Paper People

Hello chums! Back again. As per usual I can't think of anything terribly clever or witty to start off today's post with, so i'm just going prattle on for a few lines then crack on with posting some photos instead.

So I haven't done much art lately. That sounds like the best way to sum up my total lack of creativity since the tail end of last year. I barely draw, I barely edit stuff on my macbook, other than the occasional bit of graphic design, I don't really do anything remotely creative.

But over the past few weeks i've been trying to shuffle-clamber out of my creativity-less malaise so i've been working on something new. It's been a bit of an agonisingly slow process but bit by minsucle bit the designs have begun to grow and develop into something actually printable.

So I thought, why don't I actually get some printed?!

And well, I did, and this is the result.

So without any further ado please allow me to introduce you to my newest creations, Aalish and Illiam...

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Aalish and Illiam are 'paper dolls' or to be more neutral 'paper people' (since Illiam has nothing against playing with dolls, he just isn't sure that he wants to be one. Aalish doesn't really mind either way, as long as there's chocolate cake available afterwards. There is cake isn't there?).

Those of you that have kept up with my work for a while might remember the Pinup Paper Doll I designed 2 years ago for local craft heaven and haberdashery treasure trove Sweet Ginger Emporium.

Well in many ways Aalish and Illiam are a small continuation of where 'Sweet Ginger' left off (who knows, maybe they're her children?!) and unsurprisingly they've been designed and created with the Sweet Ginger shop in mind.

They're a nice size for little hands, each 'doll' (sorry Illiam!) comes printed on a neat A4 sheet with a teeny tiny little matching button badge with their face on!

And they already have lots of nice clothes to choose from + some fun dressing up costumes! At the moment there are 2 sheets available for each doll (but I have so many more outfit sheets planned and in development!)

First up there's a Dressing Up sheet for Aalish + a Fancy Dress sheet for Illiam

And also a more casual Summer sheet for Aalish and a general Everyday sheet for Illiam, with LOTS of nice outfits to pick from each sheet.

I've wanted to design a paper doll aimed at both girls and boys, and although all of Aalish's clothes might be a tad too girly for Illiam (he doesn't much like it when I make him try on a dress, but Aalish thinks it's hilarious) ALL of Illiam's clothes will fit Aalish perfectly, they're completely swappable, so that she can have a go at being an astronaut or a dinosaur as well, should she want to (which she definitely does) but sometimes Aalish just borrows some of Illiam's normal clothes.

That's why there's a Pirate costume on each dress-up sheet. Most of Aalish's costumes are on the girly side, (because who wouldn't want to dress up as a mermaid or a princess?!) but that certainly doesn't mean that she doesn't like to dress up as a swashbuckling Pirate captain and run around with a sword every once in a while. Or all the time. Sometimes they both dress up as Pirates and go off in search of buried treasure! But so far all they've succeeded in doing is making a mess of my desk...

Sometimes when Illiam puts on the Dino costume, he pretends he's a fire-breathing dragon instead, but Aalish doesn't mind, she just acts like a fearsome Princess ready to defend her kingdom from any and all perils!

Other times they just put on their Superhero costumes and fly off to save the world, you know, just a typical day really. But they're always home in time for tea, especially if there are fizzy sweets for pudding (those are Illiam's favourites!)

 Ahem. You can probably tell that I had a LOT of fun designing the clothes and costumes! Aalish's were kind of a doddle but Illiam's were particularly challenging since I never ever really seem to draw anything for boys, so coming up with nifty little outfits for him was tonnes of fun.

Probably one of the most fun parts of the entire process was coming up with all the colours and fiddly little details for each outfit, like the pirate medallion on Illiam's costume + the treasure map. I got a bit carried away sometimes but it was worth it when I opened the box of prints and saw how fun they looked!

Although they're maybe a bit fiddly for very little hands to snip out (looks like mummy and daddy are the lucky ones to get to wield the scissors) once they've been freed from their paper confines, Aalish and Illiam are a perfect treat for little kids and big kids alike. (I for one am most definitely a big kid and i've had heaps of fun dressing them up on my desk!)

And at the end of the day they can peg up their lovely clothes and pick something new to wear on their next big adventure! 

So there you have it, Aalish and Illiam, two brilliant little people, i've no doubt that you'll be seeing an awful lot of them in the future (keep an eye out around Halloween and Christmas in particular!) since they're definitely the coolest kids around!

Hopefully the Doll and Clothing sheets will soon be available from Sweet Ginger in Ramsey here in the Isle of Man. I don't have any immediate plans to try and sell the sheets via my Etsy shop (although it's full of lots of other nice things you CAN buy) but if anyone was particularly interested in getting their hands on a set I could probably be persuaded.

And on that note i'll draw this post to a close. I'll no doubt be back at some point next week to tell you about the other little creative things i've been working on (spoiler alert: I may or may not have attempted a small painting) and whatever else, if anything, happens between now and then.


So it's goodbye from me, and goodbye from Aalish and Illiam!

Until next time, cheerio folks!

Moustaches and Matryoshkas ★

so i've had a fun day at college today, local artist/menace Juan Moore came in to teach us HNDers all about Book Binding and what not and by the end of the class we'd all successfully made our own little hardback postcard books!

genius stuff, even if mine did turn out so wobbly and messed up (damn PVA...) that i can't possibly show you a picture! it was a joyous afternoon regardless

also... i've been wearing my new Moustache necklace all day!

since it's Movember, and because i just hate to be left out of anything, i stitched this little beauty together yesterday afternoon at college and have pretty much had it on ever since! 

+ today i also wore my awesome Bow Tire necklace (from Plastic Bat) so it was double hit of coolness for sure!

i attached it to a small ball-link chain so that i can wear it ALL THE TIME! it's hand free you see... i'm not holding it up here, i was attempting (and failing...) to fix my hair! here's the finished necklace being modeled by my little teapot (a teapot that i actually made in my first year of college... yes really!)

because Movember is the perfect time to sport a fancy moustache and i don't see why boys should get to have all the moustache fun!

* * *

also...

look at what arrived today in the post!!!

really awesome and groovy Matryoshka prints! yes indeedy. 

each print measures 6x8" and comes with a one inch border in white meaning the final size is 7x9". sadly, they DON'T come mounted and cello wrapped... 

only one is mounted/wrapped and that's because it's going to be an xmas gift for a family member of mine. if you ABSOLUTELY one want mounted/wrapped, email me and i'll see what i can do.

this is a limited run of just 10 gorgeous quality Giclée prints featuring my little Matryoshka design + each one is numbered, signed and stamped on the back, printed on premium grade 308gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper . un-framed

and who knows... they might be worth something one day ;)

to get yours or to treat someone else to one (for xmas maybe...) head on over to my Etsy shop - Jade's Shop

all prints will be tissue wrapped and sent out in hardened cardboard envelopes to ensure they arrive in perfect condition. 

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another lovely thing arrived in the post today as well, a super duper postcard + 3 lovely stickers from the very fabulous Harriet Gray

i'm a huge fan of Harriet's work so i was delighted when i found out i'd won a little mini lucky dip giveaway on her blog. 

her work is just divine! to see more of it, be sure to visit her website here - Harriet Gray

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in other news, believe it or not but this year at college i actually have a logbook! (gasp... shock horror!) here it is in all it's fabulous stickery glory...

to be honest i'm still not all that great at the actual content but it sure is colourful this year!

and i am trying... honestly!

that's just a sneak peek for now anyway, there's just under 30 pages filled in so far... a long way to go now though!

* * *

and that's it i think! tomorrow i'm heading in to town to collect my little cousin Sienna for a day of Xmas shopping... + i need to gather some more items to go into the Xmas giveaway bundle for the grand Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza... coming soon!

so until next time, that's all folks... ◕‿◕ ★ xX

Polka Dot Love ♥

so yesterday afternoon for no particular reason other than the fact i was a little bit bored, i sat down at my desk and started sewing!

not entirely sure why but who cares! i ended up making 3 pretty little lavender hearts using polka dot felt, lots of embroidery floss, some ribbon and looooooads of dried lavender!

they're all hand stitched with the word 'love' (in my own handwriting) and blanket stitched but i whizzed them through the sewing machine as well to make sure none of the lavender will spill out! 

i messed up the lettering on the first one though so it's whip stitched while the other two are just stitched normally.

the only problem now is that my room absolutely stinks of lavender!!!

they're kind of cute though right! well i enjoyed making them so that's what counts i guess, they're all hanging from my wardrobe doors at the moment

not really sure what to do with them! should i gift them or make some more and sell them?!

who knows!

* * *

in other news, i got kind of bored again today so in between working on commission files i ended up having a go at some weird little text manips using photos and magazine scans and craft knife cut out letters smoothed out on my macbook

 i made about 10 altogether but these were my favourites, using some quotes from song lyrics, Shakespeare's Macbeth and a quote from Mary Poppins. 

not sure why i made them! boredom clearly does crazy things to my mind!

* * *

that's it for today i think, i'm heading out this weekend to pick up a few more goodies for the giveaway bundle but apart from that, no exciting plans going on in my world!!!

that's all folks... ★ ◕‿◕ xX

Sweet Ginger Strips ★

so yesterday was quite possibly one of the nicest, warmest and sunniest days i've experienced in a long time! i was supposed to spend the day in college essay writing but when i stepped outside i knew i couldn't stay cooped up indoors all day so i spent the day wandering around Douglas town centre instead!

you should know that the weather here in the Isle of Man is almost typically windy/rainy/kind of gloomy, true some years we get lucky and are blessed with smashing summers and lots of sunshine, some years. . . we're not so lucky!

but yesterday. . . it was just sublime!

but unfortunately i left my camera in the car so i couldn't take any pictures of how pretty it was!!!!!!

anyway, do you remember this lil' lady???

well yesterday afternoon i popped up to Sweet Ginger to say hi to Julie and Ciara and i was delighted to see that they'd put up the 'Sweet Ginger Strips' posters 

there's a big ol' poster behind the shop counter and another one in the shop window!!!

but that's not all because they'd also set out all of the 'Sweet Ginger Strips' bags as well!

these are little bags chock full of gorgeous fabric strips that you can use to make whatever the hell you want! 

for example. . . you could plait them together and make cute bracelets or a hair tie, you could stitch them together and make a funky rag purse or scarf, you could sew them into ruffles or roses for handmade rosettes or charms in fact. . . you could use them to make all manner of super duper things!

anyway these bags are super duper awesome and super duper cheap (if you ask me!) so if you live local and fancy a little TT race week project or just fancy some little strips of fabric, head up to the shop and get yourself a bag or two! and just think. . . you'll get your very own 'Sweet Ginger Strips' tag featuring my artwork as well!

oh there are also 'Sweet Ginger Strips' and 'Polka Dots' greetings cards as well :)

i gotta tell you though, it's crazy seeing my drawings printed up on tags and posters in a shop! there are actually 3 posters in all though seeing as the lovely Julie and Ciara also got me a poster of my very own!!!

she's already pinned up in my room (helping to cover up some more of the hideous 'skin disease' wallpaper!!!)

* * *

oh i snapped this pic of Pepe and Sophie as well, they're now happily cooped up in one of the shelves on display in the shop

* * *

while i was in 'Sweet Ginger' i also decided to treat myself to a set of Moomin badges!

i've wanted these badges since i first visited the shop back when Ciara and Julie were still unpacking all the lovely stock, i figured it was about time i got a set, the only thing i have to do now is figure out where i'm going to pin them!

does anyone else remember the Moomins from their childhood?! i know that myself + my friend Courtney have spent countless afternoons attempting to draw them and reminiscing about how cute and slightly scary they were!

most of the people i know that remember the show only seem to remember being freaked out by some of it's characters but i used to love watching the Moomins animation when i was little!

i remember there was a Tove Jansson Moomin comic/story book in the library when i was at primary school and i used to read it over and over again

i know that they recently made a new Moomins film but i've yet to see it, if any of you have seen it let me know what it's like!

and now i'm going to stop going on about the Moomins and go and make some tea!!!

* * *

that's it for today i think, tomorrow i plan to blog about some awesome new artists i've just been told about by an old college student, i think you might like their stuff as much as i do!

bye for now, that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX