You hum it and I,ll play it.....

OK here we do with another installment of the soap opera that is actually my life..!!! I know people think I make these up, but this is honestly how I live. I just seem to lurch from one crisis to another, lol. After Maisie left this morning ( its like sleeping with a cross between am octopus and a kling on.!!! ), I headed into work. Caught up on all my emails, twittered, did my 20 min dancing, slapped my face on and got ready for the class. The Goddess and the class arrived and I was just serving up tea when I caught a whiff of a funny smell. At the same time our Ems shouted me into the shop, also because of a smell. The shop stunk as though it was on fire. You know that smouldery electrical smell..?? Well we went round and round the shop, couldn't find anything, the smell was getting worse. Soon all the ladies were in investigating. Still couldn't find anything, didn't know what to do, but I wasn't happy, so I ran upstairs to the Tai Kwondo studio to see if Stuart was in. He wasn't but this rather gorgeous specimen was. Never seen him before, lol. I garbled my tale and he came to investigate. Round and round we went, couldn't find a thing, smell getting worse.



I said "is it my eyes or is it getting hazy in here..?". I couldn't work out if I was just tired from no sleep. Peculiar and peculiariar..!!! lol. Then the gorgeous man and our Ems both looked up at the same time to see smoke start to pour out of one of the light fittings. I quickly turned all the lights off and we were plunged into darkness. So there I am , just starting a workshop, no lighting and a shop full of stinky smoke. Is electrical smoke different from fire smoke..?? Because the smoke alarm that is sat next to the fitting didn't go off and it was only tested a fortnight ago. Weird. Anyway one phone call to the landlord, via his wife who had to go and get him because he was mowing the lawn, lol, and an electrician was duly dispatched. One mug of tea later and it was all isolated, we had light..!!! Apparently it was a freak incident. Wtf..?? How many incidents can be freak before they become normal. Surely no one can have as many freak incidents as I do, lmao.



Anyway 5 mins later, new never before seen gorgeous man from upstairs came back down to check I was ok before he left. Aww thoughtful as well as gorgeous, must be gay, damn..ha ha .

Maybe we should have another "freak" incident next weekend same time then we could investigate more..!!!



Well, here's what I,ve been up to. Remember the giant baubles I bought yesterday..? Here's what they look like now.

How gorgeous is that little "menage et tois"..?? I just frikkin lurve them. Lets introduce them to you individually.
First we have Mortimer, hes not sure whether hes coming or going really. Hes a bit gullible and can be easily led, lol.

Then we have Sally, a sassy little snowball. She knows exactly what she wants and how she's gonna get it. She plays dirty, but states "that all's fair in love and war"..!!

And last, but by no means least, we have Angelica. She's the baby of the bunch and a real girly girl. Always up with the latest snowball fashions, and never to be seen without her false eyelashes.

Grunge Paper holly leaves and sparkly gems are this seasons must haves, and of course, Angelica's are in the latest and hottest colours of the catwalk.

Here's Mortimer and Sally proudly showing off their latest tattoos.

Ha ha , yup I think the strong Egyptian sun has addled my brain. I would consider upping my medication but I quite enjoy living in la la land. Plus they know me well here, so I feel at home..!! lmao. These snowballs will be featuring in one of the Winter workshops where you will have the chance to give birth to your own little character. I will also be making and selling personalised snowballs, so if you want one commissioned for someone special , then drop me a line and I will aim to oblige. Oh and a little hint for the Macduff retreat ladies, the snowballs could be heading your way shortly..!!!!!

I also painted one of the 72 sleighs that I bought. Here is the design based out.

The main images painted in.

And the shading and details added.

Ooh, love it, love it, love it...!! That's right I just frikkin love it..!!!

This is also going to be a Winter workshop, so I hope you are up for it. There is going to be lots more painting in lots of the Winter workshops and I know you are all capable of it, despite what you think, lol. I taught painting classes for a great deal of years and I,ve never killed anyone yet, honest. The best thing about classes like this is they are so obviously me, and cant really be pinched and passed off as someone elses. Yes it is still going on, my work being taught all over and others getting the credit. Well I,m getting tough now, my work, my drawings, my designs and my IP (Intellectual Property ) are MINE and are now copyrighted. If you want to teach one of my classes you will need to ask me, otherwise you will be infringing my copyright..!!! Now before some of you start geting on your high horse ( generally those who are doing the ripping me off in the first place, lol ) I feel that it is fair. As I have said before I spend days designing and finalising workshops. Working out the easiest and best way of teaching it, timing it to fit the time available, costing it out, and working what to put in the kits. Surely all that time and effort needs to be respected..??? Manners cost nothing, so if you want to teach my stuff, please, please give me the courtesy of asking me first. I always get to find out anyway, lol. People can't wait to come and split on you and karma works in mysterious ways...

So general moan over and done with ( its my age, suddenly turned into one of those off the telly, in Grumpy Old Women ) I quite like it really , might start having a blue rinse and talk about the good old days when it took me 15 hrs to walk to school and all we ate was bread and dripping... Actually I used to love bread and dripping, took it to school every day. Ha ha everyone thought I ate it cos we were really poor, but it was my favourite food for years, especially with some of the jelly on it and lashings of salt. And it always had to be on processed white sliced, getting the crust was a major achievement in our house. My Dad said it would give you strong hair and curly teeth..!! You see and you wonder where I get it from. It's all inherited..!!! From the people who christened me Angela, eventually went off it and changed it to Diane, but spent years actually calling me Lottie bartatus...!!! And they wondered why I,ve never conformed, its cos I haven't a clue who I'm actually supposed to be, lol. At the age of about 7 I decided to change the spelling of it to the way it is now, after the actress Dyan Cannon, and then the real fun began. Suddenly every one at school started to call me Dylan. No matter what I said at the start of every term the teacher would shout out "Dylan Stead". I tried to argue the name was Dyan but it just seemed to be a lost cause and continued all through secondary school and for much of my working life, People still ring up the studio and ask Ben if they can speak to Dylan...!!! A while ago I got a slating on the smack blog and one of the comments was " and she suddenly is known by the name Dylan. Well how "suddenly" is 39 years...??? Hilarious isn't it. Officially I am Angela, as that is the name I was christened by, so my passport, driving license, credit cards, anything "official" are all in that name. If I go to the doctors or dentist, I always have to answer to Angela. Best laugh was when I got married and every one was looking around the church to see who Angela was... People who know me really well call me Dy, most others call me Dyan or Dylan. I am sure there are plenty other names that I must get called as well in our "friendly" industry, lol. I hope that when I eventually go to meet my maker that there isnt some jobsworth on the door going, " if your names not down, you aint coming in"...!!!!

Any how enough of that utter drivel that I spout so well, here's another journal page from Egypt.

Workshop tomorrow is the the Mini A - Z journal. Its a busy class and it will be non stop. They have to stick, dismantle, collage, gesso, paint effect, stamp, Alphabeticalise ( oops made up word, lol), doodle, journal and add hardware. Ha ha Not a chance in hell..!!!! But I did warn everyone that this was to be an "ongoing" project, to be finished in their own leisure. So how many different names do you think I,ll get called tomorrow. Answers on a postcard to

Angela, Diane, Lottie bartatus, Dyan, Dylan, Dy, mum, Mama, Bitch etc, lol, to the usual address.

Enjoy xx