Faux resin necklace - inspired by Craftster

I have had a lot of fun experimenting tonight :)

Nothing turned out quite as planned, but never mind.

I have been admiring all the gorgeous resin jewellery over at Craftster, and decided it might be fun to try and do something similar using UTEE and my melt pot - which I haven't used in forever.

It turned out to be a bit of a comedy of errors...but I still like the finished article, and will happily wear it.

I took step by step photos just in case it turned out so well that the denizens of Craftster would be crying out for a "tute" - I think perhaps I was a little over confident there lol

But here they are anyway.

First up I made a couple of little shrink plastic embellishments to encapsulate in my "faux resin".

The tree is a Magenta rubber stamp, stamped onto clear shrink plastic with black Stazon ink. The bird was drawn freehand onto black shrink plastic and carefully cut out.

I shrunk them both with a heat gun.

Next, I melted a load of clear UTEE in my melt pot, and added a fair bit of flex so that the finished piece would not be prone to crack or scratch.

FIRST MISTAKE - I stirred the flex in, which caused a zillion bubbles. Apparently I should have exhibited more patience and left it longer to mix in by itself.

I poured a thin layer of the UTEE/Flex mixture into a round cookie cutter which I had "greased up" with a bit of embossing ink to ensure it would release easily later.

I also put a similarly "greased" drinking straw into the mixture so that my finished pendant would have a stringing hole.

SECOND MISTAKE - I didn't realise how thick my finished pendant would be, so I didn't grease high enough up the cookie cutter, which made it a bugger to get off later. Also the drinking straw was a bit big, I might look for something smaller to use as a hole maker next time.

Next step was to add some colour.

I waited until the first layer of UTEE was cool and solid, and lifted the cookie cutter off (easily, as it was still on the "greased" portion :) ). Then I used alcohol inks to colour the top of the UTEE.

I used butterscotch, terracotta and red pepper inks graduated from lightest colour at the bottom to darkest at the top, but the difference in the colours doesn't show up all that well on the finished piece. Ah well, there's nothing wrong with subtle :)

Next I replaced the cookie cutter, and put in the tree embellishment, and then poured a second layer of UTEE in. When this was solid I added the bird and poured on a third and final layer of UTEE.

This makes the piece nice and 3D, as the bird sits a couple of mm in front of the tree.

Here is the finished article:



A full view of the completed necklace with gorgeous copper clasp I bought from Ebay:



And what it looks like on:



It also looks pretty funky held up to the light as you can see at the top of this post.

All in all, despite the wrestling match I had with it to get it out of the cookie cutter, the equally exhausting battle trying to remove the drinking straw from the stringing hole, and the fact it is too thick, too dark and FULL of bubbles, I think I like it :D

And that's 1 piece of jewellery down, 14 to go, yay. I can now go and update my progress bar :)

Challenging myself.....

I was pootling about with my blog today - and I added these cool javascript progress bars to my side bar.

As I calculated the percentage complete for the two circle journals I'm involved in, I realised that in a few short months they will both be finished, and I will really miss them...

I don't get involved in lots of swaps nowadays, after getting a little bored with ATCs, and taking on a big fat book swap that really got too much for me last year, but I do love my CJs, which I have been doing non stop now for nearly 4 years.

Instead of signing up for two more to kick in as soon as these two run out, however, which is what I would usually do...I've decided to fill my very limited art/craft time with stuff just for me instead.

I know I need some structure, though, and targets to hit and/or deadlines to meet, or things just won't get done.... so this is what I have come up with:

• 15 pieces of jewellery in 2008
  
• a page in my (yet to be started) art journal weekly
  
• take part in every remaining GPP Street Team crusade between now and the end of the year
  
• sign up to one low pressure swap/collaboration (ie no more than one to be running concurrently) because otherwise I wouldn't get to see other people's work close up, which I would miss very much
  

So - that's the plan, to be reviewed at the end of the year....what do you think? I know it doesn't look like much, but I don't have much free time, and I am a slooooooow worker :)

Off to set up the progress bars now for my new challenges.... exciting stuff...

You pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge...

It’s taken me a week or so to really get into it after the disappointment of Vancouver so narrowly missing out on the post-season…….but I knew it would get to me in the end.

It’s now well and truly edge-of-the-seat hockey time for me….especially with both my adopted teams – Washington in the East and the Flames in the West – pushing their better-on-paper opponents to game 7 in their respective first round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs – and the Moose just starting out in their attempt to lift the Calder.

I am a little bleary eyed this morning after staying up last night to watch the Boston/ Montreal G7 – the atmosphere at that game was electric, but I felt sorry for the Bruins, looks like their run couldn’t last. And I was simultaneously listening to the game I was much more interested in last night…. my favourite Eastern team – Ovie’s Caps – vs my least favourite team in the entire league – the Flyers – booooooo!!!!

I wish this one had been televised too. I’ve watched the highlights online and it looks like a brilliant game. My heart was sinking when we were sitting at 2-0 down midway through the 2nd… Philly only needed to defend their lead and that was the fairytale over for the Capitals. But by the end of the 2nd the score had evened up, and I reckon Katja blew Ovie a kiss in the 2nd intermission because he was on fire in the 3rd, sealing the Flyers’ fate, and sending them back to DC for G7 – COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Flames hope to finish off the Sharks tonight down in San Jose – good luck boys – win it for Connor!

I’m also keeping a little eye on the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL - they could have swept their best of 5 series against the Gwinnett Gladiators last night, but it wasn’t to be. Let’s hope they get better luck in G4.

Poor taste? Sure...... Brilliant? Absolutely! (apart from the bits about poor Markus)

I had a fab birthday :)

I can't in all honesty say it started off too well. I was sulking because I had no pressies, and my eldest son didn't even get me a card, humph.

The little'un hadn't got/made me one either - you wouldn't think it would be too much to ask of his dad (my ex) to make sure his son gave his mother a birthday card, would you? Especially since he babysat him for hours in my house which is FULL of card making stuff!!!! I always make sure that Connor makes HIM a card, and either makes or buys him a little present. Maybe I won't bother next year.

And I had seen Ian on Friday but he hadn't brought my birthday stuff down 'cos he said he thought it was the following weekend.

So I moped about a bit, and then drove up to Coventry to see my bessie Alison.

There's nothing like visiting a close friend seriously ill in hospital to get your priorities back in order, and so I quickly stopped feeling sorry for myself about lack of pressies and felt bloody grateful for my health instead.

Shortly after I got home, yeah you guessed it (you are WAY ahead of me!), I had a surprise visitor from sunny Southampton :)

Ian hadn't forgotten my birthday after all, he just wanted me to think he had so he could turn up unannounced, laden with gifts and CAKE, and decorate the house with happy birthday banners, and basically make a HUGE fuss of me :)

I thoroughly enjoyed being pampered, I could SO get used to this :)

(oh - and both the Caps and Flames won! another birthday treat for me :) :) :) Pity about the Ducks though - another year maybe Todders)

My sides hurt!

Copied word for word from SportSquee - THE funniest blog on the web bar none! (Well, if you like hockey anyway :) )

This cheered me up totally on what, so far, is not the best birthday ever, so thank you Margee :)

Fly on the Wall: HandshakeGate

Did you really think the far-reaching microphones of SportSquee would not be somehow attached to Marty Brodeur and Sean Avery for Game 5 of the Rangers-Devils series? Come on, now. You know us better than that. Here is a partial transcript of the handshake that wasn't.

(Center Ice, The Rock, Post-game, Rangers line)

Brendan Shanahan: Come on, guys, we have to shake hands. Sportsmanship!
Sean Avery: Sports-man-wuh? I recognize some of the words you're saying as English, but...
Chris Drury: Just follow your captain... Captain CLUTCH!
Jaromir Jagr: I am captain, not furry Smurf-person. Team follows Jagr. My apple cheeks will lead way to shaking of hands.
CD: We could follow you, Puff Nuts, but wouldn't the team rather follow the man who has 15 game-winning playoff goals? I mean, you probably don't have any. No one calls you Captain CLUTCH, do they?
Jagr: I have 14, furry Smurf-person. Fall in.
Drury:Whatever. I'll walk behind you, so everyone else will be following Captain CLUTCH!
Marc Staal: I hate these guys.
Avery: I'm still confused. What are we doing again? Scott, what is this?
Scott Gomez: I think we're checking their pulses to see if they're alive. Puff Nuts and the fuzzy dude seem to be going for the wrist. Hollweg, do you know what this is about?
Ryan Hollweg: (series of gorilla noises and flinging of poo)
Staal: Maybe I could get traded in the off-season.
Shanahan: Sportsmanship!

(Center Ice, The Rock, Devils Line)
Jamie Langenbrunner: Fall in. Gather 'round me. Elias and I have talked about this, we're prepared.
Patrik Elias: Everyone, hack up the biggest loogie and spit it all over your hands.
Langenbrunner: That'll learn 'em for messing with the Devils!
John Madden: That's our strategy? Loogies?
Elias: Prank of the century!
Zach Parise: I'm not going to say "good job." I'm just going to say "Egg." Egg... Egg... Egg...
Travis Zajac: That's a great idea! I'll just say "Bacon." Bacon...bacon...bacon...
Jay Pandolfo: What about sportsmanship? Sportsmanship, you guys.
Mike Rupp: Pando's right. I'm going to put my hand between my butt cheeks.
John Madden: Ah, the Swedish Hello. I like it.
Johnny Oduya: I don't appreciate that.
Brian Gionta: Marty, you probably aren't sweaty at all. You can put your hands between my butt cheeks if you want.
Marty Brodeur: I'm good. I have something up my sleeve.
Parise: You should say "Ham." Ham... ham...ham...
Zajac: Or "Bagel." Bagel... bagel... bagel...
Brodeur: No. I'm going to hold my hand out and when he goes to grab it, I'm going to pull it away and be like, SIKE! Maybe do an umpire dance. You know, "Siiiiike!"
Zajac: Dude. That is low.
Langenbrunner: I can't believe you.
Pandolfo: Where is the sportsmanship?
Brodeur: You've got the Bacon Brothers over there, Elias was going to give them his Hep spit, and you were going to give them a Swedish Hello!
Oduya: I don't appreciate that.
Parise: Yeah, but we were still going to shake their hands!
Elias: What kind of man are you?
Brodeur: Man? I am no man. I am no mere man! I am Marty fucking Brodeur!
Langenbrunner: Well, you were once.
Elias: Come on, we've got germs to spread.
Pandolfo: Come on, guys! Let's show them some sportsmanship!

(Center Ice, Both Teams)

Jagr: Good job... good job... nice work... good job...
Langenbrunner: Good series... good series... fine work...nice job...
Elias: Be sure to lick your palm after the game... be sure to lick your hand after the game...
Drury: Captain CLUTCH...Captain CLUTCH...Captain CLUTCH... Captain CLUTCH...
Pandolfo: Sportsmanship!...Sportsmanship!...
Shanahan: Sportsmanship!... Sportsmanship!...
Parise: Egg...egg...egg...
M. Staal: Good job... good job... good job...
Zajac: Bacon...bacon...bacon...
Avery: Fuck you... fuck you... I boned your sister...fuck you...
Brodeur: (to himself) Alright, Marty, this is it. You have to time a Sike! just right. Look away, like you don't care about him, hold your hand out... and...
Avery: Fuck you...
Brodeur: (to himself) Wait for it... Wait for it... Now! Do it, Marty! Do it!
Hollweg: Eat me... eat me...eat me...
Brodeur: (to himself) Crap, I missed my chance! Damn you! Damn you, poor comedic timing!
Gomez: Suck it... suck it... suck it...
Brodeur: Whatever. Bagel... Bagel... Bagel...

H is for Hockey

You know how sometimes you have a vague idea for a page, a layout, a canvas, a piece of jewellery, whatever.....and in your mind it really works....

And when you actually MAKE it, it looks crap :)

I have had SO many of those.

I am deleriously happy to report that for once, this one has gone the other way. It has turned out even better than I imagined it, and I am a chuffed chipmunk :)

This is the (let me count on my fingers, A...B...C...D...E...F...G...H...) 8th entry in my A-Z journal, a new entry every fortnight, where I choose a word for each letter of the alphabet that sums me up. Something for me to look back on in years to come and remember all the things that defined me in 2008. I've never really been one for the whole "book of me" thing (too shy), but this concept I can work with.

Anyway - H - had to be hockey, really, didn't it :)

The background of this page was made from bits of pages from Powerplay magazine - which is kind of the UK equivalent of the Hockey News. I made sure you could see SWINDON WILDCATS clearly up in the top left hand corner ;)

The torn snippets were glued onto the page with soft gel medium. Once the medium was dry I made a red stripe across the background by putting parallel strips of masking tape across the page and applying red chalk ink direct-to-paper between the tapes.

Then I used an old credit card to spread a thin layer of gesso over the top of the papers and red stripe (the centre line), and once that was dry I sprayed the whole page with a suspension of pearl and interference blue perfect pearls in water. That gave the page the look and feel of a game-ready ice surface. To finish the effect off I added some skate scratches into the "ice", by swiping the edge of the old credit card into pale blue metallic lumiere paint, and stonewashed dye ink, and then dragging the card along the surface of the page at varying angles.

The overlying silhouette of the hockey player was made with the stencil I cut earlier (see previous blog post). I blended purple, blue and black distress inks through the stencil, with cut and dry foam. I love the way the skate scratches show through the silhouette.

And as for the general sentiment of the page? This game means SO much to me. It gives me every emotion from euphoria through to utter despondency and despair. I HATE the off season. Roll on September!!!!

Tons of fun with my first stencil

I have been playing along with Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team crusades off and on (recently more off than on :( ) since they started, and I do so wish I had the time to join in every month.

Last month the challenge was to carve your own rubber stamps, and I really wanted to have a go at that one, but Canada kind of got in the way.

So I was determined not to miss out on this month's challenge - which is to design and cut (and of course use!) a stencil.

My arty time is pretty limited, so I needed to tie this in with something else that needed doing - and the H page of my A-Z journal is due........ so an H for Hockey stencil had to be the answer :)

I traced the outline of a hockey player onto acetate (I just used a standard inkjet transparency as I didn't have any proper stencilly stuff), and cut him out with a craft knife.

I was careful to cut him out all in one go so I would also have a mask to use.

I haven't finished my actual journal page yet, but here are a few experiments with both the stencil and the mask:

First attempt with stencil - sprayed with Ranger colorwash. Ooops!!!! That didn't go quite to plan lol



I quite like the impression left on the paper towel I used to clean it up though :)



While the stencil was drying I had a go with the mask...

Stippled with pigment ink (I like this effect):



Black card, with white pigment ink spread outwards around the mask with a make up sponge (and this one :) ):


And then afterwards I had another go with the stencil - this time using distress inks applied with cut and dry foam (rather haphazardly):



I like that last one the best of all, and might use something similar on my journal page.

Thanks, Michelle, for giving me the opportunity and incentive to try something new. I will DEFINITELY be making more of these!

Friday Fiver - 18th April

1. What is heaven?

Everyone happy and healthy, and the Stanley Cup in Vancouver

2. What is older than you?

The man in my life :) Makes a nice change - trust me, toyboys are nothing but trouble!

3. Where do you belong?

I think I've settled in Swindon pretty well now - more than I ever felt settled anywhere else - so I'll say right here

4. Who is no longer a stranger to you?

Ummm....everyone I know now who I didn't used to???

5. Friday fill-in:
I hear ____. voices.

Boing boing boing

The kids (Darby, his girlie Beth, and Cons) had fun today on the trampoline, and I attempted to get some half decent photos of them, but ended up with about 30 shots of feet or hair :) And most of the others came out really dark. My own fault, should have shot them in RAW.

These were the salvageable ones:






This was Darby's attempt to stop the paparazzi :D



Didn't work though, I still caught them having a smooch, awwwwwww

It is what it is

I guess Bert would have failed it too :)

Looks like the Ninja cats got him in the end

Dave Nonis just got fired ...

I know Alison and Malc will be glad to see the back of him. Personally I don’t understand this whole testosterone-driven “we didn’t make the playoffs, someone must DIE” mentality that is so prevalent in sports.

A human sacrifice to appease the baying mob.

I hope it doesn't stuff up the Fabian Brunnstrom deal.

Ah well, it’ll make for an interesting off season – that’s for sure.

Press conference coming up soon…… lots of people expecting news of a new job for Trevor Linden the other side of the bench ….. let’s see …….


**Edited later. Summary of press conference: cliche cliche waffle waffle we have no plan cliche waffle. Oh dear oh dear**

Pest control

Those of you who know me well, are more than familiar with my fondness for hockey pests, of the yappy variety.

I am the only Canucks fan I know who LIKED Matt Cooke – so he yapped and wouldn’t fight? That was the point, he was a wind up :) I’m glad to see he has found a happy new home with the Caps.



And there is the wonderful Jarkko Ruutu, one of only three Finns Alison and I were prepared to give advance warning to before our annihilation of Finland, so that they could get their families out (long story)



Darcy Tucker? Love him to bits!

And of course, I have been utterly delighted to see Ryan Kesler develop during this season into a wunder-pest, I always knew the kid was annoying but he has got it down to an art form this year! Kes and Burr together are a genius double act out there :)

Sean Avery, however, I’ve never been that fond of. He seems to cross the line from irritating, to being a genuinely unpleasant person. I still want to know what it was that he said to Jason Blake in the warm up skate that time in Toronto that got a brawl going before the game had even started!

But you have to hand it to the guy for finding, and exploiting, a loophole in the rules last night in game 3 of the NJ/NYR playoff series. Just look at the way he is baiting Brodeur LOL And he couldn’t even be penalised for it as, according to the rule books, he was doing nothing wrong!

Anything (legal) goes in the playoffs – you do what you have to do to win – and at the same time, amuse the hell out of the hockey-watching world (except perhaps Devils fans).

He has gone up a little teeny tiny notch in my estimation now – for pure comedy value :)

(by this morning, though, the rules had been changed – if he does the same again he’s looking at a 10 minute misconduct – fair enough – it wouldn’t be anywhere near as funny the second time)

Check me out, I'm a scrapbooker!!! :)

I haven't scrapbooked for years (since 2005) - although I still hang around UKScrappers like a lost dog, and go to crops once in a while.

But Anam's current challenge over at Inked Scrapbookers gave me the urge to rifle through my patterned paper and have a play. I just couldn't resist it, because the theme is "my next tattoo", and I thought it would be lots of fun to use the photoshop mockup of my backpiece-to-be.

I wanted to do a 12 x 12, just to prove to myself I still can.... but I couldn't find a dinner plate big enough to make my Countdown clock :) So this is 8 x 8.

That made the choice of paper easy as my 8 x 8 Rock Star stack was still out from the cardmaking frenzy last night.

The layout itself is pretty simple, and came together quickly. The clock was hand drawn (using that dinner plate :)) and cut from some DCWV metallic cardstock.

The centre of the clock is a bazzill chip painted copper and stamped with a Haida orca stamp (to tie in with the tattoo)

The title is Lil' Davis chipboard letters that I have been stroking since about 2004 and figured it was time they got USED (it hurt to open that pristine packet though!!)

And the journalling is good old Dymo

I really enjoyed this....maybe I'll do some more ....although don't hold your breath :)

Lots of birthdays this month

Including mine :) and Hitler's (same day, in fact, not sure what that says about me lol)

The most imminent birthdays are Darby's girlfriend Beth, and Ian's daughter Reb

Both are alternative/punky/totally cool and fab girls, so I had fun making their cards in a style I hope they'll like.

Beth's card started off as a plain black card blank. I sponged red and violet interference paint over a Heidi Swapp mask. The skull and crossbones and crown are grungeboard - painted and glittered. The message on the bottom is Dymo'd.

Rebecca's card is a blatant plagiarisation (if I can plagiarise myself) of the Cricut Design Studio card I made for Ethan earlier in the week. I just changed the 18 to a 16, and instead of using patterned paper on the front of the card, I put it behind the design instead. I drew a thin outline freehand in gold around the wording to help it stand out.

The pink foiled patterned paper is from the DCWV Rock Star stack.

Happy birthdays girls :)

---

On an entirely different subject...I had a clear out yesterday, and found these wooden letters.



I am trying to figure out what possessed me to buy these specific letters.... what was I trying to spell??? Any ideas? :)

Friday Fiver - 11th April

1. When were you born?

1967 - flower power time :) Pity I was too young to join in with all the drugs and free love, huh?

2. What's your favorite photograph?

It's impossible to choose - I have loads of favourite photos of my children, people who are important to me, places I love ... This photo of my brother and sister, taken in the mid 60s, before I was born, has to be right up there though. Check out those tiger striped trunks!

3. What's the longest distance you've run?

LOL, about 100 metres maybe?? :) I can't run to save my life, I look ridiculous when I try.

4. What is familiar?

Home

5. What do you count on?

My family, my internet connection, Tescos :)

Just call me mistress

Webmistress, that is :)

Just the other day I typed these words on this 'ere blog:

I am pretty sure that this blog, in amongst all my personal stuff, has the single biggest collection of Ryan Kesler related photos and the like on the whole internet - which is kind of scary - so I'm kind of doing a public service :)

I was pondering this morning the fact that, as Kes gets more popular (and mark my words, he will), more people might end up poking about my blog looking for photos of him / old newspaper articles etc etc, all of which I have on here.

Not only is it a little unfair to expect those people to have to trawl through my diary entries on geocaching, and photos of Connor in cute hats, in order to get to the Kesler material.

But also it's really not organised very well on here.

Photos for example would be better off in galleries, press articles in a dedicated archive, etc etc etc

So.... on impulse pretty much .... I am now the proud owner of the ryan-kesler.com domain name :)

How cool is that???

(and I got ryan-kesler.co.uk for free, which I doubt will get much traffic, given only about 3 people in the UK probably know who he is - and they are all related to me :))

There is nothing there yet, and given my severe lack of free time, it will take me a while to get everything I already have up onto the site.

But by the time the next season is underway, young Mr K will have his very own 100% unofficial website :)

(maybe I could model it on Alex Steen's ROFL)

PS anyone want a yourname@ryan-kesler.com email address???? :) Free if you want one :)


*edited at 10pm to say - ooooh, it's just gone live!!*

I am officially an ancient and wizened old crone

(the pic above is worth clicking on to see full size - he was - and still is - but then, I'm biased - a cutie - and yes, that's Wolf from Gladiators :))

My SON is an ADULT!!!!

eeek

I'm not going to do the whole "it seems like only yesterday he was born" thing.....because actually it seems a lifetime ago.

And I'm glad to put some distance between then and now.

But still - 18!



I know it's not about me......... but I'm so oooooolllllddddddddddddd !!!!

Welcome to the world of grown up responsibility, Ethan, it's all downhill from here mate :)

Music makes the world go around...

... or is that money?

Well, anyway, music is good, we all like music :)

The night before last I went to see this lot ^ ... Good Charlotte .... they were better than I thought they would be based on the 3 or 4 songs I have heard played to death on the radio.

Good musicians, nice on stage rapport and connection with the audience. They put on a really good show.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself until the last song when I had a sudden "oh GOD I feel old" moment - which is rare for me. But I think that's more to do with the other big event this week (see next post) , than the fact the gig was full of tweens.

About half way through the set most of the band wandered off and left Benji - guitarist, and brother of lead singer Joel - to do a mini solo acoustic set. This was the highlight of the night for me. He sang a song called Emotionless which had me sniffling. Obviously a very important song for him, and very sad.

Sniffle sniffle.


On a happier note - and while we are on the subject of music - I just got our tickets for Bestival this year. YAY!!!!

check out this for a line up:

My Bloody Valentine
Amy Winehouse
Underworld
Aphex Twin
Hot Chip
The Breeders
CSS
George Clinton & Funkadelic / Parliament
Gary Numan
The Human League
Pendulum (live)
Jamie Lidell
808 State (live)
The Sugarhill Gang (UK Festival Exclusive)
Laurent Garnier (3hr Set)
Foals
Paul Heaton
Carl Craig
Rob da Bank
Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Roni Size / Reprazent
DJ Yoda
Stereo MCs
Baaba Maal
Jeffrey Lewis
Santogold
The Wedding Present
Layo and Bushwacka!
Will Young
Zane Lowe
Metronomy
Annie Mac
The Cuban Brothers
Black Kids
The Count & Sinden
Roni Size
DJ Yoda Vs Shlomo (live AV show)
Sebastien Tellier
Transglobal Underground
Does It Offend You Yeah?
Chromeo
Chas & Dave
King Creosote
Kitty Daisy & Lewis
Digital Mystikz with Sgt Pokes
dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip
The Coral (Acoustic Set)
Mark Moore
Late Of The Pier
Grand National
Laura Marling
Lethal Bizzle
Ebony Bones
Ladyhawke
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
Sportsday Megaphone
DJ Derek
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
DJ Hype
Jon Hopkins
Christopher D Ashley
Gideon Conn
Imperial Leisure
The Black Ghosts DJs
Dub Pistols
Freestylers
TC
Bailey
George Pringle
Sub Focus
Chase and Status
The Hat
Kid Carpet
Loefah
Kode 9 & Space Ape
Yuksek
Ida Maria
The Duke Spirit
Little Dragon
The Teenagers
Crystal Castles
Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man
These New Puritans
Tawiah
Red Snapper
Let's Wrestle
Subway
Annie Nightingale
Zombie Zombie
Subgiant
Coldcut (AV Set)
Justin Robertson
Cage The Elephant
Alexa Chung
Vessels
The Ghost
Peter von Poehl
St Vincent
Fuck Buttons
Drew
Micah P Hinson
FM Belfast
Bastila
Sombrero Sound System
The Restaurant
Slam
Hadouken
Vicarious Bliss
Lucky Elephant
Cut A Shine
The Nextmen
Joey Negro
Stanton Warriors
Jamie Jones
Todd Terje
Maurice Fulton
Idjut Boys
Shitmat
Jalapeno Sound System
Ricky Redhead
Cagedbaby
Brendan Long
Russ Cuban
Tayo
Firas
Ali B
Fear of Theydon
Akron Family
Baker Boys
Blank Beats
Burning Leaves
thecocknbullkid
Soul Of Man (10 Years of Finger Lickin)
Cooly Haste
Chrome Hoof
Cazals
Dollskabeat
Django Spears
Eugene McGuinness
Fatal
Flipron
Freefall Collective
Fresh Legs
Golden Silvers
Goodbye Stereo
Hey Negrita
Hugo Frusslinky
It Hugs Back
Jacob Golden
JC & Angelina
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I need to do a Kespress catch up soon

I have a ton of photos and press to share, and I will get around to blogging them very soon (as I am pretty sure that this blog, in amongst all my personal stuff, has the single biggest collection of Ryan Kesler related photos and the like on the whole internet - which is kind of scary - so I'm kind of doing a public service :) ), but this one can't wait:



When Ryan's Dad talks about how painful it was to hear everyone question his skill when he was first finding his feet with the Canucks, that choked me up.

Although to be fair, I'm crying at almost anything to do with hockey right now, it's an emotional part of the season, and I am a wreck :)

Check out diddy Kes, he was born cute, this one :)

Yes I know, I know....

my header's gone (permanently actually, but there will be a new one there soon)

and a lot of my widgets have disappeared

etc etc etc

Bear with me for a few days - hopefully by the time I'm done the blog will be a lot easier to navigate - and easier on the eye too

my Wildcats make me proud

More hockey talk :)

Don't worry, it will be the OFFSEASON soon (how am I going to cope????? thank goodness the rec teams play in the summer!!)

Anyway - I wasn't able to attend the last Wildcats game of the post-season yesterday, as I went up the country to see my bestest poorly pal in hospital..... but live updates courtesy of Tracey made me feel like I was there - thanks Tracey!

Some may say this game was meaningless for both teams involved, as Slough were already through to the cup weekend, and the 'cats were already out.

But Swindon certainly didn't play it like it was meaningless!

From the Adver:

The Wildcats finished their season on a high, winning a dramatic penalty shoot-out with netminder Nathan Craze the star of the show last night.

Craze became the match-winner saving all three of Slough's penalty shots.

First he stopped Steve Moria's effort after which Cats John Wheaton missed. Then Craze saved from Blaz Emersic with Cats' Joel Petkoff scoring his. Craze then clinched victory by stopping Paddy Ward's shot.

Cats had taken the lead two minutes into the first period after good work from John Wheaton and Robin Davison set up Tomas Janak before Emersic levelled matters at 13.39 and ex-Wildcat Steve Moria beat four players before feeding Jan Krajicek to score Jets' second goal 90 seconds later.

Wildcats drew level 46 seconds after the restart of the second period when Petkoff and Davison combined well to set up Leigh Richardson for a shot, cleared to Lee Brathwaite at the point on the left. And just when the chance looked to have gone, Brathwaite fired over Tom Annett's left shoulder to bring Cats level at 2-2.

With no further goals, Craze's shoot-out heroics saw the Cats finish their campaign in style.

At the end of the game, they didn't go for the joyful pile-up we saw after the Milton Keynes win last week, complete with Pete Russell's "COME OOOOONNNNNNN" :) :



Instead they were up into the stands for a bouncy with the fans who had travelled to watch them down in Sluff - great stuff!

This team has got better and better all year - they are really gelling now - and we got a very respectable post season performance from them. It's a pity they won't be at the Skydome this weekend - it was so close, and I genuinely believe we'll get there next year.

THANK YOU Cats for a season of great entertainment, some great hockey, some not so great hockey, a few more grey hairs on my head from stress, and a few more laughter lines on my face from grinning like a loon, especially when Tomas scores :) :) :)

Wake me up when the new season starts.....

Bye bye Captain Canuck - sob wail weep

This video tribute made me cry so much last night that one of my kids legged it down the stairs to ask what the matter was (and took the mickey out of me mercilessly when I explained):



And I've only had this team in my heart a short time....how must the people feel who have been around since Linden first came to Vancouver way way back in 1988? ...who saw him made captain two years later - at 20 years old the youngest captain in league history? ...or who have followed his career since, his amazing contributions to our attempts at the cup, his tremendous leadership, his dedication to the local community?

If it's breaking my heart to see him skate off into the sunset, then they must feel like they have lost a member of their family.

Phew...the whispering worked...

From being firmly sat at the bottom of the Eastern Conference barrel before Christmas, to clinching the 3rd of 8 available playoff spots and winning their division.

That's what I call being on a roll!!!

GO OVIE!!!!! and Cookie :)

and all the other guys too :D

I am firmly on the Washington bandwagon for the duration of the playoffs.

(as for the Canucks final game of the season....it was a pretty convincing 7-1 loss to the Flames. The score looks ugly, but they spent most of the game trying to help Trevor Linden score - and that kind of got in the way of winning, I think...)