Changes

I definitely feel different right now to how I felt a few months ago. I said this before and I don't mean it in a bad way necessarily. It's just that a lot of things have changed lately. Life doesn't feel the same as it used to. Being married feels different (but definitely good differet!) and knowing that we're probably moving out into our own house in a couple of months feels different too. No longer are Henry and I living here in my parents house indeterminately while they live in Dubai. They are now back from Dubai (as of a couple of months ago) and there are boxes absolutely everywhere and the house is full and that feels different too. Also Henry's new job is due to start soon so he has been on holiday for quite a few weeks which has been so nice (defo not complaining of that one!) but again feels different. I don't know, I feel a bit unsettled at the moment to be honest and am greatly looking forward to when we have our own house and are back in some sort of routine. I love routine!

Also this weather- it just makes me want to be in Cornwall surfing and sitting on the beach (ideally with friends- that would be nice!) But that's beside the point.

And also, I have a rabbit mind right now where it can't stop jumping from one idea to the next which is making it very hard to concentrate on developing new story ideas... but oh well! I will keep trying anyway.

On Monday we went to Brighton. i'm not sure why we did now. I think it was becasue I have always wanted to see the lanes. Everyone always goes on about how good the shopping is there. So we went. And it was a long drive. Much longer than we realsied. And parking was a big of a nightmare. But we finally got there and walked around a bit and I saw an amazing most beauteous chandelier which sparkled like anything. I'm sure it was one of the most sparkliest chandeliers I've ever seen. It was a forest of crystal. And I wanted it. Of course. But we didn't buy it, mainly becasue we already received a beautiful rainbow chandleier for our wedding and there will be no room for two chandeliers in our future tiny house. I was just being greedy for chandeliers. I mean we don't even have a sofa or a table yet for our house.

So anyway, we went to Brighton and we met up with Henry's cousin who lives there and her boyfriend. And that was nice. We chatted and sat on the beach and I ate a frozen yoghurt with blackberries and strawberries on it. And Celestine popped out of my bag and had a lick and posed on the beach for a photo. 

Later Henry and I ate fish and chips on the pier and then drove home which was thankfully a much shorter journey than the way there. And overall it was a nice day.

Now here are some more photos of the bathroom set I did a few weeks ago. I have made three of these bathroom sets to date! They will be used to help sell the titles I think.  So this one is actually a different one to the ones I have shown on my blog before even though it looks pretty much the same. I can never resist taking photos of the cabinet though with all its bottles and lotions and potions. 

Bubbly bath water. If only my bathwater glittered like that in real life!

Charmed

Celestine is missing the ballroom being here. She enjoyed prancing around it wearing her gold tutu.

She was cheered up though when she spotted this absolutely exquisite little comb charm in the window of the jewellers shop in my home town.  Then she became uncheered again when she found out that it was 90 pounds.  It's exactly the kind of thing Celestine would like to own- a solid gold comb in a fancy gold case. She has expensive and opulent taste!

I admit I kind of like it too. But we are not buying solid gold combs right now. We are buying houses!! Yes, finally Henry and I are really on the road to getting our own house. And it's very exciting! It's all change here. My life feels different than it did a few months ago. The dynamics have all changed. Not in a bad way at all, just different.

★★★★★★★★★ 

A few links

Just a few links- mainly just so I can keep them all in one place and remember them. 

Firstly I was delighted to get a starred review from Publishers Weekly the other day for I am a Witch's Cat! 

Also, I am a Witch's Cat was featured on the pageturn blog last week and there is a behind the scenes look at the process I go through to create the art. So if you want to see more of how I created the pictures in the book go here!

Also Jane Cherie wrote a lovely post about my work on her blog so thank you for that!

And also thank you to my friend Sian who wrote about my book on her blog too. 

Lastly I just want to say how nice it's been that so many of my friends and family have rushed to buy my book as soon as it was released. My cousin who is a teacher even took it into her school to read to her class! I really am so grateful for the support of everyone. Thank you! 

xxx

Princess Ballroom!

Last week I made a ballroom for the princess books.  It ended up being the biggest room set I have ever made! I thought it ought to be big though as it was a royal ballroom.

It was requested that the floor should be wooden which was something I had to think about how to make- because the floor was so big . In the end I found some very thin sheets of wood, cut them into individual miniature planks and stuck them down one by one. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and I was really pleased with the effect so that was all good!

Here's a close up of the floor:

It was also suggested that a grand piano could be included in the ballroom. I was very taken with that idea so went right ahead and created a gold glittery piano fit for a princess.

Here's how the whole ballroom looked. The pillars and panels were another challenge- something I had not tried before. I was pleased with how they came out though. I also used a string of fairy lights poked through the walls to create lighting round the edge of the room.

Again the flowers were another little challenge. I bought some cheap ones and then spent quite a while painting them (with Henry's help!) different shades of purple and then glittering them up.

I took a few shots without daylight to show how the lights on the walls light up. I think it looks more atmospheric this way. 

Here come some princesses!

 I especially like their glittery skirts:

I am looking forward to seeing how all this will look once it's photographed professionally and put into one of the books!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I am a Witch's Cat cover

I thought I would show you the process behind creating the cover for 'I am a Witch's Cat.'

It was a long process. From my short time working as an illustrator I have learned that covers always take the longest. I think I have done a total of six covers so far and they always seem to be the most tricky to get right.

So the idea behind this cover was to have some sort of pumpkin field with little Witch's Cat frolicking around in it. Initially the idea was to have it as a daytime scene but you will see that changes through out the process. 

It started out with a sketch...

...and the sketch was tweaked until it was right. The line of washing was removed and so was the tree and green house.

Then I started to build the image in 3d. I began by drawing all the pumpkins.

And then painting them.

Then I made the base from a sheet of cardboard covered in crinkled tissue paper.

And painted it to give it texture.

Then it was time to arrange the pumpkins and character on the base.
 

And put some vines in between the pumpkins.

Then I painted the sky and took some shots!

The clouds looked too solid and the pumpkins at the front and back looked too out of focus. It definitely wasn't right at this point.

Tried it with a different background but there was still something missing. The editor asked if the pumpkins could be 3d rather than standing cardboard so I went back and made some 3d ones. 

Things started to turn around when I added some sparkle to the pumpkins. I suddenly began to feel more inspired about the cover and began to see it was looking much better.

But during the time I was sparkling up the pumpkins I had another idea and I wanted to try it out. What if instead of daytime it was night time and the title was surrounded by a big round moon? I tried it out.

I had to use about three (or maybe even four) lamps behind the moon to fully light it as it was so big! All the pinprick stars had to be lit too.

I liked the result. Luckily the editor did too but there were still a few changes to be made like lighting the moon up more and making the lighting more dramatic.

But we went with it!

And this as you know, is the final result:

It took a long time to get this cover right but I'm so glad I persevered with it. I am really pleased with how it turned out in the end.

Today's the day!

Witch's Cat is finally here!!!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

One day to go...

I was thrilled last week to get a good first industry journal review from Kirkus.

To see it click HERE

I am extremely chuffed with it! 

I can't believe my book comes out tomorrow!

It is available from lots of places if you want to buy it: Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk to name a few. It is published by Harpercollins US.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★