Happy Christmas one and all!!

Well I'm well and truly ready to potter about seeing family and friends celebrating Christmas and new year for the next week or so! I cannot wait!!

Today is my last day of work until the 4th of January.

I'd like to wish you all a fantastic Christmas and all the very best

for a happy and healthy 2011!

A big thank you to all those who have visited and commented on my blog over the past year, it really is lovely to have support from all you fellow bloggers!

Take care travelling everyone, relax and enjoy this festive spell!!

xxx

3 days to go!

I'm feeling festive...the christmas food is here, we're going to collect the meat from the butchers today and I've even had chocolate for breakfast!

So it must be Christmas!

Above is a design I created as part of a set that is for sale in America on Christmas cards.

A festive weekend!

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend...I can't quite believe Christmas is so nearly here!

I had a lovely evening Friday present wrapping and making our home look even more festive!

Then it was over to my in-laws on Saturday for an early Christmas do!

It was great....the Christmas eating has begun!

I hope you're all enjoying gearing up for Christmas!

Here's my christmas tree post from last year....click here

Wrap up warm....

Here's some wintery folk I designed a while back for christmas cards.

Its going to be a cold weekend....but I'm hoping the weather forecast is a bit of an exaggeration!

Either way this weekend is going to be a good one!

Early christmas celebrations with family tomorrow and hopefully going

to see nephew number 4 and his three big brothers in Oxford!!

Baby Danny arrived last week and really can't wait to meet him

so this snow better not get in our way!

Take care over the weekend everyone!

Christmas card...in store

Its always great to get samples through the post....these cards that I created

for The Art Group landed on my doorstep this week and I'm really

very pleased with how they're turned out.

They can be found for sale in WH Smiths and 40p of each sale goes to the

Save the Children charity.

Marrakech snapshots

We had a super time in Marrakech, it really was a great to go somewhere so different.

The whole city is full of nooks and crannies waiting to be explored and often adorned in beautiful mosaics and wood carvings.

In between the shopping (or should I say constant haggling!), stork spotting

(shown in the pic above in their massive nests on the city walls) and wandering about in the sun

we found some time to relax on the roof terrace of our lovely Riad with the sound

of the hustle and regular calls for prayer across the city.

I've never really ventured out of the Mcdonalds and Starbucks filled western world so it was a super experience to be sharing the streets with snake charmers, loaded donkeys, piles of herbs and spices, stalls full to the brim of lanterns and shiny teapots!

I now need a good recipe for mint tea...I drank so much when I was there and love it!

So tips are very welcome!

A lovely mini-break....pure escapism! I even tried belly dancing!!!

Thanks Marrakech!

All copyright of the photographs belong to Beth Gunnell Design Limited

lets get festive!

I'm so excited about Christmas and as a bonus I can now share with you some of my christmas designs without being out of season!

I'm starting to feel festive...I've written 56 christmas cards in the last two days!

Now time to get present wrapping!

no more cold....off to see the sun!

It feels like such a long time ago when we booked this mini-break....

its so exciting now its finally here!

We're off to eat, haggle, relax and enjoy the sun for a few days in Marrakech!

I will try and bring some warmth back for you all in the freezing UK!

Take care all!

Christmas gift guide

Here's some finds that I've discovered during my internet shopping browsing

that may help make your gift buying a little easier this year!

1. the best bird box I think I have ever seen from Smith and Gift

2. Lilsonnysky is one of my favourite blogs, Lisa has had some super work for sale in her etsy shop this year including these christmas cards...see here for more.

3. I've not got an excuse to buy these yet...I'm waiting for my nephews to grow a little more!

See here for more details

4. I've put my order in for a couple of these calendars from the talented Rob Ryan,

make a great gift and only £5. Available here or maybe here.

5. I really love the simple yet very effective designs from Orla Kiely...

these little storage jars would make a great gift with some goodies inside...available here

6. I'm planning on sending some festive flowers this year....I love these orchids.

Available with delivery included for £17.99 from Bunches

7. I've had my eye on this Donna Wilson plate for a while and I've dropped a few hints!

Maybe Santa will read this! You can buy it online here Santa! Thank you! ;)

8. This is such a great gift idea for all ages I reckon....you can have an old Ladybird fairytale books personalised to have your chosen names in it! So you could become Cinderella!

Available from Gift Republic

Here's my christmas gift guide from 2009

Have fun christmas shopping everyone!

I love pub food....

I've recently had the pleasure of working with the Angel Inn pub

in Misson (Bawtry, South Yorkshire, see here)....

and though you may think I'm a little bias....it is true to say you'd find it hard to

beat them for great pub food! It really is delicious!

Here's a Christmas Flyer I created for them recently.

Super photos taken by the photographer, Alex Leay

Let it snow!

I love the snow! So I was happy to see even more today!

(I know, I know! this is easy for me to say....sat in my warm house working from home!)

Everything looks so pretty, the sun even came out earlier for a little while which made

the view from my window look even more beautiful!

I had a lovely walk to Tesco express this morning in my wellies!

Gary our cat is loving too...he's been either playing in it or watching it so far today.

enjoy the weather but take care walking and driving everyone!

Chocolate.....

....perfect treat for a friday!

I've been doing a little packaging design, here's a little pic of a chocolate box

which I designed the artwork for.

They're available when you purchase a lovely bunch of flowers from

Bunches, a super flower by post company who come highly recommended....see here

Well what a week its been....I've finished my second book deadline for Buster Books, which I will be sure to share with you when I can, there is good news for a change in the media....the Chandlers are home and there's to be a royal wedding...bring on the extra bank holiday, and our cat Gary swallowed a polystyrene packaging wotsit whole!

Have a super weekend everyone....check out this wonderful heart warming video here....it's wonderful!

lets not forget.....

find me in.....

Quick Cards made easy....a magazine for all the card making fans out there!

I was asked back in the summer to get festive and create some papers to that readers can use to create their own cards. Magazine is out now....Issue 81, Christmas edition!

Purr-fect Lippy!

This Lipstick from Paul and Joe must be the cutest around!

Almost too good to use!

Thanks to Lucy at LittlethingsImake for sharing. They can be purchased here.

snow? already!

Here's a little sledging inspired design I did a little while back for a scrap-booking commission.

There's talk of snow already here in the Uk....no sign of it down in the midlands though.

Hope you've all got a fun weekend planned....

mine will be work filled broken up with a night of cheesy saturday night tv!

a wedding weekend!

Back in September I went on Rachel from RahRahRepeats hen do!

I meant to blog about this a while back....before time escaped me!

I was 1950s themed and it was fantastic!

Her bridesmaid Ria did a very great job of organising! Hats off to Ria!

Here are some snaps from the weekend.....that included lots of treats including homemade diner style food, 50s hair dos thanks to the talented Lucille, a showing of Grease at the

worlds smallest cinema, popcorn goodie boxes,

more food and drinks, laughs and dancing amongst much much more! Perfect!

brilliant personalised chip cartons! Thanks to Christina...and here's her blog!

I've used the photos from Rachel, Lauren and the top bridesmaid Ria.

Click their names to see their blogs!

The pic below shows Lauren getting her hair done by the lovely Lucille!

Now for the wedding, I'm really looking forward to it! I'm sure it will be a super day tomorrow for all but most importantly for the lovely Mr and Mrs.....who met a long time ago back in maths class!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Check out the Suits!

I think I have mentioned to you already about Abimaro Suit....my talented sister in law to be.

This is her blog...she's got lots of big things happening for her at the

moment which make for an interesting read and listen too!

Abimaro's sister Lakwena recently created this cover for the Abimaro and the Free EP....

click here if you'd like a listen or even better to purchase!

Lakwena is another creative talent from the Suit family...

who seems to always have an interesting project up her sleeve.

I certainly recommend that you check out her blog to see more of her work and keep up dated!

who loves chocolate!?

Well I don't think there's many folk out there who dislike chocolate!

I was very pleased to be invited along to the launch of a

new chocolate company last week called Moko Chocolates!

I had a very lovely time playing hook a duck and sampling lots of very tasty chocolate!

I'll certainly be putting an order in soon!

These truffles look great!

welcome Autumn

well Autumn is well and truly here....

I do miss my flip flops but I am enjoying having an excuse to go shopping for new hats!

Here's a little squirrel I created for a new Autumn brochure that I worked on for Bunches....a super flowers by post company! A perfect place for easy present buying...here's their website!

Cherished little one....

Here's a lovely top which I had the pleasure of working on the graphics for. Its part of a new AW range called Cherished from Mamas and Papas. They've got some lovely ranges out this season....see here for more and click here to see the Cherished range.

All available to buy online.

--COPYRIGHT OF IMAGE AND ARTWORK BELONGS TO MAMAS AND PAPAS--

Origin Craft Fair 2010

I had a lovely weekend in London

(but tiring!! I'm still aching from the half marathon on Sunday! But very pleased that me and my sister in law completed it! Hooray!!).

On Saturday I popped along to the Origin Craft Fair in Spitalfields Market....there were lots to stands to see so I thought I'd share some of my favourites....

Being a map fan this gorgeous wall art by Claire Brewster really caught my eye...

I unexpectedly picked up my first christmas present from Thornback and Peel! :D

Here's some work below from Lauren Van Helmond....I love her characters, great work:

This thread art really caught my eye, I hadn't seen anything like it before, it was very striking.

All created by artist Debbie Smyth. Debbie has an exhibition on at the moment called ThreadBare which is at Manchester Craft and Design Centre until the end of October.

I wish I was closer to be able to check it out more easily....so you'll have to let me know if you go!

and last but my no means least my lovely friend Abigail Brown had a lovely stand displaying her feathered creations! She really is a super talent...she will be at Origin until wednesday and I would definitely recommend a trip! Book online first if you can.

Happy Friday!

My friday just got a whole lot better with the arrival of this beauty! Such a big treat! I have been eagerly awaiting Amazon to show up with it!

This week has flown by but Autumn seems to be creeping up on us here in the UK...I can feel that chill in the air and the leaves are starting to crisp!

Soon be time to get the winter woolies out!

I'm off to London town this weekend to visit my talented bird maker friend Abigail Brown at Origin, catch up with my brother and soon to be sister in law Abimaro (check out here beautiful voice here)....THEN its half marathon time on Sunday! Uh oh...what have I let myself in for!?!

Hope you've all got a lovely weekend planned!

a sunny retreat

I've had a short week again this week after a lovely long weekend in Arta, Majorca...it was very nice relaxing with friends and consuming lots of good food and drink....we even had an evening dancing in the street due to the local festival being on while we were there. Oh it was Great!

Autumn seems to be well and truly kicking in now...I love all those fallen crispy leaves!

check out this fresh new blog!

Here's a lovely brand new blog from friend Lucy Belfield....she produces super work so I certainly think this blog is one to keep your eye on!

Check it out here

I'm off away again! lucky lucky I know!

Its a long weekend in sunny Majorca!

oh I can't wait for that sun on my skin....with sfp of course!!

Have a great weekend everyone...make the most of what is left of summer! :D

I'm running...a half marathon!

uh oh!! only 3 weeks to go til I'll be running over 13 miles as part of Run to the Beat in London with my sister-in-law Louisa.

I've been putting in some hard training for a while now and I'm getting there...it's a big achievement for me as when I started running I couldn't even run a mile.

We'll be raising money for NeST, which is a charity that is hoping to find a cure for Nephrotic Syndrome. My other sister in law has been diagnosed with this kidney condition which has little awareness and often affects young people. You can read more about it here

and if you would like to show your support click here.

It would certainly be much appreciated!

I created this running kidney for our sponsor page! :D

something for the weekend....

My talented friend Abigail Brown has teamed up with Craig Goode to create this lovely video to celebrate 100 issues of IdN magazine.

The music is so well suited and is by a folk singer called Magpahi

click here to view

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm off for some 1950s fun for Rahrahs hen do!

Fantastic tweed!

I love these!! Tweed clad badger and fox!

They were in a window display in Edinburgh....its not a great photo as it was dark and I only had my phone. But you can see and read more here as they're created by an Edinburgh College of Art student called Lizzie Povey.

Edinburgh Fringe!

The Edinburgh Fringe is the world biggest arts festival. There's so much to see and do!

I only had 2 nights there once I was back from Poland

but I would LOVE to go back next year for more.

I was lucky enough to tag along with best friend who was there with work, so we saw lots of shows put on by people she works with. John Luke Roberts and Kevin Eldon were highlights.

I'm inspired to go to more stand up...

luckily there's a new comedy place opening up in Nottingham!

I felt very fortunate to have the chance to go with someone who knows where they're going as well as staying in a very lovely apartment!

I hadn't been to Edinburgh since I was a kid so it was great to spend some time there.

Its a very beautiful city...I will certainly be returning, Fringe or no Fringe!

A fantastic end to my break!