Silhouette Valentine Card & Blog Hop News!

Today I promised to share the project I made with yesterdays giveaway SVG file, here it is, a cute and simple valentine card...

Supply List - Sarah Hurley Silhouette Shapes - Valentine Heart (please see previous post) and Kissing Couple (available from the Silhouette store), Card Blank, kraft card, white card - Craftwork Cards, Heart Paper, Grace Taylor Vintage Romance  (available from Trimcraft Stockists), Stripe Paper - Magnolia, 3D foam, Red Flexmarker

I cut the heart twice - once with the wording in the centre on a red and white striped paper and once without the wording on, as a solid shape, from white paper. I also used one of my other Silhouette shapes, this cute kissing couple, cutting it out of kraft card.

I layered the hearts together with 3D foam but I didn't like the way the stripes looked against the heart paper and I didn't think the wording stood out enough, so I used a red flexmarker to carefully colour in the top heart - you can still see the stripes but it's a more subtle tone on tone look now and the bold red stands out much better against the hearts,  you can also see the wording much more clearly!

Also, I wanted to let you know, that we are holding a Blog Hop to celebrate the launch of my new website, for all the details and to join in, please click here or pop back here on Saturday!

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Free Valentine SVG Cutting File!

A quick post from me today, and a little freebie for you as I haven't done one yet this year!

Today I'm sharing a Valentine Heart, perfect if you still need to make a card for that special someone...

get your download here!

I'd love to see your makes with it if you want to share them here in the comments or over on my Facebook page and if you pop back tomorrow, I'll show you my card made with it.

Also, a quick thank you to everyone who left lovely comments / tweets / messages etc... about my new website, I'm so pleased you like it! Finally, a 'A Few of My Favourite Things...' kit club update - over half of the first month subscription places are now taken! If you'd like to join us, please see my previous post or website for more info,

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Exciting News, New Website & Kit Club Update!

Lots of exciting things to share today!

Firstly, my new website went live today! I'd love to know what you think? Everything is now in one place with my full range of products, links etc... - all easy to find!

We will be holding a little giveaway next week to celebrate the launch so please look out here or on my Facebook / Twitter for more info!

Secondly, to those of you waiting for 'A Few of My Favourite Things...' kit club info, a newsletter went out today with some more info and subscriptions are now available on my website!

And finally, some exciting news! After working with Letraset for a long time, I have now joined the regular blogging team to share with you more of my projects, tips and tricks, my first post went up today and you can see it here on the Letraset Blog

Now, I must get back to work, I have a magazine deadline to make and some new products to finish designing! :o)

Thanks so much for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Sarah Hurley Jewellery Designs...

Just a quick post for me today, as I realised I didn't mention here something that I thought I had - the launch of my jewellery range!

The first three pieces, all necklaces, launched last year in my NOTHS shop and on my website, they  proved to be very popular over Christmas, selling out twice in the space of just a few weeks, I couldn't have asked for more from my first (small) collection! Here is a pic of all three...

These were adapted from some of my favourite designs which you may have seen in my kits - Glasses, Moustache and Camera. All are made from acrylic and come on silver chains.

I'm finalising my next collection now so look out for more news in the next few weeks! Now I must get back to work, I'm working on my new website at the moment, and it's a much bigger task that I anticipated! You can see the new improved version in the next couple of days. At least I can do it tucked up warm and snuggly inside - we have so much snow now - it's almost to the tops of my wellies! and still falling...

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x

Fussy Cutting & Colouring In!

Today, I'm sharing another card you may have spotted on my Create & Craft shows for Letraset. This one combines a stamped, coloured image with some fussy cut papers...

The image is a stamp from Stampavie (available from Bramwells) coloured with a combination of Promarkers & Flexmarkers. The papers are from a pack of Websters Pages 8" x 8" papers that I've had for a while, they feature lovely botanical scenes but they weren't really my style and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, but I thought they fitted this card perfectly! so I dug them out and began fussy cutting and building up the elements around the image creating a little rolled back frame and lots of 3D elements. Here is a little close up so you can get a good look at the colouring...

I should also let you know that Letraset are having a competition on their Facebook page this week and you can win some Flexmarkers every day - you don't want to miss this one! You can find their Facebook page here to join in!

Now I must finish off a few things before I attempt a few hours sleep, I'm currently working on some new projects that I'm very excited about, it makes switching my brain off at night a bit difficult! I'll have some more exciting news about Letraset to share with you in a couple of days as well as an update on the 'A Few of My Favourite Things...' kit club (please see previous post, and wow! what an amazing response so far!!!!) so look out for that :o)

Thanks so much for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Sneak Peek! A Few of my Favourite Things...

Today is a VERY exciting day, this is a sneak peek of something thats been in the works for a very long time, I wasn't sure whether to go ahead with it and really only decided for definite last week! I also wasn't sure whether to reveal it yet but with the encouragment of my lovely DT, I've decided to go for it and reveal all!

A Few of my Favourite Things... is a new monthly kit club, containing lots of unique and unusual embellishments designed and sourced by me, all of which will be perfect for scrapbooking, card making, smashbooking and all kinds of papercrafting! The kits will also contain the first ever previews of my forthcoming paper collections (eeeeek!!!!) and some other surprises I have lined up too...

The first kits will be going out in February and subscriptions will be available in a limited number from the end of next week. I will be increasing the amount available each month and some one off kits will be available too but again, in a limited number. If you would be interested in receiving subscription info first, please email me here with the subject 'My Favourite things' and I will make sure you get the info first along with my newsletter subscribers - then info will go onto my blog, facebook and twitter. (sending that email doesn't obligate you to sign up / subscribe in any way - it's just an info request)

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think!

Sarah x

January Craft Magazines

This month I've popped up in two craft magazines, I hope you can get hold of copies! First up, a little peek at some cards for the January issue of Making Cards magazine, I made three cards for this set but they only had room for two of them, so here is the third!...

This set of cards uses masking and Promarkers along with some gorgeous Paper Smooches stamps from Make the Day Special - love them!

I'm also the guest expert for Papercraft Inspirations magazine this month with some tips and tricks for selling your hand made cards.

Now I must be off, busy day today and I'm now prepping some stuff for something brand new I'm bringing you in a few weeks, I'm SO excited I can't tell you! I'm revealing all to my Design Team tomorrow and my tummy is all in knots, lol.

Thank you for your well wishes by the way, I'm most definitely on the mend now and although I'm sad I won't be going to CHA after all (a combination of illness and deadlines made it just impossible in the end, boo!) I am looking forward to getting a new pooter instead - a little treat to cheer me up while I look forward to the next one!

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x 

Welcome 2013!

Although I wasn't quite as keen to get rid of 2012 as I was say 2010 or 2011, I am still so happy to welcome in a new year and one that I'm sure will be even better than last year! There is some VERY exciting some stuff lined up which I will be telling you about just as soon as I can, including something publishing related and some travel... (must remember to renew my passport, eeek!) I do love a new beginning, some time to reflect (I've had even more than I expected due to being laid up with a horrible bug the last few days too, ick!) and make plans.

2012 was a rollercoaster year for me, it started with a bit of a low for me for a few reasons, which I won't harp on about, needless to say though I was left with a difficult decision to make, a bit of a mess to sort out and some dusting down and getting on with things to do! The course of how I thought things would go changed, but what seemed like a negative at the time, turned out to be the biggest blessing of all, I retained control of my brand, my work and the direction I was going in and that freedom turned out to be a huge blessing as I found out just weeks later - without that I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now or able to take up some of the fab offers that have come my way (some of which are still to be revealed - eeek!)

I managed to keep all of my resolutions, except one, my quilt never did get started, I was just too busy!

And so 2012 I will remember as the year I...

* changed direction and realised I COULD do it all by myself if I just had a little more faith in myself
* launched a ton of new products
* diversified into retail with the addition of my NOTHS shop
* partnered with some fab companies including Serif and Silhouette (with a few more yet to be revealed...)
* returned to Create & Craft
* launched Craft Academy and the Sarah Hurley Lookbook magazine
* learned to cook
* got excited about a Jubilee and Olympics I thought I didn't care about (ha! how wrong was I!)
* met lots of you at Donington
* laughed more and cried less than I can ever remember - got to be a good thing, right?

My one little word for 2012 was 'Believe' to believe in myself and my decisions, my gut instinct - I certainly did that and I'm VERY happy with the way that turned out! :o)

My one little word for 2013 is...

It may seem like a frivolous one this year but it's a reminder to myself, never let ANYONE dull my sparkle, there will always be people who try to drag you down, make you feel bad about yourself or insecure in what you can do (usually because they themselves feel insecure) people that bully (you'd think it stops in the playground, but sadly, no!) backstab and think they will appear better than you if they put you down or shout louder than you - but when you have sparkle, it shines brighter than any of that and noone can dull your sparkle unless you let them - so rise above it all and sparkle on! :o)

Here is my first sparkle of the year...

Don't mind me, I'm off to sparkle some more.... ;o)

Thank you for dropping by today!

Sarah x