Don't forget those lemons everyone!!!

- My favourite day today; Shrove Tuesday!! Can't wait for tea tonight! :D

 I think I may have to have mine with a good dollop of golden syrup!!...how do you like yours?

A new week

Oooh, it's a lovely bright morning - the sun is streaming through my study window right now; it makes me so happy! :)

On that note, here's a little taster of some cheery cupcakes I worked on last Friday; the theme for this week is all things birthday orientated...

And one more makes three...

- a little peek at the final floral to complete the set; it was finished before the end of the working day too; woo-hoo! :)

Now onto something different....not long to go now until the next selling trip!!!

Another floral addition...

- here's a little look at illustrator design number two....I'm getting a teeny bit quicker now, so it's on to number three to complete the set. :)

A challenging week...

This week I'm trying to conquer illustrator again....I normally finish all of my work off in the comfort of photoshop, putting lots of textures and patterns into everything to create the final look, but, apparently it's all about clean-looking graphic styles right now, so I'm trying to persevere and do an entire design in illustrator; in fact....an entire set! Here's a little look at my first attempt; some bright flowers to bring on the Spring :)

Spring's drawing nearer!! (just hope it warms up soon..)

- splashes of colour found in my garden :)

A lovely weekend

I hope you all had a gorgeous weekend....I could fully relax and enjoy as I finished my snowman wrap by 7.30 on Friday evening - hip-hip-hooray! :D

We had a lovely day in Oxford on Saturday, despite the showers...I even managed to track down the lovely shop Aspire Style that I've been admiring from cyber-afar ..picked up a few treats for myself too!!!

Then on Sunday we had a mosey around another antiques fair -  after the success of the last one we went to we were hopeful for little gems again...but sadly, it was not to be this time...sighhh

We spotted the first lambs on our travels though; a true sign that Spring must definitely be making it's way - double YAY!

A work in progress...

Oops - I've not been around much lately, have I? It's been a frustrating ol' week...designs taking much longer than expected...boooooo! I thought I'd give my earlier snowman a few new friends, so I've been creating a wrap design involving many snow buddies; trouble is - they're taking TOO LONG!! Here's a little look at my current progress anyway...

- these are just a few of the little guys; as you can see they need a bit more texture and detail adding to them yet! Must finish  them today though, so I can enjoy my weekend guilt-free..... Right - back to it!!

Have a great weekend everyone!! :)

'Sweet little girl....'

We went to see Black Swan last night.....ooooh; it was a little bit grizzly!

- A sure far-cry from the innocent little ballerina girls depicted here in one of my wrap designs. Go see it if you dare.... ;)

Love-ly Lollies

Keeping on with the 'love' theme this week, I came up with this quick valentines design the other day...sweet treats for your loved ones! :)

Valentine yums! :)

Morning! I hope you were all made to feel special by your loved ones last night..my lovely hubby happened to have the day off, and took the opportunity to prepare a gorgeous tasty treat for when I got back home...we even had oysters(!!!) The biggest highlight for me though was the main; a Jamie Oliver delight - sirloin of beef with pak choy, soy sauce and ginger...mmm...mmm......mmmmmmmm - it certainly tickled my tastebuds! ;) You can find the recipe  here or in his book Happy Days with the Naked Chef - I highly recommend it!! :D

Ahhhh...'tis the day of love...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Spring has sprung!

Well....it's a miracle; the Spring Fair seems to have finally brought spring-type weather along with it - no sign of snow at all thank goodness! AND my garden is beginning to show signs of life again - there are shoots galore coming up :D Spotted the first snowdrops this morning...

...and even a ladybird too! Wow; that's early!! Fingers crossed this means that Winter has well and truly packed it's bags for the year...oh, I do hope so! :D

It's here!

Phew - what a very busy week it's been...sorry for my absence; with preparations for the Spring Fair having to take precedence it's been hard to fit in much else! It even meant a 15 and a half hour stint at the studio on Friday to get all the finishing touches completed for the show - YIKES! With songs such as 'Happiness' and 'Smile' playing on the radio it certainly felt like someone was having a little chuckle at my expense!

The fair started today and is running until Thursday, 10th Feb...come along and see us all if you happen to get the chance; Rah Rah and Lucy B will be in attendance today, whilst myself and Little Red will be manning the stand tomorrow....fingers crossed for a great show; at least there's no sign of the naughty snow to put people off this year...now that's a first! ;)

February....already?!

 - I can't quite believe it; can you?? The year certainly seems to be setting off on a flying start...though I'm super-happy as this means that Spring is gradually drawing closer and the buds will soon be out - YAY! :D

We always try and get a his 'n' hers calendar each year, and I particularly love the ones from M&S...check out the new look design for this year - I think it's one of my faves :)

- you can even add your very own photos to the scene; very cute! Though I'm liking the existing illos myself, so maybe they'll stay for now ;) Ahhhh....Venice; how I'd love to go back there again!

Hot off the European press...

Got a little surprise when I arrived at the studio today; it's not often we get to see samples of the finished product once we sell a design, but it's so lovely when we do. :) Here's a card that'll be making it's way onto the European shelves over the next festive season....the design was purchased by one of our new customers; TMS International

- they've even printed a little image on the inside!

And one more makes three...

 - that's the final piece in the revamp jigsaw (well; just a sneaky peek!)...now onto something new!

With the weekend almost upon us, I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed as Inspire By Design Ltd makes its debut at the CHA show this weekend....running from January 29th until February 1st in LA; here's hoping it's a roaring success! Check out my earlier posts here and here for a taster of what's on offer...if you happen to get the opportunity to visit we are in Kentia Hall, booth number 4844 :)

*****Have a great weekend everyone*****

Tick, tock, tick, tock....

- that's the  sound of the clock quickly counting down to Spring Fair; I've been so swamped that I even missed my daily post yesterday; sorry about that! Here's a jolly Santa peeking round to say 'hello'..he's another one to add to the set I've been reworking....still one more wrap to go before I can move on to something different and it's Thursday afternoon already (not that I'm panicking or anything!!)

..note to self...must work faster!!!

Repeats, repeats...

....they're driving me BONKERS this week; do you ever find yourself endlessly moving elements around the page in the hope that they might finally repeat?! It seems to be taking me forever....here's part of a current work in progress...

I have to rework a couple more wraps in addition to this before I can start on the cards I'm hoping to display at Spring Fair; fingers crossed they don't take too much longer to crack...the time is sure ticking!! :-O

One down, one to go....

Well, I did it, and managed to have a nice relaxing weekend after finishing everything off ready for CHA last Friday afternoon...fingers crossed that all the hard work pays off as we're practically newbies to the scrapbooking scene! Here's a little look at a couple more designs I managed to squeeze in to complete my new cookies and candy set...

...with one deadline out of the way, the focus now turns to Spring Fair - only a couple more weeks to go until it will be up and running, so it's busy, busy, busy yet again - this time it's the turn of the card design. Well, I guess I'd better get on then...