TODAY...

... I will not only be working from home, but working from bed, because I have a death-cold! And working from bed, by the way, means this! ...

PLEASE WELCOME... TRUDIE PUGH!

My lovely Aunty Pauline knits amazing retro tea cosies and shimmery dress-scarves. They sell like hot cakes in a local handmade shop called Landbaby (see her facebook page here) but for ages I've been telling her that a little branding would be the cherry on top. So for her birthday I've designed her a logo (she decided to go with her middle name Gertrude!) TRUDIE PUGH. And have had her a set of business cards / hang tags made, using vintage wool-related pictures, and also adapted two different Alice illustrations to show one of her tea-cosies...

JUST A SOUP-SONG!

Today The Hive is filled with smell of lovely winter lentil soup with homemade croutons!

ARTWERK!

Made the art for my upcoming mix on UPITUP Records. Went with the Kaftewerk "The Model" cover, with a BBC off-air screen, and a vintage curio I found in a 70s science textbook! Now I've just got to make the mix!

ALT MISS LIVERPOOL!

Just got in from tending drinks at Homotopia Festival's Alternative Miss Liverpool pageant! Celebrity judges included Fenella Fielding and The Divine David!! The winner (a touchy subject - she was the mascot entry of event sponsors Voodou har salon- Also my hairdressers to add yet more pointless information!) was Miss Voodou, dressed in the most elaborate and Scouse dress I have ever seen in real-life! - A flame red ballgown made entirely from hair extensions!!! Hahaaaa! Had to share!

NARA KNOWS BEST!

Yoshitomo Nara. And a secret message from my brain!!! <3

HOME MADE TAPAS FOR ONE!

Stopped to make this little feast! Ate it at the computer... Self-Accounting sucks! :-/

PRE-HALLOWEEN IN AMSTERDAM!

HALLOWEEE-EEEE-EEEE-EEEN!

Well, we didn't make it to Halloween Number One! Surprise surprise, the charts just don't work for disconnected cult bands! ;-) But we did have one hell of a fun show at Bloomsbury Lanes, with loads an loads of familiar faces, 38 inch pizzas, and some of me Skeletones boys joined in on Misfits karaoke! The introduction of BUG POP on the merch stall went well, and sold a few special issue pieces!

SEWN-UP HEROICS!!!

Starting to think about Halloween costumes, and drooling over patterns and the thought of being able to ACTUALLY sew!!!

TEENAGE CAVEMAN!

PLAIT THAT!

Dinner! X

HALLOWEEN # 1?!

Well, my comrade Doc Horror has decided we are going to be Halloween Number One, with our single release, TEENAGE CAVEMAN BEAT GARGANTUA! whose B-Side FUTURELIFE is really another A-Side! And really, I can only agree! Let's see how it goes...

BUG POP TV! - Ep 1

BUG POP TV! Is a channel direct from The BUG POP Hive! Each episode has a theme based on the inspiration behind one of our own BUG POP creations! Today's show celebrates one of our favourite subjects, The Robot, and our "MR ROBOTO NECKLACE" available in Limited Edition at the website - www.bugpop.co.uk - We have watched through hours of cartoons, clips, documentary footage and films, and boiled down the best nuts and bolts into Three And A Half Hours of Robot-lovers gold!!! A perfect evening's viewing, and not a Car Insurance advert in sight! Sit back, and enjoy BUG POP TV's... DAY OF THE ROBOTS!!!.....

SUNDAY SONG TIME

A SONG THAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU WANT TO DANCE...
It may be cheesy, but this one's easy!.....

POOR-TUNE!

"DON'T LET YOUR MIND WANDER. IT'S TOO LITTLE TO BE LET OUT ALONE!" Gee Thanks Mister Blue Dragon! So glad I spent 30p to have you tell me I have a tiny mind! Haha! What a start to the day! Although, I guess in truth, the advice is pretty fitting and hence well-suited. Off with the internet and on with the design Thinking-Cap! ;-)

SUNDAY SONG TIME

A SONG THAT TAKES ME WANDERING THROUGH MY MIND....

BEET ON THE BRAT!

BRAND NEW BEETLE BROOCHES on BUG POP! Get em while they're hot!!! (Edit Dec 2012 - Too late, sold out!)

I'M STRONG TO THE FINISH, CUZ...

I loves both SPinach, and Popeye! So finding this has made my mind up... I'm relocating to Arkansaw! Watch this space!

TIME FOR AUNTMN FOOD!!!

MMMMMMMM! This was better than it may look. Winter Stew And Dumplings! Brit-Stodge at its finest! ;-)

RECORD FAYRE!

WOW! ... Just, WOW!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

I'm not exactly sure what she's saying... Or who she is... I really hope she's not a right-wing politician...But with the innocence of the language-barrier, I'm enjoying her swagger!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY today, to my Italo-Stallo Dream Come True! <3 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

SUNDAY SONG TIME

The 30 Day Song Challenge has been taking up the virtual-time of half of my Facebook friends, and while it looks fun, there's some questions I would waste wayyy too much brain power trying to decide on... Like "Day 01 - your favorite song"?! How anyone who loves music can decide that, definitively, is a total and utter mystery to me! It hurts my brain!
I'm just going to take inspiration, and make up some of my own too, every Sunday!

So... A SONG FROM MY EARLY CHILDHOOD - Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land - A song my Dad taught me to sing with him and his accoustic guitar. I even have it on cassette somewhere. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to digitising it. This one's for Poppa B!

TOTE THEM POLES!

Might get back on the case of the 3D paintings I started back in Den Haag. I just got word from a friend to say our Langweiligkeit wall murals are still standing!

ART(W)ROCK!

I was ordered to take a last-second portrait of my man, by his label-mates, for his new solo record - Upitup's first physical release, and a 12" vinyl at that!!! I took a load of snaps and they chose this one, and here's the finished design! :-)

WORSHIPPING THE VOLCANO!

Leaving the island today. For our last night, we went for a drink at a sea-edging cocktail bar. These cocktails were ridiculously good! The bar is known as the Island's best vantage point for seeing the neighbouring Island's lava displays! YES! The whole of the nearest island is an active volcano, which erupts every 15 minutes. Always. So we sat and watched it again and again, showering it's distant but unmissable orange-red glow into the blackness. Today I looked at the volcano again, its lava bleached from sight by the bright sun, and I thought about negative space, and light and dark, and what colour is!
And then I had to go and pack!

IL POSTINO!

Ending the holiday on Salina, at a too-swanky hotel! We are still eating the best food ever, and having funny adventures and rambles through rocky dusty terrain! Today we hired a car (littlest one, Alessia, had to sit on a knee so we all fit. Oops!) and all went out to see the mountainside house where the fantastic Italian film "Il Postino" was filmed! I LOVE this film, ever since my Dad bought me it on VHS, so was very star-struck and excited!
Me and Gia walked up the side of a vast, cloud-skimming mountain overlooking the house deciding to head back, only when it got too steep to carry on, and we realised that the two huge screeching birds of prey 30 ft above us were definitely sizing us up, and would probably win in a fight!

BLISS IS THE LIFE!

Holiday is located in heaven! I have turned into the Eliza Doolittle of the party, merely for the fact that literally EVERYTHING around us, and the beauty and luxury we have been living in, excites and enthuses me, and brands me with a permanent silly grin, and a hundred thankyou's! The rest of the family have enjoyed it all, but it has been taken very much more in their stride! Soppy-Enthusiastic-Overexcitable English Girl, anyone?! ;-)

VACANZA A FILICUDI!!!

Mr G's Dad has brought the family on holiday to the Eolian Islands- a small row of rugged, arrid islands off of Sicily, with pebble beaches and the clearest sea water I have ever seen. So much Sun, and Realx, and gooood food! Apart from being stung by a Jellyfish yesterday within 3 minutes of entering the sea, I am in heaven! Infact, I even quite enjoyed that experience as part of the adventure!