Merry Coolmas ♥

Hello my lovelies, Happy Xmas Eve to you wherever you may be + whatever you might be up to this evening.

If you celebrate Christmas then i'm sure you'll be spending Christmas Eve doing something festive or just relaxing with family and/or friends.

As has become tradition in recent years, I decided to have a go at a festive themed illustration. I only just finished it today, hence the Xmas Eve blog post. It's not as overtly Christmassy as some of my past designs, but here it is anyway...

She's a bit of a cool chick, hence the blog title. I drew the hair aaaaages ago, but I couldn't think of anything to go with it so I figured a christmas jumper + kilt style skirt might work. + the pattern in the background was 100% made just for this piece. I tried plain snowflakes but it didn't look right so I made more work for myself and came up with this simple little pattern instead.

There's a surprising amount of detail in this one, the Jumper has a woven fabric texture and the stripes on the skirt took quite a while to do. The hair always takes forever to edit as well, believe it or not but it's the most time consuming part of any Candy Doll illustration.

She's got a little bit of attitude to go with her ironic festive jumper + green ombre tipped ends, she's too 'cool' for Christmas. I don't know maybe she's just not that into the holiday season or something. You'd have to ask her yourself.

If she's not really feeling it this year, then she's not the only one.

This year I've been really struggling to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm not sure why as i'm usually the kind of person who starts playing Christmas music and wearing festive jumpers non-stop from December 1^st onwards. But this year it just never happened, I kept waiting for the Christmas buzz to hit, but it never did. This isn't the first time this has happened, a few years ago I was going through a rough patch and I barely celebrated at all. I refused to put up any decorations or wrap any gifts. It wasn't a great time but I thought I was past all that now. 

Apparently not. This year there's been no excitement for Christmas; for Star Wars, yes, i've been excited like you would not believe, but for Christmas... no such luck. 

decorations in the Strand shopping centre in town

 Before you start having a go at me about being ungrateful etc, i'll just stop you there because no, that's not at all what I mean.

I just think there's a lot of pressure at Christmas time to be terribly cheery and happy and FESTIVE! It's a time when you're supposed to be merry and bright, spending days with those closest to you and doing all the typical christmassy things. In the UK that usually involves copious amounts of alcohol, chocolate and cheesy television. But my family isn't really like that, i'm not sure if it's because both myself and my dad have Aspergers but we've just never been the sort of family that sits around watching TV together for hours on end. In fact we don't spend much time together at all, but that's fine, that's just how we are.

my Christmas themed vintage troll brooch

Take today for example. I've spent the entire day in my room drawing and editing + reading and listening to the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' score on repeat. The only times i've left my room were to get a cup of tea and walk up to check the post. My dad spent the morning in the garden before spending the afternoon watching TV by himself. And my mum... well i'm not really sure but it probably involved coffee and facebook. But like I said, that's just us, regardless of the time of year. 

I don't usually feel any pressure to get my family in one room and spend time together, I love my parents more than anything but at Christmas time I feel like there's something wrong with me for not wanting to do what 'normal' families do during the holidays. 

the christmas tree in town

Usually I don't give any of this a second thought as it's so normal, but at Christmas it seems to become all the more apparent and I know it shouldn't bother me in the slightest, but it DOES, so I get all conflicted, should I make more of an effort or not? Most years it's the former, I go all out, christmas music blaring from my room, decorations everywhere, trips out to fairs, family shopping excursions and the like. This year it's the latter I think. 

decorations in Coventry City Centre

I'm just not feeling it for some reason. It may as well be any other day of the year. Don't get me wrong, I might not be running around singing carols and throwing glitter, but I still LOVE getting presents for people, choosing gifts and wrapping them up. But this year i've been struggling finacially and it's gotten me kind of down because I can't afford to buy my friends and family the sorts of gifts I want to. It's silly I know, and gifts aren't the be all and end all of the festive season but still.

It's a daft thing to get low about but my mum arranged all of our xmas gifts earlier and it upset me to see the tiny pile of gifts they each have from me. All I can think is that next year I have to get a job so that I can give them a better Christmas. 

she'll read this and come and tell me to stop being a daft sod, but I can't help but feel guilty. My family all do so much for me, it upsets me that I can't treat them to heaps of lovely things.

my 'christmas' outfit

and on that note I have NO idea what my original point was. I went off on a tangent there somewhere, so it's probably best if I call it a day. 

thanks for reading, I'll try and get another post in before 2016 starts, it will probably be Star Wars themed, so i'm just warning you now...

Merry Christmas to YOU

Christmas Calling ♥

hello dearhearts, I'm currently away in Coventry on a little holiday to visit my family before Christmas. We're a little later across than usual this year and unfortunately the weather has decided to turn particularly vile for the time of year. If you live in the UK then chances are you've already experienced the delightful barrage of wind and rain we've been getting this week, along with a possible side of severe flooding and coastal damage, as Storm Desmond batters the country.

back on the Island, there has been some of the worst flood damage the island has ever seen, I hope that all my friends and family back home stay safe through these storms!

anyway, on with post I suppose...

There are now only 20 days until Xmas 2015, and I stupidly just remembered that I STILL haven't shared this years Christmas card designs with you all!

this is yet further proof that I am a forgetful eejit and I know that I've probably left it too late but I'm going to show you the cards anyway.

2015 Christmas Card Designs

So this year, instead of Christmas candy Sugar Skulls, I went for something a little more kitsch, so we have festive flamingo cards + Christmas cactus cards! Because if you can't be a little wacky and unusual at Christmas time, when can you?!

Christmas Cactus on pink polka dots

each design was created specifically for the cards, they were both ideas that I'd been playing around with for a while. I knew that I wanted to draw a Cactus and a Flamingo, it wasn't until I started adding Christmas stuff that I realised they'd probably make cute cards.

Festive Flamingo on blue stripes

they're very bright and vibrant, the designs are happy and although admittedly not very traditional, still plenty festive and fun. As per usual I've been sending them out as my own personal Xmas cards to family and friends, but they're available to buy via my Etsy and Depop shops, should you take a fancy to them yourselves.

the back of the cards

The cards are A6 sized (105x148mm) 100% professionally printed in the UK on 300gsm trucard, a lovely sturdy card stock with a light satin coating on the outside while the inside is blank and left uncoated, making it easier for you to write your own message in a fancy gold gel pen, felt-tip, fountain pen or a biro, whichever you prefer! + each card comes safely sealed in a cello bag, with a kraft paper envelope.



As if the cards aren't Christmassy enough, I also have some super cute Christmas glitter brooches available! there are 6 festive shades of glitter fabric + 3 cute charms to choose from

Christmas Glitter Brooches

These brooches are super sparkly but the best thing about them is that the glitter fabric DOES NOT SHED GLITTER!!! Which is perfect because if you're anything like me then you're one of those people that somehow ends up with glitter everywhere! Well, that won't happen with one of these. You can show your appreciation for all things festive AND sparkly without finding glitter embedded on your cheeks and eyelids three days later. All brooches are available to buy HERE

sparkly and fun

You're probably wondering why I'm bothering to offer any of these things if I'm away on holiday... BUT although it's true that the brooches won't ship until December 10th, I brought a big stack of the Christmas cards away with me so I will happily post them out to you while I'm in England.

aren't I considerate?!


Also, if you're in the UK then you might know that today is Small Business Saturday, which for those of you unfamiliar with it... "Small Business Saturday UK is a grass-roots campaign which exists to support, promote and inspire small businesses, on the first Saturday in December, and beyond"

 that means that today is the PERFECT day to go out (or stay in) and support a Small British Business. Regardless of where you live, there will be plenty of local or national businesses that you can support in person or online.

If you want a suggestion, then allow me to present my own Etsy Shop as a possible candidate for your generous patronage, in an utterly shameless plug ^_^

I'm also giving away a free Sugar Skull circle sticker with EVERY order placed today in my Etsy and Depop shops

anyway on that note I'll shut up for now.

so until next time, cheerio!

deck the halls?!

Hello chums, thanks for stopping by, don't be put off by the title of today's post but I have to warn you, if you're a bit of a Grinch or total Ebenezer Scrooge then you're probably not going to enjoy the rest of the blog...

Unless you've been living under a rock (or staunchly ignoring any and all traces of the festive cheer quietly brewing in virtually every shop) then you might have noticed that Christmas is on the way again at last! Now it's no secret on this blog that I am a HUGE fan of all things festive and Christmassy, I've blogged about my love of Xmas in the past many times (see here if you're interested).

Love it or loathe it, I don't think you can really ignore it! It might still be a bit early for me to get away with putting up my Christmas tree or breaking out the light up earrings but I figured it was as good a time as any for a festive themed blog post!

Now I know most people don't like seeing Christmas stuff this time of year (only 45 days to go...) but I get so excited when places start filling up with festive goods and playing Christmas songs! And well... I DON'T THINK IT'S TOO EARLY!!! Why?! because I LOVE Christmas of course!

Do you know who else loves Christmas? Well i'll give you a clue, their names begin with 'A' and 'I' and they love to dress up!

That's right, little Aalish and Illiam also can't wait for Christmas!

 So today they tried on all of their new festive costumes while I warbled along to Santa Baby and cleared away all the scraps of card from the Christmas clothes sheet.

Although technically it's actually a Nollick Ghennal sheet! In case you couldn't guess, 'Nollick Ghennal' means Merry Christmas in Manx Gaelic, so once again this sheet will be sold exclusively in Sweet Ginger Emporium in Ramsey here on the Isle of Man. 

the A3 sheet has a set of nice Christmas outfits for both Aalish and Illiam to try on, including a jolly snowman + a festively decorated tree

there's even a Rudolph the Reindeer mask to go with any of the costumes

 + the sheet also has a bunch of fun accessories to go with the outfits

and just like the Hop-Tu-Naa/Halloween sheet all of the clothes are interchangeable to fit both paper dolls meaning each of them can have a go at being Santa or one of his Elf helpers

are you feeling Christmassy yet? If you are then that's BRILLIANT! There's no shame in getting into the spirit of things because Christmas is such a fun time of year isn't it!

It is without a doubt my favourite time of the year, and not for the reason you might be thinking (namely PRESENTS!) but because I just LOVE all of the cheer everywhere, the decorations, the lights, all the glitter, the music, the carols, beautifully wrapped gifts, advent calendars and all of that special Christmas magic and joy that fills the air.

that's my mum Joy holding a lovely festive pillow with her name on it! You see I'm not from a very religious family so for me Christmas is more a time that heralds the arrival of my favourite season and an opportunity to buy or make lovely things to give to my friends and family. I just adore giving presents!
 
Although this year will probably be my most frugal Christmas since reaching adulthood (arguable really considering what a big kid I am!) but what with my no longer having a job + being unable to work at the moment this lack of income means I won't be able to spoil my loved ones quite as much this year.

Despite this, I've still been excitedly gathering gifts for them all (albeit on a much tighter budget than previous years). For a while I worried that this might put a damper on things for me this year, there have been times in the past when i've been in such a low mood come December that I haven't even bothered to put up any decorations (meaning my parents never bothered decorating the house either) but this year i'm determined to make the most of the situation and conjure up as much festive cheer as I can. If that means oodles of lopsided homemade gifts then so be it!

I visited the Christmas Shop at Tynwald earlier this week with my mum and my nephew Josh (over for a few days visiting from Coventry) and I think seeing all of the decorations and gifts and lovely tress really started to get me into the spirit of things! 

 don't worry, I'm not about to tinsel bomb the house or pull on my Christmas jumper (not just yet anyway) but i'm beginning to feel the warm fuzzy glow of the approaching holidays, hence why I wanted to share Aalish and Illiam's new clothes with you all today. 

So I'm going to make Christmas 2014 a fun one, even if I don't have the funds for all the fabulous frivolities I usually get at this time of year. Homemade cupcakes and gingerbread for EVERYONE!

and on that note, i'll sign off for this evening. I'm popping out the Cinema to see 'Interstellar' because i'm a big sci-fi geek and I love movies!

so until next time, a very merry toodle-ooh to you and you and you...

★ Seasons Greetings ★

so, another year, another Xmas been and gone! did you all have a nice day??? i hope you had fun with your family/friends/loved ones and that Santa brought you all some nice goodies :)

i spent the day cooped up at home with my parents at Chateau Boylan, although i've not been very well so i actually spent most of the day in bed feeling poorly!

never mind though, it was still a nice quiet Christmas

i usually post on Xmas eve or Xmas day but this year i decided to take a few days out of it all so i vanished offline for a bit which was great, think i'll do it again next year!

anyway, i thought since it's Xmas time and it seems tradition that bloggers post about gifts and what not, that i'd share a few of the lovely presents i received this year from my family and friends!

i think most exciting of all was the book my dad got me...

it's the new Christian Louboutin monograph, published to celebrate 20 years of his work within the world of shoe and accessory design

it is absolutely chock full of the most gorgeous photos, sketches and written excerpts from Monsieur Louboutin himself mapping his journey over the past 20 years. 

and to think, he began professionally designing shoes the year i was born!

one of my favourite things about the book is the pop-out pages hidden under the cover!

speaking of books, i got a nice stack of them on Xmas day!

among them was this absolutely fabulous book by Vintage lovely, Angel Adoree! a truly fabulous gift from my best friend Courtney

the book is so divine! full of darling illustrations, photos, recipes and tips on how to host the perfect vintage tea party + how to do vintage hair/make-up to go with it!

it also has loads of gorgeous illustrations to accompany the recipes and DIY projects

as well as all the lovely books, i also got a very funky Marc Jacobs laptop cover

so that my macbook can be transported in style at all times!

and a gift that i expect a lot of Manx people woke up to on Xmas day, the very special 'Isle of Man' edition of the boardgame Monopoly

i've also been making lots of cute little fabric badges/buttons using the kit my mum got me

and i now have a cute place to store my earrings thanks to my big sister Simone who sent me this adorable little trinket box featuring artwork by the very awesome Myka Jelina

obviously i got lots of other lovely stuff as well but these were some of my fave things so i just wanted to share them with you all...

* * *

in other news, how are we liking the blog colours? sort of back to normal now only with a new banner for the top, it actually matches my new Facebook Timeline

yes i know i only changed it the other day but i fear this may be a regular occurrence, me changing the 'cover' photo every week or so!

not long now though until the New Year so i suppose i should get my head down and get on with some college work! saying that though i have a smashing Creative Café feature to run over the next few days so be sure to keep an eye out for that!

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

♥ ★ Merry Christmas ★ ♥

i'll keep this short but sweet

i said i'd post so... here i am doing just that!

i hope you've had a wonderful Christmas Day

i certainly have

it's been quiet, just me + my parents but that's fine with me

yes i may have woken up at around 4am then spent the next 4 hours watching movies (equilibrium and treasure planet) on my macbook while waiting OH SO patiently for my parents to wake up...

then came the fun part

PRESENTS!!!!

i hope you all got lots of super duper gifts and that Santa brought you everything you wanted

sadly i didn't wake up to find a pair of Louboutin's in my stocking... 

i did however get loads of gorgeous gifts off my family and friends

so i am verrrrrry grateful for all the presents i received

i hope everyone else had a fabulously festive day x

* * *

it's Sunday tomorrow so watch out for a 'Super Sunday' post

and... yep, that's it really

i have to go because the Doctor Who Christmas special has JUST finished so myself + Mike are discussing it avidly on skype... as we always do after one of the specials!

hey... it's a Christmas tradition!!!

oh, one final thing... 

this is for my mum to say thanks for the Xmas dinner + for being a star

in case you didn't get it... her name is 'Joy'

* * *

♥ ★ Merry Christmas ★ ♥

◕‿◕ xX

★ Christmas Eve ★

only one more sleep until the big day!

Christmas has almost arrived at last and it is soooooo exciting!

the gifts are all wrapped...

the decorations have all been put up...

oooooh it's so close i can almost taste the candy canes!

is there anything more exciting than that magical feeling you get on Christmas Eve! 

the thought of all those presents waiting underneath the tree to be opened on Xmas Day

i KNOW it's not all about the presents but come on... it's CHRISTMAS 

so to me that means it's time to get giving and getting...

my older sister Simone has been baking all day (from what i can gather) which means she's been cooking up a batch of undoubtedly delicious and yummy muffins + a big chocolate cake! sadly i won't be getting any because she's in Coventry but wow, jealous much...

and my other older sister Nikki is currently in New Zealand where i'm told it's already Christmas Day and has been for a while! she'll no doubt be lounging in the lovely sunshine and having a great time i'm sure

so a big Merry Christmas to both of my wonderful big sisters, we can't all be together this year but i know they both will have (had have) great days with their families and friends xX

i know that my nieces Madison and Daisy (and my nephew Josh, even if he is the same age as me) will ALL be verrrrry excited about it being Christmas tomorrow!

and i'm sure that my God-daughter Bonnie, her little sister Hanna and their older brother Robson will also all be beside themselves with Christmas excitement! 

there is literally a massive heap of presents beneath their tree so they should be beyond excited...

my little cousin Sienna is in Manchester for Christmas with her Daddy + his family and i know that she will be having a fabulously festive time, so lots of love to her as well x

i'd also like to wish a very merry xmas eve to all of my closest friends here on the island + the ones that are away for Xmas.

i shan't name them all individually but i'm sure they know who they are...

now all that's left for me to do is make some Festive cocoa/hot chocolate

and curl up in front of an appropriately Christmassy movie with a cake... 

or two

i would like to wish a Merry Christmas to ALL of my family and friends, although i can't mention you all on here, that doesn't mean i've forgotten about you x

same to all of my blog followers and readers, have fun whatever you're up to today and tomorrow

oh and don't forget to leave some treats out for Santa and his Reindeer...

i WILL be posting tomorrow (at some point) but until then i would like to wish every single one of you a VERY 

Merry Christmas

wherever you are in the world and whatever you're doing to celebrate, whether it's already Christmas where you are or whether you still have to wait for it (like me) i hope you have a lovely Christmas Day

lots of festive luuuuurve from Jade ◕‿◕ ★ xX

ps - ALL of the beautiful images included in todays post were collected from various sources on tumblr, i've spotted all of these ding the xmas rounds on there over the past few days and thought it would be nice to post them on here for you all to enjoy! Happy Holidays x