I have lots of new stuff to tell you about today so this is going to be a pretty image heavy post! Ok, first up is the new LilyPad BYOC (our guest designer this month is the lovely Amy Hutchinson aka Ah! Designs - you neeeed to see her new paper pack for the BYOC - yum!) and our NSD sale - everything over $2 is reduced by 30% and all retiring products are reduced by 50% 2-4th May!

These retiring products will be removed from the store on Monday morning, so if you want them get them this weekend! You might also like to check out this kit before you head to TLP:

This kit is a gift from some of the MSA sponsors to all MSA users (betcha can’t guess which bits are mine….lol). You need to be registered and signed in to see the Fresh Air thread so if you’re not already a member get yourself over to MSA and register to download your free kit! Also included is a folder of coupons from the contributing designers *including me* so go and grab them before you go shopping this weekend! This kit is ONLY AVAILABLE TODAY AND TOMORROW (Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th) so make sure you drop by MSA before Monday.

Ok, onto some other new releases! I teamed up with Rachel Young and Gina Miller for this month’s collab, a sunny beachy inspired kit that just screams summer! Caribbean Sunrise is new at GMD today (and is on sale at 40% off this weekend too!):

Lastly, I wanted to show you the May chairty kit from Songbird Avenue (in aid of the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation this month) - the lineup for this one is amazing. Get this, here are the designers who contributed to this kit: Shabby Princess, Dianne Rigdon, Gina Miller, Robin Carlton, Carrie Stephens, Nancie Rowe-Janitz, Amy Wolff, Jenna Desai, Kate Hadfield, Jacque Larson, Michelle Coleman, Shabby Miss Jenn, Susan Bartolini, Kate Teague, Leora Sanford, Meredith Fenwick, Jan Crowley and Janet Phillips.

Also new out at the start of the month was the latest issue of Digital Artist Magazine (the free kit this month is by Nancy Rowe Janitz and is so fresh and pretty - this cover layout was made with it):

Final thing to check out is Amy Martin’s blog for a lovely free template (LOVE her templates, she very kindly leaves plenty of space for me to fill up with loads of crap) and links to some of the other Prima CT girls who are also giving away free templates. Tis the weekend for funky freebies!!

So in essence, here’s what you need to do: go to Amy’s blog and grab your free template, then blog hop round the other flowergirl’s blogs grabbing more free templates, then visit MSA to get your free kit and coupons, then go and empty The LilyPad (using said coupons) and GMD (also using said coupons), then grab the charity kit from Songbird Avenue and the latest copy of DAM. Then go and have a nice lie down. And then scrap Sounds like a good weekend to me.

Whatever you find yourself doing this weekend, have a happy one!

P.S. For those of you asking about the daylight lamp I’m in love with, it’s pretty similar to this one HERE (except mine is chrome!) Love the lovely lovely lamp

Really, I do, I really love my new lamp. I treated myself to a new daylight desk lamp and it gives a wonderful diffused even light which means I can draw / paint / doodle in the evenings now - whoo! I always used to draw with DD while Matthew had his nap but I don’t think it’s going to be long before naptime is gone for good (sniff sniff, my little babe is growing up) and seeing as Matthew is completely obsessed with anything pen / pencil / pastel / paper / paint related I needed to find a way of working in the evenings when he’s in bed, hence the new swanky lamp (my desk is right under a halogen downlighter which is truly hideous to draw under as the shadows are really harsh and the tone of the light is horribly yellow). So anyway, I just thought i would share that with you, my love for my new lamp. Lamps are good.

And using my lamp (seamless link or what?!) I made these doodles:

(Well, obviously I only made half of them, Jacque made the other half!) Here are some layouts from our teams:

The new lamp had nothing to do with this layout (although I do tend to leave it on when scrapping just to admire it a bit more). This is using the new Natalie Braxton & Emily Merritt collab Celebrate the Everyday:

Full credits are HERE

Matthew is suddenly very into giving kisses (having been completely resistant to the whole idea until about a week ago) and I snapped this pic while the two of them were sat on the floor in the kitchen “hiding” from me. Matthew is still at the stage where if he can’t see me he thinks I can’t see him, which makes for lots of giggly-and-not-really-very-difficult games of hide and seek. Good times

Ok, I need to get doodling (new lamp at the ready!) next week is a biiiiiig one - National Scrapbooking Day is next Saturday and there are things I need to do for it. Secret things.

Have a great weekend!

…I’m slacking even by my own appalling blogging standards - I have no idea how I managed to forget to blog last week, you would think I’d be able to manage it once a week wouldn’t you?! Well, apparently not. Whoops.

Here are last week’s new products (the boy version of mine and Jacque’s rock star pack: Pump Up the Volume and the Funky Junky Spring Fling doodles) and this week’s new release (Fast Food doodles):

Those of you interested in real paper and getting gluey and messy might like to check out the new Paper Craft Junkies e-zine (it’s free and you can see it HERE) - I have to say I’m really rather envious of Tracey’s craft room. And doubly envious of her level of organisation. One day I really WILL sort out my craft stash so I can actually find things. I will. I will, I will, I will! Next month’s issue will feature an interview with… um…. well…. me (so watch out for a right riveting read there then LOL) and there’s an opportunity for readers to ask questions of the interviewees which could be fun! Or dangerous / embarrassing, depending on who asks the questions I suppose.

Lastly: it’s layout time! This one actually featured in DAM a few months ago for a Pink and Black colour challenge (possibly my favourite colour combination of all time!):

Full credits are HERE

Have a great weekend! We have a series of kiddie based activities and clubs pretty much all weekend, honestly these children have a better social life than I do (not tricky, admittedly!) Have fun

Yep, it’s BYOC and guest designer time again - this month the lovely Jackie Eckles is joining us at TLP. I love her work, such a wonderful mix of grunge and colour - yum! We’ve gone for a more “boy-friendly” colour palette this month with a loose family theme and lots of earthy tones, turquoise and green. The Spend More, Save More options are back again too, have a look HERE for further details, plus the new products over $2 are reduced by 20% today, tomorrow and Sunday. Bargain!

Here are my BYOC offerings:

Here’s what my CT came up with with the BYOC:

I have a layout to share too, I’m a bit late scrapping these halloween pics (in fact, I think I still have some from 2006 to scrap…oops) and I still need to do the Matthew version (he was a little chubby baby spider!) but here’s DD in her pink witchy glory (she HAD to be a witch and she HAD to have a PINK witch costume…..ahem):

Full credits are HERE

My plan is to use the same kit (it’s AmyLou by Gina & Lauren Grier btw!) for the chubby spider page and I have made a new deal with myself - to scrap at least one layout a week I can post here (as opposed to magazine stuff which I can’t post here for months after I finish it!) I’ve had a long spell where I wasn’t really motivated to scrap and struggled to get anything done, but I’m back in full scrapping mode again now and want to try and catch up on some of the hundreds of photos sitting on my HD crying out to be scrapped.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend - the sun is shining here and it is glorious! I’m off to chase the kids round the garden for a bit before it starts snowing tomorrow…..lol Have fun!

Just a quick post to let you know that today is the last chance to grab Funky Junky Spring Fling as it is being retired tomorrow! This is definitely my favourite FJ to date and it is absolutely full of goodies. This is the last chance to get it all at once (at this special price too!) as not everything will be available for sale individually after the kit is retired.

Phew. It feels like I have been working on these sets forever - the baby ones in particular seem to have taken me months! I’m really pleased with how they turned out though, here they are:

These are available individually or in a big value bundle pack Special thanks to Gina and Andrea for making these fab examples of how they can be used (even though I only gave them a couple of hours to weave their magic as I was so late finishing them up - I blame Alan Sugar and Terri Hatcher for distracting me from the job in hand…)

There’s one other new product in the store, this time another collab with Jacque. This was inspired by a request from a customer (and also from one of my CT members, the lovely Jen) and was great fun to make:

A boy version is on its way too And finally, a layout! I love all the acrylic stuff that’s around at the moment, I saw these acrylic buttons by Gina and immediately thought of balloons for some reason, here’s what I came up with:

Full credits are HERE

I think we might try and have a belated egg hunt today - it seems to have finally stopped raining and the garden is just squelchy as opposed to sodden so it should be safe to let the kids loose out there! Have a good weekend

Yep, a jam-packed (for me) blog post this week with a freebie, a new collab with Jacque and a layout. Amazing hey?!

First up, the freebie! For the inspiring It’s a Creative World blog, here’s a little Easter doodle pack for you:

Next up is the collab, this was a special request from a customer: lots of cleaning elements! I got together with Jacque again for this fun Spring Clean kit (20% off until Monday):

This pack is full of stuff, here are some more detailed previews (check in store for bigger versions):

And finally the layout! I downloaded this kit the other day, unzipped and HAD to scrap with it straight away, it just “spoke” to me! LOL I love it when that happens It’s the new Garden of Whimsy collab by two of my favourite designers, Amy Wolff and Michelle Godin, and you can see it in all its glory HERE. Here’s my layout, my DD posing in the garden with her new school bag, little show-off that she is:

Full credits are HERE

Here’s hoping that the weather where you are is better than here, I’ve just been drenched in a torrential downpour and pretty much blown down the street by gale force winds. Ok, maybe that is a slight exaggeration but the weather is definitely NOT conducive to lovely spring like egg hunts in the garden…sulk. Fingers crossed it brightens up a bit over the weekend. Here’s wishing you all a happy sunny Easter!

I’ve gone a bit mad with easter preparations this year, I’ve bought about half a billion little plastic eggs for an egg hunt in the garden (weather permitting of course, let’s just say March in Cheshire does not guarantee glorious sunshine…) some pretty bunting to decorate the garden and some really cute little baskets for the kids to fill with eggs. Fingers crossed for fine weather next weekend

And talking of Easter (did you notice that seamless link to the shameless-self-promotion?!) here are my latest designs (as usual, 20% off until Monday):

Tiff and Kate’s Felt Filled Easter:

Easter Treats Printables (made from my Spring Tweets doodles):

And here’s some Easter inspiration from my team!

Tiff and I also made a range of Baby Wordy-Bits (matching doodles to follow soon!) that are available in Boy, Girl and Unisex packs (as well as a big bundle) in honor of the impending arrival of Tiff’s little babe:

Ok, I’m off to doodle baby booties, hope you have a fab weekend!

I’m thrilled to be CatScrap’s first ever guest designer this month I got together with the wonderful Birgit & Catrine to create a (sort-of!) retro inspired collab kit: Come Out & Play. The Catscrap girls had run a little contest on their blog and asked everyone what they would like to see in a new kit - Come Out & Play was inspired by this handbag! LOL Thanks to Dixi for the suggestion, I’m thrilled with how this kit turned out

Here’s the kit, its 25% off this weekend (along with the whole CatScrap store!) and if you spend more than $12 in one order you can pick up the new Primavera collab kit for free too!

Here’s what my team made with it:

I even scrapped with the kit! I’m forcing myself to get over the mental block I have in scrapping with my own products by making myself use my collab kits, it’s a great way of making sure everything really works together. Here’s what I made:

Full credits are HERE

I also have some new Spring Flora Doodles out at CatScrap, continuing my seasonal flora line! LOL (also part of this weekend’s sale)

I’m off to enjoy the rest of my Mother’s Day, hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Gold star for me please! I scrapped:

Full credits are HERE

I forgot to mention the Funky Junky Challenges that Rachel, Michelle and I are hosting at MSA in my last post - as DD would say, “der Mummy!” Anyway, we have our own section of the forum there and we’re running some challenges where you can win some GCs from us and some other random prizes. My challenge is to create a layout with LOTS of elements on (see above page! lol) Rachel has one to scrap you Funkiest Junk and Michelle has one to create a clean and simple layout (*shudder*). Full details are here if you fancy playing along for a chance to win some goodies: FUNKY JUNKY FORUM

And speaking of Funky Junky (here comes the shameless self-promotion by the way..) look what I added to the store on Friday:

Aren’t they pretty??! I’m so pleased with these gorgeous pages made by Ranie O’Dell (juliet) and Kristin Tilley (wyowoman)! They’re available as a full 20 page album, or as individual 10 page albums and are on sale at 20% off at the moment. I think I’m going to use them to make up an album for a Mother’s Day gift