Opus Gluei Challenge #117. What's on your head? Spanky does Clover.

Helloooooo this fortnight's challenge over at Opus Gluei is mine, all mine mwha-ha-ha.
Or rather Spanky's.
Where have you been girl ???
Your adoring fans have missed you.
So tell us then, what's on your head?

It can be any kind of project you like as long as it's got someone or an animal with something on it's head, or even a shelf or a display of hats, something along those lines.
You might fancy going the traditional route and use a hat of some kind, a head dress, a crown, or exotic feathers on a glamorous lady.
You might feel inclined to go a bit wackier and put a fried egg on a dog's head, or a Santa's hat on a chicken, your imagination is your only limitation, anything goes.
Marie Antoinette had a galleon sailing in her wig once I believe.
If you feel like writing a little story to go with your creation I would love that too.
Just a few lines of nonsense, I am easily pleased  (no don't listen to Himself laughing at that, he knows nothing).

Spanky has a bit of a passion for making headresses.

So this is Stampotique's Clover ready for an evening out.
She is planning on dazzling her beau, her hope is that the candle light glinting off her head dress will hypnotise him and make him amenable to her every wish and whim.
Now if you click on her to make her bigger and look at her dear little face, you will see a lady who is prepared to suffer for her ART and her cutting edge fashionability.
Bless her.
Where would we be without style icons like Spanky eh?

C'mon get yer thinking cap on!

Happy creating
Gini
xx

Alter It monthly: April - spring into Easter. Spanky does The National Portrait Gallery

Over at Alter It Monthly we can either use cogs and sprockets (I have no idea what these are) for a Steampunk make or use spring colours.
So I went for the spring colours - yay sunshiny!

The curators of the National Portrait Gallery thought the decor was looking a bit tired so they asked Spanky if she could perk it up a bit.
I was able to get some photo's of the most famous faces there after Spanky's devine facelift.
Click on any image to make it bigger.

 

This started out as one half of a chocolate box.

I'll leave you with a lovely lovely thought.
Can you imagine what Spanky could do with our green and pleasant land if she was given free artistic reign for a little bit of shiny revamping of all our National Treasures?
(Actually I think Spanky is a national treasure.)
It's a wonder that she wasn't asked to dress the bride for Friday (Kate and William).

Happy creating!
Gini
xx

Spanky does Welcome and Float On Stampotique!

The Stampotique Designer Challenge is to make a welcome card for the new Stampotique Designers.

So we're wishing all the new Stampotique designers a warm welcome.
You can find them here.

If you are unfamiliar with Spanky, she is a time traveling stylist, she is bold, daring, windswept and dangerous and she knows everything about Romance, she lives here in The Land of Shiny with me, I'm her sidekick and gofer.
Well, I'm just her pale shadow really.

Firstly I must apologise to Alberto who is the only male stampotique designer, unfortunately we are catering for the majority in this post and that is the Wimen.
Fortunately for you, this is The Land of Shiny and regardless of what job title you may hold now or in the future, we shall never expect you to pour the coffee or distribute the biscuits...unless it is actually your turn :-)

Now then.
Come in and welcome.
Come in and share a little LOVE with the Torrente Boys.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes they like to pretend they are The Floaters.
Oh yes they do.

Aquarius and my name is Heart Throb,
I love a woman who can hold her own,
a woman who can grab hold of my ears and hold on tight.
Take my hand, come with me baby, to Love Land.

Libra and my name is Hunk,
Now I like a woman who carries herself like Miss Universe,
a woman who can balance a crown on her enormous head,
a woman who will take me to Love Land.

Leo and my name is Weasel,
I love all the women of the world,
I paint a new name on my sign every night,
because I love everybody and everything,
and you know what, ladies, if you feel this is you,
Then this is what you do -
Take my hand,
come with me baby, to Love Land.
Float, float on.

Spanky says welcome and float on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvAmTkJmT5c

Come on you know you want to watch the video, I still can't believe that song was taken seriously or that it was even written and performed, I can imagine it was written whilst they were very very drunk but it didn't get laughed at and thrown in the bin the next day did it, we are soooo doomed.
Private Frazer was right.

I am practicing that shaking finger step in the mirror.
I think Himself might like it.

Happy creating!
Gini
xx

Opus Gluei Challenge #62 Far Out. Spanky does outer space.

If you have been wondering where Spanky has been and why you haven't being seeing many of her projects lately it's because she's been to outer space.
Well no, I didn't realise she could go there either.
 I had just assumed she'd gone time travelling again but now I can understand why she's been gone so long.
Click on her to make her bigger.

As soon as I saw this challenge I knew I wanted to make this picture.
Why?
Well I have been listening to Imogen Heap's album Ellipse and one of the lines from the song Earth is
"swanning about the solar winds" and I thought Spanky would do that, the little daredevil.

I bought a small pack of handmade paper because this background paper was the sheet showing and I thought it would be great for a sea scene not realising it would also make an outer space scene, the swirls could be the Milky Way and solar wind ripples couldn't they?
I just added some stars in gold stickles and gold liquid pearls to make it solar. Put a biggish blob on the paper and use a cocktail stick to pull the points of the star out. Easy peasy.

The surfboard idea is from the film "Dark Star". It was made in 1974 and directed by John Carpenter.
I watched it at a very impressionable age (early teens) and thought it was great, it was also one of my uncles favourite films so I watched it more than once. It's an offbeat Sci fi film. A full description of the plot is here.
Do you remember it by any chance?
At the end of the film the astronauts realise that they can't get the bomb on board to stop it's countdown to detonate itself and they all die. But as I remember it some of them get to choose how they die (I may be remembering it wrong about them being able to choose though). 
One of them drifts off caught on the Phoenix Asteroids to die and circle the universe eternally and one of the others surfs down (he loved surfing) to an unstable planet on a piece of debris to burn up in the atmosphere.
I remember realising at the time that it doesn't matter how many people you surround yourself with in life, death is a journey you have to make on your own.
But it doesn't all have to be doom and gloom you can turn the telescope around on every situation and view it differently, and you can always rewrite the ending so it's a happily ever after ending if you need to.
(Whatever it takes to get you through life is really OK you know, regardless of  however silly or strange it may appear to others.)
Spanky proves it by Surfing the Solar Winds and coming back to tell us about it.

Happy creating!
Gini
xx

Dress Up 2010 July. Here comes the bride all Spankified.

The deliciously delightful Margaret is hosting the Dress Up 2010 here.

Here comes the bride all Spankified.

Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

Ever since Evangeline set eyes on Hauwt Hottie Guy here, Spanky has been preparing her wedding dress.
Nothing like a bit of forward planning.
Just in case you can't remember what Hauwt Hottie Guy looks like, here's a reminder.

First rule of being a girl scout is never pass up the chance to ogle a Stud Muffin.
I was and still am a very diligent student of this rule.
Steadfastness is a virtue.



Spanky has let me tell you how she made this one.
 
Firstly using this template cut a dress out of white felt.

Now about the sewing thread I use.
If you've never heard of this thread before you are either going to love me or hate me for telling you about it, because once you've seen the finish it gives you there will be no going back; a bit like flirting with the dark side :-)

It's quilter's invisible nylon thread and it's designed for use in sewing machines to do the stitching that holds the three layers of quilt together; the backing, the padding and the quilted front panel.
You can also use it for overlocking, appliqué, bobbin work etc.
I would imagine it will make a fabulous job of invisibly machine sewing that pleated paper/ribbon technique that is so popular on cards at the moment.


The total brilliance of this thread is that it is invisible so if you hand sew ribbons, beads etc onto a fabric you cannot see any of the holding stitches at all.  Also it doesn't matter how untidy your stitches are because you can't see them.
Now for someone like me who has always hand sewn with more exuberance than skill, it is simply a modern day miracle.

For hand sewing the down side of it is also it's strength; the invisibility, which means threading your needle is a pain even using a needle threader and as it is nylon it is harder to fasten on the back to start with.
Also, it is very difficult to use in artificial light and even in daylight I use the position of my thumb on my non sewing hand to let me know where the next stitch needs to go.
Top Tip: If you are feeling friendly you could always use someone else's thumb.
BUT you can't get a better finish and personally speaking that makes it totally worth it.

This is what the thread looks like.

I use the .004 thread size as it will sew through even the tiniest of seed beads.
I use a tiny 3.1cm sewing needle. (I must be doolally.)


Back to the dress.

1. Start with the ribbons. This is what we are aiming for.

Using 1cm wide pale pink ribbon.

Do the side ribbons first starting at the waistband.
Use running stitch.
Sew across the top of the ribbon at one side of the waist band.
Fold a pleat and then sew across the top of the pleat. Repeat until you get to the bottom of the skirt.
Use a ruler to measure the spaces and the pleat length if it helps you, I did.
Fold the ribbon around the back of the bottom of the skirt and sew it down and cut off the rest of the ribbon.

                                                                       The front

                                                                      

                                                                      The back

Do the other side ribbon next.

Then do the centre ribbon. Do the centre ribbon last because it is shorter than the side ribbons and you need to judge by eye where the folds need to go, measuring isn't going to help on this one and I don't know about your relationship with God and whether he will help you or not.
Need a stiff drink yet? Don't worry, you soon will.

2. Sew the white lace across the bottom hem inbetween the bottom pale pink pleats.

3. Next sew the two 4mm wide cherry purple ribbons inbetween the pale pink ribbons.
Sew using running stitch from the waistband downwards to the bottom of the skirt.

4. Then using running stitch sew the 1.5cm wide eyelet lace over the top of the cherry purple ribbon.
Sew down one side of the lace and up the other side so it is properly attached and you need not fear that a rogue elephant can rip it off the dress.Very important that. Remember safety first.

5. For the waistband, sew pink heart shiny embellishments one by one across the top of the skirt ribbons. See second picture below.
Then sew a white pearl shiny embellishment on top of each of the pink hearts and sew a tiny pink seed bead into the middle of each white pearl.

6. Sew white pearls around the neckline again including a little pink seed bead in the middle of the button.
Sew some more across the bottom of the skirt. See finished dress picture at the top of this post.
You will probably need a lot of alcohol by now, so finish the rest of it later.

7. You back then? Got a hangover? Well tough, lets finish this sucker.
Pick up the invisible thread again, go on you know you want to.
Just think of the immaculate finish you get or just think of the Queen and England instead.
You owe it to your country, you know you do.

In fact it's a bit like sewing the Emperor's new clothes and we all know what happened to him don't we?

Nehked in the streets.

8. Finish by sewing pearl torpedo/Guinea Pig Pooh shaped beads and pink seed beads to the edge of the sleeves.
Now I had had quite enough by then but you could go on and sew teeny tiny white pearl seed beads down the skirt ribbons if you feel like it or you might like to go and find more drink.
Tricky choice for you to make there.


I will leave the photo's of the dresses altogether until next month as I need to buy a bit of dowel (sp? rhymes with towel) to hang them on and this post is already very long.

The thought of going shopping makes me shudder with horror and not shiver with delight unfortunately.
I know; how weird for a girl.

Happy creating!
Gini xx

Dress Up 2010. Spanky does feeling gay in the month of May.

Evangaline asked Spanky for something fresh, bright and cheerful, something she could wear anywhere.

Now I can't see Evangeline doing her weekly shop in Asda in this outfit, she'll never even make it through the fruit and veg section with all those precious jewels on display like that.

Click on it to make it bigger.


In case you want to join in or have a gawk at everybody else's dresses you can find May's dresses here and it's Mr Linky which makes it so much easier.

Hope you are all having a fabulous week.

I can feel a posting frenzy coming on which has got to be better that a rabid dog frenzy coming on.

Happy creating!
Gini
xx

Dress Up 2010 March Spanky does Mardi Gras

Hello Peeps.

The pattern Spanky used was just the basque from this template.
Everything else gets revealed then hidden again as one walks.

Now I did offer to sew some sequins onto some granny knickers for Evangeline to cover her modesty but the pair of them just laughed at me. Just LAUGHED at me.
Evangeline said she would be going commando unless it was really cold and then she would wear a thong for warmth.

I felt obliged to tell her not to come running to me if she catches a cold, but in retrospect I hope that is all she catches. Young people today, I don't know ;-)

Click on the pictures to make them bigger, although that will not make the outfit less skimpy I'm afraid.





At least wearing her mask no one will recognise her by her face.




Just a minute; what have we here, hiding amongst the gowns in progress?

A hottie guy who is obviously lurking about hoping for a sneak peak at Evangeline in her Mardi Gras outfit.



Hmmm looks pretty hauwt, lets have a closer look.



Maybe there IS something to be said for not wearing Granny Knickers after all.

Margaret's Dress Up challenge sure draws in the Stud Muffins as well as the Feed Dogs. (Mwaha)
Did I mention how clever Margaret is?

Happy Creating
Gini
xx

Spanky in a Slanket

Seeing as Sherry and Electra and Karen are asking where is Spanky? Because she isn't in my workspace photo, I thought I'd let you know what she's been up to this week. (Karen has given me the most brilliant idea though, she suggested the Spanky could be clipped up on the thingamagig!!!)

Spanky's stayed in the 21st century this week, middle earth was quite tiring last week.
Anyway we were both stunned and amazed to find the SLANKET on our OWOH excursion.
Now to me the slanket is in the same league as the foot slipper.
Anything that has to be put on like a hospital gown has me running for the hills, but I can see the appeal that it must have to some folk.

We found this site theslanket.com
Now whoever wrote the editorial for this site was obviously enjoying themselves immensely and I can only applaud them for that but with humour sometimes the line between funny and squirmingly embarrassing is very small. I think they have their tongues in their cheeks though...

This one is called "Walk the Slank" WTF?? Well, you'll have to read the editorial on it to find out just what they mean. It's a popular one though 'cos it's currently sold out.




Now you and I both know revenge is sweet.
Spanky was far more popular than me on the OWOH and if I was completely doolally I would be sulking about that. Which of course I'm not.
But I remember the Pony pulling gag she made about my OWOH outfit so without further ado let me present to you

Spanky in a Vintage '70's Slanket

You can click on her to get a better look at the carnage :-)




Now I have tried to reflect the clashing patterns and colours of the '70's without making you vomit just a little bit in your mouth.
Did I manage it?

I am not worried about Spanky's reputation and her standing as an ICON of style, she is so very hugely Iconic that I don't think anything could put a dent in her reputation; she is revered in too many countries and beloved by so many millions that she is completely untouchable.
Oh - I think I might have dozed off for a minute there.

So that's where she's been; modelling Slankets with the best of 'em.

Gini
xx

Dress Up 2010 - Spanky does January.

If you want to join in with Margaret's Dress Up 2010 challenges or view the other dresses created for January click here.
Margaret has used Mr Linky and it makes it all SO easy to see everyone's dresses.
Today Margaret is my hero :-)

Now then.
Spanky is a big Lord of the Rings Fan.


She has a bit of a Gimli thing going on.




Now I have told her "Sweetheart, he's gonna dwarf you" but she likes 'em big.





The attraction is in the ginger I think; like calling to like.

These outfits me and her are creating for this year are all for Evangeline.
You can find out about her here.
Her wardrobe is a work in progress because I haven't eaten all the goodies yet from my box of Hotel chocolates, only the best for our Margaret.

After Evangeline's transformation she became windswept and dangerous enough for any outfit anybody cares to make for her anywhere, anyhow, anywhichway.
Not many women can make such a bold claim and stand by it, but Evangeline can.

This month Evangeline is going to be an Ice Queen.

She is the ice to quench Sauron's fire.

Spanky presents

The Shiny Eye of Sauron




I'm amazed Peter Jackson didn't think of it for the film, especially with them having such brilliant costumes....


Remember: All fears can be made Shiny.

Gini
xx

Last Bad Hair Day ATC for The Artist Trading Club Swap Sept 2009

I was wondering if it was possible to make "shiny grunge" that didn't look like a dogs dinner.

I have no idea who the man in this image portrays but it came from The bumper book of papers from the Crafter's Paper Library, which disappointingly is printed on semi gloss paper which is not what I would've knowingly purchased. Still...

The resemblance of this chap to Billy Connolly is startling don't you think?
Either he is a great great relative of Billy's or he could be The Billy Connolly caught in the Victorian Era and he got there by hitching a ride with Spanky.

I'm not sure if I have managed to achieve a visually pleasing shiny grunge punk mohawk.
I like it, but that might be because I like Billy Connolly :-)

As you know I struggle to photograph shiny well, so the real look of the thing is somewhere in the middle of these two photos.
Click on them to make them bigger.




Happy Crafting everyone!
Gini

Spanky does Zetti Julia

So Spanky wanted to try her hand at Zetti, and I have to say I like Julia better this way, she's a sparkly shimmery hottie now, even if I do say so myself.

Do you think Spanky is the only stylist to use splendid gold rollers when setting hair?
I would image Posh Spice will require them when she reaches a certain age but right now, Julia is one spoilt unique lady.
Most of the time I wouldn't have the brass nerve to go out in public in rollers, but when the wind is in my fur, well anything is possible. :-)

Click on Julia to make her bigger. I don't think I would use this phrase if Julia was Julian.




How Spanky made her

Once again out came some DCWV Pocket full of Posies card for the background and all the extra bits. I cut out some patterned blue circles from another sheet of the same pack of card. I used Sakura stardust clear pen to add lots of sparkle to things. I also used a mini butterfly punch to punch out the mauve butterflies of yet another sheet.
I edged as much as I could with a white gelly pen to tie everything in together. I used DecoArt Rich Expresso metallic acrylic to paint her hair and then painted Splendid Gold (what a brilliant name) curls.
Her crown is a green size Woodware punch and edged in white gelly pen.
I drew her dress on watercolour card. Cut it out. Painted it acrylic Viridian Hue (which is a lovely mid green blue colour.)
Painted Ice Blue Glitz-it glitter glue over the top. For large areas I prefer using the big bottles of Glitz-it glue either by squeezing it out thick straight from the bottle (watercolour card is firm enough to cope with this) or by spreading it around with an old nylon bristle brush that I wash out straight away afterwards with washing up liquid. For little glitter details, blobs and thin lines you can't beat Ranger Stickles.
If you spread the glitter glue with a paint brush you don't get such a dense amount of glitter and you can therefore change the shade of the glitter glue by painting the background in different acrylic colours. (Watercolours won't work because the glue contains water that will reactivated the paint and smear it about unevenly, unless that is the effect you want.) You can achieve endless combinations of glitter colours this way with the same bottle of glitter glue.
I used a heart punch to decorate her dress, again white edging around each heart. Do the edging before you stick them on the picture. I used various round "jewels" stuck on with white PVA.
The black and white border is a black fine point Sharpie and white acrylic paint applied with a straight edge shader no. 3 paint brush. A straight edge shader brush gives you a straight line without even trying. A no. 4 works as well.
Julia's legs and arms are bugle beads. Thread them on some sewing cotton, lay a thin line of Anita's 3D Clear Gloss down and then lay the line of bugle beads on the top. Straighten the line up with two cocktails sticks one on either side of the line then remove the sticks. After a minute or two carefully pull the sewing thread out of the bugle beads and voila, sparkly limbs!
I ummed and ahhed whether or not to colour her face with make up, and chickened out in the end with the fear of spoiling the picture. I think I quite like the contrast.

I still find the massive head a bit creepy, but the shiny certainly lessens the squick factor a bit for me.

Happy Crafting everyone!

Gini

Spanky does Jonathan Dodgson Carr in 1895. ATC Bad Hair Day.

We are each responsible for our own happiness aren't we?
Well, I nearly peed myself laughing making this one.
(I don't think I should be admitting this but hey.)

I saw on The Artist Trading Club blog that September's theme is Bad Hair Day.
Spanky's eyes lit up and she wanted to have a go.

We (?) were eating lunch of crackers and cheese.
She held the knife and I held the fork. (Run Away Now)
We got to looking at the box of crackers again with a crafter's eye this time.

This is what we were eating.
Click on the pictures to make them bigger.





If you can't read it from the picture, it's my photography skills not your eyes, (your age is just fine, honestly)

It says:-

"Biscuits of Distinction
Carr's Table Water in their original form first appeared in the late 19th Century as a refinement of the ships biscuit. Water instead of fat was used to blend the dry ingredients in order to keep the biscuits fresh on long voyages. Carr's cabin biscuits with their delicate, crisp texture proved extremely popular with seafarers....."

Seeing as we had polished off the packet I cut up the box and Spanky made this.
Click it to make it bigger.



It says:-

Spanky does Jonathan Dodgson Carr in 1895

Mr Carr Esq was not a happy chappy, he asked for a light trim and got... well he didn't know quite what it was, but it was not good.

On his way home the seagulls had dive bombed his monstrous hair but after glumly staring at his reflection in the mirror he had the most marvellous idea!

"I know" he thought "I'll use water instead of fat in ships biscuits and rename them Carr's Table Water, biscuits of Distinction."

Disclaimer. Please note: This story is based on absolutely no facts whatsoever apart from J.D.Carr establishing the Carr's Table Water. The rest is just the product of an over active imagination.

It's one of those conundrum things, if Carr hadn't invented the biscuit then Spanky being a time traveller couldn't have taken them back in time to him, but if Spanky hadn't gone back in time and put biscuits on his head, would Carr have invented the biscuit???
It's all complete tosh of course but it entertained me no end!


But I don't think I can bear to part with it. I think I need to make a set of these.
Actually I might be getting a bit ahead of myself, I haven't even asked if I can join in yet. Oya!

How I made it.

Brayered Andirondack inks in pool and sunset orange on white card. Stamped circles in watermelon and a rubbish white ink from ink it up that hardly had any ink in it and went straight in the bin, what a waste of money.

I use 230 g/m Watercolour paper for any shapes that I stick onto projects. In this case his body and his hair. I find that watercolour paper can handle any applied medium and at this thickness I get rigidity but I'm still able to cut it into intricate shapes quite easily. The 300 g/m (thicker) watercolour paper is better as a background for much larger projects.

Buying watercolour paper. For this sort of thing you don't need expensive brands of paper.
I get 18 sheets of A3 in a pad from "The Works" for £4. It's made by Boldmere.

I painted his water biscuit hair in acrylics. His body in blue metallic acrylic and heat embossed a stamped image in glitter gold on his coat. I edged the piece in eggplant in Versamagic chalk ink.
I glued everything with white PVA.

Happy crafting everyone!

ABAA Challenge Aug 2009 - A Bird in Hand? Spanky does Mrs Pippy

(This is the Big Posh Bird in Hand project that wasn't ready in time.)


During the "Ask Spanky" coffee morning held at Ferdinand's Flotsam and Jetsam Emporium earlier this month, Mrs Pippy piped up and asked

"Hi Spanky, My sister Buffy and I are identical. I need some individuality, can you help me?"




Mrs Pippy is the Buff Rock Bantam on the left.


Spanky says:

"A bird in your hand is just a bird,
but six in your hair is a masterpiece."


Click on the pictures to make them bigger.





It is so hard to get a good shot of shinyness with a camera (well I can't do it). The background is loud gold and silver and the headdress is edged with shiny bronze but I can't get it to show up without making the rest of it look like smare.

This is the best I could manage for shinyness (Sorry Spanky, don't sulk) -





But with messing with the colours it could look like this:-







My youngest son says that he can tell which hen has laid each egg by the egg's smell.
Amazing huh? (That's ma boy!)
Alas, along with most everyone else, I don't have this talent (perhaps it is a gift that skips a generation?) .
So Spanky bless her, has fixed it that every human bean can tell which eggs Mrs Pippy has laid.

Spanky does The Mona Lisa

What if the Mona Lisa had woken on the day of her portrait sitting and thought
"I need a stylist to make me look beautiful and mysterious."
What if she'd made an appointment with Spanky?

ABAA photo challenge, Great Aunt Rosina, May 2009

Jaqi kindly sent in this photo of her great Aunt Rosina, and after reading the challenge post I promptly forgot the lady had a name and that she owned her own bakery so she became Evangeline. Sorry Jaqi!
(On reflection it's obvious that she's an Elizabeth Bennett, what with owning her own bakery and her intelligent, beautiful and sassy face, I'm guessing that the Victorian love of symbolism has been used in the empty birdcage to portray her escape from the constraints of being a man's chattel, living in a man's world and the straightjacket of Victorian values to be a woman of substance!
However I got completely carried away with the idea of Spanky, Ferdinand, Evangeline and her fairygodmother.)
The more I looked the more I loved this picture.
I still couldn't see the bird until someone said it's on her shoulder.


Anyway, back to Evangeline. I love to see a story in every picture, so I thought I would try a picture book for this challenge, as I've never done one before.
It turned out to be a five page 6"x 6" book.
I tried "really" hard to remain authentic to the 1880's hence the handwriting; circa 1970's public school.

Evangeline is a young, exuberant and innocent Lydia Bennett type character who has recently left home and is feeling decidedly out of sorts.



Have you seen Ferdinand?