Magical Monday ♥

so it's the start of another week, if i recall correctly i promised to show you my brand new Pin-up style Girl illustrations

well i'd hate to break a promise so...

meet Violet and Rose (click for full view)

so basically i was browsing on 'pinupgirlclothing.com' the other night and i spotted a few gorgeous frocks and thought... yeah i think i'll draw them

this was the result

in my mind, they're sisters, their names are Violet and Rose... 

but don't let their similarities fool you!

these sisters couldn't be more different...

the only thing they share is their lovely blonde hair and their bright green eyes, that and a mutual love of Vintage fashion!

Violet is the eldest (and the tallest), she feels very protective of her younger sister! her favourite colour is pale Lavender, she loves to listen to classical music, she is a writer and an avid reader, she spends most of her spare time playing the piano or gardening.

Rose is the youngest... but she's never let that hold her back! her favourite colour is red (the brighter the better!), she enjoys pretty much any kind of music so long as it has a good beat and she can dance to it, she is an accessories designer and spends almost all of her spare time shopping!

...

do you see what happens when i get snowed in and can't leave the house for days on end?!

i go loopy and start making up back stories for my 2D Illustrations...

moving on!

here's the other one i finished yesterday...

BUT... i didn't really like her pedal pushers (trousers) so i had another go...

yay... flowery dress times!

so her name, or title is... 'it might as well be Spring'

why?!

well, you may remember in yesterdays post i mentioned that i'm a HUGE fan of 'Musicals' (go and read the post if you don't believe me - Super Sunday #3) 

well, i watched 'State Fair' yesterday morning and there's a lovely song in it called 'it might as well be Spring' and when i started to colour this Girl, that song was in my head so...

this was the result

i honestly haven't a clue why all the illustrations i've done lately have ended up with a Spring/Summer vibe to them! it makes NO sense

Winter is my favourite season so... i can't explain why these Girls are so light and sunny!

* * *

in other news...

i found out today that there's a photo of me + my Little Lego Christmas Tree in 'the Examiner' (a local newspaper) which is rather super duper news to be honest

i haven't seen it yet but i'll be sure to post a link or a scan or whatever, when i get hold of a copy

as if that wasn't enough, i also finished another commission today

AND i won a free Pizza off Manx Radio this afternoon!

what a day... lucky times for me i guess!

every day a Pizza is given away on the 'Alex in the Afternoon' radio show, you have to answer a question correctly and then they draw a name and that person wins a pizza

well... i don't normally enter but today the question was Formula 1 related so, how could i resist!

anyway, i won = GOOD times!

* * *

and that's it i think,

i also finished a little gouache painting today, it's on an A3 canvas and i shall post info + photos about it tomorrow... i promise!

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Dziękuję i do widzenia 

(that's thank you and goodbye in Polish on behalf of Poland, i've never been to Poland but thank you all the same x) 

Super Sunday #3 ♥

So it's that time of the week again, it's time for another 'Super Sunday'

I asked my friends and family who I should dedicate this weeks 'Super Sunday' post to but they didn't really help!

For instance, Mike suggested I write this weeks post about him... but I told him that he isn't quite famous enough for a 'Super Sunday' dedication just yet!

Sorry Mike!

Anyway, moving on...

this week i decided to honour a person that i genuinely do consider to be one of my idols (yes it's a big deal... i don't have that many idols ok)

i've been a MASSIVE fan of his work for quite a few years now and i expect i'll remain a fan FOREVER since he's so god-damn hilarious!!!

i'll give you a clue shall i?!

does this help...

that's right dudes and dudettes, this week's 'Super Sunday' post is all about the wonderful, incredibly funny and rather fabulous Mr Seth MacFarlane...

for those of you unfamiliar with the sheer force of genius that is Seth MacFarlane, let me enlighten you a little...

he's an American animator, writer, comedian, actor, singer and all round general GENIUS!!!

ok i should explain why he's getting a 'Super Sunday' dedication!

basically... he created the animated TV show 'Family Guy' and i don't know if i've mentioned this before but 'Family Guy' is my FAVOURITE TV show!!! (FACT)

yes i'm a big 'Doctor Who' fangirl, yes i love to watch 'Mad Men' for hours on repeat and yes i've seen every episode of 'Father Ted' multiple times but as far as i'm concerned... 'Family Guy' tops them all... EVERY single time!

so why is the post dedicated to Seth MacFarlane and not 'Family Guy' I hear you cry?

well i don't just love 'Family Guy', it's just so happens that i adore the other animated shows he's created as well!

like 'American Dad'

and 'The Cleveland Show'

and 'Seth's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy' (which i watched 5 times in a row... had some lunch then watched it again)

to be perfectly honest it's hard not to adore a writer and animator that's produced spoofs on everything from music videos, celebrities, movies, historic events and everything in between! and of course... the truly magnificent 'Star Wars' spoofs

if you've never seen any of his hit shows (and you REALLY should see them as soon as possible) then you're probably wondering why he deserves a 'Super Sunday' post!

well Mr MacFarlane isn't just an amazing animator, a hilarious writer and a wonderful voice actor (as if that isn't enough to warrant a blog post dedication) 

he's also got a truly AWESOME singing voice

in fact he's so multitalented it should be illegal!!!

you may not know this but i also happen to be a HUUUUGE fan of 'Musicals' and i literally grew up watching and listening to them all the time since my dad is also a massive 'Musicals' fan 

well... one of the many things i LOVE about 'Family Guy' is all the Musical numbers they put in the show, and since Seth is the voice behind most of the characters in the show, that means it's his singing that makes all those numbers so super duper

by the way in case you genuinely were wondering... my favourite Musical is probably 'the Music Man' closely followed my 'My fair Lady' and 'The Sound of Music'

though when it comes to 'Family Guy' related Musical scenes, i think watching Peter Griffin sing 'Shipoopi' from 'the Music Man' has to be one of my top 'Family Guy' moments ever...

closely followed by Stewie Griffin singing 'I've grown accustomed to her face' from 'My Fair Lady'

and of course... Brian Griffin singing just about anything since Brian is the one character Seth MacFarlane uses his real voice for...

which brings me back to my original point... Seth MacFarlane can really sing! i mean obviously he can sing, he sings in the show all the time but my god... he really can sing!!!

i've seen clips of him singing at the BBC Proms and at 'Family Guy Live' shows but the more i listen to him, the more i can't get over how good his voice is!

if you've a bit of time to spare and happen to be a fan of all the lovely old 'Musicals' then give this little video a watch. he sings 3 songs from 'High Society' and... just wow! what a voice (he shows up at about 0:45 seconds in)

 he's actually currently on tour in the UK going round all the major towns and cities doing performances, sadly i'm not going to see him but if anyone else is, be sure to let me know how awesome the show is!

and that's enough fangirl rambling for today i think! 

if you can't stand 'Family Guy' and you don't like Seth MacFarlane... then you're probably not worth knowing!

what i mean to say is... then i'm sorry for subjecting you to this little 'Super Sunday' dedication... please tune in next week for something completely different!

Happy Super Sunday and of course... massive MASSIVE thanks to the genius that is, Mr Seth MacFarlane for just being so awesome and for having created a show that never fails to cheer me up no matter how miserable i may be! 

it quite literally never fails to put a smile back on my face...

i know you're a fellow atheist Seth... but God-bless ya!!!

* * *

in other news...

i finished another few brand new 'Girl' Illustrations but since this has been such a long post i'm going to save them until tomorrow.

it's been snowing on and off all day and ALL of the Islands schools (+ my college) are shut tomorrow due to the weather!

i LOVE it! snow snow snow everywhere!

just gorgeous!

enjoy the rest of your Sunday wherever you are + whatever you're up to!

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

muchas gracias y adios

(that's thank you and goodbye in Spanish on behalf of Mexico, gracias Mexico, thanks for all the page views x)

PLEASE NOTE: all images used in this post belong to the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuzzy Door Productions and Seth MacFarlane etc etc etc

NO copyright infringement intended so please don't get all pissy with me... thanks

Little Lego Christmas Tree ★

so... dudes and dudettes, the time has come at last for me to reveal just what it is that i've been working on for the past few weeks...

are you ready?!

Tah- dah...

that's right folks... i've spent the past 3 weeks designing and building a Lego Christmas Tree!

you see, THIS is why i couldn't tell you what i was building and what colour the Lego was!

so shall i explain it all..

i shall indeed!

about 3 weeks ago i got a message on Twitter asking if i'd be willing to help on a project for Isle of Man Advertising (you can find out all about them HERE - IOM Advertising)

so i gave them my email address then a message came through asking if i knew anyone that would be interested in helping to build a Lego Christmas Tree...

so i volunteered!

i worked with Carroll and Martin to come up with a design and a build plan so big thanks to them for all their help throughout the project (and for putting up with my tantrums)

so after a few meetings at their offices they got the lovely Katie to cart a big box of Lego (1900 bricks) up to me at college and i got to work...

so thank you to Katie as well for delivering it to me

so after a good few hours playing and messing around with the Lego, this was the first EVER design i came up with

the problem was, they all liked my design but they didn't think i'd be able to build it with the bricks supplied!

i got really upset but at the end of the day it was up to them so i had a go at building the one from the designs they'd sent with the Lego

it was impossible to build!!!! 

those are the plans in the background behind the mini model tree, it was just crazy! i could not build it!

and i used to have to do things like this all the time during the IB at my last school!

it made no difference, i couldn't build it

so...

i was allowed to have another go at MY design

so after many emails and photos going back and forth we finally settled on THIS design

so last Friday, before i went away to Coventry, Carroll from IOM Advertising came up to college to collect me + the lego and i re-built it all at their offices in Douglas

then obviously i went to Coventry and Birmingham for a few days (SUPER DUPER trip by the way!)

and on Thursday morning i got up at 3:30am (yikes) to travel to Birmingham airport for my flight back to the IoM.

i landed at 9:25am, Carroll arrived at 9:30am with the Lego and that was that

she helped me unpack it all and we tried to work out how the plinths would work but then she had to go back to the offices

it was her birthday as well! so Carroll, Happy Birthday again for Thursday xX

then it was down to me to get it all built in time (no pressure!!!)

it was SUCH a long day! i literally spent the whole day sat on the floor by my plinths (big thanks to Bill at College for supplying them) building up the tree and moving bits about

this is how it looked early on in the day... a lot like a Pagoda with 7 tiers

eventually (at around 5:30pm) it was FINALLY finished! and we ended up with one big 5 tier tree and two mini ones

also, big thanks to the little boy and his mother that stopped to help me build the 'fence' around the bottom of the tree at about 4pm x

and big thanks to Rosemary Walters from Save the Children who kept popping by to make sure i was still awake and to see if i needed anything, thank you x

and that's it, my little tree is finished at last!

it's been a hectic few weeks i can tell you, 

i've had to keep it all on the hush hush for the past few weeks but the grand opening of the Festival was last night so... now i'm allowed to tell you all!

i took my friend Charlotte (check out her blog here - Loretta Jane's Vintage Boutique) along last night to look at all the trees

every year at Ronaldsway Airport at the Isle of Man, they hold this 'Festival of Trees' to help raise money for 'Save the Children'

local schools and businesses take part and enter trees into the festival and members of the public can vote for their favourite trees and post donations to the charity

it's a great event and always draws a lot of people to the airport to see all the trees.

there are 23 trees in all this year and i have to say, there are some really fun trees dotted about the place.

like the 'Manx Farmers Union' one, entirely made of Manx produce, totally genius

and the Manx Museum's 'i-museum' tree, covered in CD's, vintage film slides, photos and cameras

you can see the King William's College (my old school) entry as well in the background. the one with the little green and silver trees.

the KWC Chapel Choir were also at the Festival opening singing lots of lovely Carols. i couldn't get a photo but they all looked fab in their Choir robes + it was lovely to hear the Choir again after so long

the Lieutenant Governor's wife, Lady Haddacks was there as well to help open the festival.

it was a really festive atmosphere with lots of mince pies, Manx fudge and wine on hand to make people feel merry.

there were some unusual 'trees' there as well, like the Manx Landscapes 'Pottering around' entry

and the Victoria House Nursery entry, it was so beautiful though, and such a clever idea

it was a great evening and all the trees looked great

i'm proud to have been involved in the Festival this year and to have worked on the Lego Tree for 'Alliance and Leicester' (our tag line for the Lego Tree was 'Building for the Future' how AWESOME is that! love it)

it was a lot of work but it was nice to do something different for a change and i'm glad i got the opportunity to do so. 

so all that's left for me to do is ask all you fellow Manxies out there to pop down to the airport and get donating (and to VOTE for my Tree if you'd be so kind...) 

and if you're flying in or out of the IoM anytime soon, don't forget to go and have a skeet at all the trees

thanks x

* * *

in other news...

well there isn't really any other news actually!

i'm so tired from all the Lego times i haven't really been up to much else!

i've a few new Pin-up Girl illustrations to finish so hopefully they'll be ready for my next post

until then

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Grazie molto e arrivederci

(that's thank you and goodbye in Italian, L'italia è un paese meraviglioso, grazie, mia amico x)