And....breathe.

To my lovely followers/readers/buttons and beans, thank-you for sticking with me even though I've not been posting much lately! We've e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y regrouped after a very, very long winter of nasty surprises and black beasties lurking around corners. I'm almost to afraid to say it but...it seems we are finally settled, (for a little while anyway). I've unboxed all my favourite little bits and bobs. My sewing table and sewing machine, along with all my fabric, lace, ribbon and buttons are finally out of their storage unit where they've been trapped for months. I've even found the time to start making some more dollies for the shop, watch this space for all the updates on that!

For those of you wondering what happened in France, well, that is a long, long story that I can't really shorten! We viewed many, many houses. Some with their roofs on the floor, some with trees growing inside, some that had been on fire at some point and one in particular had its back garden looking over a nudist commune. We didn't find 'the one', and I'm not sure with our meagre budget we will, but we haven't given up so are still looking. Who knows, maybe one of my books will hit the New York Times best seller list and we can buy a chateau. Perhaps I should incorporate some mild S&M into my next book about fairies, that seems to be shifting books at the moment! Speaking of work - I've just finished the illustrations for the Princess and the Pea. It will be published by Ladybird later this year, and I was so pleased with how the art turned out. Here's a detail of the front cover. The Candy Fairies are still going strong, in fact they are going from strength to strength! Bubble Gum Rescue is published on the 10th July and you can order your copy here.

My studio is a complete tip, but the important part of that sentence was 'my studio'. I have one. Here it is right now...

I used to have my beloved pink shed at the bottom of my garden, but some rather inconsiderate people meant I couldn't use it as I wished. I now have an a-c-t-u-a-l room in my house that is dedicated to writing and painting. To say I'm thrilled...well! I'll share photos of it again when I've had the time to nest in it. So, now hopefully, I can get back to 'normal', whatever that might be. Of course a blog post from me wouldn't be complete without a photo of a certain little lady...a certain adorable, clever, witty and funny little lady -

We're doing summer and iced lollies even if the great British summer isn't...so ner! Erica xxx