Tinkering Ink is here!!!

My Mum is back from her trip to Canada and she comes back bearing gifts!! (OK, not gifts as in free but fab new stuff for the shop!!) Mum went to a trade event in Calgary and was able to grab some bits I've been wanting for a while and the Tinkering Ink line was one of them! I've spent this afternoon stroking them all and slowly falling in love - these are gorgeous, bright and colourful, just what you need on a day when Spring has crept back under the covers! As well as the papers we have the alphabets, tabs & tags and these beautiful monograms - how can anyone resist?

The totally fab Fancy Pants acrylic stamps were also in her case and are just as yummy as I hoped they would be - Simply Stated is my absolute fav right now but that may change at any time!

So what with the airport run at 'crikey-o'clock' this morning and a day of stroking and uploading, I need to go and have a lie down now (with a glass of something cold I think!).

Have fun checking out the new bits at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

Karen :)

Now you can Flip, Flop & Flap!!

The newest mini book from Lippy Chick has just arrived today and the Flap book is totally fab! It joins its sisters the Flip and the Flap books and is another ingenious folding book that can be used as an album or as a funky card. I'm going to make up a sample of my own over the next few days but in the meantime this one is by Roz - and its really cool!!

The pages in the book form incremental tabs that are staggered giving a peek at the contents of the next page along. The pages can also be used to make little pockets for journaling tags or secrets! I love the envelopes that come with each of these books - they are frosted plastic and can be decorated as well! Try stamping, stitching and more for fab effects.

You can find the Flip, Flop and new Flap books at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

Karen :o)

You 'felt' it yet?

This week we got a delivery of some of the new stuff from KI Memories and my favourite has to be the new 'Heartfelt' albums. These are totally gorgeous felt covered albums in cool colour combinations - the one above is 'Pinata' and is the one I want to live at my house! The 8" x 8" size is just perfect for scrapbooking quickly while still giving room to be creative.

Also in the KI delivery were the new acrylic stamps - these are slightly smaller than other stamps currently around which makes them a cheaper choice and the designs are really cool. We also got the new Mini Alphabet soup - very funky acrylic letters and shapes with 3 colours in each can.

You can find all the new stuff at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk

Have a great weekend! Karen :o)

Fire damage

At the beginning of the week I had an email from Margaret letting me knw that in the early hours of the morning the Community Centre had been damaged by fire. It was shocking to hear that a prominent place in the community had been damaged like that but it was the last thing I wanted to hear right now as it was the venue for our next crop! I called the manager and it appears that someone broke in the steal from the gambling machines in the bar area and then set a fire before they left. Apparently around 30% of the building has been severly damaged and yesterday they called to let me know that it won't be in a state to let out to us for our crop.

So I called the local church hall but they have something booked in the middle of the day we want - my hopes are resting with Southfleet Village hall and I'm waiting for the bookings manager to get back to me. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Its funny because I thought things were going just a little too smoothly as far as this next crop is concerned, it was booked, paid for, classes are on their way..... Oh well, nothing worth having comes easy so they say!

Karen :o)

Chalking & Stamping Techniques using Scrapbooks

I know I only mentioned the new book in my blog last week but it has actually arrived and I am so very pleased with it!! I have had a quick flick through it and it brought back some great memories - both of the photographs I used and of the process of putting the book together, like setting fire to the cardstock I was using for the soot stamping section during photography (if you look at the pictures carefully you can see its on fire!).

Sarah and I will be signing the copies of the book that I have in the shop and as a special offer for my blog readers I'm offering free UK P&P on all orders that include a copy of the book! Just type 'Blog offer' in the comments box when you order to claim your free P&P! If you want to take a look at what's inside our publishers have very kindly put together a sneak peek here; http://www.searchpress.com/_LookInside/1844481506.pdf

At £6.99 this won't break the bank and has lots of step-by-step instructions to help you create loads of different effects with stamps, ink pads and chalks (including how to set fire to your cardstock!! LOL!!). We've also included designs using lots of different types of photos from heritage (the page above is in the book), baby, seasonal, modern and others to inspire you to get your photos out and use stamps and chalks to create beautiful scrapbook pages.

I hope you enjoy it - Karen :o)

Bargains galore!

In the hunt for new products for the shop I came across some fabulous ribbons at an equally fabulous price - £1.99!! The Kuretake ribbon assortments come with 1 metre each of 5 different ribbons. We have five colourways in stock - naturals, purples, pinks, greens and light blues. Ribbons are a great way to embellish your craft projects, try adding a simple fringe of ribbons and fibres for a fun and fast way to add texture. To create the fringe on my design above, I punched a number of evenly spaced holes and then threaded ribbons through - and that was it, job done quickly and simply!

If like me, you are a ribbon freak, you'll love the new adhesive ribbons we have from Die Cuts with a View. Each has a number of different patterned ribbons in a themed palette. I love patterned ribbons and so we have three designs to choose from - Missy (think pretty pinks and greens), Uptown (sophisticated black and white with a punch of pink) and Rainbow (funky brights). Whats even better is that you simply peel and stick these ribbons wherever you want them - how great is that?

Another favourite of mine are the new Jewel Brads - bling made simple! We have clear, pink/blue and purple/green sets to choose from - 16 brads for £1.99, now thats bling at a bargain price! To be honest, I want the clear Jewel Brads but I don't have an idea what I'm going to use them for - I just love sparkly things and while I'm still waiting for my engagement ring to arrive, these are a cheap way to indulge my need for sparkle!!

BasicGrey - anything but basic!

BasicGrey have had their fingers on the pulse of papercrafting for a few years now and each new paper release is eagerly awaited. Its taken a while for us to get our stock but we finally have collection packs of Perhaps, Stella Ruby and Scarlet's Letter. These packs contain one of each of the 18 papers in the range plus a 12x12 sheet of alphabet stickers and another sheet of die-cut tags.

I love these new designs so much I couldn't resist getting some of the new 6" x 6" paper pads in each of Perhaps, Stella Ruby and Scarlet's Letter as well. These pads are amazing value as they contain 36 sheets of patterned papers, all scaled down rather than cut into 6" squares. These are great for smaller scale projects, for card making or if like me, you just love the designs in this dinky size and want to scrapbook with them as they are!

You can find the new BasicGrey at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk and if you are stuck for inspiration then why not do like I did and take a peek at the gallery on the BasicGrey website at www.basicgrey.com - I found this stunning project on there and fell in love with it immediately. I think you'll agree that BasicGrey is anything but basic!

Karen :o)