Post Birthday Blog!

Well... it certainly has been a while since I last posted anything on here! Lets see, it's been just under seven months since I last published a blog. Yikes!

Never mind, i'm here now anyway, that's what counts. In fact you may or may not have noticed that the blog has a brand new look. That's right, here it is resplendent in all of its eye achingly colourful glory. Yay!

So what's THIS post all about I hear you cry? Simple really, on Saturday I celebrated my 23^rd Birthday and I thought what better time to re-commence my blogging habit than on my birthday. Or a few days after it as is actually the case.

Anyway, I thought i'd share a few snaps of Birthday related bits n' bobs with you all. I don't really have anything else to talk about at the moment. so it's going to be a mostly picture laden post. And there will definitely be a significant number of exclamation marks used throughout. Enjoy.

For starters, feast your eyes on this terrifically tasty treat of a Birthday cake! (i can verify that it is indeed delicious)

i was also surprised with a lovely bunch of flowers from my Aunt and Uncle. i hardly ever get flowers so these really were a lovely gift + Gerbera daisies are my absolute favourite flowers.

i got ever so many cards this year, by the end of the day on my Birthday i was beginning to run out of room for them all!

I was very VERY excited to find a little parcel of Birthday cards from my fellow Librarians waiting for me on my Birthday. I was even more excited when i opened the parcel to find presents as well! Even more so when i realised just how brilliant the presents were.

It's no secret at the Library that i'm a bit of a Sherlock fangirl (understatement!) so imagine my delight when i opened up the parcel and find this BRILLIANT Benedict Cumberbatch colouring book 

If i'm not busy fangirling over Benedict and his glorious cheekbones, i'm bound to be rambling on about my other fangirl crush Tom Hiddleston. I'm not sure if i could ever choose between Benny and Hiddles and decide which one is my absolute favourite, so these pencils really are the best thing ever because now i don't HAVE to choose! It's printed on the pencils so it MUST be official.

And as if all of that wasn't fabulous enough, there was even some of my favourite sweeties in the bag! what a lucky duck i am. Yum!

After spending the day at home (in my pyjamas) I made my way into Douglas to meet my friends for Birthday drinks.

My super duper pal Lorna gave me this luuurrrrvely Mary Poppins necklace (which i immediately put on and wore ALL evening). Mary Poppins is one of my favourite characters (i think i secretly want to be her) so i couldn't NOT love the necklace. + it's a locket, so Lorna says i have to put pictures of Benny and Hiddles in it. Obviously!

My flatmate Matt got me a Ghostbusters mug (and a Lady Raincorn wristband) which i was v chuffed with. Ghostbusters is my favourite movie, i can't believe i didn't already have a mug. Well, now i do!

For my actual Birthday outing, i celebrated the same way i did last year, by heading out on the Promenade with my friends to enjoy the atmosphere of the Funfair and the TT beer tent + music stage. Luckily it was a sunny day and a balmy evening so it was all good. As has become Birthday tradition, i slathered on some red lipstick and got vaguely dressed up, i debuted my latest purchase, a lovely vintage circle skirt. 

Here's the obligatory Birthday selfie...

All in all it was a good Birthday. i got to celebrate it with my family and friends which is exactly who i'd want to share a day/evening with. So i'm another year older now, definitely not any wiser and undoubtedly still a big kid at heart (the highlight of the evening for me was getting a big bag of pink Candy Floss on my way home from the beer tent!)

So here's the being 23, completely immature and as ever, utterly oblivious to what the future might bring! Fingers crossed it's a good year...


And on that typically peculiar note i'll say goodbye, i can't think of anything else to write so this will have to do for now!

farewell folks xX

May Drawing Challenge - Day 20

the theme for today was 'lunch' so voila, here is a little doodle of my totally non-exciting lunch from today...

simple :)

and until tomorrow, that's all for now folks... xX

cake, commissions, cases and coding ★

so as i mentioned in my post on Sunday, i've spent the past few days working busily on various commissions for clients across in the UK, there've been logo/banner designs for a cupcake business, CD and book cover designs for a meditative training centre as well as a few new flyer designs for various vintage festivals/shows around the country

busy busy busy

and STILL no proper start on any college work :O

for the first time in my life i think i'm going to have to stop accepting new commissions! something i thought i'd never ever do

sad times :(

anyway, in the midst of all my editing/business meetings over the phone/drawing today, i popped up the hill to check to postbox and was delighted to see that my little prize had arrived from my friend Laura at 'I Love Crafty'

she ran a little giveaway on her blog and i was one of the runners up so i won a super duper cute pair of battenberg bow earrings!

and they arrived in the cutest, teeniest little package ever!

and had a cute mini packet of love hearts all wrapped up with them!

so lovely! i love little surprise parcels like that! i mean i knew i'd won the earrings but i'd sort of forgotten about them being posted out, so busy i forgot i'd won a prize! geez louise!!!

anyway, I Love Crafty is the most AMAZING shop in Bristol over in the UK, sadly i've never been to it myself but i love seeing snaps and vids of it on Laura's blog/site/facebook page

it looks absolutely divine! and i really REALLY hope i get to visit it one day and meet Laura in person! oh lord i can just imagine, it will be the longest shop post ever... i'll just want to snap so many photos of such an incredible store!!!

luckily though, Laura also sells lots of lovely handmade crafty and kawaii type things online as well, so even if you can't make it to the actual shop, you can still treat yourself (or someone else!) to something super duper cute and sweet!

like i said hopefully one day i'll get to go myself so i'll do a MAHOOOSIVE feature about the shop then (i sooo will!) but in the meantime i recommend that you check out the awesome ILC website here - I Love Crafty

you can also 'Like' the shop via facebook - I Love Crafty

and follow Laura on twitter for updates and info about the shop + all her crafty/arty goings on - @ilovecrafty

so thanks again to the v lovely Laura for sending me the divine little earrings! :)

(cute pictures here via I Love Crafty ©)

* * *

in other news, i found out this morning that red bubble have just started selling iPhone covers featuring members artwork/designs

i already sell iPhone covers and skins via Society6 (you can see them all here - Jade's iPhone covers)

but i've a few different designs available via red bubble now, here's the full range so far...

my red bubble shop is here - Jade's Red Bubble shop

 oh and fyi i don't set the prices, if i did... they'd be a lot lower! ;)

ps - and all of the designs there are also available as stickers + printed on t-shirts, hoodies and baby onesies.

* * *

apart from all that i've not really much else to share, maybe because i haven't been out of the house (other than to check the postbox) since last Friday!

oh AND i also spent a good 2 hours last night getting a crash course in web coding

now before you snigger, i've been able to (v basically) code stuff for my blog and my tumblr for years but as far as i was concerned, my website existed via magic and witchcraft, maybe a bit of fairy dust...

however my Jedi Master (aka Richard my web designer pal) has now taught me everything i needed to know to update the site + add images etc

it was mind bogglingly insane and complicated but 100% worth the epic coding headache!

right, back to college for me tomorrow, i think the plan is to get some printing done (if myself or Jennie remember how to do it!) so who knows, i might have some cool stuff to post about tomorrow!

then again maybe not!

so until next time, 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

Candy Colours ♥

so despite the fact that i haven't left the house in days + the fact that i haven't blogged in aaaages tonight i thought, what the hell! let's have a blog post, why not . . .

wanted to share my latest candy coloured illustration with you all

the aptly named 'C A N D Y'

yes she's a little bright

and yes, for those who've followed this blog for a while, that is the modern Alice in Wonderland Girl i drew when i was bored one afternoon

but as you can see this one is a little more crazy in the colour department

moving on from the garish colours, check out what i FINALLY finished making this afternoon!

i swear my hands have been deliberately naughty today, it took 3 attempts for me to stitch the head together since i kept sewing parts up wrong

anyway it's done now

ahem . . . check out the tag

well actually truth be told, this lovely little fawn isn't 100% finished yet but i need to buy the finishing touch tomorrow so it soon will be!

what else?!

well i also finaaaally glued on some anywhere clips this afternoon, 

then i went a bit loco trying them all on (ignoring the VILE quality of the photos!!!)

this is my fave though (even if i say so myself! and i do) 

i will be making some of these rosette clips available in the etsy shop soon but i think i'm going to have to keep one of the nautical ones for myself!

* * *

nothing else to report (i think) tomorrow it's off to college to get some sewing done + finish off my critical study essay + print out a bajillion candy prints

bye bye dear readers!

that's all folks ◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Meet the Bears ★

so yesterday i spent the day sewing and watching movies (the dark knight + anchorman + the blues brothers) 

would you like to see what i made?!

why do i even ask, i know you all want to see!!!

i'd like you all to meet 'Beatrice the Bear' and 'Bernadette the Bear'

these little darlings are only a couple of inches tall so i thought they'd look nice on necklaces or keyrings, but seeing as i always lose my keyrings i thought necklaces were a safer bet

do you like them? they sure were fun to make + they're made of the same thick felt i used for 'Fifi the Fawn' (go and meet her here - Fawns and Fabric) so they're quite sturdy really, i also used some tiny gingham bows + cute buttons from 'Just Enough' to brighten them up a bit

i've ordered some pretty chains to put them on so fingers crossed these little bears + the plushie cupcake charms will soon be available from my etsy shop

* * *

in other news, a parcel arrived for me yesterday from London and i was super duper excited to open it since it contained the new Postcards and Mini Cards i ordered

check out these sugary sweet postcards with my 'Sugar Skull' and 'Let Them Eat Cake' designs

and i also got three 'Where's Charlie?' themed designs printed up as well

they're pretty cute right?! the postcards are printed with a glossy finish but the backs have a lovely silk finish making it easier to write on

i'm quite pleased with how they printed out, the print quality is amazing, the lines are flawless

anyway they're all up for sale on the shop at the reasonable price of £1 each (this is reasonable to me seeing as in the Sayle Gallery here on the Island they charge £1.50 per postcard!!! + i know dozens of other artists that charge £1.50 - .£2 for their postcards!)

or you can buy them in little sets of 3 in which case they work out slightly cheaper . . .

go forth and have a skeet for yourself at the shop - The Candy Cove

but that's not all that arrived because i also ordered these . . .

now i love the business cards i got printed up a few weeks ago but there's only 50 of them! well, there was 50 of them before i started giving them out to people . . .

they're diddy compared to my business cards but i think that just adds to their girly charm

so i wanted something simpler to just hand out to people + pop in with all the etsy shop orders, i mean i enclose a little business card with every order anyway but now i'll be able to pop in one or two of these

i got 10 of my 'Girl' designs printed up and i'm liking how they turned out, they kind of remind me of old fashioned cigarette cards + i like the idea that people can pick out their favourite girl from the set 

and of course they still have my website + email on the back

total genius! i love them, i should make them little collectibles, so that people can collect the set of 10 girly mini cards

but of course, the ONLY way to get YOUR hands on one (or two) of them is to buy something from my etsy shop

* * *

that's all for today i guess

i got another order for a custom plushie Fawn this afternoon so i guess i could make a start on that but to be honest it's been so long since i did any quantifiable college work i might just spend the evening drawing out new character ideas for the Cupcake Princess story

until next time, that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX