Happy Day ♥

hello dearhearts, crikey it's been exactly a month since my last post on here, i'm really not too great at this whole blogging malarkey am I?!
wait, don't answer that...

anyway I'm here now and I wanted to fill you in on a few of the things that have happened recently to keep me away from here... but then I thought 'nah'.

so instead i'm going to tell you about what I did last weekend because you see last Sunday I became a Godmother! woooooo!!!

I was over the moon when one of my very best friends Hayley, whom I've known since College, asked me to be Godmother to her youngest daughter Imogen. I mean obviously I said 'yes' otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog. Although I was a little disappointed as I'd originally thought Hayley was proposing to me... oh well, you can't have everything I suppose!

Little Miss Imogen and her lovely Mama, Hayley.

Hayley and I first met the day we were both interviewed for a place on the Art and Design course. Luckily we both got accepted so on my first day of class she was the ONLY person I recognized or knew, so naturally I became her personal limpet. That was in September 2008 and we're still good friends now, so I couldn't have been quite as annoying as I thought! I feel very lucky to still have her as a friend as she's really nice and possibly even more sarcastic than I am! She has two very beautiful and adorable daughters and I felt very honoured that she chose me to be a Godmother.

the amazing (and delicious) Christening cake!

Anyway, the Christening day was last Sunday at St Peter's Church in Onchan here on the Isle of Man. It was a really lovely day, the sun was out and friends and family sat in the church to watch Miss Imogen Evie Reid get baptized. The Vicar was a little over enthusiastic with the holy water so most of the front two pews got baptized as well. I of course got a handful of water in the face, but I didn't burst into flames so that's one good thing!

proud parents! Hayley and Lewis with Imogen in St Peter's Church.

It was perhaps a little more eventful than planned as poor Imogen accidentally had a bump during the service and suffered a little nosebleed, there were some tears and crying but after that things went off without a hitch and after the Christening it was time for a bit of a party! Hayley and her family put on an amazing spread of food and sweet treats including a chocolate fountain (yum!) and more chips and pasty than you can actually imagine.

Gracie, Imogen's big sister.

along with the tubs of jelly and marshmallows and cookies, there were also some cupcakes that I made for the Christening. I'd met Hayley a few days before to take Gracie to the park and I ended up offering to bake some cupcakes to bring along. Now this might not seem like too big a deal but at the time I was in the early stages of a vile cold/sore throat, I had two commissions on the go and I'm not the most successful baker even at the best of times.

mid baking... oops!

So... as you can see, things got off to a great start. I had to wear a mask while I made them (so as not to give anyone else the dreaded 'cold') and it was going quite well; I'd made up the cake batter, I had everything ready and then, splash! While pouring myself a well earned glass of pop I ended up soaking myself and the kitchen floor creating a big sticky mess. Because apparently I am still a child and not in fact a twenty-four-year-old woman (with polar bear socks).

before and after.

It all turned out fine in the end though, after some very helpful mopping from Mama Boylan (thanks mum!) I ended up with 32 mini cupcakes (at about 11:30pm) so I decided to ice them the next morning ready for the Christening. I love piping pink vanilla buttercream onto cakes, it's surprisingly therapeutic and it's always fun to lick the spoon afterwards. Anyway they seemed popular at the Christening as there were only 2 left by the time I went home but it wasn't until I got back that I realised I completely forgot to try one myself!

the print I designed for the Christening.

It was probably more trouble figuring out how to transport the cakes from my house to the venue than it was to the make the ruddy things and i'll definitely think twice before I volunteer my questionable baking skills again in the future! Luckily my contributions weren't a total loss as Hayley had also (cunningly) managed to get me to volunteer for some less messy work. So as per her request, I designed a simple typography print with Imogen's birth info on for the Christening day. You will have seen it at the start of the post as well. Ducks are Imogen's favourite animal so there's four on the print; one each for her, her big sister Gracie and her Mummy and Daddy.

my gifts for Imogen.

I was definitely in a making mood all week because I ended up making two of Imogen's gifts myself. I stitched together a little pink bunny for her room and then I got my sewing machine out to struggle through making a string of pretty bunting. I love sewing by hand but the sewing machine and I do NOT often see eye to eye (it hates me for some reason) so the bunting is a little wonky, but still looks okay. The other gifts were a special laser-cut keepsake plaque and a cute teeny tiny pearl bracelet with her name + a little silver charm with 'goddaughter' on.

me... all dressed up!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the church and I couldn't manage to lure Imogen away from her mum/dad/grandparents/aunt/uncle to grab a snap with her. So instead you'll have to contend with a shameless selfie of me in the lovely dress I bought just for the Christening (it's from HERE if you're interested).

It was a lot of fun to be part of such a special day for Imogen and her family, so big BIG thanks to Hayley for putting up with me for all these years + asking me to be a part of her child's life!

* * *

as you can probably tell this was more of a personal post today. So if you only come here for the art then i'm sorry but I am a real person and I do sometimes actually go out and DO things. I do have some new illustrated bits n' bobs to share with you but they will have to wait for another time, so I will do my best to post another blog next week maybe.

so until then, thanks for visiting! byeeeeeeee.

★ Bonnie ★

i've been a rubbish blogger this week! i've just been sooooo busy working on commission files that i genuinely haven't had time to whip up some blog posts! 

but have no fear faithful (and deeply cherished) readers, i'm going to make a special effort next week to do more posts!

anyway, this weekend my darling little god-daughter Bonnie came to stay

we had a lovely afternoon in Douglas shopping and then had a yummy juice and cupcake break in the Alpine, (where we also bumped into my older sister Nicola!) so that Bonnie could test out her new dress-up sticker book.

then it was on to Tesco to gather some stuff for tea. but Tesco sounded boring (apparently) so i stayed in the car with little mademoiselle so that she could play with her new Pinypon dolls 

because Bonnie's godmother (aka me) is a fool and doesn't need any excuse to buy treats for her dear little god-daughter... and one of the dolls had red hair like Bonnie so it kind of HAD to be bought... you know!

ah what can i say, she's a little sweetheart, 100% worth it! even if she is too young to drive...

eventually we got home and within five minutes my room had been taken over!

to be fair though, Bonnie made up for it by drawing a lovely picture of me, check out my colourful dress!!!

   

she's quite arty actually (much to her godmothers delight...) and spent the better part of the evening drawing, cutting, sticking and colouring!

but eventually it was time to settle down a bit, so after dinner we watched the Wizard of Oz (Bonnie's choice) and some Family Guy DVD's (my choice... obviously!!! but in my defence they were bleeped and she was drawing most of the time anyway! honest...)

we were going to head out to the park in Ramsey this morning but it was a gloomy day so we stayed in and watched some more Family Guy, and after breakfast we did some baking instead!

Bonnie was ever such a good baking assistant! she mixed the batter perfectly and put all the cupcake cases into the mini cupcake maker (more about that here - Cute Cupcakes)

she also did a great job mixing up the fresh pink buttercream icing i made... even if my piping skills still suck!!!

we ran out of the buttercream, so she helped me mix up some pale pink icing as well

the decorations were all done by Bonnie, and i think you'll agree that she did a smashing job using heart sprinkles, colourful hundreds-and-thousands and the odd minstrel!

and most importantly... they tasted absolutely delicious!!!

so delicious in fact that we boxed some up so that Bonnie could take them back to share with her mum and dad, her little sister and her older brother.

she was a little angel (well, mostly!) as per usual, but the house is so quiet now without her! there's just a trail of mess and destruction left from earlier...

* * *

personal post today but then that always happens when a family member comes to stay!

anyway in other news, like i said at the start, i promise to make more of an effort with the blog posts next week! promise promise promise!!!

in fact, i already have a cracking creative café post lined up for you all tomorrow evening!

so keep an eye out for that!

but until then, that's all folks... ◕‿◕ ★ xX

Cute Cupcakes ★

so. . . i failed to mention this yesterday or earlier because i had other stuff to post about but on Friday afternoon i came home to find a belated Birthday present waiting for me by the gates!!!

it was off my best friend Courtney and inside the pink tissue paper wrapped bundle i found a cupcake maker!

yes you read that right, she got me my very own mini cupcake maker!!!

a cupcake maker that allows you to make cute mini cupcakes in minutes!

i'm not gonna lie, i fully squealed when i realised what the present was! i'm not the world's best baker and to be honest i often struggle just to make decent cupcakes so this is a real god-send!

it's kind of like a little toastie or waffle maker except you pour cupcake mix in instead

according to the instructions, it's not necessary to use cupcake cases but i'd seen a few blogs and sites online showing people using cases with their makers, and luckily my cousin Mandy bought me a lovely little cupcake making kit for my birthday that i have been dying to try out!

the cases fit perfectly, so now all i needed were the ingredients!

like i said. . . not the best baker! i didn't trust myself with completely raw ingredients (measuring wise i really suck) so my dear mama got me some simple 'just add eggs/water' kits instead.

the maker itself is actually really awesome, once i'd mixed the batter and heated up the little maker it cooked the cupcakes up in no time!

+ it was an absolute doddle to clean (as you can see i spilt some of the batter) and super easy to use!

i actually cooked up 15 mini cakes altogether and then of course, came the fun part. . . decorating them!

i mixed up a bowl of buttercream icing with a dash of strawberry milkshake powder. ok so i failed to buy any proper vanilla essence or flavourings but the milkshake powder actually worked really well! it made the icing a sort of blushed peachy pink and it piped out really easily onto the cakes

even if my piping skills aren't quite as good!!! i threw on some sprinkles for good measure though

before promptly running out of buttercream icing!!! luckily my star of a mother whipped up a batch of chocolate icing for me to use

so i ended up with some strange sort of marbled iced cakes as well

but at the end of the day the proof is in the taste and these taste delicious! even if i do say so myself . . . and i do!

a mini cupcake success i think!!!

thanks to Courtney for the amazing gift, thank you deary xX

* * *

in other news, i've spent the afternoon writing and editing my digital logbook ahead of assessment next week, 

planning on watching a movie or something now but to be honest i've been at a bit of a loose end since i finished my re-watch marathon of 'Supernatural' which means i now have nothing to watch!!!

any suggestions for a show i could maybe get into and watch/re-watch would be greatly appreciated!

i was thinking maybe 'True Blood' or 'Misfits' but i'd quite like a new show to watch

anyway, enough rambling! enjoy the rest of your Sunday

that's all folks . . . ★ ◕‿◕ xX

Little Cupcakes ★

so today after spilling water on my new copy of Elle magazine + running around playing hide and seek, little miss Sienna helped me bake some cupcakes

we cheated by using some cupcake mixes but it was still fun to crack some eggs and stir up the ingredients

it was also the first time we'd both gotten to test out or new funky aprons, here's Sienna modeling her cute little cupcake one

because she doesn't like icing on cakes, Sienna decorated her 12 using chocolate sauce and tiny little chocolate mini eggs

she did a smashing job dripping the sauce everywhere + used up all of the little eggs to create her chocolaty easter cakes

they looked very pretty when they were all done

then of course it was my turn to do some decorating

my cakes were made using a Disney Princess kit (we bought it for Sienna but of course... she doesn't like icing)

Sienna left me to it and practiced playing skittles over the other side of the kitchen...

while i shakily and messily coated the cakes in gloopy icing and the cute little fondant decorations

they're not perfect (far from it in fact...) but it doesn't matter what they look like... 

it's what they taste like that's important!

Sienna ate most of her chocolatey creations and boxed up the rest to take home

she let 'Fumbo' (aka Dumbo) try one first though...

* * *

in other news...

i got a nice message on twitter last night off someone asking if it was ok to do a mini feature of my work on their blog

my answer was... OF COURSE!!!

it's always nice when someone likes your work enough to want to mention it on their blog so i was more than happy to let Danielle post 2 of my pieces on her gorgeous blog 'Dusty Rocket'

her own artwork is amazing so i think i'm going to ask her if she'll let me do a little feature on her work one day as well

check out the original blog post/feature about my work here - Dusty Rocket

and check out Danielle's awesome website here - Danielle Parker Portfolio

* * *

not much else to report, i'm still working on the little kawaii purse i've been sewing since last Thursday

i WILL finish it... eventually!

i'll post pictures when it's done i promise!

ok i'm heading off to play some 'Pikmin' now on my new Gamecube

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ xX