Total Papercrafts April kit 2 sample layout

The single page kit for April features 7gypsies papers together with a brown inkpad and a palette knife. Why a palette knife I hear you ask?? Well the reason is we're including a recipe to make your own texture paste!
Just lately it seems like everyone is adding texture pastes, gesso or other art mediums to their layouts. We took the hint and decided to create a layout with a touch of texture. The great thing is you'll never have to buy texture mediums, after you've tried this recipe you'll be set for life! If you're not into messy stuff on your layouts then the design will work just as well without it - you could use the ink pad and a stencil instead!
The kit includes; Cardstock, 4 sheets of double sided patterned paper, ink pad, palette knife and full step by step instructions.
The sample uses a 7" x 5" landscape photo and a 3" x 4" portrait photo. I added a few cream paper flowers and some leaves but you can very easily punch or cut these from the card in the kit.
This is a great kit for every day photos, you could add more smaller pictures or opt for a single larger shot. It's a very adaptable kit in shades of off-white, blue and red.

Total Papercrafts kit 1 for April

Our double page kit for April features papers and wooden flourishes from Kaisercraft. I love the gorgeous soft minty green and black colour combo of these papers and the vintage style prints are absolutely up my street!
The sample design uses two 6" x 4" portrait photos - for some reason my photos were bleached out when I took a photo of the finished page. I have no idea why because in real life they are strong images but I think you get the idea from this picture. I added some white paper flowers and leaves to the kit but they aren't essential as you could make flowers from the leftover paper from the kit. I also used a scallop edge punch but don't worry if you don't have one, any punch would do.

The kit includes; Cardstock, 4 sheets of double sided patterned paper, a pack of wooden leaf flourishes, piece of plastic mesh.

We have a fun technique in this kit using mesh as a stencil to create a great patterned background.

Keep an eye out tomorrow for a fab alternate design using exactly the same kit!

Total Papercrafts kit 2 for March

Here we go with our second kit for March (after a little wait for the supplies to arrive!) using the Prima Lyric paper line. These papers are crammed full with amazing designs to cut out and layer over one another! Those of you who have known me for a while will know just how much I love fussy cutting out images from paper!!
This kit comes with a gorgeous bottle of spray colour which we use simply to add colour to the base paper. My original idea was to create some paper flowers and spray those too but by the time I'd finished my design I didn't feel this page needed them. If you are a fan of flowers then you have the option to create them , spray them and layer them onto your page!
These papers are full of images of tickets, flowers, lace, chandeliers and much more! The designs work really well with vintage photos and equally well with modern snapshots. The sample design uses a single 6" x 4" landscape photo.
The kit contains; Cardstock, 4 sheets of double sided patterned paper, bottle of colour spray, length of cotton tape.
I have the feeling that this will be a very popular kit so be sure to let your club organiser know that you want this one if you're not a subscriber!

Busy, busy, busy!!

While things may have been a bit quiet here on the blog they've been absolutely the opposite in my life, it's been crazier and busier than ever!! We are very close to completing on the sale of our house which means boxes everywhere and nothing where you're used to it being which is maddening and time consuming to say the least. We had a trip to the hospital for surgery closely followed by a rapid return when infection was suspected. I don't know if I'm coming or going to be honest!
In the middle of all of this domestic madness we have had two new clubs start up. The first is in Sawbridgeworth and is being run by Tracey Camburn. Tracey invited me along to teach the very first club night and it was an absolute pleasure to meet this fab group of ladies. We had such a laugh I found it difficult to believe that it was the first time that they had met one another! The club will meet on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month - if you're interested then get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with Tracey!
Our second club kicks off this coming Wednesday 3rd April in Southend-on-Sea. The club is run by Jackie Da Silva who is very well known locally as a papercraft teacher and designer. She has hired a hall and has plenty of capacity for anyone who'd like to join the fun! Jackie will also be previewing the two kits for next month and taking orders, it's great to actually see the papers, colours and themes of kits ahead of time so you know what sort of photos to search for. If you'd like to join in with the Southend-on-Sea club then let me know and I'll connect you with Jackie.
In the meantime I hope everyone is having a lovely Easter break and that you find some time to get creative!

Total Papercrafts March kit 1

Here we go with the double page kit for March using the Prima Engraver line!  We fell in love with these papers at the trade show a few weeks ago and were practically jumping up and down at just how gorgeous it all was.  If I could have I would have ordered everything so it was really difficult to choose!!  The kit has a 'memories' theme so its very adaptable for any kind of photo.  I used a single 6" x 4" landscape photo because I sometimes want to make a statement in my album based on just one moment - in this case it was this amazing snapshot of my sister and I on holiday together in Las Vegas.  I added a shot of teal to the black, tan and white colour scheme to lift it, its very simple to do something like this with just cardstock and it makes such a difference.  I also added a cool wood mounted Prima stamp to the kit and created fun pieces of 'tape' to embellish the design, its a super easy technique that you can use over again with different colours!

The kit contains; cardstock, 4 sheets of double sided patterned paper, wood stamp, tissue paper

You will also need; double sided adhesive tape, flower centres (crystals/pearls/buttons etc.), black inkpad, water spray

Keep an eye out for our second Prima kit for March coming very soon!!

Total Papercrafts February kit 1

Our double page kit for February is chock full of goodies, lots of bits and bobs for you to play with and a new tool for your stash!  We have combined 7Gypsies papers with a fabulous key template/stencil which also includes three key embellishments to alter and include on your layout - loads of fun to be had with this I can assure you!!

This is another kit that will work with all sorts of different types of photos, the maps papers cry out for travel or holiday snaps or you could play with the key idea and include photos of your home or a holiday cottage (or your dream home!!).  There's lots of scope here and you aren't restricted to just these ideas.  I loved the idea of creating a 'washing line' of memories, its an idea from a Masterclass I taught last year and I thought that it had so much scope scope as a double page.  You can include loads of smaller photos - I think that the largest one in the sample is 3" x 3" but you could go larger and include fewer embellishments if you prefer.  Its such an adaptable idea!

The kit includes; cardstock, 4 double sided patterned papers, a key template, string, pegs, envelopes, tickets, tags, paperclips, a Tim Holtz flash card and a Tim Holtz game piece.

To create the sample design you will need brown and black inkpads, a border punch, white acrylic paint or gesso, assorted stamps, alcohol inks or permanent inkpads such as Stazon or Archival.

For those of you who are attending the clubs, I will have the stamps, gesso and alcohol inks available for you to use.

Take care, TP :o)

Tunbridge Wells masterclass this evening

Following the awful weather earlier this month we had to reschedule the Tunbridge Wells masterclass to this evening, thankfully the weather has decided to co-operate today!  We will be creating a canvas wall piece which incorporates an album and shadow boxes, all created from scratch.  This is one of my favourite projects from the past year and it has seen a couple of incarnations including as a Christmas themed piece.  This version is much more adaptable to every day living and can be added to throughout the year.  The Tim Holtz ring binder mechanism means that its a snap to add more pages or to move things around in the album to suit your taste.

The kit includes; masses of cardstock, loads of patterned paper, a 12" x 18" canvas, chipboard, a whole pack of diecuts, lace, a Tim Holtz cash key carm, a Tim Holtz clip, a jump ring and full instructions.

You will not complete the project in the class so please don't worry about photographs!

To complete the sample design you will need; narrow double sided tape, strong wet adhesive, pokey tool, a bone folder/stylus for scoring and folding, black inkpad, black paint & brush (or paint dabber bottle), hole punch (cropodile or similar), circle punch (about 1" but size doesn't have to be exact), washi tape, Tim Holtz tissue tape or similar (not essential), decorative border punch.

If you have a score board or similar you will find it very helpful but don't worry if you don't own one.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at TW again tonight, it seems like ages since we last had a masterclass!!

Total Papercrafts kit 2 for January

Our kit deliveries have been plagued by the recent snowy weather and so this design came together at the very last minute!  We are using the Miss Match range from Kaisercraft this time, four fabulous double sided patterned papers, a Tsukineko ink pad and pearls for a really versatile page for the every day occasions in our lives.

We were talking at the Essex club last week about how we all have loads of snaps of nothing really special but of the every day.  They aren't the studio shots that are beautifully lit, not special birthdays or weddings but just pics of family together.  These photos don't need or even work well on themed papers and so I thought that this kit would be ideal.  The main colours are green, beige and peach (for anyone who hates peach, the reverse of that main sheet has a fab cream pattern).  The pops of black keep it looking modern and fresh.  There are title cards to cut out from the papers which include sayings about 'smile'. 'enjoy' and 'friends', just your normal every day titles that you can over and over again.

The kit includes; cardstock, 4 double sided patterned papers, Tsukineko ink pad in Willow, pack of pearl beads, white paper roses, a swirl template

The sample design uses a 6" x 4" portrait photo and a smaller snap trimmed to fit inside a Polaroid-style frame.  To complete the sample you will need a border punch, a text or other background stamp, needle and thread.  I also used a few scraps of ribbon for the tags.

I hope that you like the kit, dig out the 'ordinary' photos that you have and make them something special with this gorgeous kit!!

Total Papercrafts kit 1 for January

Being away for a long break over Christmas and New Year really put things behind and having limited craft materials and no internet made life very tricky.  We are back now and have hit the ground running!!  Our first kit for this month and for 2013 is a double page that is one for the boys.  We all have men in our lives whether its sons, brothers, fathers, husbands or boyfriends and if they are honest they would probably admit that they never really grow out of the 'boy' phase!  We have a joke in our house that most guys never really mature beyond the age of 7 - not sure how true that is but its certainly funny!!

The kit uses the 'Attitude' line from Kaisercraft which is grungy and masculine - perfect for the guys.  We chose four of the double sided papers together with a 12 x 12 printed transparency and a pack of rub-ons.  We also have a fabulous technique to create riveted metal stars as embellishments, after all not all guys are comfortable with flowers on their scrapbook layouts!

The sample design uses three 6" x 4" and two 4" x 4" photos (cut down from 6" x 4" prints).  You could easily adjust the number and orientation of the photos on this design to incorporate what you have.  Don't have lots of photos from the same event?  Don't worry, you could opt to make this as a single page or you could replace one or more photos for journaling blocks - there is a white grid paper in the kit that would work beautifully.

The kit contains; cardstock, 4 sheets of double sided patterned paper, 12x12 printed transparency, pack of rub-ons, adhesive metal tape, 2013 calendar, star template and full step-by-step instructions.

To complete this sample design you will also need; a black inkpad, assorted stamps (splats/text/swirls etc), blending tool, 3d foam, a length of black ribbon or string, assorted border punches (postage stamp/notebook, bracket).

Art Journaling

I have decided to treat myself to something very special - a year long art journaling class!! It feels very indulgent to do something that is entirely for me, not work but I decided that I needed to treat myself. When I say treat myself I don't mean anything wildly expensive, the entire year of weekly classes was just £60 - talk about a bargain!!
I've been attracted by the world of art journaling for quite some time for both its the fabulous range io techniques used and for its therapeutic aspects. There's been a lot going on in my life and it will be good to have a place to vent. Think old school diary meets art class and you'll get an idea of what it's all about.
There are masses of online courses available right now, some of them are free. If you are looking for a free course try 'Creative Jump Start 2013' hosted by Natalie Kalbach. Running throughout January this course offers daily classes to kick off your creativity. Obviously it's already running but you can access all of the previous classes at any time and the group of designers involved is really great.
If you're up for something longer term then you really can't go wrong with 'Life Book 2013' run by Tamara Laporte at www.willowing.ning.com  The weekly classes are created by a terrific collection of designers - over 20 in total! There's a great mix of styles and techniques with videos and PDFs supporting each class. There's also a forum, a Facebook group and a Flickr group for the course - all this for £60, now that really is a great deal!!
Our first class was to create a 'fairy art mother', someone to watch over you and support you while you create. The key was to make her look kind and compassionate which is not easy when you flunked art classes at school!! I pushed through the pain of drawing a face that I could tolerate and ended up with something I really like. Here she is...... be gentle with me, it's the first class!! Lol x