I wonder.....

Discovered some toadstools in the garden this weekend....

 - I wonder if the flower fairies come to play leapfrog while I'm not looking? ;)

Proud poodle

 - this little one's found a home in the US - yippee!! I'm so pleased as I loved creating her. :D

A happy little tune.....

Ok, so this has absolutely nothing to do with pattern or design, but I just had to share this catchy little ditty with you from Daithi; I can't get it out of my head!! I'll be tuning in this Sunday night to see if he makes it to the finals of Must Be The Music....

A bit of cheer on a dull day...

Oooh - it's such a dreary, drab day today...I can't believe how dark it is sat here in my little studio -  August?! - it's more like October!! :( Here are some cheery bugs to help brighten things up....

- these happy little guys were sold for children's bedding over in Oz last year; let me know if any of you spot them! :)

Lots of much-needed painting to be done...

Aspire Style

My current love for all things birdy continues....stumbled across this lovely website the other day;  so many gorgeous things to be tempted by. Here are just a few of the delights you can find there:

- Oooh; I think this would be perfect in my study - having a big revamp sooooon!

And there's also some great London-inspired treats too.....

Happy Friday everyone!

YAY - I got it!! :D

- granted; it could do with a little ironing, but, I just couldn't resist trying it out on the table as soon as I got home! Oooooh - lovely, lovely; thanks girlies! :D

All done

....and relax! :) Finished everything off for my agent's forthcoming trip yesterday; it was a pop-up frenzy this time round. Here's a little taster of what I came up with.....

*the foiled tree at the bottom from my earlier post

I also got chance to squeeze in a last-minute fun design for Christmas (was lovely to do after a week of traditional)...

With deadlines now out of the way, it's time for a couple of days off (and maybe I will have chance to pick up that lovely table runner from Habitat too!! :D )

Eye candy for the home.....

Was browsing through the latest edition of Ideal Homes magazine last night and stumbled across this....

- it's by Habitat, and I'm super-excited because I still have vouchers left from my birthday to spend there; ooooh - I do hope it's in stock when I next visit; it'll look perfect on our new dining table!! :D

Traditional Christmas...

- a couple of snippets from a new set I've been working on.

An achievement

Well, I managed to get some more designs completed over the weekend, whilst also snatching  a bit of time out in the garden, so that was a bonus, but, the real achievement was this......

- I managed to create a graphic tree (just a snippet shown here) along with a stocking design, solely in...........

illustrator!

Anyone who knows me will appreciate this, as I usually do everything in photoshop.....or, do a teeny-tiny bit in illustrator before pulling it back in to photoshop to finish it off, but nope - I persevered. So, hooray for me! :) They're going to be luxury foil designs (hence the flat colour), so should look great once mocked up...

Apples

Wow - 3 posts in one day, huh? I'm getting carried away here, but thought I'd make up for my lack of presence for the past couple of weeks...

- Our little apple tree is getting full of fruit now; I think it may be time to sample some soon! :D 

The garden needs a good tidy up since we've been away, so I'm hoping to get out there over the weekend (if the weather picks up!) ..it'lll be a nice break from the workload; with deadlines looming, it's looking set to be a big ol' workfest for the next few days...

Have a great weekend, whatever you're up to!

The Big Sheep

One more post from my jollies; I couldn't leave it without introducing you to the woolly collective; all affectionately named by the guys who run the place....here's the rundown:

- cool dreads, huh?

- because he always looked soooo miserable, bless 'im. 

- this guy was one of my faves; great ears (apologies for the fuzzy shot though) . He originates from Leicester; a fellow Midlander, no less! :)

- and this guy could probably give me nightmares; can't remember what they called him...crazy bull-like creature!

We also saw lots of these:

as well as.....

...and...

 - lashes to die for!

And finally; the highlight....

- so funny to watch! :)

Snapshots from my jollies...

I've finally got around to uploading all of my holiday snaps onto my computer....here are a few of my faves:

- shots from the harbour; Ilfracombe.

Sunset at Mortehoe.....

Then I discovered the sepia/black and white settings on the camera.....oooh; lovely!

- the seagulls were going mental for this trawler!

....pretty bunting; Ilfracombe High Street.

- love this sign; it was on the way to the tunnels beaches at Ilfracombe.

Now where was I.....

So, I was going to tell you what I'd been up to over the last couple of weeks...we went on our jollies! :) We had a lovely few days down in Devon, and although our favourite pastime turned out to be 'dodge the shower' we still managed to have a lovely time.

When the sun was out we had........

(the presence of our niece gave us a great excuse to build LOTS of sandcastles!! :D)

and when it wasn't so bright and cheery, it gave us chance to fit in.....

.....then on the very wettest day we got to see lots of these at the Big Sheep:

 - I certainly recommend it for a family fun day out; we even got to see them race! :D

My one minute of fame.....

- Look! look! - this is my little niece appearing on CBeebies last Monday; it was her 1st birthday a week ago, and we sent in a card featuring all her favourite CBeebies characters... 

We were so pleased that it made it on to the small screen; there was even a big thank you mention to Aunty Emma for making the card...ahhh, I was made up :)