Merry Christmas everyone!

I just wanted to take 5 minutes out of the preparations for the big day to wish everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas. We are fortunate to have a house full of family tomorrow and are really looking forward to a day of fun and laughter. The festivities start with Midnight Mass tonight which is a tradition in our family and then we have a quiet drink together to celebrate. Tomorrow is all about cooking together and exchanging gifts - it'll be bedlam but its OUR bedlam which is what makes it special!
I hope your Christmas Day is everything you wish it to be and that your own version of bedlam is fun!!

December Daily - days 11 to 20

For the first time ever, I've kept up to date with a long term project and am still working on my December Daily album. I am so pleased with how the album is coming together and the kinds of things that are being recorded in it. It will be a lovely book of memories of this month, it has everything from favourite telly programs to special days out, ordinary day-to-day activities such as designing and going for a coffee! Take a peek.....

Having the pages ready to go means I only need to print off the photos for the day, stick them in, add a title and journal - its super easy! I'm so excited that my sister and brother-in-law are coming over and will be a part of this album, we are counting down the days and are in single figures now! I hope that your preparation for Christmas is going well and that the snow isn't causing too many problems, its the perfect excuse to do some crafting though!!

Handmade gift idea

I came across this gorgeously elegant handmade gift idea today at www.passionatelyartistic.com as part of their 12 Days of Handcraft Christmas. Its a stunning calendar made from cardstock and grunge paper designed by Melissa Samuels. She has included a download for the internal pages which have space for birthdays and notes as well as a month on a page.

If you are looking for a gift for someone that will have a huge impact but won't take you long to create then this is well worth a look - its right up my street!!

My December Daily album - so far!

I have been asked to upload some pictures of my December Daily album so I can share what I have created to date. For those of you who are not aware, December Daily is a project inspired by Ali Edwards and each year she creates her own album with daily photos of life during the lead up to Christmas. I loved the idea of focussing on a whole month and December has such great opportunities for capturing memories that this year I decided to take the plunge and create my own album.

As I knew this would be a big undertaking, I decided against making the actual album - life really is too short when there are perfectly acceptable A5 lever arch folders available for just over £1 at my local stationers! I made each page 6" x 8" and then changed up some days with envelope pages, pocket pages and tags. I spent a few evenings putting together all of the base pages for the whole month so now all I have to do is print off a few photos and journal for each day. I won't lie, it did take quite some time to put the pages together and I totally get why Ali encourages everyone to start their albums early!! But once I was on a roll I was loving it and now the album is done doing the daily update is a piece of cake. I'm 1/3rd of the way through the album already and it is bulging (which is totally fine by me as I'm a 'more is more' kind of scrapbooker!!), I think I'll just have to look out for a cool vintage belt I can cut apart to create a closure!

If you want to learn a bit more about Ali Edwards' December Daily then check out her blog at www.aliedwards.com where you'll find her daily albumpics and more. Anyways, I'm off to take more pics......!!

Ideas for Scrapbookers blog

I am really pleased and proud to be the featured artist today at http://www.ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/ !! I am a regular visitor to this blog which has daily posts with a huge range of different ideas for both scrapbooking and cards, you will be blown away by the ideas you will find on Pam's fab blog. My article shows you step by step how to use a retro flower punch to create poinsettia flowers, who would have thought that this punch could be so versatile and its now one of my all-time favourites.
I used the poinsettia technique to embellish one of my scrapbook pages from the December kit and I have also added one to my December Daily album (I'll be posting photos over the weekend of my album so far). They are so quick and easy to make, not to mention super cheap! I hope you have a go and enjoy making these seasonal embellishments.

Its a small world!

While out for the day at the Christmas Dickens Festival in Rochester today, who should we bump into but one of our kit subscribers from waaaay up North in Stockton (thats nearly Scotland! LOL!!!). It just goes to show how very small the world of scrapbooking is proving to be. We took a pic of the whole family because shock, horror, they didn't have a camera with them!! Hope you like the photo Sandra and that you all had a great time!
If you've never been to the Dickens Festival we can highly recommend it, the High St, the cathedral and castle were full of stalls but the highlight was the cast of characters in Victorian costume. We took masses of photos and sampled our first mince pies and mulled wine of the season (well there was still snow on the ground!). Its officially Christmas now......

More inspiration

Have you managed to get inspired yet? It seems there are so many really great online classes available this month it's hard to resist signing up for everything! Today I found www.reverb10.com - a great site that offers daily prompts throughout December to encourage you to reflect on this past year and think about what you would like out of the year to come and it's totally free! I think this would combine really well with the Jessica Sprague art journal or Ali Edwards' December Daily mini album, that way you'd never be stuck for something to write about!!
It looks like December is going to be a very creative month!

Inspiration Everywhere!

The snowy weather has brought everything to a screeching halt as nothing is coming in or out here! I am taking the opportunity to catch up with a few things, one of these being an online class I promised myself. Every 6 months or so Jessica Sprague offers a free online class that is open to anyone and I have really enjoyed taking part in them as she encourages me to think a bit more about my craft and the meaning behind it. Her current class is 'Inspiration Everywhere' and its a bit different as it is exploring all sorts of different inspirational media. The downloads for each assignment make the class super easy - you can just click, print and glue. The forum and gallery for the class are full of ideas from everyone else taking the class - some go all out while others use just the downloads, all are lovely!

I took some time while snowed in today to catch up with the first 3 days of assignments and am now the proud owner of an Art journal with some fab pages including a mix cd of music that inspires me. I've had great fun reliving memories of creating mix tapes back in the day - its a lost art!! I can highly recommend this class and its not too late to sign up if you fancy joining me - just drop by http://www.jessicasprague.com/ to register for 'Inspiration Everywhere'!

I've also been inspired by this year's 12 Tags of Christmas from Tim Holtz and its only day 2!! Check out his blog for fab ideas using a host of Ranger products - way more than I have but I have a feeling I can find something that will do!

And now I've just found Ali Edwards' December Daily posts and I'm tempted to create a mini album documenting everything we do this month. Her album looks do-able with its selection of pre-designed page layouts that can be used over again with a block of photos. I'd really love to be able to do this one, I'll need to crack on quickly though as I've already missed 2 days of the month - here's hoping the snow hangs around so I get some time!

Essex club cancelled tonight due to snow

While the snow is great for pics, its not a good idea to venture out on the roads unless you really need to so we have taken the decision to cancel club this evening. We would rather be sure that everyone is safe and warm.

Last batch of December layouts

Here we go with the last batch of designs using the December bumper kit. To be honest there is still loads of this left over so you can explore your own creativity or create some complementary pages to the single page layouts to make them double pages - go for it!! We have had great fun with the kit and rummaging through our stash, we found embellishments that we've had for quite literally years - it goes to show that Christmas never goes out of style!

This Winter themed page uses two 4" x 4" photos together with an inked and shimmer sprayed paper doily which was great fun and very messy to create! You'll also need a border punch, a snowflake punch, thin strands of pearl trim in grey and green, adhesive gems, snowflake charms, a few Websters bloomer fabric flowers and an adhesive alphabet for the title.

Get all Christmassy with this single page design that uses a single 6" x 4" portrait photo. The instructions include details of how to create poinsettia flowers using a retro flower punch. You'll also need string, small word charms, flower stamens, an alphabet for the title and star and bauble charms were also added but are not essential.

Show off a series of four 6" x 4" portrait photos on this double page Christmas themed design, three portrait and one landscape. Add a dark brown inkpad, some star charms, adhesive gems, a 2" scallop circle punch and some glittered letters for the title and you are good to go!

We hope you are as excited and inspired as we are by all of the layouts we have for you this month, there is sure to be something here for eveyone and we will get the kits out to you as soon as we possibly can - in plenty of time for Christmas!!

December designs from Claire

Continuing our offering of gorgeous designs from our December bumper kit, Claire B has put together these fab pages. She sent me one more layout this evening to add to her batch so if you checked us out earlier you'll notice something new! Grab a wintry 6" x 4" portrait photo and you are ready to start creating this page! Claire has used her sewing machine to add texture to this design (or you could handstitch if you are feeling brave!) but you could very easily use a faux stitching effect created with a white pen and paper pricking tool - same effect with less stress if sewing isn't your thing! A decorative corner punch will add a fun finish and you'll also need some bobble trim, brads and adhesive letters for your title.

This lovely Christmas page uses a single 7" x 5" landscape photo and a fab technique using a decorative corner punch to create a circular frame to draw the eye in. You just need to add some bling and you are good to go!

Claire makes great use of a decorative edge punch set to create a seasonal themed page with a single 6" x 4" portrait photo accented with hand cut holly leaves and berries.

We couldn't help but laugh at the title of this double page layout - anyone with cats will completely get this, Christmas trees are like a theme park for cats! Claire used four 6" x 4" photos which she overlapped to create a great flow across the design - two landscape photos and two portrait. She created a gorgeous stitched border around the left and bottom of the page and her instructions include a template if you want to do the same. Just add a needle and embroidery floss and some blingage and you are ready to create this one!

We can't wait to see what else is coming from this gorgeous kit - thank you Claire!!

December designs

For December we are doing something a little different with the kits - one bumper kit that contains lots and lots of co-ordinating products that can be used for both Winter and Christmas photos! But the difference doesn't end there...we have given the kit to three different designers and asked them to create whatever they wanted. The idea is that there will be a lot of different layouts for everyone to choose from and we will be sending out the instructions for ALL of them - our Christmas present to you!
The first batch of designs come from Tracey and I'm sure you'll agree that they are absolutely gorgeous!!


This first design uses two 6" x 4" photos in a wintry theme, one landscape and one portrait. You'll need a wet adhesive, 3d foam pads, some crystals and adhesive letters for the title.



This second single page layout features two 6" x 4" portait photos with a 'Santa' theme. You'll need a 1" circle punch, a dark brown inkpad, a scrap of ric-rac and adhesive letters for your title.



Tracey's double page design uses four 6" x 4" Christmas themed photos, two landscape and two portrait. To complete this design you will need a dark brown inkpad, adhesive crystals, stickles in assorted colours, 3d foam pads and adhesive letters for your title.

Tracey added a sheet of red cardstock to her kit pack and had enough leftovers to make this additional single page design featuring two 6" x 4" portrait photos. You will need a paper pricker, embroidery floss and needle, buttons, flower punch and adhesive letters for your title.

Tracey has provided a couple of templates for those who want to recreate her designs - and who wouldn't, they are gorgeous!

The kit contains: 5 sheets of cardstock, 9 sheets of double sided patterned paper, 12x12 sheet of die-cuts, a whole pack of adhesive chipboard (4 sheets of shapes), silver glitter, silver grey ribbon, red ribbon.

Spare crop class kits now on sale!

We are all on the mend now and so have managed to get the spare crop class kits up onto the shop today. We don't have all of the classes available and there aren't a load of the ones that we do have. The classes can be purchased at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk under 'Kits & Subscriptions' and remember that kit subscribers can get the kits with free P&P.

Wiped out!

First of all, apologies for not posting for a few days but the crop day really took its toll on us and its taken a while to recover! We had an amazing day with a full house of fab scrapbookers last Saturday, it was crazy busy (as usual) and loads of fun. The classes for this time around were incredibly popular and so we restocked a few of them so we could offer more kits - this meant that the classroom got rammed full for a couple of classes, not ideal I know! Running on adrenaline for the past week has meant that we have been dropping like flies since the weekend with colds and chest infections, Total Papercrafts has looked more like an episode of 'Casualty' this week!!
We are all on the mend now and should be back to full working order next week. Once we are back to work, the extra kits from the crop day should go on sale online. There are only a few and not all classes will be offered but we have been inundated with requests for these kits so if you're interested keep your eyes peeled!
Subscription kits update - we are STILL waiting for product from Prima to arrive for the November kits. We have chased the order and it is with Prima but we are waiting for it to be shipped to our UK distributor. We have been promised that it will be chased up and we are following up every couple of days.

The crop timetable.....

Here we go with the timetable for the crop on Saturday.....

10am A Year of Celebrations
11am Scrapbook Jewellery
12.45pm Lost Property
1.45pm Little Black Dress
2.45pm Family Comes First
4.15pm Sowing the Seeds
5.15pm Heroes & Heraldry
6.15pm Away with the Fairies

There are breaks for lunch and refreshments thrown in for good measure!

The address for the venue (for those of you who need it for your satnav) is Meopham Village Hall, Wrotham Road, Meopham, Kent DA13 0AT and we will have a sign outside complete with green and brown balloons to help you find us!

We think that is all, but if you urgently need to contact us then it will be best to give us a call on 01702 535696 as things are so busy its unlikely we'll get to our email for the next couple of days!! See you there!!

Crop news....

We thought we'd let everyone know that we have been able to get more kits in for quite a few of the classes on Saturday. We sold out of the classes so quickly that we didn't want people to be disappointed and while we won't have quite enough for everyone to have everything, we certainly have a few more! Its great that the classes have been so popular but it also creates a few headaches, LOL!!
We won't release the additional kits online, they will be available on the day if you are interested. Just speak to Pauline in the shop and she will be able to let you know the situation regarding what is available.

Scrapbook Jewellery class peek......

Scrapbook Jewellery

You'll create up to five different embellishments for your scrapbook pages, albums or mini books in this class with lots of product left over to play with on your own! You'll be provided with everything you need to create this beaded gorgeousness including pliers, beads, charms, wires, elastic cord and oodles more. You won't need to bring along anything else although a second set of long nosed pliers will make your life a little easier. No photos needed, no inks, chalks, paints or anything else - just a little patience!!

More class peaks......

We've been busy over the weekend packing kits and printing instructions, its a great feeling to be prepped and ready to go nice and early. Here are the remaining peeks for the classes.....


A Year of Celebrations peek

If you like clever pages then Claire F has produced something gorgeous for you in this class that documents an entire year of memories! You will need a 4" x 2" landscape photo - Claire cut hers down from a 6" x 4" photo and up to tweleve further small photos which can be 6" x 4" that you can crop.
You will need a black inkpad, scorer or bone folder, single hole punch and Claire suggests tweezers to handle the tiny alphabet stickers in this kit!

Family comes First peek

Claire F produces fab pages in her distinctive clean style but always with a little twist, this time she has a cute hidden space for loads of additional photos! The layout uses a 6" x 4" portrait photo and up to 8 further 4" x 4" photos. The theme of the class is 'Home' but any photos in the family or home theme would work.

You will also need to bring along a dark brown inkpad, a pricking tool, an embroidery needle (some will be available in class) and double sided tape.

Lost Property peek

Claire B is a master of vintage layouts and she has once again come up trumps with this class using MME Lost & Found papers. The theme of the page is 'You are such a handsome young man' so this would be great for any masculine photo - not necessarily a vintage one. The sample page uses a 6" x 4" landscape photo.

You will also need a Creamy Brown inkpad, a single medium brad (a jewel one would look gorgeous), needle and white thread and 3d foam pads.