Weekender Fun with Spellbinders

I just had a fun weekend with my friend Donna who is one of my oldest and bestie friends, we go back to working in a hospital lab in the 1980s and she's also to blame for getting me into crafting when she dragged me along to Creative Memories workshops to learn scrapbooking in the 90s. My usual suspect in all things crafty Sarah was also in as well.

We all took part in Spellbinders Weekender Virtual retreat. Personally I'm trying to have a bit of a hiatus from Virtual boxes and kits as I'm quite a way behind with them but it was really hard to not sign up as our local craft store Krafters Cart actually bought the kits into NZ and shipped them to us for under $10. Most virtual kits the shipping is normally around the $100 USD mark which adds a lot to the cost for us down under but I justify it as I'm getting first class tuition which is free and the kit always is at least the value of what we pay for it. The problem is so many companies are now offering them it's really hard to pick and choose which ones to do. But I have to be honest as you get SO MUCH product in the kits (some of it you wouldn't normally buy as its not your thing) that I'm running out of storage space in my craft room.

We got the kit box with plenty of time beforehand which was just as well as there was so much die-cutting to be done. I knew there'd be a lot but there was truckloads and I actually ended up getting blood blisters under my index and thumb nails tearing the dies off the backing sheets. Also the cutting was complicated with lots of different coloured papers in the kit and to be honest I don't think I got all the coloured card we were supposed to get in a kit but in the end I worked with what I had and filled in the gaps with something similar in my stash they were using. Also the teachers were using dies from multiple die sets to make one card which complicated things as well. I posted a wee quick video on my Facebook page of all the diecuts which you can see HERE.

The three of us post lunch on Saturday which was the Friday class and cocktail party in the States. Luckily we had just bought ourselves a new TV,  after 20 years we finally replaced the 32" TV with a Chromecast attachment for a 55" smart TV which made watching YouTube videos so much easier and so much BIGGER and clearer.

Myself with bubbly and OJ whilst listening to the stream.

Sarah looking happy.

My kitten enjoyed playing with the cocktail umbrellas! I'll be back soon to share a card or maybe even more from the event. Hope to see you then.

✿Karen✿