Creative update and SENZ!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! LONG post awaits you... I highly recommend a large cup of coffee while sitting down to read this update!!!

Ok, I'm sure heaps of you have seen people updating their blogs since we all got back from SENZ but I thought I'd give my take on it as well :) But first I need to catch up about a LO I'm really proud of!

You might remember that I won a Guest Designer spot with No8 Wired for my Sesame Street LO. I know some of you have already seen my LO on the site but for those who haven't the theme chosen was 'Moods'. It had me stumped for a little while... until I looked at the photos I took of my niece while I was over visiting my sister a couple of weekends ago.... I also got some fantastic shots of my nephew but I'm saving those for a special project! There were some gorgeous photos of her playing in a bucket of water and then there was one of 'The Look'! I've seen 'The Look' aimed at her mum but never been able to catch it on camera until now. So here's my LO... I've called it 'Happiness is a bucket of water' and the journaling reads: 'You had so much fun playing in the bucket of water. You kept looking at the camera with your cheeky grin... but when Mama said 'enough' you gave her the 'evils'!I think this is my favourite LO for a while... in fact it's still on the wall because I like looking at it so much! I used Basic Grey papers for the Lily Kate collection. I've never used them before but I love the freshness :) p.s. This LO was inspired by a piece of work I saw on someone's blog but couldn't remember where I had seen it... Just found it and it's Jaimie Emmerton... thanks for the inspiration Jamie :)

Ok, on to SENZ! Where to begin?? I flew down Thursday night and stayed with my brother which was really cool. I love flying!!! Friday morning I did a class with Yolande. We did the Maya Rd Desktop Calendar and it was absolutely fantastic!! We used Fancy Pants papers which I have never even seen before but let me say they are now one of my favourites! Lovely papers... double sided... and a good weight (similar to Basic Grey!). As Yolande said in the class it was a bit ambitious for a 2 hour class... and she was right... but we got quite a lot done and once it's completely finished I'll share it again :)Then I was off to check out the stalls :) First stop was the information centre to pick up my 'goodie bag'! LOTS of awesome products in there!!! Eyelets, brads, stamps, little packs of paper embellishments, shaker bubbles, a punch, Delish transparency, and I also got to choose an unmounted stamp so I got a really cool Pacific themed stamp that I knew Miss 15 would love (and she totally did!!!)Second stop was the book stand where they had Nic Howard's book 'That's Life'! I have been wanting a copy since she first announced it and I've finally got my very own copy :) I have to say that it's a GREAT read (I took it on the plane with me on the way home!). I've jotted down heaps of ideas already and got a few layouts sketched so really want some time to get creating now!I looked around heaps of stalls and then stumbled on the Hastings Rubber Stamps stand. I got heaps of gorgeous flowers, some little buttons, another set of Rhonna Farrer flourish stamps as well as a gorgeous little flower and a stunning butterfly! Can't wait to start using them!!Next was the Scrapbook Outlet stand (my personal favourite!). I got HEAPS of goodies there! Some more Fancy Pants papers, a Funky Vintage paint set from Making Memories (and yes they do co-ordinate perfectly with the papers I bought!), a Maya Rd 8 x 8 binder, Basic Grey 6 x 6 Bracket album, a flower shaped Love Elsie mini album and a gorgeous house shaped Love Elsie mini album. Vicky from SbO made the most adorable mini album about waiting for Arlo to arrive using the house album and I loved it so much that I just had to have one for myself!While I was at the SbO stand I met Lara, Chris, Kirsty and Nik... It was awesome meeting you guys and I loved being able to see some of the Design Team work up close! You guys are a really talented team!!!

On Saturday I did Yolande's other class... the Maya Rd Recipe Tin (you'll totally love this one Rangi!) We actually got our tins basically finished and then we learnt how to do the dividers and recipe cards so I've still got a bit to do to finish but I'll definitely share it once it's done:On Sunday my brother took me to a local scrapbooking store and I found some lovely bits and pieces. I finally managed to get some more 'My Minds Eye' papers! These ones come from the Bohemia collection and the have a lovely masculine theme to them... plus they're double sided! Got a mini album project in mind for these ones:I also got some really pretty papers from Karen Foster along with some Christmas embellishments, journaling cards and some chipboard shapes:Add into the weekend some family time catching up with everyone and it was a pretty full-on weekend! Then I flew home on Monday and caught up with my girls. Miss 15 was so excited when I got the new suitcase out... yep I had to buy a new suitcase to fit all my purchases into!!! I started unpacking everything and she made all the 'ooohhh' 'ahhhhh' noises at all the right places... and she's made me PROMISE to take her to SENZ next year!!! Including the fact that she wants her OWN goodie bag!!! Actually it looks pretty impressive when it's all out together:It's been a fantastic, inspiring, creative and fun time... but it's also TIRING!!! One thing you can count on is that I'll definitely be at SENZ next year!

Finally... I received my lovely prize pack from Neen today and it's gorgeous!!! So I definitely encourage anyone out there to give her Music in Me challenges a go! Also in the mail today was some 'Happy Mail' from Nie. I've actually been feeling a bit grouchy the last couple of days... I'm pretty sure it's just tiredness but my wonderful Happy Mail really did make me feel happy :) So THANK YOU Nie!!! You really are a wonderful person :) I've even got the perfect LO idea for how I'm going to use it so stay tuned for an update! And don't forget to leave me a comment :)