Announcing our new forum & gallery!!

We are really excited to announce the launch of the new Total Papercrafts forum!!

You can find the forum at www.totalpapercrafts.formation.co.uk but will need to register before you can see all of the fun things we have on there. Registration is really simple and quick and once you have signed up you can join in the chat in our range of different topics as well as browse our gallery.

The forum is open to anyone with an interest in scrapbooking. We have forums for Total Papercrafts kit subscribers, club and for each of our events plus general chat. Our gallery is a great place to browse and also to share your own projects.

We have a direct link to the forum over on the right of this blog, so no need to even remember the web address!

Feel free to drop by and check it out!

Total Papercrafts kit 1 for October

There's something about bright colours that just makes us smile and the first Total Papercrafts kit for October is packed full of colour and fun! The shades of deep teal, red and green are mixed with splashes of cream and white to tone them down a little and the result is a fresh and fun kit that will work with so many different types of photos!

The kit includes; cardstock, four sheets of double sided patterned paper, corrugated card, a paper circle template, a whole pack of fabric flowers and a pack of flocked adhesive words.

The sample uses three 6x4 photos - two landscape and one portrait, plus a 4x4 photo. The theme is really flexible as the flocked word stickers include those shown in the sample plus 'home', 'cutie', 'party', 'secrets', 'groovy' and 'lucky'. I think you'll agree there is plenty of scope there!

You'll need teal, red and green inks (the sample used Patina Glimmer Mist, Distress ink in Barn Door and Stampin Up ink in Old Olive), a distress tool or scissors and something for the centres of your flowers such as brads, gems or buttons.

Get ready to start October with a shot of colour!!

Individual kits on sale in the shop

We've just done a stock take and have uploaded some recent kits to the shop today - perfect for anyone who wants to pick and choose from our kits. The numbers are limited for some of these so once they are gone thats it!
Buying the kits on an individual basis allows you to try them out without the commitment of a subscription and they're also perfect as a gift for anyone you know who is interested in trying out scrapbooking. Our kits are great value for money as they include great tools and/or embellishments plus full step-by-step instructions. We include fab techniques so that you are learning with each kit and they are ideal for those times when you are stuck for your own ideas!
You can find all of the kits on our online shop at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

My completed Circle Journal

I thought it would be a good idea to share all of the entries in my circle journal now that I have it back so you could see what everyone did for me. This is a very image heavy entry as I have photographed each and every entry in the album! Thank you to everyone for your efforts in creating this fab recipe book......

Cover
French apple & ginger cake

Fireman's chicken

Christmas Pie

Chocolate mug cake

Rice Krispie treats

Banana & Walnut cake

Rocky Road - divine!!

Cup cakes - Melissa makes the BEST!

Total Recipes - a fab selection!

Lemon cheesecake

Norweian apple cake

Nanaimo bars

Bonfire bangers & beans

Lemon curd & banofee pie

Yoghurt cake

Sign in tags

There is a great selection of recipes here for me to play with and I'm really looking forward to creating some of these. I'm really excited to have Lindsey's recipe for Rocky Road which is to die for!! If you are a fan of cup cakes then you have to try Melissa's - they are the prettiest and most delicious I have ever tried!! I loved Wendy's entry in the shape of an apron - so creative and fun, you really bloomed during the cj's Wendy! Tracey O has a fan in my Jack and so he particularly wants me to make her banana and walnut cake! My guys are already encouraging me to try out some of the savoury dishes in here for dinner so I think this will get a lot of use.

My absolute favourite part of the album are the sign-in tags at the back. I printed off a series of eclectic questions along with the usual 'name & date' details. The responses to these questions have been really revealing and fun, they have really given me an insight into the members of the circle. I think I'll treasure the tags as much as the recipes!

Once again, I'd like to say a huge thank you to each and every member of the circle for sticking with it for such a long time and getting all the way to the end - it was so worth it!

Circle journal swap night

This week at club we finally swapped back our circle journals to the starting point. Its been a long undertaking and I'm so proud that we made it through to the end - the last circle journal I took part in, my journal took 2 years to come back to me!! There have been a few hiccups along the way and one or two people missed making entries in a couple of journals but have arranged to contribute to them later.

I am so pleased with my finished journal which is crammed full of fab recipes. I see a busy winter ahead as I try out the dishes everyone has shared with me! I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who created an entry in my circle journal, there's a real mixture of styles, colours and creativity - exactly what I was hoping for and I'm so grateful. I didn't get much of a chance to look through some of the other completed albums as it was a busy night but they certainly looked crammed full!

I've had a number of emails thanking me for running the circle journals and all I can say is that you are very welcome. We wanted to offer something that would give everyone to get to know each other a bit better and this mission was absolutely accomplished! Thank you once again everyone!

Last circle journal entry - Barbara's

The epic circle journal adventure is finally over and here is my last entry in Barbara's album titled 'Music from the Heart'. I had two smallish pages and as usual I wanted a little more room and so I created a concertina slide spine so I could add two further tag pages. I was really happy with the end result which offered lots of space for photos and journaling.
My entry was about my piano and the role music has played in my relationship, both really personal subjects but thats what these journals have been about - getting to know more about each other. I included lots of journaling together with photos because this was a subject I had lots to say about!
I used my Tim Holtz Sizzix die to make the tags from cardstock and an assortment of papers in browns and creams. The Tim Holtz adage tickets are some of my fav things to use and so I managed to incorporate a couple into the title for my entry together with some Echo Park alpha stickers. I had just about enough ruffled rose trim to complete this entry - talk about cutting it close but I had to do it, it was practically my signature!
We exchanged the circle journals at club last night and took loads of photos of the completed albums with the owners who managed to make it to club. Pop by tomorrow to get a peek at the finally finished albums!

Total Papercrafts kit 2 for September

One kit, two options - how cool is that?! Our second kit for September uses the brand new 'Etcetera' line from Bo Bunny together with a stunning flocked chipboard alphabet and a whole pack of ribbons.

Tracey played with the kit first and created a dramatic page with five 6" x 4" photos with a gorgeous stitched border. I couldn't resist the kit and had to have a play too! The second option is shabby and layered with ruffled ribbon and rolled paper using three 6" x 4" photos. The good news - we will be offering both sets of instructions so you can choose whichever design you prefer!
The kit contains; cardstock, 3 sheets of double sided patterned paper, set of flocked alphabet, pack of three decorative ribbons, embossed cards.

To create Tracey's design you'll need cream embroidery floss and sewing needle (or pricking tool and gel pen), Black Diamond Stickles or black glitter, brown ink pad (sample used Distress ink in Walnut Stain), assorted flowers and centres, border punch.

For the second option you will need a hole punch, a scallop border punch, brown and green inkpads (sample used Distress ink in Vintage Photo and Glimmer Mist in Patina), water spray, flower centres.

The papers are pretty neutral colours in mainly beige, brown and black with a dash of patina green and will work with all sorts of different photos. The designs on the papers include music score, tickets and bingo cards, script and ledger lines. Tracey was able to use the papers really well with her equestrian theme while the alternate design highlighted the 'music' aspect with the song themed title. Don't you just love it when you get a really flexible kit you can use for so many different photo types - we did, thats why we have two designs with it!!!