Whoopidoo...ings

2012-01-31T15:00:00.002Z

Hello all,

Thought I'd pop by and let you know I haven't fallen off the edge of the Earth. It's been busy, busy, busy here. Some good - lots of painty, sketchy fun and lots of reading. Some not so good... we have been the house of vomit and poo for a few days. Nice. Not me thank goodness but the Little Monsters have been under the weather. My cooking was blamed when the first one went down but when they all went down I was given a reprieve. Cheek.

Anyhoo, I am also in the midst of a purge, declutter and general organisation of my little corner of the house. It literally is a corner - you'd think I wouldn't be able to accumulate so much clutter in a corner wouldn't you? Once I'm finished I'll be catching up on the blogs and doing a post or three :)

Hope you are all well and happy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rocking My World Friday...

2012-01-20T18:51:00.008Z

Good evenink Friday Rockers. I hope your week has been to your liking? Mine? Well - read on by jove, read on!

First up a couple of video's. See, just one of the many, many, many reasons I love crows...

...and secondly, Christopher Walken reading Where The Wild Things Are... seriously, I cannot tell you how much I love this!

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The Walkman my Dad got me for Christmas, am still figuring it out but at least can listen to music on it now. I forgot how different music sounds, how fabulous, how wonderful when played through earphones. It's been to long.

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Braille paper received from the amazing Gauche Alchemy girls. I love this stuff. No, really, I L.O.V.E this stuff. If I could use it on everything I would - I have a very special project in mind for this...

They sent me a nice little stash to keep me going, how fabby of them? I would share but... I don't wanna :D To get your own, head over to their store here. This is mine all mine all mine all mine!

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Talking, proper talking with him I love. It''s good to talk, it really is.

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A friend on Facebook mentioning how well she was doing on a low GI health plan. It's spurred me on to get my bum in gear and get healthy. I had tried again with Slimming World but, don't know, been having a mental block there. I've ordered a couple of GI books off of Amazon and shall give it a crack. It's apparently very good for helping if you have diabetes so am assuming it would help to ward it off too. Thank you for all the lovely, supportive messages over on my Fat to Fit blog. It has meant so much.

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Amazon Recommends. My but you are a tease Amazon. Why do I visit my recommendations page every day? Why? So many books, so little cash. Am an addict... for art & craft books in particular. Blimey there's some yummy ones out and coming out. Don't you think Amazon should sweeten the recommends with a freebie now and again? I do! Silly how much pleasure I get just sitting leafing through them though and then the reviews and then back to the books. Sorting out which ones will go on the wishlist today... am I mad? Amazon, look what you've done to me!

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Lastly, just a general air of... I don't know... that I'm talking less and actually doing stuff? In every way from creating, to my health... Slowly but surely. Slowly but surely.

So, how has your week been? Good I hope. Why not drop by Virginia's and see the rest of the Rockers, maybe join in?

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This next bit is for Sam who mentioned on my last WOYWW post that she couldn't properly see my sketchbook/journal wotsit. So here it is - as I say, I doubt it classes as an art journal... portable scrapbook maybe? Visual journal... Whatever, I just stick stuff in, doodle...

The book is a handmade one, a gift from my sister - she bought it in the famous London Market...so famous I forget the name. But it was from a lady selling her handmade books. I love it but was scared to use it for the longest time!

The writing on the first page is where I've copied out the quote that has inspired me so much this year. The other page is another one I really like. The feather is a gift from a crow when he left our bird table :)

The doodle I did ages ago and will maybe cover up, maybe add to. See how I feel. The flower was a card I received. I doodled over it, liked the shapes.

Another doodle from ages ago. Oh - I thought I took a couple more piccies. Must not have uploaded... and being a tea fiend I do now need to go get a cuppa.

Thank you as always for stopping by :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2012-01-15T16:40:00.010Z

On Sunday. Sorry. Sorry. Where are the days going? Honestly! I have a teeny excuse in that I've had a weird bug for a couple of days that rendered me even more cotton wool brained than usual and full of lethargy and nausea. Feeling a lot better now but still - aren't the days just flying past?

So, am making myself sit down and do my Rocking post before I blink and it's next Friday.

First up - Herbert. Who is Herbert? Herbert is this cute little zombie...

He arrived on my doorstep during the week, sent by Carol, the ressurector of the woolly undead. Isn't he fab? He's going to sit on my bedside table for when my night-time reading gets a little to scary! Thank you Carol :D

During my WOYWW wanderings last week, spotting my blog open on someone else's laptop. That someone else was Carolyn and she was mid-WOYWW-hop as she took her photo. Still it filled me with glee. Yes, these little things make me happy!

I treated myself to this. Isn't it cute? What do you mean "what is it?"

It's a little kneadable eraser. In it's own plastic box to keep it clean in your case!! In. It's. Own. Box! Shut up - I'm allowed to love it! I actually had it on my wishlist for a while before deciding maybe I'm being a bit to strict on my stash ban.

The Gauche Alchemy girlies are high on my list this week. I've been thinking for a while about resigning my post on the design team. My head has not been in the right place and I was getting behind and late on my commitments and didn't want to be forever emailing with apologies and holding them back. So I resigned my post this week and said goodbye in the newsletter. My baby. (Are you signed up? If not, why not? Do it here!) They've been amazing, I totally love all of them and Gauche Alchemy itself. They couldn't have been more understanding - or more flattering and ego boosting - always nice! I already miss them and they haven't fully locked me out of the inner workings yet. There's the part of me wondering if I've made a mistake and the part of me knowing that I need to do this spring clean of mind, body, soul etc. (Remember my resolutions?) Who knows, in a little while, maybe they'll let me go grovelling back.

Stamps. Of the postal kind. Have you seen the new Roald Dahl stamps? Now I'm not a stamp collector but I do love stamps that have art work on. I've never bought a set but have been known to steam them off when I come across them. I'd love a set of the Horror movie poster ones that were around a while ago - managed to salvage a couple of Dracula's off of some jiffy's and got a Rocky Horror one on a book a while ago... but anyway I digress... Much excitement when I saw the new set coming out. Love Quentin Blake illustrations and was chuffed to bits when, with much amusement, Craig went and got me a set :D

So, the question is am I brave enough to use them in my art or my journal or do I keep them all pristine (part of me thinks that isn't likely!)

So, lets think, what else? Am grateful that I'm feeling better after that bug during the week, for doing tiny amounts of creativity here and there, for all the blogs I follow that keep me feeling inspired, for my family, for my health - as ratty as it may be, for seeing my sister excited about the upcoming comic-con in London - it's been a while since I've seen her like that and it is lovely. For my ratbag girls who in equal parts annoy the Hell out of me and make me laugh, usually all within the space of the same few minutes. For Craig's Mum and her competitive streak on Facebook games, for just being alive.

How about you? How's your week been? To play along just click here to link up with Virginia (for this was her idea) or click the big picture at the top of this post ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW?

2012-01-11T12:02:00.005Z

Greetings fellow snoopers. Bit more to show you this week. Still relatively (under duress) tidy but at least there's signs of creativity.

We have:

A review copy of Hollow Pike (Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!)
A cuddly zombie, a pressie from the lovely Carol (It's been a fabby snail mail day!)
My Artists & Illustrators mag - dumped there after my bath last night. Have to say - particularly excellent issue this month - a keeper!
A sketchbook. Not sure if this counts as an art journal, scrapbook, junk journal or what. Bit of everything in there but it's getting me doing my 10 minutes of creativity a day.
A random tenner. Been moving round my desk all week, waiting to find it's way to my stash savings pot.
An empty cup. Will remedy that in a mo.

Zombie eating Barbie (out of shot) is no further along but I may work on her this week :)

If you want to play along and rummage through a few desks, maybe even bare all yourself... make sure you head over to Desk Mistress Julia and link up so we can all find you.

Thanks for stopping by - y'all come back now y'here?

Rocking My World Friday...

2012-01-06T14:39:00.000Z

Click the piccy to link up with Virginia and play along :)

Hello Friday Rockers how are you this fine first week of 2012?

So far... and it's Tuesday as I'm typing at the moment, the first week of 2012 has been pretty good. Positive mind set still runneth over . First grateful is of course, you lot. You done made me blub you did. Hope you are proud of yourselves. The lovely comments on my Rocking Friday yearly round up and my Motto post. Well. I am beginning to think that a) I'm an emotional wreck and b) You lot enjoy setting me off! Stop breaking down my walls dangnabbit! I am supposed to be the Ice Queen. Or so I like to tell myself. You are ruining my street cred! Am slowly replying to you individually but this is a mass thank you.

Talking of street cred. I had to guffaw at the amount of talk of this little group being 'the cool gang'. I can honestly say, never ever in my life have I ever been part of a cool gang. In fact so bullied was I by some people that my mantra for most of my life has been "Le freak? C'est chic!" Haha! However if we get to decide that we are the cool gang then we are! Uber cool!

Next up on my Rocking List for this week. Lurkers. Or should I say a certain lurker in particular. I got an amazing email this week from someone who has silently followed the blog for a while. She emailed me this week because she saw this You Tube footage of Alice Cooper and thought of me!

How absolutely lovely is that? Really made my day. Makes me realise that maybe more people read the blog than I realise. I don't know how to read statistics and what not so I usually just think it's mainly the few people that comment that read the blog. Thank you Sally - for your lovely words and thinking of me with the link. You gave me much food for thought.

Talking of video's - I stumbled on this one quite by accident today. Can't even remember how, one of those click a link within a link within a link type things...

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Words fail me and for some reason it makes me quite emotional each time I watch. Isn't it beautiful?

I won this book on Twitter. Octopus were calling for people to review it and I was one of the lucky ones, all they ask is an honest review be added to Amazon, it's well worth following them as they quite often do that with books.
I'm going to follow the 2 week plan that's inside before I review it - I'm hoping it will kick-start my healthy eating again after the Christmas naughtiness.

The girls are back at school which means the house is slowly coming back into some semblance of order... during the day at least. It also means I'll be using my lunchtimes to catch up on arty things like classes and just generally try and get better. I've been doing well so far, sometimes it literally is 10 minutes of creativity a day but that's still way more than the last few months.

Watching the news this week with the high winds and rain, I'm grateful to simply have a roof over our heads... and even heating now that we are in our new house. We would have been cold last year with no central heating but I would have still been grateful for the roof - even though it was leaky.

Cooper Mad Mutt Pooper - who has literally just landed on my lap, stuck his foot in my hot cup of tea, shook it everywhere, jumped down and stalked off - looking at me disgustedly like it was somehow my fault! He's lucky I like crazy lunatics isn't he? Well I like you lot - there's proof right there! Haha!

I hope you had a good week, thank you as always for stopping by. It's lovely to see a few more people have joined in this week. If you'd like to join us in rooting out the positives each week, make sure and stop by Virginia's with a link so we can all find you.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

2012-01-04T09:56:00.007Z

Hello WOYWWers. It's been so long since I've played along that I feel like a newbie all over again. I don't even have anything interesting to show you, I just wanted to join in the madness once again. I let things get on top of me last year and stopped doing some of the stuff I enjoy the most. Madness eh?

Pretty clear. Now that my stu-stu-studio is, alas, no more, I'm back in the tiny corner of our living room. Seeing as my partner is the male version, if not worse, of Monica from Friends (that is actually his nickname) I have to try and keep it reasonably tidy or be nagged. *Sigh*

There's some mini alpha stamps I bought from Dunelm Mill before Christmas, the Walkman my Dad got me for Christmas... and I'm still figuring out! On top of the PC tower there is some sketchbooks I'm trying to keep close at hand so that I can fulfill my resolution of at least 10 minutes creativity every day. You can also see my amigurami Alice Cooper angel who sits on my desk throughout the year inbetween his top of the tree duties. Made by Ewa a couple of years ago :P

Oh wait - there is actually a W.I.P on top of the desk - the doll sitting on the printer is my zombie girl. She's chomping on Barbie's head. We are having issues though - she's just texture paste over a skeleton at the moment. Am thinking of covering her in clay.

I'll leave you with this scary image...

Anyone else find that as frightening as I do? I had hoped to incorporate these into a different kind of WOYWW, ran out of time. Maybe next week.

Thank you as always for stopping by.

Oops, see? So long since I played I almost forgot to say: If you'd like to play along, make sure you link up with Julia; Deskmistress Extraordinaire :)

Life Motto

2012-01-02T15:19:00.008Z

I saw this quote on Pinterest a while ago and it has really, really stuck with me.

Source: Uploaded by user via Carmen on Pinterest

I don't know why but I have a good feeling about 2012. In no way am I forgetting the ending to last year or the people lost over the previous 5 or 6 years. But looking ahead - I am feeling a change in the way I think. This quote pretty much sums it up. So, I'm not joining in with picking a word this year. I'm going to remember that quote instead. I'm going to roll with this... almost thunderbolt feeling that I've got at the moment. That this is it! You know? This life, this is it. Only I can make myself happy, the people around me can help, sure, but ultimately only I can make the changes, be the person I want to be. If one path becomes blocked I have to find another and not just give up. How can I inspire my girls to follow their dreams when their mother isn't?

Source: fridgedoor.com via Carmen on Pinterest

So, corny as it sounds. New Year, New Me. You may like me - you may not, in which case feel free to click away. I hope you stay. A while at least.

Happy New Year people and thank you for stopping by :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-12-30T07:00:00.013Z

Rocking My ~~World Friday~~ Year...

It's fair to say that the latter part of our 2011 has been pretty damn horrible to say the least. So I thought for the last Rocking Friday of the year it would serve me well to look back at the whole year and remember the good points too.

So here goes :)

We won a fight. It was good against evil and the fight had been going on for over 10 years. I wont say more than that but it's changed the whole mood of our family unit, a load has been lifted. To one particular member of our family - they are a changed person. They are a happy and carefree, confident person. They have control over their own future. That in itself is pretty epic. It's easy to forget when amazing things happen at the beginning of the year.

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We moved house... our old one nearly ended up with a lorry parked in the living room but the end result was it prompting a move to a nicer area. The new house has a big workshop so it made sense to bring the business with us rather than keep on paying for separate unit fees. It's nice having Craig kind of at home during the day - out in the workshop but able to pop in for tea and lunch. Means I can be more of a help too as he can bring in any paperwork or packing he needs a hand with.

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I got a stu-stu-studio! Ok, I only had it a few months and, because of the move, am now back in the corner of our living room... but while I had it, I had the chance to play around, to realise what I want to do. I had the great feeling that Craig is fully supportive of me. I would love, in an ideal world to call myself an artist without turning it into a joke. Craig can't understand why I don't - I think I feel like I need to be earning an income from it to be able to call myself it... I don't know why. I think I am getting myself on that path. Having the stu-studio for that short while has been a helping shove in the right direction.

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Earlier in the year I reviewed a couple of books I'd read. Then I looked at my wishlist, sussed out most of the books were from the same few publishers and decided to email them. Nervously and with much grovelly cheek I asked them to consider my blog to be added to their reviewer database. Some didn't reply. Some said yes. The one I had all my fingers crossed for said yes. So I've been very lucky to be sent some gorgeous art & craft books and some really fabulous fiction books this year. Books I would otherwise never have been able to afford. And because of this I can pass my good luck and their generosity on in the form of giveaways. I really am grateful to them for trusting in my little blog, for giving me the chance to read all these great books (oh, but I love books so much!) and not only that but give my opinion on them too. I do like giving my opinion! Big, big positive of my year.

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Every other year we holiday in Scotland. This year was that 'other' year. I love it up there - I hide it well, I know. I love the drive, the area we go to, I love the purple mountains, the clean air, clean water, I love the locals. It's always sad coming home... but it's always fun looking forward to next time.

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My girls. Yes I know I'm biased. And yes, they could make bickering a champion sport. But they are my bickering monsters and when I look around at some of the "yoof" of today, I'm insanely proud of them. They're polite to others, they are creative, intelligent, thoughtful, they're all doing well at school. Yep - my girls rock my World.

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My Craig. It's only when I watch other couples or hear other parents down the school really saying awful, awful things about their partners that I realise how special and maybe these days, unusual, our relationship is. It's taken hard work and we've been through some rocky patches and had to overcome quite a lot. He really is my best friend. I can't imagine life without him. We know each other so well, each others foibles, bad habits.... it's like they say - we know the best of each other and the worst but love each other anyway. If there is such a thing as soul mates then I reckon he's mine.

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I won a £50 Amazon voucher! *Whoop, whoop!* Amazon is probably my favourite shop in the World!

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I've been fortunate to win a few book giveaways this year too.
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The day out tickets that last a year. They've made it possible to give the girls a lot more days out to places that usually are to expensive to justify the price for only one day. We are going to rotate and do a couple of different places a year. I think it's such a great idea and am so glad so many places seem to be adopting it.

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Friends both online and off. It's when you go through poopy patches in life you realise who your friends are. Mine are amazing and I feel privileged to know each and every one of you. I only hope I can return the friendship you've shown me.

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The Secret Santa swap - it was such a laugh and just when I needed it, I would get an email with one of you 'fessing up to having opened your pressie or telling me how sneaky your stalking tactics were. Such a great bunch of people took part. It really was a highlight of my year! You crazy fools!

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Mr (or Mrs) Silver Crow. I still see him flying about and he always seems to stay in this area. I'd never seen one before and still haven't managed to catch a good picture. He's definitely silver and not albino. Still think he was my good omen.

Ooh and the Artful Bird book I got for Christmas has a crow pattern in it! Huzzah!
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Having Craig's Mum and my Dad here for Christmas. It was a family Christmas, the girls harassing them to play, me murdering a roast dinner, board games and to much food. But it was lovely and am glad they are both coming again for the New Year.

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I'm sure there is so much more I've not put down here - but that's not a bad look back at all is it? It would have been so easy to write off the whole year because of the terrible things that happened at the end. Thanks to Rocking Friday I'm learning to think of the whole picture and not just focus all my attentions on the bad. It's to easy to feel yourself slipping into despair if you do that. So for this reason Virginia and her Rocking Friday's are a huge positive to me this year. I'm finding it an invaluable tool in not sinking but instead treading water and even walking in the sun. Thank you Virginia.

Why not join in next year and take part in Rocking Fridays yourself? If you do, make sure to link up so that we can all find you.

Thank you as always for stopping by.

Resolute!

2011-12-29T21:20:00.002Z

A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.

Quoting Frank Ra (author of the new year's resolution book "A course in happiness"): "Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution. Peer-support makes a difference in success rate with new year's resolutions". According to Gretchen Rubin (author of best-seller "The Happiness Project"): "You hit a goal, you achieve a goal. You keep a resolution". - Taken from wikipedia.

So there we have it. I hate the term New Year's Resolutions. Makes it sound like you'll only stick to it at New Year. But anyway, the theme over at Butterfly Effect is Resolutions and so I thought I would join in :)

My goals for 2012...

1: Be Creative. Every. Single. Day. Even if it's only for 5 or 10 minutes. Make the time.
2: One new recipe a week. Ok, I do cook from scratch a lot but it's the same 4 or 5 meals all the time. It's getting so boring.
3. Be healthier. Mind, body and soul.
4: Don't give a flying fig. (I know what this one means.)
5: No more classes until I have finished the ones I've paid for.
6: Finish those classes.

What about you? Any goals or just winging it? :)

Mwaaaaaaaah!
Happy New Year!

(Back tomorrow with Rocking Friday! Ooh, so organised!)

She Made Something!

2011-12-29T11:26:00.010Z

She did!

After a dry spell lasting months, of arid desert and tumbleweed... hark, there was light. And spark. And creation!

They may be small, each canvas just 5x7" to be exact, but boy did they cause much rejoicing here! The Mojo is back Baby! Yeah!

Backgrounds were made up of tissue paper, braille paper and foreign text with tons of stencilling, masking, stamping and paint. Much messy fun. The Tim Burton quote was for Joyce, my stalkee in the swap on here and the other was for a Stocking Swap over on UKS.

Boy, did it feel good making these. It's a dark old place when Mojo boogers off like that!

Thanks as always, for stopping by :)

Book Goodies...

2011-12-28T16:20:00.009Z

I thought I'd share what book goodies were under my Christmas tree - expect reviews inflicted upon you very soon :P

The Artful Bird one of two books from my lovely friend Lesley. She snagged this off my wishlist. I added it as soon as I saw this project on I Craft My Pants.

Zombie Felties one of two books I received from my sister Sue. We don't see each other much throughout the year what with jobs and family stuff but every single year she gets me the perfect gift - don't know how she does it. Not like I go on about zombies and crafting whenever we do meet... or do I? Hmmm... Thanks Sue!

William Blake - The Complete Illuminated Books from Virginia. Love it - gorgeous book. Again, snagged from my wishlist.

Zombies vs Unicorns Yeeeeeeaaaaah! From my Dad... nabbed from my wishlist.
Necropolis - the other book from my sister, Sue. Looks amazing.

Vampire Box Set containing the start books of 3 separate series - part of my present from the lovely Gaily.

I Am Scrooge from Susie Sue. Can't wait to read this one!

White Crow - the other book from Lesley. Off my wishlist, been wanting to read this one for AGES!
A lovely A4 sketchbook from my sister Mel. (Counts as a book, right?) It's leather or leather effect. She got the two eldest monsters one, I was sitting watching them opening them, my pout was getting bigger and bigger, she 'fessed up eventually that she'd got one for me too *g*

I've also gone a little mad in the Amazon kindle book sale today. Sssshhh! Mostly zombie, ghostie and supernatural fiction. What a surprise:

Florence and Giles - 99p
The End Specialist - 99p
The Dead of Winter - 99p
Seed - 86p
From Within - 86p
Skulduggery Pleasant - 99p
Apartment 16 - £2.39
The Drowning Pool - 99p

Had to come away before I got any more - you forget how quickly those 99p's add up. There are some great looking books there. Amazon is such an enabler! I always seem to think eBooks don't count in a book ban too :P

What do you reckon? Aren't I lucky! Did you get any great reads this year?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Secret Santa - The Wrap Up!

2011-12-27T19:05:00.010Z

Finally - sorry for the lateness with this post people, I've been trying to get good pictures but they are all coming out fuzzy and wobbly. No it's not that! Am on the tea!

Firstly - to all the Secret Santa's, thank you so much for making my first hosted swap such fun! I really had a laugh, especially at some of you naughty people who just couldn't wait to open their pressies!

On to my Santa. Wow what a gorgeous gift was received... you are not even seeing half of what is here, loads of music/book pages, fabulous, perfect images, postal stamps, beads, buttons, fabric, napkin, findings...

Look at this... a gorgeous decorated frame and... I am a little worried about just how well my Santa seems to know me...

It's no secret I love me a good zombie tale... but I didn't think I had let slip my Scrooge obsession... Any take on the Scrooge story, I just love, no matter how corny or cheesy. My all time favourite Cristmas film is Scrooged with Bill Murray. So zombies AND Scrooge... in the same book? Perfection! My Dad already tried to sneak off with it! No chance! Thank you, thank you, thank you Sue!

There were some very naughty Santa's who also sent me a present as well as their recipients. I really wasn't expecting that and it was a lovely surprise. But you all really shouldn't have, I'm glad you did as I love everything but you shouldn't have. I must admit to some squealing with some wobbly lipped-ness here. Thank you for all your lovely messages.

Ninjaaaa and yummy brooche from Paige

Beautiful Christmas album from Wendy

Mixed media goodies from Sam... including one of her crow stamps! *Much, much happiness* Look at the crow smiling - how happy he is to come live with me! Those labels are just gorgeous too!

Very, very naughty book from Virginia. This was on my Amazon wishlist... which, although I take great voyeuristic joy in secretly stalking other peoples lists, (what? Nothing creepy or wrong about that!) it never crossed my mind that anybody else did. It's a truly beautiful book as was the message that came with it. Thank you Virginia. You really did catch me by surprise!

I'm still gobsmacked and touched at how thoroughly spoilt I've been this year. Still shaking my head in disbelief if I'm honest. Thank you again all of you.

Now. On to who sent to who (whom?) I know some of you are still in suspenders ;)

I sent to Joyce (Gift blogged)
Amy sent to Brandy
Virginia sent to Susie (Gift blogged)
Joanna sent to Sam (Gift blogged)
Cameron sent to Andrea
Carol sent to Wendy
Susie sent to me (Gift blogged... on this post)
Sarah sent to Paige (Gift blogged)
Sam sent to Sarah (Gift blogged)
Wendy sent to Virginia (Gift blogged) and Donna (Gift blogged)
Brandy sent to Cameron
Paige sent to Joanna (Gift blogged)
Joyce sent to Carole (Gift blogged)
Andrea sent to Amy
Donna sent to Wendy (Gift blogged)

I think I've linked up to everyone who blogged their gifts, if you have and I've missed you - give me a shout!

Thank you again for making this so much fun! Who's up for same time next year?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Just Wanted To Say...

2011-12-24T00:02:00.001Z

Merry Christmas!

Comic Source.

Hope it's a good 'un for all of you :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-12-23T07:09:00.009Z

Happy Friday people :)

I thought I'd try filling this out during the week - it's going to be a hectic one, so would be nice to jot down the positives as they happen.

Firstly, we got home from visiting Craig's Mum in Hastings on Saturday night to find we'd missed a floral delivery, it had been taken next door. I was so surprised when I collected it to find a single white rose. The vets had sent it in memory/sympathy of Lucy our dog. How lovely is that?

I've popped it in with some flowers my friend had bought us which I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago - thanks Caroline. (Not sure if she reads this blog - don't think so...)

Talking of doggies, this fella has been amazing this week. Cooper obviously misses Lucy and has been trailing us all round the house.

He's still a funny wee thing. He does make me laugh. We took him to meet Craig's Mums' dogs this week as they will be coming at Christmas. He was soon put in his place by Annie, the older dog, who harrumphed a bit at the young whippersnapper coming into her home. But Poppy - the younger dog (also a Jack Russell) well... lets just say her and Cooper got on a little too well. We shall have to keep an eye on those two over Christmas. Little tartlets that they are!

Next up was this gorgeous Christmas decoration I received from K as my P.I.F.

Isn't it perfect? The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favourite films, he fits in so well on our tree. He looks quite happy sitting there, in good company with my sister and the Pheebs Monster :P

I'm afraid my remaining PIF's will be arriving with their recipients early next year now. Mojo really did desert me for a few months there. That's another positive this last couple of weeks though, I've started creating again. Only a little bit and I can't show anything at the mo as it's been for my Secret Santa gifts. It does feel good. This next bit is going to sound really flowery and mushy... but I really do believe in the power of art or creative healing. I don't mean in a religious way or anything, am afraid I don't buy into all that connecting with your inner goddess stuff. Craig's always worried I'm going to 'find myself' like 'those arty types' and go all spiritual and dance around naked, covered in paint or run off with a tattooed, hairy artist or something. Keep telling him I'm about as 'found' as am gonna be and this blunt, sarcastic wench is what he's stuck with - if I was going to connect with an inner anything it would more likely be a warty old, cackling witch than a goddess! :D No, it's just being able to lose yourself completely even if it's just lobbing paint at something... Good stuff.

We also received some Christmas tree decs from Gail, the girls demolished the couple of packets with chocolate coins in but we rescued this large one for the tree... Love handmade decorations.

It's also tradition for us to buy a new hanging star for the tree each year. I spotted the one I want to get this year - it's gorgeous. Haven't I been saying I want to get some jingle bells? Haven't I?
It was in Dunelm Mill but typically as we were on our way out. I'm typing this on Monday evening so hopefully we'll get back over before Christmas and pick up one or two - if not I'll try and get over after and pick up a couple to put away for next year. Jingle bells and stars - does it get any better?

Am really looking forward to opening my Secret Santa present on Sunday. I've been such a good girl. I have to say though - there were a couple of naughty Santa's that sent me a present as well as their recipients. Very unexpected - you really should go on the naughty list but you did make me smile. I haven't opened those either. Thank you ladies. I've really enjoyed the Secret Santa swap and will definitely host another next year if anyone is interested - thank you all for making it so much fun.

It's Wednesday now and I've had another Secret Santa present arrive. I take part in this one over on UKS every year with The Bristol Girls. (If you click the link, scroll down) One part of my pressie was wrapped differently than the rest and was intriguing me to much, so I was naughty and opened that one thing. Am glad I did - it was another handmade tree ornament!

Isn't it fabby? Am going to have to get details on how it was made. Devvie decided it looked better on Alice Angel... and I have to agree :D

Tesco. Yes, Tesco. We save our clubcard points all year for Christmas. Craig misplaced our vouchers this week, they probably got recycled... so he went online to see if there was a way to reclaim them. There is... but not only that, any unclaimed vouchers from previous years can be printed too! Make sure you check your balance, we ended up printing off over £70 of vouchers some of which were this years and also some dating back to 2009. We couldn't believe it - our big Christmas food shop ended up costing £7.00 this week. We got my Dad round to check his, we knew he might have some. I remembered him saying he'd accidentally shredded his last year but thought that was that, his mistake, his loss. Nope. He had over £100 to print off. I may moan about Tesco (and I do. Quite a bit) but I have to say I think it's really good they let you do that. They could quite easily say "nope - don't claim, your loss." So this was a huge positive this week.

My back. It spasmed earlier in the week. I wasn't even doing anything strenuous just sitting at the PC. It's the worst pain I've had with it in a long time and really thought that was it, wouldn't be able to do much this Christmas. Even getting up and sitting down was causing a bit of nausea where it hurt so much. However, a couple of days and copious amounts of pain killers and creams later and it's back to normal. Normal being a permanent ache that I've learned to live with and was so glad to welcome back! I think the time is approaching where I might need a little help from the doctors in managing the pain as I have noticed it getting worse the last couple of years. But all the time I can still do normal things and manage on my own, I'm happy to potter about. I don't want to end up on a cocktail of drugs not knowing what they could be doing to the rest of my body... is that daft? Or does that make sense? I think Craig would prefer a visit to the doctor in the near future. Whatever - I'm glad my back and I are on familiar ground for the time being.

We've reached Thursday and I'm glad I did it this way - that was a pretty good week wasn't it? I'm really glad of the way Rocking Friday makes you reflect on the past week in a positive way and I just want to thank Virginia for starting this regular get together. If you want to join us - please do link up with her so that we can all find you.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Lifestyle Illustration of the 60's by Rian Hughes

2011-12-21T18:35:00.003Z

Lifestyle Illustration of the 60's edited by Rian Hughes

The book says:

Take a visually explosive trip back to the Swinging Sixties... This stunning survey of lifestyle illustration not only gives a fascinating insight into the extraordinary artistic talents of the illustrators of the period but also reveals the social aspirations of this unprecedented era of political optimism and sexual freedom. Featuring over 1,000 gloriously inventive and stylistically diverse images, Lifestyle Illustration of the 60's traces the decade's evolution from romantic homemaking couples to the stylish mini-skirted Chelsea girls. In the process, it provides an intriguing and colourful glimpse into Sixties pop culture.

I say:

Wow - this is a monster of a book. Apart from the foreword by Rian Hughes, the Introduction by David Roach and a couple of pages of short artist biographies, the entire book is made up of art work. The only other text being the year, the artist name and where the art appeared underneath each picture. In a book that is 576 pages long... that's 563 pages of pure art... 1,000 images in all according to this website.

This is not a book to be lugging around to read - it weighs a ton! This is one to sit and enjoy at your leisure, dipping in and out for inspiration or just to enjoy. I do like that it is soft backed because, although the cover is prone to creasing easily - mine is thoroughly creased now, not the spine as you might think but the front cover - I do still think it was a better idea. Being heavy already, I think hardback covers might have made it cumbersome to read.

The book is truly gorgeous - I can't even begin to imagine how much time it took to compile. All of the artwork comes from publications like Woman, Woman's Own, Woman's Journal and the timeline ranges from 1960 - 1969. The Foreword and Introduction is a fascinating insight into these 'forgotten artists' and what was happening at the time. I've always loved this style of art and this book is cram packed full of nostalgia for me. Although I wasn't even born in the 60's, I remember as a child of the 80's and early 90's, my mum used to be an avid reader of The People's Friend which was always full of similar style art. I remember flicking through, completely bypassing the words and just ogling the pictures, trying to recreate them.

What I particularly like is that although the art provoked such nostalgia, I was surprised also at how thoroughly modern some of it was - like it could have been submitted today and I doubt many people would know any different, would not even think that it was created 40 years or more previously.
Some of the art just seems so on-trend with what I'm seeing on blogs, on Etsy & Folksy, pinned as inspiration on Pinterest. Isn't it funny how things come around again... or, as I prefer to say - the rest of the world finally caught up with my tastes.

So - do I like this book? No, I absolutely LOVE it - it's a keeper and one that will be close to hand on my art shelves, within easy reach. It's so full of inspiration and beauty and talent. I feel lucky to own it.

Many thanks to ACC Distribution for sending me the book and thank you as always for stopping by :)

Rian Hughes
ACC Distribution UK

Everyday Matters - Winner

2011-12-19T10:43:00.009Z

Good morning peoples. Well, Blogger seems to be playing nicely if I use Internet Explorer. I hate Internet Explorer. Funny that it wont play nicely on Chrome - the thing you'd think it would be most compatible with... isn't it? No, I'm not laughing either. *grumble, grumble*

Onwards we go so we can shut down this infernal browser quick as...

Out with the random generator and the magical Smarties Bowl of Randomness...

Mix, mix, mix...

Stir, stir, blurry stir...
Pick, pick, pick a winner...

Ta daaaa...
Amy - you are the winner. I'll get the book parcelled up today - I doubt you'll get it this year though ;)

Thanks for stopping by everyone - tara and toodlepip!

Outpost by Adam Baker

2011-12-18T13:46:00.004Z

Outpost by Adam Baker

The book says:

THEY TOOK THE JOB TO ESCAPE THE WORLD. THEY DIDN'T EXPECT THE WORLD TO END.

Kaskar Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home.

But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands.

The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way...

I say:

Imagine watching the end of the world on a TV screen. Only for even that to slowly fizzle away to nothing. Imagine being stranded on a rig, in the Arctic Ocean, knowing that sooner or later food is going to run out. What would you do? Would you give up? Or would you battle on to live, no matter what kind of life, regardless?

I knew this one would be a good 'un. I knew it. It's been on my wishlist a while - I got the feeling it would be claustrophobic and grim but it was so much more. I always knew these oil rigs were big but I never realised just how big until reading this book. You really get a sense of the scale of the rig, which almost comes alive as a character itself, it's so well described. It just makes the whole situation for this little group of people seem even more hopeless. You get a real feel of how hard a life it is on one of these things when one of the main characters tries to kill herself in the opening pages.

This was one of those books I couldn't put down. My partner was away for a few days when I was reading this so it was my bedtime read before lights out - it doesn't leave you. I would lay awake mulling over what was going to happen next and would have to switch the lights back on to carry on reading!

Throughout this book I was on edge waiting for that moment when it all kicks off, there's never a moment in the book where you can relax because the air is so menacing you don't want to be caught out. Of course when the end of the world is happening the dangers from the monsters outside are not the only threats you need to look out for. It's interesting to watch how people change when they realise they might not see home or loved ones again. Some people change for the better, step up to the mark. Some people... not so much...

This is the first book in a long, long time where I have really loved one particular character. Really rooted for that character. All the way through when things were happening, there were actually heart in mouth moments when I expected this character to snuff it. But then, with pages to go, I did what I hadn't done all through the book. Relaxed and thought this character was safe. This is where Mr Baker is pure evil genius. Suffice to say, you should never forget that no-one is safe in a zombie apocalypse. I still can't believe it. I even flicked through to see if there was a miraculous turn around. But no.

I'm making this book sound all doom and gloom (which, it is) but there were so many more levels, moments of humour, moments of sadness and compassion - even towards some of the infected. I cannot tell you enough how much I loved this book, I don't think I'm conveying it very well in this review which is annoying me slightly.

I will just say this: Outpost now shares top spot with The Well by Peter Labrow as my two favourite fictional reads of 2011. If I could only re-read two books from this year, these would be them.

Many thanks to Adam Baker for sending me the book and thank you for stopping by :)

Dark Outpost (Adam Baker)
@AdamBakerAuthor
www.hodder.co.uk

Blogger Troubles

2011-12-18T13:11:00.002Z

Hi everyone,

I've got a question for all of you using Blogger. Have any of you lost your 'compose' button? Am finding I can only compose in html and it's a right pain in the bum. Can't see any answers on the help pages.

What with this and Blogger constantly changing my fonts, spacing, no longer letting me link pictures back to people, not letting people comment... I'm seriously considering moving my blog in the New Year.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else is having problems.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-12-16T19:50:00.004Z

Hello Friday Rockers :) How has your week been. It's been a strange and sad one here. We lost our eldest doggy Lucy. She was very old, we never realised how old as she had been a rescue dog but the vets reckoned at least 16. The only blessing, if you can call it that, is that whatever happened was quick.

We also had Craig's Dads' funeral this week. So. Sad week all round.

But if I've learnt anything this week it's to still look for the positives. As my Ruby would say - "Don't worry, Be happy". Love that girl!

First up that same Ruby. And her Christmas show at nursery school. Last year she sat at the back frozen with fear. Wobbly lipped but refusing to cry. This year - what a difference! Front row and belting out the songs, nearly knocking people out with her enthusiastic gestures. Am so proud of how she's come along with her confidence this year.

Next up. Our Christmas tree. An experience putting it up indeed. My girls can bicker for England I think. But it's up now and it's lovely. Our tree is black... and not at all stylish. But we love it :)

Ruby's golden Angel appears to be scaling the side of the tree - maybe attempting to topple Alice Cooper Angel who is back in his rightful place atop the tree? A lot of the decorations are handmade by the girls or me through the years. With the bought decorations we don't tend to do baubles. I love stars so we have those instead :)

Next up - there was supposed to be some sort of lunar eclipse last Saturday afternoon. Did you see it? I didn't know about it till the evening and I certainly didn't see it. The moon was supposed to glow orange... however in the evening we all got called into the garden by Craig who had spotted this gorgeous moon. There is a huge ring around it - my pictures don't capture it very well but it really was beautiful. Devon described it as a feeling of being inside a dome with a circular opening in the roof...

My pictures definitely don't convey the scale and size of the whole thing. The moon seemed especially big and the ring around it was huge. Very lovely to see.

And then finally, when my girls play hairdressers, this is usually the end result. And yes - they have done this to me while I sit tippy tapping on the computer before now :P

How has your week been? All ready for Christmas? It's a resounding NO here :) But pleased that Craig's Mum will be joining the madness here with us this year. Don't know if she realises what she's let herself in for *g*If you'd like to play along with Rocking Friday - be sure and link up with Virginia here so we can all find you!Thanks for stopping by!

Everyday Matters: A Memoir by Danny Gregory

2011-12-13T17:35:00.003Z

Everyday Matters: A Memoir by Danny Gregory

The book says:

Danny Gregory and his wife, Patti, were in love. their baby, Jack, was ten months old; life was pretty swell. And then Patti fell under a subway train and was paralysed from the waist down. In a world where nothing seemed to have much meaning, Danny decided to teach himself to draw, and what he learned stunned him. Suddenly things had colour again, and value. The result is Everyday Matters, his journal of discovery, recovery and daily life in New York City. It is as funny, insightful and surprising as life itself.

I say:

I broke my pre-Christmas book buying ban for this book. Curse you Amazon Recommends, my nemesis, my enabler, my downfall! *Shakes, fist*

The entirety of the book is in sketchbook format - absolutely no printed words. This, in my opinion, only serves to make the book more intimate between us and the author - like we are actually sitting here reading his sketchbook. However, it wasn't the book I thought I was buying. I really hesitate to say this as I don't want it to come across the wrong way and am struggling to put into words what I mean... I thought the book would be dealing more with how Danny dealt with the accident, how the accident affected him and how the love of drawing came about and how it helped. There was some of this in the book - the beginning and the end but the middle of the book came across, to me at least, as a travel sketchbook. Documenting Danny's travels. Don't get me wrong - the author is unflinchingly honest with his feelings in the beginning of the book and the sketchbook format and layout of the book, I loved. I just thought there would be more in the way of how he and Patti dealt with the loss of the life they were previously living, how the drawing came about, how they were in the life they are living now...

However, this is where I am glad that I leave it a couple of days before I review a book. Because Everyday Matters has not been very far from my mind over the last few days. I find myself thinking about it, mulling it over, when I least expect it. I can't even put my finger on what it is that is making me dwell on it. Is it the book I thought I was buying? No. At the time I had been dithering between buying this and buying The Creative Licence: Giving Yourself Permission To Be The Artist You Truly Are also by Danny Gregory. If I'm honest - I wish I'd gone with the other choice, I have it on my wishlist now which I think says a lot about what I got from this book - I obviously enjoyed Danny's writing style. Am I glad I read the book? Yes. I just think the blurb is slightly misleading. However - I seem to be in the minority if you read other reviews. I really recommend heading over to the Amazon.com site as they have the option to 'look inside' which the UK Amazon page doesn't have for some reason.

Do you fancy a read of this one? I'm offering up my copy as a giveaway - I probably wont post until after Christmas now and please bear in mind I bought my copy second hand so it's not in pristine condition... well, it is in pretty good nick but there is a slash down the front cover. In any case, if you fancy a read, drop me a comment below and I'll draw a winner at the weekend.

Thank you as always for stopping By :)

dannygregory.com

www.HyperionBooks.com

Secret Santa Swap Update

2011-12-12T08:02:00.009Z

Yuletide greetings everyone :D

Just a quick update from Santa's workshop. I'm pleased to say that I'm pretty sure (unless I've majorly misunderstood) that all of Santa's pressies are either loaded on the sleigh or have reached their destinations already.

The list at the moment stands like this:

Me! - Received
Amy - Received
Virginia - Received
Joanna - Received
Cameron - Received
Carol - Received
Susie - Received
Sarah - Received
Sam - Received
Wendy - Received
Brandy - Received
Paige - Received
Joyce - On Santa's sleigh
Andrea - Received
Donna - Received

Please update me if more parcels have arrived at their destination.

I know some naughty children have opened their gifts already (no restraint, no decorum as my Mum would say *g*) I have been a good girl and am waiting till Christmas. *Shines halo* After the big day I'll do another post letting you know who your Santa's were and if you want to do a post sharing what you got, that's up to you... you don't have to. But I'd love to see, am so nosy. If you do I'll link to it in my post :)

Thanks everyone for making my first hosted swap such fun! I'll definitely do this again next year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-12-09T09:41:00.005Z

Morning all Friday Rockers :)

I didn't post last week as you may or may not have noticed. The last month or so has been a bit rough. We've had a couple of bereavements here. The last one being Craig's Dad. Out of respect I didn't feel it was my place to post about either of the people we've lost without permission - and how do you ask that? But when at Craig's Mum's the other day she mentioned that she always reads Rocking Friday. So here I am. I just wanted you to know Irene how much you and Mick mean to us. It's been a privilege getting to know you both and to be welcomed into your family. People joke about how awful their in-laws are but I feel lucky to have you as mine. You remind me so much of my own Mum who I miss dearly but you've made that easier for me whether you know it or not. You two would have gotten on like a house on fire. I feel lucky to have known Mick and that the girls were able to know their Grandad - even if he hated being called it *g* (Made him feel old!) Thank you for just being you!

So that's my Rocking grateful this week - having the chance to know you and Mick and to have you in our lives. Love you lots.

The rest of you - how have you been? To join in with ferreting out the nugget of gold in your life please stop by Virginia's and link up.

Thank you for stopping by.

How To Draw Zombies by Mike Butkus & Merrie Destefano

2011-12-06T16:34:00.018Z

How To Draw Zombies by Mike Butkus & Merrie Destefano

The book says:

Discover the secrets to drawing, painting and illustrating the undead. Welcome to the Fantasy Underground, a land where nightmares emerge from the mists of imagination. In this volume, the once-shrouded history of zombies will be exposed, from voodoo legends to magic curses, from cannibalism to scientific experiments gone awry. Renowned entertainment illustrator Michael Butkus and urban fantasy author Merrie Destafano, lead you through the dark, twisted realm of the undead, where you'll discover how to capture the likeness of some of the world's most dreaded monsters: the zombie. You'll learn how to create pencil drawings of this legendary creature, and how to manipulate your illustrations on the computer. Among the projects included are a voodoo queen, a zombie climbing out of the grave, a zombie out for a midnight snack, and the great zombie apocalypse. But consider yourself warned. You should probably read this book with all the lights on, and all the windows and doors locked. Because the zombies are loose. And the latest rumour is that they're hungry.

I say:

Well now. I start this review with a huge smile on my face. Because I really don't know how to review it. You'll see why - let's just dive in...

It's entitled How To Draw Zombies. The beginning section is really quite good in this respect - shows you how to draw your usual 'alive person' face and then how to hack bits off, distend, generally turn that face into an undead being. Trouble is here... I reckon you need to be pretty damn decent at drawing in the first place. I think it's assumed that you, the reader, know a bit about drawing already. You need to know what 'value' is and how to shade and highlight, how light and shadow works etc. So if you can't draw people, well, you might want to practice that first. If you come to this book as a complete beginner - you might be disappointed... I consider myself a definite learner and what was described as a rough sketch in the book - I would have considered a finished masterpiece and been chuffed to bits.

Scattered throughout the book are interesting snippets about zombie legend, recommended novels, how to surround yourself with inspiration. I really liked this aspect and did think it added to the overall feel of the book. Nice to learn a bit more and there were a few books I have now added to my read list.

There are 16 projects to work through, all thoroughly detailed and exquisite. I really like how each piece started as a physical sketch and each stage was shown.

At the end there is an option to move onto the computer to enhance the finished piece with a program like Photoshop - again, I think you'd have to know a little bit about this type of program as it's not an in-depth going into. Just add this, do that, add some scabs here and some bits of vein there. No telling you how you actually do that. I do have to say that I sometimes preferred the finished piece pre-digital tampering and with others I did like the altered version.

Each project comes with a comprehensive list of tools used to complete that picture; the pens, pencils and paints used as well as optional extras like airbrush (though how to achieve similar effects with paint on a brush is explained) and Photoshop. I literally guffawed out loud when one of the suggested tools was a light table. Not a light box... a whole light table. I am lucky if my light bulb in the room I'm in is bright enough. I did find that amusing. The artist, Mike Butkus, has a seriously drool worthy studio with multiple PC screens, one of which he can draw directly onto with his pen... obviously us readers don't all have that set-up, he's just showing us how he works.

I cannot stress how much I love the amount of detail and information that's given about creating backgrounds in this book. I can seriously say I have learnt some things that will be so helpful in other projects. I knew window cleaner had to have a better use than just for cleaning boring windows. That gem alone... well, I almost kissed the page!

I come away from this book itching to be better at drawing and painting, I want to be able to do the techniques outlined in this book justice. I want to dabble with airbrushing and I may even finally crank open the free Photoshop Elements software that came with my PC. Methinks a drawing tablet may find it's way to my wishlist too - I don't think that coming away from a book with a hunger to learn something new is a bad thing.

So. You see. How do I rate this book? As a "How To draw..." you actually have to be able to draw to begin with, in my humble opinion. However, if you look at this book and imagine it in the same vein as the Dragon Art one I reviewed a while back - they described their book as "inspiration, impact and technique" and that's what this is too. So for that reason I highly recommend this book. Highly. If you love zombies, even if you aren't really wanting to draw them, the snippets of legend and lore, the recommended reads... the absolutely beautiful (in a blood splattered, gory kinda way) art make it a must have. If you want this purely to draw zombies and you are a complete beginner - you might come away disappointed but I really fail to see how if you are that into zombies.

Many thanks to Quarry Books for sending the book.

www.quarrybooks.co.uk

www.quarrybooks.com

www.mikebutkus.net

www.merriedestefano.com

Thank you, as always, for stopping by :

Candle Man Winner

2011-12-05T19:07:00.004Z

Quickie, quickie post :)

I promise regular posting, creating, reviews and rambling will start again soon...ish. Brain is a bit collywobbled at the mo but am sorting it!

So, on to why you're here. Wheel out the generator and the magic Smarties bowl of random-ness.

Mix, mix, mix...

Do you think she takes her job seriously?

Shake, shake, shake...

Ooh, the tension, the drama...

Tadaaa!

Congratulations Claire, please email me with your address and I'll pop your book in the post to you :)

Commiserations people. Maybe next time it could be yooooou! Thanks for stopping by.

Book Chick City Zombie, Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenges

2011-12-01T22:22:00.010Z

Zombie Challenge

The 4 levels to choose from are:

One Chomp (Read 6 zombie books in 2012)
Two Chomps (Read 12 zombie books in 2012)
Three Chomps (read 18 zombie books in 2012)
Four chomps (24 zombie books in 2012)

Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge

There are two levels to this one:

- Read 24 Horror & urban fantasy novels in 2012

- Read 48 Horror & urban fantasy novels in 2012

Here ye! Here ye! I hereby state (stake?) my intent to read 24 books in Book Chick City's Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge and 12 books (2 chomps) for their Zombie Challenge over the course of 2012. (I shall however cheat my arse off and incorporate the 12 zombie books into the 24 horror challenge! Sssh!)

If thoust doth hath the guts and heroic gumption to play along, click the above linkies to do so... Or henceforth be known as the cowardly blagards or stupid eejits that go into dark, creepy, creaky houses that are bumped off as plot fillers!

Now go ransack the place to tool up with stakes, machetes, cleavers, baseball bats and whatever else we can hide under our beds.

I thank you and goodnight.

Candle Man Giveaway

2011-12-01T10:03:00.010Z

Hi all,

I've been a little quiet on the posting front, real life has a habit of getting a little to real sometimes.

Last year I think it was, I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of Candle Man by Glenn Dakin. I loved the book, it involves everything I relish - a boy with a secret, believing he has some contagious life threatening disease and kept imprisoned "for his own good." Lots of graveyard creeping, flying gargoyles, mystery, mayhem and gothic goodness. Just needs a zombie or two to be perfection :D

Goodreads blurb:

Theo Wickland lives a life of isolation - he has only ever known three people: his butler, the maid and his guardian. He has always been told this is for his own good because he is dangerous to other people. Indeed, he wears gloves at all times and has daily, intensely painful treatment in the 'Mercy Tube'. But one birthday, during his annual trip to the graveyard, Theo finds a small package addressed to him. A secret message inside it, and a visit from two burglars that proves fatal to one of them, are the catalysts for Theo to discover his deadly powers and strange inheritance. He is the descendent of the Candle Man, a Victorian crime fighter with a dark side. One touch from him and criminals melt to death. Two societies are hunting for him: one that will protect and help him and one that wants to harness his power for evil. Can Theo escape his guardian's clutches, and stop his destructive plan? And will he learn how to deal with the sometimes terrifying and confusing real world? This is a thrilling, Gothic adventure that will have readers on the edge of their seats.

I really enjoyed this book and so was chuffed to bits when earlier this year I won another giveaway which was for book one and book two. (Candle Man - The Society of Dread) Which means I now have two copies of the first book. I've been meaning to do a giveaway for some time, share the love (and the giveaway karma) but just keep forgetting. Here I am now, season of goodwill and all that. If you'd like a new, unread copy of Candle Man (yeah - you're not getting my signed copy, no way mate, there's goodwill and then there's extracting the proverbial urine!) Just drop me a comment in the box below extolling how wonderful and fabulous and gorgeous you think I am.

Or you could just say "Gimme the flipping book already!"

Your choice.

I'll draw a winner at the weekend. Thanks for stopping by :)

http://www.glenndakin.com

The Tales of Petunia Pigeon by Michelle Goldman

2011-11-28T13:09:00.011Z

The Tales of Petunia Pigeon - The Big Race by Michelle Goldman

The book says -

'The Big Race' follows the 'Homing Pigeon Heroine' Petunia who becomes last during a race from France to England. We follow her thrilling journey and adventures as she attempts to returns home to safety.

I say -

Petunia Pigeon is a lovely little book written totally in rhyme following the adventures of Petunia as she gets lost in a race home from France. The story is accompanied by lovely full colour illustrations throughout.

This story particularly appealed to me and my lot as Craig used to keep pidgies and we used to love taking them for journeys to release them and then seeing if we could beat them home. Bearing in mind they are aged from 4 up to 14, all the girls loved reading this one. I thought the youngest would claim this book as hers and I have indeed been reading it to her every night - it induces many a dramatic hand clasped over mouth "oh nooooo, poor Petunia" or lots of giggles. But no, in fact when it's not being read to her, it's Phoebe the 11 year old that's claimed it. She absolutely loves it - I think it's the fact that it's written in rhyme and they've been doing poems in class this term... And the scrapes that Petunia gets into - she loves when Petunia is mistaken for a boy pigeon and this section she reads out to me every time she gets to that bit. (I now know those pages word for word - thanks Michelle!) In fact she loves it so much it's inspired her to write her own little illustrated story - Michelle the Racing Rabbit... and she's back to wanting to be a writer and illustrator... as well as a zoo keeper and vet. I do love when books spark something like that!

Many thanks to Michelle for my copy and thank you for stopping by :)

http://www.michellegoldman.co.uk

@MichiGoldman

Cyber Monday at Gauche Towers

2011-11-28T10:08:00.005Z

The mama's at Gauche Alchemy have finally gone completely mental - they were always halfway there but they've finally cracked. There is 25% off EVERYTHING in store from now until this coming Friday. Get it while you can because the design team is buying up most of it... And I don't even kid you there :D

Thanks for stopping by people :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-11-27T13:00:00.010Z

Click to play along :)

Hello all, it's been a while since I played along hasn't it? Two weeks I think... and to be honest I've come back to this screen all weekend and sat looking at it before clicking away again. Here goes...

Top, tippy top of the highest tip of my list this week will be friends and family. True friends and family. The one's that come through in times of trouble and strife, that's when you find out your true family and true friends... even if they are friends you've never met face to face... people that have their own worries and woes but still find time for other people. I am very thankful for those. Thank you for the emails, the texts, the phone calls, the car rides and muffins, the listening ears and the soggy shoulders. I'm not the most cuddly and outwardly emotional person - I tend to keep everything locked inside for behind closed doors and have been told on many an occasion this can come across as cold and unfeeling. I can't help it - certain things in life teach you to build barriers and walls and it's hard to un-condition yourself from that. I just hope that people realise how much I do love and appreciate them, even if I don't outwardly spout it as much as I should.

Next will be Darcy for letting me know a seller on eBay had the Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour 45 half pan set for under £23.00 which included postage. (Click the linky to also take advantage of the bargainous booty!)

I am supposed to be on book and stash ban until after Christmas but I had the 16 half pan travel set on my wishlist and it cost over £20.00 just for that on Amazon so this bargain would have been simply criminal to let slip by wouldn't it? Yes, that's what I thought too.

Besides, on the very slight chance that someone has got the travel set for me (because Craig has been telling me off for taking advantage of such a fabulous price coming up to Christmas, crazy fool that he is...) I would still love it and use it for when I'm out and about. It would be win, win so it would!

My girls. My own little monsters. I love them to bits and they are the best daughters a Mummy monster could wish for. Yes - even when they bicker and I have to unleash the roar. When it comes to the crunch, they are the best - the rest of you have just got nice kids, mine are awesome! No... I'm not biased at all ;)

Phoebe monster turned 11 last weekend. Circumstances arose and I was away for a couple of days which included her birthday but back on that evening. She took it all in her stride, Craig made sure she still got all the spoiling and pampering we'd promised her and she did a remarkable job of hiding how much she had missed me when I got back in the evening. Almost too good of a job! Hmmm! I'm sure she's just an excellent actor!

Then Devvie monster assumed Mama position to light the cake in my absence and she set the candles out in "P" shape...

They also filmed Pheeb's opening the card that I had been so thrilled to find. It was a JLS card and when you open it JLS are shouting out Happy Birthday messages :D Her reaction was brilliant - exactly what I'd hoped for. They could all have thrown proper strops and been real brats at my being away but they didn't, they were brilliant. They and Craig all rallied round and proved just how well they cope without me.

Hurrumph!

Finally, I can't mention those two without mentioning the bubby monster can I? I love her little ways and foibles and she makes me laugh constantly. Just recently I've been marvelling at her computer skills. At 4 years old. It boggles my brain sometimes this new era our kids are growing up in, they take it all in their stride don't they?

So that's me for this week - a short one but there we go. How have you been?

Thanks for stopping by :)

p.s Oh yes - I received my Secret Santa yesterday :) That put a smile on my face and after much fumbling and feeling I've hidden it away. Santa's how are you doing? I have to get mine sent sharpish! I'll update the original post as I hear of parcels arriving :)

Star Trek Book Of Opposites

2011-11-08T19:04:00.005Z

Star Trek Book Of Opposites - David Borgenicht

The books says:

With the help of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and two dozen colorful pictures from across the galaxy, teach your children the meaning of big and little, hot and cold, apart and together and much, much more!

I say:

That's right people. This is a board book. A Star Trek board book! I'm sure those people at Quirk are trying to turn me into a Trekkie - you know what? The scary thing is I think it may be working. I now 'get' way more of the Big Bang Theory references than I ought to!

I frigging love this book - I really do. From the moment I opened the covers I laughed out loud. Aimed obviously, at little babies and pre-schoolers this is a book to teach your youngsters opposites. Words like 'Mean' and 'Nice' are accompanied by a scary and a pretty alien. 'Calm' and 'Surprised' by Spock and Kirk... I say babies and pre-school but my 4 year old has a Charlie & Lola varient that she still loves... well, she now has a Star Trek one too and she had great fun shouting out the different words.

A book for the big and little Trekkies in your life.

Big, huge fun!

My favourite pages :)

www.quirkbooks.com
David Borgenicht

Thank you to Quirk for sending the book to review... and to you for stopping by :)

Plundered Pages

2011-11-07T18:29:00.006Z

Have you seen Julie Kirk's Plundered Pages? They are a new kit she has started selling... actually I don't know if kit is the right word... they are bumper packets of... er... pages she's plundered. All along different themes, handily ready for your mixed media projects.

Anyway - as soon as she mentioned that she had a couple that were 'me' I was over there like a shot. (I'm a marketers dream - I can't deny it.) After a bit of dithering over all the scrumptious choice I clicked 'buy' on her creepy package of plundered goodness. This post is me, sharing what goodies arrived through my door.

Firstly, just look. How pretty is this? Excuse my butchering with pixelation...

Then all this fell out of the jiffy...

So much thought has been put into the packaging, just getting to your goodies is a treat in itself...

And then, this tag! I love it and will save it for a very special project! Julie's shop is called Julie Kirk & The Carousel Zebra! Look! The zebra came to see me!

Finally, after happy clapping my way through opening everything... getting to what I actually paid for...

Whoa!

Love these stamps and little card. Seriously.

I'm so impressed. SO impressed. If you love something a little different, something vintage-y, something quirky and unique. I urge you to check out Julie's Plundered Pages. If you like companies like Gauche Alchemy - you'll love this. Each package is different both in theme and contents. You truly are buying one of a kind stash here.

Julie hasn't asked me, paid me or bribed me in any way to write this post - am not even going to tweet or comment at her to let her know. I just wanted you to know about a fabulous new place to get unusual, one of a kind packages of fabulous awesomeness. It's up to you whether you go check it out or not.

Don't say I didn't tell you ;)

Thank you for stopping by.

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-11-04T18:48:00.006Z

Click the piccie to play along :)

This has been one of those weeks where I could quite easily have skipped Rocking Friday. Worrying about family members, not feeling well, generally not feeling like me, not creating much... blah de blah de blah. But that's the whole point of Rocking Friday isn't it - to find the positives amongst the doody. So. Bum in gear.

Here we go...

Firstly. Amy. The wonderful, sublime, completely mental, Amy. How would she ever not rock your week?

She is still running her free LIVE workshops once a week. Last night was the first time I actually saw one as it happened. I've been catching up after the fact because she has been not only giving up 2 hours a week for a free class, she's been recording them so they are available long after the fact. I still only caught bits and pieces last night but blimey, they are good. They are inspiring. They are downright funny! It's so fun to think of a bunch of people sitting creating, chatting, laughing, all over the world. Together at the same time but at different times of the day what with time zones and everything. Thank you Amy :)

Look what arrived in the post this week! Signed and sent to me by the lovely author who saw this On My Wishlist post.

Someone must have tweeted him the link. *Ahem* Jolly nice of him wasn't it? :) Looking forward to reading that I am! Zombies! Yay!

We've nearly finished our Christmas shopping! *ducks* Not the food stuff obviously but the pressie side of things. Yep, we're pretty smug here at the moment. Not even started making Christmassy stuff yet but hey. Can't be perfect at everything can we? I'm also really enjoying being part of two Secret Santa's. The one running on this blog (how are we all doing? Lots of stalking?) and the one I take part in over on UKScrappers is just starting up again. Yay! This will be my third time with that one - just love it!

I want some jingle bells to jingle. I do.

Next, this happened just an hour ago. Since we moved in here I have not done any drawing or crafting of an evening. This is why. Look to the back of the photo where the shelving is - that's my little corner. And this picture shows how the room is lit with the main light on.

The camera has actually lit it a bit, it's darker than it looks...

That's because this really attractive light above my desk hasn't worked the whole time we've been here...So in comes Craig about an hour ago. Up on the chair. Tinkering, muttering, bit of agressive tapping and then more tinkering. Popping in and out with various bulbs and starter things.

And look...

Look!

This is why I love that man. Not only has he fixed whatever was wrong - he's put in a daylight bulb! I can't tell you how happy this makes me! It's like sitting in a conservatory :D

I can draw!

Happy cat always makes me smile :)

Have any of the UK peeps been watching The Fades? I finally caught up with the last episode.

Blimey I've loved this show - another fabulous British drama. It kind of reminded me of zombies. But they were ghosts... so... zombie ghosts. And Angelics. Brilliant. And funny too in amongst the death and the people eating. Great humour - our writers are so good at that aren't they? Mixing the "ewwww" in with the "bwaahahaha." I think if you liked Being Human you kinda would've loved this. Am going to miss my weekly fix. But it was left wide open for another series! Yay!

And finally! Princess Witch. Because she refused to be a witch. This little person manages to make me laugh throughout the day just when I need it. I think she has inherited the sarcasm gene. I am very proud of that :)

Scary witch/princess face - just in case you didn't realise *g*

So how has your week been? Why not link up with Virginia and play along? Thanks for stopping by :)

For Sale

2011-11-02T17:41:00.007Z

eta: Sold. Gone. Got some pennies! :)

Cheeky post alert - begrudge paying commission to eBay and am in need of pennies for Christmas and paints.

I have a v2 Cuttlebug. Why did I buy it again? I don't know. I barely used it the first time I bought it and this time it's not been used at all. I see all these gorgeous projects in Blogland and get all excited... I need to learn to ADMIRE these projects but face up that I will NEVER do them. I do other stuff. *sigh*

So, I am selling my Cuttlebug. Like I say it's the newer v2 one. If I remember rightly the colour was described as butterscotch and apple.

It comes with two B plates, an A plate and an embossing folder. The folder is little flowers.

It's un-boxed but has never ever been used. Not even to test it.

I would like £60 which is all in, inclusive of postage. (In the UK) Payment by Paypal or Amazon vouchers please :) If I get paid in 'proper' money it'll get swallowed in stupid boring stuff like food or petrol.

Give me a shout if interested - thanks for reading my barefaced cheek. This is my last stop before eBay.

Sorry for the picture quality, it's under artificial light.

Thanks for stopping by. Normal blogging shall be resumed in the next post ;)

Scrapbook Zombies

2011-10-31T18:10:00.005Z

Happy Halloween Freaksters!

What better way to celebrate than with my first scrapbook page in... ack, I ran out of fingers and that's including the ones in the jars... lets just say in a looooong time!

My darling little monsters looking all cute and zombified. Proud Mama Monster here :) If you'd like to know how the page came together then please shamble on over to Gauche Alchemy where I spill my guts. Bwaaahaaahaaahaaar!

Thanks for stopping by ghoulish ones!

Tool Tote Giveaway - Winner

2011-10-30T15:20:00.006Z

Almost forgot - luckily Craig came in and asked who he was sending the tool tote to. So, without further delay and hesitation... I shall hand over to my random generator...

Mix, mix, mix...

Bit more mix, mix, mix...

Ooh, who could it be...

Blurry in your face...

Slightly less blurry but a lot more scary... tadaaa!

Congratulations Sam! Your tote will be in the post tomorrow.

Hard cheese everyone else :D But just a cheeky reminder that if you'd like one of these totes we can supply them (within the UK) for £23.95 which is the total amount including postage. If you're interested just give me a shout and I will get Craig to invoice you.

Thanks for stopping by everyone. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-10-28T14:55:00.002+01:00

Click the piccie to play along :)

Hi everyone :) I'm trying the "jot things down as they happen" approach to the post this week. We'll see what happens that I might usually have forgotten!

Entering The Artists and Illustrators competition to win this...

...and at the end being given a code to get the next three issues of the magazine for £3.00 Marketing ploy? Probably. Do I care? Not a jot - love that magazine and am chuffed at my bargainous booty!

Someone has pinned one of my posts! And it wasn't me! Yes I have pinned lots of my posts - mainly book reviews but... someone else, who I don't know, has pinned my Clicker Clacker tutorial!

Source: whoopidooings.blogspot.com via Carmen on Pinterest

Chuffed much? It's the first time it's happened! Thank you random person for giving me a big smile when I was feeling miserable and bunged up and snotty!

The two bags of apples we bought in Tesco are really mank and everyone is refusing to eat them... but the oranges are really lush, juicy and sweet yet with a sour tang. Bellissimo! Mwahh! I've just sat and scoffed one and am now delicately, most ladylike-ly, picking the bits from my teeth.

We signed youngest little monster up to the local newspapers kids club. We enter the competitions for her every week. Got a phone call at the weekend - she's won a family ticket to Chatham Historic Dockyard! The ticket arrived today with a load of bumf about what's happening there at the moment...

Oooh! So we'll be trying to get along to that while it's still on. Not been to the dockyard in years - not since eldest not-so-little monster was a bubba! Must be over 12 years ago!

Talking of monsters - I love it when Big Cook and Little Cook get in the kitchen. They've been baking up a batch of Peppa Pig cakes today ;)

Big Cook wants to work in childcare eventually - I think she'll be brilliant!

Look what arrived in the post today! The fella on the right is Marvin, I won him from Amy's blog. I had been drooling over the one on the left when she blogged and she only went and popped that one in too! How amazing? We've decided that one is called Maude. So Maude and Marvin are going to be framed and put on the wall that faces my desk so I can see them when sat here. I love them both to bits and keep just looking at them! Thank you, thank you, thank you Amy!

Below is another win! I know - It's been a lovely week for snail mail this week. This book was one from the Dark Readers blog. It looks really good so will let you know how I get on with that one!

More bargainous loot! This time from Poundland. They are selling their Halloween bits at 6 items for £5.00 so I got this swag...

...and the girls got some dressing up bits too! That fabric is glittery, velvety fabulous fun - I may go back for some more - they are meant to be scarves but I shall be cutting up for makings. The skellies on twine just had to come home!

And my last positive of this week is... communication. Things have been getting on top of me and I've started to down scale what I'm doing. Instead of bottling things up I've gone to people and exlained and the response and advice has been amazing. So. Communication. Definitely.

How has your week been? I must say I remembered a lot there by jotting down that I might have forgotten! Why not stop by Virginia's and play along!

Thanks for stopping by :)

p.s Big Cook has just joined the ranks of the Rockettes :) Her post is here if you'd like a peek ;)

Pinterestingly smART!

2011-10-26T22:38:00.007+01:00

Betcha thought I hadn't been making anything didn't you?

Well, you'd be right there, serious case of someone sucking all my time away. Feels like no sooner do I get up than it is bed time again and I am shattered, with booger all done in-between! But the couple of things I have made have been for the Gauche Alchemy blog. So, I've been sitting on my hands so as not to blog them to soon.

Guess what? I can go "yay, yay, yay, I made something!" about one of them :D This was for Virginia's birthday. She seemed to like it which I'm so pleased about as it has my blood, sweat and tears in that thar thing. Well, maybe not blood... but it came close!

If you'd like to know how I made it and how a certain t-shirt on Pinterest inspired it then click through to Gauche Alchemy for a gander. Leave me some lurve... or throw spit balls, it's up to you. I'll just cry quietly into my tea... *sniff*

I'm thinking about maybe doing a monthly post, a project inspired by Pinterest. Been thinking about it for a while - since I did this canvas really - and then this post over at K's made me think others might as well. What do you reckon? Want to join me? Just once a month, pick one thing, any thing, no set theme, off Pinterest and use it to spark your inspiration. Then in your post show your creation and what sparked the idea.

I know my mojo needs some serious resuscitation at the moment! You can join me if you like.

Thanks for stopping by :)

FREE Live Video Art Workshops

2011-10-23T14:27:00.006+01:00

All of the following information has been completely lifted from Amy's blog and Facebook group. Sounds such an amazing project she is setting up!

"You are welcome everywhere.

I want you to show up and just do this.

You are an artist. Let's remove all of the barriers to making art. These are totally free, no strings attached live video workshops.

I will vary the times and days of the week so that as many people are able to make it as possible. I hate a clique and want everyone to feel welcome. Plus, we all have different schedules and demands with work and family. I want this to be available to everyone.

Listen to me say that again, I hate a clique. You are welcome and I want you to be there. I really do.

If you are supershy, don't worry - you will Not be on video - I will be. Linqto will ask permission to use your camera and microphone - you can Deny that access so that you feel better - but i assure you, the only people on video or microphone will be the person leading the workshop or tutorial. You will Never be put on the spot or expect to contribute.

You do not have to interact.

You can just watch.

You have the option to type in questions and have a live feed dialogue (via text) at any time that you are in the linqto room.

Or you can just view the workshop.

The level of your participation is Entirely up to you.

Nothing is expected of you, you will not be called upon for dialogue or demonstrations. However, you are welcome - you are ENcouraged - to ask questions when you are not sure, and you are encouraged to request demos or workshops on topics that are interesting to you.

Wtf? Why am i doing this?

Our world can be awesome and cool and full of smacking good energy. But it can also be total crap. It is Up To You to make your life awesome and be an artist.

I can't do Lots of Things. There is so much shitty stuff that i can't do anything about - but i Can set up the workshops that don't have a financial barrier. I can show you how to do the stuff i know how to do. I can vary the times and dates and i can be there.

and i hope that you show up.

You are welcome there.

I will post the dates and times of the workshops on my sidebar. If we are going to be using special stuff - i will post that as well. For some lessons, i'll provide templates for you to download.

The room is here.

Additional information on Facebook"

I'm going to be there - are you? Thank you Amy :)

And thank you for stopping by.

Tool Tote Giveaway

2011-10-22T15:02:00.009+01:00

Here I am as promised :D

Remember yesterday when I said about that "thing" I had been after for ages and ages and ages and ages after seeing them in Wickes and Homebase? Go ahead, click the links and check them out. I'll wait.

Back? Good! :)

I wanted one to store all my paints and brushes in. I am fed up of lugging my huge wooden box between the house, the garden and my painty area in Craig's office. As soon as I saw them I had a lightbulb moment. Plus I thought it would be so cool for going to those workshops when you have to take a basic kit with you.

Well here's mine:
(The pockets go all the way around, net pockets on the back and a few straps inside which I presume are to store hammers and other tool type junk but are perfect for paintbrushes and artistic stuff!)

Lovely Craig bought one for me and he bought one for you too. Well, one of you! Here's mine with some of my paint and stuff in...

My gorgeous model who has no business looking so grown up...

Off for a casual artistic stroll round the neighbourhood...

Of course Craig has a cunning plan up his sleeve and is hoping you all want one as much as I did. He wants me to let you know he can get hold of these for £23.95 which is inclusive of P&P for the UK people. Just email me if you are interested. Overseas, if you are interested give me a shout and he'll work out how much with P&P.

But back to the giveaway - UK only I'm afraid. Want a heavy duty Tool Tote? Let me know in the comments below and I'll draw a winner next Saturday (29th October)

You know what I like best about it? It ain't bliddy pink!

Thanks for stopping by :D

Am off to take stuff out and put stuff back in my tote!

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-10-21T13:07:00.005+01:00

Click the piccie to play along :)

It's Fridaaaaaay! And I'm posting on the right day! Only because I spotted all the other Rocking posts in my sidebar and realised what day it was... but still!

First up this week - my lovely middle monster got a rave review at her parents evening. She's achieving above where she should be in all subjects and in one of them is a whole tier above where she should be. The teacher actually used the words "model pupil" and "mathematical brain" which was quickly followed up with "handwriting like a doctors" but we wont dwell on that bit! :D He did say he'd rather she scrawled and was brilliant than take her time over her writing and never finish anything. Just as well really as she gets progressively more illegible the more fast and frantically she writes!

Craig. This one makes me smile just typing it. For months I have been banging on and on that I want this certain something for my stash organisation. I've spotted this certain something in places like Homebase and Wickes (Hardware/D.I.Y stores for non-UK peeps) but priced at way above and beyond what I want to pay. But the time was coming where my WANT was nibbling away at my reluctance to fork over that much cash. Craig has been saying hold off, I'm sure I can find it cheaper through my suppliers. Just WAIT.

This afternoon, I came in from pottering around outside and this certain something... is sitting on my computer chair. Not only has he sourced it for me, and ordered it... he's ordered an extra one for me to do as a giveaway on my blog!!! Just "in case any of the other crafty peeps would like one too!" He says as long as I only promise to post in the UK, he can afford it. (Sorry everyone else!) Can you believe that? So hence my secrecy - it'll be a separate post probably tomorrow. I mean, you lot may not be wanting one as much as I did but I reckon a few of you might! Isn't he lovely?

Next up, we turned the heating on last night. For the first time. I am so grateful that we actually have heating to turn on - the old house was un-central heated so it was a case of how many layers you could wear before you could no longer move! And secondly that means that I've been able to wear my snuggly jumpers and sit all toasty toasty. I love this season but I love it even more when we get the proper weather with it. Some gorgeous colours around at the moment - there's a bush down by the school and the leaves have turned a proper fire red. So pretty.

I'm loving how everyone has embraced the Secret Santa swap - I see lots of stalking going on. This makes me happy!

LLJ - remember my peg bag from last week? Well, because Ruby monster was convinced it was a Mr Tumble bag (because of all the spots) LLJ made and sent her a little handbag from Mr Tumble! How wonderful is that? I haven't got a picture as she has hidden it away - think she thinks I am going to nick it - but you can see a picture here. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the people of Blogland never ever fail to surprise me with their kindness and generosity.

You lot. Again. Yeah - thank you for all your wonderful words a couple of weeks ago. It just occurred to me I didn't know if I said thank you. I'd said that bit about maybe packing up my blog to say why I appreciated Craig. I never for one moment expected the response I got and have been re-reading my comments this week. I'm still at a point where I'm thinking of cutting down the things I'm involved in, just because I'm finding it hard to keep up. But it's safe to say I doubt I'll ever get rid of my little blog. It's like a little virtual second home now. Thank you everyone - you sure know how to inflate a girls head :D

How has your week been? Why not stop by Virginia's and play along.

Thank you as always for stopping by :)

Unfurling by Misty Mawn

2011-10-19T20:03:00.008+01:00

Unfurling by Misty Mawn

The book says:

Unfurling is a workshop in book form, offering a unique mix of inspiration and technique exercises to get your creative juices flowing. This book is for any creative person who wishes to open up more to the process of making art.

The book begins with art exercise in drawing, backgrounds, layering and working with a still life, followed by collage and image transfer techniques.

The second section offers exercises and projects in stamp carving, paper pottery, sculpture, origami, paper doll making and surface design. These tactile explorations offer an enjoyment of the process as well as wonderful handmade projects.

The last section shares a variety of approaches to visual journaling. There are instructions for binding your own journal, prompts and ideas for working on your pages, and a variety of exercises using photography and poetry as ways to inspire and inform your journal keeping.

Also included are a set of gift book plates and a beautiful paper doll designed by the author and printed on perforated cardstock in the back of the book.

I say:

Although the author is very well known online, I have to admit that before laying hands on the book I had never heard of her. I will say this - this is another beautiful, beautiful book from the Quarry publishers. Every page is laden down with beautiful images overlaid on a background of texturey, painty goodness - no white pages here.

I love the idea of a workshop in book form. I have signed up to so many online classes and am yet to complete a single one. So to have a whole workshop residing within easy reach on my bookshelves, handy to snatch a quick read here and there - well that's enticing indeed.

However, because the book does encompass so much I think that many people who do art or craft are going to find at least one or two sections of the book a bit irrelevant to them - they will already know certain bits or be further ahead in experience. Most of the explanations are from a beginners perspective. For example, when I started reading, my heart sunk a bit because almost the entire first section; Art, which encompasses drawing, painting and collage... well, I already do most of the techniques set forward. If you've done any drawing for any period of time, or an online class you will already have had a more comprehensive tutorial than you will get from the opening section here. However - this is just one chapter, it can't hope to compete with a whole online workshop dedicated to one subject. It's meant to stimulate inspiration - which it does.

Moving onto sections two and three; Craft and Journal, it's a whole new ball game, at least for me. These sections talk about stamp carving, paper pottery, paper crafts and journal making, photography, poetry... well these things I've dabbled in but have no real knowledge. These sections blew my socks off. Each section comes in the form of exercises that you are encouraged to carry out from sketching to making paper cranes, modelling a clay doll to taking self portraits, writing your own poetry, creating awesome backgrounds, incorporating images into those backgrounds, carving your own stamps... all in a straightforward "you can do this, we can all do this" manner. No shmaltzy, shmaltzy.

So - all in all. If you come to this book realising that probably, a bit of it you are already going to know but embrace the rest, you'll love this book. I do.

I will put this book up as a giveaway... but not yet. I intend to work my way through it and treat it like it is - a workshop. I'll let you know how I get on ;)

Thank you to Quarry for sending the book for review.

MistyMawn.typepad.com

Quarry Books UK

Quarry Books US

Thanks as always for stopping by :)

Secret Santa Swap - Call for extra player

2011-10-19T11:08:00.006+01:00

I've had an amazing UK blogger *just* miss the sign up. As we are in the early stages of the swap I thought I'd put a call out to see if anyone else wants to partner up. Either a new player or even if you are already playing and don't mind another person to stalk (and be stalked in return.) I wont put up the bloggers name so as to still try and keep it sort of secret.

Please click this link to check out the rules and regs of the swap and if you are interested, drop me a line. (Email button on my sidebar)

Thank you :)

Secret Santa Swap

2011-10-17T16:56:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone :)

I've emailed you all with only a few hiccups! I forgot to send addresses to a few of you and Wendy - you nearly ended up with two Santa's! Whoops!

If any of you have not had an email yet then please check your spam/bulk folders. If still no joy, let me know and I'll email you again :) Remember if you have any questions for your stalkees, give me a shout and I'll ask them in confidence for you.

Please can we make sure to post our goodies to our recipients by the 1st of December, allowing good time for Santa's elves at the post office to do their stuff.

Have fun people! Let the stalking commence!

Secret Santa Swap

2011-10-15T22:15:00.018+01:00

Look, I made a button and everything!

This was my very first ATC! Aww!

I'll pin this post to the top of my blog and I'll leave it there until Saturday the 15th October. That's over a week for you to decide if you want to play. (For newer posts please scroll down past this one.)

Grinch hat on.

I'm very sorry but this swap is only open to regular visitors to the blog. If I don't recognise your name then I'm afraid you can't play. This is purely because it's my first time hosting a swap and I want to find my feet. I also want to say thank you to the lovely people who have stood by me, put up with my ramblings and let me waffle on about nothing for two years. :) If it goes well, I'll definitely host future swaps in the...er... future - who knows this could be a new Christmas tradition!

Grinch hat off.

We've had some interest hence an official proper post! I will take a couple of days after the 15th to collate information and shuffle some paperwork whilst looking all official. I'll then email you all with who you will be stalking. You can then commence villainous laughter, rubbing hands with glee and sneaking along shady internet corridors... as if you didn't all do that already!

Please put together a fabulous Christmas gift for your recipient. Stalk well. Find out what they would swoon clear away over. It can be anything. ANYTHING. Handmade, stash, books, chocolate... just tailor it to your person and fill it with yuletide cheer. I'm imagining myself as Father Christmas in a dress here, whiskers and all LOL! OK, am making myself laugh at the mental images now - but I want you to all be skipping around sprinkling your festive glitter. Sing carols while you make something gorgeous - it's allowed. Drag Queen Santa says so!

So far the consensus I'm getting is that good quality second hand stuff - books, stamps, vintage/retro items - is all good and welcome. Means you'll get more pressie for your buck is what I'm hearing LOL! If you don't feel this way please let me know so I can pass it on to your Santa.

Shall we set the minimum spend at £10? (Roughly $15.48 according to xe.com) if you wish to spend more on your recipient, feel free but be aware that your sender might not be in the position to do the same.

If you want to know something in particular about your recipients likes etc, email me and I will email them for you anonymously. Obviously I am the only one who will know who my Santa is. So that one wouldn't be anonymous.

Things I need from you -

1. Who you are.
2. Email address
3. Blog address (for stalkage)
4. Postal address
5. Some likes/dislikes. Do you have a wishlist online?

Please email the above to - whoopidoo at btinternet dot com (If you've already sent me the list - thank yooou!)

I'll probably think of more stuff.. I will try to get you posting within your own country to keep costs down. We so far have a few in the UK and a few in the US so these wont be a problem ;)

So to recap:

Will keep sign up open till the 15th
I'll then email you your victim
Stalk, stalk, stalk.
Make, spend, gather, rummage, eat chocolate and buy some more, wrap, wrap, wrap.
Posting date. Shall we say the 1st of December so it will arrive in good time?
Stalk postie
Shake, rattle and feel pressie
Try and resist till the 25th
Mad tearing frenzy with lots of whooping
Meet back after the big day to show off our gifts (if you want to, I always love nosing at what everyone else got!)

Be sure and tell me if I forgot anything?

Have you been naughty or nice this year? We're making a list, and checking it twice...

Me! - Received
Amy - On Santa's sleigh
Virginia - Received
Joanna - Received
Cameron - On Santa's sleigh
Carol - On Santa's sleigh
Susie - On Santa's sleigh
Sarah - Received
Sam - Received
Wendy - Received (1 of 2)
Brandy - Received
Paige - Received
Joyce - On Santa's sleigh
Andrea - On Santa's sleigh

Donna - On Santa's sleigh

HO HO HO! (I blame Virginia, my dad and my sis! They have totally got me in the spirit!)

On My Wishlist...

2011-10-15T14:07:00.011+01:00

Been ages since I played! Here we go...

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where we list all the books we desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. Want to know more? Click here.

Zombies vs. Unicorns - various

Goodreads summary: It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

I totally blame Amy for this being marked as high priority on my wishlist. Doesn't it look amazing? I've been a very good girl this year so am hoping this will materialise under my Christmas tree - am on a book buying ban till after Christmas - how unfair is that? *Sulk*

Undead by Kirsty McKay

Goodreads summary: Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly.

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse?

Yep. They could.

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry.

With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside café. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant.

The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness. Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost.

Can they survive the Undead? And each other?

Notice a theme yet? :)

Doesn't this sound amazing? And it's set in Scotland! SCOTLAND! Now you all know how I feel about my heartland!

Rot and Ruin by Jonathon Maberry

Goodreads summary: In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

This one has been on my list forever - well, it feels that way!

Outpost by Adam Baker

Goodreads summary:
They took the job to escape the world.
They didn't expect the world to end.

Kasker Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home. But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands. The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way..

I have a feeling this one will be very, very, very claustrophobic but amazing!

Drop Dead Gorgeous by Wayne Simmons

Goodreads summary: As tattoo artist Star begins to ink her first client on a spring Sunday morning, something goes horribly wrong with the world... Belfast's hungover lapse into a deeper sleep than normal, their sudden deaths causing an unholy mess of crashing cars, smoldering televisions and falling aircraft. In the chaotic aftermath a group of post-apocalyptic survivors search for purpose in a devastated city. Ageing DJ Sean Magee and shifty-eyed Barry Rogan find drunken solace in a hotel bar. Ex-IRA operative Mairead Burns and RIR soldier Roy Beggs form an uneasy alliance to rebuild community life. Elsewhere, a mysterious Preacher Man lures shivering survivors out of the shadows with a promise of redemption. Choked by the smell of death, Ireland’s remaining few begin the journey toward a new life, fear and desperation giving rise to new tensions and dark old habits. But a new threat--as gorgeous as it is deadly--creeps slowly out of life’s wreckage. Fueled by feral hunger and a thirst for chaos, the corpses of the beautiful are rising…

Ooooh! Ireland! And zombies! Does it get any better?

***

How do they sound to you? Obviously this is just a small sample of my wishlist. In fact most of the books on my wishlist are not on my actual online wishlist because it would just be pages and pages long and Craig already calls it my begging list (so what if it is? My sis has one too and we beg to each other at Christmas and birthdays - sounds like a plan to me!) Don't even get me started on all the art and craft books on there... well... maybe next week ;)

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-10-14T11:46:00.010+01:00

ON FRIDAY! Whatever next? A heat wave in October? Oh wait...

Click the piccie to play along :)

So, what's been happening this week then my lovelies? Well quite a lot of poopy stuff I can tell you but from reading all your lovely blogs I know I'm not alone. In a roundabout way that in itself makes me feel better. Not in an evil cackling "if I suffer you suffer" kind of way but in a "we're all in the same boat, different stream" kinda way. Did that make sense at all? In my twisted head it did. I'm glad, once again for you lot. For being there, being supportive and if I can be there for you in return... well I hope I can.

I didn't win the lottery this week - but I went one better. I won a fiver from the Wrigleys Tooth Fairy! Woohoo! Triple packet of chewing gum which cost £1 from Icelands. Not bad, not bad! I'll tell you now, it's always worth giving the Wrigley's competitions a go, especially if you chew a lot of gum anyway (I do, try and stop me scoffing so much!) Last time they ran a comp both myself and my sister won two tickets each to see Beyonce in concert at the O2. Craig very gallantly took our eldest to that. So kind of him ;) Talking of the lottery this week though and reading the news of those massive winners who went public gave us lots of food for thought. Would you publicly "come out" if you won? I think my answer would be a definite and resounding no. Wouldn't it be nice to win a comfortable amount of cash? I think, and Craig agreed, we'd still be as penny pinching as we are now though. *g* No 20 bed mansion for us, to much to clean. I'd love a house large enough for the girls to have their own room each, for Craig to have a large garden he could fill with aviary's and enough room for my Dad to have a Granny (should that be Grandad?) bungalow out back and I'd have a studio in the top floor of the house with the ceiling being all windows, lots of natural light. Our living room would be lined with bookshelves. And I could have ducks in the garden. I want a duck. And a tortoise. I've not thought about it much though as you can see! :D

Next positive this week was this glorious sunset espied through the small roof window when putting monster no.3 to bed. Isn't it gorgeous?

Love it when nature surprises you when you least expect it. Felt like a little reward after struggling up two flights of stairs with my dodgy swollen ankles. Don't ask - think I knackered them completely when I tried jogging a while back! That'll teach me to try something that is obviously completely and totally wrong!

Receiving lovely surprises in the post. Remember the P.I.F? Yes, well, I am still to complete mine - I've sent one off. Thankfully I did give myself to the end of the year. Look what arrived in the post from Wendy this week!

It's her first ever sewing project to include a zip... and she sent it to me! I love it! See Wendy, I told you it was the perfect size for a little sketchbook and pencils for my bag :D Thank you again, love it, love it, love it!

I am so far in the Christmas spirit these days that I'm surprised I'm not pooping jingle bells! Really, it's like someone flicked a switch. I bought this gorgeous peg bag from the equally gorgeous LLJan this week. Isn't that fabric fabulous? Monster no.3 is convinced it's Mr Tumble's peg bag *g*
In the package was a lovely surprise Christmas bunting. Isn't it beautiful?

Love this gold holly leaf...
Look, look... I am going to make it my mission to slowly phase out all the cheap crappy decs that someone (Craig) bought last year and replace it with stuff like this!

That's going to go over our fireplace this year - just above the altered Christmas cabinet thingy I made last year! Thank you LLJan :) (Seriously go check out her blog, she does magic with a sewing machine. I have one of her totes and it's like the tardis inside! My favourite bag ever but don't tell my Alice bag!)

And speaking of Christmas - I draw my Secret Santa names tomorrow! Yay! Yay! Yay! Still time to sign up if you want to play! I am really looking forward to this swap! Another reason to feel all Christmassy!

These two. How much do I complain about these two. I am a not a doggy person. I am a cat person through and through. So I'm not quite sure how it occurred that we ended up with two dogs and not a single cat... hmmm.

Enjoying the unseasonal heat today.

I love them to bits though. I think it helps that they both seem to think they are cats! Lucy, the old girl at the back. She's our rescue doggy, we don't know how old she is - we've had her 8 years and she's getting a bit doddery and deaf (though I'm sure it's selective!) She's been a bit poorly this week and we were worried for her, really worried, but she seems fine now. Cooper the one in front is the whippersnapper at 2 years old. He is absolutely bonkers and a total mans dog. He adores us all but I think he actually would jump in front of a speeding car for Craig. He sits whining at the back door when he's working. They do make me smile for all my complaining about them (they both have the most awful wind I have ever had the displeasure to smell. Silent but deadly. You sometimes have the pleasure of feeling a pffffft when they are on your lap. That's all you know because you're unconscious for half an hour afterwards!) Cooper in particular was ever so hyper at our old house. Like, almost running round the walls and if anyone dared knock on the door he would bounce to head level all over them, slobbering and wanting to play until they left again.

Don't know what it is about this place but he's chilled right out. There's still some initial "look at me, fuss me, love me, let me stick my tongue in your ear" bouncing but it's done and dusted after about 5 minutes now. Mellowed right out has our Coop. So yes, these two muttleys make me smile daily. Even when they are being a pain in the bum!

So that's me for another week :) Do you want to play along? Be sure and link up with Virginia so we can all find you.

And remember...

Source: designeriphone.tumblr.com via Carmen on Pinterest

Thank you as always for stopping by :)

Oh wait - just hit 'post' and thought of another! I gave up bread this week because Craig lost 7lbs last week when he did it. (Jammy git!) So far I've lost a measly 1lb... BUT my jeans keep falling down and I can pull them up and down without undoing the button. AND. BIG and. Some of my incentive clothes (dresses that I will use as long tops) that I've had years... all still got their labels on, suddenly fit this week! I mean I have been hoarding them for YEARS! How strange eh? But definitely Rocking!

OK, am gone again!

It's A Conspiracy!

2011-10-12T14:36:00.007+01:00

The lovely people at Dotcomgiftshop - who I thought would have blacklisted me forever after I altered their recipe box. Nice to know they haven't!- have very kindly sent me a Christmas welcome mat to share my thoughts on.

To whoever is prodding me with a sharpened stick, I get it OK? I am officially IN the Christmas spirit. I am at one with the notion that Christmas is coming. I need no more signs... though by all means keep them coming ;)

So. This is the lovely mat that I received today.

It's a nice size, measuring roughly 29" by just under 17" and is almost an inch thick. Now, hands up, my first reaction was "Well! That's a bit daft making a mat out of coir - it's going to shed all over the carpet. Ah well, at least Craig usually does the hoovering!" Luckily, Craig was home when I opened the parcel and patiently pointed out to his numpty partner that it would probably go outside. Ah. Well of course. I knew that.

So, back to the review. The mat is made from natural coconut fibres called coir. They did shed a little bit upon opening the bag but a good shake out the door soon sorted that.

What I especially like about this mat is this. I am lazy. I cannot be arsed, putting it politely, to change mats when Christmas is coming and when it's gone. To much effort. Not doing it. Also, cannot be faffed trying to find yet more storage space for the other 11 months of the year. Nope. To much trouble... But look, flip the mat over...

Pretty! Now a flip of a mat I can handle - I like this, may not be DotComGiftShop's intention but to me, this is a very clever thing indeedy! This is minimal effort for quite a good looking result!

I'd like to thank DotComGiftShop, for helping to get me in the Christmassy mood! Check out this page for their other mats (yes, seriously, I am telling you to go look at mats!) They have cupcakes, a take on the Keep Calm thingy, spots, a witchy welcome but my absolute favourite is the stripes. Mmm, love me some stripes!

Also, while you are there please check out their charity cards. I know a lot of you make your own but for those of us that buy some as well, 90% of the profits go to Cancer Research. A charity that I know is very dear to a lot of us. Worth considering them.

Thank you as always for stopping by :)

Dragon Art

2011-10-09T14:03:00.008+01:00

Dragon Art - Graeme Aymer
Foreword by John Howe

The book says:

Welcome to a world of fearsome and majestic beasts, soaring through the skies or lurking in their fiery realms of epic. magical and wondrous adventure. The dragon is one of the most iconic and popular creatures in fantasy art. Now Dragon Art explores a whole range of stunning work depicting those winged wonders.

The book begins with a foreword from legendary illustrator, Lord of the Rings artist and dragon fan John Howe. Then feast your eyes on 'The Masters of Dragon Art', a section that includes samples of the work of John Howe, Don Maitz, Janny Wurts, Ciruelo, Bob Eggleton and Michael Whelan. Having whet your appetite, move on to the meat of the book in which Graeme Aymer discusses the origins, influences and attraction of dragon and fantasy art. Alongside this, discover artworks by a host of exciting artists, some well-established and some newly blazing a trail, but all with their own distinctive style - including Alan Lathwell, Scott Altmann, Kerem Beyit, Anne Stokes, Minna Sundberg and many more. The majority of the recent work that features in the book was created in digital media, reflecting the use of the most up-to-date methods.

Also included are feature spreads showcasing artists' step-by-step stages leading to final pieces, revealing invaluable tips on technique. Dragon Art is an essential title for anyone who is passionate about the skill and imagination of top-class fantasy artists and the awe-inspiring allure of dragons.

I say:

I was very lucky to win my copy of this book from the Flame Tree Publishing Facebook page a while back. I've been meaning to do a review for ages but what with the move and getting behind on everything... well, it's taken me to long. Time to rectify that.

I'll be honest, when I entered the competition I thought the book would be one of those flimsy A4 sized softback 'how to draw' books that you see around. I couldn't have been more wrong. Flame Tree call this a coffee table book and I can see why. It's HUGE! You could have knocked me down with a feather when I opened my package. The book itself is hard backed and roughly 11.5" by 11.5" with 203 pages. The pages are a lovely thick, glossy quality and the images inside are just stunning, quite a few fitting a whole page or larger.

This is in no way a 'how to' book. The front of the book calls it "Inspiration, Impact & Technique in Fantasy Art". Oodles and oodles of glorious full colour art work, both full pages and smaller images interspersed throughout the text fill this book. The text itself covers the origins of folklore and myth surrounding dragons, to Tolkien and Lovecraft, to the dragons of Africa and Wales... there is so much to read and soak up and be inspired by.

I find the comparisons between normal art and digital art really intriguing. I must admit to being someone who has in the past dismissed digital art as "the easy option" and not "proper" art. I hasten to add I don't think that now - a couple of tries on my sisters digital drawing pad showed me the error of my thinking there. But seeing all this beautiful artwork has me really tempted to dabble in that side of things myself, usually a traditional paper, paint, pencils... materials you can touch and feel all the way girl...well, this book combined with another I'm reading (How To Draw Zombies) about combining traditional and digital formats have got me really interested and eager to learn more. The sections where a few artists have gone into stages of the artwork are particularly interesting when it comes to this.

I find myself coming back to this book and reading through it often. Quite aside from just how beautiful it is, the history, techniques, folklore (love my folklore) residing alongside the art make it a must have if you are even remotely interested in dragons or fantasy art. I love that the art featured is not all one type - there are Celtic inspired dragons, quite scary and horrific looking dragons accompanied with some really very cute and endearing beasts. It's one that will be read and looked at again and again - at least in this house! Highly recommended.

Flame Tree Publishing
@Flametreetweet

Thanks as always for stopping by :)

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-10-08T18:27:00.017+01:00

Click the piccie to play along :)

Good evenink lovely people. Happy Friday. (Pretend it's Friday!)

Firstly this week I have to thank Sexy Susie Sue for sending me this book...

It's been on my wishlist since I saw all the hype on twitter when it was first released. Thank you Sue, you really, really shouldn't have but I am so glad you did!

Secondly, thank you to everyone who has sent lovely emails about my Secret Santa swap! I am over the moon it's been taken on board so well. I thought it would just be a couple of us doing it - I never really thought anyone else would be interested. (Pssst. You still have till Saturday to sign up ! *wink, wink*)
Partly because of that and partly because Virginia, my Dad and my sister made me feel so guilty with all their C word talk, I've now started my shopping. Ooh, also to Sian for her blog post which inspired a pressie purchase this week too. That's getting me all Christmassy and am trying to get a gift a week at least. Hopefully then it wont be such a huge shock to the moths that reside in my purse nearer the time! Even contemplating digging out the old Nat & Dean CD :P Blimey - yeah, they've dragged me over to the dark side! (It's quite nice, they've decorated with jingle bells and holly!)

Next, all these places that were previously just to expensive to visit... have now started making their tickets last a whole year. That kind of justifies the expense a little bit. We bought a Port Lympne one at Easter (which we've been making damn sure we got our money's worth from) and recently got a Leeds Castle one too. Next year we will swap and do a couple of different ones so we get to see more places. I love that because you can go back as many times as you want in a year, you don't feel so rushed to get around everything and the days just feel so much more leisurely and relaxed - less regimented frantic marching around everything! Plus, you have a day out ready paid for when the kids are driving you NUTSO!

Today was a Leeds Castle visit. The difference from when we went just a couple of weeks ago was amazing. All autumnal and full of crunchy leaves.

We did the inside of the castle today rather than just the grounds - which hold a couple of parks the girls love. Top moment of the day. Giving the royal wave as we were ushered in the front door, thanks to Dad and his walking stick. This lot still had to queue round the back! Bwahahaha!

Next Rocking moment comes from one room. I could have spent ages in here - my favourite room in the castle.
When can I move in? Or at least replicate it in my home? (Craig. He say no. *Sad face*)

In the gift shop Devvie and I spotted a medieval style scrapbook. Basically a wad of (what looked like) handmade paper bound in a leather wrap, tied up with a leather thong. It was gorgeous. But it was £44!! We've decided to try and get some leather and make one of our own - aha! Inspiration strikes!

There seems to have been a shift in my mood this week. There was a little bit of letting a few circumstances drag my mood down last week and as a result I nearly ditched everything. Nearly quit all my circle journals, nearly quit the design team, very nearly shut down and deleted my blog. It was only Craig (again) making me physically wait a few days, rant and rail a bit of an afternoon when the girls were at school. Listened patiently (all be it with that look on his face), then did what he always does... annoyingly... and talked some sense into me. I'm grateful for him. Circumstances are still there but I'm dealing with them better this week.

Now, if you fancy a look back at your week to...

Source: notsalmon.com via Carmen on Pinterest

Be sure to stop by Virginia's and link up so we can all find you :)

Lastly, a quick questionnaire that Amy has asked everyone to fill in - and seeing as I won a piece of her fabulous art - YEAH! Marvin is coming to live with ME! - how could I not?

1. what is your name and stuff? and any other good information. like bank account details.My name is Carmen. My middle name is Miranda. Which makes me Carmen Miranda. Aiyaiyaiyai do like you all very much too ;) If you got that reference, then I love you even more and yes, my Mum and Dad thought they were cool and hilarious. They just couldn't think of a name for me so my Mum said Carmen Miranda as a joke and my Dad liked it. It's better than Elvis which is what they called me when I was a bump.

2. what is super hot about you? <--- don't you Dare skip this one. answer it.

Um...
I like to think my sarcasm and sense of humour but I may be alone in that ;)

3. don't lie or cheat: what is under your couch right now?Absolutely nothing. I know! But only because we so recently moved and I am actually more or less keeping on top of things. Give me a few months and there will be a whole heap of stuff under there.

4. when was the last time you shaved your legs?Thursday?? It's cold!

5. what did you have for breakfast?

Hot toast with marmite and a couple of cups of tea. I think I also had a kiwi afterwards.

6. if you could choose a new name, what would you name yourself?I wouldn't change my name.

7. have you ever had plastic surgery?No - but if I did it would be on my upper arms or my double chin. The rest - I'm pretty OK with.

8. are you afraid of the dark?Yes.
I am wondering how I will get away with having the landing light on still when the kids all leave home!

9. are you a hermit?According to Amy and her check of wikipedia: In modern colloquial usage, the term "hermit" is sometimes used for anyone living a life apart from the rest of society, or who simply does not participate in social events as much as is common, regardless of their motivation in doing so."

It's funny because I remember in English class at school, we had to write an essay, as you do, on what you wanted to be when you grew up. I wrote two options. One was to drive a sixteen wheeler truck and at the same time own a cattery and a coffee shop/bookstore. The other was to be the crazy cat lady who lived her days in a book lined cave. I think I actually used the word 'hermit'.

That definition of Amy's is pretty spot on. I don't tend to socialise with people... it's just a shame that some people take that personally. It's not personal... most of the time. Some people just keep themselves to themselves.

10. why do you blog?Because - to completely contradict what I just said - I love to chat, I love to write. I love sharing what I'm up to, new things I've discovered, great books I've read. I love to talk to friends I've made through this blog.

Hey - I can be a friendly hermit can't I?

The End.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Drawn In - Winner

2011-10-06T09:39:00.004+01:00

Oops. Who forgot to draw a winner for this fabulous book? Maybe the same person who has read it again since that review? Ho hum!

I have now unleashed the random generator who uses the magic Smarties bowl of good karma.... otherwise known as our key bowl.

Mix, mix, mix...

Bake a cake, bake a cake...Tension mounts...

Tadaaaa...

I am wondering if my random generator has been bribed and corrupted in some way. Hmmm. Congratulations Joanna - I'll pop the book in the post to you. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

2011-10-05T14:35:00.008+01:00

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

Back of the book says:

Sleep Tight.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.

Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs . . . or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

An understated horror story filled with loving references to Rosemary's Baby and other classic tales of urban paranoia, Bedbugs will keep your skin crawling into the wee hours of the night.

I say:

This was another book that was not what I thought it was going to be. The mere title alone had visions of mutant killer bedbugs rampaging through my brain... maybe swarms and swarms of bedbugs crawling over people, swallowing them down to nothing, you know - scenes like the scarabs in The Mummy films. Full on monster bug attack - not sure why I thought that from the picture of a bed... but I did.

Mostly this was a good, old fashioned thriller - I personally wouldn't class it as horror. The two books that kept popping into my mind as I read were The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Magic Cottage by James Herbert. Two books, I hasten to add, that I love. I wont say any more than that for fear of spoilers but lots of similarities - I can see where the classic homage comes in. You are never quite sure if what you are reading is what is happening... is the apartment possessed or is Susan bonkers? Is there really an invasion of bedbugs but they only have a taste for her sweet meat? What's with the creepy landlady and why do people in the neighbourhood appear to be suicidal?

I didn't actually like Susan that much as a character so wasn't that bothered with her mental and physical downward spiral if I'm honest. She seemed a bit (very) selfish and prejudiced in all areas of her life, though she did seem to be realising this towards the end. I felt sorry for her hubby and daughter... the childminder and even the exterminator too. But I didn't feel sorry for Susan. She was more irritating than the bugs.

Overall I enjoyed this book, another I can very easily envision as a film. Though I wonder if there is enough money in the world to pay an actor for some of the scenes. It would be such a good film to sit behind someone, wait till it goes quiet and then flick paper pellets! Mwaha!

A good, fun thriller that keeps you wondering who is who and if what is what... I'm still not quite sure if what I think happened at the end actually happened. Though I did guess the villain of the piece quite early on. I read this really quickly over a few evenings, a real page turner but it will leave you itching for days. One word of warning: don't read the book in bed just before you turn off the lights. Do as I say - not as I did!

I'm still checking the ceiling corners and under my pillow each night.

www.benhwinters.com
www.quirkbooks.com - many thanks to Quirk for my review copy.

Claiming Bedbugs as book two in the R.I.P reading challenge :) Thank you as always for stopping by.

The C Word...

2011-10-04T17:10:00.010+01:00

CHRISTMAS!

There, I said it!

CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!
CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!
CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!CHRISTMAS!

Wait - don't run away. Let me explain my potty mouth!

I've been thinking. Wouldn't it be nice on Christmas morning, after you've run your socks off playing Santa, decking the halls, shoving random herbs and spices up a turkeys bum... that you would have a present tailored especially to you under your tree. Full of handmade goodness... or stash, maybe some chocolate, a book... a lovely gift that someone has put sweat, tears and a whole lot of love into compiling. Not just a last minute grab off the shelf on Christmas Eve?

On the flip side - how about some fully stealth like, no holds barred, stalking. All legal and above board Guv!

Have I piqued your interest?

Well then, who's up for a swap?

Been pondering for a while about doing a Secret Santa swap but have heard so many stories about how much hard work it is, how swappers have been let down. How people have gone bald and turned into homicidal maniacs whilst hosting a swap... it's for this reason and because it's my very first swap to host... that it's only open to the regulars that have stopped by here. Not fair? A bit of the Grinch stealing in there? I don't care - them's the rules and if I don't recognise your name then I'm sorry, for this first swap, while I find my hostess feet, you can't play. I'm hoping that'll also mean it'll be a stress free ride for me. (Was that Maggi I just heard falling off her chair laughing?) Plus it's a way of saying thank you for saving my sanity over this past couple of years. (By letting you destroy it! Ha!)

OK, if you are still reading and still interested... here's what I'm thinking. Feel free to shout out some ideas and what not - this post is purely the initial idea.

It'll be a one on one swap so you wont know who you are getting from but you'll obviously know who you are sending to and will be able to stalk their blog for ideas. If you have a question for the person you are buying/making for, likes and dislikes etc. You can email me and I will anonymously ask them on your behalf. I'm not putting a theme on the swap other than the putting together a yummy present for your victim.

I'm thinking at this point the present can be anything - fully handmade, a bit handmade and some other bits thrown in, A handmade card and a pressie, nothing handmade at all if your prey doesn't like handmade. (Crazy fools!) This is where your stealthy stalking will come in!

I'm thinking a minimum spend/pressie value (not including P&P) would be £10 or £15? (Will work out the minimum in $ if we get people from other countries.) Comment away on this point please. Obviously if you want to, you can spend more, just be aware that your sender might not be in the position to do the same.

So. If you like the idea, fancy playing along then drop me a comment below and send me an email at whoopidoo at btinternet dot com letting me know:
1. Who you are
2. Your address
3. Your bank details (hahaha - I kid!)
4. Whether you are happy to post internationally or whether you would rather post within your own country (so I can match you up)
5. Some likes and dislikes - do you have a wishlist anywhere online? Are you deathly allergic to chocolates etc? Do you want all new or are you OK with gently used. (For example, I am totally OK with second hand books/stamps.)
6. Your blog address (for maximum stalkage.)

Wrap up your goodies, post them on their way and sit back in a cloud of festive good cheer. It's then up to you whether to rip your pressie open immediately or wait until the big day!

Erm... so that's my thinking at the moment. Interested? I'll do a proper swap post if and when I get some interest with the rules and posting dates etc.

Comment away!

Grunge Goes Girly!

2011-10-03T14:48:00.011+01:00

It's a non-rambly, actually made something, honest to goodness, praise the skies and kiss my supplies arty crafty post! Yeehaw!

Recently I was asked to do a baby canvas for a little girl! Yes, Me! It was Carol doing the asking and I did have a fleeting thought that maybe she wanted to terrorise the poor child, but hey, the customer is always right... right?

In the end, after a lot of fun playing with this canvas, I really liked it and I hope bubba does too. I tried to go girly but not to babyish so that it would be able to stay up in her room as she grows.

I'm sure I took some better pictures before I posted it off but can I find them? No. I hope this gives a rough idea.

The background text is verses from the "Hush Little Baby" song.

It still ended up with some grunge in there - can't help myself. I like it and it's a one off that no one else will have for their baby isn't it :)

Thank you Carol - for the challenge and for asking me. It was an honour, all be it a kind of scary one!

Thanks, as always for stopping by :)

Thank you for all your lovely comments. I used a technique adapted from one I spotted on Pinterest to do all the text. I used the Word program on my PC, some downloaded fonts and Decopatch/Paperpatch glue :) Click the picture below to take a peep at the original post. It's gorgeous.

Source: sarahsprojects.blogspot.com via Carmen on Pinterest

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-09-30T22:47:00.006+01:00

...on Friday? Is it Friday? I believe it is! On time!

If you'd like to play along - just click the picture.

It's one of those sifting through the poop posts this week - please, excuse the "erm..." noises coming from this side of the screen. That would be me thinking!

Firstly has to be Baby Monster Ruby, reaching 4 this week. Can't believe it if I'm honest - time has literally flown by. She had one request. A pink bike with a bell. She got the pink bike - we just have to get the bell to go on it :) Had to laugh as she was shaking the present from her Grandad (a baby doll) and she's saying "ooh this is a big box, there might be a bike in here..."

Which leads me on to laundry folding. Hate that job. Takes FOR.EV.AHHHH! However, it's made slightly more bearable when I have two little (not very helpful) helpers!

They ended up rolling around in the nice clean washing, tossing it up in the air while giggling and wuffing at each other. Partners in crime! Definitely make a rubbish job more fun!

Next, signing up to the Marmite newsletter and getting a coupon for a free jar of Marmite in my inbox! Hurrah! Look, for a Marmite lover that is a very big, huge positive right there! Mmmmmarmite! Yum!

Internet seems to be finally fixed. We had a great couple of engineers come out really quickly and sort the problem. Well, quicker than we expected anyway - we were dreading weeks if not months of interrupted internet which would have been a disaster.

Hummmm...

Oh, the house has been full of coughs and sore throats this week. Nothing major and no other symptoms. Think the girls and Craig were quite pleased when I fully lost my voice a couple of times there. Apart from an irritating cough it seems to be clearing up.

Loving seeing the autumnal colours creeping through the tree's. Some lovely golden and red leaves are appearing - wish we had the snuggly cool weather to match. I must admit I was not one of the people wishing there had been a hotter summer. I don't do well in heat. Therefore I think it highly unfair that those people have now got their wish in what should be my season. Snuggly cardi's and comfy jeans while you stomp through the leaves. That's the way it should be... I should be allowed my own little bubble of weather to cocoon me. Not to much to ask is it? No, I didn't think so either.

Mr silver crow is being spotted more and more. I say Mr, Craig reckons it's a she. Something to do with genetic mutations always occurring in the female or when two of one kind breed another kind it's usually a hen bird... or something. I don't know. He's the bird man... whatever, Silver Crow is getting really big now and turning into a handsome beast I must say. Will have to try and take my camera around with me more, try and get a good picture.

As always, Craig, the girls and the people that keep me sane - you all rock my world. Even when you don't know it!

Thanks for stopping by, if you'd like to play along be sure to visit Virginia and leave a link so we can all find you :)

Married With Zombies

2011-09-22T20:19:00.006+01:00

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

"Meet Sarah and David.

Once Upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they’re on the verge of divorce and going to couples’ counselling. On a routine trip to their councillor, they notice a few odd things- the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their councillor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client’s throat.

Meet The Zombies.

Now Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. But just because there are zombies doesn’t mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don’t eat their brains out first, they might just kill each other..."

This is the first of three books centering around Sarah and David. A couple on the brink of divorce… that is until the day they find their marriage councillor chowing down on her previous clients. And not in a good way. So begins a rollercoaster ride of zombie bashing, couple bickering and good old fashioned car theft.

The two main characters, Sarah and David, are so flawed in their own ways but both so likeable. The story was told from a first person perspective by Sarah and I liked seeing how she came to terms with the realisation of her flaws and in turn how she dealt with them… sometimes not always quickly enough. They both were likeable, believable and I rooted for them not to be eaten all the way through.

I loved Married With Zombies, it reminded me a lot of the girly fiction my sister reads by the likes of Jill Mansell… but with zombies thrown into the mix. A definite improvement on romantic comedy! I cracked through the book in two evenings and will definitely go on to read the other two.

Jesse Peterson
Simon & Schuster

Book copy - my own. A gift :)

I'd like to claim Married With Zombies as the first of four books I aim to read in the RIP reading event, Peril the First. The books need to encompass any of the following:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

Thank you for stopping by :)

A-Z of Me...

2011-09-21T22:52:00.009+01:00

Evening all :) Am still around but having connectivity issues again. Our phone line has crumbled, literally, the lovely BT engineer has patched it best he can until it can be replaced but we could lose it again at any time until then :( Good news is that it should all be sorted in a few days. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime here's a quickie post, nabbed from Laura's blog. The A - Z of me, where I so kindly give you all a chance to find out a bit more about me... like you're remotely interested. Just pretend!

A. Age: 34

B. Bed size: Double... I think.

C. Chore that you hate: Can I say all of them? No? Then... ironing. Gotta be.

D. Dogs: Two. A jack russell/whippet cross - our old lady Lucy, we don't know her real age as she was a rescue doggy but we think around 13/14. And Cooper our jack russell boy, he's two and completely mental ;)

E. Essential start to your day: TEA! Do not expect anything coherent until at least two cups in.

F. Favorite color: Black and purple.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver. I detest gold with a passion.

H. Height: 5’10" (and a half)

I. Instruments you play: Does playing the drums with a wooden spoon on the kitchen worktop count?

J. Job title: Take your pick: Chauffeur, delivery driver, Tea/coffee maker, cook, cleaner, personal shopper, personal assistant... oh yeah, ARTISTE! Ha - no wait, that's in my spare time.

K. Kids: Mummy monster to 3 monster offspring of the female variety, ages 14, 10 and nearly 4.

L. Live: *Checks pulse* Yep - just about.

M. Must haves: Tea. Books. Tea. Internet. Tea. Paint. Paper. Pencils. TEA!

N. Nicknames: Cammie, Cambo, Cambop, Cam and Whoops.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Three, little monsters need recovering from when they make their arrival.

P. Pet peeves: Rudeness. People making improper or zero use of their car indicators. Dog owners that don't scoop their doggy poop. Parents who swear in front of their children... and then blame their little darlings blue mouths on the playground. Parents who smoke over a pram or while pregnant. Finding out I just used my last tea-bag and it's to late to go to the shops (yeah - stay out of my way until I buy some more in that case.) I could go on...

Q. Quote from a movie: "... I'm the exception... " from He's Just Not That Into You - a film I saw for the first time this week. A cheesy romance but I really liked it and I loved that couple, that quote and the whole scene it came from :D (You all thought I'd do a Labyrinth quote... I almost did! *g*)

R. Rhubarb or Custard: Rhubarb (and evap milk! OMG!)

S. Save or spend: Both. Save, save, save my pennies, spend on stash.

T. Tea or Coffee: Altogether now... (who said coffee?) Actually, I do like a coffee when out but always, always, always tea at home.

U. Underwear: Granny pants. Oh yeah baby! Or as my Mum called them - Harvest Festivals :P

V. Vegetable you hate: Erm... don't think I've come across one yet... love my veggies. Oh, no, I lie. Broad beans.

W. What makes you run late: The internet! Complete time suck!

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Not sure, my arm when I fractured it in nursery school maybe...

Y. Yummy food that you make: Rissolles, Quorn curry, Pickled onion soup, Rock cakes, lemon drizzle cake, Chilli (thanks to LLJan!) Bacon roll (the suet variety not slapped in a bread roll) Veggie stew and dumplings...

Z. Zoo animal: All the big cats. Don't like seeing them caged but on flip side, without places like Howletts etc. how long would it be before they were gone completely.

Well you all learned... not a lot there ;) Normal service of craftiness, artiness, reviews and and rambling will be resumed shortly. I hope!

Thanks for stopping by - if you do the A-Z too, let me know so I can come nosey!

Unicorns vs Zombies!

2011-09-18T10:44:00.001+01:00

Hopefully this post will remain at the top of my blog till the 18th - please scroll down for newer posts.

Mad, bonkers Amy's birthday is coming up. To celebrate she's having a Unicorns vs Zombies blog hop.

Really, it would be RUDE not to play wouldn't it? It's her birthday AND she's paying for Mr Linky and everything.

Are you in? I am!

TEAM ZOMBIES FTW!

See you there... or I will assume you are Team Unicorn and got eaten!

p.s I NEEEEEEEEEEEED this book!

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-09-12T11:10:00.013+01:00

...on Monday. Yep - I'm getting later and later. I'll eventually get so late I wont be able to help but end up on the right day!

Click the picture to play along.

So - what moments Rocked my World last week? Well, the kids are back to school. No tears. No tantrums. Quite a few smiles actually... There's me thinking the holidays had flown past and now I am wondering if they were ready to go back? Surely not! Biggest surprise was Monster no. 3, usually a prolonged period of absence from nursery brings with it tears and clinginess when it's time to go back. Not this time. She charged in, threw the water bottle in my general direction and I was left standing there like a muppet, comforting arms outstretched and lips puckered for a goodbye kiss. Well. Nice to know I am relegated to chauffeur/bodyguard/general dogsbody with all three of my girls now.

This also meant I could venture out to the workshop where Craig has set up my old desk for messy time.I can't be quite so flamboyant with the "HAYAAAAAH's" as I lob paint, in an over arm arc, straight at the canvas... well it is technically Craig's office after all. *Ahem*

He has also been fabulous as usual this week, not making much comment when I spread off the edge of my desk and onto his, using his printer to prop wet canvasses on and such like. He even indulged in a little more of my "pin-up" modelling today. Remember what I said about if the Gauche Alchemy mama's sent me an apron? Yeah... guess what arrived this week? Maybe NOT watch this space :D No complaints from him there - much guffawing more like!

Anyhoo, the old mojo is creaking back to life. The old cogs have started a whirring. There are a couple things making me want to go all Incredible Hulk on their arse. I can't understand why, why, WHY I can visualise stuff so blimming clearly but my hands just wont do their job and recreate what I see in my head. Not much to ask is it? No - I thought not. Another bonus (or not) to Craig working alongside me, I can't have screaming hissy fits and smash canvasses up against the wall and stomp all over them. (Then saying I knocked something over when he wonders what the noise was!) But a couple of things, well a couple of things have taken on a life of their own and I haven't really had that before. You know when you read in books or online, "I didn't paint, this or create that, I was just the tool that brought it to life" - yeah, cue much snorting and eye rolling from this side of the screen - hey, it just sounds corny to me, I can't help it. But, well, with these couple of projects - there has been a tiny bit of that. Just a tiny bit. And I'm loving it. Yeah, you roll your eyes, I'll let you.

Next up - rainbows. Yes, rainbows. Mega huge downpour over the weekend and then looked out of the window and saw a double rainbow.|You can't see it's a double from these pictures but it was and a full arc too!
Best bit though? Monster no.2 and her sleepover buddy charging downstairs so they could come outside to take photos as well. Then, within minutes, Monster no.1 arriving home from her sleepover, jumping out the car with her friend shrieking "Mum, Mum, look!" And both of them, full grown snotty, moody, argumentative teenagers, getting their phones out to take photos too. I just LOVE that rainbows still have that effect on all of them and I hope each and every one of them never ever loses that.

Documentaries. Ooh you know it's coming into Autumn when you start getting some stonking good documentaries on the telly. Am such an addict. I missed a good one on Sunday - my Dad told me today, it was something about doing tests on skeletons of people that worked on the ships round about Nelson's time. Find out how they lived and died. Apparently brilliant, quite gory but really eye opening. Told him off for telling me after the fact, don't you worry.

There is one coming up on Tuesday that sounds really good. It's on Channel 5 (UK peeps!) at 8pm and is called Mysteries Of The Vampire Skeletons: Revealed. Doesn't the title alone just sound fantastic? That's me booked the TV.

I can't sign off without saying how grateful I am that I can cuddle and smooch my family whenever I want to - we all know why I'm saying that. It's always a grateful of mine but some events just bring it home.

This status on Facebook really spoke to me today: (via your brother Virginia.)

"As many updates I have seen today, I would like to pay respects to the 1.5 million civilians that have died as a result of the US invasion of Iraq and the countless more killed in Afghanistan. Let us not forget that it is no less tragic and wasteless a life just because they are brown skinned and live drectly above Oil......"

Very true. Let's remember every innocent life that's been lost. And cuddle your loved ones that much closer. Because you can.

How was your week? If you'd like to join in our look back on the week to search out the good stuff, make sure and link up with Virginia so we can all find you :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Gauche Alchemy!

2011-09-09T11:27:00.006+01:00

Gauche Alchemy hits the ripe old age of THREE this September and there are celebrations a plenty over on the blog! Already two giveaways have gone up - the chance to win a huuuuuuuuuge THREE MONTH subscription to the Acme Kit and the chance to win one of the brand spanking new Going Postal kits. There's also a post from Septembers guest designer Dina Wakeley! Much, much more partying, fun, festivities and frolics are coming this month and all through September.

Picture source

What are you waiting for? Join the conga line and head over... I have a copy of Black Lace doing the Birdy Song! Who's with me?

Drawn in by Julia Rothman

2011-09-05T22:10:00.002+01:00

Drawn In by Julia Rothman

Blurb - Drawn In presents an alluring and amusing collection of sketchbooks from this diverse, fascinating pool of contemporary working artists and designers. The book features large, full-colour photographs as well as profiles and interviews with each contributor.

Sketchbooks often feel fresh and alive because they are first thoughts and often not reworked. Catch a glimpse of these usually very private pages where artists brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, and keep track of these musings. You will see how they use their journals to document their daily lives, produce their initial ideas for bigger projects and practice their skills. Using a variety of media from paint to pencil to collage, these pages can become works of art themselves. See how these pages capture the artists' personalities along with glimpses of their process of working and inspirations.

This book is literally pages and pages of sketchbook glimpses. The book appears to be a spin-off of the authors blog Book By It's Cover, a place where she shares her love of art books and started a 'little' feature showcasing the inside of artists sketchbooks... I will put my hands up now and admit I had never heard of Book By It's Cover... but then I have never heard of a lot of the people that write craft and art books. I know what I like just not usually who made/painted it.

This book is quite simply gorgeous. A real feast for the eyes. I am a real people watcher, I love to sit on benches in shopping centres and watch, making up stories about the passers by. I love to read blog posts sneaky peeking inside people's studios. My guilty afternoon pleasure used to be Through The Keyhole before they started staging it a bit to much. So to be able to see inside so many sketchbooks at one time is just, well, like handing over the key to the secret chocolate stash. It's such an intimate thing for the people involved to show, accompanied with short interview questions, it gives a real insight into each particular persons thought process.

What I particularly like is that it's not just one type of creative person showing their books. There are artists, cartoonists, typographers (is that the right word?) so much diversity. I also liked the inclusion of people across the globe - usually I've found craft books are mainly people from the USA which, granted, this book did still have a lot of but I was pleasantly surprised to see people from England, Scotland, Singapore etc. represented.

I took this book away with me on holiday and read it from cover to cover in the evenings while we were away. Since we've been back I've read it again. It's sparked something, I'm trying now to work in a sketchbook every day - whether it be just sticking something in that's inspired or actually drawing.

I'm including a few sneaky peeks of my favourites - there were loads I could've included but you really need to see them up close. I was surprised at which ones intrigued me the most...

Jenny Volvovski, her pages are very clinical and analytical, I found them fascinating.

Jessica Hische - the beautiful typography and her tips on how to get started has me wanting to explore this further.

Laura Park, this is the one that I loved the most, her autobiographical cartoons are just amazing and so funny. I will definitely be taking the time to check out her website.

The only downside to Drawn In was that it left me wanting more - you can see images showing through the sketchbook pages and it's so tantalisingly out of reach. I envy Julia Rothman getting her mitts on all those books and seeing them in ALL their glory.

This is not a "how-to" book, it's a snoop-fest. And I loved it!

Thank you to Quarry Books for sending my copy for review :)

Julia Rothman

www.quarrybooks.co.uk

www.quarrybooks.com

I've ummed and ahhhed about whether to offer this one up as a giveaway, it's already quite well thumbed ;) I've decided I'd love to share the absolute huge smile and fizz of excitement this book gave so if you fancy my copy, drop me a line below. Aren't I good? Self sacrificing or what? *Polishes halo*

Thank you as always for stopping by!

Apologies for the weird spacing between my lines, blogger is annoying me. I can't work out how to get single line spacing back.

Rocking My World Friday...

2011-09-04T19:26:00.013+01:00

...on Sunday :) But doing it at least - finally! **Picture heavy post - you've been warned!**

Click the piccy to play along :)

Hi everybody! It's been a while since I've played along with the other Friday Rockettes so bear with me, I'll try and condense but I have a feeling this will be a mammoth post!

Firstly I am grateful the move is over. Finally! It's true what they say, it's one of the most stressful things you ever do. When I was younger and didn't have any children I used to move around quite a lot, always restless, never found somewhere that I'd call home, it was always just a stop gap. Moving was so easy, sling stuff in boxes, hire a man in van, rope in some family to help and job was done in a few hours. Throw a partner, dogs, three kids, a shed full of birds (80+) and a business into the mix... I'm never moving again. I don't care if they sell this house from under us - I'll claim squatters rights!

Next BIG grateful is the holiday people being so understanding and moving our holiday ahead a few weeks to give us breathing space... AND not charging a single penny to do it either - a rarity these days. Oh what bliss Scotland was. We'd been worrying as everyone we'd been talking to had said how horrible the weather was up there. However we were really lucky, we had gorgeous weather and for the week we were away it apparently rained constantly here.

We've been to Drumnadrochit, a small town on Loch Ness, a couple of times now. It's becoming sort of a tradition that on the last day we do the boat ride around the Loch before we set off home. Ruby and Phoebe loved it when the guide let them drive the boat - literally, he sat them down, told them what to do and walked away to continue his spiel about the Loch. The other tourists faces was a picture, especially when Ruby sat down and span the wheel :D With a little help she even parked it alongside the dock. They both said it was one of their favourite bits of the holiday.

Castle Urquhart

These two came to see us one evening, we think they are fallow deer, a mother and daughter. They came so close, this was taken from our kitchen window. We also had loads of bird life (Craig was in his element!) and bats flitting around the lodge.

Pheebs (Monster no.2) and me :) at castle Urquhart.

Devvie tried her hardest to get us to sneak this goat into the car. They really took a shine to each other :P

Piper at Castle Urquhart.

Beyoootiful picture of Devvie (monster no.1) and me :)

I looooove Highland Cooo's! The only thing I bought was a mouse mat with one of these gorgeous beasties on :P

I'll stop there as I will just upload them all ;) It was fabulous though, we didn't do the expensive touristy things this time, we kept trying to seek out the cheap or free, off the beaten track things to do and it was amazing. We had a couple of days like the castle and the boat ride but the rest of the time... we found a tiny little croft tucked away that had an honesty box at the gate asking for £5 for a family! Can you imagine that in most places here in the UK? It would be empty! It was one of our best days too - the kids loved it. Then we found a gorgeous mountain trail when trying to search out a pottery that was signposted "just up the hill" for future reference, if you go to Scotland and a sign directs you "up the hill," what they mean is - up the side of a mountain and down the other side! We are taking better walking shoes next time to explore further.

Anyway - can't wait to go back in 2013! Although, I will say I seem to be taking ages to bounce back from the 12 hour drive this time. I'm feeling constantly tired, my ankles of a morning and evening still swell up and ache... and if I do anything remotely energetic (like park with the girls and their Nanna yesterday) I'm knackered up for a few days afterwards... but on the plus side my back isn't as bad lately so I suppose it's give and take, eh?

Next up, a looong overdue thank you to the lovely people who sent cards and gifts at the beginning of the month. I apologise in advance for the truly awful camera work - I am coming to the conclusion that my girls are way better photographers than me!

This wall hanging was sent by the amazing Sam. It now has pride of place in our hallway so it's the first thing people see when they come through our front door...

Isn't it amazing? The corn represents Lughnasadha (August 1st) which is apparently "the first harvest and a time of plenty." The silver crow represents my silver crow which I still think is my good luck omen and, AND, we have seen a few more times since we came here. He's getting big now and still hopping around. I never have my camera when I spot him though, nearly crashed the car a few times when I've seen him and got all excited :D

The corn and crow are Sam's own stamps that she carves herself. Can you imagine how blown away I was to find this hand cut lino stamp in my parcel too? She's used my cartoon avatar and cut a stamp based on that! I mean.. WOW or what? Chuffed to bits doesn't even cut it! Thank you Sam.

Gaily sent this card...

...and this gorgeous wooden heart which now hangs in our dining room. I think each of the girls has so far tried to swipe it. Thank you Gaily :)

And then these two beauties came from Susie (above) and Helen (below) Love them both. I am nicking that design to try and have a bash at Susie *g* And Helen - you KNOW I am framing that card! Talk about laugh when I opened it, love it! Love them all - thank you girls.

Now, I'm going to try and be really quick and zip through the rest as this is turning into an epic novel...

Yesterday, taking the girls to the park in Hastings and finding a slide that my gargantuan backside didn't get wedged in - in fact, I went down so fast I burnt my bum! But, taught monster no.2 to never, ever say "you wouldn't dare!" as am poised to slide and she runs up from the bottom...

Would I not, now?

"MUUUUUUUM!"
Hur, hur, hur!

My gorgeous new boots, a pressie from Craig because my kitties are dying a death (you can actually see through the soles now but I refuse to stop wearing them!)Gorgeous aren't they? Those charms at the back (a skull and a rose) tinkle when I walk and it sounds like wearing spurs :D Yes, I have trotted round like I'm on a horse, yes, I have walked like a cowboy and snarled "get off your horse and drink your milk." Yes, they take forever to put on... yes Craig is wondering why, why, why did he buy them. But that's why I loves him, because he's bonkers!

Another grateful is the big pile of craft books that have arrived for me to review - ooh, there's some goodies there. Have not arted, or crafted...was going to say farted but I would be fibbing about that bit... in a good couple of months but these books are getting me all inspired so will be claiming back my afternoons when the girls go back to school tomorrow and will be trying to resuscitate my ailing mojo... ooh and I was able to save my mahoosive desk, it *just* fits in the workshop attached to the garage so Craig squeezed it in there for my messy play. (Erm... I tried to rephrase that and couldn't think of anything better - sorry!) Another reason I love him! But back to the books, watch out for reviews because I am going to give some away as I review them, they'll have been read by me so not brand spanking new but hey - I know there are more art/craft book addicts out there - it's not just me!

Annnnd... I'll leave it there. I will be very surprised if anyone made it to the end but if you read a bit - well done :D I am ever so slowly catching up with everyone. Between the girls hogging the PC and trying to make the most of their last few days of the hols and just being downright knackered and out of sorts... well you know how it goes. I will get there eventually.

Thank you as always for stopping by, it's never to late if you want to play along. Just stop by Virginia's and linky up!

Sisterhood Of The Travelling Sketchbook - June

2011-08-28T20:36:00.005+01:00

Ooh, it's been a long time since I posted anything remotely arty or crafty. It's not just my bones that are getting weary and run down. What with the move and then our week in Loch Ness (bliss!) straight after - well, my creative side is resembling Miss Havisham's wedding cake alright! Cobwebby and neglected, in need of a good dusting and airing.

So, I am running a bit behind on the Sisterhood sketchbooks. I still have July to do and then I'm up to date with the ones that have arrived here so far. This one is my June entry, I completed this before the move but time just slipped away from me and am just now doing my show and tell :)

June is the month we lost Mum and it was on the Summer Solstice. So nowadays June is all about reflection, remembering, being sad but also grateful for the time I had with the best Mum in the world. I'm often quite maudlin and I think about the past a lot and time. I think so much about time, time that's passed and what's to come. How I could have changed things, how I should change things, how I wish things would stay the same as they are now forever... So I hope my pages show this a bit. I tried to give them a Stone Henge-y type of feel.

This piccy shows the sparkle a bit better - the purple 'stones' are metallic acrylic mixed with normal black acrylic and the background has been liberally sprayed with Glimmer Mist.

It was a good page to do, just sitting playing with the paint and remembering. I wish Mum had seen me rediscover the creative side of myself - she kind of saw the start of it when she got me to go to an art night class with her - I wish she could've seen just what she unleashed.

Best therapy ever this pastime of ours.

Thanks for stopping by as always - am trying to catch up with you all :) Slowly, slowly.

Ravenwood by Andrew Peters

2011-08-27T15:05:00.003+01:00

Ravenwood by Andrew Peters

Blurb: Ark lives a mile up, in the last trees in the world.

But even in this sky-high city, someone has to unblock the drains- and it’s Ark the plumber’s boy, who overhears a plot to destroy his forest home.

On the run for his life, Ark races from the highest tree-tops to the darkest roots of Ravenwood to find a way to save his people.

I’ve seen a couple of reviews for this book around blogland and it was definitely on my wishlist to get. A world of the future where we have all but destroyed our natural planet apart from this one tiny corner that still has trees… Trees which hold entire cities and towns within their branches, their trunks… even their roots. Where humankind has developed and evolved to live in each separate part of the trees. But this existence is under threat from the dwellers of Maw, a country that would harvest the last trees in the world and enslave or kill the people that stand in their way.

I really wish I could have sat down and immersed myself in this story, really snuggled down and read it in a couple of sittings. Circumstances dictated that it was read in snatches here and there – I still loved it, loved the island of Arborium, could really visualise these huge towering trees. I love how the animals had evolved too, becoming huge almighty beasts in some cases.

There were two stars of the story for me. Firstly were the ravens, evolved into huge formidable beasts and revered as sacred among the tree dwellers. “Out of the shadows of the under-forest, a darker shadow blotted out his vision. As he shrank down instinctively, he forced himself to look up and saw the huge, dark eyes swallowing him, the claws – each the size of a sword – advancing to rip him up for supper, and the vast wings about to settle and draw a cloak over all his days.” Secondly, the forest and all its walkways, structures, palace, fields, the hidden tunnels to the roots below, the lift that flings people back skywards… it takes on a whole persona of its own. This is one of those books that you really hope gets picked up for a movie – I think Arborium and in particular the scenes in the Ravenwood and down in the depths of the roots of the trees would look fantastic on the big screen, it was so richly described, I’d love to see if how I envisioned it would be the same on screen.

All in all, loved this one and will definitely read again when I do get some time to sit and read it in a oner. I think I will forever more be using the term “Buddy Holly” when things go slightly awry! *g*

Thank you as always for stopping by.

Andrew Peters
Published by Chicken House
Many thanks to Vivienne for sending me the book :)

Painted Pages by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare

2011-08-18T20:51:00.012+01:00

Painted Pages by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare

Blurb: Sarah Ahearn Bellemare’s whimsical mixed-media paintings are layered with found images, fragments of text from old books, pieces of outdated maps and glimpses of inspiration from daily life.

In her new book, Painted Pages, she shows how to use the artist’s sketchbook as a daily working tool; a place to collect inspirations, scraps, photos and doodles that can fuel idea`s and lead directly to future mixed-media paintings.

Each chapter features an inspiring and fresh collection of photographs by Thea Coughlin. The images spur ideas and illustrate prompts, techniques and projects that guide you through creating individual and personal works of art based on a variety of themes.

Extras include profiles of well-known artists and bloggers who share a peek into their sketchbooks and journals and details about how they stay inspired and creative.

This isn’t a step by step “how to do mixed-media” book, it’s more a look at Sarah Ahearne Bellamare’s own personal creative process. She throws in a few hints and tips that she’s learned along the way and also details her favourite materials. She’s not saying these are the materials that we should all use, just that these are the ones she’s found work best for her. I like this approach and I like the explanation of what each thing does… for example, I’ve seen Golden Medium mentioned around the T’internet a lot but never really knew exactly what it was – well, now I do. I also like her take on image transferring and will be trying her technique - it seems less messy than others I've tried. I also love the way she uses the photos within her collages – it’s got my head buzzing with ways to put my own twist on this within scrapbooking.

A lot of Sarah’s tips I already do but there were a few in there that are so obvious I feel almost daft for not doing them already – using sketchbooks as mobile inspiration boards for example, carrying one with you and taping in found bits and pieces that inspire you on a daily basis – creating mini collages within the pages with jotted down thoughts and feelings, doodles and sketches… I do this on a larger scale in a huge sketchbook, why don’t I do it on the go as thoughts occur in a smaller book? I will be from now on.

I especially liked the last section. At first it annoyed me a bit throughout the book where she shows an idea or technique and then says “flip to such and such a page to see the finished painting.” I wanted it right there – on the next page but on completing the book I see why this was done. It kept the chapters sectioned off better and enabled the last chapter to be the one where we see a canvas go from idea, to thought process, to painting and collage, to finished piece.

I have to mention the size of the book too. At roughly 11” by 11.5” it was not to big and not to small, I enjoyed reading this leisurely each morning with my breakfast, a quick run-down the page you are on with your hand and the pages stay open not flipping closed again, allowing you to read easily while keeping your hands free to maybe work along (or eat!) while you read.

Whether you are an established artist or a complete beginner I think you’d find something for you in this book. Even if it’s purely the nosiness factor of getting to look around someone else’s space and seeing the creative process from their viewpoint. Even if Sarah’s style is not your style – it’s not mine, I’m much more grungy, there is still inspiration to be gained from this book. I found it an enjoyable read and have definitely come away from it with a few ideas of my own.

Thank you to Quarry Books for sending the book for review :)

www.quarrybooks.com
www.quarrybooks.co.uk

Sarah Ahearne Bellemare: Blog & Website

Thea Coughlin

Thanks, as always, for stopping by :)

SQUEAAAAL! Rocking My World Friday!

2011-07-23T18:27:00.011+01:00

Click the piccy to play along :)

Very quick post because it's Manic Central here but just had to pass on my shriek of gleeeeee!

First of all...
It came, it came, it came! After Amazon telling me they couldn't get a hold of it! (I so knew they'd do that!) I emailed the publishers and demanded (OK, grovelled for) an explanation and was told it had sold out in the blink of an eye so they were rushing a second printing through. I've sat watching Amazon and up went a listing price again, so I cashed in some vouchers and was told it would arrive mid September... but... it's heeeeere! Oh it's here, and it's beautiful, even more so in the, er, flesh so to speak! I can't remember being so excited to get my grubby mitts on a book. Expect a review and lots and lots and lots of drawings.

Next up, talk about omens - I'm taking this as such a good one. Look who has been spotted hopping around the new area...

Many of you will know of my love of crows and this is a silver one! Even Craig, the bird man, says he's never seen one before. You can't really tell from the pictures as they were captured quickly on a mobile phone but he is a real stunner.

Finally (told you it was a quickie) I have to mention the girls and how amazing they have been in amongst all this chaos. OK, they may not have fully appreciated the de-cluttering. (Understatement of the century) But their general attitude and effort in pitching in has been fabulous. Craig also, for being the bloke he is, staying positive and upbeat in the face of stuff flying at us in all directions lately. Quite a lot of it poopy. I may moan about my family of Monsters but I'd never change them for all the tea in China... well, maybe if there was a tea crisis I'd loan one out. I loves my tea I does! Being Mummy Monster is a pretty brilliant thing I have to say :)

And - I may not say it every week. But you lot rock my world... all the time. You know who you are, the people who come back time and again to comment. Who make me laugh, email, tweet or facebook me with links to dirty books, with clips and cartoons that make me laugh or just with a gobful of lovable abuse and an ear (pair of eyes?) for me to whinge and rant at! I appreciate each and every one of you! As soon as I get more straight this end I'll be catching up with you all. Big hugs!

Now be off with you to Virginia's ya big lugs! I've got stuff to do and stew and dumplings to scoff!

Thanks for stopping by! Mwah x

Gauche Alchemy Aprons

2011-07-20T17:51:00.005+01:00

Hi all,

GA is asking whether you'd like a piece of Gauche. Well would you? Check out their post today to see the aprons they are thinking about stocking in store - they need your input.

This is my favourite design - beware, I threatened to pose wearing it... and not much else! Ahahaha! (Prolly means I'm blacklisted now *g*)

So, please do pop over and let us know what you think of the designs.

Thank you as always for stopping by :)

Gauche Alchemy Design Team

2011-07-18T08:34:00.006+01:00

I really can't believe a whole year has passed since joining the Gauche Alchemy design team. An amazing time has been had playing with their delectable, quirky stuff and being let loose to ramble away on the newsletter. So it is with great sadness I bid them adieu...

*sniff*

*loud nose trumpet*

*wipes away a tear*

Nah...

I'm STAYING!

I'm still on the team! NyanyanyanyanyaNYAAAAH! Woohoooo! Still writing the newsletter and two articles for the blog a month. I feel I've grown so much in confidence and changed a lot both within myself and my arty craftiness over the past year, a lot of that is down to the Gauche DT experience :D So thank you very much ladies for your infinite ~~madness~~ wisdom in keeping me on and assigning me to my baby! (The newsletter!)

The rest of the new team have been announced over on the blog today - want to meet them? Hop on over and say hi! Lots of new and exciting things are happening behind the scenes - keep your eyes peeled people, keep 'em peeled!

Can I just say for the record... WOOOHOOOOOOO!

I thank you and goodnight. (Well, morning actually.)