Hi all, I finally get around (things have been a bit hectic at work with the boss back from holidays and also preparing for an all day SU workshop the Sat after I got back from Grass Patch) to telling you all about my big stamping weekend (22-25 August) down at Grass Patch. Be prepared for a long post! This stamping weekend has become an annual event since I started with Stampin' Up! two years ago - it all started with my cousin Narelle wanting to have a workshop down there!
For those of you who are wondering where exactly Grass Patch is, it is approx 45 minutes north of Esperance, located on the south coast of Western Australia (and which has some of the most beautiful coastline & beaches in the country!), on the way up to either Norseman or Kalgoorlie. It is about an 8-9 hour drive from Perth - of course depending on how many stops you make - or is a 90 minute trip in a plane from Perth.
DAY 1 - FRIDAY
I spent Thursday night at my mum's place as she was also coming down with me and we were going to get going early. Woke up around 6ish after not having too much sleep as I kept thinking that I had left things behind at my place - this is after realising at 10.30 pm Thursday night that I left my coat hangar with some of my clothes (ie my SU! shirt to name one thing) hanging on the door handle to the door into my garage. So I jumped into the car & headed home (about 15-20 mins away) to grab them, so when I finally hit the sack, I started going thru things in my head that I may have left behind! Not a good start LOL!!
My Aunty Margaret (Narelle's mum) was also coming down with us and arrived around 6.20. So we packed up the rest of the car (ie about half of the back seat as the boot was already filled with stamping stuff - forgot to take photo of how packed the car was - running joke was that the person in the back seat was sitting in the luggage compartment!) and left just before 7 am. The trip down was pretty smooth with stops at Lake Grace for morning tea and then Ravensthorpe for lunch. However as we were about to leave Ravensthorpe, Aunty Margaret and I were joking around about watching the speed limit and who should happen to be at the bottom of the hill as the speed changed to 90 ! You guessed it - the police and they waved me over for a licence and vehicle check, and oh by the way did I realise i was doing 72 in a 60 km zone! Oops I go, sorry no! Anyway they were lovely and let me off with a caution (meanwhile one of the police officers guessed I don't get pulled over too often as I was having trouble getting my driver's licence out of my purse!) and gave Aunty Margaret (now sitting in the front passenger seat) permission to hit me in I went over 60 in a 60 zone. We got to Esperance just on 3 pm and filled up the car before heading up to Grass Patch!
We got up to Narelle and Marcus' new farm at Grass Patch just on 4 pm and got told by Narelle that we were too early and to go away (she was still doing some cleaning!). Of course we stayed and helped her. We had a look around to what they had done to the house since they had moved in and also saw their gorgeous new puppy Maggie who makes little noises when she rolls over and gets tummy rubs - cute!
DAY 2 - SATURDAY (MY BIRTHDAY)
Before I went to bed last night, Narelle told me to stay in bed the next day as I was going to get breakfast in bed because it was my birthday! So Narelle brought my breakfast of toast and coffee to me in bed and I got a card from mum (got my pressie from her a couple of weeks before) and a card & pressie from Aunty Margaret & Uncle Jim while in bed. Got my pressie from Narelle, Marcus and the boys later in the morning!
While mum and Aunty Margaret took Riley and Myles into Esperance to watch Riley play his footie game, Narelle & I went to the Grass Patch Primary School to set up for the big weekend of stampin in the big Art Room there. While we were setting up Cheray (a mad SU fan (NOT!!) - and probably knows the catalogue better than me - big wave to you Cheray!) rolled up and I was promptly told to close my eyes not just once but twice - dead give away girls to something is up! Anyway once we had set up, Mum and Aunty Margaret turned up with the boys to cast their eyes over the set up - Narelle and I were laying bets they were going to stop by on the way back! We went back to the farm and had lunch before heading back by 12.50 for our 1 pm start!
It was great to see the girls who had come to the stampin weekend in previous years (some of whom have become like friends to me!) and also to meet some newbies as well. In the end we had 18 there for Saturday and they got to make 5 cards using different techniques and also a lolly bag! Here are a few photos I took of each group during the afternoon - we set up three groups of tables with two projects on each table!
Towards the end of the afternoon Narelle and Cheray snuck off and got their little surprise (the one I didn't know was happening LOL!). They came back in with a big birthday cake that Cheray had made with candles lit on it, singing happy birthday and then the whole room started singing. I had to blow out the candles not once but twice because some people were trying to take photos and they didn't get the first blow out! Here is a photo of the cake which you will see Cheray was inspired by Pick a Petal, she even used her cuttlebug templates to dry emboss some of the petals!
That night we went around to Chris & Roger's farm (Marcus' parents) for a lovely dinner and we also had champagne as well which was really nice as well. Got to add the champagne had a really funny name to it but I can't quite remember what it was called exactly but the last word referred to your bum! It was from a west australian winery in our south west! When I find out I'll let you know! Before we went to Chris & Roger's, I helped Riley count all the chooks in the chook shed (took us a couple of goes to get same number - 19!) but then we realised one was missing so we had to find it before those darn little foxes got to it. It was in the middle of a catcus plant but Riley crawled on his stomach and managed to grab it before we put it back with the rest of the chooks!
DAY 3 - SUNDAY
We woke up with no power so Marcus had to go out and get the generator going so we could get a little bit of electricity at the house! The power came back on but kept going out and in the end stayed out for quite a while - Western Power/Synergy couldn't even say what time it was going to come back on when we rang! We all had our fingers crossed it would come back on at the School in time for that afternoon's workshop as we had to do the chrissy card with the heat/stick powder & dazzling diamonds and also do a little bit of embossing with some words!
In the morning, we went for a drive around the farm and saw where the house was originally built, the Grass Patch cemetery which is located on the farm and also the various crops that Marcus has planted (even driving over some of them - except the canola). After some cold pasties for lunch (still no power) we headed back to the School to finish setting up for that afternoon.
On Sunday we had 21 girls there and quite a few girls from Saturday came back for more on the Sunday! Also on both days we had quite a mothers with their daughters doing the workshop together which was great. On Sunday they also made 5 cards (different from Saturday) and a explosion box with a lid!
When Bronwyn arrived we were told that she found out that the power was supposed to come back on around 2.30, but I had a back up plan just in case! Guess what 2.30 came and went and still no power! By 4 pm I must admit I was starting to get a bit worried about finishing in time, packing up and cleaning up before it got too dark - it gets dark down there a lot earlier before it does here in Perth! In my mind I was picturing us putting some cars near the double doors and leaving the headlights on so that we could see what we were doing - nice picture right! The power finally came back on around 4.30 so then there was a bit of a mad panic to do the heat/stick chrissy card as a lot of the girls held of doing it in case the power came back on! The power went out a couple of more times but then finally stayed on so that we could finish packing and cleaning up!
Narelle and I got back to the farm around 7 pm from memory and Narelle promptly got G&Ts! We all sat down to a lovely dinner cooked by Marcus and then Cheray and Daniel came around for a few drinks - Daniel & Marcus watched the Olympics Closing Ceremony while us girls talked Stampin' Up! (even after a big weekend of stamping!). I finally got around to having some of my birthday cake (a pink and chocolate sponge cake) that night with a G&T while we were working out the hostie benefits for Narelle and it was nice!
DAY 4 - MONDAY
We said our goodbyes to Narelle, Marcus, Riley, Myles, Chris, Roger and little Maggie and left the farm just before 8.30. The drive home was pretty smooth - we stopped at Newdegate to fill up and then decided to grab some lunch there instead of at Lake Grace (next town), and then as we missed the turn off for Hammersmith we went home via Wagin (past the Big Sheep) and Williams where we had afternoon tea. We got back to mum's at 5 pm and then I got home around 5.45. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad when I got home after the whole weekend and driving home - even started to unpacked some of the stamping stuff!
Overall, we had a great time down there and I know that everybody who came to the stamping weekend either on one or both days thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was great to catch up with some old faces/friends and meet some new girls, and of course spend some time with Narelle, Marcus and the kids! Also big thanks to the Grass Patch school for once again letting us use their lovely & big art room over the weekend!
Anyway I think that just about covers it - told you it would be a long one! Some of the cards we did I have put in a previous post below and I take photos of the rest and put them up for you soon!
Talk to you soon
Lynda
