A welcome return ...

... when Leiko Beck announced she was taking a break from designing, I was gutted. You see, I'd only just joined her CT and I was so looking forward to creating lots & lots of pages using her gorgeously whimsical designs.

Fast forward a few months and out of the blue I get an email from Leiko saying she's designing again (albeit a one off special) and that she's guest designer at ScrapInsider during August and to celebrate, she's created a number of exclusive goodies!!!

Firstly a gorgeous full kit called Needle & Thread, which is just bursting at the seams (pardon the pun!) with beautifully coloured patterned papers, cute stitched effect elements and a full alpha set.


Here's one of the pages I've created using this kit ...

Secondly, Leiko's created a fabulous set of texture overlays, delightfully called Over It ...

Gorgeous aren't they? They're super easy to use too, but in case you get stuck Leiko's even provided easy to follow instructions ... simple! Why not treat yourself to both kits whilst you can and to make things even more tempting, they're currently on offer with 20% off!!!

My virtual world is restored ...

... at long last I have a secure and stable Internet access and it's all thanks to my shiny new Dell Inspiron laptop, which looks just like this ... So "hello" my friends and fellow bloggers!

I actually purchased my new laptop last weekend, but it's taken longer than anticipated to get it all set-up with my scrapbooking programme (Photoshop 7) and all my "favourites" (which, by-the-way, I hadn't realised how much I rely on these little shortcuts.) Trying to remember the web addresses of all the forums, galleries, shops and blogs I visit regularly was an absolute nightmare! In fact, there are still a few sites that I've yet to bookmark, like the gallery at oscraps (I really miss that place, don't you?)

So now that I have super speedy hardware, you'd think I'd spend all my time scrapping right? Well unfortunately not. Since coming back from my holiday, I've been working back at my old office(!) My old boss asked if I could help out whilst they were rolling out a new software release and of course I said yes. It was weird at first, but now it feels like I've never been away. For the past two weeks, I've been working a regular 9am-5pm routine and I'd completely forgotten just how little time that then leaves for being creative. Having said that, I'm determined to get back into a positive scrapping and blogging routine!

I'll be posting again during the week and this time I'll have some exciting news about a wonderfully talented designer making a very welcome return to the digiscrapping world!!! Care to guess who it is?

Trojans, viruses and utter chaos ...

... that's what my virtual world consists of right now! Just as my hOme is restored, my laptop decides to start playing up and it appears to have been infected with a Trojan horse / virus or some other general nastiness! So unfortunately, until I can get it resolved (or a replacement laptop purchased), I'm gonna be "off-line" again ... I'm hoping it won't be any longer than week.

AAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Normal service resumed ...

... well, almost. When I was away on holiday, I knew I wasn't going to have regular access to my virtual world and I accepted that, after all there were plenty of other activities to occupy my mind. But when my virtual home wasn't accessible during this past week, I just felt lost! Where else could I get my daily fix of digi-scrapping life??? Sure, there are other forums out there (or so I'm told!) to have a chit chat with friends in. Sure, there are other stores (or so I'm told!) where I can purchase stash. And sure, there are other galleries (or so I'm told!) full of creations to inspire me. But, like I've said before, there really is no place like hOme.

WelcOme back Oscraps forum ... I've missed you!

Back in the real world ...

... it always takes longer than anticipated! I kinda forgot all the usual day-2-day stuff that needs to be done, let alone any digiscrapping commitments I needed to catch up on. In fact, there are still a couple of CT requirements that I need to get done, so if any of the designers I "work" with are reading this, I promise I'll get caught up on everything by the end of this week, OK?

Anyhoo, I really wanted to post today so I could share just a few of the photos I took during my recent holiday. Now I appreciate it can be torturous looking at other peoples photo albums (after all that's why we scrapbook isn't it?), so I'm not gonna bore you with all 451 photos(!) ... instead, I've picked just 17 of the images that I hope will wet your appetite ... don't be too surprised if you see these bad boys making another appearance in my LO's over the next few days / weeks / months ...

New kid on the block ...

... OK, so before you all start screaming "I love you Jordan / Donnie / Joey" et al, I'd better clarify my opening line ... my dear friend Tina is opening her store at Little Dreamer Designs today and I couldn't be happier for her! You see Tina is one of the winners of LDD's Apprentice Programme which took place earlier this year, and after a lot of hard work and dedication, her dreams are coming true and her kits are now available for all!

To celebrate, Tina's store is 25% off for a whole week! Not only that, but she's got a super fun challenge of her blog and she's gonna be giving away coupons via Twitter (@tinamarie001) and Facebook (http://ow.ly/28XEq) ... so don't forget to sign-up & follow the coolest, hippest, new {designing} kid on the block.

So relaxed and laid back ...

... I'm almost horizontal! But that's what holidays are for, right? Yet at the same time, I'm really glad to be home. Dorothy was right you know.

So this is just a flying post to say "hi!" and to let you know that once I've tackled the mountain of laundry I've just unpacked, replenished the empty food cupboards in my kitchen and made a dent in the unread emails in my mailbox, I'll be back with the lowdown and to share a selection of my holiday snapshots with you. Just give me a day or two to get back into some kind of routine first, yeah?