I'm Back!!!

Hellooooo ... here I am :D *Waves to Dakota and Amarinda*

Been busy with covers and just waiting for new ones to be released before I put them up here. So it has been a while :D I've also been getting up to mischief. Took a few days off to head down to Sydney and Melbourne.

Caught up with Family in Sydney and then left the kids with Mum and hoofed it off to Melbourne to see the So You Think You Can Dance Australia Tour. What an AWESOME weekend. The girls I met up with were fantastic and I have a feeling we'll be friends for many years to come. We're already talking about catching up on an annual basis. Next year we're talking of going to a Spa to get pampered for a weekend. Can't wait!

Now. As for the SYTYCD tour. W.O.W! The show was fantastic. We screamed and generally upset those people around us. But I paid for my tickets too, so I was going to enjoy myself LOL! We generally acted like Groupies and screamed the house down when ever Jemma and Rhys came on stage LOL. We were there with Jemma's mum which was pretty spesh - what an amazing lady. She then surprised us with backstage passes so we got to go back and meet all the dancers.

I finally met Rhys and Jemma. My two favourite dancers. Got pics with all the dancers - even Jack, who won the series. They were all so nice and accommodating. I'm not sure if I'll be as emotionally attached to the next series. For some reason these two dancers really got under my skin. Can't wait to see where their careers take them now.











Here we are with Rhys (I'm the blonde next to Rhys) and then there's the not so good one with me and Jemma, LOL! I'm hoping one of the others got a better pic :D




So I've met some fantastic people over the last week. It was nice to step outside the 'Mummy' box. I'm thinking I might have to do it a bit more often LOL. Well, I'm back to the real world now. Got some more covers to work on so I better get to it.

Day at the Races

Not a lot to report I'm afraid. Been sick with a cold this last week. Feeling pretty crappy but well enough to do what's required of me.

Went to the local Races yesterday. They had a family day. I've never been to the races before. It's not an industry that I particularly like. I tend to get a bit annoyed when the jockeys start whipping the horses and have been known to grumble something along the lines of 'put that damn whip where the sun don't shine'. And that's to put it mildly.

However, I must say that I quite enjoyed myself despite having to stand in line for 40 minutes to get the kids faces painted. It's been a while since I've been up close to those gorgeous creatures. The horses, not the kids.

I'd forgotten how damn big they get and watching a 17 hand thoroughbred full of beans head out onto the track certainly makes you take a step back from the fence. Especially when they're only 1 foot away from you LOL!.

I took some photo's to try out my new little happy-snap camera that I got myself. I couldn't work out how to find the fast speed setting so most of the 'action' shots came out a bit blurry. But then my talents don't lie so much in photography. I'll let you decide:













(blurry)




(oops .. too slow LOL!)

















(not so bad if you're in an Arty frame of mind)










Oh, and I fell in love ...



















(with the horse, not the rider. Sheesh!)

So yeah. We had a good day, despite the wind and the kids LOL! Nah, the kidlets were pretty well behaved and both slept through to well past 8am this morning. So I'll say we'll be going to the races on a regular basis LOL.

Oh and I'm a happy fan-girl today. I got a lovely signed photograph of Rhys Bobridge in the mail. *sigh* Oh he's a gorgeous boy! And a big thank you to Rhys' mum who organised that for the KBC girls. He's now got pride of place next to Johnny, right above my computer. This is where I work from in case anyone is interested :D

I've booked my flights to Melbourne to see the SYTYCD show. Accommodation is booked and we're in discussions as to what else we are going to get up to. Chapel Street was mentioned which I believe is a bit of a mecca for shoppers. I'm not much of a shopper so let's see if I'm impressed.

Tasting Pleasure

Tasting Pleasure by Marie Haynes coming soon to Total-E-Bound.

I like the simplicity of this cover. Sometimes less is best. I love the contrast between the black/white and Strawberry Pink. Nice and easy cover to pull together. I've had my eye on this photo for a while and was just waiting for the right book to come along.

All I really had to do for this one was cut out the shoe & hands and place them on a gradient background. The background was originally white but it was a bit too stark. I added the strawberry for a subtle hint of the storyline and then the text. The text box just breaks the cover up nicely. So there we have Tasting Pleasure.

Okay. I'm a tad disappointed at the moment. My favourite dancer from So You Think You Can Dance Australia came runner up. It's a sad day for the KBC0 (Kinky Boot Co - long story), but we're strong. Congrats to Jack the winner. He'll do us proud. He's a fantastic dancer, so watch out Broadway!! Jack's on his way LOL.

<- Rhys Jack ->

Don't know what our boy Rhys' plans are. Hoping us girls will find out some more when we all get together for the Melbourne leg of the SYTYCD tour. It's all very exciting actually. I've never been one to get too wrapped up in Reality TV shows, let alone the forums attached to them. It's been nice to chat to people with similar interests and I honestly look forward to meeting these fantastic ladies.

I so need a life at the moment. I need to know that I'm still my own person, that I can still do something on a whim and do something because I WANT to. Not because I have to.

The tour isn't until July and there's going to be quite a bit of planning in between then but I'll keep you all posted on my mid-life-crisis LOL!

Conjuring Cal

Conjuring Cal by Buffi BeCraft-Woodall is coming soon to Total-E-Bound.

I love this cover. It's definitely up there as one of my fav's. I've been dying to do something like this for a while and I will admit that it was heavily inspired by Denise Rossetti's - Gift of the Goddess cover by the incredible Syneca. I added a few brushes to give it that magical feel. I mucked around a bit with the dragon, all the while berating myself for not having done some more drawing/painting lessons. I ended up resorting to some dragon stock available at DA and in the vain attempt to not take credit for someone else's work, I maniped it to add another head. As required by the story.

I added his hair, again with brushes and was surprised that it was allowed through. I didn't think it looked quite real enough - but hey! I'm not complaining LOL.

Oh, I so need to practice my hair and painting skills. I also really need to start making some of my own brushes. DA has been a fantastic resource, but I'm hesitant in mentioning it because I don't want just anyone going along and thinking they can take things for themselves. There are rules set up by the owners of the stock there. Some allow commercial use, others not.

I guess now that I have Illustrator and CS3 I have less reason to say I can't. Now it all really just comes back to time. Time to focus. Time to experiment. It's frustrating to turn around 3-4 hours later and have nothing to show for it. Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a winge post. So Hurrah! Conjuring Cal has been released :D

Ooh .. quick update on the So You Think You Can Dance AUSTRALIA. It's down to the final 4 and Rhys is one of them. Yay! for Rhys LOL. Love him to death even if he does bat for the other team. He danced with Jack on Sunday night. Jack is the fav to win the comp. He's good. Damn good, but I still gravitate to Rhys. Anyway, here they are (Rhys is the one on the right of the screen, slightly to the front):



Phhwwaaaarrr .. is all I can say.