a big day...

today is a big day,

it is full of big things,

big mountains of laundry,

big hair due to crappity crap weather,

big piles of fabric waiting to be crafted

and probably thee 'biggest thing' to happen to me, in many a year.

indeed my 'big thing' is so big for my little world

that i shaved my pasty pins in honor of its bigness.

i think right there tells how big of a thing it truly is.

for my pasty pins, with the lack of summer

have bypassed all attempts at looking lovely and golden,

and gone into premature hibernation.

i have spoken to my pasty pins this morning,

told them this will not do,

that Fall may appear to be all around

but we must do our best to maintain some level of 'pasty pins' pride.

once i had divulged to my pasty pins the bigness of the day,

they realized it was time to shape up.

and so dearest readers, with my smoothy pasty pins

i am most delighted to share my 'big peachy news' with you today.

"Tif, for crying out loud, could you just get on with it,

we have pea soup on the stove, homework to be finished

and indeed our own pasty pins to sort along with the laundry"

you say quite exasperated with moi.

quite right too! i have rambled enough

so without further ado,

my big news, ney terribly peachy bigger than big news

is...

myself, my pasty pins and dottie angel are to be published!

i am trying to recall if i have ever had such a big thing happen to moi.

obviously i have had my share of grandness in parts.

i do recall a moment aged 12 on stage with my drama club,

then there was the time i played in the girl's brigade marching band in the Royal Albert Hall.

myself being the proud cymbal player.

and of course the moments my babies were born.

but a book!

now that is quite a different kettle of fish to get my head around...

indeed as i tippity type, my pasty pins are shaking somewhat!

and not just an ordinary book at that,

but an extraordinary book

made possible by the extraordinary talents of Janine Vangool

some of you may already know about UPPERCASE,

a wonderful magazine for the creative and the curious.

the likes of which i had never seen before,

until my soul sister Debbie gifted me a subscription...

and that dearest readers led to a 'happening of the utmost kind'.

Janine, the creative wonder behind UPPERCASE

also dabbles in publishing and designing books,

the type of books you wish 'to have and to hold'

and only ever lend to a friend when they have signed on the dotted line,

agreeing to treat it with the care and respect it so deserves.

one of these books is The Suitcase Series, Volume One

featuring the wonderful world of Camilla Engman.

when i read Camilla's book i could see firsthand

to be an artist in The Suitcase Series is a wonderful thing indeed.

for the book captures in glorious detail

the lives of artists and designers from around the world,

as Janine says herself, the books in this series are precious souvenirs of a creative journey

shared between the artist and the reader.

and so it is with great excitement and may i say a few tears of joy,

dottie angel will be the next artist in The Suitcase Series,

to be published in early summer 2011!!

the book is available for pre-order alongside three other wonderful books to be released over the coming months

the elegant cockroach

work/life 2

a collection a day

all four books are being offered as a book bundle from UPPERCASE

i have mentioned the book to

Miss Ethel my trusty sewing machine

Carlos my camera,

Mr Hook,

the chickens in the yard,

little olive and Used dog,

the kitty cats,

speedy with his shell

and indeed

mousey and his cousin mousey under the stairs.

they have all looked back at me and my pasty pins, in silence...

i am taking their silence as a sign of how big this moment is in our lives we share together,

they are at a loss for words.

to see their ordinary lives living in suburbia with a slightly nutty woman

of an uncertain age,

who walks a crafty path each day

whilst dreaming of living dottie angel's life,

being made into a book

is a little too much for them to take in, after all it is only the begining of the week.

she is wondering if samuel whiskers in the attic wishes to be informed ~ Tif