Book Launch: The Wrap

At 10:00pm Saturday night while most people were enjoying a film, a dinner with friends, a quiet night in front of the tele, I was sitting on my rocking chair (yes that's what I use in my office), rocking back & forth wracking my brain to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything!

By 6am Sunday morning, I was so excited I just had to jump out of bed, have a shower and get down the Leisure Centre and busy myself....and get busy I did!

Balloons are a must at any party! As are colourful tablecloths.

The most important table in the room...where you buy the book! So for the launch it was $15 to buy on the day, usually $19 on the Amazon or Lulu publisher websites (where you order & pay postage). And we had a free promo on the Amazon Kindle version too. If you have a quick peek now it may still be free. But otherwise $2.99...small change.

Colourful walls make beautiful backgrounds for kids artwork! So we decorated some hands for the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation and made our own Wall of Hands to show our support in helping indigenous kids learn to read and write. Did you know that only 1 in 5 indigenous kids around Australian can read to the national standard? Closer to home, did you know that 40% of Ballarat's kids won't finish high school? So we raised our hands to say we CARE!

Some of the kids were so proud of their works they didn't want to stick them on the wall, they wanted to carry them home...so some didn't quite make it. But that's ok. We love budding artists.

We had the raffle for the ALNF as well! I promise it was NOT rigged, but gee it seemed like every prize winner was a relative, a friend or a workmate. We did end up having a redraw on one prize when the winners donated it back because they had nobody to share it with and thought it would be more special to share with another guest, so thoughtful. So with raffle ticket sales and 10% from all the books sold we raised a grand total of $200 for the ALNF. Enough to train a mentor to help high school kinds in remote communities and provide vital learning materials for kids all over Australia. So thank you all so much for your generosity! It will make a huge difference in someone's life.

You can't have a mantle without some photos to display! A few pics from the blog, things to make, things to do, ways to make learning fun. Plastic Plates to make a learning clock. Bottle caps to make coins. Play shops. The Rainy Day Jar was a hit. And lots more.

In the end the day was great! We have an album of all the action on our facebook page, so check it out.

And a final thank you to all our sponsors & supporters!

Earl Leonard Music for Kids

(everyone will be talking about how great Earl was for years to come I'm sure!)

Ballarat Books

School of Mum

Letter Gems

Jess Rowan Tupperware

And everyone who shared the event on their blogs (hope I didn't forget anyone!):

Erin McCuskey

Dorothy Krajewski

Margaret Benoit

Caz Filmer

Cat Farrah

And not to mention the fantastic Eastwood Leisure Complex for providing the perfect venue at such great value! Wow, Merita is such a lovely, helpful person who couldn't have made it any easier. Do you know they have 17 rooms to hire? Meetings, sports, clubs, stage, kitchen, you name it!

AND of course everybody who came along! All my family and friends for being there for me, it meant so much to have you there to share the moment and finally understand what it is I've been up to! And everyone who I didn't already know. The people in my life who are my inspiration and my mentors, I hope you know who you all are! If you were there....then that's YOU! And it was so beautiful to see so many unfamiliar faces in the crowd enjoying the music show and sharing my story, who will hopefully take something away to tell their friends about!

Stay tuned for the next phase of Blossom.