Feeling Low

Today I'm feeling pretty low.

Last night our little scrapping community lost a very dear and talented friend. I knew Deb when I was working at Scrapbook HQ, and she was so supportive and kind to me throughout the whole Dizzy Izzy experience. She was a scrapper with a fantastic eye for colour and a knack for putting together really great layouts.

I'll never forget how she pulled her very first 'all nighter' at our May retreat this year, and went kind of loopy towards the end. She was so proud of herself for making it!

I will miss laughing with my lovely, kind, crafty friend.

xox

Feeling Successful

Last weekend was a huge one - May Retreat for Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking. Our first 3 night Retreat, and our first fully booked (with a waiting list!) Retreat. 

2 years ago my friend Fleur and I made the crazy decision to leap into this business, and I honestly think it's one of the best choices I've ever made. 

I have an amazing business partner and I am doing what I love - creating and helping others to create. 

We have gone from 'Lets have 1, maybe 2 Retreats per year' to having either a Crafternoon or Retreat each month. 

We are now about to embark on Phase 3 of our plans, and it's the scariest step yet. 

This time next year, who knows what might be happening? 

OMG!!

On Sunday I got to meet and do a make n take with one of my scrapping idols Amy Tan. OMG!!!

If you aren't familiar with Amy's scrapping, she is the designer behind the Amy Tangerine lines from American Crafts, and you can check out her work here at her blog. I love her awesome use of colour, and her layouts and handmade embellishments really speak to me. And did I mention her Daybooks? Divine!

She is currently touring through Australia (and then NZ) through Spotlight to promote her lines now being sold at their stores. (ahem... they have been sold at Dizzy Izzy since Day 1!)

I dragged Matt along to Spotlight Miranda so he could take photos, and hung out near the Make N Take table they had set up, waiting for her to arrive like a creepy stalker.

With Amy

Amy and I chatted while we waited for the make n take to be set up. It was so exciting to tell her about my scrapping story and Dizzy Izzy. She laughed when I told her I have been too scared to post a comment on her blog, and encouraged me to blog more (and here it is, lol!).

The crazy thing is.... no one else came! Just weird considering she was swamped that morning in Melbourne. Oh well, I'm not going to lie... I loved it! I had Amy all to myself for an hour - who else can say that?? You hear that other people - you snooze, you loose!

Matt gets his craft on...

So Matt and I got to make a card with Amy, using her fun products. She taught Matt how to use a border punch and we got to chat some more about how she got started scrapping, and how her collaboration with American Crafts came about. We also heard about some of her favourite things coming out soon in the new Ready Set Go line like a date stamp & sheer letters - I can't wait to check them out in person.

Amy snapped this one 'just pretend you're being crafty'

 

I was even lucky enough to get a signed Amy Tangerine apron - you can bet that will be making an appearance at the Crafternoon this Saturday. PLUS she gave me a make n take kit to give away as a prize at the next retreat! Awesome!

Signing my apron

The big thing that I got from this was how much Amy loves creating - and it comes through in everything she does. She is living the crafty life and loves what she does. How lucky am I that I get to do what I love as well?

Happy Scrapping,

Tracey

Retreats

I've been lucky enough to go to two scrapbooking retreats in the last month, which for me is something akin to scrapbooking heaven.

Especially as one of them I was just a customer. That's right. No organising music, or games, or taking massage bookings or working a shop or teaching classes.  Just me, my friends and a whole lot of scrapping.

But did I get any more layouts done in all the extra time I had?


Of course not.

I did have fun though. And I am pretty happy with the pages I've been doing lately, some of which are below for your scraplifting enjoyment.

I've also learned a valuable scrap lesson - I'm getting way too old to stay up until 5:30am scrapping. I can't pull up the next day like I used to, and the pages I produce in the wee hours of the morning.... well.... they rhyme with scrap, lets just put it that way. So - could this be the end of my scrapbook all nighters??

Thanks to Lisa over at Storyboard Kits for organising a really lovely weekend, full of fantastic challenges that pushed me out of my scraping comfort zone. And to Kristen who organised the retreat at Collaroy full of such lovely scrappers.



Sassafrass papers and Prima & Sass embellishments.
And yes, thats little me!

using papers & embellishments from one of Lisa's
Storyboard Kits

colour palette challenge - way outside my comfort zone.
LOVE my new Martha Stewart border punch!

washi tape... sigh. just love it!
this layout was inspired by Diane Payne's layout in
Scrapbook Trends Magazine March 2012

happy scrapping!

Trace* xox

a blog about another blog...

I can excitedly announce that the new blog for Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking is live!

In case you missed it, Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking is my team effort with my good friend Fleur to take the scrapbooking world by storm. We host awesome scrapbook retreats and day crafternoons, as well as hosting an online facebook community where we have competitions, sales and share layouts.

If you want to get your craft on, or just show your support for our venture head to the Dizzy Izzy Blog or search 'Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking' on facebook and hit like!

cheers!

getting our craft on

This weekend the Craft & Quilt Fair was in Sydney, and Dizzy Izzy (& Friends) hit the fair to get their fill of shopping, inspiration and creative flair.

It was a world of creativity - everything from lampwork beads, intricate cross stitch patterns, crochet demonstrations and sock monkeys.  After an exhausting initial lap around the outer edge, we dove into the middle lanes where we started our purchasing - Scrapmatts were definitely a highlight in the purchases. So was running into a few old HQ customers!

 

We did a make and take with Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door, who is always fun and has some of the loveliest stamps around. For Michelle, our new scrapper and Craft Fair Virgin, this was her very first 'class'. She's officially hooked now! I loved using the Precious Metal Colours - so effective and something I had never seen before.

  

After a great demo from Craft Queen, where we learned about some of the new scrapping trends (punches are back - yay! - and the layered flowers using tulle and other materials were just divine) and a quick run through the quilt show (now there  was some talent, and the most amazing quilts I had ever seen) we began our journey home, body's weary but brains happily ticking over and beginning to create new masterpieces.

Thanks for a great day girls!  Get your craft (your craft) on!