happy halloween!

october half term

So it's school half term already. And as luck would have it this year I remembered to book a little trip away. Me and my sis are taking all the kids to Centreparcs. The other half was a little huffy at first. Till I pointed out that he never usually has any time off in school holidays so it was hard lines sunshine. We are VERY excited. We leave for our hideaway in the woods on Monday.

baby shower

I'm not normally one for baby showers. I think this is mainly because in my day (15 and 11 years ago) they did not exist. Not in this country anyway. So clearly it's not fair is it! I'm a bit like BabyShowerWhatIsThePointOfThat?! Like an old person.
Anyway I went to a lovely one on Saturday. It was my sister's husband's sister's son's girlfriend's baby shower (keep up). She's so lovely. And she always looks so lovely. And it was at my sister's husband's sister's house which is totally lovely. So all in all it was.....lovely!
She's having a girl. She's called Lana. Already. She's got a name and everything and she's not even born yet. My eldest didn't have a name till she was 5 days old!
Anyway I told her the story of the other half's friends who thought they were having a girl and they bought all girl stuff and called it a girl name. And it turned out to be a boy. I said not to worry though, if that happened she could just change the name to Larry and I'd alter the picture I made her a bit....

this week on instagram...

Ah it had to happen sooner or later.... I used to blog then stick the pics on Instagram. As an extra. A bobby bonus. I like blogging. Instagram was just a side dish to the bloggy main course. 
Until this week. This week Instagram was the main event. The ONLY event.
I'm not moaning about being too busy cos I know there are loads of folks out there who aren't busy. I've been there myself and I AM really grateful. But honestly. There are only so many hours in a day. Not enough, it turns out, to be writing half baked tales on my blog. So this week I just went for the instant gratification of slapping a few quickie pictures on Instagram. Felt like I'd done something other than fulfill someone else's brief. Happy happy. Job done.

sainsbury's children's book awards

I zipped down to London earlier this week to attend the Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards with my publishers, Make Believe Ideas.
Our First Words book was shortlisted in the Baby and Toddler category.
I drew the pictures and coloured them in and the fabulous Jane Horne put it all together. 
It was the first book we did together so it was super exciting that it even got nominated, never mind shortlisted!
Anyway. 
It didn't win.
Baby's Very First Slide and See Animals by Fiona Watt for Usborne won in our category. 
Fiona Watt and Usborne won it last year too with That's Not My Piglet. So really it was our turn this year. But we accepted our defeat gracefully and went off to drink lots of prosecco.

Anyway....there were only 3 books in the entire universe shortlisted for our category. So we didn't do bad.
And the new books we've done since are even better-er so watch this space people! Next year......

colour run

Kirkwood Hospice have organised a colour run tomorrow at Oakwell Hall Country Park near me. You basically run 5k and get a load of paint chucked at you to raise mucho cash for this very worthy cause. My sis is doing it. And plenty of other people I know. But I don't do running. Ever. Not even for a bus. Not even for charity.
So the little one and I have signed up to be helpers instead. Volunteers. We get to wear a Kirkwood Hospice tshirt and man a paint station. We get to chuck paint at the runners. What could be better than that!

golden couple

Today is my Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary! That's 50 years! Totally amazing to people like me who never even made it to wedding anniversary number 4! 
Fifty years!! Wowee! Well done folks xx

september 2015

So...that was September...no time to even stop for a wee...

specky four eyes

I've been wearing my spex all week. Not because I'm rocking geek chic and not because I have a dodgy eye infection. Nope, I've had to wear them. Because it turns out that if you don't go for your eyes checking they stop sending you your monthly supply of contact lenses. Apparently they're quite happy to carry on taking your direct debit payments but they worry you may go blind if you don't get your eyes checked so no siree to the regular delivery. 
Well I haven't been for the damned sight test because I haven't had a bloody minute in the last few months. I'm lucky if I manage to find time to have a wee at the moment!
Guess I'm gonna have to go now though....the appointment is booked. Next week...

new jumper

I had to take the big one shopping last night. She needed a dress. For a party she's going to. Tomorrow night. We had already spent most of Saturday at the second rate shopping centre nearer home looking for something suitable. The second rate shopping centre was not good enough for the big one. We had to go into Leeds. Leeds has better shops.
As luck would have it she found the perfect LBD in the very first shop we visited. And RidiculouslyHighShoesForA15YearOld in the very second shop we entered.
This left us with enough time for me to mooch around Urban Outfitters and purchase the JumperOfTheSeason. This is the jumper I will wear every single day until the sun comes out again at the end of May. I've managed to pick a good one this year. I love love love it. Chunky and black with a big neck. And room underneath for loads more items of black clothing. What could be better! 

friday feelin

When I was under my palm tree I decided that from now on Fridays would be MyDayFriday. 
Friday would be the day I do my own work, no commissions, just stuff I want to do. And sorty out day. To sort out all the crap I never have time to sort out. And relaxy day. To just sit and do nothing if I fancy it. Cos I NEVER do that. Like ever.
I read all this Mindfulness bumf under my palm tree and that was it. New me. It was the future! 
And relax.

Of course I've decided to do MyDayFriday before. Loads of times. And it appears this time is no different....another massive fail!
Not only will I be working my arse off all day and night to meet deadlines, it's looking like I'll be working most of the weekend too.

So that's it.
From October I will NOT be working for anyone on a Friday. MyDayFriday starts 2 October. I've written it down. I have to do it now.

rise and shine

The little one's new school has this policy where it is COMPULSORY in capital letters for all year 7's to go to something called "Rise and Read" in the middle of the night twice a week. If you don't turn up, or if you are late, you get "isolation" followed by expulsion followed by death-by-lethal-injection. Or something like that.
So because I can't have him wandering the streets in the middle of the night on his own I have to get up to deliver him safely to the door. Today was the first one. 
I can't believe how many cars there are on the roads at 7.15 am! I've been working from home for so long that I assumed the streets would be deserted at that time! It was flipping heaving!
Ha! Who knew?! 

autumn

So you wake up one morning and it's Autumn.
And it stays Autumn for about 4 weeks. Then it's winter.
That doesn't happen in Spring.
You wake up one morning and it's Spring.
You wake up the next morning and it's back to winter.
Then Spring. Then winter.
And it doesn't happen in Summer.
You wake up one morning and it's summer.
Then that's it for another year.

This week is very Autumn.

I really need to get myself sorted with a second home in a warm country.
Cos one day of summer just isn't enough for me.

catching up....

I'm back from my hols and feel like I never went away. As soon as my flip-flops touched down on the cold, wet tarmac at Leeds Bradford airport the sunshine and relaxation were long forgotten. So was the plan I concocted whilst sitting under my palm tree - that I wouldn't take on so much work and that I'd factor in time to do my own stuff. Ha ha as if that's ever gonna happen!

Anyway...here are a few catchy-uppy-things...

interviews
Before I went away I was interviewed TWICE! 
Like I have anything interesting to say once never mind twice.
If you fancy reading them the first one is on Sara Castro Monteiro's blog...she also interviewed lots of other lovelies including my chums Lizzie and Genine.
The other one is the fab new online magazine Design Crumbs. Page 19. But read the rest too...it's great!

lilipinso
The ranges I put together for the fabulous Lilipinso are out this month. There's a range for girls and one for boys so no excuses folks, go buy yourself, and all the kids you know, some goodies to liven your walls up!

studio shots

Some pics of my filled up studio as promised...

Still love love loving it...and it's still dead tidy :)

dotty wren calendar

My turn to do the calendar this month....get your free personal downloads on the Dotty Wren blog and I'll be back from a holiday near you soon x