A New Week!

A new week always feels like a new beginning, a clean slate whether the previous one has been good or bad and another whole 5 days to catch up with the never ending "to-do" list!!

Today I realised that one of my favourite papers from 'Woodland Whimsies' I hadn't even used yet!! so I decided to make a quick 'Timmy Tag' (named of course after the fab Tim Holtz) these are a great way to have a quick burst of creativity, get your mojo back or try something new, I just LOVE tags! Here is my home one with my favourite paper and one of my flowers from the CD.

The pattern is so retro and reminds me of an old 1950's apron or something you would see in an Enid Blyton book. This is on the 'Woodland Whimsies' CD - there are oranges and apples. I've inked this one round the edges to make it look more grungy and vintagey. The great thing about working with bright colours is that you can always do this, distress it and make it look vintage. If you start from vintagey / grungy you can't go the other way!

Tomorrow the Christmas CD - Christmas Cheer - goes off for production and I'll get them all a couple of days later - can't wait to get these out to the DT team, I'm so excited about this CD - I thought it was just first time nerves with the first ones but it seems I really do get *this* excited about every product and design!! That can only be a good thing!

Tomorrow I'll have another sneak peek for you and later in the week I'll be telling you about something else I've been working on!

Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be looking through the DT applications and e-mailing everyone so keep an eye on your inbox!

Wednesday or Thursday we will also be spending a whole day looking through the Afternoon Tea applications and will contact everyone after that.

This is SUCH a busy week but I'm not complaining! Luckily I have a fabby team helping me and I'm really grateful to them for all of their support.

This weekend we will be launching the Challenge Blog with a Blog Hop - so look out for details - there are some fab prizes to be won!

Lastly I HAVE to share the CUTEST pic of Fuzzybutt, we were playing scrabble last night and of course she just had to join in.....

isn't she just the most adorable little thing?!

Sarah x

Friday Feeling.....

My DT call is now Closed - thank you to everyone that applied!!! I will be looking at the applications over the weekend and will keep you posted on here.

The Afternoon Tea DT is also now closed and had lots of applicants in - more work for me, yay!

Looking over both sets of DT applications I'm blown away by how many talented people there are out there and I'm so grateful that you have shared that with me. I hope the products that I create for you to work with will do your work justice!

Today I received the final samples of a new product and I'm sooooo happy with them, I will be showing them off in the next week or 2 so keep your eyes peeled!

Thats all for me today, lots to crack on with!

Sarah x

What today brings......

'Christmas Cheer' is now nearly finished (yay!) can't wait to get this over to the design team and see what they come up with! Today is the last day of my Design Team - I've had some fab entries and can't wait to go through them all!

Today I went shopping with my MIL - I havent seen her for a couple of weeks as I've been so busy so it was nice to catch up with her and spend the morning together. Once I got back I had barely 5 minutes to unpack the shopping before the phone started ringing and it didn't stop until 6pm!!! All calls were good though, I love to see things coming together!

Please pop over to Shell's blog as she has posted a LOVELY card featuring the Woodland Whimsies designs!

Another busy day tomorrow and the last one of the week - where did that go?! so must get some beauty sleep or will frighten the neighbours!!

Sarah x

In case you missed it!

The maths thingy is now finished (thank God!!!) and thats that out of the way FOREVER - yay! Now I only have the funner parts of my course left to do. I have to tell you I'm not actually that bad at maths in that I almost always get the answer right, its just that it takes me a long time to get there. At school you are taught a certain way of working things out and I just can't do it that way - surprisingly I did actually manage a 'B' in my maths GCSE and was in the top class for maths but how I did it I'll never know! I see numbers backwards so it makes things very difficult for me, but I feel proud of myself that I completed a maths module (you were right Mum! LOL)

Anyway, enough of all that! Today I have been finalising some new products that will go into production next week - eeeek! Also, in case you missed it earlier in the week, here is the sneaky peek of 'Christmas Cheer' my newest craft CD which will be available very soon - a few finishing touches (I just keep adding to this one!) and I'll send it off - the Design Team will have their copies next week and will be bringing you lots and lots of lovely inspiration very soon!

On this CD there are 3 collections - Retro (the colours you see on the front cover), Traditional and Vintage. More details coming soon......

The Design Team will be starting our challenge blog very soon with some lovely prizes and projects - watch this space for more news!

I have also been busy looking at all the fab design team applications coming in - this is the FINAL 24 HOURS!!! so get them in quick (it is open to UK and International applicants for those that have asked) and you can see the details here.

I have also been going over the Afternoon Tea Design Team applications (only 24 hours for this one as well now!) details here. I can't wait to show you the kits - I have to say they are FAB! and I can't wait to get my grubby paws on my one!! as well as looking at all the CHA sneak peeks to find fab new products for future kits - I can't tell you how hard it is to narrow stuff down - I'd like to put almost everything I see in there! (but I've been told very strictly that I can't!)

Tomorrow I will be finishing the last few Xmas pics for the CD - I can't tell you how difficult it is drawing penguins and snowy things when its 30 degrees outside and BAKING! But I know everyone likes to get a head start on their cards so I'm persevering!

Finally, did you see Dragons Den tonight? Kirsty Henshaw was AMAZING! she totally deserved that investment, it's so nice to see someone who has worked so hard and achieved so much to get some help, gives us all faith in the human spirit and proves that if you work hard enough you CAN do it! How inspiring!!!

Sarah x

Quick Hello!

A very quick blog post from me tonight as I'm doing one of the final assignments for my uni course and its maths - urgh! I'm totally rubbish at numbers so need full concentration powers!!!

Thank you for all of the lovely comments on my Sneak Peek yesterday!

Just a quick reminder that there are only a couple of days left for my DT call!! please see here for details

Sarah x

Sneak Peek......

As promised here is the Sneak Peek of one of my new products!

My NEW CD - Christmas Cheer will be released shortly............

Will be giving you another sneak peek maybe of one of the collections (or maybe something entirely new....) later in the week.... Showing you the sneak peeks is always nerve wracking! but hope you like. Now off to work on completing the rest of it!!!!

Sarah x

p.s. Don't forget, only a few days left for the DT call!

End of the Week....

......and to be honest it'll be a relief! With one thing and another this week has not been a great one! and I'll be glad to see the back of it (not that I'm usually one for wishing my life away) anyway, I've decided every day is another chance for a clean slate and i'm trying not to let things get me down. I've been through worse than this and know that every bad thing has led me to a better thing, even if that has taken some time, I have to remain patient and be grateful for the many good things I do have. I'm digging out my copy of 'The Secret' tonight and giving it a jolly good read!! it always picks me up and refocuses my mind. If you haven't heard of it, try it! Its a great book on the Law of Attraction by Rhonda Byrne, and will help you to think positively, not that by sitting back and imagining I have a Bentley outside I imagine one will suddenly appear!!! But by thinking positively it helps you to deal with problems more constructively instead of being worn down by it all as I was this week!

Now onto crafty stuff! My sneak peek for tomorrow is almost ready! can't wait to show it and get some feedback :o)

Secondly, I was asked on my blog and by e-mail yesterday the best place to get Promarkers - at the moment Hobbycraft are having a half price sale and I hear on the grapevine that they have just re-stocked! So make sure you get to your local one or to their website quick and order up - you won't be sorry!

Once you've got them have a look at Debs blog as she has posted a fab Promarker tutorial with the Woodland Whimsies designs - love the cute feathery effect on the owl - will definitely get round to trying that this week! if you want to get your hand on the owl design, you can get your CD here!

I also managed another Layout - can you believe it! thats two in as many days!! some kind of record for me recently!

This one was done with a past Studio Calico kit and some lovely Adirondack inkpads from Ranger.

Now I must get on with that sneaky peek!

Sarah x

Sorry...

Apologies for my missing blog post from yesterday! Yesterday was one of *those* days, you know the kind where everything seems to happen at once to the point where you feel like you can't breathe, sorry to say it all got on top of me and it ended up being a very emotional day. If it wasn't for my OH, Fuzzybutt and copious amounts of biccies I would probably look like I'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson instead of just 5 (crying makes my face puff up and my eyes swell shut - attractive huh?! LOL)

Before I forget, don't forget there are only a few more days to send me over your Design Team application!!! See info here.....

The Afternoon Tea Design Team Call shuts on the same day - you can see the details for that on the blog here.....

Today I decided to treat myself to an hours uninterrupted bliss with my Promarkers! Apart from my show samples and demos I've not really had chance to just play with them and see what happens! So today I dug out my 'Rosie Flo' colouring book and got to work! Now don't laugh - I've not had much practice yet but here you go.....

While I was already creating and messy and inky, and had some products to test, I thought I may as well carry on! FirstlyI made a card using my bargainous Girls Paperie papers I picked up from ScrapShed earlier in the week... I just love this range....

and then I got round to some Scrapbooking - first time in too long!! (probably only a few days really but it always feels like too long!) I made this layout using an old school pic of OH's son, Sam.

I much prefer scrapping with pics from the 80's or before, the colours are so much nicer! I've left the journalling card blank as Brian can't actually remember how old Sam was in this pic so we will get Brian's mum or Sam to fill it out when they come over with a bit of journalling. B liked it anyway so that was good - I'm sure Sam would be mortified to know that I posted this, mwahahaha!

Pop over to Lisa's blog to see the fabby project she's posted with the Woodland Whimsies CD's - sooo cute!

Next week I have some Promarkery goodness to share with you from the design team and also to help me get a wriggle on i'm committing to showing you a Sneak Peek of at least one new thing on Monday - that sets me a deadline I HAVE to meet and makes me accountable!! LOL

Sarah x

Things to Show You!

Firstly please take a look at Lisa's blog - she has made a gorgeous project from the Woodland Whimsies CD's! I've now got this and it looks even better in real life!!

I've had some lovely e-mails in response to my DT call - it's going to be fun going through them all!

I've also had lots of applications for the Afternoon Tea Kits - a very very talented bunch and I can already see this is going to be a tough call to make - glad I don't have to do that alone!!

One of my lovely Facebook friends, Maria, has made a gorgeous card using the free download I posted earlier in the week - pop over to her blog to have a look - it really shows how versatile the designs are, thanks for sharing Maria! If you would like to share your Woodland Whimsies projects please send me an e-mail or if you're friends with me on Facebook then tag me or send me your blog link - I'd love to see! :o)

Thats all for today - I've spent the day drowning in stash at ScrapShed do now have to catch up on my real work! LOL

Sarah x

p.s. if you're looking for the Design Team info please click here or scroll down 2 posts....

Random Stuff

My little fuzzybutt pooch got a haircut today - this is how she normally looks...

look at that cute fuzzy face! well, no more! OH got completely carried away with the scissors and hacked off a huge chunk of her fringe!!!! all she really wanted was a little trim - now she looks like a little boy dog :o( my poor baby... She's still super cute though!

Today I've spent the whole day working on new products and they are soooo close to being done, really! So look out for sneak peeks coming very soon!

Also, just to let you know, Blogger seems to be eating my post comments - I read them by e-mail but when I click publish they disappear!! so please keep messages coming - I am reading them!!

Please pop over to Shell's blog today as she has posted some lovely samples made from Woodland Whimsies 1 & 2

Also, ScrapShed are having a super crazy sale on the Girls Paperie line at the moment - which as you know is one of my absolute faves!! so nip over there quick and stock up before she comes to her senses and puts those prices up!!!! (just maybe leave me a sheet or 2 of each m'kay?) If you havent seen the sticker books in person you absolutely must get them, you a couple of sheets in each one - they are SUCH good value for money! Now I'm going to stop telling you how great it is cos I want some left for me! LOL

Sarah x

p.s. If you didn't get your free download yesterday see below! (there is also the DT information in that post if you're looking for that)

Design Team & Update

I've been a VERY lazy blogger!! I can't believe I didn't blog allllll weekend - in my defence I was finalising yummy things to bring you soon so I hope you can forgive? Now to catch you up.......

Since my show I've had soooo many fabulous opportunities come my way - while this is obviously amazing, it means I need more help than I thought! Luckily the people that applied for my Design Team the first time round were fab so hopefully they will be joining me as Guest Designers very soon, however I still need MORE!! Soooooo, I am currently looking for more DT people for the "Sarah Hurley Designs" design team either permanent or Guest Designer spots

(if you have applied don't worry about applying again, I'll be in touch ;o) ) please send me an e-mail with a little bit about you, your blog link and a couple of pics of your best work (scrapbook LO's, cards and altered projects all welcome) they don't have to be using my products. The closing date is the 15th July and is open to International applicants as well.

I'm so looking forward to finding some more talented people for my team!

This weekend I finalised a couple of the kits for Afternoon Tea, I'm so happy with the final result and can't wait til all the things start arriving so we can photograph them and show you what we have. Once we have those pics I will open up for pre-order subscriptions. Don't forget to follow the Afternoon Tea blog here so you don't miss anything! We have had some amazing entries for the Afternoon Tea design team! for the DT call see here - the closing date is the 15th July also (see what I did there?!) LOL

I have some more exciting news coming this week so keep checking back for that. I'm so grateful for all of these opportunities and in turn hope to give others opportunities!

Also, last week I promised you a free download and then got super busy and didn't put it up! However here it is! A lovely dragonfly digi stamp which will co-ordinate perfectly with your Woodland Whimsies CD's, so download and grab your Promarkers!! Why not try printing onto acetate (don't forget your Promarkers work on that too!) Click on the pic to download

Please also pop over to Lisa's blog to see anotherof her lovely creations with the Woodland Whimsies CD. To get hold of your copy click here!

Hopefully that super mega blog post has made up for the weekend!! :o)

Sarah x

Treat Day

So today I spent the day with Karen from ScrapShed and she was one of the lucky peeps to get a peek of what was in that mystery box I received last week - I still can't tell you what it was yet - but she loved it as much as I did! and also managed to find another use for it which was nice :o)

Thanks to all that sent me lovely messages of congratulations yesterday - so nice of you, I am very excited about the new things coming my way! and its so nice to start seeing the DT applications coming in for Afternoon Tea - if you missed it yesterday, you can see the info here.

I'm also looking for some guest designers (and possibly some more permanent members of the team) for my designs, if you would like to be considered please e-mail me here.

The weekend is going to be a very very busy one with lots of stuff being finished up. Another lot of CD's are going out tomorrow (those ordered today - thank you to all those that have ordered so far - I hope you're loving them!) we are up to date as of yesterday though.

My treats came from OH who treated me to a takeaway and a cream cake today - naughty! (but nice....)

One last thing! please check out the latest samples from my lovely DT girls - Clare and Lisa, Clare even got her little one involved - can't to see what he came up with (once all the glue is dry!)

Sarah x