Monday 30 May 2011

Sunny Sewing Times ★

it's been a lovely sunny day here in the Isle of Man, perfect weather for the first week of the TT (see 'where i live' page for more info about that, or just google it . . . )

well. . . it WAS a lovely day here up until about 10 minutes ago when the sky went all grey and rain cloudy!

i've not been feeling too well lately so i haven't left the house in a few days, but i went for a little walk around the garden this afternoon to try and clear my head a bit + just to absorb some of that gorgeous sunshine earlier on!

i snapped a few photos of the garden as well, everything was just so green and luscious! i couldn't resist . . .















it was lovely!!!

* * *

before my walk around the garden this afternoon, i spent the morning messing about on the sewing machine attempting some more stuff

i managed to make this cute little gingham heart


it's stuffed with dried lavender so it smells absolutely divine! the button and bow looks red here but they're a dusky pink colour (my camera killing the quality once again!!!)


i've hung it up in my room and now the whole place smells all lavendery! so pretty

i also made some more bunting


i used this funky abstract floral fabric + some new purple bias binding and i think it turned out ok


it's certainly a lot neater than the last string of bunting i made!

i've a couple of more sheets of fabric to slice up so i might make some more sometime this week


* * *

i've been moping around the house a bit over the past few days since it's my Birthday tomorrow. . .

yup the dreaded day has arrived at last! the day i'm officially no longer a 'teenager'! tomorrow is my 20th Birthday . . .

so technically i must now become a 'grown up' . . . shock horror!!!!

what can i say! i never got my letter from Hogwarts, sadly Peter Pan never flew in to whisk me away to Wonderland, the Doctor never showed up in the tardis to take me travelling through space, i never found my way to Narnia and i never fell down the rabbit hole to Wonderland!

still. . . 20 or not, i'd give it at least another couple of years before i truly grow up!!!

after all, what's the point in being a grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?!

until tomorrow . . . that's all folks! ◕‿◕ ★ xX




Ps - the 'May' Giveaway closes tomorrow night at midnight so hurry up and get your entries in now if you haven't already!!! - Giveaway

Friday 27 May 2011

Owls and Stuff ★

so this afternoon i got home after a quick trip to 'Sweet Ginger' (to say hi to my 2 fave shop owners Julie and Ciara) i got home to find a little parcel waiting for me in the garden shed!

but. . . this was no ordinary parcel!

last week my friend Kyren from college suggested a sort of 'art swap' type thing

we were talking about 'Kidrobot' stuff and Kyren offered to send me 2 duplicate blindboxed Dunny art toys he had, he offered to send them as a gift since i'm such a big fan of kidrobot stuff yet i have NOTHING from their site!

but i felt bad not sending anything in return so he asked me to make him a little owl plush since he's a big fan of all things owl related (he is quite possibly a bigger fan of Owls than i am!)

so of course i said yes!

this little fella was the result . . .


his name is Kyrowl McHooterton and he's 100% unique (but you can call him hooters for short. . .)

i've never attempted an owl plush quite like this before but he was soooo much fun to make! he's crazy coloured, a little bit Bauhaus and very very awesome 


i hope Kyren likes him!!!!

anyway here's the first Dunny out of the box, an awesome little cowboy/indian Michelle Valigura dude


the next one was also epically awesome, it's a Shelterbank one and i LOVE IT!


check out the back of it too


but the piéce de resistance was this guy


Kyren's custom painted Munny!!!


i still can't believe he's just given it to me! i imagine it will be worth quite a lot one day when Kyren is terribly rich and famous so i shall hold onto it!

similarly Kyren should look after his new owl because who knows. . . one day even that might be worth a few quid!


they're such awesome figures though, they've all been immediately added to 'the shelf' along with my momji dolls, popobe bears and other various bits and bobs i've accumulated over the years

massive thanks to Kyren!!!

by way of thanks i'm not going to shamelessly plug his work on here! ah that's the fun of having your own blog folks!


his art is actually super epic by the way, i'm fortunate enough to have been in college with a whole bunch of really talented people and Kyren is one hell of a talented animator/graphic designer/doodler


his work has this crazy quirky vibe to it, he draws wacky stuff and it's always fun and usually rather ruddy funny


last year for FMP at college he made all this amazing merch type stuff for his website DMND and i was lucky enough to snag a load of it for my 'wall of stuff'


check out the awesome little badges


+ poster


super duper stuff right!


of course it is . . .


for more awesomeness check out Kyren's blog - Symkytz

check out his 'Wall' on - Wall Collective

follow him on twitter here - @ksimkiss

or keep up to date with his work via his facebook page - DMND


he's currently drawing on a load of postcards creating unique designs that he's willing to send out to people for free so if you want to get your hands on a piece of original doodle artwork get yourself over to his blog/twitter/facebook NOW!!!

* * *

in other news. . .

planning a quiet weekend in ahead of my Birthday on Tuesday

absolutely DREADING Tuesday to be honest!

 Birthdays aren't really my thing i guess, more of a 'Christmas' kind of girl!!!

ah well, it's unavoidable and inevitable so why moan!

have a great weekend wherever you are + whatever you're up to

that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX 




Ps - i'm not going to keep reminding you so just get your bum over to the giveaway post and enter it already! come on guys. . . i'm giving away free stuff what's not to love here! - Giveaway


Wednesday 25 May 2011

Paper Dolls and Pinup fashion ★


So yesterday afternoon I dropped 'Sophie Lapin' off at the 'Sweet Ginger Emporium' so she's cuddled up with Pepe now and they make a cute little pair I must say

after that I popped into college for a few hours to print stuff + discuss my essay with my tutor, it wasn't exactly the most interesting of days so I thought i'd skip a blog post


anyway i've spent the past couple of days working on a funky new idea kind of inspired by an old project I worked on

at the end of my first year at college I had to keep a summer journal/logbook documenting my trips and arty thoughts, i'd recently re-discovered my love of paper dolls so I had a go at making my own while I was staying in Andorra

she wasn't that great though to be honest, for a start I coloured her in using felt tips but she was still fun to make + I had a great time researching modern and classic paper doll styles


anyway. . . i'd like you all to meet my new Paper Doll


i've been wanted to make a new paper doll design for a while so it seemed like as good a time as any to have a go at it and this little lovely was the result!


Her name is Sweet Ginger (yes like the shop) and she's from this design


Ciara and Julie at the 'Sweet Ginger Emporium' commissioned me to create this design (only i'm not telling you what it's for. . . yet!) so I took the same girl and turned her into a paper doll


I honestly have no idea how to print her out and sort her properly for sale but ideally she'd either come printed on a nice sturdy sheet of cardstock for people to cut out themselves or she'd come in a cute little packet all nicely laser cut out.


This test set was printed on a sheet of A3 card but the print quality is awful, the ink literally rubs off with a brush of the fingers (which made cutting her out a fun task. . . NOT!) but like I said, it was just a test so it doesn't really matter that she's not top quality


as you can see from the pictures, I had a blast dressing her up this afternoon, ideally i'd like to make a couple of other 'Sweet Ginger' type characters, maybe a blonde and a brunette with loads of other gorgeous little 50's style Pinup outfits


it's been that long since I drew any pinups it's been a really fun project to work on! I only ever seem to draw candy characters and sweets nowadays so it was nice to go back to some retro style pinup designs


what do you all think of her??? good or bad. . .



she was so much fun to draw and edit, admittedly not as much fun to cut out but lots of fun to play with and dress up


i might draw a few more hairstyles for her as well, as you can see she only has 2 at the moment but i'm not sure if she needs any more to be honest


so far the only people that have seen her are my friends Mike + Richard and they both seemed to like her, then again they are boys and she's a pinup so I guess that's expected!


i have had so much fun designing little 50's style outfits for her though! her wardrobe is better than mine!!! i got a lot of ideas for outfits from this awesome site - Pinup-Fashion.net


+ i even drew her a little polka dot apron in case she wants to cook up some yummy cupcakes or something! (yes i know it's just a paper doll, just leave me and my insane imagination alone!)


 Anyway, all opinions and thoughts are welcome so please feel free to leave a comment saying whether you like her or hate her. . . 

* * *

in other news, inspired by the little outfits i created for the Sweet Ginger paper doll i've spent most of this morning trawling ASOS for fashion inspiration to help me design outfits for a more modern paper doll girl, however i immediately got distracted by one of my fave brands instead


i've really been a fan of the Australian brand 'Wheels & Dollbaby' for quite a while now, and i think you'll be able to work out why!


 well for starters their stuff is actually amazingly gorgeous and since the likes of Dita Von Teese started appearing in it's heavenly designs and i've spent many a lazy afternoon at college scrolling through the 'Wheels & Dollbaby' website drooling over the amazing pinup style dresses, cardigans, tops and skirts


if you're unfamiliar with the brand they have this brilliant vintage vibe to their designs, their dresses are pricey but worth it (well i think they are!) + they're always drop dead gorgeous



they strive to create these absolutely stunning designs that are literally made to showcase some serious curves (and we know how i feel about curves don't we!!! remember this - Curves Glorious Curves)


i adore the pencil dresses but i think if i could pick any dress off the site I'd probably pick the 'Gigi' dress purely for it's amazing puffy skirt and gorgeous floral print


but the 'Dita Rose' cardigan (named of course after the fabulous Dita Von Teese) is probably one of my top favourite things on the Wheels & Dollbaby site


it comes in such divine colours and looks so sooooo pretty! i'd absolutely LOVE one! (and you know. . . it is my Birthday next Tuesday so if anyone would like to treat me to one, that'd be awesome! hint hint)


anyway if you want to get your hands on something fabulously flirty from Wheels & Dollbaby either check out the stuff they have on sale via ASOS designer

or head on over to their official website for some pretty pinup fashion - Wheels & Dollbaby

* * *

this evening i'm going to work on my essay for a bit since my tutor told me it's nearly finished (phew!!!) but i have a new sewing project in mind so i might attempt that in a bit

until next time, that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ 





p.s. - have you entered the May Giveaway yet??? in honour of my Birthday at the end of this month i've decided to hold a little giveaway again, there's a bundle of cute prizes up for grabs and you have until my Birthday, the 31st of May, to get your entries in (and yes. . . i do intend to post this at the end of EVERY blog post until the giveaway is drawn!)