For immediate release
Whole Lotta fun in one boredom-busting bible
With another round of school holidays fast approaching, parents begin to dread the guaranteed whinges and moans of “I’m bored” and “What can I do?”. Day trips and other excursions are fun but the costs can quickly stack up. If only there was a way to keep the cherubs entertained quietly at home…
Enter Lotta magazine. The creation of graphic designer Leonie Gould, Lotta is the result of many school holidays spent with her nieces, crafting up a storm.
“I’ve always been know as the craft aunty,” Leonie says. “The girls think I have a degree in colouring-in!”
With the passing of each school holiday break, Leonie would have to up the ante on her projects to keep those nieces amused. Then she had her lightbulb moment – to provide parents with help to keep their holidaying children amused, all in the one regular compact magazine, without ads, just a chock-a-block ‘bible’ for a whole Lotta fun.
Pitched at girls and boys aged 5-10 years and published conveniently right before each school holiday, Leonie says many of the project ideas within Lotta are reinventions of things she enjoyed doing in her own childhood. Think cardboard cubby houses, 3D paper globes, colouring-in projects, painting projects, grow-you-own gardens, puppet and toy making, DIY hats and costumes, magic tricks, games and even fun recipes for cooking. Most of the projects require items parents will already have lying around the house and, for others, free PDF templates are available for download from the Lotta website to make it easy to get started.
“That’s the one thing I am passionate about with this magazine – I want the projects to be easy and fun for everyone, whether they are into art and craft or not. You don’t have to be able to draw, for example, to be creative,” she says.
Leonie also collaborates with other international designers and illustrators on the magazine – many of whom have heard about Lotta via the internet and have insisted on contributing to the project.
“I’ve had illustrators from the United States and even Columbia help out with cover art,” Leonie says.
Lotta regularly features on international craft bloggers’ sites and while Leonie’s core market is here in Australia, she has even sold copies to families in Italy, Canada, the United States and New Zealand.
Each edition of Lotta magazine is inspired by a theme, as workshopped and approved by Leonie’s harshest critics – her nieces – who are also the magazine’s junior editors:
· The Story issue: Inspired by famous tales such as Where the Wild Things are, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, The Very Hungry Caterpillar etc
· The Travel issue: Fabulous ways to explore the world without
leaving home
· The Secrets issue: Look out for superheroes, spies, magic, mysteries
and surprises (pictured, right)
The Lotta website is home to the ‘Show & Tell’ blog providing even more
craft ideas and inspiration between editions. You can also follow Lotta
on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Lotta magazine is just $10 (plus P+H) per edition and subscriptions
are also available for just $36 annually, to anywhere in Australia.
Visit www.lottamagazine.com
For more information, contact:
Leonie Gould, creative director and editor of Lotta magazine
0419 676 013