Valentine's & Tribute To Lucy!

Evening all! I hope that you are well! It's been a few weeks since I have had a chance to blog as I have been pretty busy with work, due to both half-term and having to travel about for courses etc at the moment.

As I mentioned in my last post I was about to have the week off of work. That was a couple of weeks ago now and seems like a bit of a distant memory. I was originally planning on getting a lot of drawing done but decided that as I had a prolonged amount of time off, that it would be more productive if I de-cluttered my studio/spare room which is overdue a tidy! As I have mentioned before I am a bit of a hoarder but the place was getting a bit out of control, as I still have most of my much bigger room from before I moved, packed into my little studio room along with all of my art stuff.  It's an ongoing project, but I am getting there slowly!

Valentine's then fell on the Friday after I was back at work. The hubby and I don't tend to make a big thing out of Valentine's and usually just get each other cards, but this year he also bought me some flowers and chocolates too. Then after work I cooked us a lovely meal courtesy of M&S. Whatever you got up to, I hope that you all enjoyed Valentine's with your loved ones too!

 

  

 

Whilst I am on here today I would like to share a little story with you. At the beginning of this week I received some sad news. A girl that was in my peer group at secondary school tragically died on Sunday, after a long battle with a brain tumour at the young age of 25. I didn't know her well, but when we were older she used to live opposite my parents with her husband, daughter, and step-son before moving away to Portsmouth. I want to share her story with you now, as not only is it incredibly tragic but also incredibly inspiring.

Lucy got married just a few months before me in the May of 2011 and moved to Waterlooville in Portsmouth with her husband, daughter then 3, and step-son 6 not long after. She had been suffering with headaches for a long time and was having them investigated. Then tragically just a month after she had got married, she was diagnosed with a serious inoperable brain tumour and given just 12 months to live. Despite this Lucy stayed strong and was determined to fight for her life. The doctors tried to do everything that they could to try and control and shrink the size of her tumour, and she endured numerous rounds of both chemo and radiotherapy. Throughout this she always stayed so positive, happy, and strong, as well as keeping her dirty sense of humour and cheeky ways.

She started a bucket list of everything that she wanted to do before she passed. One of the first things on her list was to go away with her family, but as she couldn't fly she decided that she wanted to go around the UK in a campervan for a three week trip. In order for her do this money had to be found to hire the campervan. Being that her whole family are huge football fans, her husband and a few of his friends came up with the idea to have their legs waxed to help raise the money. They also decided that they would go travelling around UK, visiting as many football clubs as possible in drag to raise further funds. Soon the total was reached and Lucy's first wish was granted, she was able to go on holiday with her family. They all had a lovely time despite the fact that Lucy had to spend a lot of time in a wheel chair, as her mobility was already being quite badly affected by her illness.

After this her next big wish was to be see and take her daughter to her first day of school, which was in September 2012 past the time in which the doctors had said she would live. Come September Lucy was still here and achieved her wish, not only to take her daughter to school on her first day but on many occasions after this too. Her daughter loved being dropped off at school by mummy, especially since she could get a ride with mummy on her pink mobility scooter!

For a while the tumour which Lucy decided to name Boris seemed to stabilise and even shrunk a little at one stage. Lucy carried on going through her bucket list again still with smile on her face despite the pain she was in, and always determined to fight not only for herself but especially for her little girl. She met numerous footballers and celebrities that she admired in including James Corden, and went to see Peter Andre in concert with her friends and little girl. Her daughter got to walk on as a mascot for her favourite football club and got to meet the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles which she is obsessed with! Lucy also wanted to have a garden with grass that she could enjoy sitting in during the summer, and the local community rallied round her to make this possible.

In November 2013 though things started to take a turn for the worse, the tumour was taking hold and there was nothing more that the doctors could do. Lucy was given only 3-6 months to live. Again despite this she was happy, positive, and was determined to carry on through her list. One of her wishes was to have white Christmas, so snow machines were arranged to come to her house to make this wish a reality. A few of the other wishes were a little obscure but they were all made possible. She wanted to hold a snake, so it was arranged that a number of reptiles along their keeper would come to her house. She had also never broken a bone or been in plaster, so she had her arm plastered with in pink plaster cast, her favourite colour. She had also never been arrested so she never spent the night in a cell!

At the beginning of Jan 2014 Lucy and her husband decided to renew their wedding vows, so that the children could have some happy memories to keep hold of. A lot of people within the community helped out and they had a lovely big ceremony at a local hotel, just like they were getting married for the first time all over again. Lucy looked stunning in the pictures and wore a beautiful white wedding dress. Despite the fact that she was in pain you would never have know it from the pictures. She even managed to stand for the photos, with a pink walking stick of course to aid her. They had an amazing day and made memory boxes after with thousands of photos to keep for when children were older. Their 6 year old daughter also sang Katy Perry's "Roar" especially for her parents.



Lucy went downhill very quickly after this and her fading memory became much worse, to the point that at times she couldn't even remember where who her family were. By this point there was only one last big wish on her list that she wanted to achieve. This wish was to have her husband and the children go on holiday to Disneyland after she had grown her wings, in order to make her passing easier for them.

At the end of January a fundraising page called Lucy's Last Wish was set up to raise £10,000 to make this happen. Numerous events and fundraising activities were arranged to take place, and collection tins were put out in local One Stop stores. She also teamed up to raise the money alongside another family, who have a little boy called Jack who is also battling illness. The page soon had over 2000 members and her story was circulated via local media. Then at the beginning of last week Lucy was prescribed constant bed rest much to her annoyance, but she was becoming very weak. Even when she couldn't speak much and was barely awake she still had her fabulous cheeky smile, especially when Peter Andre was mentioned. Due to this her family tried to make contact with him to see if they could get him to come and see her. They did manage to get hold of him but unfortunately he was unable to visit, which he himself was gutted about. Instead on Valentine's Day he spoke to her on the phone, and even though she couldn't speak back she was smiling from ear to ear. He even left her a voice mail message so that her husband could play it to her whenever she wanted.

Then on Sat 15th Feb Lucy's daughter decided that she wanted to throw her mummy an early Mothers Day, as she was afraid that she wouldn't be here for the real day. The children made her posies of flowers and gave her gifts, she was barely conscious but managed to utter her last words to her daughter which were "Leah I love you."

That evening her husband got a call from the local One Stop boss to say that between all of the stores they had managed to raise over £13,000 for the Disney fund within the space of a few weeks, and this was without the money that had been raised on the fundraising page. The kids were going to Disneyland!

Even though Lucy wasn't really awake her husband told her that the total had been reached. They went to bed that night side by side, with him holding her hand. Lucy then passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Sunday morning 16th Feb 2014. Her husband had stayed awake with her until 2:30am but said that "it was if she was waiting for him to fall asleep before she passed."

Her family can take great comfort in the fact that she got everything done that she wanted on her list, and it was as if she was holding on to make sure that her last wish was for filled. The day that she died was the day of the first fundraiser for her and Jack, and it was a glorious sunny day for them. Lucy was shining down on them.

Despite having lost his wife that morning her husband and children still managed to go along to the fun day, with him and the children managing to put on brave faces and smile. He even managed to talk to the local news station. They are all incredibly strong and I don't know many people who could do that.

The children are doing well considering and the total in the fund currently stands at over £20,000. There are still many fundraisers still planned to happen, that were organised before she passed both here in her home town and in Waterlooville. These include a tribute night, auction, coffee morning and a further fun day. Her husband is planning to take the children to Lapland with the extra money for their first Christmas without her. Which will hopefully ease the pain and help to make happy memories for the children.

Lucy may be gone but she has left a legacy both through her little girl (who has the same cheeky smile as her,) and through the way that she has also brought two communities together. Her story has touched may hearts and both united and introduced a lot of new people to each one another. There are also a number of us going to Lucy's coffee morning, in her home town from my school year. Many of us have not seen each other since then so she has re-united a year group too.

She will never be forgotten and the children see her as the brightest star in the sky. They went out the night after she died and saw a really bright moon and star, on a rare clear night lately which they say is mummy.

Loosing anyone is hard but loosing someone young that you know under such tragic circumstances really puts things into perspective, and makes you see how precious and valuable life is. We should all make the most of LIFE and make sure that we are fully LIVING ours to the full. It's just a shame that it often takes things like this to bring out the best in people, and make us realise how lucky we really are to be ALIVE. x  

Fairy Bella Card Now For Sale!

Just thought I would nip in and do a quick post to let you all know that my fairy Bella bunny card design that I revealed to you in my previous post, is now available to buy as a birthday card from my Etsy shop.

 I hope that you are all having a fab weekend whatever you may be up to. I have just finished my last day at work before my week off, so I am hoping to relax and get lots of drawing done next week. But right now I am off to make some fajitas and chill with the hubby. Much love, and thanks as always for popping by. x

Fairy Bella Bunny!

Hello everyone! It's been a few weeks since I have had a chance to nip in here as things have been busy as usual. But I have managed to fit in a bit of drawing time, so to today I can reveal to you my first design of the New Year Fairy Bella!

I originally drew her to be used as a thank you card design for my Christmas gifts, but I don't know if I am going to keep her this way. I might make her into a birthday card instead but I haven't decided yet, so any thoughts would be much appreciated. Once I have decided she will be going up for sale on my Etsy shop along with my other cards.

 

Talking of Etsy I recently received some lovely feedback and an order for a personalised wedding card all the way from Florida which was lovely. It's now on its way there as we speak, so hopefully it will arrive there safely soon.

 

Other than that there is not really much else to report from here. But I am hoping to get some time to do a Valentines Bobby Bunny design in the next few days, so I will keep you posted on this.

 

I hope that you are all having a lovely week and that the weather is not too bad for you. It hasn't shown much improvement here, but hopefully we shall get some dry brighter days soon! x    





Christmas & New Year Round Up!

Happy New Year to you all! I can't believe that we are already a week into 2014, it seems crazy how quickly time has passed! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year! We did eventually when the day itself arrived, but it was all a bit stressful in the run up mainly due to the weather.

Christmas Eve in-particular was a bit of a nightmare due to the storms that decided to arrive the night before, and the flooding and power cuts that they brought with them. I was off on Christmas Eve for the first time in years, but ended up spending a good proportion of it in traffic trying to get the hubby to work as non of the trains were running. He then nearly ended up getting stranded trying to get back, as did my sister who was trying to find a clear route home and got lost along the way.

Below you can see just one of the detours that we had to make after this road was blocked by the flood, and the car that was stuck in the middle of it.

 

After this I did however manage to get to my parents ok, which is only about a five minute drive from where we live. We also went to the Christingle service in the village where may parents live without a hitch like we do every year. Luckily they had managed to get off pretty likely with the storms compared to some, only losing their back fence but keeping the power and avoiding being flooded. As did we luckily.

Unfortunately this wasn't the case for many though, the vicarage in the village was flooded and my aunty and uncle were also without power. Which was made worse due to the fact that they have a 16 year old autistic son who couldn't understand why he couldn't play on his computer, or watch his DVD's. So we spent the rest of Christmas Eve worrying about them, and getting ready to accommodate them on Christmas Day if need be.

Thankfully though this story does have a happy ending as my aunty and uncle’s power finally went back on in the early hours of Christmas morning, and the vicarage was pumped out with not too much damage. So both they and we were able to have the Christmas's that we wanted, which we were very thankful for as this wasn't the case for many people in the south of England. Many of whom remained flooded and without power throughout the Christmas break.

Boxing Day was another more relaxing day which was spent both with my cousins and then the hubby's family at his dad's. I received lots of lovely gifts across both days, many of which were of course bunny related! Then as quickly as that it was all over and I was back to work on Friday through to New Year.

New Years Eve was another unusually chilled evening for us as we went it around the hubby's brothers and spent it with him, his wife, children and a few of their friends. Come midnight I was rocking our baby nephew to sleep, which seemed very odd as usually I would be out partying with my best friend. But as she was unable come down for new year this year we had gone out and celebrated the sat before when she was down. I have to say that it was nice to wake up on New Year's Day and not have a hangover for a change!

So onto 2014! As usual I haven't really set any resolutions for the New Year, more just goals which are very similar to last year. The main one is for the hubby and I to keep saving as much as possible got go towards buying our own home. We are getting there slowly and have just renewed the lease on our flat for what will hopefully be the last time. So this time next year we should hopefully finally be moving and be able to afford something small, as property prices are pretty steep around here.

Besides this I have other goals that include, continuing to build up my Bobby Bunny card range and to try and blog as well as draw more. Both of which I struggle to do as much as I would like with working around my job, and running our home.

So far though all 2014 seems to have brought are continued storms, and me a head cold. But it has also already bought us the lovely wedding on one of the hubby's friends, which was held last Saturday at a local hotel. We all had a lovely time and rather than a traditional wedding breakfast they had an afternoon tea with lots of sandwiches, scones, and yummy cakes as you can see below, along with their wedding cake.

I hope that 2014 is treating you all well so far, and that you all achieve your hopes, dreams & expectations in the year ahead! x

Christmas Bits!

Eeek it's only a week until Christmas and I am starting to get a little excited! I love everything about Christmas, spending time with loved ones, the traditions, carols, food, decorations, lights and the general magical feeling that you get in the air!

I can't say that I am overly organised this year, as I still have a few prezzies to buy and a lot more to wrap. But all shall be ready on time with any luck! 

The flat is also not looking overly Christmassy as we don't have enough room in our flat for a tree, but I do have a few decorations dotted here and there. As well as an advent calendar, which you can never be to old for!

I do very much look forward to having somewhere bigger one day that I can properly decorate, like we always have done at my parents house. Every year since I can remember we have had a real tree which we would go and choose with my dad, and then decorate with my mum. I shall hopefully get some pics to show you when I go round there on Christmas day. I did try today but unfortunately they didn't come out very well!

I did however manage to get some pics of another item that also appears at my parents every year, and that is our nativity display.

 

I am not even sure exactly where this came from, but it's actually a book that I had as a child which folds out into a nativity. They are only cardboard characters, but we all find the character of the illustrations rather charming. Mum says every year that she is going to replace it, but we never found anything that we like as much as this.

Whilst I am here I shall also show you a couple of Christmassy finds that I have bought lately!

Firstly my lovely Christmas jumper which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it in Topshop. It's soo snuggly and warm, plus the little gingerbread men and bright red colour instantly appealed to me.

Secondly are my new heart shaped jumper cushions, which again I loved as soon as I saw Wilko advertising them in a magazine. I have also given them a Christmassy touch by adding some cute little mitten decorations that I found in Sainsbury's.

If I don't get the chance to blog again before Christmas I hope that you all have a wonderful time! I also just want to say thank you all for reading my little blog, and for supporting me both here and by liking my Facebook and Etsy pages. Many Thanks I really do appreciate it, and It means alot! x

Bobby Bunny & Friends Facebook Page & Etsy Shop Launch!

This is going to be quite a quick post today, as it is getting rather late here. But I just wanted you all to know that my Etsy shop and Bobby Bunny and Friends Facebook page, are now finally up and running!

I have been working on and meaning to set both of these pages up for sometime now, and since I finally have enough products to get  my little shop off of the ground the time seemed right to do it. My Etsy shop has actually been set up since I was at University, but I didn't feel that my images were developed an strong enough to go on there at the time. Plus getting engaged and planning a wedding, as well as working full-time didn't really leave me much time to focus on in properly.

I hope that you like the pages and products, I am hoping to add a lot more products and variety over time. Which is quite an exciting prospect.

I hope that you are all having a fabulous week, and getting into the Christmas spirit. Thanks as always for popping in! x

Wedding Anniversary & Family Fun!



Yesterday was mine and my hubby's 2nd Wedding Anniversary, and it's crazy to think how quickly the time has passed since our amazing day!

 

We didn't really do too much for it, as the hubby was working up in London yesterday and didn't get home until late. But once he was back we went and got a takeaway and chilled on the sofa with a duvet, whilst drinking champagne and watching telly which was lovely.

 

I also had a little reminisce of our day looking back through our wedding photos! It truly was a day to remember and one that couldn't have gone any better, including the weather which we were incredibly lucky with as it was beautiful crisp and sunny day. Two and a half years of saving, planning, making, and pouring my heart and soul into that wedding definitely paid off, leaving us with many happy memories that we shall both treasure forever.

 

I thought that I would share some of the photos from our day with you!

 

 

On another note I hope that the wintery weather forecast overnight hasn't hit you too badly. We haven't had any snow here yet, but it has been cold and very wet! 

 

The weather did seem to have taken a turn for the better prior to today, with some crisp cold mornings and even our first frost! Which was a nice change after having had weeks of wet and windy weather.

 

It was on one of these days the other weekend that my family and I seized the opportunity to go and enjoy a walk along the seafront. Which was made especially nice as we don't really get the chance to go out and spend much time as a family, with just me, my mum, dad and sister these days. My hubby had been out the night before and stayed over at a friend's, so rather than staying at home on my own I has stayed with my parents. I may be 25 but I still love going back to my parents and family home every now and again!

 

As always I manage to grab a few shots of the beautiful weather whilst we were there!

 

 

It's a shame that the weather hasn't stayed like this, but I would much rather snow than rain! As inconvienent as it can be, it's so much more fun and pretty to look at! So hopefully we will get some soon! x   

Bonfire Night & Firework Fun!



Oh how I do love this time of year, the changing of the seasons and the chill in the air and wrapping up warm! It has become a bit of a tradition in my family that every Bonfire Night Weekend we go to our local fireworks display before then going back to my parents house, where mum cooks us hot dogs with onions, tomato soup & onion rings. Which we then follow with sparkler's in the garden. We have done it every year since my sister and I were tiny, the only difference these days is that we actually go to the display rather than just watch them out of my parent's bedroom window! My sister and I were never that keen on the noise of the fireworks when we were younger, so we used to have our own Bonfire party at home in the warm.

This year I took my camera along to the display, and after realising that it had a firework mode I thought I would have a fiddle. I wasn't expecting much as the modes on my camera don't really tend to make much of a difference, but this time I was pleasantly surprised. I got some good shots despite the windy weather, and the rain just about held off for the duration of the display.

I do apologise for the amount of photos that I am about to show you, but I just couldn't choose between them!

 

 

 Oh and I couldn't forget the fun that we had with the sparklers too! 

 

If you went to see any fireworks that you had fun, and that the weather held out for you too! I also hope that if any of you have animals that they didn't get too traumatised by all of the noise. I know that I used to worry dreadfully about my bunnies at this time of year, especially since they lived outside. Plus my parents live close to our local display, but they luckily never seemed to bothered and were just happy eating.

Enjoy the rest of your week! x

Halloween & Finished Arthur Mouse!

Firstly Happy Halloween to you all, I hope that you have had a lovely spooky day! I haven't done much in the way of Halloween themed things today. Even though I did have my nails painted in a spooky style, by a friend that insisted that she needed to practice on me for her up and coming nail course.

I did however go to a Halloween party at my hubby's dad's house last weekend, which was thrown for one of our nephews. He has recently had quite a big operation and was disappointed that he was unable to attend his school Halloween party, so we thought that throwing him his own party would cheer him up! He and all of the children thoroughly enjoyed it and were dressed up along with the adults, the house was decorated wonderfully and I even carved my first ever pumpkin!

 

One of the hubby's cousins was also over from Germany with his new girlfriend, so it was lovely to see them both too.

Unfortunately the weather after the Halloween party was non to fabulous, as I am sure that most of you heard even if you didn't experience it. We had quite a storm here in the South East of England over Sunday night into Monday morning. Luckily we got off relatively lightly here in comparison to a lot of places. It wrecked havoc with the trains, which would have affected the hubby getting to work but luckily he has been off this week. If the storm hit you I hope that you were not too badly affected either!

Now onto an update for the "Arthur Mouse Plane" illustration that I have been working on, which I mentioned in my last post. Well I am pleased to say that he is all finished, and today I have posted  him off to its new home.

The christening that it is intended for is next week, so I hope that the recipients like it. It will also be my first properly commissioned and paid for work too, which is rather exciting!

 

 

 

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend which is fast approaching. If you are going to see any fireworks this weekend have fun, and I hope that the weather holds out for you!

 

Once again thanks as always for visiting, I really do appreciate it! x  

Arthur Mouse!

You may be wondering what the title of my post is all about, well let me explain!

I was contacted be a friend of my hubby's the other day, who had seen my illustrations and wanted me do a design as a gift for up and coming Christening that she is attending. She explained to me that that the baby to be Christened is called Arthur, but is known as Arthur mouse (hence the blog title) and that his dad is mad on flying. Therefore if possible she would like an image of a mouse flying an old style plane as the gift.

I was more than happy to take on the challenge for her, even though I knew that drawing a plane wasn't going to be the easiest of tasks! In fact I am not sure that I have ever really drawn a plane in any detail!

So despite the fact that yes it was a little challenging mainly from the perspective point of view, I have managed to sketch out a design for her. It still needs a little tweaking and obviously colour but I am getting there, and am now just waiting for feedback as to what she thinks before I go any further.

I hope that the weather isn't too bad where you are! It's amazing how quickly the weather has changed here in the last few days from being sunny and in the high teens, to very wet, windy and much colder. I don't mind the cold, but I am not too keen on the wind and the rain!

Have a good weekend wherever you are, and hopefully it won't be too much of a washout! x