Dullsville!

It's such a dull and gloomy day here in Lancashire but at least it's not too chilly, so the heat is turned off - hooray! I'm trying to get on with some drawings so am hoping that the light improves this afternoon. I really don't like drawing in artificial light (even the daylight type) as it does strain the eyes more as well as casting shadows which can make things tricky. Fingers crossed for a bit of watery sunshine then!

It's also pretty dullsville in the house now that the twinkly lights, tinsel and greenery have all been taken down and put away. However, my plan to replace the tree with something else has come to fruition. I was searching for reasonably priced curly willow twigs on the internet and local florists with no success, but Heather and I found something that would do the job yesterday. We called at a shop called Gee Tees...we only recently went in there as I'd mistakenly thought it was a discount booze store until I noticed household items in the window! They had some natural twigs with white LED lights already secured to them. They are really tall at 1.5 metres so fit the bill perfectly. The price was excellent - only £10 for the set of five - so I bought them and have "planted" them in a tall vase - weighted down with a brass door stop! They look really pretty and I'll be able to hang or clip little tags and other dinky makes from them to create a display that I can keep changing.

My stint as Camille the camel went well at church on Sunday morning. Lynne and I had to walk the screen to the front of the chancel - me with a hassock under my arm, ready to stand on! We were miked up, though I think mine was on the blink, so just as well that I can project my voice! Thankfully, neither of us tippled through the screen, fluffed our lines or dropped our scripts. We had to hold five sheets in our left hands and drop the top ones as we finished them whilst holding our right arms up at full stretch and doing all the mouth movements at the right time as well as remembering things like making the camels look round, move and generally come alive - talk about patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time!

It was worth all the arm ache to hear the children (and lots of the adult congregation too!) giggling at the terrible jokes and banter between Clyde and Camille. Looks like I'll be getting roped in to more of this puppeteering lark now!

Well, the mirk shows no signs of lifting, so I will just have to put the lights on in my work room. This is the room that's really a vestibule/entrance to the house and which I can never decide what to call. Studio just sounds too grand for what it is. Heather has decided that I should call it my Doo Lally room (after my new stamp range) as I'm usually going doo lally in there trying to get everything done! So, I'll put the lights on in the doo lally room now and crack open the drawing implements.

I will have more new stamp designs to share soon, so watch this space!