Folksy Friday - The pick of the pack

Hello just checking in this week with some quick Folksy Friday picks as got a busy day ahead working on two exciting new projects. In the morning I'll be continuing work on a web banner & logo for business lady extraordinaire, Fiona of 'Sewing Directory'. Her blog has gone from strength to strength & she now has a book deal plus a new website to look forward to. Then in the afternoon I'm going to be sketching some character design ideas for a competition which I was pointed in the direction of, through a Twitter pal.

Despite being eager to put pencil to paper, as I'm currently in the market for a pack of Christmas cards which I would like to get via Folksy, I thought this would be the ideal opportunity to post my top 5 choices as today's FF selection...and here they are -

Hopefully next week i'll be able to show you some images from the new projects.
Till next time!

Gone for a paddle

Last weekend we went on a kayaking trip o High Borrans in the Lake District with the canoe club, 'Tynemouth Canoe and Waveski Club' to be precise. This was our second time there as its an annual outing run by the club.
I paddled two rivers, with stretches of low grade, (low stress) white water rapids, played games ate lots of nice food, drank, chatted and generally had an ace time.
Plus the huge bonus for me was that I learnt loads about how to position the kayak and managed not to fall out once!!
One of the club members in my group had a camera and took lots of lovely photos, so i've picked a few to share with you -

Here's Dave and I in our gear:

I'm the one in the yellow kayak with the blue helmet.

Here's Dave on a play wave -

Oh and here's me paddling a small rapid:

Now all i've got to do is learn to roll!
Byeeee & happy Friday.

Folksy Friday - Ice, ice baby!

It has been an age since I've done one of these posts, so given that i've recently re-opened my own Folksy shop this seemed like the perfect time to revisit the Folksy Friday.
One of my work colleagues informed me yesterday that snow is on it's way (eek) and with this in mind i've based today's choices on the theme of ice.
I really hope the snow holds off for the weekend as Dave and I are going on a kayaking trip to the Lake District with the canoe club and the idea of paddling through ice does not appeal. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't end up in the drink!
Right, without further ado -

Have a good weekend and wrap up!

Hey there whats new?

Quite a bit as it happens.
Firstly you'll be glad to know this in not another wedding post - woo hoo!! ;)

You may have noticed I don't seem to have been producing many new illustrations recently. Well actually I have been producing new work and LOTS of it, but its all been for a specific job - a visual dictionary for company in Canada.
So over the last 4 months or so i've created around 150 images, everything from sandals to chickens and everything in between. Each week i'm never quite sure what images i'm going to be assigned next so its a bit odd but pretty cool too.  I'll share some of the images with you soon.
This coupled with the part time day job has meant my shop and the creation of any other new illustrations has had to take a back seat.

However in amongst drawing the peanuts, tea bags, alarm clocks. boxing gloves, ice and whatever else is thrown my way, an idea for a new illustration popped into my head which I really wanted to get done and now several weeks later the thing is finally finished.

Being doubly productive this week i've also managed to spend some time opening my Etsy shop up again after a few months downtime, so if you like the new illustration enough, you can bag yourself a print here. Well this is 'Sky Ark' hope you like it:

Night time rave

Welcome to the last wedding series blog post!
Its a shortie as i've definitely had my fill of wedding posts now :)

Following the bands and an evening buffet, the ballroom where we had the ceremony was opened up again, ready for the night time rave. Dave was keen to get some kind of rave element into the reception given his penchant for techno and pointing out as we go past derelict buildings (particularly warehouses) that 'you could have a rave in there'. 

Our friend did an awesome DJ set for us in the in the ballroom come dance arena, transformed with the aid of fairy lights, disco lights and vehicle recovery light for added old school rave effect.
By this time I was cream crackered, but the music was so ace I managed to dance into the small hours and somehow still in my wellies(?).
Unfortunately with the exception of some fairy lights and LOTS & LOTS of glow sticks, given to guests in a festival goodie bag at the start of the day, it was very dark so there are barely any decent photos. But I do have this rather blurry one of Dave raving it up with the recovery light:

All in all it was a fantastic and fun filled day which I will definitely never forget.

The wedding seems like it was ages ago now but next year we have a belated honeymoon to look forward to courtesy of very generous friends and family who contributed to a 'honeymoon in the sun' funding pot.
Which... brings me onto the last bit of this post. We wanted to say a big thanks for their generosity, so to give them something a bit special made a flick book from a series of photos which worked together perfectly. This is the book...

but as this doesn't exactly give you much of an idea of the flicking action within, I made a gif animation on Photoshop from the same photos and on this page here you can see it for yourself.

I'll be back with a new illustration later this week which I have very nearly completed.