My Family & Other Animals

Sunday 25 August 2013

"Lazy, Sunday Afternoon, I've Got No Mind To Worry..."

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Every time I have looked at my blog in the last week and a half I have been reminded of yet another memory from my oh so colourful childhood. The last card I posted was of a young lad in front of a wall with graffiti on it and it reminded me of the time I myself experimented with the urban art of self expressionism.
As I have previously said, my mother had me labelled as 'he who must not be trusted' after daring to slow fry a frozen sausage in front of a three bar heater. As I was never allowed to stay in the house unsupervised as both parents worked (and if I'm honest, even when mother was at home I wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms!) I spent a LOT of time either outdoors or when the weather demanded it, stuck in the only library Redcar had, which in time turned into my favourite place on earth. When you are not welcome in your own home, you look for places where you are welcome and the Library in Redcar became my safe haven. Whilst not exactly welcomed through the doors (the staff were like something from a Dickens novel), nobody ever told you to go home as long as you were reading something and I read everything in that Library, from Enid Blyton right through to Peter Benchley, my reading really matured in that Library and I showed my appreciation to it in a very special way!
When I wasn't inside the Library reading I was outside playing in 'my tree'. It grew right next to the front wall, the wall that faced the main road and the one wall that was on view to absolutely everyone passing, whether by foot or vehicle. My tree was so easy to climb and through the Summer and early Autumn it was covered in enough foliage for you to be quite anonymous should you decide to climb up to the higher limbs, something that the Library staff actively discouraged and something that all boys just had to try, like it was hard-wired into our DNA!
On one particularly chilly, early Winter afternoon, I turned up to tree only to find a full can of black spray paint on the grass. 'How exciting' my 13 year old brain screamed 'what's the harm in having a little play' I thought, after all it washes off with warm soapy water, doesn't it??
My gaming tag (i.e. the name I used whenever I played an arcade game) was Antz (I still have no idea why to this day!) and had I written that I would have walked away scot free but me being the idiot that I was at that age decided to write
ANDREW BRINSLEY!
Yes, I wrote my full name in three feet tall black letters for the entire world to see. Looking back I am surprised I stopped short of writing my home address too!!
Unluckily for me, it took the Library janitor about ten minute to work out just who this master criminal was! He just looked for my Library card and voila! he had my home address and my Mother's work address too. Needless to say, I was severely punished and a valuable lesson about identity was learnt!!

OMG! What must you think of me? It feels like ages since I last posted anything. I have been meaning to do it but I kept forgetting to take my photographs so had nothing to post! But that has all been remedied and here is a new card for you to peruse.
Stuck for something to colour I went for a surf and discovered the rather fantastic DeviantArt, there were loads of amazing images (and sooooo many for free!!!) and all they ask of you is that you credit them and put a link back to their art, so here it is, thank you so much Yampuff for your beautiful images and here's the link to your images (Honey & AnaBelle/UmberellaGirl).
As for the card, well I decided to try and keep it as clean and simple as possible because the image itself was quite large to start with and I really wanted my colouring to be the thing that really drew your attention, colouring these three girls took me a couple of days to make sure that they were the best I could do and for the first time ever I was actually proud of something I had done.
So there it is my lovely, hope you like it.
If you managed to read all that, well done! I will be back soon, have a great week and
take care,
Hugs 'n Stuff,
Andy
xxx

Entered Into: 2 Sister Challenge #158 - Square Cards
A Gem Of A Challenge #94 - Anything with a B (Bird and Birdhouse)
Colour Me Creative Challenge #75 - Anything Goes
Crazy 4 Challenges #200 - C4C200 - Animals
Drunken Stampers Challenge #138 - A Party Planner
Totally Gorjuss Challenge #198 - Bows
My Creative Moments - Wordplay Satuday Challenge - Childhood
Sketch Saturday Challenge #273 - Sketch
A Creative Need Challenge #10 - Lazy Days Of Summer
Card Crafter's Circle Challenge #89 - Bright Colours
Challenges and Candies Challenge #15 - Colours, Smells and Tastes of Summer
Digitally Sweet Challenge #50 - Summertime Colours
Inspire Me Friday's Challenge #117 - Anything Goes
Patti's Creations Design Challenge #74 - Anything Goes (Must ALWAYS Use An Image)
Polkadoodles Challenge week #34 - All Things Bright And Beautiful
QKR Stampede Challenge #53 - Anything Goes
Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #30 - A Summer Theme
Sister Act Card Challenge #21 - Anything Goes

18 comments:

  1. Your card is so cute! Love your Party Planner! thanks for joining us at Drunken Stampers!

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  2. Oh wow- your coloring is fabulous!Fantastic details-fence, tree branch, bird, your clouds! Love the three gals gatherered together for a party! Thanks for joining us at Drunken Stampers this week!

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  3. A wonderful card! Thank you for playing along with the CMC Copic Challenge!
    Danni-CMC DT

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  4. Fab and fun, thanks for joining in with us at Polkadoodles. Take care Zo

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  5. Hey there Andy!! Love your card almost as much as the story that goes with it!! Thanks for playing along with the Drunken Stampers this week for the Party Planner challenge!

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  6. Wow what an amazing colourist Andy. Your technique is fab and it really shows on your brilliant card. Thanks for joining the fun at Drunken Stampers.x

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  7. Great tea party card. Thanks for joining us for a drink at drunken stampers.

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  8. Wonderful coloring on your fun card, Andy. Thanks for linking it up with us at the Sister Act Challenge Blog. Hope to see you back next week.
    Cathy xx

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  9. Andy - so glad you entered your card at Color Me Creative where your talents and coloring have an audience who can marvel at your work. Good luck - I hope to see you again for our next challenge.

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  10. Beautiful card you made, Andy!
    Thanks for joining us at "Izazovi i Slatkiši" :-))
    Hugs, Andreja

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  11. I loved reading about your deviant art!!! Fantastic colouring and yes I can see you have put a lot of time into this. thank you for sharing at Digitally "Sweet" and hope you can play again next week.

    Hugs Ali x

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  12. Gorgeous colouring :) I have coloured a few of these images too, you should also check out Jade Dragoon on Deviant Art and also on Facebook, although not sure if your allowed to use the images once coloured for comps and stuff .. although she does allow you to colour them and credit her... and if this is your style to colour you will ADORE her images, very steam punk inspired x

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  13. Wow! Beautiful card!! I love the details in your coloring! Thank you for playing along this month at Quick Quotes!

    barb :)

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  14. Love it! Your coloring is fantastic!
    Thank you for joining us at Digitally Sweet!

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  15. I'm not sure what I love more: your card or your story! You made me keep laughing as I read your post! Andy, your card is fabulous and your coloring is amazing! Thanks for playing along with the Drunken Stampers Party Planner challenge!

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  16. Gorgeous coloring!! Thanks for playing along with this months Quick Quotes challenge!

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  17. Wow, stunning card !This is very bright!Thanks for joining us at Polka Doodles! (unfortunately you are not eligible for any prizes as you have entered too many challenges) Hugsxx

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  18. This is fabulous! Love how you colored the girls! A beautiful scene!
    Thanks so much for playing along in my "childhood" wordplay challenge at My Creative Moments.

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