Lovely Letters ♥

so today i woke up at stupid o'clock (well, 6:30am is stupid for me when i'm off college) for no real reason since i decided to stay at home today and work on some commissions 

look at what i made this morning though!

a new nautical themed 'anywhere clip' that you can clip to your bag, wear in your hair or pin to your outfit like a rosette, the button in the middle is an awesome old vintage one from the old tin of buttons my mum gave me (it's so old i found two ha'penny coins in the tin!)

i have a couple more of these anchor buttons left so i'll probably make a few more of these rosette anywhere clips if anyone would like one

the only downside is the total mess of ribbons that are heaped up on my bed, my desk is so pathetically small i use my bed as my desk when i'm at home, the only upside is that it's always a comfy desk!

* * *

so what else?!

well this afternoon a parcel arrived for me chock full of sheets of polka dot felt from wonderful my big sister Simone, who lives in Coventry

isn't it all gorrrgeous!

i got far too excited about it + as you can see i carefully laid it all out on my bedroom floor

i needed lots of polka dot felt for a project and seeing as NO-WHERE on the Isle of Man sells it (and because i couldn't find it on sale online) she bought a big stack of it for me from the massive Hobbycraft store in Coventry, i'm so lucky to have such a nice big sis!

but that's not all because along with the felt i also found two lovely letters from my little nieces Madison and Daisy

Daisy even drew me a 'Sweet' picture

+ there were soooooooo many kisses on Maddie's letter (and inside the envelope)

how lucky am i to have such lovely little nieces . . .

both letters say that i have to write back asap so i guess i know what i'll be doing after i write this blog post!

* * *

just quickly before i stop rambling and before i dash off to cook some food i wanted to share this amazing cross stitcher with you all, 

a friend of mine told me about her and i just fell in LOVE with the work on her website, it's so gorgeous!

her name is Emily Peacock and she hand stitches the most gorgeous cushions and tapestries

aren't they lovely! she sells awesome needlepoint kits as well on her website, if you're a bit of a sewing señorita then i suggest you check out her stuff - Emily Peacock

* * *

still not sure what's happening tomorrow, it's either back to college or off round the island with Jenny

the good news is that i made some headway today with my new logo commissions, it's been quite a productive day for me really so i can't complain . . .

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

Terrific Tuesday ★

so i vanished for a few days again didn't I . . .

I'm really sorry I've just been pretty busy with sewing stuff + i got a new logo commission the other day that I've been working on + yesterday my big sister and her boyfriend came round to show us their holiday snaps from their 9 week 'around the world adventure' (of which i am insanely jealous!)

but that's no excuse for me to abandon you all i know so . . . "I'm sorry"

moving on

today is a Tuesday hence today's blog title . . . just in case you were wondering!

maybe i should theme all the days of the week?!

we could have 'Marvellous Monday', 'Terrific Tuesday', 'Wonderful Wednesday', 'Tremendous Thursday', 'Fabulous Friday', 'Splendid Saturday' and 'Super Sunday'

ok maybe not! (maybe i should shut up and write this post huh!)

anyway I've been hiding in my room for a few days sewing and THIS is what I've been making

here we have a little toadstool charm, a sprinkles covered ice cream charm + a bright little Bauhaus coloured Owl charm (you can take the girl out of the library but she'll always be an Art History nerd I'm afraid!!!)

these are part of the little handmade felt charm series i seem to be working on aaaaaall the time!

 here they all are hanging on my mirror (just ignore the psychedelic mess of stuff on my walls in the reflection)

so what else?! well this afternoon i popped into Ramsey for a 'sort of but not quite' business meeting (it's for the hush hush thing that i can't tell you about yet) 

anyway the 'meeting' was great, i think i'm meeting the super duper girly behind it all again tomorrow for another meeting type thing in the Alpine where we will probably end up eating cakes and talking about buttons such is our shared love for all things haberdashery related . . .

speaking of haberdashery, look at the gorrrrgeous ribbons i got today in Ramsey

aren't they divine! i just loved the colours, couldn't resist

i also got a little pack of felt sheets since you know . . . you can never have too much felt!

this is to add to the ever growing stack of felt i have on my desk

ah . . . felt glorious felt!

oh while i was in Ramsey i bumped into my old friend Jeni from College as well, she's studying for a BA in design at University in Liverpool, check out her arty blog here - Jeni Grose

* * *

in other news . . .

i just HAD to share this with you!

look at the view outside my bedroom window at the moment

so looking past my garland of handmade origami cranes, my Manx Fairy charm + my bamboo wind chime and can you see that gorgeous cherry blossom tree!!!

most of the cherry blossom i've seen out around the island is beginning to flutter to the ground now leaving swirls of pink confetti-like petals on the pavements and roads but our tree is just coming into its blossom

isn't it pretty! every morning i open my curtains and it makes me smile to see those pretty pink petals brightening up the garden

* * *

right so nothing else to report on . . . i think!

tonight i need to draw stuff for this new commission + whip up a new polka dot pinup girl illustration for aforementioned super secret business type thing

so I'll bid you adieu my dears, until next time

that's all folks ◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Felicity the Fawn ★

wow so long time no posts eh! i've not been out much this week so i guess there's just not been that much for me to blog about!

yesterday i abandoned my macbook (shock horror) and spent the day making a new plushie to add to the collection i seem to be building

this particular creation was something i'd never really attempted before, so it was more of an experiment than anything!

i didn't finish it until about 2am this morning, and it's still not perfect but i might as well show you anyway

this little lovely is 'Felicity the Fawn' (hence the post title) and she took foreverrrr to make!

my plush making skills aren't the greatest so why i attempted this i'll never know but there you go

she's about 9 inches tall and is quite soft really, her head is anyway!

she has a little bow on her front and a rose quartz + glass seed bead necklace to match her baby pink/baby blue colouring

her ears and tail are blanket stitches and her eyes are painted felt 

her markings + eyes are glued on whereas everything else was stitched by hand

at the minute she's just standing on my desk fitting in with the general colour scheme of the colourful clutter that fills my room

i left the 4 little Lalaloopsy girls with her though for some company . . .

i'll make some more of these if anyone would like their own little Fawn but i think this one might just have to be a present for my friend Charlotte's 'soon to arrive' baby girl Lily ♥

not really sure what to have a go at making next, i might go back to some embroidery again i think, but who knows!

* * *

in other news . . .

the only place i've been this week is to college (briefly) on Wednesday before heading out to Milntown Estate in the North of the island with most of my HND class to look around the gardens

Milntown is this beautiful old 16th Century house built in an expansive estate surrounded by manicured gardens sitting on the land below Sky Hill

we were there to research a possible class commission and despite the rain and the cold it was a great morning

the gardens are closed to the public until April so we had the place to ourselves really which was nice

we wandered around the pretty gardens which were full of gorgeous flowers, manicured lawns, water features and woodland areas

it was brilliant + we stayed there for lunch in the Milntown cafe

for more information visit the Milntown website here - Milntown

the gardens are officially open to the public as of today, April 1st

* * *

that's all to report for now

i'm heading into Douglas tomorrow to look for a 'mother's day' gift for my mum + a trip to the book shop to gather some new reading material, because let's face it. . . you can never have too many books!

that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ xX

Cupcake Charms ★

so today i stayed in for once and didn't brave the hustle and bustle of Douglas town centre

instead i slept in very late (so sooo lazy) and spent the day finishing the two little felt charms i started making yesterday afternoon

would you like to see them... of course you would!

i sewed out the basic parts for these yesterday at college but didn't have any bar beads or fibre fill stuffing to complete them!

as you can see i've gone blanket stitch crazy (now that i can finally do it, why stop!!!)

there is a pale pink one and a bright pink one, with little shiny colourful bar beads and pink ribbon (from the ribbon selection i bought yesterday at 'Just Enough'

the french knots on the strawberry cover the whole thing (+ the seam at the back) so these little cupcakes also have detail and beads on both sides

i still need to get chains for them (since i'm using stuff from my own jewellery collection at the moment) so when i do i guess they'll be going up for sale on the etsy shop as well

or maybe on a keyring or something... either way, they will be available to buy

* * *

in other news...

DAFFODILS!!!!

we have a big bunch of daffodils in our kitchen and the presence of daffodils means only one thing to me... Spring is finally here

i don't care what the calendars say or the lighter mornings, the green leaves and the constantly singing birds, as far as i'm concerned it's officially Spring when the daffodils appear!

* * *

short but sweet today i guess, if the weather stays nice i'm planning a little walk into Ballaglass Glen tomorrow afternoon so if that happens i'll take my camera along so you can all see how gorgeous it is in the glen!

enjoy your weekend whatever you're up to

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX 

Weird Weekend ★

ok so firstly i should apologize for not having posted since Thursday!

i was tired on Friday after college but i genuinely did mean to post yesterday, however... things didn't go quite according to plan!

i've not been feeling too well for a few days now but yesterday it really kicked up a notch!

i'm a massive hypochondriac at the best of times but stupid online symptom checkers sent me a little bit over the edge so at about 9pm last night, my mum drove me out to the Islands hospital in Douglas.

i freak out when i'm near Hospitals/Dentists/Doctors so it wasn't really the best way for me to spend a Saturday night!

anyway, suffice to say i am fine-ish, the Doctor couldn't actually work out what's wrong with me but apparently it's not serious otherwise i wouldn't be here at home typing out this blog post to you all...

right so on with today's post

so i finally started work on the little Lollipop painting!

one of my tutors at college suggested i make another version of the digital lollipop's picture first, but instead of picking one flavour/theme for all the lollies, she thought i should make a truly multicoloured one by mixing up the lollies.

so i did this...

to see the other 7 versions of this picture you can check out this blog post - Lovely Lollipops ♥

so back to the painting, i drew the design onto the canvas with sharpie (just like when i did the ad girl painting - ♥ I don't do Housework...) and have since started to block in the initial colours using gouache

anyway when i started the painting and wasn't actually planning to colour it like this multicoloured digital copy but i thought what the hell and had a go anyway, so instead of being all one theme it's currently looking like this

it'll take me a while since my painting technique is so awful but oh well...

* * *

in other news...

i made some more felt lollipops!

yup there's now a blue one and a purple one to add to the collection, i've also added these little gift tags from a scrap book set just to brighten them up a bit

still not sure what to do with them though!

* * *

other, other, other news...

i've been updating some of my old Picture Book illustrations including the pages from 'Where's Charlie?'

i've changed bits round here and there and tried to brighten up the colours a bit

* * *

right that's all for today, i'm not feeling too good so i think i'm going to go and have a little lie down and pop a movie on, i watched Drop Dead Fred earlier (watch it if you've never seen it, such a great film) so i might watch that again or maybe some Father Ted DVD's

ok dokes, until next time dudes and dudettes

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★

多謝 和 再见

(that's thank you and goodbye in Taiwanese/Chinese on behalf of Taiwan, 多謝 ♥)