Big sale tomorrow!!

In preparation for moving I need to have a good clear out of stock to reduce what we actually take with us. In order to do this we are going to hold a mega sale tomorrow (Saturday 23rd March) from 12 noon to 2pm.
There will be some serious bargains to be had in order to clear out loads of stock! All are welcome and there will be card making, scrapbooking and general craft deals to grab. First come, first served!!

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!!

Storing loose journal pages

All of the classes for the Life Book class are created on a single sheet of watercolour paper which will be bound together to make a journal later in the year.  The downside of this is that I had a rapidly growing pile of art that had nowhere to live and it was making me uncomfortable.  I came across this birdcage a few weeks ago and it has been sitting on the side in the lounge just looking prettily empty.  For some reason the Life Book ages came to mind yesterday and I had a flash of inspiration that had me running to see if they would fit.  It was as if they had been designed to go together!!  Its so lovely that they have a proper place to live for the time being and that they can been seen - the colourful pages are quite intriguing and draw people in to have a closer look!  This loveliness now sits in pride of place on our sideboard in the lounge and I have to say it looks pretty gorgeous.
So the moral of this story is that I don't need to buy fancy storage specifically designed for your projects all the time, taking a look around what we already had meant that I found something that suited my needs perfectly and cost me nothing!

Life Book week 10 - Heart Connection

This week on the Life Book art journaling course we celebrated the connections of our hearts - everything and everyone that we love and treasure in our lives.  Its hard to see but the background is made up of at least eight different layers and processes.  Within these layers is some really meaningful writing that you can just catch glimpses of is you look carefully.  I played with alcohol and acrylic paint to create amazing interactions, collaged with vintage book pages and sheet music, stamped, dripped, gessoed, stamped some more, added tapes, painted, sprayed - basically you name it, I did a little bit of it.  If you stop and look closely at the background in real life you can see each process but its so subtle it all works together as one.
The key technique for this class was creating little rolled love letters which were then formed into a heart shape.  As usual, I approached mine in a different way to Tam's sample in my construction and was really happy with the result.  Each one of those rolls contains a love letter to someone really special to me, they will never read them but that's not important here, its the intention behind this process that really matters to me.  I loved creating this and each step of the way gave real pleasure.  I added the gorgeous wide May Arts ribbon to tie my heart together - we have this in the shop in both the black/cream and the green/white versions (yummy!!).
Those of you who are eagle-eyed may have noticed that I've missed posting about the week 9 class.  This is because I'm struggling with it a little and haven't really got to grips with the idea behind the techniques.  I'll be working on it over the next few days I'm sure!

Life Book 2013 - catching up week 1

I'm quite surprised at how compelling I am finding the Life Book class.  I came to a bit of an impasse with the second project for week 1 which was about creating a journal page about your journey into 2013.  It was to include your hopes and aspirations for the coming year and also celebrate your current blessings.  Tam drew a road with herself in a car and her hair blowing free in the wind and she drove towards the sun.  The concept made sense to me but I really didn't 'feel' the whole road idea!  It stopped me in my tracks and so I decided to skip past it and carry on with the week 2 project.

While I was stuck I got on with creating a background for the page using the fabulous vintage sheet music my wonderful father-in-law found for me at an auction.  I covered the page with the sheet music torn into pieces and then scrape gesso over the surface to soften and blend the pieces together.  I played then by adding smears of shimmery paints in white, gold, red and green.  I rubbed peach and cream acrylic paints on with my fingers which was very therapeutic!  In the meantime I kept ruminating on the whole journey idea and was drawn to a ladder or a staircase but also wanted it to have a natural feel.  This evolved into a tree with a spiral staircase leading up into its branches.

I cut leaves from watercolour paper, painted them and then wrote my hopes and dreams onto them.  To make them less prominent on the page I smeared shimmer paint over each leaf to create a cloudy shimmery group of leaves.  I found a Tim Holtz 'journey' stamp in my stash (another one I didn't know that I had!) and stamped it onto a scrap of painted watercolour paper which I cut freehand into a heart.  I punched flowers out of the remaining scrap paper and wrote my blessings onto them.  I added these to the bottom of the page, grounded at the start of my journey into this new year.  A bit of doodling and I was done, as soon as I was in the zone I couldn't stop and I'm so pleased with the finished piece.

The new lesson was released yesterday and I'm already itching to get going on it!  I have a feeling that this is going to be a very creative year!!

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

Facebook giveaway announcement!

Do you know that Total Papercrafts has a Facebook page where we post news, updates, links and fun stuff? Lots of you do and have already 'liked' our page but we want to share the love! We think more people would like to join in the Facebook fun and become a part of our online community so we thought that we when we reach 200 'likes' on our page we would have a giveaway!!

Every Total Papercrafts Facebook fan will be entered in the draw to win - its so easy, all it takes is a click on the 'like' button at the top of our page. The sooner we get there the sooner we'll be giving stuff away!!

We'll keep you posted in our progress and have some teasers for the prizes coming soon. In the meantime get clicking and share the love with your Facebook friends!

You can find the Total Papercrafts Facebook page at www.facebook.com/totalpapercraft