Rachel Greig

SIA Trade Show

Darkroom Door will be exhibiting at the SIA Trade Show in Sydney over the next couple of days! We'll be setting up the booth later today and the actual show is on Tuesday & Wednesday. Our booth is double the size this year... and I can't wait to set it all up! There's so many fabulous samples from many of our guest artists along with as many as I could make too. The artwork from the guest artists is just simply amazing (thank you!!!). The photo above is a teaser too :)

If we have some internet access I'll update with some pictures while we are there. If not, I'll be sure to update as soon as I can!

This also means that any orders or emails will be attended to when we return later this week.

Unlock the artist within!

Publications - March

 It's been an exciting month for me - I've had several projects and articles in a few magazines and a few months ago I started writing photography articles for Scrapbook Creations magazine, so they'll start appearing soon too. It's great to be writing photography articles again!

In this issue (No 63) of Scrapbook Creations I'm the feature artist in the 'Who's Who of scrapbooking' section :) There's a little blurb, a couple of cards, a layout and an accordion book in a tin that I've created shown in there.

And in this issue of Handmade magazine I've done a set of cards using a huge bunch of Maya Road product. I've used their chipboard, ribbons, metal ribbon slides, foam stamps and decorated their signature tins to put the cards into! Have also used lots of Ranger Adirondack Dimensional Pearls, and there's also a few stamps used from my Stamp-It collection.

I was also so excited to have a card in the latest Stampington Take Ten mag :)

 Plus - in the last couple of issues of Creative Cardmaking I've had two articles in each mag. They're all using Darkroom Door goodies, so I've put that info on the Darkroom Door blog.

Right now Stew & I are getting our booth ready for the SIA (Scrapbooking Industry Australia) Trade Show next week in Sydney. It's amazing how much work goes into putting a booth together. We're axhausted already! Our booth is double the size this year too, but we have triple the amount of product to show so our booth is going to be jam packed with stuff!!! I've been busy working on new samples and many of the Darkroom Door Guest Artists work will be shown too. So excited!! Can't wait.

New Zealand

Last week I had another trip to New Zealand! This is my fourth trip to New Zealand, and I love this place more and more each time I go. Luckily for me each trip has been to a different part of the country, so I am getting to see quite a lot of new places which has been fantastic. The photo above is from the plane just as we were arriving towards the coastline of NZ. I love looking out over the clouds. Always feels so serene.

Here's a shot arriving into Christchurch. I rarely have a window seat, so these images are a real treat for me. (I always love window seats for the view, but I like to get up and move around if I need to, so I always ask for an aisle seat. Luckily on this trip I had a whole row of seats to myself!)

Then I caught a connecting flight to Dunedin. Another row of seats to myself... so was able to watch the amazing scenery as we flew:

This shot above was taken as we were landing in Dunedin. Love the propellers in this one! Check out the greenery too! Yum.

After I arrived at Dunedin it was an hour drive down to Pounawea to the retreat. It was gorgeous scenery all the way too. Then we arrived:

The retreat was organised by Wilma Sharp and Hastings Rubber Stamps. This is the third retreat they have held and to say we all had a ball is an understatement! It was a LOT of fun!!! I didn't take any photos during my classes, but here's one of the area where the retreat was held:

Those white buildings are where we had the classes. Mine was just behind the trees (next to the sheep!) The classes went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy what they were doing! That's always a good thing, right!! :)

After the retreat, three very good friends (Phil, Colin & Ellen) gave me a little sightseeing tour of the area. The first stop was the Purakaunui Falls. They were stunning!

We also saw a lot of the countryside. It just made me want to live there! Check out the rolling hills:

Just beautiful! I love New Zealand. I met so many wonderful people on this trip and saw some familiar faces too :) I had a great time with the other tutors: Wilma, Trish and Sharon. Wilma makes the BEST passionfruit slice (I can still taste it right now... yum!), Trish taught me how to do Soduku properly, and Sharon (who is also an Aussie) and I were laughing at how we always lower our voices when we try to copy the NZ accent. Funny times!

Thanks to everyone who took my classes and a huge thanks to Wilma, Donald & Dianne for asking me to be a part of the weekend. It was the best :)