Catch up times

Hello there, Happy Easter to you today if you celebrate it. And if you don't... then 'Happy Sunday' and if it's not Sunday where you are... then 'hello' wherever in the world you are + whatever you're up to today.

Golly gosh it's been a while since I last posted on here. You don't need me to tell you it's because i've been so busy because that's the reason I give every time (it's true after all...) but i've also been ill recently and am currently tackling a particularly vile viral throat infection (it's as sore and rubbish as it sounds) that has given me a raw throat, aching limbs, constant headaches + taken away my sense of taste and most of my appetite.

The weird thing is that over the past few weeks i've actually had things to blog about, I just haven't managed to get around to actually writing stuff up or editing pictures. However, seeing as i've spent the entire day cooped up in bed drinking endless cups of orange juice and gazing wistfully at my easter eggs (I woke up to find 8 kinder eggs waiting for me, pity I can't actually taste the chocolate at the moment though) I figured 'no time like the present' and got sorting through the pictures.


I'll start at the most recent stuff and work my way back ok. Bear in mind that this will be a mostly personal post full of pics of friends and family members so if you're here looking for a Creative Café feature or something similar... i'm sorry to disappoint!

Obviously to start with I should point out the blog redesign... yes that's right folks, gone are the candy stripes and headache inducing shades of pink and purple, instead we now have cute airmail stripes + a simpler banner. Let me know if you love it or loathe it, leave a little comment...


Ok on with the post! so yesterday was my best friend Courtney's 21st Birthday, I managed to leave my duvet nest for a few hours to see her in town (at The Alpine of course...) and hand over her Birthday gifts, part of which was this very special little hand stitched Owl plushie that i made especially for her 21st.

like me, Courtney is a big fan of all things Owl related, i'd already bought her a cute little pocket watch necklace but wanted to make her something as well so a girly candy coloured mini owl seemed perfect!

Sticking with The Alpine Café for a moment, I popped in last Wednesday to spend the morning sipping tea and editing files and Melanie, the café's lovely owner came over to show me the brand new menus that had just been delivered

if you think the illustrations look a tad familiar it's because I designed them!!!

if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you'll know that I visit the Alpine pretty much every time I head into town so I was absolutely over the moon when Melanie asked me to sort some stuff for the new menu designs several weeks ago.

I showed her 'the Alpine' design I made (inspired by the actual café) and she picked it straightaway only choosing to space it between the kids menu and main menu. It's brilliant popping into the café now only to see my designs on every table!

On Thursday night a new group exhibition opened at the Pavillion in Laxey here on the island.

the 'Miscellaneous' exhibition featuring a bunch of Manx artists, designers, ceramicists and photographers.

I have 4 little candy paintings in the show but unfortunately couldn't go to the private view because I was too ill, so sadly I have no snaps of the show or all of the awesome work on display :(

anyway, let's go back a week or two and my lovely little cousin Sienna came to stay for the entire weekend! Sienna is a regular on this blog and if you read my posts then you'll know what a blast we always have when she comes to stay.

That weekend was no different and we had great fun pottering around Douglas + visiting the annual On Your Doorstep Exhibition at the Villa Marina in Douglas (read about our cupcake fuelled trip there last year as well - Things that begin with 'S' )

during the weekend we played with all her Lalaloopsy dolls (+ some of mine...)

we also had great fun playing in the garden on the Sunday since it was such a gorgeous sunny day!

We went for a hula hoop walk around the house...

tried to see if we could spot some frogs in the pond...

we found the old the garden swing...

we even drew some chalk masterpieces outside the garage!

AND played hopscotch...

Then in the afternoon we baked up a load of cute cupcakes for the Easter fair at Sienna's school

and painted a special 'Princess' egg for the Easter Egg Competition

it was a great weekend and then I even had a fun final week at college before the Easter break started. Although my desk is still a mess of books and other arty rubbish...

oh and i've been making some new bears as well over the past few weeks

My Easter assessment went well and I got some positive critiques on my latest work... which I still haven't shared with you all!

About the new work, i've been sorting these designs and paintings since mid February and they are all going towards my final end of year exhibition at college + a new group exhibition

I would love LOVE to post some sneak peek pics on here, but i'm not going to (I know, i'm so cruel!) so if you want to see them you'll either have to come to one of my exhibitions next month or in June or... wait for me to blog about the stuff when the exhibitions go up!

All I can tell you is that the new work is very girly, very bright and very fun!

Speaking of girly, bright and fun, check out the Cath Kidston fabric swatches I got a few weeks ago!

+ here's a snap of my ongoing washi tape collection (yes, I may have become a tad addicted! But it's so handy and looks good on everything!!!) i've owned a few rolls of the stuff before but am a little late to the table so far as Washi tape addictions go! i intend to make up for that though... just give me time!

it's become a sort of weekly ritual that I treat myself to a new washi tape or two, great for my crafty needs, not so good for my bank balance! if only they didn't look so pretty adorning tags, books and orders from my etsy shop!

Ok one final thing now before I crawl back to my duvet nest and reach for the orange juice. A couple of months ago myself + a few friends decided to start a local design collective for young illustrators, graphic designers and animators.

It's called 'Smoo Doo Croo' which is Manx Gaelic and roughly translates to 'Think Ink Create'

Smoo Doo Croo currently consist of 7 members, all guys and girls between the ages of 19 and 29, all emerging artists and all multitalented.

Among our ranks we have some illustrators, some graphic designers, painters, web designers, crafters + a couple of Oscar Nominated animators and colourists (yes... really!)

so it would be amazingly awesome and great if you could head over and check out our blog – Smoo Doo Croo: Think Ink Create

+ if you're feeling kind maybe 'Like' us on Facebook (we need more likes... pretty please?!) - Smoo Doo Croo

or follow us on Twitter - @SmooDooCroo

we're also on tumblr – smoodoocroo

and we even have a few boards on Pinterest too! - Smoo Doo Croo

all that's left now is for me to say toodle-ooh, i think the blog might be on another hiatus for a few weeks after this while i recover + get back to college and back to the busy work times once again.

so until then, whenever it might be, 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

Trip to the Museum ★

so apologies for the absence of posts over the past couple of days, 

Friday i was out all day (testing out my new Rockalily lipstick) in town searching for presents for my mum's Birthday + meeting my Godmother for lunch

yesterday i met my best friend Courtney for lunch since it was her Birthday on Thursday and i wanted to hand over her Birthday presents

amongst them was this lovely little chocolate Owl . . . (which Courtney ate straight away!)

of course when i say we met for lunch what i mean is, 'we met for cakes at the Alpine'

although the main plan for the day was for us to go up to the Manx Museum for a few hours since we both love it so much

we've both been going to the Museum for as long as we can remember, growing up on the Isle of Man you end up visiting it loads for school trips but we've been coming here at the weekends since we were thirteen! and we've been popping back every now and then whenever we can for the past 7 years . . .

the museum is chock full of all manner of wonderful exhibits (all with a Manx theme of course) and despite how many years we've been coming here, i think we both always manage to learn something new during each visit . . .

and even if we don't always stop to read every tiny detail about each exhibition we still have a great time, it's a brilliant Museum and whenever i visit it, it always makes me feel proud to be Manx

one of my favourite parts of the Museum is the little Manx Folklore collection

which includes the origins of the famous Manx myths and legends all about Fairies, Fynoderees and Bugganes. the collection also includes this old handmade doll of 'Nan Wade' 

to be honest, the doll creeps us both out! that's why Courtney demanded that i take a photo of it to share with you all . . .

i love this little cross stitch piece that hangs above one of the Museum video spots, trust me to be more bothered about the sewing that the story being told! though i've seen the video so many times by now!

i also really love the little old fashioned 'sweet shop' reconstruction on display, the shop would have apparently sold pretty much everything, i kind of wish it still existed! i'd shop there . . .

now we almost always spot something new during our visits and this trip was no different, downstairs we found this lifesize cut out of Arthur Caley 'the Manx Giant'

now i remember seeing the bronze casts of Arthur's hands and boots on display in the museum but i've never seen the cutout before. by the way, Arthur Caley was a Manx man born in 1824, by the time he grew up he was 7ft 11ins tall and was the tallest man in the world (in his lifetime)

while we were down there we also snapped these gorgeous old Regency period dresses which remind us both of 'Pride and Prejudice'

and this beautiful blue dress

back upstairs we stopped by our favourite exhibit, a video all about the popularity of the Isle of Man as a tourist destination during the 20's and 30's

you have to sit and watch the video on old fashioned striped deckchairs which are sooooo comfy!

we also snapped a few of the old postcards on display, well i had to snap the Pinup one for sure!

as well as some of the naughty ones from the 70's

and the motorbikes in the TT display area

we ended our trip in the big Natural History room which is full of al sorts of fun interactive games and projections as well as all the old taxidermied animals and the massive Whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling

there are loads of little games dotted about the room as well 

so after a quick game of Manx Nature and Wildlife themed Pinball . . .

we settled down to draw some animals with the help of the projectors (no-one said the drawing tables were just for children!!!)

basically you pick an animal or plant and then move a sheet of paper under the projection to draw the outline, like "Millicent" the Stoat (drawn by Courtney) 

Courtney also drew this Brown Rat to begin with, later named "Constance" (not 'Contance' as the paper says . . .)

then it was my turn . . .

now despite the look of concentration (and despite the fact i'm supposed to be an illustrator!) my drawing really wasn't the teeny tiniest bit remotely good whatsoever!

but "Esther" the pipistrelle bat rounded off our little sketched menagerie for the afternoon

at last it was time to leave, so after a quick skeet around the Gift Shop we signed the visitors book and after a quick flick through found some interesting names listed . . .

you probably won't be able to make it out without zooming but this one, dated from August 2009 shows my signature + my friend Mike's from an afternoon when we popped up to the museum to visit our friend Molly who was working in the cafe at the time

a few pages later we found Courtney's signature dated from September 2008

it was crazy to flick back through the pages and find our own signatures, 2008 seems so long ago now . . .

anyway i have rambled on enough!

apologies for the (finely documented if not completely historically accurate in places) account of my day out!

if it bored you, i promise to try and cook up and more interesting post for next time!

if you've never visited the Isle of Man but have become strangely intrigued by the Manx Museum after this highly frolic filled post then i recommend you watch this little 6 minute 'Story of Mann

just follow this link - Story of Mann

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nothing more to add really, i woke up vaguely on time this morning to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix and since then i've spent the day sewing together 5 little plushie lollipops for an American customer

tomorrow i have to sew up a little Fawn for a local customer then i should really REALLY work on this tattoo commission!

enjoy the rest of your Sunday wherever you are in the world

that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX