save

My Illustration Friday attempt for save.

It was around this time last year we started our search to find ourselves a kitty-cat. It was a long and painful search, but it ended very well with the introduction of Tilli into our family. When we told people she was a stray and we got her from an animal shelter (which is a nice word for "pound" these days), they said "oh, so you saved her life". I never thought oh it like that. I couldn't... because of all the other cats we left behind... (I wanted to believe that they'd all find loving new homes). But you know it's probably true.
I want to believe we can save her from everything.

It's a been months since my last IF, and this one is quick and sketchy... with Del Kathryn Barton inspired contour lines.

where they end up

It's so so nice for me to see where my illustrations end up, I always love getting photo's of them in their new homes. So I was chuffed when Anastasia sent me a photo of my my works, all framed nice and hung on her boy's bedroom wall. One is her thanksgiving illo, and the other was a bonus-prize red whale mono-print. They look so nice, thanks Anastasia!

Another really cool thing happened last week. A friendly fellow called Nic emailed me after reading my article in MixTape Zine 2. He wanted to buy my work. However, if you recall my name was on Beth's work, and hers on mine, so he actually wanted to buy Beth's work (which is great!).

I replied explaining the situation, and sent him a link to where that print of Beth's is for sale. He wrote back thanking me, and telling me that thanks to the internet he had just bought Beth's work AND mine! So now, after me writing an article about making connections across the globe, with an illustration each, they will now both be going to live in the same house together.
How cool is that!? Kind of serendipitous really. Like a perfect circle. Ahhh.

(Okay I'll stop now. I'm spinning out a bit as I've just lacquered a painting and the fumes are making me high and happy)

randomation

I used a random number generator calculator tool thingy (on the internet) to select the random blogger who will be getting an extra pay it forward package thingy from me.

And the winner is... Chair!!!!
Yayness. :)

how to party like you're 5 years old

Yesterday was Mr You's birthday, and now that we live and hour and a half drive away from his family, we were able to invite them for a party. It was a beautiful sunny day, despite the predictions of rain, which was great for our garden party plans. We had a BBQ in the back yard with chairs for the adults, and a big rug of toys for all of Mr You's nephews and niece. We played pass the parcel, and musical chairs. There were balloons and party blowers, along with waaay too much sugar. It was FUN!

This was my first attempt at a real birthday cake, isn't it cute? I got the idea here. And as we passed out the slices, I issued a warning that I was to be held in no way responsible for any seizures caused by the colouring. I think everyone escaped unharmed... Although today we got a text message from Mr You's sister letting us know that his niece has just done her very first smurf-blue poo! I'm so proud. :) I can't wait till his Nan passes the yellow block!

jewellery box

This is: "my knack knick/jewellery box."

It's a plain rectangular shape, it's all wooden, and it's pretty understated... apart from the Morris-like carving that is.
It was a gift from my friend Elle back when I was a teenager. I've kept it on my dresser as my jewellery box ever since...
I still love it.

paying it to...

Thanks for playing along with the "pay it forward" game. The three peeps I'll be sending packages to are; Faun, Sandra and Rayne! As my 19 year old cousin would say, "yayness!"

(I'll contact you shortly to get your addresses).

So far there are also 4 kind commenters in the draw for the random bonus prize (that makes it sound fun, eh?). Next week I'll do a random draw, and let you know who the chosen one is.

Yayness, seeya's.

pay it forward

Well, I've been dying to get in on this "pay it forward" thing that's been making it's way around, but I just miss it each and every time... it slips by me like I've just missed the bus by 30 seconds... and all I can see is it disappearing around the corner. That is, until now!!!

I finally caught the "pay it forward" bus. I'm on, I've paid for my ticket, and I'm sitting comfortably, eagerly awaiting my stop.

What does it all mean?

Pay It Forward....Sometime in the next 365 days, I'll be receiving a Pay It Forward gift from Kyla at Two Peas in a Pod. Now it's my turn to pay it forward to three more people.


So, it works like this:

The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me, sometime within the next 365 days. Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be, but rest assured, it will arrive. All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog, and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers.

I'll also choose a random blogger to send a gift to, so leave a comment, even if you're not in the first three!  Make sure I can contact you in some way, either via blog or email.

I like this one, because even though I'm completely snowed under with sooooo much stuff to do in the next month, it doesn't matter, I've got 365 days to do this one... phew. What a relief to have such a generous schedule.

So how 'bout it. Anyone want to catch the flossy-p-bus? All aboard! :)