The end of the weekend....painful I know. But fear not, I have a little something to bring a ray of light to the end of your wonderful Sunday, and beginning of your dreary Monday back at work! New artwork! *cheers* This one was meant to be posted on Saturday but it was my Nan's birthday today and I made this one into a card just for her. I didn't want to lose the element of surprise, but she's opened it now and that means I can share it with all of you!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I give you the mighty king of the jungle - the intimidating and ferocious LEO THE LION!!!!

I'd love to stay longer and bore you all with my constant ramble, but I have another card to finish off for a very good friend (which I will be posting on the site during the week) - so I'd better get back to that! On a final note though, I will be making all of the zodiac images into greeting cards and adding them to the online shop very soon. Would you all like to see rhyming verses inside, or just a simple "Happy Birthday" kind of message? Would love your input! Thanks. Hope Monday's not too hard on you....

Just a short one today for all of you lovely people! ("Thank the gods!" I hear you all sighing. Seriously, not so loud! I like to pretend I'm more popular than I actually am. Well, updates for today ; I'm slowly working my way through the process of curing my Compulsive Spontaneous Truth Avoidance Syndrome. No, sorry. I'm lying again. I can't help it ok! Even though I'm not working on curing myself though, I am working my way through a huge pile of stuff to do. Hence the short post today. The pile is very, very slowly beginning to appear smaller when I look at it - so that's always a good sign...

Things I ♥ this week

P!nk !!! And no, I'm not talking about the colour - I'm talking about the wonderful woman herself! I gots tickets to see her this Friday!! *happy dance* And I plan to pay homage to her namesake with some awesome eye makeup at the concert. If it comes out well, I'll post pictures. If not, forget I even mentioned it.

Cupcakes....nom nom nom. I heard on the radio the other day that it is Cupcake Day for the RSPCA here in Australia on the 17th August 2009. I don't know how I've been living a normal life, completely unawares of this fantastic celebration in years gone by - but I figure I can make up for such a foolish mistake by eating extra cupcakes this year to make up for it. What a shame. So yes, I will be participating in this wonderful combination of charitable donation and stuffing my face with cake - and so should you! Read more here, at http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/

Sugar Blue Burlesque ...yes, anyone that knows me would have heard about this troupe a thousand times over, but I'm going to share it again for anyone who might be missing out! Sugar Blue is Western Australia's only Burlesque performance troupe and academy! I've taken a couple of courses there so far and loved every minute of them. If you live in WA and you want something a bit different to do in your spare time that will make you feel great, look good and (depending on the class) potentially get you fit, you must drop by! No doubt I will be there... lol. SugarBlueBurlesque.com

Dr.Sketchy's Anti-Art School. Ok, I'm kind of cheating with a double mention here, but Dr.Sketchy's is an art class like nothing you've ever been to! I attended my first class ever last Wednesday and fell in love instantly. The one I attend is (here comes the big cheat!) actually run through Sugar Blue Burlesque, where the performers are the models - BUT it is not exclusive to Perth! In fact, Dr.Sketchy's exists in all different countries around the globe. Imagine a life drawing class where the models don't get naked, but instead come in sexy and sometimes crazy outfits; there's an open bar to loosen those art blocks; the host (yes, host) is one of the funniest characters you're likely to meet and you can win prizes from zany competitions during the class! Sound like fun? I thought so too. Check out the WA website at www.drsketchyperth.com.au and links to other classes all around the world at www.drsketchy.com

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There, I told you I had a chronic lying disorder! That wasn't a short post at all.... now I'd better get back to work, I'm making a special something for a special someone!

p.s Illustration Friday may be Illustration Saturday this week due to the P!nk concert! Stay tuned...

I've always been a fan of interesting, quirky facts... I love them! It's great being able to just pop a random fact into a conversation during those awkward silences. It makes you look very well educated (or just plain wierd, I can never tell from people's expressions...). For instance, some of my favourite quirky facts are bizarre phobias like Omphalophobia (a fear of belly buttons) or wierd inflictions that some people have, like Alien Hand Syndrome (when a persons hand begins acting on it's own accord!). Of course, we all laugh at things like this...who wouldn't? Yet, I feel a pang of sympathy for sufferers of things like this as I, too, have begun to experience symptoms of an unusual inflictions....

Compulsive Spontaneous Truth Avoidance Syndrome. Oh yes people, it's true and I'm not proud. I'm only telling you all this because they say admitting and accepting is the first step on the road to recovery. I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago, when I commented about my illustrations "...ye shall be witness to a new artwork each week... " and "...if you're really enthusiastic I might even do 2 in one week!"... . I admit I brushed that one off as a simple mistake - but now I realise I was simply in denial because that was followed only days later by a comment to a customer at work. "Your manual box cheese grater doesn't work, Sir? Of course I don't mind issuing a refund for faulty goods"  and to myself the following week "...you definately need these shoes. They are indeed a necessity. Like food."

I realise now that I need real help, and I'm starting by reversing these nasty, nasty lies and undoing them! No, I will not be returning my shoes....but yes, I will buy food more often than footwear from now on. Hey, it's a step in the right direction! I'm also treating you with a brand new zodiac illustration (and no, I doubt there will be 2 done for next Friday!). Behold, Capricorn - The Sea Goat. I don't know truly why he is a sea goat, he just is and it looks cool. Oh, and he's eating a sock because that's what goats do, right? Well, I'm sure some Capricorn people smell like they've just eaten sock. I could name a few....

Until next time, I'm going to keep working on my 978 steps to recovery program and keep sketching. Wish me luck.

p.s  I love turning up to work on Monday mornings and having teeth pulled is my favourite pasttime.

My, my, hasn't it been a long time since my last Wednesday post! Well I can safely say that this week was considerably more joyful than last weeks not-so-wonderful Wednesday. For a start, I got to have a little sleep in! That always starts the day off on a good note. Always. But other than counting Z's, here's some other stuff I enjoyed this week!

 Things I ♥ this week

Reading 'The Infernal' by Kim Wilkins ...my Nan leant me this book ages ago, finally got 'round to reading it and once I picked it up it was finished in a day and a half! Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're into witchcraft, supernatural OR murder mysteries I recommend you give it a go. It's a great combination of modern and historical story lines. Love, love, love!

Don't know how anyone else is fairing up - but I've been bloody freezing this week! Luckily I have a fondness for all things that were fashionable in someone elses era, and that includes leg warmers. Was browsing the web one particularly chilly night and stumbled across these beauties! No subtle hints here - I want some! Badly.

Oh, and we can't go this week without mentioning Harry Potter, which I still haven't seen! *le sigh* I will go soon, I promise...hopefully it lives up to the books! In the meantime though, I was told about this wonderful site that allows you to send spells via Twitter! It's childish and a time waster - what fun!!! I, of course, signed up instantly. www.HarryPotterTweet.com

And finally - a challenge. See if you can keep it going until next Wednesday.

Love and cupcakes,