Rocking My World Friday :)

Click the pic to join in :)

Good Afternoon people,

Is there anybody out there or are you all still at your Royal Wedding street parties? I tried my best to stay away from those, I managed to get away with taking the kids over the green where a bouncy castle had been set up. Duty done, I slunk back home to pretend jog on the Wii. I'm not a social butterfly. Good luck to the couple - they seemed genuinely happy, yes I did watch up until they said their vows... (I was blackmailed with copious amounts of tea) and Devvie wanted it on so she could see the dress. It all got a tad religious for me after that so I went back to unpicking bad stitching on my monster... later post for that.

Sticking with the Royal Wedding, there was a crowns and tiara's competition at school yesterday. I didn't realise (should have with hindsight) till we got a reminder text from the school on Wednesday evening. Pheeb's decided she still didn't want to bother so there's Ruby and I down the stu-stu-studio yesterday morning cobbling together a tiara out of cardboard and ribbon. I covered it in paper, stood back and let her loose on my stash. A whole packet of sticky ribbons, numerous gems and butterflies later...

Guess who won the tiara competition in her class? I was so pleased. Both her and the little boy who won the crown comp had a very obviously homemade crown/tiara - there were so many shop ones there. She came out of nursery proudly clutching a commemorative box of clotted cream fudge and handed it straight to me, the one on the Slimming World plan *g* We opened them today, obviously, and I did accept two! Very yummy.

Which leads me seamlessly onto my next thankful. Being well and truly back on the plan. I started properly on Tuesday and also started the Couch to 5K program on the same day, a program that promises to take you from couch potato to running 5K in 9 weeks. Eek. I've started keeping my fit blog regularly again and have had a sneaky peek at the scales before weigh-in on Saturday. It's looking promising. Hopefully the paaaaaaaaaiiin from the program will ease with time.

Next up. Guess what? I have my first commission/sale!! How amazing is that? Am so pleased, excited, nervous and terrified - I wont say who it's for in case she doesn't want me to but I hope she realises how chuffed I am to be asked and am so excited to get cracking with making the canvas now.

Next up is discovering an amazing and CHEAP online class starting soon. Do you want to learn to draw or paint realistically? Check out this bona fide VIKING on Darcy's blog. Then come play! I've emailed to say I want to join up and just as soon as Paypal is set up I'll be registered! Woohoo! Yes. My name is Carmen and I am an online class addict.

This is his work - isn't it amazing?

The class is aimed at everyone no matter what skill level you are at. Come on... come plaaay. Who wants to be brave and flick paint at the viking?

So, what rocked your World this week? Why not hop over to Virginia's and join in the feel good look back on the week :)

Birdy Graffiti Canvas

Remember One World, One Heart? Remember my unofficial prize winner was meant to be getting a graffiti canvas but I was having issues, oh so many issues, with said canvas? Yeah, well. Those two are both relegated to the shelf till I can think how to rescue them. I may go to town on them using Cameron's technique.

Start afresh was the way to go...
This one I'm happy with and you know why? Because I'll be sad to pack it up and send it on it's way - the others, I would have been cringing and there's the difference.

This one is featured in my Gauche Alchemy post this week so if you'd like - pop on over and leave a comment, check out the other posts while you're there. All comments throughout the month are entered into a draw for a random commentor of the month prize of Gauchey goodness. The more lurve you leave - the more chance you have.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Rocking My World Friday :)

Happy Friday people.

Time to join Virginia in looking back on the positives in our week, no matter how big or small, totally ignoring all that murky gloomy stuff. Pah! To the gloom and doom and pah! again.

On Tuesday we went to Port Lympne wild animal park with my Dad. OK, I'll admit to forgetting to take any drinks or a picnic with us... I could almost feel my Mum looking down with horror struck disapproval at my lack of planning. For shame! I'll remember next time... and there will be a next time as we upgraded to their new passport scheme so that our tickets give us unlimited entry for a year.

Loved having the chance to properly try out the new camera I got with my Christmas pennies. Quite chuffed with most of my pics.

Ahhh, it's a hard life! *Stretch*

So pleased I managed to capture this next one - do you see who was sharing the pen with the gorilla's? Merrily skipping between them all he was, nicking the nuts. They didn't blink an eye at Mr Squirrel being there - it was fascinating to watch.
The girls loved charging around the maze...
Craig took over the camera at one point...

... he mainly wanted to take pictures of all the blue tits, chaffinches, sparrows and a rogue robin hopping in and out of the pens to forage... but he did get me these shots...

See, that's why I loves him! Though he'll never understand why I don't prefer the 'pretty' birds. This fella reminds me of one of my favourite moments of the day. There were loads and loads of these beauties in the tree's around the site... of course you know what a noise they make... Young Devvie - espying some sheep in a far off field says "wow those sheep are really loud can you hear them?" No dear - that would be the crows. Cue every five minutes for the rest of the day, someone asking her "Devvie can you hear those sheep?" Much to her annoyance. My Dad asked me how long I would still be laughing at her and asking about the winged sheep...oh I reckon this is one of those moments that will still be rolled out till she's at least well into her 30's! Don't you? 40's? Till I croak probably! Mwahahahaha!

But still, she clawed back some dignity... On the way out I was aaages trying to capture a slumbering lion but couldn't get the camera to stop focusing on the wire. This was as good as I got...

Devvie took charge of the camera and with one attempt! Just one! She got this...

Isn't it gorgeous? I think she has a new hobby calling her. Best shot of the day by far!

I don't think we even got halfway round so we are looking forward to making full use of those tickets this year.

Next up on my positives list is drawing - am doing so much more of it lately, probably because all my crafting stuff is down the stu-stu-studio and I only have my sketchbooks and pencils at home. Still, I am really enjoying it... that and catching up on my classes.

Devvie is at this very moment in time in the kitchen, baking a lemon drizzle cake on her own with the help (?) of Ruby monster. There's a lot of banging and shouted through queries but some delicious smells wafting through too. Mmmm, thankful for older kids that like to dabble in baking definitely. Her scones are on a par with the ones Mum used to bake!

Something else on my thankful list is an email received this week - I'm not totally sure whether I read it right so until I know for definite I wont tell you exactly just yet for fear of red faced-ness but if I did read it right then I'm bouncing up and down with glee - someone else reckons I have but we''ll see. We'll see.

My last thankful this week - blogger self saving. Our 'leccy literally just went off and came on again. You probably heard my scream from over there! But blogger saved this post! Woohoo!

What Rocked your World this week?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Dreadfully Ever After Giveaway

Hi all :)

Fancy winning a fab poster bearing the zombilicious cover art of Dreadfully Ever After? There are 6 up for grabs! They each bear the legend - The Honeymoon is Over underneath the art - I want one!

Just leave a comment below and I'll get my random generator to pick 6 winners in about a weeks time - UK only this time I'm afraid as they are being sent direct from lovely chappie at the publishers - don't throw rotten zombie limbs at me!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sisterhood Of The Travelling Sketchbook #1

Hi all,

I've spent today getting my first pages ready for the travelling sketchbook I'm taking part in. This initial theme was to be loosely based on a colour and to introduce ourselves to the other participants.

The following entries - done by the people my book meets, will be based around the calendar months.

So this is my introduction...

Hopefully, it comes across that purple was my theme... because I forgot about that side of it till I was nearly finished - oops!

I'm hoping all the symbolism is pretty self explanatory but if not...

The text and book page - because I love reading and books.
The raven - because I adore them. There are three, to symbolise my girls.
The paint splats on the left - well... paint, I love it.
The paint splats on the right - blooood. I like mythological creatures/make-believe monsters in my reading... but human monsters terrify me.
The zombie - I'm really into them at the moment. This is my first drawn one. I totally copied her from my Walking Dead Compendium but am so pleased with her!
The vampire - I've always loved them. This one is inspired by one of my favourite Alice Cooper pictures - a still from the movie Suck where he plays a vampire. I just drew it cartoon-ised. I hope it also shows that I prefer the monster vampires to the sparkly ones.
The runny mascara - My love of Alice... and Bette Davis.
The grungy drips - Is my style not just in art but in most aspects of my life, the way I dress - I don't think you could ever call me girly. I'm happy to have finally realised who I am. (Ooh! Deep!)

Apart from maybe adding a frame to the pages... I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out - I think this is the route my journaling will take.

Claire - the raven stamp is the La Blanche stamp I got at Ally Pally. No problems whatsoever, gorgeous crisp image. I used archival ink on watercolour paper to test and then in the journal it was over paint, ink, book pages, acrylic and goodness knows what. Only possible downside is that I got ink on the edges of the stamp each time... but I manage to do that with all stamps so that's probably just my rubbish stamping!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by :)

Winner, Winner, Winner!

Hi all

Decided to put my new random generator to the test today - that other one is just so boring!

First of all we wrote the names of all the entries and popped them in the magic Smarties bowl.

Stir, stir, stir...
And the winner is...

Build up dramatic tension...

Upside down but...

Joanna! Congrats Joanna - Please email me your address to get Ninja on his way.

Mum! Mum! Mum! Can I pick another one?...

NO!

Rocking My World Friday :)

It's time once again to pull the rug over the piddly-poopy and reflect back on the positives of the week, no matter how small. Breathe on them, give them a wee rub, make them shine and be grateful... or risk being prodded with a sharpened stick by Virginia, the instigator of all this feel-good thinking. It's very sharp that stick! With splinters!

Talking of that there Virginia, she comes high on my list this week. I received some unexpected mail this week. A gorgeous envelope... yes that is just the envelope...

Try and ignore where I've pixelated my address *g*

This fabulous mail art was inside...

Isn't it gorgeous? I've always loved Virginia's tattooed ladies and especially her Alice-ed Alice's. It came at just the right time, I'd been feeling down and this combined with the lovely letter on the back was like she was psychic. This is going to be framed and I just have to decide whether to keep it at home or take it to my stu-stu-studio. I'm thinking home as my eyes have been drawn to the words more than once this week.

Big, big, HUGE positive vibes also go to Big Mick the postie who knocked on the door rather than try to get it through the letter box because, in his own words, he didn't want to ruin the envelope.

This week also brought with it lots of lovely book stroking. I won a book from  Enchanted Books, one that has been on my wishlist from the very first moment I heard about it - Department 19. Not only did I receive my signed by the author hardback copy this week, but he slipped another book into the package that sounds amazing as well - Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien. Thank you Mr Enchanted - am still doing a happy dance! Also, Vivienne sent me a book she had won herself but thought I might enjoy more... Married with Zombies by Jesse Peterson! Oh yes, I think it's right up my street! Thank you Viv!


Talking of zombies... The Walking Dead finally, FINALLY hit 'normal' telly last week. I've been green with jealousy at everyone on Sky getting to see it. Didn't even realise it was coming till I saw an advert earlier in the week - add to that a huge billboard sprung up on the way into town and there you have a very excitable moi, threatening bodily harm to anyone who dares try and claim the telly on Sundays for the foreseeable!


Was very surprised to see Andrew Lincoln in the starring role playing the American sheriff's deputy - he's really good in it too. Totally believable and his accent is actually quite yum! Bill might have some company over there on my sidebar soon.

Next up - I'd like to say having the girls home on the holidays has been wonderful and sparkly and fulfilling but it would be a big fat lie... it's been Squabble Central here, absolutely headache inducing... so it was lovely having a day out in London with my eldest on Saturday, we went to the Stamp & Scrapbooking show at Ally Pally. We went by train... and it was lovely having just me and she time, we definitely have to try and do it more. There's a post of what I spent my pennies on here if you were wondering - another thing that's made me very happy this week is several people telling me that what I thought was my extravagant buy... was actually a bit of a bargain. Woohoo!

So what rocked your World this week? Thanks for stopping by.

The Well by Peter Labrow

Book kindly supplied to me by the author 

The Well by Peter Labrow

Trapped. Missing. Cursed.

Fourteen-year-old Becca Edwards and her stepbrother have fallen into the bottom of an ancient well. Their parents are away; they wont be missed for days. The predatory man stalking Becca now switches his attentions to her nest friend. Two women who know where Becca is trapped are desperate that she should never escape. Over the course of a week , family, friends and strangers are drawn together by a terrible shared fate - from which not all will escape.

I will put my hands up and say - the author, Peter Labrow, put a call out for reviewers on Twitter - I was there possibly before he even hit the 'enter' button on his keyboard. My 'free book' bat senses tingling into action... a sucker for a freebie and I ain't afraid to admit it - bill it as horror and I have been known to beg.

You know when you start reading a book and you get drawn into the World inside the pages? The outside World ceases to exist or at the very least becomes an irritating distraction... What about when you start talking to the characters? Instinctive vocal reactions warning them against the routes they are about to go down. Dreams about the story invading your sleep... this was The Well for me. I didn't expect to love the book as much as I did. But as soon as I cracked it open that was it, hooked.

It was indeed billed as a horror novel - but the bits that I expected to be horrific... the ancient evil unleashed... weren't so much. Sure, they made me jump, made me re-read the lines in morbid fascination. No the most horrific bits of this book were that of human nature and what we are capable of. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Zombies, vampires, werewolves - bring them on, they scare me not a jot. Bring me human monsters and things that could oh so easily happen, I'm in the corner quivering like a wreck and looking over my shoulder. That's what Mr Labrow brought in spades. The worse thing is he doesn't go into gorey detail, he takes you by the hand, leads you so far up the path and then shoves you into the unknown so your imagination is falling over itself to fill in the blanks. Let me tell you - you do not want your imagination to fill in the blanks with this book.

The characters are all flawed in their own ways which only serves to make them more real - there are no perfect heroes or heroines within these pages. In fact I ended up empathising with one of the villains and cried over a crow!

This book is claustrophobic, riveting, upsetting, uplifting, happy, sad... chills to the bone in places. Very easily the best book I've read so far this year. Without a doubt.

The Well is Peter Labrow's first fictional work and he is self published. I find that so hard to believe after reading the book - I'll definitely be looking out for any future novels.

http://blog.peterlabrow.com
Peter Labrow on Twitter

The Well is available on Kindle as well as in book form. (Remembered to check )

Thanks, as always, for stopping by :)

Just a Quickie...

...to let you know my ninja box popped up on Gauche Alchemy today. Click here and leave a comment on mine or any of the other articles to be in the random commentor draw at the end of the month for some Gauchey goodies!

And if you haven't already, check out this post to be in with the chance to win one of those gorgeous ninja's yourself :)

Thanks for stopping by!

(Blimey! Shortest post of the year? Hardly any rambling at all... unless you count this bit!)

Ally Pally...

So Devvie and I went off to that London on Saturday. On the train. And we didn't get lost on the underground... but did get lost in Victoria station. Which was embarrassing - but there was a whole group of us strangers united in our lost-ness. So it was OK.

The shuttle bus from the station to the show was very easy to find, we just followed the snake-like queue of women with bags and trolleys winding their way across the busy London road, heedless of traffic. Very impressed with the shuttle bus actually, dropped us right to the door. All in all - very much less stressful going by train - even factoring in the underground. Indeedy. And it means a yummy pasty on the way home.

Loved saying hello to Helen, Linda and Ali (plus her hubby) but missed everyone else I'm afraid.

Didn't really buy much at all, both Devvie and I were a bit dissapointed with the actual show. I'm not sure if it's due to my doing other things recently or what... Ali said more or less the same though and she is a huge paper scrapper. Maybe we are just penny pinchers, just thought a lot of things were over priced for what they were.

I ended up buying mainly boring essentials like tape, ink, Glossy Accents...

However, I did get some gorgeous ribbon and ooh, ooh, look at my raven/crow stamp. Isn't he handsome? Apparently it's a new kind of silicone stamp that only needs minimal pressure for a perfect image. Ha! They haven't seen my awful stamping - we shall see.

I also received a free calligraphy text stamp on the Artistic Stamper stand because I spent over £40 there - they had my biggest spend! It's actually one I had been eyeing up on their site so am well chuffed with that, it will get used a lot! When I checked their site today - it's worth £5.75!

And... I did have one totally extravagant buy. It was one of those things, I kept drifting past the Scrap Revolution stand throughout the day, eyeing it up, making sure it was still there... trying to justify the price...

It's Huge! It's gorgeous! It's lime green! I love it. Finally, on our way out as I stopped once again to stroke it, Devvie said that some people spend more on a handbag they'll only use once and I would get tons of use out of this. And I will. Smart kid! So I handed over my £18.99 (Eek!) And I still love it! And I came home with around a third of the money I took. So that's gone back in the pot towards the October Knitting & Stitching show - which is supposed to be bigger, more varied - fabrics, clays, dolls etc... anyone been before?

We had a fabulous time. We've decided we definitely have to have more days out just her and I.

Thanks for stopping by :) No you can't have my shiny green tote thing!

Oh - I did get a couple of other bits but they are a surprise for my giveaway winner Virginia :) Maybe she'll let you see when she gets them!

Angel by L.A. Weatherly

This book was a gift from a friend :)

Angel by L.A. Weatherly

The only good angel is a dead angel.

Willow knows she's different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into people's futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from...

But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willow's secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous - and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he his falling in love with his sworn enemy.

I've been wanting to read this book for ages, there was so much hype surrounding it's release. It's premise just sounded so good, so different. I love stories about mythology and angels in particular are always fascinating. So to hear about a story where angels aren't good, very far from it, had me positively salivating at the thought.

The angels in this book are more like predators than the celestial beings you would normally first think of - though they are happy to let us cattle, sorry, humans think that they are here to help us, to watch over us, to bestow their glory upon us. Truth be told L.A Weatherly's angels put me in mind of vampires. They can take on human form but when they feed (albeit on your life force rather than blood) they show their true selves, using their beauty to kind of dazzle their prey so that the person doesn't even know they are being harmed - rather - they believe they have seen a celestial messenger, not knowing they are about to die or be left damaged and susceptible to depression or disease. Honestly, I loved this idea. What a new take on angels and how we view them.

However - therein lies my problem with this book. I adored the thought of the angels. I would so much have loved to have seen more of them in this book. I was expecting a creepy angel invasion type thing and that Willow would have this sinister side to her that she had to battle to overcome...

The story is focused more on the relationship between Willow, a half angel and Alex, an angel killer. To be honest I couldn't connect with that aspect at all, it should have been an electrifying mix. I would have loved for Willow to have this seed of badness in her, even a tiny hint of it but she was so... bland. Normal. With a bit of psychic thrown in. The two are supposed to have obvious chemistry from the start, they have all these conflicting emotions, almost telepathic empathy with each other, huge emotional problems of their own, are holed up together, isolated for long spells at a time and you are expected to believe that a pair of late teens with all that going on, both starved of companionship, comfort, love... were happy to just share a bit of smooching? Maybe I'm being jaded, or am just a bit cynical but it just didn't ring true for me.

I would have loved to have seen less of the stiltedness with the two main characters and more creepy angel invasion. However, I appear to be in the minority here as the book is receiving 4 & 5 star reviews on GoodReads so I would advise you to take a peep at those so you can compare reviews... personally I was left a little deflated with Angel, it all started to get a little predictable for me.

This book reminded me a little of the Twilight books, I do think that anyone who read those and loved them would probably very much enjoy this one too. In fact I've passed the book on to my teen who hasn't lifted her head out of it's pages for a good couple of hours, when she's finished I will be sending it to a Twi-hard friend I have who I also think will love it, so maybe I just misunderstood who it was aimed at.

Thanks for stopping by and reading :)

http://www.usborne.com/angel/
L.A. Weatherly on GoodReads

Pegasus, Dragon, Ninjaaaa & Giveaway

Well, after the Ray Winstone debacle of last year... *still shaking head*

I decided if Gail said she didn't lurve the person on the front of this card she was going to get a thick ear...

What?

So, I thought I took some before pictures for this next bit but can't find them. It started out as one of those musical boxes with a twirling Barbie. I stole it from the charity bag when the girls had a clean out.

Barbie was lopped off and I contacted Vicki, very probably my favourite Etsy seller. Creator of fabulous ninjas extraordinaire. She very kindly adapted her 'Hug Me' ninja so that he had a hole in his bottom for me to stick the spring up... look there is no nice way of me putting that.

The box is covered on the outside with some grungy paper I had and also loads of acrylic paint. The bits and bobs are from my Nevermore add-on kit - I love that the key says 'Presto' on it as in Hey Presto the box shall now open.

The inside is covered in my favourite papers ever, DCWV Once Upon A Time...and more paint.


The workings were deliberately left uncovered as personally, I love seeing all that and how it all works.

Gail is famous for her ninja hugs so hence this little fella. Aren't those hearts amazing? They aren't real sweeties!

I'm pleased, chuffed, OVER THE MOON that Gail liked her box. I really enjoyed making it - the song it plays is "You've Got A Friend".

Now, when cheekily asked, Vicki very generously sent... another ninja to give away to one of you rabble.

Isn't he gorgeous? He stands at roughly 2" tall. You don't have to follow me, you don't even have to follow Vicki's lovely blog - she put no stipulations on offering this giveaway but I thought it would be nice if you were to pay a visit to her Etsy or Folksy shop, have a wander around, leave her some love in the comments section of this post. My personal favourite is the little reading ninja.

I'll keep the giveaway open until next Saturday the 16th of April. Good luck everyone - thanks for stopping by.

Rocking My World Friday :)

...and I'm actually posting on the right day!

Been a funny old mixture of ups and downs this week what with one thing and another... but what have been the positives?

Well.

We now have electricity after a power cut the other day. These are becoming more and more frequent in our area but am now signed up to texts from the company so *fingers crossed* I should know what's happening before I am plunged into darkness, or at least shortly after, in future. I have to include Gail in my thankfulness of this as she googled the 'leccy company's emergency number for me so we were able to find out what was going on. Thanks Gail.

The same day we found out our drains were blocked solid. Niiiiice in all this heat. Craig tried to unblock it himself but it was no good. One phone call to the man in the van, £110 later and we have nice unblocked drains. Am "ouching" at the cost, especially after having to fork out for the MOT, service and subsequent repairs to the car the other week but... am so glad we can flush the loo again! So - thank goodness for prompt service.

What with all that and some other stuff going on, well blimey! But then you see the little things that make you smile and take stock.

Twitter this week, well, that has had me chuckling like a loon. Isn't it amazing how total strangers can brighten your day? In particular this week Enchanted Books (@EnchantedBooks) for letting me stalk and harass unashamedly and not putting me on block. (Rather fab book giveaway going on, but don't enter - it's mine!) Caz (@snowbunny_caz) for letting me bully her into joining the Art, Heart & Healing class, I'm now really motivated to get going again and hopefully we can do it together, so in turn have had my sketchbooks out for the last few days. Am really enjoying it, maybe this is the year I finally finish some classes... so I can start some more! Vivienne (@serendipidy101) for making me laugh and for offering a shoulder to whinge on with stuff I can't post here. Plus she did a fabulous Twitter author interview yesterday, check it out on her blog tomorrow! ...oh and I can't forget Darcy (@DarcyW), Claire (@craftuyclaireliz) and Purplybunny (@Purplybunny) for just being... well... mental. Always raises a smile.

Finding out via the Derwent Facebook page that this book is being republished soon. I must have this book. I need this book. I will offer my services as a voodoo ninja hit woman to own this book. I have emailed the publisher begging them to hurry up and release this book and offering my blog, as well as copious amounts of cake, to review this book. Thus far I have in turn heard...deafening silence.
So, I shall be squirrelling away my Amazon vouchers and when it's released...*BOOM* watch out for all the drawing and sketching I'll be doing with this beauty.  Isn't even just the cover gorgeous? I wish I could afford the original but not in this lifetime methinks.

Guess who won Wipso and Twiglet's fabulous blog candy? Only me! On the same day I announced the winner for my giveaway... I won this. Was so surprised and even more so when a parcel arrived containing all these pretty packages...


...which in turn contained all these goodies...


Look at all those shades of purple, my very favourite colour (next to black!) The girls are dying to put dibs on most of it but am taking the picture to my stu-stu-studio and am framing that daisy card. The buttons, brooch and notebook are getting hidden too. Am so chuffed at there being three bears - my three girls will not have to argue to much. Thank you both, you really made me smile this week.

Oh yes - my gift recipient seemed to love her present. Am so pleased because next to my Labyrinth coasters it's one of my favourite things I've made, I always worry that just because I like something - doesn't mean everyone else will. So, next post will be a giveaway post! Eyes peeled!

Oh - and I can't not mention Ally Pally tomorrow. I'm going with my eldest...ON THE TRAIN! Which means the underground beckons. Ooer. Am really looking forward to meeting up with some bloggy people and having a good old restock on some stash.

So - what rocked your week this week? Why not stop by Virginia's and play along? Thanks for stopping by!

MMM & Sisterhood Of The Travelling Sketchbook

Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening.

I'm a little lost at the moment due to some happenings at home - it's been a "if it can go wrong it will go wrong" kind of week. Some really, really carpy lollocky, scary stuff and some just plain irritating rubbish. Anyhow... no stu-studio time. So am cracking open the sketchbooks today.

First up a little peek at some of the doodlings thus far with the Magical, Mythical Makings class I was, still am, doing. This is 'inspired by Klimt' and will eventually end up as a huge Klimt-esque Goddess canvas.


I've also joined a Round Robin called The Sisterhood of the Travelling Sketchbook - some of the other participants are on my sidebar. We are each starting a sketchbook, the first spread will be about ourselves, an introduction to who we are. Then as we start swapping the theme will be calendar months, no limitations just what each calendar month that we happen to be on inspires within us. We then attack the page with our chosen mediums and have at it!

Some of the girls are decorating their sketchbook covers. I already had one done that I love:

It pretty much sums up my grungey taste and what I love doing at the moment. I adore the texture on the cover so I hope this one doesn't get lost in transit like the last journal.

So, that's what I'm up to this week - catching up on classes and starting my new sketchbook project.

I haven't forgotten my 'surprise something' giveaway. Just can't post it till the recipient of the original creation receives their gift - so keep an eye out, it will be coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Giveaway Winner :D

One week to go until we go to London, to Ally Pally on the train like big girls. Yes Devvie and I fully expect to get lost on the underground but it means we get a yummy pasty from the stand at Victoria Station on the way home *drool* So it's worth it!

Ahem. Anyway - we need to draw a winner from the 201 followers thank you giveaway so that I can commence stalking the winner, see what they're into and get something nice.

Here we go - Random Generator is boring me now - I will have to think of something better for the next giveaway...

*drumroll*

Virginia!

Congratulations Virginia, I'll email you to find out a little'a what you fancy.

I'd just like to say thank you everyone, both to the people who comment regularly and those who come by and lurk... I see you! Those same stats in my feedjit bar time after time and I really appreciate it... but say hi. I'd love to repay the visit. Anyway... I love my little blog and you are all the reasons why! *Air kiss* *Mwah, mwah*

In the meantime. Hugs to all and to all, booger off! I'm about to have my dinner :D