I'm great at keeping secrets...

...cos I forget to come back and tell them lol!!!

This is the cover of the launch edition of Australian Scrapbook Ideas and I'm really excited to say I am a resident design team member for this fab new mag. That means that every issue I will be producing some hopefully great layouts plus lots of instructions, hints and tips so you can complete entire layouts from start to finish, as well as detailed info on where you can get your supplies from.

I'm very excited to be in the company of some truly awesome scrappers in this new venture - Jolene Pienaar, Mandy Collins, Cindy Porter, Jill Gerraghty-Groves, Barbara Shepherd, and of course, my bestie and partner in crime, Cass Glass!!!

I also have to give a big shout out to Tina, Robert and the team at Practical Publishing Australia for putting the new magazine together and for giving us all the freedom to create as we each do best. It's been a wonderful experience to be involved so far and it has really fired up the mojo which I haven't felt this much for a long, long time. We're looking forward to bringing something a little different to the Australian scrappers out there who are looking for that something extra. I know there are lots of opinions floating around out there as to what readers really want in a mag and of course we'd love to hear those ideas - they are what will help us to create a magazine that you truly love each and every issue! We want to give you cover-to-cover, can't put down, must go try that now reading that will send you to your stash in a flurry of creativity and hopefully inspiration.

If you were at the Brisbane Papercrafts Convention you may have had an opportunity to get your hands on an issue already, otherwise it goes on sale in newsagents on 17th July 2010. There is also a great subscription deal at Practical Publishing Australia's website that you can take advantage of.

I didn't end up going to the convention at all this year, which I really missed as there were so many girls I wanted to catch up with! Sorry especially to Nic - thanks for the phone chat the other week! and sorry Lou cos we didn't get our yearly photograph! We'll mebbe have to photoshop it huh? lol But life, work, kids and everything else gets in the way sometimes and circumstances can just bugger up the best of plans. I hope everyone who went had a great time though...I did live vicariously through your Facebook posts! lol I'm also sad that I didn't get to visit the Zenozam man who always has the cutest little acrylic jars of bling in all shapes and sizes that I love to use, and the clever people who bring the big plastic tubs of VersaColor and Brilliance Dew Drop inks that I can never get enough of! I think I see some online shopping in my future...

I've been working on a bit of off the page stuff, trying my hand at mixed media, but because I mainly have scrap supplies, it isn't technically mixed media yet lol I've decided that I need an entirely different stash of stuff for that so there's more hunting to be done. I have however done quite a few thrift shops lately and rummaged up some old 45 records in their paper covers, a few big LPs with nice album sleeve artwork, some vintage dress patterns, lots of habby stuff, plenty of old buttons, bits and bobs for my pages which makes me a happy girl. I've also been bitten by the hat and scarf bug so I've been picking up bargains here and there as I do my thrift shop trawling. If you're on the south side of Brisbane, some of the ones I've been to lately are The Salvos and Lifeline (at Woodridge, on the corner of Kingston & Wembley Roads), the big Endos store on Wembley (opposite KFC on the service road), there is a SVDP (St Vincent De Paul) and an ADRA up on the street that runs next to the train line - I can never remember if it is Railway Parade or Station Road, there is a huge Lifeline and Salvos superstores at Acacia Ridge, in Boniface Street (behind the big Tradelink/Stratco place on the corner of Granard and Beaudesert Roads), and some of the smaller shops like Aid for the Blind, the Asthma Foundation and RSPCA also have great thrift shops around the place if you google for them. There's also two in Watling Street, Springwood (opposite side of the road from Ikea - now there's a map reference we all understand!!!). There's always the multiple good shops on Annerley Road at Annerley to choose from, including that gorgeous huge antique shop that always lures me in even if I cannot afford to buy anything, and there's also Reverse Garbage at West End which I haven't visited in a while but am desperate to go back to. There are also quite a few thrift shops close together in Browns Plains/Regents Park too if you like to get to a few in one go. I'll take some pics of my finds and put them up when I get a minute, so you can appreciate the huge amount of tat and crap that I could not pass up lol

If you're a FB buddy, you'll be pleased to hear that while I'm not completely accepting of the crap life throws, I am (as a very wise lady did say to me) learning to catch and throw it back!

I hope you are all well and be sure to say hi if you stop by. I'll try to be a more faithful blogger now that the mag is out and I'm not quite so in the scrapbooking darkness anymore lol

Cheers, Lu xx