Talya Goes To Adelaide: The Mumpreneurs on Fire Conference

One of the main reasons I was going to Adelaide was to attend the Mumpreneurs On Fire Conference. I was so lucky enough to win a ticket to the conference and as I believe that opportunities exist where we least expect them, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn't refuse.

The conference was organised by Kathryn Hocking from Reverie Coaching and this was the first year it ran and had an incredible two days of amazing speakers with an optional third day business planning session.

The speakers over the two days were so inspirational with their own stories and journey but how they had aspired to running their business as well as being mums and entrepreneurs.

It was really inspirational to hear some of the entrepreneurial mums speak about how they turned their idea into a multi million dollar business was rather impressive.

I am always quite impressed when I hear 'Multi Million Dollar Business'. Immediately I go into this day dream of what it could mean for me. Most of the time it involves dreaming about diamond rings.

The conference was held at The Beach house, Glenelg. It was this impressive indoor amusement park for kids. There was ferris wheels, dodgem cars, water slide, carousel rides and more.

We were upstairs in the conference room that had the most beautiful and distracting views of the beach and the ocean.

On the Tuesday 22nd October I decided I wanted to go shopping at Westfield West lakes as I thought I needed cocktail attire for a cocktail event the following day.

One of my all time favourite shops to shop at is City Chic, and I hate how the nearest one to where I live is a good 5 hour drive!

So of course I went shopping and found some amazing dresses, cardigans and formal shirts. My husband had said that "if there was something you could do in Adelaide that you can't do at home go for it and have fun". So I interpreted it as "Sure, go ahead and spend $400 on clothes at City Chic because we don't have one at home, so go for it".

Don't worry when I told him I went shopping at City Chic his response was "I know I saw the purchases on the credit card... but its okay I told you to have fun".

With advancement in technology like having your internet banking at the touch of your finger tips its so easy for husbands to track a wife's spending!

I decided to stay in Glenelg for a few days while the conference was on to save the commute in peak hour but because it meant I could sleep in longer and didn't have to wake as early!

I stayed in the Oaks liberty towers apartment which were across the road from the conference venue so a nice short walk. The apartment was so spacious and quite posh. I was impressed that the courtyard was three times the size of the one I had back home!

So we had to be at the conference nice and early to get a seat we wanted and of course to get our goodie bags!

At 9AM the conference kicked off with the event organiser Kathryn welcoming everyone to the event.

The first speaker of the day was Karen Gunton from Build A Little Biz. If you haven't heard of Build A little Biz you really should! Karen makes visual marketing exciting and fun! She really has a lot of passion and excitement for visual marketing and you can really tell from hearing her speak.

We got to experience the most delicious morning tea both days of the conference with gourmet yogurts from Moo Premium Foods. I have heard a lot of Adelaide friends rave about their products and were only available in Adelaide, so it was on my 'to experience in Adelaide' list. They generously provided morning tea both days of the conference. They have the most scrumptious products.

What was a great thing about the breaks (morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea) you really got to get to know other people sitting at your table and also at the conference. Hearing their business ideas or hearing about their businesses was great to hear. Was great to see the networking beginning and ideas being bounced between one another.


We got to hear Cindie Smart from Free Run Press talk about her business and experience and how it grew from an idea into having several successful niche magazines.

When you hear 'business plan' or 'create a business plan', do you instantly think "oh em gee, how boring"? Well I always have until Helen Roe from The Orange Lantern talked about how there is a creative business plan for creative minds. Was fun doing the activities and opened my mind up to different ideas I want to implement over the next year into Made With Love. As part of my ticket I won to the conference I got to experience the 3rd day which was a whole day working with Helen on creating a creative business plan. If you ever get the opportunity to do a workshop or class with Helen, I do reccomend it! She makes business plans fun!

After lunch we got to hear from Indy Hilditch from IndyVisual Designs where she talked about 'branding like the big guys' and the importance of creating a culture to go with your brand. She is having a branding masterclass coming up. So if you want to learn how to brand your business check out the masterclass here.

I loved speaking with Alli Price from Motivating Mum, she was just so full of energy and I loved how she spoke about networking and the importance of having a mumpreneur network. I am what some would call and introvert but she had some great tips on networking. If you are a mumpreneur and feeling alone in your journey being a business women and a mum check out her website and see if there is a networking group near you!

Another inspirational Mum Entrepreneur was Mel Sears from On The Gro. I had seen her business around the online world mainly in advertising on different sites but it was impressive to hear her speak about how she had this idea and went through the process of getting it manufactured to distribution and retail. She has quite an impressive set of awards as well to go with her amazing and innovating products she sells.

The last speaker for day one of the conference was Linda Chaousis who spoke about 'Dream It. Visualise it. Attract it'. It was a great session and introduced me to changing my train of thought patterns. She spoke about positive self talk, and positive affirmations.

To end the day 1 of the conference we had a cocktail networking function where we spoke to different attendees and learnt something about them. For those who know me really well would understand how hard things like that are for me. But I gave it a go and put myself out there, and I am proud that I could do that.

The next day was Thursday the 24th of October and was another day jam packed with inspirational and motivational speakers.

The first speaker for the day was Lucy Cornes, the owner and founder of She Shopped which if you haven't heard of her business yet, stop what you are doing and go to facebook and search 'she shopped'. Seriously what are you waiting for? Lucy talked about the importance of social media in your business and how to create raving fans! It does work as I rave about the she shopped experience all the time!

After morning tea (where I had a passionfruit flavoured Moo yogurt) we heard from Clare Fitzgerald about the importance of video in business and how we could incorporate video into our current business.

We heard from Paige Rowett who is the owner of Your Marketing Hub where at first she got everyone up and jumping around imitating a video on the screen- we felt like idiots but definitely helped in having everyone more energised and ready to hear about SEO. Search Engine Optimisation is about getting your website, business, name shown up on search engines. It is always preferential to be towards the top. We learnt lots of things about SEO we otherwise would not have known and I must admit hearing someone who has a passion for SEO speak about SEO does make you feel more excited in making sure your SEO is working for you.

Sam Leith was such a fun speaker to listen too with her story and most importantly her strategy of 'ditch it, delegate it, leverage it'. She spoke about how if there is something you hate doing- don't do it, outsource it. It was great listening to her ways to work smarter not harder.

When Amanda Daley from From Urban Wellness spoke about the role stress plays on our health the whole session I was sitting there saying in my head 'omg that is how I feel'. Everything she spoke about really resonated strongly with how I was feeling and I kept saying "I must get in touch and work with her". She has some amazing formulas for helping women to reduce their stress and I can't wait to work with her more closely.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Kathryn for giving me this opportunity to attend the conference and have taken so much away from it.

After the year I have had, I really deserved and needed this break!

Talya Goes To Adelaide: The 2500KM Journey There!

Wow what an adventure I have had over the past 10 days. Travelling a total of over 5000km's to Adelaide and back home to Coffs Harbour. Leaving on the 18th and returning on the 31st of October.

Before I began my journey to Adelaide, I volunteered selling bandannas for CanTeen for their national bandanna day. It was amazing seeing all the people in the community who not only knew about national bandanna day but proudly supported the day as well.

When I got to where the stall was to be, it wasn't even 8.30am and there were already a line up of people waiting to buy bandannas!

Once I finished at the stall I still had so much to do before I left on the 10pm train to Sydney. I still hadn't packed and had a couple of rushed orders to make before I left. But I managed to pull it all off with plenty of time to get to the train station. Up until 4 hours before the train was due to leave I still didn't know exactly how I was planning on getting to sydney or more so how I could avoid the 9 hour stop over the following day.

Here are the two custom Hoot and Hootabelle inspired name banners I created for twins Ruby and Coopers upcoming first birthday!

So 10pm came and I headed on down to the train station ready to start my exciting trip. I was bursting at the seams with a mixture of excitement and nerves especially as I was praying I wasn't going to get sick while away but importantly while travelling.

Some of you might remember the last 6 weeks I have been suffering from acute recurrent pancreatitis and have spent several week long hospital visits trying to manage and control this painful illness.

In fact just earlier that week I was in Sydney for a couple of days seeing a specialist and booking in a procedure for a couple of weeks time, to hopefully fix the pancreatitis.

So I got to the train station in Coffs Harbour and boarded the train. An hour into the trip I highly regretted not booking one of those sleeper carriages so I could at least get some sleep. If you have ever traveled on the country trains you would understand how uncomfortable it is to try and sleep cramped up. Lets just say I didn't sleep a wink!

My amazing husband found a device at work that day that allows you to plug a portable hard drive into it and it creates a wifi network between your iPad and the media share device so you can watch tv shows or movies on your iPad. It certainly made the trip to sydney go quicker!

So I got into Sydney Central Station at 7am and went and booked my luggage ready for the next train which was due to depart at 3pm. I also left my pillow and carry on bag in storage so it wasn't as much to carry around with me for the next 8 hours.

My phone, iPad and the media share device had gone flat at this point. I found a waiting room which had chairs, tables and powerpoint stations set up so I sat charging my devices for the next hour.

I had this brilliant thought to go looking for a nice, home style cafe to have a lovely breakfast. I was trying to avoid eating anything that could trigger a pancreatitic attack.

I went for a wonder and found heaps of coffee shops and little cafe's but they all looked too crammed or didn't have any tables left to sit at, so I kept on walking.

I had this brilliant idea to walk to circular quay and Darling Harbour. "An easy walk" everyone said. I began walking in the direction of the Harbour and following the signs, going on a real adventure. At one point I was at the entertainment centre and for some reason decided to take a left turn.

Do not ask me why.

I ended up walking this massive hill then took another left turn at an intersection which also went up another big hill. I kept walking and ended up in Broadway. Turned the corner and I was back at the railway station. By this point I was regretting the heavy backpack that was still on my back and for not putting it in storage for the day.

Determined by this point to find somewhere to sit and still wanting breakfast I just settled for a sausage roll. By this point I was just frustrated.

Sitting there eating my sausage roll I get approached by about 5 people begging me for money or telling me their life story about how they can't support their children. A couple of them began harrassing me and following me around, grabbing at my handbag and backpack. I was really scared.

I got back to the platform where the train was expected to depart in another 6 hours and decided to just stay put until the train. I hadn't had any sleep, I was stressed and exhausted and was really hoping that this 'holiday' was going to be worth it. I really needed the break.

I sat there reading my magazines waiting for the time to pass and got talking to a really lovely couple. There was one lady who approached me who wasn't so friendly.

She first asked if I was waiting for the train to Adelaide. I replied "Yes" and she just dumped her bags and walked off. When she returned she asked what ticket I had if it was a Red, Gold or Platinum ticket. I said I had a gold ticket which was a single cabin. What she said next made me so angry I wanted to yell at her.

She went on to tell me that "You won't fit in the single cabin as you are too fat. I am much skinnier then you and I have trouble fitting in the rooms, they are quite pokey afterall. I was lucky I could afford the extra $1300 upgrade to have a twin cabin to myself so I have the extra room and space. But the food is fantastic which looking at you I am sure you love your food."

Then she walked away. My jaw was just dropped and the lovely couple sitting near me were flabbergasted by how she spoke to me. I hate how people judge me and don't understand just how much medical stuff I have that cause my weight problems. I didn't ask for this and I hate how people treat me as though it is my fault. I don't eat crap constantly in fact usually have a salad every night with a little bit of chicken. I don't drink any alcohol. I do all the right things but it is just hard.

So add feeling sad and angry to my list of tired, stressed and anxious. I felt like crap. I just wanted to throw in the towel and head back home. I was wanting to give up completely on my holiday and return to the comfort of my home and support of my husband.

At 12PM the train came into the platform and the excitement and nerves picked up once again. This time it felt real that I actually was going to make it to Adelaide and on this holiday I had looked forward to for months!

The train was a kilometre long, so long that it had to be split into two to fit on the platform, one on platform 2 and the other on platform 3. It was interesting watching the train set up and preparation happening.

At 3PM we got to board the train and it departed around 4pm. Although the rooms were smaller then I expected I still thought they were spacious and more then enough to sit in the lounge chair and to take in the remarkable scenery. I was starting to feel more at ease.

The restaurant manager came by each guests room to book in a time to eat dinner, I was scheduled for 9PM. But he went on to say that as the tables are fixed with fixed chairs it could be uncomfortable or squishy and embarrassing for me at dinner time because of my size.

He walked off to the next person and I just closed my door and sobbed. What a start to the holiday I was so looking forward too!

I decided to walk down to the bar carriage and ordered a drink (non alcoholic) as all drinks including alcohol were free for the entire length of the journey. I sat their quietly drinking to myself just hoping no one notices me.

That lady who horribly approached me when I was waiting for the train came and sat next to me and continued on her rant about me being fat. I finished my drink and returned back to my room to spend time alone.

Because of the tragic and devastating bushfires we had to divert the blue mountains so instead of heading through the mountains to Bathurst, Parkes and so on we went down through the illawarra region through to Yass, Goulbourn, Cootamundra then overnight went back up to Parkes and through to Broken Hill etc.

Going through the Illawarra region we passed some more remnants of bushfires and there was one house, car etc that was completely burnt and destroyed. My heart ached for all those people who had lost so much.

The time came for 9PM and I headed on down to the dining carriage where I was told I would be sitting in the bar/lounge area with another passenger. I didn't feel as embarrassed or singled out at that point.

The meal was amazing! I chose the roasted duck and must say it was quite a meal! In fact all the meals they cook are of top restaurant quality.

After dinner I headed back to my room where I was able to enjoy a good nights sleep, I was pretty exhausted by that point!

The next morning we were woken at 7am and announced breakfast had started being served. We were a few hours out of Broken Hill and experienced from breathtaking scenery. There was so much red dirt!

One of the reasons I took the train option was to experience and see parts of Australia I haven't experienced before.

I saw the incredible Menindee Lakes and was fascinated by how massive it was. I also got to see heaps of the wildlife I wouldn't normally see outside of zoo's or captivity. I actually saw several herds of wild Emu's! It was incredible!

Surpsiringly I had mobile reception most of the way and was able to upload pics to my instagram along the way.

One of my favourite shots would have been this scene that had bright green fields on one side of the fence, white fields towards the back, lavender fields in bloom with red soil at the front. The contrast of the colours was just absoloutley beautiful!

I got into Adelaide at around 5PM and was met by my amazing friend Karynne the owner and designer behind Chook Shed Designs with her most adorable little Lucy!

Karynne and I have been friends online for quite some time, we met through our businesses and talk everyday online. We hadn't had an opportunity to meet in person and my trip to Adelaide was amazing for one of those reasons.

Karynne and her family kindly let me stay at their house when I wasn't at the conference for a few days. I had such a blast hanging out with Karynne and Lucy and getting to know them more. Was even more fascinating watching Karynne sew and create her amazing teasets!! She has incredible talent!

So this was the journey down. Stay tuned to hear all about the 3 day Mumpreneurs on Fire conference event and the incredible guest speakers!

WE ARE A FINALIST!

I am just bursting at the seams with excitement to announce that the Made With Love 2013 Santa Key Design has been awarded a finalist in the 2013 Australian Craft Awards!

I am extremely excited and proud to be sharing this news with you all!

Bummer I have to wait until the 1st of November to learn if I am a winner or not!

You can view my entry here!

I would love your help to 'rate' my design (with a '5' if you really love it) will help to improve my chances!

But check out the special certificate I get to print out and frame!

Thank you for allowing me to share this exciting news with you all!

Mums who LOVE Made With Love- Jenica's review

You might remember back in August I announced and opened applications for 'Mums who LOVE Made With Love' which is a review panel of several mums, which due to the overwhelming response of applicants I ended up choosing 24 mums, who over the course of the next year will receive a set of party stationary (invites, card, banner and cupcake toppers) for their child's party in exchange for a review.

I will introduce you to Jenica and her review of her experience with Made With Love for her Son Lucas "Lukie or Pookie" who celebrated his second birthday with a Minions and Trains theme.

What is your name and what do you do?
I’m Jenica, and I’m a stay at home mum to Lukie, as well as wife to Simon who is a medical intern.

What is your child’s name and the age recently celebrated?
My son is Lukie, and he just turned 2! I can’t believe how big he’s getting…

What was your theme of the party being celebrated?
Lukie has two obsessions at the moment – and I mean OBSESSIONS. He loves “mimyums” (minions) from Despicable Me, and he’s absolutely crazy for his “choos” (trains).

When you were dealing with Talya from Made With Love, How did you find the customer service?
Talya is BEYOND amazing. She goes out of her way to make sure you’re happy, takes into consideration everything you tell her even if it seems irrelevant, and her attention to detail exceeds any I’ve ever seen. Nothing is overlooked. She was amazingly creative at incorporating two themes that have nothing to do with each other, and not only came up with an awesome design, but came up with SEVERAL awesome designs, which I ended up basing my entire party on. 

Please describe why you gave this rating.
Because Talya is awesome!

Did Talya help create the excitement during the entire process for your upcoming party needs?
Honestly (bad mummy moment) I had no excitement for my son’s party until I started discussing things with Talya. I had some ideas floating around in my head but figured I’d just throw some stuff together the week before. While talking with Talya not only did she ask the right questions to create her AWESOME invites, decorations and card, but she also got ME excited and planning for the party, which I honestly don’t think I would have done more than a few days in advance if it weren’t for her.

What were your first thoughts or reactions when you received your order?
Holy Crap!!! I was blown away. The packaging alone was incredible, but opening it up and seeing all the wonderful pieces she had made was like Christmas. The banner she made was incredible and I must have spent five minutes just staring at it before I even opened the rest of the package. The invites were so amazing – I can’t fathom how much time it must have taken to design and create them with all the tiny pieces! The cupcake toppers were super cute, and much sturdier than I expected. His birthday card was the best though. She even decorated the envelope! I couldn’t believe how amazing everything was.

What was your Child’s reaction? (if old enough to give a reaction)
Keeping in mind that Lukie is little and not fully verbal yet, he took one look at the invites and yelled “MIMYUM CHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!” so he knew what it was right away. Which is a testament to Talya’s work, because I made several minion decorations and pictures and he didn’t even look at them. He was SO excited to see his two loves combined together.

What was the reaction or feedback received from your invited guests?

Everyone was blown away. SO many people commented on the banner and asked where I found it. The kids were in love with the cupcake toppers, and most of them took them home with them.

What did you think of the quality of the invitations?
The quality is amazing. This is not your typical throw away invitation. They were sturdy and well made (nothing is coming apart on them despite being handled by toddlers), and they were INCREDIBLE. I couldn’t get over that each TOOTH on EACH minion was placed and stuck individually. WOW! They were far beyond what I had expected.

Are you planning on doing anything special with the invitations? 
Invites, his card, a cupcake topper, the banner and extra cut outs that I ordered will all be used for scrapbooking. Some extra invites that I collected back from people (yes, they are THAT awesome) will be framed and used to decorate Lukie’s room when he has his own bedroom.

How likely are you to want to refer Made with love to your friends and families?
I’ve already told my friends, my mums’ group and random people looking for invites on facebook to check out Talya’s work. It’s AMAZING

Do you have any feedback or comments you would like to offer?
Talya is amazing. Her work is amazing. That’s all you need to know.

Gallery of Images from the Party Below.

How cool are these Minion Balloons

Love this picture of the pinata in use!

Minion Dave guarding the cupcakes

Banana?

The Train track leading to the party!

Birthday 'Mimyum' in his costume playing with minions and trains

View of the table and cupcake toppers in use

Adorable cake trains!

Birthday 'Mimyum' Riding on the track

Minons and Trains- Can see the cupcake toppers used

Minion Pinata

Minion Pinata

Is it a dream or is it reality?

What started off as a romantic jet set away soon saw reality crashing back down.

It all started when my husband suggested or more romantically demanded that I need a break well that we need a break.

Turns out he had this whole romantic holiday planned and it truly was beautiful!

We spent a gorgeous two weeks in a over water bure in Fiji and were waited on hand and foot, literally with medicures and pedicures and the facials too!

We renewed our wedding vowels which was so intimate and romantic, celebrating 5 strong years.

After touring the majestic island and swimming in the picturesque waters it was time to say goodbye to fiji and to jump on the cruise ship home.

That was when things took a rather unusual turn.

Here on the cruise liner I bumped into one of my old friends who is now this jet setting multi millionaire after having launched and invented this incredible product, which was just loved and adored by so many. Had been admiring his success for years, success that I wish would happen to come my way.

We got chatting and he mentioned that when the cruise ships gets into the Ports of Brisbane that we should follow him back to his 'pad' or should I say mansion for some drinks and he will fly us anywhere we want the following day.

Itching to get some craft and orders done more so some Santa Keys I asked if he could drop us off to our house back in Coffs Harbour. Told him the airport is quite fine as there was no need to escort us back to our humble abode- more that I was slightly embarrased at the fact we only rented this beautiful 3 bedroom house compared to owning a 20 bedroom mansion fit with butlers and maids.

Instead in mid air when approaching the Coffs Harbour Airport we struck some turbulence and engine failure and had to make the quick jump- skydive down out of the plane and into what we thought was our home..

In fact we landed on what appeared to be the set of Home and Away at 'Summer Bay'. Here we were greeted by the producers of the show who offered me a part! Yes me! I was quite shocked and Russ was a bit peeved that he wasn't offered a part but they told him he was far too old! I couldn't help but laugh.

Off I went to get my hair and makeup done. It was only going to be for a few episodes but my character 'Tayla' happened to be on a soul searching journey to find herself. or something like that.

I think Russ went off to snorkel and play with rocks.

After what seems like 2 days of filming Russ and I decided to head home along with my nice cheque from being on the show.

I don't recall how we got home but all I remember is waking up thinking "That would have to be one of the most wackiest dreams I have had in a long time".

I then remembered I hadn't infact been away for a romantic holiday or happened upon a tv set.

I had yet again been in hospital for acute pancreatitis, the past few days.

I woke feeling like I had been on this amazing adventure but I realised it was more then likely the morphine contribution to my dreams.

Ahh how much I would love to escape to Fiji for 2 romantic weeks though!!

September the month that was!

Oh September, you sure did show me that there was the good, the bad and the ugly to the start of spring.

What a month it has been! Certainly trying on many levels....

BUT

I haven't given up yet!!

Maybe I should start with the ugly and work my way to the good.. Trust me there is some really exciting news!

Well September saw me in hospital for acute pancreatitis and was discharged after a week as they couldn't find the cause- they think it could be due to a subsequent illness from the rare inherited gene, the same one that was the reason for my bowel removal. So have to take it easy and monitor it.

*Laughs to self* Take it easy? Not only are those words not in my vocabulary now is not the month to be taking it easy!

Being sick saw me behind in orders, which I was frantically trying to catch up and ended back in hospital. Only for 24 hours this time. But frustrating all the same, still tire easily.

THEN while trying to catch up on the 300 PLUS items needing to be sent out oh low behold my cutting machine broke and needs to be sent back for repairs.

WHY once trusty side-kick... Why?

I ordered $300 worth of promotional materials only to have them arrive askew, cut off and upside down. But I don't have time to have a new order sent out as my deadline needs these in Adelaide by the 1st of Oct for sample goodie bags!

So I think that was all the ugly and bad stuff I am allowed to share (trust me there is more)..

So are we ready to hear the awesome stuff?? The news that has me quite excited??

Well, not in any particular order of the rate of excitement but I really hope you are excited for me too!

I was so lucky enough to receive a 3 day pass to this exciting and upcoming conference called 'Mumpreneurs on Fire' it is in Adelaide in Oct 23-25th! I am so excited and call tell others are too as there is only 14 tickets left.. that's right only 14 tickets! I have the privilege of creating the 80 thank you cards to be given to attendee's. Have created these to match the conference branding, colours and values. Sneak peak below.

So I have been busy planning my holiday and I haven't felt this excited in ages!! Also need to thank my supportive husband for allowing me to go from Coffs Harbour to Adelaide.

I have never been to Adelaide but have always wanted to go, and after the year I have had especially with having my bowel removed and recovering, I am excited to be able to do something for me!

I am so excited to be meeting a really close friend for the first time in person. We met through our handmade businesses and have chatted everyday for the last 18 months. She kindly has offered for me to stay there when I am not at the hotel for the 3 days of the conference. I cannot wait!!

I have booked my hotel which is only 1 min from the conference (I am not a morning person would be an understatement) so it was convenient for me!

I have also booked the train, Indian Pacific heading from Sydney to Adelaide. I have heard it is an experience and it already seems to be. I got my own cabin to myself and all these other perks! If only there would be wi-fi or mobile service along the way!

Speaking of internet we have had the NBN co come and install our new NBN service this month and just waiting for them to turn up and flick the switch now. I am looking forward the most to having faster internet, mainly to have my husband stop his 'lag rage' when playing his online games.. yes Lag rage is a real thing as most of you would realise if you have teenagers that game!

I have a friend who is making me the most gorgeous plus sized clothing to wear at the conference. I received one of the gorgeous dresses today and am picking out more options to wear to the conference. She also has a handmade business so stay tuned for the reveal!! Massive thanks to Meilling from Sewaholic Creations.

But wait there is more!!

Made With Love-Cards And Crafts is now officially trademarked pending!! YAY!! Massive thanks to Jaqui from Mark My Words Trademarks for her amazing help!

I also had the first ever mini magazine/catologue printed called 'Made with love cards and crafts: It's all in the detail' which is a glossy 12 page booklet introducing you to the brand, the designer, the products you love and special offers. These look absoloutley amazing. You can read the online version here. Massive thanks to Indy Visual for designing these!

The booklets and marketing materials will be packaged up to be sent to Adelaide to go in the conference bags! You should see my packaging so far it looks absoloutley divine and all branded in MWL colours and of course handmade. Will show you a teaser below. Each different colour is a different piece of cardstock too! All hand punched!

In case you hadn't heard we were featured in Babyology who did the most amazing feature article, and an absoloute surprise, especially while I was in hospital! Also keep an eye out for MWL in the upcoming xmas buying guides!

Speaking of upcoming issues we were asked by Tickle the imagination to create an Australiana themed Santa Key in yellow and grey! Cannot wait to see the issue! Below is a sneak peak of the Santa Key sent.

Seems everyone is loving the Santa Key this year, with a lot of upcoming media attention and also have been nominated for the 2013 Australian Craft awards for the Santa Key design. If you love the design too would love your rating! You can rate the Santa Key here!

I feel like I am forgetting to tell you some more exciting news, I swear there is more!

So leaving September on a positive note this week we see the return of many favourite tv shows Oh how I have missed Grey's, Hubby is excited for the new Marvel tv show (if you haven't worked it out yet he is a big nerd).

But if you haven't heard of BellaBox Australia before you do now! I signed up for $15 a month you get a box delivered each month filled with the latest and greatest beauty products and a magazine. This month I received so many items with some products worth retail of $15 or more!! I think it is a fantastic way to sample the latest products available without leaving the comfort of your own home. You can find out more about BellaBox here!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Currently I have had to close custom invitation orders until further notice as I have such a backlog of current orders and need to focus on the xmas range. Please also note from the 16th-30th of October I will be away in Adelaide and unable to do orders until I return. I will be on holidays. Please note that this does not affect current orders.

That is all for now