The Sarah Hurley Designs 50% Sale Starts Today!

My 50% off end of year sale has started today, with over 50 products with 50% off including Craft CD's, Digi Kits, Cutting files and embellishments. This will be the last chance you will have to get hold of some of them too as they are being discontinued when the sale ends - don't miss out on your favourites! You can see everything here in my shop

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Colourful Christmas Embossing

My last post before the big day! I hope you're more prepared than me, I still have a few pressies to wrap, eek!

Today I'm sharing some cards with a technique that proved very popular when I demoed for Sizzix at Donington and on my Create & Craft shows - Coloured Embossing. This first card is using a mixture of metallic and regular Promarkers...

I ran the card through my Big Shot to emboss the baubles, coloured over the raised areas then highlighted with Stickles for a festive feel...

This second card uses one of my favourite Basic Grey / Sizzix embossing folder which I coloured with seasonal Promarkers (I've done this one lots for shows and never get bored of it!) and again highlighted with stickles...

Here is a little close up...

Thanks so much for dropping by today, I best get back to wrapping *sigh* or maybe I can delegate... ;o)

Sarah x

Christmas with LOTV - One Stamp, Two Ways!

Today, I have two cards to share using one stamp, from LOTV. Again, you may have spotted these in my recent Create & Craft shows...

This card uses some gorgeous MME papers and pompom ribbon, the image is coloured using some of the limited edition seasonal Promarkers and is highlighted with stickles.

Here is a little close up...

The second card uses the same image, also coloured with Promarkers. This time I've made my own paper and sentiment using the Letraset hot foil machine that I showed recently...

And a little close up....

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Christmas at Home Card

Today I'm sharing a Christmas card you may have spotted on some of my recent Create & Craft shows, it's one of my favourites as It reminds me of Christmas at home...

The fancy shaped card blank is from Craftwork cards, the pearlised card has been cut using a Sizzix Framelits die and embossed in a snowflake embossing folder. The village parts were stamped onto bleed proof card and coloured with Promarkers before being layered onto the card.

I finished it with a Tim Holtz Sizzix Snowflake Rosette, one of my favourite Sizzix dies of this year!

I hope you are more prepared for Christmas than I am, I still need to finish writing a few cards and wrapping all of my presents (though I usually rope in some help! ;o) )

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Christmas Words - Free SVG File!

Today I'm sharing my last free SVG file of the year! This time some Disco style Christmas words...

Download your file here

You can see more of my die cutting designs (and my other craft products) here in my shop or here in the Silhouette online store.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

The Lookbook Magazine - Volume 2!

After much hard work behind the scenes, I'm pleased to say that Volume 2 of the Sarah Hurley Lookbook is now available online for you, over 90 pages of crafty inspiration from myself and my lovely design team! You can view it here....

The magazine also includes some sneaky peeks of things coming in the new year - not to be missed!

I hope you love it as much as the first issue! As ever, my thanks to my lovely design team who made such fabulous projects for this issue! We look forward to your comments and feedback. We will be opening submissions for volume 3 shortly, so keep an eye out for more guidelines.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Sharing my Secrets! A 'typical' day at Hurley HQ...

I haven't done one of these Sharing my Secrets posts for a while, but a lot of people ask me how I fit everything in and how I juggle things so I thought I would give you a behind the scenes peek at a 'typical' day for me.

First off, there is really no 'typical' day here at Hurley HQ - at any minute I can get an an email for an urgent deadline, a magazine write up, a commission, a piece of artwork or a last minute show and I will have to drop everything and focus on that - it's all about prioritising!

On a day when there is no crisis, I would usually get up around 7.30am. I start every day with a hot bubble bath (I know thats indulgent, but I like to start the day right!) I spend about 20 minutes in there while I check my emails and orders on my blackberry. I then grab a coffee on the way to my desk and fire up my pooter. While thats coming to life, I'll catch up on my tweets and facebook page on my iPad and scan over my diary for the day.

Once I've answered all my emails from overnight (usually takes around an hour) I'll print off and gather together any orders and send them via email (for digital products) or pack them and bag them ready for B to take to the post office when he gets home. While I'm gathering together the products for orders I take a quick look over the stock and make a note of anything thats running low to reorder later in the day. (Fuzzybutt usually crawls out of bed at this point and trots downstairs to lay next to me sleeping some more until B gets home!) Once this is done I start on my first job of the day, this is usually illustration or design of some kind, whether it's for a client, a craft product or just ideas I had kicking about in my head. Sometimes I have kits or new products to photograph for my shop or my NOTHS shop.

Around lunch time, B gets in from work, he'll grab the bags of post and head straight back out to the post office while I put on the coffee machine and find something for lunch. We take a quick half an hour to eat lunch and have a coffee together and then I get back to my desk. Sometimes B will help me with organising stock or chasing up payments or orders, otherwise he does things around the house and takes Fuzzybutt for a walk. We also spend time taking in deliveries of stock or new products from clients and the normal post etc... most of which B deals with! I get back to my illustration until around 5. B then cooks dinner while I reply to emails that have come in throughout the day. After a quick dinner togther I have my second bubble bath of the day and unwind, sometimes I have a half hour power nap on the sofa while B watches TV. B goes off to bed around 10pm and I'll then head to my studio to create things for magazines, shows, clients or my blog or I'm back at my desk to work on illustrations and other projects until around 2am I then try and spend around an hour doing some writing for my book before I go to bed around 3am. I'm usually just dropping off to sleep as I hear B's alarm going off at 4am for him to head to work.


It's a hectic schedule and it keeps me very busy but I love every second of it! :o)

Now I must be off for that dinner and bubble bath before I head back to my desk for the night - I'm finishing off volume 2 of the Sarah Hurley Lookbook, and it's coming together a treat - I can't wait to share it with you all later this week!

Thank you for dropping by today.
Sarah x

Christmas Snowflakes Card

Today, as promised, here is card number 2 in my Christmassy Set of 2 (I showed number one yesterday)...

This one uses a fancy card blank from Craftwork Cards, the Blue Bazzill and bleedproof white cardstock were cut using the Sizzix Fancy Labels Framelits dies which fit perfectly with these card blanks! The blue label shape, I embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. The swirl is also a Sizzix die (and one of my current favourites!)

 

I stamped the Hero Arts stamp and coloured with Promarkers. the snowflakes were cut from white, ivory, blue and Kraft Bazzill and layered up, I then added a touch of stickles to finish.

Now, I must get back to work, I'm putting the finishing touches to Volume 2 of the Sarah Hurley Lookbook magazine - so exciting! If you haven't had chance to look at issue one yet, you can see it here.

Thank you for dropping by!
Sarah x

A Christmas Easel Card

Well, just as yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I am nowhere near being in the Christmas spirit (despite their being only a few weeks to go) today I woke up to a real life winter wonderland! There is nothing like snow to get you in the festive spirit fast! So now I have Christmas songs on, tucked up drawing (ironically, I'm drawing lovely springy things!)

Today I'm sharing a Christmassy easel card, I originally made this as part of a set of 2 for Making Cards magazine, but at the last minute they didn't have room to fit them in the December issue so I can share them here instead!

 

The Circles are cut using my Martha Stewart circle cutter (don't know what I'd do without it!) the blue one is from Bazzill cardstock and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.

The smaller white circle is cut from bleedproof card and stamped with  a Hero Arts stamp which I coloured with Promarkers and then added stickles to.

The snowflakes, dove and swirls are all Sizzix die cuts from 3 shades of bazzill cardstock, once they were all positioned and layered with 3D foam I added stickles to some of them for a frosty finish!

I'll post the second card in this set tomorrow for you to have a look at.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Hobbycraft demo for Letraset

Just a quick reminder that I will be at the new Hobbycraft store in Chingford tomorrow for Letraset, I hope you can pop down and say hello!

I best go and get some things ready to colour...

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

A Derwent Christmas

This week my November blog post went up on the Derwent blog, this month, I made a Christmas card using some fabric, Inktense blocks and Coloursoft Pencils, this is how it turned out...

You can see full details and a step-by-step over on the Derwent blog here.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Create & Craft Tag & Black Friday Sale!

I haven't had chance to come on and thank everyone that tuned into my Create & Craft show this week, I demoed this tag using Aqua Markers, Promarkers & Flexmarkers...

Apologies for the TV pic, I've not had chance to unpack my bag yet so I done a screenshot from the TV instead! Thank you as well to those of you who emailed in or sent me messages about my new Rose digi stamps featured, I'm so pleased by all the feedback and there will be more digi stamps coming very soon - watch this space!

In the meantime, I have a one day only Black Friday sale happening in my store with 15% off of everything, digi kits, embellishment packs, sewing kits, badges, EVERYTHING! This code will expire at midnight tonight (friday 23rd) so be sure to grab your bargains quickly - HERE! :o)

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Fuzzybutt Update!

Thank you to everyone who has sent little well wishes for Fuzzybutt, I mentioned on Twitter the other day that she had been a bit ill, she was moping around for a day or two and had a day of being sick, even her tail wasn't wagging, she's usually so happy and lively and noisy and her tail wags so hard it makes her bottom wiggle from side to side so we were a bit worried about her but thankfully, after a day or two she was totally back to normal and she's now her happy, waggy little self again!

I must also thank the fabulous people at Pooch Pack who sent Fuzzybutt (via me) an email asking if she would like to try their fabulous goodie box service, her box came just as she was recuperating and it cheered her up so much. This is what came in her box of treats...

She also got this orange toy you can see in the picture below, she grabbed that out of the box straight away and wouldn't let me take it back for the picture! It smells like vanilla, I think thats probably why! At the moment, she's dragging it around everywhere even though it's really heavy, lol

 She loves these Papaya treats too, look at her big fangs!

I'm just so relieved to see my girl all bouncy again, so thank you to Pooch Pack, from both of us, for putting a spring in her step again! you can check out their website and fab monthly box service here if you have a fur baby :o)

Thanks for dropping by today, I'll be back in a bit with details of my Black friday one day sale, don't miss it!! :o)

Sarah x

First Time Ever! Hand drawn and unedited Digi Stamps...

Today I'm being brave, I've put my original hand drawn and unedited artwork in a new digi kit and as a seperate Digi Stamp Kit... Although I always start with a hand drawn sketch I usually then scan and redraw everything digitally (you can see more about my illustration process here)but these are my original pen and pencil drawings

Here is a little peek at the black and white drawings (which are in the kit) in progress...

I'd love to know what you think? If you want to get hold of them, they are here in my shop. I will be colouring one of them in tomorrow on my Create & Craft show so you'll get a full tutorial on it too! :o)

The coloured versions also feature in the brand new 'I Love Paris' Digi Kit, also released today, here is a little preview...

And if you want a sneaky peek at something else new, I put another picture of something coming soon up on my Facebook page today, I'd love your opinions on that too!

Now, I must be off to finish off some more show prep, I try to have a few new samples on each show to hopefully give you all some fresh inspiration and I have a project in mind, which I hope works and I can get finished in time, I'll keep you posted! lol

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Peek-A-Boo Christmas Cards & Create & Craft update!

Today I'm sharing a set of Peek-a-Boo Christmas Cards, these were originally made for a magazine, but ended up not being used so now I can share them here!

The fancy card blanks are from Craftwork Cards, I used my Circle Cutter to cut a circle in the middle of the front of each one to peek through to a Christmas scene...

 

 and the inside...

This one has a fun springy sticker on the front for a touch of playfulness...

 and the inside...

All of the images are stamped and coloured with Promarkers before being layered up with 3D foam and sticky dots to create my Christmas scene!

Also, I wanted to thank everyone who tuned in, emailed and left messages etc... during my marathon stint at Create & Craft / Ideal World this week, I was originally booked for 4 hours that day, 2 for Promarker / Flexmarker and Aqua Marker sets and 2 hours to launch the new Letraset Foiling machine, the foiling machine was so popular that Create & Craft added two extra hours in to showcase it properly and added more stock and I didn't leave until almost 10pm (I got there at 7am that day!) as you can imagine, I was exhausted when I finally got in at around 1am, after being up for 21 hours but I'm so pleased that you all loved the machine as much as I did and that it ended up selling out. I had lots of messages asking when it will be back, I've spoken to Letraset and they are doing their very best to get stock in as quickly as possible, but it will be a few weeks, but I promise to keep you posted on developments!

I have another show this Tuesday afternoon at 3pm to show off those Promarker, Flexmarker and Aquamarker sets some more, so I hope you can tune in and watch and maybe email in if you get a chance.

Now, I must get back to work, I have lots of kits, products and designs to finish off this weekend before starting on issue 3 of the Lookbook magazine and starting my show prep for Tuesday.

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Christmas Bells - Free SVG Cutting File!

A very quick post from me today as I'm snowed under both with designing  (lots of new things coming over the next few weeks!!) and with prepping for my Create & Craft / Ideal World Shows this week (scroll down for dates and times) but I do have a free die cutting file for you today...

Download yours here!

This would be perfect for your Christmas Cards. You can see more of my die cutting designs (and my other craft products) here in my shop or here in the Silhouette online store.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

New Letraset Create & Craft and Ideal World Show Dates

Just a quick post today, as I have some new show dates to share for next week. I'll be on your screens for four hours next Wednesday, three of them on Ideal World and one at 6pm on Create and Craft - here is the full line up...

9am - Letraset (launching a new product!!) Ideal World
12pm - Make your Mark with Letraset - Ideal World
2pm - Letraset - Ideal World
6pm - Make your Mark with Letraset - Create & Craft

As you can see I'm launching a brand new product at 9am, I'm super excited so I hope you can tune in and watch! 

As ever, if you have any requests for Promarker things to show, maybe a technique or even a certain stamp or digi you'd like to see me colour, then just leave me a comment here (or a link to the digi) or over on Facebook or Twitter and I will do my very best to fit in as many as possible.

I better start getting prepped, thats a lot of samples and demos to do! :o)

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Kirstie's Vintage Home - Channel 4

As you may remember, earlier this year I was approached to film for Kirstie Allsopp's new Channel 4 series, Kirstie's Vintage Home. I spent some days in London crafting away in the specially set up Portobello Road Craft Cafe. Well, this week (tomorrow actually!) the show starts to air! You can watch it on Channel 4 at 8pm on Thursday 8th November and then every Thursday for the next 6 weeks.

I'm not sure how much will actually be shown, but you may just see me colouring away with my Promarkers (I got Kirstie hooked on colouring too - the crew just called me 'Promarker Girl' that sounds like a Superhero name doesn't it? lol. I'm sure Letraset have my swishy new cape in production, or maybe I'll just wear my Letraset apron backwards...), or making lots of cards and scrapbook pages, chatting and giggling with Emma and Diane who kindly accompanied me to filming on some of the days, or doing some other random crafty stuff :o)

If you click on the Channel 4 link above or to the right of my blog it will take you to some more info about the show and links to my previous posts about the filming days.

I hope you can tune in and watch - I will be watching from behind a cushion so I can duck down behind it if I see myself, I never watch myself on TV! lol.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Promarker Complete Colour Chart

Apologies I'm a bit late with this little freebie I promised, I've been really ill since I got back from my sisters and it completely wiped me out, luckily, I'm feeling more my usual self today! Fuzzybutt has also been a sick little furry girl but thankfully she seems to be back to her normal naughty self today :o)

Anyway... after my last Create & Craft show, I was asked for a complete Promarker chart which showed the colours in order and included the Limited Edition Seasonal colours (I actually didn't realise how much of a big task it would be to do this! lol) so here it is for you to download...

Download yours Here! (link updated!)

I hope this helps, it's certainly helped me find some colours I'd forgotten I had, it's so easy to get stuck in a rut with our favourites so it's nice to mix it up sometimes with some 'new' ones :o)

Also, I have extended the deadline for the Lookbook Magazine submissions to 16th November - don't miss out!!! Our first volume has so far had almost 10,000 views since its launch in September and you have the chance of being published in Volume 2! See all the details here

Happy colouring!
Sarah x

Create & Craft Alice in Wonderland Tag

Today I'm sharing another of my demo pieces from my last Create & Craft show today, this is the Alice in Wonderland tag where I showed the background technique with the Letraset Metallic Markers...

The background was made using Blue & Silver Metallic Markers and a water spray mist, I then edged it with a silver Metallic Marker.

I then added a doily from my own range (you can see them here in my shop) and coloured in the digi image with a combination of Promarkers and Flexmarkers from the kits I was showing. The Digi Stamp is called Lil Lolita Ivy from All that Scraps.

The little glass bottle / vial is from one of the embellishment kits in my range and I've filled it with some of my laser cut frosted stars before tying it to the top...

I then added the little ticket and wrote 'Drink Me' on in a grey brush marker.

I'm now back from my 2 days away at my sisters, Halloween was fun! (I will share some pics over the weekend) but I've come back with a stinking cold, ick! I'm powering through though, too much to do!  I hope wherever you are you are safe and well and were not caught up in Hurricane Sandy, I'm thinking of my family, friends and colleagues in the US right now!

I will be back over the weekend with a little freebie for you - don't miss it ;o)

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

p.s. I must just remind you about submissions for the Lookbook magazine Volume 2 - you can see all the details here, don't miss out!! 

Create & Craft Gorjuss Sepia Card

Thank you to everyone that tuned in to my Promarker show on Create & Craft Saturday, it was lovely of you to watch and send me messages ( I had lots of lovely ones, thank you!) email in etc... :o) I wanted to show one of the cards I had on display, this is actually the one I demo'ed first with the Sepia effect...

I used the Tawny Owl Promarker from the Autumn Promarkers and March Hare from the Spring Set (if you ordered the big set you'll have both in there!) along with a Satin Flexmarker - but you could use any very pale cream Flexmarker or Promarkers, its just to get the highlights in the centre without leaving hard edges.

Here is a little close up...

The Gorjuss girl stamp is one of my favourites, but I had used it so much I was starting to find it difficult to make it look new and different, by using a new colour scheme, I gave my stamp a new lease of life! :o)

Now, I must be get on with some packing, I'm off to visit my little sisters and parents for a couple of days for Halloween - but I will be back in a day or so with some Ghoulish pictures and later in the week I'll have a little freebie for you.

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

p.s. I must just remind you about submissions for the Lookbook magazine Volume 2 - you can see all the details here, don't miss out!!

New Products & Create & Craft Update

Just a quick note to let you know all of the new products I've been sneak peeking are now up in my shop including the wood shapes (including Christmas!) some new Acrylic (including Halloween!) and some frosted acrylic that just has to be seen - swooooon! As well as a new set of flair badge perfect for Documented365 / December Daily / Project Life etc... and some sets of chipboard like this one....

You can see everything here in my shop.

Also, a little change to my Create & Craft Show on Saturday, I'm now on at 10am, not 9am, so you have an extra hour in bed before you wake up to me and my colouring tips, if you've already set record, don't forget to change it :o)

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Create & Craft, Letraset & a Woodland Frame...

Firstly, a little bit of news, it was confirmed today that I will be back on Create & Craft this Saturday with another Letraset Promarker show at 9am (yay!) I hope you can tune in and watch / record / email in - will try and cram in as much demo-ing as possible, I'm off to my studio later to start prepping, so any requests, just shout (or leave me a comment / send me a message, probably better!)

Secondly, one of the projects I was asked about most that was shown on last weeks shows was this Woodland Frame...

The frame was a plain wooden one from a homeware store, I lightly sanded it and then coloured with the Tawny Owl Promarker from the new Autumn Promarker set. When it was dry, I gave it a second coat and when that was dry I used a flexmarker to draw in the woodgrain pattern.

 

I then stamped the images (these are from the Woodland Folk range from Docrafts) onto bleedproof paper and coloured using the Autumn set of Promarkers and the Lime Twist from the Summer Set. 

I then used the Antique White Flexmarker to give a soft fuzzy effect to the little furry creatures (you may have seen me demo this technique on Create & Craft last week) 

Once the frame was dry I pieced everything together on a cloud sponged background, made with Distress Ink, with a freehand cut paper hill, using sticky dots and 3D foam / glue dots for dimension.

I think I covered all the questions I had but if you have any other questions about this project just leave them here and I'll do my best to answer them or add more details - if there are lots I might just show the answers on Create & Craft at the weekend :o)

Thanks so much for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Promarker & Flexmarker Colour Charts

Just a quick post from me as I've now been awake almost 20 hours and need my bed! lol.

Just wanted to thank everyone for tuning into my Create and Craft shows for Letraset today, they were really fun and I'm so pleased we had some sellouts! Also, a big thank you to those of you who emailed the show and me, tweeted, facebooked etc... I have read every single one of your messages and they have made my day - thank you!

I promised on the show that I would post up the additional colour charts I had made up (you can get the ones for the standard colours and sets here on the Letraset website) these ones I've done are for the additional and seasonal colours, just click on each one to zoom, then right click and save or download a ZIP file of all of them here.

 

 

Over the next few days I will post up some of the projects shown on the show along with the colours used (where I can remember!) I hope you managed to get your Promarkers today (that gift set was fab!)

Now I'm off for a much needed snooze!
Thank you for dropping by today
Sarah x