for ages wanting to use, it was fun to have permission to scraplift someone else, and it just seemed to fall together fairly easily.

Enjoy your sunday… 5 sleeps til Autumn Escape!

laters

I can feel the temperature plummet as I write this.  I'm putting money on it freezing overnight tonight.  Or real close.  It's already down to 14 in the ceiling.  Or so my HRV tells me.
I feel sorry for the child that has to swim early in the morning. 
I have to say that I'm taking the idea of winter closing in really well.  Normally I'm a wreck by now.  When I was in Timaru I marvelled at how beautiful the trees were with their leaves turning.  The ladies didn't understand why it was so fascinating, after all, don't we get them turning beautful colours up here?  Well since I've been in Timaru I've really been noticing and no, we don't.  We get occasional beautiful trees.  And the ones down our street are all turning and the leaves are dropping.  but they don't TURN like they do down south.  Here they go yellow or dead and fall.  Why does the South get the beautiful goldens, oranges and reds? 

I've had a really busy day.  I finished up the latest BasicGrey For You collection for Tarisota.  Wisteria and Lime Rickey have landed in Australia and Tamar will get it in the next day or so and will be packing it ad getting it out to those that pre-ordered.  Quick turn around so watch your mail box for those of you that ordered!
I was only meant to do two layout and two cards but there was so much in the box that I did step by step instructions for THREE layouts and two cards.  And there was heaps of leftovers. 
The link to take a look is here.  If you currently order Tarisota I'm guessing shipping would be combined?  I dunno – worth looking though, esp if you are interested in this new BG.

A few sneaks:
 

Alrighty, I've closed comments for the last post – here are some winners, picked by the totally scientific "Pick a number between one and fifty-one, honey!" If one of these emails is you, email me!
laters.

Winners:

Comments closed thanks :o)  Winner picked, will post shortly.

Did anyone else's mother used to wash tin foil in the old days?  There I was, a week ago now, making a huge pile of roasted potatoes for a dinner we were going to.  I was using tin foil and as I placed it over the dish I said to my hubby"Can you believe my mother used to wash this stuff and keep it in the drawer with the knives and forks?" Paul admitted his Mum too and we had a good laugh at their expense.

And then I ran out of tin foil.

Apparently I should have been washing the tin foil and keeping it, and then I wouldn't have run out.

One of these arrived in the mail the other day.  The new Stampin' Up! catalog/idea book.  Here are some pics I took as I flicked through.
 

And the good news – I have two of these catalogs to give away…

Leave me a comment and I'll randomly choose two people to send them to.  It's well worth having one of these, they are chocka full of ideas. 

More from my scrap room… a few little bits and pieces from Crafty Matters. We've had a shipment arrive for one of Kim's classes at the Autumn Escape.  (I think it's the one that is sold out, actually!).. I hadn't seen the ceramic embellishments before so I couldn't resist pulling them out for a look.

Just a quick post today.  Someone asked the other day if the Autumn Escape has been a lot of work.  More than we ever imagined.  I'll be head down for the few weeks to come.  Excitment is slowly creeping in with the realisation that soon you'll all start to see what we have been working on.
I look forward to being back in the blogging world a little more often when it's all over.  Although we are already planning Autumn Escape 2010.

Washing tin foil.  Who would have thought.

oh yea – leave me a comment, I have 2 of those stampin up catalogs to give away.  If you aren't in, you're out. What have you got to lose.

laters

7.32am and I was an icicle in my bed.  Curling up into the tiniest ball possible to stay warm only succeeded in letting the rest of the bed go cold, so when I stretched out again, I froze.  I think we have come close to frosting this morning, it shouldn't be surprising with the amount of ice and snow down south.  And so at 7.32am I am out of bed with multiple blankies and last year's slippers, note to self to buy some more, these aren't so attractive anymore, my feet nearly curled up and ran the other way when I tried to put them on.

This week has sucked.  What can I say.  From a fishing trip that went disasterously wrong for Paul, to the Warriors losing, to having to borrow money to pay a tax bill, to someone hitting my car in the Warehouse carpark and driving away without telling me, to sick kids and cats covered in mud.  I'll be trying to lift the curse of the bad week at the Howard home later with a little sprinkling of rum.  In my diet coke. 

Other stuff,  I have heard from Stacy Julian this week and my Big Picture Scrapbooking 4 week workshop will be opening for registration in a little while, I'll keep you updated.

I'm still working on the Tarisota Limited Edition BasicGrey collection that is coming out in a week or two, depending on when the paper hits the shores. 

Congrats to Raewyn Alridge who was the winner of the Autumn Escape competition at Scrapbook Outlet.  Raewyn does an amazing write-up of the whole competiton on her blog there, and I love the eating-cake-at-a-cafe-when-I-heard-I-had-won story.  That was a busy, creative, full-on competition, there were over 300 'raffle tickets' allocated.  Scrapbook Outlet has been the most fabulous supportive sponsor for us, helping with alsorts of other behind the scenes stuff, we really do owe them, thanks ladies :o) 

Did I mention Autumn Escape registration is in the process of closing?  On one hand I am thinking 'bring it on' I can't wait to see some of these plans in action, on the other hand I'm thinking CRIKEY, I'm going to spend the next 3 weeks buried in Autumn Escape stuff, before I know it we'll be meeting Kim Archer at the airport. Which is where we went last night to pick up a large, OK HUGE, BasicGrey package.  :o)

Hey – Happy Easter everyone, stay safe.  Enjoy the last of the Autumn sun, if it darn near froze this morning it'll be a beautiful day today.  Perfect for lifting the curse of the bad week with a little drink with friends.  I'm leaving you with a layout I did recently with some Jenni Bowlin.  Not my fav layout in forever, partly because of the blurry pic and handwritten journaling.  Something I just need to get over, really.  Love my little girl.

Laters

I've never been one to enjoy April Fools day.  You didn't see me at school wetting the teacher's chalk or putting a whoopee cushion on their chair.  Yes we had chalk and blackboards when I was young.  If you were lucky you got to bang out the dusters at the end of the day.  Anyway, this April Fool's day was no exception.  I made great efforts to make sure the kids didn't know about it so I didn't have to put up with an hour of "hahaha April Fools!" before they went to school.  I was overcome with a sense of guilt when walking home after dropping them off though… I forgot to pre-warn them that the rest of the school would be buzzing with April Fools tricks. Someone managed to convince jacob that his Mum was at the office with some sort of nasty message.  Kids can be cruel.

So today.  The Stampin' Up catalog is released today.  I've had a preview and it's great stuff.  I've ordered the Short and Sweet (is that what they are called) stamps – someone had them at the Prima Card Buffet I taught over the weekend and they were perfect. 

A new venture by Trina McClune, Lara Moss and Vicky Gibson with SBO… Precious pages…
Kits for around $10 via the Scrapbook Outlet.
Talking of Scrapbook Outlet, they are still playing the 'win a raffle ticket to win a place at the Autumn Escape" game….  it's worth registering in the forum if you haven't already.

BasicGrey for you… 2 collections this time, at Tarisota… I'm working on them as we speak (type, read, you get the point).

Hey- plans are already underway for Autumn Escape 2010.  Now's your chance to let us know the fabulous amazing Aussie or NZ tutors you love.  Who would you really love to see there?  We're listening! 

Did I show you the house that Jack built? Scroll down :o)
LAters

I want to move to the South Island.  I fell in love with the area when I was teaching in Timaru at the weekend.  Although I can't get that line out of my head… "what'll it be, TIMARU?  The money or the BAG?".  The subtle differences in the landscape, the relaxed feel, all those little things that made an area special.  Vaughan.  You have my blessings to move to Hawea.  I will come visit.

I met some pretty cool ladies down there.  I was so tempted to put 4 r's in that worrrrd. Ok enough teasing.  

I came home to the most gorgeous sunniest day and got straight out of the car and into my neighbour who was holding her arms outstretched – ahh so sweet, there was a glass of rum in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. lol. It was a long afternoon sitting in the sun. Gosh I'm thirsty today.  And I've spent the day catching up on emails and a few assignments.  I caught up on the forum at Scrapbook Outlet NZ, they have a huge HUGE competition right now – guess I need to tell you all about it.

Scrapbook Outlet NZ are giving away a weekend at the Autumn Escape!  Plus some travel allowance.  It's a huge prize.  They are also giving away 2nd and 3rd prizes as well as copious amounts of spot prizes. 

The competition is set up as a raffle – so the winner is drawn from a big pile of tickets.  To 'earn' tickets you could do a range of things, from particpating in challenges to posting on your blog about the competition to uploading layouts to the SBO gallery.

Check the forum out for more details.  (and if that doesn't take you straight in there, it's worth registering, that's a massive prize and all of us at Autumn Escape promise to make it something special!!). 

And in the words of someone not so famous but incredibly cute (that be you Kate Mills) if you are not in, you're out. lol.  So visit SBO and join the fun.  I have heard SO MANY people say they didn't feel like they were allowed to spend money in a recession, here's your chance to win a ticket!

Did you know KaiserCraft are looking for Design team members?  See the info here at sketchbook.  Talking of which – good luck for the sketchbook retreat this coming weekend, ladies!

Leaving you with a page created for Aussie Scrap Source with some of the latest Cosmo Cricket. Thought not overly excited in the way of technique, this is sometimes my favourite type of page – the kind I'll still be proud of in 10 years time.

laters.

How gorgeous are these girls.

  Although my one isn't that gorgeous right now, lying in bed with somewhat of a broken heart after Daddy growled at her for not doing as she was asked, when she was asked. 

 "You do know that Daddy still loves you when he growls at you, right?" I'm saying to her in bed as her big eyes are looking at me with tears overflowing and little chin waivering trying to supress those tears.

"He's never done it before" she says.  Well you got off lightly, I'm thinking… the boys have had your share, obviously!  Or perhaps a short memory. Obviously.  Or perhaps I'm the growlie parent.  Interesting perspective.  A big lesson learnt tonight.

It was another layout with BasicGrey Wisteria and a little Crate.  I'm still using the diecut papers.  Still loving them. Hoping they are good for another few months worth of layouts. No?

Looking forward to hopping the plane to Timaru on Saturday.  Tomorrow's mission?  Fudge.

Talking of the South Island.  Scrapbook Outlet has something going on.  it's cool, apparently, really cool.  And if you blog about it you get a 'ticket in the draw' so here is my blog post about it, see more here and join in the blog linking to get your own tickets in the draw.  You know.  For whatever it is Andrea has planned.

Hey thanks everyone for your kind comments about the book.  It's certainly hard to let go.  For months I have been 'researching' without really realising. Noticing trends.  Seeking out contributors.  Talking with manufacturers.  Researching galleries and message boards and watching what was going on. It's been hard to drop it all.  Full credit to the publisher for recognising the troubled market though.  And as they say , one door closes and another opens.  We'll see. 

My diary emptied out there for a bit.  I've spent the entire week filling it back up with random things .  Taking myself off long term leave.  Adding my names on assignments.  Making sure I keep the stress levels juuuuuust high enough to have me fidgety.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

laters

Dark time Monday morning, a new week starts.  I had one of those weeks last week. 
Unexpected tax bills resulting from a mis-understanding of the company accounts.  Delays in shipping items I need for classes.  Sick kids.  People owing us money for building contracts making it hard to pay the wages.  You know. Little things just piling up.  I was hanging out for Saturday, which was 'crop day' for me.  Trina stayed Friday night, we stayed up til the early hours laughing and chatting.  It was just the medicene I needed.

Then I woke to the news on Saturday morning that my second book, which had been in proposal since 2007, accepted in December last year and contracted to me this year, has been stopped. I am being paid a break fee and all production is to stop.  Nothing to do with my writing or organisational skills, or of the quality of my artwork.  All to do with the recession and economic forecasts just released by the publishing company.  I did try and suggest we carry on anyway.. wait..

"Dear Editor of the fabulous book publishing company,

Thank you for your concerns regarding the economic climate, but I am not particpating in the recession.

Love Nic Howard".

It didn't work. 

Anyway.  Thank you to the four amazing wonderful contributors I had lined up.  Thank you to the manufacturers that were lined up to support me.  Although no product had arrived and I am grateful of that.  And thanks to the book publishing company for the faith they had in me in the first place.  The book was going to ROCK.  Seriously.  I loved it.  I loved the concept, and the public was going to as well. 

Cest la Vie, I guess…..

Back to scrapping life memories for myself and my other commitments.  Which I can now come off long service leave from.  You probably didn't even realise I had gone on leave.

And back to organising Autumn Escape.  The worse the economic situation is, the more determined I am that this is going to be successful.  (And yes I wish I could pay for you all to come… I book in with Lotto every week for a big influx of monetary aid, but no one seems to listen).  Actually, more than successful.  Amazing and something to take me away from it all for the weekend.  Somewhere where we do not mention the recession.

I'll leave you with one of those life memories I mentioned.  The layout is nothing flash or amazing.  Nothing to ooooh and ahhhh about.  It's just memories on paper. 

Actually this was a life lesson for me. 

Lesson #264.  Even when you are super sure that something will not happen, never ever ever promise 100% that it will not.  There is always a chance it will.  I'm hoping that applies to winning lotto too.
Laters.