Wedesday Weather ★

so i don't know WHAT is going on with the weather here at the moment! it's really sunny outside then ten minutes later there's cloud and rain! it's super windy yet if i look out the window i can still see blue sky and sunshine!

WEIRD

anyway today's post is going to feature some of the gorrrrrrgeous little bits i got at 'The Tide' in Ramsey on Monday afternoon/evening

now 'The Tide' is without a doubt my absolute favourite shop on the Island!!! 

i L-O-V-E it

now sadly i'm not allowed to take any photos of the inside of the shop due to copyright and such but all i can do is urge you to go and see it for yourself if you ever get the chance to visit the Isle of Man

it is the most super duper place ever! (fact)

it really the most delicious little treasure trove of a store, just bursting with sublime goodies! 

they sell everything from handmade one off jewellery pieces, vintage teacups, saucers and teapots, hand sewn dolls, bunting and aprons, the most amazing ornaments and decorations, delicate little crocheted toys and amazing fairytale snow globes, sparkly chandeliers, big ornate mirrors, hand sewn patchwork bags, ribbons, cards and wrapping paper in every pattern you could ever want + big luscious floral quilts, ruffled cushions and polka dot bedding!

it is heaven in shop form as far as i'm concerned and i could literally spend all day in there!

anyway let's get on with what i bought during this visit...

here we have little 'Peanut Big Top' kindly modeling in my new purchase

is it not the most fabulous little hot air balloon ever!!!

they had two hanging from the ceiling and i just had to have this lovely little blue one

should explain, the delightful cloudy sky behind is in fact a sheet of fabric i bought for an embroidery project, i ironed it out nice and neat to take these photos though. not sure what i'm going to make with it yet but i'll keep you posted!

but that's not all i got

i also chose this adorable little handmade doll

every time i visit the store i see these dolls hanging about the place or tucked away on shelves and i always want to get one but have to leave or can't afford one

so this time i thought what the hell, and got one for my room

i also got this teeny tiny little wooden charm...

why?! well because it's says' sweet like candy 'on it of course!!!

anyway the shop is magical, go and visit it or if you can't make it to the island, pop by their websites

the Tide.net     or    the Tide.co.uk

or you can follow them on twitter - @thetide_friends

* * *

so what else have i been up to?!

well i got some new books out of the library on Monday and i was flicking through one of them today

it's a big old 50's scrapbook full of old advertisements, book covers and movie posters

there are some awesome pages in it full of all manner of fabulous 50's things

the fashion pages are particularly super duper

there's even a travel section showing UK holiday destinations, so imagine my surprise when i spotted something else that was on the page...

can you see it there in the middle... maybe this will help

yep there's even an old ad for the Isle of Man! the Island used to be a MASSIVELY popular tourist destination so i wasn't that surprised it was included, it was just nice to see that it wasn't forgotten!

 i also visited the craft shop the other day as well and came out with some candy coloured bundles of fabric

ooooooh i wonder what they're for!!! (wait and see)

and AND my new embroidery hoop arrived in the mail today

it's PINK!!!!!

i've no idea what i'm going to stitch into it but who cares... it's pink!

* * *

that's it for today, i'm off to try and work on these essays now 

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX

PS: only 2 (yes 2) days left to enter the Giveaway!!!

enter now for your chance to win some cute little kawaii prizes including a hello kitty notebook, some cupcake themed goodies from Paperchase + a pink poodle necklace

GO GO GO - ♥ Giveaway ♥

♥ I don't do Housework...

so i know i promised to do a blog post yesterday all about my new painting and all... but i spent yesterday afternoon in town doing a bit of xmas shopping in the freezing conditions and then i went to the cinema, with my friend Charlotte and her husband Rob, to see the new Harry Potter film.

i have one word to say about that movie... AWESOME!!!

anyway, since i failed on the posting times yesterday, i thought i'd tell you all about the little painting today instead!

so...

you may recall, quite a while ago while i was researching old 40's, 50's and 60's American Advertisements at college, i spotted a cute little lady and decided to have a go at drawing her

you can read the original post right here - Acrylics and Apples ♥

but the point is, a few days ago i decided to have a go at using the lovely set of gouache paints my older sister Simone gave me during my trip to Coventry last week

so using the original drawing i did, i worked on a digital version, playing around with colours trying to find a nice mix to paint on the canvas. this is the digital version of what i wanted the painting to look like...

so using the page scan that sort of looks like this (see the above post link for the proper one) 

i drew out a simple fine lined version of it, i enlarged a copy of it up to A3 size and got to work on my little canvas...

here you can see the copy i was working from and yes... my desk does have 3 Daleks on it + a stack of Torchwood and Doctor Who books!

don't act all surprised i DID tell you that i just so happen to be a massive Sci-fi nerd!

you can't really see it in this shot but i'd already sketched out the outline on the canvas so all i had to do was fill it in with my trusty sharpie pen

after that was all finished i started the fun part... blocking in the colours!

the gouache was wonderful to work with, i'm so impatient when it comes to painting so oils drive me mad and most of the time the acrylics i use aren't pigmented enough. i love watercolours but i'm a bit rubbish at using them unfortunately! these worked out great though

i started out with quite a pale blue for the dress, but colour is so much fun so i got a bit carried away with the layers

the sharpie outline was handy as well since i normally ruin most of my attempts at painting by painting over my pencil lines so much i can't tell what's supposed to go where!

next i had to work out some way of painting in the mouth. i didn't want to leave it black since my digital version of this had bright red lips and nails.

i tried painting over the sharpie with red gouache and acrylic but the paints weren't having any of it! 

so i blocked the mouth out entirely in white and grabbed something a little stronger...

believe it or not but that's actually a nail art pen full of bright red nail varnish!

i bought a massive set of those pens at the 'Clothes Show Live' in Birmingham a few years ago and they've never really come in handy until now! her nails and her earring were all coloured using the nail art pens as well. i'm glad i finally found something to use them on!

so that's that! the painting is done now, i added a little message on the piece of paper in her hand as well...

i'm not sure if you can read it or not but it says 'i don't do Housework...'

i know the original version said 'Merry Christmas' but i didn't want my painting to be seasonal

so that's it, painting times... DONE!

NOTE: i am aware that my version of this housewife does look slightly demented... but i think that just ads to her crazily messed up charm! ♥

* * *

in other news, it's still freeeeezing here! snow and ice everywhere!

i took this snap on the day i started the painting, i was sitting at my desk minding my own business when it started snowing and snowing and snowing...

ah that photo kind of sucks i guess, and apologies for all the clutter! 

i had another go, this was the view outside the window

the lovely Winter Wonderland outside my bedroom! love it...

it is sooooo cold though! 

* * *

back to college tomorrow (weather permitting) i'm supposed to have my assessment this week so i am panicking just a little bit (aka A LOT!!!!!) so we'll see how that goes!

i had to go to the airport this morning to have my photo taken with the Little Lego Christmas Tree again so i managed to grab a copy of the paper as well, i'll scan it in tomorrow though since i can't find the scanner cable...

FAIL on my part!

sorry!

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Terima kasih dan sampai jumpa lagi

(that's thank you and goodbye in Indonesian, i haven't been to Indonesia since i was a little girl but big thanks to you all anyway for visiting my blog, lama tidak berjumpa x) 

♥ ★ Happy Halloween ★ ♥

so Happy Halloween at last!

in case you haven't already guessed it... that's right, i haven't done ANY more Halloween Pinup Girl illustrations... or any new Halloween illustrations of any kind!

like i said in the previous post, i intend to make up for this by doing several Christmas themed ones over the next 2 months leading up to Xmas day, a fair deal i'm sure you'll agree...

anyway, back to Halloween... or should i refer to it as Hop-tu-Naa??? i don't know, never mind...

ok so last night my little 4-year-old cousin Sienna came to stay for a 'girly night' which included...

 dancing around to 'Lollipop' by Mika many MANY times, 

sitting applying gems to Cinderella's dress (Cinderella is a doll, i should point out), 

enjoying far too many chocolate coins and kinder eggs, 

watching lots of lovely Studio Ghibli films which i'm glad to say Sienna really enjoyed (Ponyo, Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro) 

having a yummy dinner of 'dippy egg', apricot yoghurt and sliced apple,

and also... a Halloween themed 'makeover'


look at the actual makeover CARNAGE on my dressing table! oh and there's 'cinderella' as well...

this was the overall result of the makeover since i didn't have a costume but Sienna did

you can't really see it but she's covered in luminous sparkly silver shimmery stuff and she has electric blue and hot pink eyeshadow on as well to match her dress... genius

anyway back to the question, should i say that today is Halloween or Hop-tu-Naa?

now you're probably wondering... what's the contest here, Halloween is celebrated (almost) universally whereas Hop-tu-Naa isn't...

however, i live in the Isle of Man so i'm afraid that here it's pretty much Hop-tu-Naa all the way!

(oh and in case you were wondering... it's pronounced hop-chew-nay)

so what is it exactly...

well let me enlighten you dear readers...

Hop-tu-Naa is a Celtic festival celebrated in the Isle of Man on 31 October. Predating Halloween. For modern Hop-tu-Naa, children dress up and go from house to house with the hope of being given sweeties or money (just like Halloween traditions)

However, for Hop-tu-Naa the children carry carved turnip lanterns rather than pumpkins and sing Hop-tu-Naa songs. Here's an example of a rather creepy looking Hop-tu-Naa turnip lantern...




Hop-tu-Naa is still celebrated widely on the Isle of Man, although most of the old Hop-tu-Naa traditions aren't practiced much any more, like the making and eating of a 'dumb cake', an old form of Manx divination that supposedly, if done correctly would reveal to a girl, who her future husband would be in a dream or vision. 

However there is still a Hop-tu-Naa pentagram (available to buy) that is supposedly based on the original one worn by the old Manx Witches that would fly out on Hop-tu-Naa to wreak magic and mischief. (NOTE: i don't want ANY complaints about the pentagram please! pentagrams are NOT evil! upside down ones are... normal ones are a-ok and if you thought otherwise then that makes you a fool i'm afraid so... yeah, stop being a fool and ssshhh)




The differences between Hop-tu-Naa and Halloween are barely apparent any more, on the 31st of October Manx children dress up in spooky costumes with face paints and 'trick or treat' bags just like children all over the world. Even the carrying of turnips is something that not all Manx children partake in, preferring to carry a little plastic torch or a small pumpkin instead.




One of the differences that still sometimes remains is that nowadays most Manx children are still taught some of the traditional old Hop-tu-Naa songs to sing on the 31st during their trick or treating.




The original songs are all in Manx Gaelic and the English translations don't always make sense but there's a modern 'Manx English' song that i remember from my own childhood, it's called 'Jinnie the Witch' and goes a little something like this... 




Hop-tu-Naa

My mother's gone away

And she won't be back until the morning

Jinnie the Witch flew over the house

To fetch the stick to lather the mouse

Hop-tu-Naa

My mother's gone away

And she won't be back until the morning

ok, there are other variations on the song but that's enough Hop-tu-Naa stuff... for more information, and a wonderful article on the celebration of Hop-tu-Naa check out this BBC Isle of Man page.

* * *

ok back to Halloween

i've been saving this for a while but, it's one of the old 60's American ads i found at college a few weeks ago (more on the awesome old American ads can be found HERE and HERE) 

so apologies for the massive crease down the middle but... it was a double page spread and i could sooooooo not be bothered to try and remove it on photoshop... sorry

* * *

i should explain that i am a big fan of all things Halloween and Hop-tu-Naa (i am a big kid after all) and that i usually do dress up as a witch every year (black suede heels, floaty Monsoon dress and an awesome embroidered witches hat) and that i was supposed to be spending my Halloween this year taking my little 5-year-old God-daughter Bonnie out trick or treating but...

she told me last week that she couldn't 'do' halloween because she was going to a party

ditched... by my own god-daughter!

so instead i intend to spend this evening watching scary films by myself...

now that IS a scary thought!

* * *

i shall leave you with my most Halloween friendly illustration to date, the charming, the creepalicious, the ever so slightly wrong... 'Zombie Ninja Panda Bear'

 i wish you all the Happiest of Halloweens (and Hop-tu-Naa's) and hope that you have a super spooky day/night, whatever you're up to or wherever you are in the world

that's all folks...

♥ ★ ◕‿◕ ★ ♥