Today’s SOSN (Something Old, Something New) half price deal is on one of my all-time favourite alphabets: Splash-tastic! Perfect for pool and bath time photos, Splash-tastic is on sale at 50% off TODAY ONLY! No coupon necessary, just add the alpha to your cart. The promotion ends at midnight EST today (Wednesday 6th June).

Here’s some inspiration from my creative team, many of these layouts also feature 100 in the Shade, last week’s new doodles that my CT didn’t get the chance to play with before they went into the store! It’s great to be able to show off all their hard work now

layout by nicole

card by elaine

layout by kitty

layout by marlen

layout by christa

layout by val

layout by nicole

layout by val

You might remember me posting here about my friendship with a lovely lady by the name of Beth who had asked for some cancer themed doodles for the cards and journal she was working on while she underwent various anti-cancer treatments. We chatted and emailed and PM’d and these doodles were the final result:

Click here to download: Beth’s Belief

(The original blog post, including a couple of Beth’s cards can be found here).

Tragically, less than 6 months after I created these doodles Beth lost her fight with cancer. We had kept in touch, exchanging emails and layouts, PM’s and memories and we had a lovely cyber friendship that I hold very dear. I had never met her, never even spoken to her on the phone but she touched my heart very deeply and I miss her very much. A few months after Beth passed away our next-door neighbour also lost her battle with cancer. Tracey was a fun and bubbly character, the same age as me and her youngest son is in the same class at school as my daughter. In their memory, last year I donned a very fetching tutu and took part in Race for Life to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

Since then, this dreadful disease has touched more amazing women in my life, both in my own family and in the Lilypad family (you can read about Pollywog Melissa’s story and marvel at her utterly beautiful photography on her blog Life as a Lewis).

Race for Life 2012

Overwhelmed by the need to DO something again following this news, I signed myself and my daughter up for Race For Life, grabbed some pink fluffy deely boppers, face paints and a child sized tutu and wings (she had laughed at me in a tutu so much last time I wanted to get my own back – ha ha!). The rain held off this year (more or less!) and we completed our 5K together:

There was a trail of pink fluff and sequins left through the forest, I suspect dog walkers and joggers will be finding traces of Race for Lifers for the next few months!

After Race for Life, I still felt the need to do more. To push myself further and to physically do more to raise more funds for those suffering from cancer. Being a friend or a relative of someone battling this awful disease can leave you with a dreadful sense of uselessness and I looked around for something more challenging. And I found it.

The Midnight Walk 2012

Next weekend I will be taking part in The Midnight Walk – a 13.1 mile (21km) walk through the night to raise funds for my local hospice, St Luke’s. I know this is going to be tough. Very tough. A friend of mine did the same walk a few years ago and vowed to never, ever do it again. Ever. *gulp* So, as you can imagine, I am rather nervous.

I had a truly amazing response last year when I blogged about my fundraising for Race For Life. If you have ever downloaded any of my freebies, or if the sight of me in bunches and a fluffy deely boppers has made you smile, or if the thought of me walking 13 miles through the night has made you question my sanity (and believe me, you wouldn’t be alone in that thought) then I hope you might consider making a donation. I have two different sponsorship pages, one for Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK and one for The Midnight Walk in aid of St Luke’s Hospice – both are run by the Just Giving organisation so a currency converter might be helpful if you are outside the UK. Thank you for anything you are able to give, however small.

For Beth, Tracey, Sally and Melissa xxxxx

It’s no secret that I am a dog person, so when one of my customers got in touch to show me the invitation she had made for her daughter’s dog themed birthday party I was excited to see more! Today I want to share with you the lovely invites and decorations that Connie created for her daughter Bella’s 7th birthday, all with a doggie theme!

Here’s the invitation, I love the “paw-ty” pun and the idea of bringing dog food to donate to the local dog shelter rather than a gift (we rehomed our dog from the our local dogs’ home and I know how much they appreciate all the help and donations they can get!):

The back of the invite featuring the birthday girl with her lovely new puppy:

Here are some details from the party, the birthday banner has little doggie doodles under the letters!

And the food labels and favour toppers (the Pupcorn and the Pooch Punch are my favourites!):

Here’s what Connie used to create these lovely birthday decorations:

My Kinda Dog

Over the Rainbow collab

Doggie Days

Thank you Connie for allowing me to post your photos here, I hope that Bella and all her friends had a wonderful party and that the doggies at the local dog shelter enjoyed their extra treats!

I have been battling some computer gremlims this week but I’m happy to say that I have finally released my BYOC doodles for this month! These are hot from my sketchbook, even my CT hasn’t seen them as yet! The BYOC colours this month are so fresh and zingy that I was inspired to create a summer sun themed pack, especially after all the unusually warm British weather we have been experiencing lately! 100 in the Shade is new in the store today and is 20% off all weekend – check out the usual BYOC buy more, save more discounts for even more savings!

As these are so new, I don’t have any CT inspiration to share with you I’m afraid (although you can always see all the latest pages from my super CT girls in my section of the gallery!). I’d like to wish everyone in the UK a very happy Jubilee weekend, may you all eat lots of strawberries, drink lots of Pimms and make the most of the glorious weather!