Come on Minty!!!!

WOW-WEEEEEEEEE....yet another shock exit in this year's Wimbledon championship - Federer is OUT, and with Andy Murray currently starting his quarter final match on Centre Court, it's all to play for now...

Come on Murray Mint - YOU CAN DO IT!!!! :D

*not a design post, but hey - couldn't resist! :)

Pop-up preview...

 - YAY - I did it!! :) After much trial and error I finally conquered the dreaded pop-up; this is the first one - created from the masculine designs I was working on a couple of weeks ago (click here to see more). I'm quite chuffed with the outcome - what do you think?...hope the others turn out well (cue many crossed fingers and toes!! ;D)

A busy lickle bee...

- that's what I am at the mo...working on lots of new pop-ups (yikes!) ; one of which will involve this lickle fellow. Wish me luck! :)

Earth & Fire

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend; wasn't it gorgeous?  - the sun was shining and the temperature soaring, so we made the most of it and headed out and about. 

On Sunday we went to the National Ceramics fair - Earth & Fire, at Rufford Park - it was FAB! So many beautiful and original pieces to look at...here were some of my favourites:

- a beautiful stall with lots of blue - pure eye candy! :) See her site here

- these were so delicate and pretty; she had some gorgeous little brooches on sale too. To see more click here.

- I seem to have developed a new love for jugs and teapots at the moment; I fell in love with these as soon as I saw them - lots of gorgeous lace detail and pattern; so pretty! 

To see more click here.

- thought these were stunning; so unusual and fragile. See more about Eryl here.

- and last, but not least, these quirky teapots and jugs really caught my eye - wish I could have taken one home! :) There were some lovely textiles available too. See more here.

A cheery little ladybird

 - out enjoying the summer sun; which is exactly what I intend to do this weekend! It's set to stay boooooo-ti-ful!! BIG YAY!! :)

Enjoy yourselves; whatever you're up to!

Lots of pretties from London town...

A last lickle post from my weekend...I had to share with you all my pretty finds:

- I was in heaven when we visited Liberty's - so many gorgeous things to buy; I wanted them all! Matt treated me to these pretty little bowls from their Target range - they were far too lovely to leave!  I think they'll look fab in our revamped kitchen! :D

 - We also spotted this great cushion from Michelle Mason - it particularly caught my eye as it had my surname on it!! Check it out on sale here

- still on the London theme, this colourful greeting card really caught my eye!

- the building itself was rather impressive too....love the tudor style!

And last, but not least.....

I received quite a few gift vouchers from all my lovely friends and family this year (hooray - shopping!!) and the first things I treated myself to were these adoreable little necklaces from Accessorize:

I think we have a new resident....

- this little guy seems to have made a home for himself in our rockery! I've seen him 3 times now...and I always thought they lived near water?! 

Portobello Road

Carrying on from yesterday, I thought I'd share a few more pics with you from my birthday weekend...here's some snapshots from one of my favourite activities of the day:

- loved all the pretty houses!

 - some snaps of the market / shopping area; lots of lovely things to look at!

- and with all that walking we built up rather a healthy appetite; check out this monster from gbk!!

...and yes, I managed it all!! YUM! :D

A lovely time in London Town

Phew...it's a late one tonight; sorry guys - been a busy D-I-Y day today, so only just had chance to update you on my wonderful birthday weekend....there'll be lots of snaps on the way over the next couple of days; but for now here's just a few highlights of my surprise day trip (organised by lovely hubby)....I was one spoilt missy; felt very lucky! :)

- after arriving bright and early at the station, we headed on down to Columbia Road, to take a look at Rob Ryan's shop, Ryantown...I love, love, LOVE his work...

...next we headed to Notting Hill and more specifically, Portobello Road (more pics tomorrow) - was great to see all the market stalls and lively hustle and bustle. 

 - along the way, we popped in to Cath Kidston's shop; lots of pretties! :)

- a quick coffee stop to recharge the batteries, and then on to Hyde Park....look at what we found!

 - my, the artist must be HUGE! :D

We then headed on down to the 'West End', and then jumped on the tube to Covent Garden (my feet had almost fallen off by this point!!)

- check out this ice sculpture 'celebrating 30 years of shopping heaven'.

My -  we did fit a lot in! Stop by tomorrow for more pics.....

Strawberries & cream time....

 - Oooh, it's one of my favourite events of the year, and it starts here today - Wimbledon kicks off this afternoon, with Andy Murray and Laura Robson flying the flag for good ol' Blighty; best of luck guys!! :D

- I'm sure, as with every year, there'll be plenty of these consumed by the eager spectators (it's tradition, dontcha know?) ....Mmm...Mmm...Mmmmmm! :)

And one more for the men....

With World Cup fever well and truly under way, and Father's Day coming up on Sunday, I thought it quite apt to be working on a football design. Take a look.....

- Here's wishing England a whole load of luck for tonight's game (it's gotta be better than last week's game, huh??)  C'mon guys; do it for all the English dads, if nothing else....it'd make their Father's Day complete! :)

Have a great weekend everyone, and a very Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!! :D

Happy, sunny day...

Twas a beautiful day yesterday; the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue, and, we have more poppies......LOTS of them! :D

copyright Emma Truman Designs 2010

- It's looking like another glorious day today as well...and with my birthday coming up at the weekend, I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it'll hold out for another few days yet... 

Pretty pleeeeeease - make it happen! :)

Creative games from yester-year.....where it all began

My mum and dad were having a big clear out of the loft the other week, and promptly handed me a bag full of games and toys that they'd found.... 

- inside was this old favourite - Fashion Wheel - does anyone remember it?? I used to have hours of fun playing with this; creating new combos every day! :) As you can see, some of my creations were still left in the box! Haha...brilliant! 

Another great favourite of mine was Dial-a-Design - you must remember the song..... 'Just dial-a-design, and colour it in, that's all you have to do!' 

LOVED IT!! :D

Ahhh, lots of happy memories...and the rest, as they say, is history! :)

Something for the boys.......

It's project masculine designs at the mo' , so here's a little taster of what I've been up to:

For the sports fanatic......

and for the DIYer......

Look at that face!!!!

- Just had to share some beautiful moments from my weekend with you; this is my cute as a button niece pulling the most BRILLIANT face on Saturday...it was one of many! :D She had me crying with laughter; the more we laughed, the more she did it!

LOVE IT!!!!

And here's another gem (though not quite as funny) ....the first poppies arrived in our garden; YAY!

photographs - copyright Emma Truman Designs 2010

World Cup 2010

Well.....it's arrived (though I'm sure, like me, not all of you are over the moon about it!) - today is the first day of the World Cup 

With all the preparations being made well in advance over in South Africa, a couple of years ago I was asked to do a number of football designs for the childrens' bedding market....here's a few snippets of what I sold:

Best of luck to England on Saturday, when they'll be playing their first match,  against the USA...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Conquering fears

Well, I'm feeling rather proud of myself today as I went to another kickboxing class last night, but this time on my own (anyone who knows me will realise what a mean feat this is for me!!) ! Anyway, I'm so glad I did (having very nearly chickened out!) as I thoroughly enjoyed it, and in fact, I don't know what I was worrying about really.....it was fab! :)

 - We did lots more kicks than last time, so I'm feeling it a bit in my legs and hips today....all good pain though! :)

Here's to conquering fears! :D

What fears have you conquered lately?

Lots of sugary summeriness...

Hope you all had a lovely weekend - it was so nice and warm; I made the most of it and spent the majority of my time outside. :) I had a gorgeous day with my friend on Saturday - we spent the whole afternoon and evening out in her garden....enjoying the heat, homemade smoothies and butterfly cakes (made by by own fair hand) 

I hope there'll be more summery weekends to come; Matt and I picked up this little gem earlier in the week from British Home Stores - he was working at the weekend unfortunately, so no opportunities to use it yet, but I can't wait 'til we do! :)

- I LOVE the pretty rose pattern...

 - excuse the blurriness of the last image (oops!)...hopefully you can still appreciate how gorgeous this little hamper is though! Bring on the picnics!! :)

Now, after much relaxation, here's hoping it'll be a very productive week....