♥ Penguins Galore

I was woken up this morning at 7:50am by a text message. normally this would have ended with me hurling the phone off my bedside table towards the window or the wall but on this occasion i didn't mind too much. must have been a mellow morning mood or something.

anyway, i've stayed in all day today since it was the last day that Sienna, Emma and Mandy were all staying here. Sienna finally got her nails painted sparkly pink (by yours truly) this morning as well, since i was bad and spent most of last night on my computer editing illustrations! sorry Sienna x

anyway since i have no new news (no new news, try saying that quickly 5 times) to share i thought i'd post my latest illustration instead

it's the very special one i was on about the other day, 'a very special illustration requested by my super duper friend Jeni who is going off to Uni soon'

this is the finished result, it's called 'Jeni in Penguinland'

shall i explain the craziness of this picture?! ok dokes here goes...

well, her fave colour is Blue and she luuurves Penguins so somehow i came up with this

i thought blue dress for sure + penguinland...

something to do with Alice in Wonderland maybe...

so it was basically a chance to have another go at an Alice in Wonderland style girl, whilst also attempting to make her look like Jeni AND bringing the penguins into it as well.

she's seen it already and seems to like it so i'm going to print out a nice neat copy of it for her once i'm back at college since the whole point of the illustration request was so that she'd have something to put on the wall of her new room at uni.

and that's it really.

i reached 700 followers today on Twitter which was cause for a mini celebration (i put on my 6-inch heels and had a little dance around my room to Peggy Lee songs)

to be honest i spent most of the day sat on my own listening to Manx Radio (i finally sorted it so i can listen to it on my macbook), editing photos and writing stuff on my laptop.

i got some exciting news today though via email so stay tuned for something ultra suuuuper happening soon.

i hope you all had a great Bank Holiday Monday

i know it may seem like i wasted mine but since i'm off away in a few days i figured a day of doing absolutely nothing was exactly what i needed before the hustle and bustle of airports and rent-a-cars takes over on Wednesday!

enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday,

hope you all have a super duper day tomorrow

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Shopping in the Rain☆

So sadly today was my last day here in the lovely city of Cork. I've had a smashing trip here and will definitely be coming back as soon as I can, to Ireland in general in fact, I just love it here, I always do! Every time I visit I fell sort of at home here I can't explain why, maybe it's become my dad's family originally come from here, it's in my blood I guess ◕‿◕

anyway it was raining today but did that stop me! Not one bit! i popped on my new coat, grabbed my DKNY scarf (to match my red dress), donned the new boots and shoved my handbag in the crook of my arm, brolly firmly up protecting me from the elements!

Forget singing in the rain... I was totally shopping in it today, in the space of about half an hour i'd visited 6 stores and amassed a small collection of shopping bags. All in all it was a fruitful day shopping wise, a vast improvement on the crappola times of yesterday.

I had a good old mooch in Penneys (aka Primark) and got some great bits and bobs including this adorable heart shaped bag, this gorgy cameo headband and some awesome retro sunglasses for an 80's party i'm off to on Saturday. The red ones are for me and the white (practically invisible on my hotel bedspread) ones are for my friend Mike who's party it is.

The weird thing is he told me that today he popped into town (in the Isle of Man) to look for some 80's style sunnies for the party... and didn't find any! Well i'm glad to have been so super duper smart to grab a pair for him myself, even if they did cost a whopping 50 cents! ◕‿◕

I also grabbed some cute fingerless gloves for winter days at College and a couple of other bits. I'm not 100% loved up on Primark/Penneys but I must admit that I rarely leave one of their stores without a bag of stuff!

I picked up some cute hair bows and headbands in the sale at Accessorize, I bought this exact same tartan headband three years ago from the UK airport when I flew out to spend Christmas in Las Vegas, but I accidentally snapped it whilst I was away!

I couldn't believe it when I spotted this one today, and on sale as well! It's a cute thing for winter + it reminds me of my old school uniform from when I was little. We had tartan kilts and tartan school ties ◕‿◕

I also popped back to the gorgeous 'Peacock & Ruby' store in the English Market for one last wander around it's gorgeous displays and enticing sparkly bits and bobs. I was totally delighted to find the pair of earrings that i've been pining over all week were still there waiting for me!

I spotted them on my first day here in Cork when I first visited the shop but I didn't buy them for some reason. I was sure they'd be gone but I promised myself that if they were still there today then I would definitely get them... and they were ◕‿◕

here's a snap of them, I don't know why I like them so much, there's just something about them that I love! (sorry it's such a small photo, my camera really sucks!)

i had a last whizz around the handbag hall of Brown Thomas as well, sadly i couldn't afford anything but i still had a bloody good look! it's probably sad that as soon as i got in there i noticed that they'd changed the handbag displays round and added new A/W ones... yeah i visited them a lot this week, and last week, and in Dublin!

I went to a big toy store as well down one of the side streets, I love toy shops but then I guess i'll never fully grow up! I bought two tiny little things from the shop but I can't say what they are because their a present for my friend Alex who is also a big kid stuck having to try and behave all the time like a normal, sensible grown-up!

Being grown-up sucks!

Ok that's all for today, i'm chilling in the room tonight with my picnic which mostly consists of jam donuts and bread sticks (a veritable feast!) so I can watch Sherlock episodes on my laptop whilst I pack my bags for tomorrow. My boat back to the Isle of Man is in the afternoon, 2 or 3ish I can't remember... i'll worry about it when the time comes but for now I so can't be arrrsed!

before i sign off i want to share a quote with you, i heard this today in Brown Thomas and absolutely love it!

'a Handbag is not just a Handbag... it is a vessel for all your most prized possessions'

i like that, a nice way of explaining the importance of a bag i think!

Arrivederci dudes and dudettes,

lots of Irish luuurve to you all

◕‿◕ xX

Week of Blogging - Day 1

ok so i know i said i'd blog every day but technically there are still about 14 mins left of today so... it's officially STILL Monday!

i actually had a whole load of fan arts planned for today but due to unforeseen circumstances (aka my mum bossing me about) i ended up spending the day cleaning and tidying instead!

TOMORROW i shall spend the day drawing! and possibly watching old Rodgers and Hammersteins musicals on DVD (during my tidy up i may have re-discovered a heap of old DVD's otherwise lost to the mess of my room!)

right, bed time now!

tomorrows blog shall include pictures... and THAT is a promise!

:-) xXx

live projects

So, 2 weeks in and once again I’m beginning to struggle! This term we have been given a series of ‘live projects’ to work on. These include a competition to design a pice of artwork for the local hospital, a competition to paint a scene of Douglas (the island's capital) to hang in the local museum, a competition in which we produce a body of work (watercolours and sketches) of local landscapes as well as making the yearbook for the College Art dept leavers. The only reason I am struggling is because I have so many ideas swirling around my head I don’t know where to start. So in true ‘me’ style I have spent this weekend drawing things, things that have absolutely nothing to do with my college work :-D it’s a bank holiday weekend as well  which means I will undoubtedly spend the rest of today drawing things! Blissful indeed :-)

Here’s the first finished drawing of today. 'link' Enjoy… L2a xxx :-D