Last day to vote!

There is only one more day to vote about the kits and so far only a very small proportion of those of you who get them have registered your preference. Have your say and place your vote by clicking on the poll at the top right of the page.

New gorgeousness from Prima

I've spent a happy hour or so trawling through the new product releases at CHA and have to say that as usual Prima had me drooling over their wares! The stand-outs for me have to be the gorgeous new stitched papers which are oh-so delicate and pretty. I'm also loving the new artistry tins of textured vintage flowers in so many different styles they are very likely to have my bank manager clutching his chest!! There are more tubes of gorgeous flowers in the 'Essentials' range (and they are essentials!) along with a great mix of new papers. I also have my eye on the very pretty new butterflies......off to place my order!

The new BG bling!!

Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm - these are just delicious!! Like a jackdaw I am attracted to sparkly things, poor Dave blanches whenever we pass a jewellery store!! These are the new crystals from BasicGrey being released at CHA right now. There are more in the range including sheets of individual crystals and they come in a gorgeous selection of colours. I think these will look stunning on the new BG papers, we might have to have these come to live with us as well!!

New CHA BasicGrey releases

With CHA in full flow right now, the news about all of the new product releases is starting to trickle out and it looks exciting stuff! Everyone I know wants to know what BasicGrey have in store for us and these four new lines look to have something for everyone. Marrakesh, Porcelain, Wisteria and Lime Rickey are sure to be eagerly awaited when they hit the shops some time in March. Wisteria and Porcelain have caught my eye - those colours are delicious!!

The papers are double sided and there are loads of yummy embellishments including stamps, rub-ons and brads. The most exciting news is about the stunning new BG crystal shapes that are on their way - I think I might need to offer a home to some of those!

The end of Simple Scrapbooks......

Last week the publishers of Simple Scrapbooks magazine announced that the May/June issue for this year will be their last. Apparently there just wasn't enough advertising around to keep both Simple Scrapbooks and Creating Keepsakes (also published by them) in print. It looks like Creating Keepsakes will be changing to accomodate some of the Simple Scrapbooks content and some of the staff will be moving over. Its a bit sad because they were very different mags and had a very distinct appeal - we stock them both and don't often send them out together.

The good news is that the February issue of Creating Keepsakes was delivered today along with the Feb/March issue of Digital Scrapbooking. They both look really fab, I was very impressed with the Digi Scrapbooking mag despite not being a digi scrapper myself. There were loads of step-by-step tutorials for enhancing your photos which is something I certainly need to get better at! If you are into digi scrapping or like playing in Photoshop you might want out check out this site http://www.obsidiandawn.com/ where you can download masses of gorgeous brushes and tutorials for FREE!!

I'd like to wish all the best to the staff and contributors of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, I'm sure they'll go on to do even more amazing things in the future!

Dig out your twin set!

We ran a class at the last crop which included gorgeous adhesive pearls and so many people loved the pearls that we sold out of them in minutes! Pearls add a classic and elegant touch to scrapbooks and these ones are so easy to use. I've had another delivery of these pearls and as well as the standard cream we have black, blue, pink and gold. With four long strips of pearls in each pack for only £1.99, some of these might have to come and live with me!!

Pearls don't have to be fuddy-duddy, they can be quite subtle as on this sample page above - I added an edging of pearls to the curved paper and small clusters in the centres of the flowers for a pretty effect. You can find these pearls on our shop site at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk and the twin set is optional!!

Happy Birthday Jack!!

Today is my baby's birthday! Apparently its not cool to describe a 14 year old as your baby but it really does feel like only yesterday that I was holding him in my arms. I'm struggling to cope with the fact that he is taller than I am and has such a deep voice but these are my issues. He's becoming such a great guy and I am really, really proud of the man he is growing into.

He did very well on the present front and we are fully Rock Banded up now, I think I'd better invest in some ear plugs!! Dave and I got him driving lessons at Brands Hatch race circuit - they have a driving course specially for teens which has to be the coolest thing ever. What is sad is that I know LJ would have absolutely loved to do this with Jack but yet again phone and text messages are going unanswered and the kids are missing out on some amazing experiences.

Jack will have another present when he gets home today and its a complete surprise - tickets to spend the Summer in Canada with my sister and her family! He is very close to my sister and has loved our trips to stay with them over the years but this time he is old enough to travel on his own. He has been very keen to go back and has been saving money from helping his Grandad Tim with his paper round! He did so well and was so disciplined that his Dad and I topped up his fund and he'll have the tickets tonight!! Looks like its going to be an exciting day!

3 crop classes released tonight!

Tonight we are releasing three classes for our crop on 21st February, they are very different and spaces in some are very limited so be sure to grab your places quickly. Here are the sneak peeks of the kit contents......

Spring Fling
Cast off your Winter blues in this fresh and fun class with fabulous felt and funky rub-ons! The kit contains cardstock, 4 double sided patterned papers, a whole pack of rub-ons and a 12x12 sheet of die-cut felt embellishments. This class is the perfect antidote to chilly days!!



Rock n Roll

Offer centre stage to the rock stars in your family with this super-cool class kit that will be perfect for your teens! The kit contains cardstock, 2 double sided patterned papers, two 6x6 chipboard title sheets, two 6x6 glitter chipboard shapes, a whole pack of adhesive crystal stars. Places are very limited so you'll need to be quick to get your rock on!!

Feeling blue

Feeling blue doesn't have to be a bad thing - in this class you'll get to stroke loads of blue stuff and thats sure to make you happy!! This kit contains cardstock, 4 patterned paper, a 12x12 sheet of alphabet stickers and four sheets of adhesive chipboard shapes. So no need to feel sad at all......

See you at 8pm tonight then!

Update - all of the classes sold out in under 7 mins!!

Seeing double?

I have a question for everyone who gets our monthly scrapbook kits - would you rather have a single page kit, a double page kit or a mixture of the two? I've been thinking about doing more double page kits for a little while and it wouldn't be that difficult to make the switch but I don't want to make the decision unilaterally. So I've posted a poll here on the blog to capture everyone's opinion - I'll let it run till the end of the month so it probably won't take effect until the March kits.

Let me know what you think.......

The end of a great day!

The Finish your Pages day is over, everything is unpacked and we can finally put our feet up! We had a really chilled out time and I was chuffed to have some time to scrapbook as well. I kept a tally of what everyone did and in total 80 scrapbook pages were finished off, 5 projects were completed and even a card was made, not at all bad for 9 hours of crafting! We decided that this was a fab idea and we're definitely going to be running this again, probably some time in May - so watch this space......

Sneak peek at bonus kit available tomorrow

I promised to upload a peek of the kit I'll have at the 'Finish your Pages' day tomorrow and here it is...... Its a double page kit full of goodies including a wholepack of Bazzill chipboard keys plus 4 cardstock, 3 patterned papers - one of which is die-cut, flowers, rick-rack and more! Its a nice straightforward design as I really want you to able to get it done tomorrow, there's none of my trademark fiddly cutting out LOL!! I used seven photos on the page, the theme of which is 'the key' - so you could choose something like "Love is the key", "Trust is the key", "Dreams are the key" - whatever the theme of your photos might be. Just grab a load of pics that you've never scrapped before, all shapes and sizes because you can fit lots onto these two pages.I used two 6" x 4" landscapes and then a selection of 3"x4" landscape and portrait photos that I cropped down even smaller - ideal for those less-than-perfect snaps most of us take!

The kit is only £6 and all you'll need to add are a few brads and some 3d foam pads - what could be simpler!

We've packed everything into the car ready to leave bright and early, we'll even have more than a few bargains for those of you who are watching their pennies!! See you tomorrow!

Don't forget!

I just wanted to post a reminder that its our 'Finish Your Pages' day this Sunday! We're hosting a whole day at the village hall in Meopham, Kent where you can get all of your scrapbook pages and papercrafting prjects finished off. We were chatting at club before Christmas and laughing about how many kits they had almost-but-not-quite complete, it was almost a competition as to who had the most! LOL!!

We'll have the shop there and include unlimited tea, coffee and soft drinks as well as cake in the afternoon - I'm thinking carrot cake!! We'll have a laptop and printer as well as a couple of Cricut machines and loads of cartridges so you can cut titles etc..

If you'd like to join us you can book through the shop online at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk and I'll have a double page project available on the day for those who get everything done - the sneak peek will be posted here tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!

This is supposed to be the most depressing time of the year so I thought I'd wish you a Happy Wednesday!!

I've had a lovely phone call from my ex where we were able to sort out a few niggly things that had the potential to blow up into massive problems but fortunately we respect each other enough to talk rather than trying to score points. I count myself very lucky that despite everything we have always been able to talk to each other reasonably. I think thats because we have both always put our son first and recognised that everything we do has an impact on him in some way, including how we talk to each other. I had some very good advice when we split which was that if I chose to fight with my ex I would be making a concious decision to hurt my son - that rang bells with me and so I decided definately not to. We do still disagree from time to time but we don't argue, we talk (lots sometimes!!) and never in front of him because kids seem to have the ability to take an issue and make it their fault. We have completely seperate conversations to the normal phone and physical contact so that these stay stress-free and it works for us which is fab.

Don't get me wrong, it has been a challenge at times but I truly feel that part of my role as a Mum is to ensure that my son has a strong relationship with his Dad. The last thing I would want is for him to feel that he has to take sides and so we've both tried to make it as easy as possible for him to have a life with us both. I suppose the key thing is that I want us all to get along and I am supremely happy with my life as it is right now - I suppose these things are easier to deal with when you are at peace with yourself.

So the result of the phone call was a happy compromise which we could both work with and a lovely natter! See you at club tonight if you are joining us and Happy Wednesday!!

Happy Birthday Nan!

Although my Nan is thousands of miles away in Australia (and has been for most of my life) we have the most amazing relationship and have always been close. Its her birthday today and the time difference means that its really difficult to catch her when she's in as her social life is much better than mine!! Happy Birthday Nan - have a great day and enjoy yourself!!

Kit 2 stamps now available!

The stamps for January's kit #2 finally arrived today - so I can stop stressing and start packing kits! The kit includes one of two sets of gorgeous acrylic border stamps - which means that there is another set of stamps you could own if you want to!! I have added them to the shop today and if you get the kits on subscription just let me know if you want the second set and I can add it to your package before I send it out. These are open to anyone, not just kit subscribers and the stamps are only £3 a set - you can find them at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

If you don't get our subscription kits there are still places available on the list as we have expanded once again this month due to the phenomenal response we have been getting. You'll get 2 scrapbook page kits sent out to you each month for the great price of £15 inc P&P (UK addresses only - other countries please contact us for details). We are really excited about the kits we have coming over the next few months, there is a great range of different manufacturers and brand new products on their way.

Have a great weekend, I'm away working at crops both days so spare a thought for me out there in the cold!!

January kit #2

The second kit for January uses the really atmospheric colours of topaz and amethyst - a real departure for me. I was actually spoilt for choice as to what photo to use and wasted loads of time yesterday switching back and forth between two in particular but we got there in the end! The kit includes cardstock, 5 patterned papers, a whole pack of ribbons and a pack of 5 Autumn Leaves border stamps (so gorgeous you won't believe it!!).

The ribbons stamped up beautifully and it was so easy to do - you just need a good inkpad. I used the Colorbox Chalk ink in Warm Violet and I'll be getting some in for the shop before we run this kit at club so don't panic about finding this if you don't already have it. I tried a few other inks along the way - Anna Griffin Purple produces a very subtle effect (too subtle for me!) and Distress Inks Milled Lavender bled into the ribbon which looked awful - probably because it was a new inkpad and very juicy.

The only other things you'll need are some 3d foam pads and an acrylic stamp block that will fit a 4" long stamp. The templates for everything else except the title are included in the kit. The January kits will hopefully be shipping tomorrow when the main stamp order is due to be delivered - Christmas can be a pain sometimes because everywhere shuts down and everything takes twice as long!!

Fancy a 'Finish your Pages' day?

Ok, so how many pages do you have almost but not quite finished? How many kits do you have piled up waiting to be played with? So how about a whole day set aside for just finishing off all of those projects that you never quite get around to completing? Look no further......we've booked Meopham Village Hall on Sunday 18th January (not February as I originally posted - doh!!)from 10am to 6pm and we'll be bringing over the Cricut, a computer and printer and the shop - in fact everything you need to get everything finished!

Just in case you manage to get everything finished I'll have a kit there for you to play with as well!

Interested? Its only £10 for the day and you can book your place now through the shop at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

Happy Birthday!!

Today is Dave's Mum's birthday and we're just off out to a special birthday dinner to celebrate with all of the family. As its so near to Christmas she sometimes hasn't had much fuss in the past so we're going to try to make it extra special for her with loads of cards and gifts. She is so funny though, she says the best gift is having us all around her - she obviously hasn't discovered Radley handbags yet!!

Happy Birthday Mum xxx

1st club kit for January

Our first club kit for January uses cool, sophisticated papers which would work equally well with both heritage photos or modern pics. The kit contains cardstock and three double sided patterned papers which have patterns on both side not the usual one patterned/one plain combination! We've also included a whole pack of flocked alphabet stickers and a whole pack of stunning lace flowers. You'll need a portrait photo around 7" x 5" in size - you could go slightly smaller or larger without any trouble. Add a few brads and a brown inkpad and you'll be set to go.

I was really hoping to be able to find a heritage photo for this page but we have very few in the family so I had to opt for a modern shot instead - I know some of you have amazing vintage photos and am excited to see what you choose to use with this kit!

Happy New Year!!

I know its a day late but happy New Year to everyone!! I hope you had a great time as you saw in 2009 - we were invited to a dinner party followed by fireworks and champagne, a perfect way to bring in the new year and no washing up!

We have so much to look forward to this coming year and I wish you all peace, love and happiness in 2009.