College, Cupcakes and La Catrina ★

so today i went back to college seeing as i only managed to make it in for one day last week! 

i spent the day working on some new stuff including a sort of 'la Catrina' + dia de los muertos inspired pin-up girl 

initially inspired by the Calavera de la Catrina 

she's also based on one of the 666 photography shoots i wrote a little about in this post - Curvy Corsets & Pretty Pinup Photography

i've used an old lingerie pin-up girl from a commission as the base

 and started adding Catrina/sugar skull style make-up and tattoos using the sugar skull design i drew out the other day

still can't make up my mind about the colours though...

and i keep mixing it all up

i'm sure i'll work out how to fix her eventually!

* * *

i also painted my nails today (who knew this post would be SO interesting...) 

i used the new Barry M 'nail effects' varnish i bought during my trip to Coventry a few weeks ago

i hadn't used it until today but it works really well! makes the most awesome crackled patterns on your nails! can highly recommend it to you all...

* * *

oh as well as the Catrina style girly i also started a new embroidery piece today,

they're legs by the way... bizarre i know but i never said i was a good sewer or embroiderer!!!

seeing as this is my first EVER attempt at hand sewn applique it's bound to be rubbish though... right?!

ah it's a work in progress anyway and still has a LOOOONG way to go!

 it's supposed to be an embroidered + appliqued version of this

only time will tell as to whether or not i succeed...

* * *

in other news, my mum came home today with a goodie bag of... goodies for me from town

i absolutely loathe Monday's (who doesn't...) so it was extra awesome of her to gather this stuff for me today

we have...

a cute mini kokeshi doll...

...that opens up into a lipgloss!!!

+ a pack of yummy strawberry cupcake scented mini-wipes (genius!!!)

awesome sets of earrings

totally awesome in fact...

and last but not least, a REAL cupcake...

so cute (not to mention downright delicious) 

isn't she a total star! thanks mum x

* * *

s'all for today, i need some food now seeing as i haven't had any breakfast or lunch to speak of...

until next time

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

when boredom attacks...

so today i stayed in again to work on my essay, it's already gone way over proposed word count but it's still not finished!!!

worrying about how to finish it properly without rambling on forever like i did for my Michelangelo essay (it ended up about 7000 words long in the end... i had to crop it right down to just under 4000) but the problem is i do tend to ramble a lot when i write an essay about something i like

and this essay is about picture books so yeah... i like the subject quite a lot!

anyway, moving on to something (hopefully) a little less boring

i really haven't done much today apart from mope about in my room so all i've got to share is a few photos...

These delightful little lovelies were brought home by my mum

aren't they adorable! Tiny mini gingerbread men... total genius!

She also brought home two more edible creatures...

well it's no secret that I love sugar mice, especially when they're pink!

This afternoon I also pinned up my new cupcake bunting (from THIS blog post – Home Sweet Home)

it's hanging up above my bed, just above my rose fairy lights (from this post – Brilliant Birmingham), my Colin Kerr original prints (from this post – kicking back in Kinsale) and the gorgeous Purplecatscorner print I won last year off the lovely Karen Tomlinson (check out her super duper blog here – Purplecatscorner)

I think they add a nice touch of sweetness to the room though, they certainly help distract from the hideous 'skin disease' wallpaper I have in my room (I didn't choose it... my dad did, a long time ago!)

this afternoon I also spent a bit of time messing around on a clever little website I clicked onto this morning after one of my friends on twitter posted a link

Basically, it's a digital version of the old drawing game of 'draw and fold over' where you draw a body part and fold the paper over for the next person to work on until you end up with a mismatched figure made up of all sorts of wacky and wonderful designs

it's a little tricky to handle the pen without a drawing tablet but it was loads of fun nonetheless (this was one of my designs)

you can even pick different pens and pencils to use + swipe on a bit of liquid paper (aka tippex) if you make a mistake

when a picture is finished it gets automatically posted to the site gallery where people can rate it

once you've finished drawing your body section you can send it off to someone to be completed via email

I tried to recommend it to my friend Mike but he wasn't really interested. This just makes him a sulky photographer as far as i'm concerned so i'm not even going to post a link to his blog like I normally do!

anyway if you fancy having a go at creating your own mixed up masterpiece, check out the site here - draw and fold over

it's free to use and very simple to get started + your drawings can be as detailed or as simple as you like

have fun!

* * *

So what else have I been up to today?

Well I worked on a new commission for a bit

it's nowhere (and I mean nowhere) near finsihed + it's just a tiny part of a much bigger design but it was kind of fun to draw a matryoshka doll

there's also a funky little bow which I have attempted to colour... and subsequently given up on every single time

i'll work it out in the end

hopefully...

* * *

not much else to tell really

i'm supposed to be heading into college tomorrow but it's HND second years assessments for the rest of the week so i'm not sure if i'll bother

might strike this week off as a failure and head in next week for a fresh start

i've got lots of new crafty and arty bits (thanks to the massive Hobbycraft store in Coventry where I spent far FAR too much money) so i'm literally itching to get on with some new stuff!!!

watch this space!

that's all folks...

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥