Parties, Presents and EXCTING SCRAPPING NEWS!

Yay, I have a full house this weekend! Chris came home yesterday morning and MIL returned on Friday night, so we're all accounted for at the moment! Of course, Chris is off again tomorrow for a Directors Conference up on the Barrier Reef (it's a hard life!) and won't be home again until next Sunday night, but he was home long enough to put the kids' birthday present together, which he brought with him from Sydney - a Springfree trampoline! I will take some photos of the kids on it today and share during the week! They were out there all day yesterday and this morning as well, so I think they like it!

Other than that, I have been busy organising the kids' birthday celebrations. I have booked Tay and 3 of her friends and I a few games of bowling for Friday night and we'll have dinner there, then they can come home and watch her new Hannah Montana DVD on the big screen and have a sleepover. I got Ronin's Spongebob Squarepants Party Invitations all made and handed out so hopefully the parents get them, and they don't just think they are art and craft creations from preschool! I bought some homebrand yellow sponges and dried them out, then cut them in half. I downloaded a picture of Spongebob from the Internet and cut out the mouth and nose portion, then printed on (cheap) photo paper and cut out. I then cut strips for his pants and shirt and tie from cardstock scraps and outlined them all in black marker. Next I glued all these pieces on along with the googly eyes we got in the craft shop and drew on his eyelashes. Finally I printed out the invitation itself on the photo paper and attached it to the back of Spongebob. Tay was home sick for two days so she helped me but it actually was quite fun and not at all hard work, just a little production line. I would say it took all together about 2 hours? But that was done in bits and pieces so it didn't feel like it! Here are some pics of them.

I've also been scrapping this week, here are a couple of layouts from yesterday's newsletter. The big monthly newsletter containing the Aussles and Product of the Month comes out tomorrow, so look out for it. You can subscribe to the free newsletter at THE SCRAP HEAP.

EXCITING NEWS FOR SCRAPPERS!

I can also announce that it looks like the SCRAP JUNKIE Luxury Retreat will definitely be going ahead at the stunning NOVOTEL LAKE CRACKENBACK RESORT which is located on the border of the Kosciuszko National Park, nestled in the Thredbo Valley surrounded by the spectacular Snowy Mountains, just 15 minutes from Thredbo and Perisher Blue. This fantastic spring long weekend scrapfest will start on Saturday 4th October and finish on Monday 6th October and includes 2 nights in a beautiful apartment, all meals including full country breakfast, restaurant quality lunches and dinners, morning and afternoon tea, lots and lots of scrapping time, great classes with fantastic teachers, charity fundraising, games, gifts and prizes all in luxurious comfort and stunning surroundings in true Scrap Junkie style! Ainslee and I will be getting an information pack including prices ready this week, but places are LIMITED, so please contact Ainslee with your expression of interest to reserve a place (contact details are on the website) before it runs out! This is the first of what we hope to be an annual event. All scrappers deserve a pampered weekend away every year, and Ainslee and I believe a scrapbooking retreat doesn't have to include school camp facilties. You will have full use of the resort including day spa offering facials, massages and more, swimming pool, gym, restaurants, shops and access to the region's natural attractions. Crackenback is 2 and a half hours drive from Canberra for our local girls and those flying into the National Capital, 5 hours from the Southern Highlands, and 6 hours from central Sydney with free parking offered at the Resort. The weekend will start at lunchtime on the Saturday and finish after lunch on the Monday to give you all plenty of travelling time to and from. It will be a truly spectacular weekend so BOOK NOW!

See ya!