Mega Huge Rocking Friday Catch Up...

Apologies - this is going to be picture heavy. I can't believe early February was the last time I managed to do one of these. Dodgy internet has meant I haven't even tried to get one compiled, although I have still been counting my positives each week, popping photos into my little folder on the PC. It's ingrained now, you've totally changed the way I think over these past few years Virginia.

So. What's happened to make me smile since... ahem... February.

Well, my eldest baby turned 18. I tried to forbid it. I tried to stop it. I got a tad emosh behind the scenes. But it happened anyway. We asked her how she wanted to celebrate and she chose a quiet night in with an indian takeaway. So that's what we did... The day before her birthday. We knew she'd have lots of people coming to see her on the actual day so we thought that was the best way to give her what she wanted. The following evening we had a dvd sesh with one of our friends and a pizza buffet on the table. It was really nice.

The Bear thought she needed a bit of help with the candle blowing

Talking of birthdays, mine was at the end of February. I was spoilt rotten with books and arty supplies. A couple of friends, Virginia & Mel, got me the Inktense - have wanted to try those for ages. The pencils and sketchpad came in a black satchel and was from my Dad "for school" :)

The bunny above, I won recently on the Royal Doulton Facebook page. It's a special edition by the artist Pure Evil. Isn't he fabulous?  He's sitting on top of the books I'm reading at the moment. The top one was a Christmas present but the bottom two were for my birthday from a couple of lovely friends.

Fables is a collection of the first few Fables comic books. I'm loving that - fairy tale characters transplanted to America - and not at all as we know them. Thanks Susie - I'm loving it. It has introduced me properly to the artist James Jean who did the covers. He's amazing! The Dave McKean book is simply stunning to look at and compiles his covers for the Sandman books minus the title, price, barcodes etc. He goes into detail about how he did them and it just engrosses me completely. My friend Sarah got me it, she actually introduced me to Dave McKean and the Sandman stuff when she compared something I drew to his work. I am a little obsessed by him now and realise what a massive compliment that was. The picture below gives a little peek inside...

And then I got these two books as well, the Wonderbook is amazing crammed full of colour and information. I'm just about finished the Coraline book now - my oldest (as in time known, not that she is ancient... ) friend Lesley got me that and the Liquitex in the picture up top. Am cracking through both the book and the paint - thanks Lesley :) I'm on such a Neil Gaiman kick at the moment -  I've got American Gods lined up next.

I have been saving up for two years for a phone with a decent camera. I just wanted a camera in my pocket - don't care about the phone. My Dad, Craig, his Mum and a couple of friends knew this and gave me some pennies for my birthday which finally took my savings up to the right amount. Woohoo! So I have had great fun playing with my new toy - I love wandering around old cemeteries and am quite often in our small local one. It's a nice walk through and there's loads of birds and squirrels in there. Here are a few of my favourite statues - taken on the first day out with the new camera. (I don't even call it a phone.) It's got a lovely camera on it - more megapixels than my actual bulky camera. These were just point and shoot piccies so I am looking forward to having a play with all the settings and whatnot.

This little Miss learned to tie her shoe laces in February - we all know what a tricky one that is. She was so proud of herself :)

Rachael aka Shroo and I have decided to become old fashioned penpals. You know, physically writing to each other and getting an actual non-bill letter through the door. She's an amazing artist (go check her out) and it just really brightens my week opening up a package of sunshine like this. (Yes, zombies and fantastical fish definitely count as sunshine.)

Slow cooker curry. Mmm mmm mmm. Craig's Mum gave us her slow cooker and I am just loving it. 

My sister and her girlfriend bought two carrier bags full of art stuffs when they dropped my birthday pressie in. The kids had done a clear out and don't really do art much now so I inherited all this. Canvasses, paints, easle, pastels. So much stuff! Ruby and Pheebs have already been using the paints. (And trashing my shedio. Phoebe!) So it's definitely appreciated.

Look at this. You wont believe how quiet it was at this moment in time. No shouting, no arguing, no banging and bashing. Perfect peace with brother and sister sharing a moment. I couldn't resist taking a sneaky snap.

Cute little Marmite pots squirrelled away from an all you can eat breakfast buffet. Some people pocket the muffins. I pocket the Marmite pots.

Beautiful sunsets at the end of a long drive home and crisp frosty mornings to greet us.

Craig and I found ourselves in Essex the other week. Would've been rude not to drop into Ikea, sample the breakfast and have a little look around. I bought some lovely white plant pots to use as pencil holders and finally got a deep frame for the Highland Coo tile we got on our last Scotland trip.

But best of all... Craig surprised me when we got to the pick up area, by going and picking up a turquoise Raskog!! 

I've wanted one for months and months and months. After seeing all the storage ideas online and having not much space here - it seemed perfect. But quite expensive. So it's been on my 'save up for' list. I now have to be patient as it is still in the box. When Devvie goes to uni in September (everything crossed for her) we will be moving into her loft bedroom and the two younger ones will be having our room. Our room is the biggest but a funny L shape. We've worked out that although Devvie's room is smaller, because it's a rectangle, we can get our bed in and a desk for me. So I will have an indoors, out of the way area to work on in the Winter. I wont have to pack stuff away for fear of rippage, or doodled over stuff. I might even be able to set my sewing machine up. Yay! So the Raskog is for there, we'll set it up in September. Ain't he a gem, my man?

And you know what? That'll do me. How's that for a catch up. Of course there has been loads more that has made me smile but I fear I may be already at ridonkulous length for this post.

Thanks for stopping by today :) How have you been?

Rocking Friday is the brainchild of Virginia over at Celtic House. She encourages you to look back over your week and count your positives rather than focus on the negatives.  I'm not kidding when I say she has re-programmed the way I think. It's not a quick process by any means but it becomes habit - to look for the good. I have suffered from depression in the past. It's not something I talk about a lot and I still have my moments. But in the main. I try always, always to find a positive these days. I really recommend it :)

WOYWW - Already?

Happy Wednesday lovely people. What happened to last week - surely I only just posted that desk?

Well, here's the shedio - I was out most of yesterday so this was just left to dry. I hope to add some more layers today. It's going to be another elephant silhouette painting - someone saw my sisters and expressed an interest in one for themselves. How lovely is that? Gobsmacked was I,  to say the least.

And what exciting place was I yesterday? Maths class. Flaming, flipping *grinds teeth, bites nails* maths class. It will be nothing short of a miracle if I pass that exam. I will be asking for lots of positive vibes and crossed fingers for my exams in June, thank you very much.

Well, that's me, internet allowing I will hopefully be around more of you than the pitiful few I managed last week. Spoke to soon didn't I? About the internet being nice? Yeah, right.

If you'd like to see many, many more creative places and spaces, have a good nosey at what people are up to... follow me over to Julias place at Stamping Ground. There will be a lovely long list to link up and peruse at your leisuuuure.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

WOYWW - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday...

S'cuse me while I dust away some cobwebs. The internet seems to be playing nice-ish the last few days. Still cuts out but not nearly so often. So what better way to sneak back into Blogland than to join in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

Today I'm stood at the shedio door taking this picture. It's so hot here today - we seem to have skipped Spring and gone straight into Summer over the last couple of days. 

I think I have three WiP's in progress going on. I should be starting a forth...er... last week. Shush!

So the book I've been gluing in mood board pictures and the brief to a commission, I'm hoping to document it as I go to add to my portfolio for uni.

The canvas is waiting to have some papers collaged on before I start throwing paint and the little tin of cards is eventually one day going to be finished into an inspiration deck for a friend. I've gotten as far as gelli printing them!

Oh and the big cardboard box under the desk? That? Oh, you know - that's JUST A TURQUOISE RASKOG TROLLEY!!!! OH YEAH! *Ahem* I just have to be strong now as it isn't being assembled till my eldest goes to uni - then we are having a shift around and moving our bedroom into her room as it's big enough for me to get a desk up there too so I'll have some indoor space that will be away from the kids. Yippee! No room till then though. But I know it's there. I know. Just be patient Baby.

Right, I'm off to link up with Julia at Stamping Ground - why not follow me over for creative spaces galore to rummage through. You know you want to.

Thanks for stopping by today :)