A comical find....

We had a massive clear out of the shed and garden yesterday...mostly because our shed is collapsing (!), but as we were going through stuff, and gradually throwing it all away, we turned around to find our little cat had made herself a home in one of the discarded boxes (she looked like she'd bedded down for the day!). My husband turned round to me and said...it's like the owl and the pussycat...sailing away in their beautiful pea-green boat..... :)

 - It sounds like a boat wouldn't be such a bad idea at the moment; what with all this ash flying around in the cosmos, and many people stranded at airports far and wide. I really hope it all clears away soon so that everyone can return to wherever it is they're going to safely...

Have a good weekend everyone.

100 today...hip-hip-hooray! :)

Here's a toast to my 100th post.....

Told you it was all about the tea party.....

I was rather late in turning over my calendar this month and only realised this morning that it was still on March...look what I found when I did:

image taken from the Mrs Moggs 2010 calendar - copyright Steve Bicknell & Paul Cocken

...being a lover of cats I couldn't resist this calendar when I saw it at the Chatsworth House garden centre...let me introduce you to Mrs Moggs - isn't she fab?! She LOVES a little tea party! :) There's a whole 12 months of fab poses, published by Maverick.

Have a great weekend everyone...it looks set to be a glorious one here in the UK (hip-hip-hooray!!)

Four legged friends...

Here's a couple of cat and dog designs that co-ordinate with some existing designs shown in an earlier post...I love creating new characters - always fun to do! :)

I wonder if the Mad Hatter would like to join this tea party?!

With the recent release of Alice In Wonderland at our cinemas, the theme of tea parties and teapots seems to be gaining popularity...with that in mind, I've developed a new set of designs for Mother's Day. 

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of card designs I completed today:

Happy Easter!

Yay - Easter is here! Always a favourite with me; there's nothing like a good excuse to eat chocolate! ;D 

Hope you all have a lovely long weekend....

A culinary success! :D

It was my husband's (still trying to get used to saying that!)  birthday yesterday, and as he has to work all week this week (muchos early starts!) we celebrated early in Manchester at the weekend - we had a lovely time. Last night though, I decided to prepare a special birthday tea for him, and I can happily say it went down a treat! :) I asked him if there was anything he particularly fancied, and he said that he'd love something vietnamese (!)...so, I hopped online and found a lovely recipe on the Good Food Channel's website - Vietnamese Tamarind Beef with Peanuts...for details click here.

I was quite nervous about how it would turn out as I'd never really tried Vietnamese food, let alone prepared it, so I was so relieved when the outcome was good, and my hubby was a very happy chappy indeed! :D

For dessert I made a tiramisu...we spent our honeymoon in Sardinia, so I thought it would bring back happy memories as it was one of our favourite desserts over there. This particular recipe was taken from a great series on the Good Food Channel called 'Rhodes Across Italy' which we watched a couple of months ago; it was fab! Get the recipe here.

So all in all, it was a great success! I'm so pleased he liked it...especially as I'd never attempted any of it before. Can't wait to try out some more recipes from the site! :)

Spring has sprung!

YAY - the sun has been shining and the first tulips have arrived in our garden! :D We've spotted quite a few ladybirds too...could this be a sign of a great Summer?? Ooh, I do hope so - this time of year makes me sooooo happy! :)

Happy Spring weekend everyone; don't forget - the clocks go forward one hour on Sunday morning...bring on the long Summer evenings!

Happy Birthday Gran!

It was my Gran's birthday over the weekend, and when it comes to cards she always likes to receive a handmade edition from me, as opposed to a bought one.....this time I had a bit of a play around with a photograph to create a pretty floral illustration for her.....

I printed the design onto tracing paper to give it a lovely soft feel, layered it up with card, and then added a pretty spring green ribbon to finish. She loved it! :)

More products in the U.S.

My agent returned from another trip to the U.S. yesterday, and brought with him some catalogues from various customers...what a lovely surprise it was to see my very own collection of wedding bags in Shalom International Corp's 2010 range! Here are a couple of snapshots taken on my phone (apologies for the poor quality - oops!) 

As you can just about see, they have named the range 'Something Blue'...to see a couple of the designs in their original guise, click here. I think they've done a lovely job! :)

If you're in the U.S., then keep your eye out for them in stores....

Once upon a time....

...I used to paint; and I mean A LOT. I was asked to dig out a few of my old painted florals the other day for a client, and it made me quite sad to see them all...I'd forgotten how much painted work I actually had, and it made me realise how much I miss it - time to dig out those paint brushes methinks....hopefully soon.

Here's a little taster of how I used to work.....

Have a great weekend everyone - so glad Spring seems to have finally sprung; the sun has finally arrived - happy, happy, happy! :D

Cosying up with a nice mug of cocoa...

The wintry feel has been lingering for what seems like FOREVER, with more snow earlier this week...so with that in mind, here's a sneak peek at a design I created a couple of days ago, to co-ordinate with my gingerbread designs:

 - what better way to warm up on a wintry day than donning the mittens and supping on a nice mug of cocoa; bliss! :D

Thinking of Madeira...

I was so sad to hear the news over the weekend that Madeira had suffered terrible flooding and mudslides, with devastating results - at last count 42 people have died, with the death toll expected to rise....one of the worst affected areas was the capital Funchal - I spent a lovely holiday here back in 2006; such a beautiful island with so much lush vegetation and colour; it's so sad to see the images on the news of the devastated town. My heart really goes out to all the families and people affected over there.

- looking over the capital, Funchal

...this picture was taken from the seafront, near to our hotel, looking back up towards the mountains. I think this was possibly one of the worst hit areas.

I hope they can get all the help they need to restore this beautiful town once again...

A curious phenomenon......

I had to share this with you as it's so bizarre.....we had a covering of snow again last night, and I woke up this morning and looked out of the window to check how much had fallen when I noticed something VERY strange....our car had a strange grid-like formation on top of it made up of dots!! There is nothing on the roof of the car; no sunroof, nothing, so what could have caused such a thing?!

Take a look and see what you think......

...so perfectly spaced.....WEIRD!!!

The Year of the Tiger

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Happy Pancake Day! :)

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmmmm....oh, how I LOVE pancake day; I hope you'll all be getting out the frying pans this evening! ;)

Clowns, wolves(!?) and romance...

Hellooo...I trust you all had a fun-filled weekend; hope you all got spoilt by your loved ones yesterday! :) 

I headed off to see the Moscow State Circus on Friday night, which was lots of fun - even the clowns weren't scary (as they usually are); they were actually rather funny! There were some amazing acrobats and contortionists, as well as lots of other jaw-dropping acts...

On Saturday I was dragged to see possibly one of the worst films EVER....The Wolfman. If it was meant to be scary, then I'm sorry, but I don't consider something that resembles a cross between Chewbacca and Teenwolf to be scary AT ALL; I'm so shocked that it was a newly-created film...the effects were awful! I just sat there and laughed (not quite the effect they were after, I'm sure!)!!!

And on Sunday, it was Valentines Day of course...me and the hubby went for a nice walk and then he  prepared a lovely 3 course meal, complete with wine. We then cosied up on the sofa with a good ol' romcom....ahhhh, perfect! :)  

.....I think he's forgiven now for the 'Wolfman' blip... ;)

Love is in the air....

Happy Valentine Weekend everyone!

Whoop! Whoop!...I did it!! :)

Wow - what a week...it's certainly been non-stop, but I'm so pleased that I achieved my target and completed all the designs I set out to do in time for the Spring Fair at Birmingham's NEC this coming Sunday....here's one of the sets I've been busily working on which you will see on display at the show this year; an elegant snowflake theme with lots of pretty silver foiling.

Fingers crossed we won't see any real snowflakes this time round; last year it put a complete dampener on things and all the prospective visitors decided to cosy up at home instead...booooo! 

If you're planning a visit yourself, then look out for my work, as well as that of many others, in Hall 3 Stand G39 - our designer collective will be represented by Inspire By Design Ltd.

Hope to see you there! :)

Countdown to Spring Fair 2010....

As Spring Fair draws ever closer, it's full throttle for the rest of the week. I'm currently back on to Christmas, but this time focusing on the true meaning....

Here's a small taster of a new religious set I've been working on; I've quite enjoyed it - I think it's because it focuses heavily on pattern; my favourite thing! :)