Watercolour Challenge

I had two friends tag me in a Prima Watercolour Challenge that was posted on Facebook – so I headed over to have a look.

Uhhuh, yeah, I could give it a go, for a little while anyway. I’m not good at sticking to things for very long. I had tried the “planking challenge” and only got to day 4… and mostly because day 3 was a rest day.

Turns out I loved it, and kept up every day.  Being challenged to paint something each day, although difficult, took the worry out of “what to paint” and it didn’t have to have it perfect, it didn’t even have to be good. The only requirement I set on myself was that it was “done”.

I urge you to give it a go, take the challenge yourself – and see where it takes you. I’d love to see your paintings too if you would be so kind to share.

The only thing that worried me was uploading them for others to see, my little paintings so I also added a short video here and there to show the progression of some of them. This is all new to me and I learned so much along the way.

Here are the paintings. I will also add the quick videos to this post, and upload them to the website as some of them are now on youtube.

Please be inspired to have a play with watercolours. 🙂

Love Tania

 

 

Using Alphabet Stamps – just a tip

Here’s a quick video shot today at The Scrapbook House to show how you can trim the clear stamps to allow for a tighter font when stamping. Using clear alphabet stamps, archival ink and a clear block.

Happy stamping

Awards Night 2017

A couple of nights ago I was blessed to be sitting with a table of much loved people at the Midwest Business Excellence Awards. People who believe in my little shop, and in me. People who inspire me and share the love of our papercrafting industry.

 My little business was nominated in 2 categories; Business Excellence and Customer Service by a Business. I was thrilled to be nominated – and would like to say to the person/s that nominated me… I want you to know how positive this experience has been for me… and it began with you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

So after the nomination, came the opportunity to put forward a submission. This is a massive undertaking for anyone to undertake, not only to write out so many words (and try to be eloquent even with my grammatical errors) but you need to ring your own bell. That’s not fun for anyone. Next you need to take a good hard look at yourself, (again not fun); what you are doing right, but also what you are needing to improve. Then, whilst you are still wincing over the areas where you suck you aren’t super special, you have to come up with strategies and outcomes to report on. Whoa… it’s like business stuff. I like colours and matching papers, and helping people get the most out of their crafting experience, not figures and certainly not percentages.

This is what I did one year ago. It took me weeks, but having a good base to begin with made the process this year a little easier, although it was glaringly obvious that I needed improve those figures or we wouldn’t be here in the coming year. So, we did. We had much of the year to work on it, and implemented new ideas and improvement. We had goals this year. Goals that we met. Goals that we exceeded. Far out… am I actually becoming some kind of legitimate business woman after all these years of faking it?

I was proud of my submission. I wrote it myself, not even asking anyone to proofread it, because I wanted to know if it was accepted, that it would be on my own merit.

Then I was invited for an interview.

I wasn’t even too scared of the interviewer who probably deals with more money than I have ever seen in my life. Last year I had to keep my jacket on because I was so nervous I began sweating like a crazy woman, and no matter how warm one gets, no-one needs to see that! This year I rocked up confidently in heels and a sexy little car. Who is this woman?

Then, The Scrapbook House became a finalist. My beautiful staff, design team and Mum  got to dress up and attend the evening of excellence. Wow there is certainly some excellence in Geraldton. We have great businesses and brilliant customer service.

We ate, drank and were merry. We took some photos and then we danced till the band could play no more. What a wonderful night.

Whoever nominated me, you have inspired me to work on my business, and in doing so realise how good my little shop is and I am so proud. Thank you. If you still believe in me next year, please nominate me again.

We didn’t win the award, but I certainly feel like I did.

12 hour working days… I guess the Christmas break is well and truly over.

… but someone mentioned the other night that there is a public holiday coming up. Wait, what? Already? Haven’t we just had a public holiday and a whole bunch of time off?

Certainly not complaining, I’ll take it.

Our break between term 4 and term 1 is so long, and I do love it, I truly do, but I really love it when term starts again, when the shop is bustling with people taking classes and back into the swing of crafting again. It means working an extra couple of  12 hours days a week for me, like today, but if you enjoy it then it’s not really like work, right?

This week’s page beautifully designed by Sharon was a fun and joyous Christmas layout using an interesting mix of colours and everyone enjoyed it very much. What looked so simple and easy, actually had loads of extra little things in it, that take just that make it just that little extra special. Our morning ladies did take a lot longer to complete, but then, they also had a whole lot of serious chatting catch-up to do since the last class. Tuesday night’s class was done and dusted in 2 hours even with  4 new scrappers in class, (mind you they were all so good at what they were doing, I don’t think they really count as ‘entry level’ students)

Sharon had die cut the trees using her Silhouette machine, (saving everyone buckets of time) then we had everyone using the included template to cut the patterned papers to fit. The finished product, wrapped in blue twine, and tags and ornaments added, looks so good!

The second page Sharon created is also lovely, using the Pink Bazzill provided in the kit, and then a third and fourth pocket page using some of the leftovers. Sharon has also included the pocket page in the kit – bonus!
You can see these lovely pages and close ups too on the store page soon.

With a plethora of product to use and choose from, there will be enough in this kit to do a  whole album of Christmas! Just look what there was, from gemstones and die-cuts to cut-outs and tags plus a whole 12″x 12″ pad of patterned paper.

Thanks to our lovely students for a great week back to class

The kit will be available online to purchase soon, check here to buy.

Have a great day

 

A new home online for our class kits and more

Class kits are our unique point of difference, we have fabulous classes and many a student has enjoyed them and the different directions they take us in, stretching our skills as we learn new products and alternate ways to use old products. We have kitted up over 6000 scrapbook class kits since our extension classes began, not to mention our easy class kits, and our card making class kits. That’s a whole bunch of kits. All these years later and we are still kitting new ones and our design team dreams up new classes every fortnight.

Previously these classes were so exclusive that you had to ‘be in the know’ to receive them, book in advance for your remote term, attend class, have them saved or sent to you. This still applies.

but…

I am so proud to share with you our latest news for The Scrapbook House. Many hours of  work and planning have finally resulted in a new webstore, where we can sell our beautiful class kits and other products. So you can now go online, check out the page, products, the requirements and even see the second page suggestions online. These can be purchased individually, but you can add as many as you like to your order, you’ll only pay one postage fee.

Catch… the new classes for each term are still run in store, and anyone who has signed up for the full term will be guaranteed the kits. Not all kits will make it to the webstore. Then once the term is done, those kits will go up on the store for sale, after the class is run.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the webstore now and check out the scrapbook class kits – posted anywhere in Australia!

 

Have a great day!

Kind regards

 

 

 

School Holiday Classes

We have kids classes on Monday and Wednesday next week – and they are going to have fun! I’ve been busy getting some new art journal classes ready and there are some terrific pages by Sharon and Michelle.

Inking, painting, stencils and more.

See the flyer which is printable here 

 

 

Layers of colour

Boy it was hard to just watch those lucky ladies in our Art Journal class on Friday night. I really wanted to get in there and get inky too, but I really love seeing the artwork progress along through the night.

The girls were all so grateful to delve into Michelle’s Dylusions stamp collection and stencils, and spent time to be sure they were all cleaned properly before returning them, Lord help them if they were not! Michelle, our instructor really knows her stuff and is wonderful to learn with, she is very giving of her time and expertise and sharing all her wonderful stash with the class.

  
The next Art Journal class will teach us Image Transfer, Term 4. I am already looking forward to it, so much potential with this technique and I am really looking forward to watching it unfold in class.

Have a great day!

 

July School Holidays

Hey there – the school holidays are HERE!!!

Time to kick back and spend some more time in those winter PJ’s. We have our holiday program ready to go- there are 6 classes to choose from, and Emily will be back teaching, yes, she’s also getting out the watercolour paints and pencils, and teaching scrapbook and card-making classes and more.

Click here to go to kids classes page to download your copy of the timesheet, come in-store  to book, pay and see the fabulous classes in person.

See you soon!

 

Business Awards Night

Andrew and I had such a good time at the Business Excellence Awards this year. Thank you to David Boyes from Business Local – RSM Australia for his encouragement and support through this process, I’ve never felt more proud of my little business. It’s time I let the people of ‪#‎Geraldton‬ know a little about the paper craft industry here in the midwest. We’re not just selling pretty paper (although it IS very pretty)

Being invited to sponsor a table by Mid West Chamber of Commerce and Industry- MWCCI was an exciting opportunity to showcase some of the beautiful creations handmade by the people and products of The Scrapbook House

Preferring to showcase what we actually do rather than advertising our “logo” colours with business cards and bags, I think was well received, the table could see the albums and artwork and really get a good feel for what we can create. Thank you to the talented Celeste for the loan of some of her beautiful work to add to our display and Sharon for her ideas, the lighting and tulle was perfect. How fabulous it was to overhear people talking about our table on the night, I was thrilled that it was so well received.

I hope the recipients on our sponsor table enjoyed their gifts, and would go on to gift them to their friends and family, after all, that’s whats most important to us all… friends and family.

I am so grateful for the help of my friends Janine, Rita and Sharon to complete these all on time, it put me in a spin when it was apparent that we needed to whip up 2 more sets…. they take about 4 hours each to complete, but my friends are right there by my side to make it happen.

Each setting had a gift bag to put their goodies in and take home. I was inspired by Jim’s lunch pail by Graphic 45 and created our own to fit the handmade cards, gift card holders, pens and vouchers. We hand stamped, cut, inked, shaped and glittered over 250 Heartfelt Creations flowers to put these 12 kits together.

Thank you to Cathy and her team from LETS PARTY for the Black napkins and beautiful black linen, they looked so smart.

Congratulations to all the winners on the night, it was an honour to be amongst fine calibre of excellence and you all deserve to be awarded.

Thank you to the Chamber I will be coming to see you soon Jess! You and your team did an amazing job.

Thank you. ~ Tania

 

Colouring Craze

See the special offer at the end of this post…
 Were you one of the many that got yourself an adults colouring book when the craze hit? Perhaps you’re like me and started doing a couple of pages, then left it and went onto other things when you realised just how loooonnnggg it takes to complete an adults page? Maybe you need motivation? Maybe you need the blender pen! (Come see me about that one)

There’s a great colouring network group on Facebook for the Midwest, go check them out, they post regular challenges and share work. I hardly post there, but I regularly stalk the page.

Because this page existed and kept showing up in my newsfeed, I was reminded of that book and pencils I just HAD to have… and to get it out.  I actually love colouring in,  some of my pages done whilst in hospital will be at the end of this post, coloured with Prima Pencils and a Blender Pen. It might just be the inspiration you needed, like it was for me. Either way, it’s a great page for Midwest Colourists and you might make a new friend or two.

Anyhow, go join up, click “like” here and there and maybe you’ll be inspired too. You’ll find them here at Geraldton and Midwest Colouring

Oh and we have HALF PRICE colouring on any books in store right now. HALF PRICE!!

  

That’s right – HALF PRICE colouring on any books in store right now.
~~~~~HALF PRICE!!~~~~~

Anyone Can Watercolour

Watercolour is trendy because it’s beautiful and ANYONE can do it! Watercolors can be added to virtually any project by virtually any age! And you know we’re here to make watercolor even MORE fun with a few of our latest and greatest products! Check them out!

Watercolour Colouring Book: filled with 24 gorgeous illustrations, from quotes to florals to typography, each printed on thick watercolour paper, ready for you to bring to life! For those who don’t like to draw…it’s ALL done for you. You just sit down and colour away.

Once you finish your gorgeous watercolour design, add a flower with a leaf, frame it in an A4 frame and hang!

Watercolour Brush Pens: a set of three water-brushes with three wide tips: 1/4″, 1/3″, and 1/2″!

To make water colouring even more fun Prima has started a fabulous Facebook group dedicated to all thing watercolour! Join them at The Coloring Society and share your creations!

Her Style was Sassy

with just a bit of attitude…  I asked the kids in class if any of them had a bit of attitude, they were coy and sweetly admitted to “just a little bit”. Darlings.

This is the Art Journal page we did, and we all loved using Distress Crayons. Here’s a quick overview if you would like to re-create this at home.
We primed the page with gesso first, and force dried to be sure there were no damp patches ( we will be adding embossing powder and you don’t want it to stick to your whole page)

Stamp the clock with clear embossing ink, add white powder and heat set.

Crayon on some colour and spray with water, blend with your fingers until the crayon is just “colour” and you can’t see your crayon strokes anymore. Add more water, or blot it off as you like. You can add and remove as much as you want. Really easy! Try different colours.

Allow to dry naturally, then swipe off the white embossing to reveal the clock.

Stamp some words, and flick with black paint.

I added the crayon to the texture paste to have a matching texture colour, then used this mixture on the wildflower stencil to add another layer to our page.

Add clock hands (cut with the diecut machine, yes, the kids cut their own) and finish off with a gem.

Enjoy!

These are products I used – all available at The Scrapbook House

 Here’s another version – different colours.

Watercolour your World

When Emily came to town I couldn’t wait to give her these sets of watercolours, check out what we created with them.

Watercolour Confections: just like a tin of sweet confections our new watercolour tins are filled with wonderful, delightful watercolour pans in a decadent array artist-grade, high quality, and highly pigmented watercolour pans. Each tin includes flip-out mixing trays and superb features for the artist on the go! Available in Decadent Pies, Tropicals, and The Classics. (Psst…Decadent Pies has four metallic pans included!)

 We had fun in our art journals, the colours are so vibrant and luscious. I can’t wait to include these in a class somehow.

Available at The Scrapbook House

Have a colourful day

iPhone backgrounds

Do you have a smart phone? I found you something…

If don’t know about you, but I spend a butt load of time on my phone, and the wallpaper and lock screen are images I love. But I do like a change… so I found these images on Pinterest and saved them for you. If you’d like more, you can check out our board here and follow us on Pinterest for great ideas to inspire you!

I don’t know how to do it on all phones, but on the iPhone I think you can do it like this…

Just hold your finger on the image, tap “Save image”.  Open the image in your camera roll. Tap the little square with an arrow on the bottom left.

Swipe the bottom menu across till you see the “Use as wallpaper” and tap. You can set it as your lock screen if you like too. (I like this because thats where you see all the image without the icons)

And if you have Scrapbook House in your contacts you can add this image…

First you need our details 0899648288
You can hold this phone number, then tap “Add to Contacts”,
Choose “Create new Contact” and type in Scrapbook House where it says “Company”, then “Done”.

Again – hold your finger on the image, tap “Save image”. Open the image in your camera roll. Swipe the bottom menu across till you see ” Assign to contact” and choose Scrapbook House

You’re welcome. xx

Treat Box

Perhaps you are still thinking about that perfect something to give your Mum for Mothers Day this weekend… what about something handmade?

Our treat boxes are easy to decorate, a project you could do in an evening.

Use your favourite stash of papers and flowers, or buy something new and fresh.

Instructions are downloadable here Dusty Attic Treat Box Instructions

 

 

Business Excellence Awards

Something to do with writing 3000 words and baring all to others freaks me out.

Well, I did it. I finally filled out the application form and submitted it. Phew.

It was an exhausting process, so much writing, and the more I self examined the business, the more I became aware of some great things, and then… some not so great things.

Things to be proud of… and also things I need to work on. Geez, I hate having faults… So without broadcasting all my faults (yes there are more than one) I am endeavouring to do things better for the business. This will help me… and it will also help you.

But the good things are really good! And I was so proud of my submission. I have been nominated for many awards over the years and never actually submitted anything.  We have a rocking little business with so much to be proud of, it was really nice to see this on the pages in front of me. Thanks to the Midwest Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (who I have always been very scared of) for the opportunity to take a look at myself and in turn for the judges to take a look at me.

Thanks to whoever nominated me – this is for you.

Now it’s in their hands and I can get back to doing what I do.

 

 

Make a Mini Album

Celeste has used her creative skills to build us a quick and easy mini album that we can recreate and decorate in a single class.

This travel album is sure to delight and when you’ve filled it with photographs and memories, it will become a treasure to be admired.

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The entire album is constructed using Premium Kraft card stock, using 2 of the 3 different weights available, heavy card and medium card,  as well as envelopes in a few sizes. These have been kitted up for our class along with the papers, stickers, hardware and embellishments.

Join us Friday May 13th for some creative fun. Cost $15 class plus supplies. Kits available $36.95

 

 

Term 2 Timetable

The Term 2 Class Calendar is now available for download, you can find it here  or navigate to the Current Timetable Page using our menu.

 

 

 

New Layout Kit – Handmade Quality

Here’s a layout I created with a picture of my Dad at home in his shed. I just loved the set of stamps (they are included in the kit) and our trusty brick die cut got another workout.

I have a limited kits available. Click the picture for more information on how to purchase, or message us.

I thought it was time for a masculine page, this one suits the handyman or the tradie. With embellishments like tools, bricks, gears and wood elements there are a variety of subjects to use. It would also suit a home building or renovations style theme.

 

 

Mothers Day

It’s coming up soon -hint hint –