the Satchel, the Lionheart & the Anchor ★

so it's been a funny old week! those of you that follow me via Facebook or Twitter might have seen me raving on about my College assessment, well long story short the Art Dept printer broke down meaning i couldn't print ANYTHING off for assessment!

though it didn't actually matter in the end, my tutors were fine with me showing all my work on my macbook and the assessment went really well (i think...) they normally last about 20 mins for me but this one was almost an hour-and-a-half + i got lots of units ticked off which is a good thing!

anyway, in light of the assessment and the fact that leading up to it i pretty much didn't sleep more than 4 hours a night, i decided to take the rest of the day off on Wednesday, so my friend Jenny came to collect me from college and we had a fab afternoon mooching around Douglas

i believe in rewarding people when they've done well so i decided to treat myself to some yummy chocolates from Thorntons + i spotted this gorrrrrrgeous satchel bag in Curphey's in town

and well... i sort of HAD to have it! i mean look at it! it's so lovely + my macbook/kawaii case fits in it PERFECTLY along with the charger + my wacom tablet and a notebook

in short, the bag is perfect :)

another thing that fits into the bag is my fab copy of BRAND NEW 'Lionheart Magazine' 

i've been hearing about the magazine on Twitter for the past few months so once the Magazine launched i knew i'd have to treat myself to a copy of it!

it's absolutely gorgeous inside and out, filled from cover to cover with beautiful illustrations, fab photos and interesting articles all sourced and pulled together by genius editor and creator Helen Martin

i had a lovely time flicking through it and although i haven't had chance to read all of the articles so far, i snapped some photos of it as i looked through...

get your own copy right here - Lionheart Magazine

* * *

in other news, this pretty little necklace arrived in the post for me the other day!

it's a necklace by Razorblade Mermaid that i won it in a little giveaway comp via Betty Bee Towers

a truly brilliant blog that i love to visit after a long day of college, it's full of fabulous crafty ideas, gorgeous rockabilly and Pin-up style stuff and all manner of other loveliness

isn't the necklace cute though! i'm very chuffed that i won it, it's very 'me' i think! pearly beads, a cute anchor, red and pink + that little birdy charm that matches my fave birdy dress to perfection!

* * *

right, tomorrow i'm looking after little miss Sienna so we will probably be baking some cupcakes at some point or drawing some felt tip masterpieces!

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

Sunny Sewing Times ★

it's been a lovely sunny day here in the Isle of Man, perfect weather for the first week of the TT (see 'where i live' page for more info about that, or just google it . . . )

well. . . it WAS a lovely day here up until about 10 minutes ago when the sky went all grey and rain cloudy!

i've not been feeling too well lately so i haven't left the house in a few days, but i went for a little walk around the garden this afternoon to try and clear my head a bit + just to absorb some of that gorgeous sunshine earlier on!

i snapped a few photos of the garden as well, everything was just so green and luscious! i couldn't resist . . .

it was lovely!!!

* * *

before my walk around the garden this afternoon, i spent the morning messing about on the sewing machine attempting some more stuff

i managed to make this cute little gingham heart

it's stuffed with dried lavender so it smells absolutely divine! the button and bow looks red here but they're a dusky pink colour (my camera killing the quality once again!!!)

i've hung it up in my room and now the whole place smells all lavendery! so pretty

i also made some more bunting

i used this funky abstract floral fabric + some new purple bias binding and i think it turned out ok

it's certainly a lot neater than the last string of bunting i made!

i've a couple of more sheets of fabric to slice up so i might make some more sometime this week

* * *

i've been moping around the house a bit over the past few days since it's my Birthday tomorrow. . .

yup the dreaded day has arrived at last! the day i'm officially no longer a 'teenager'! tomorrow is my 20th Birthday . . .

so technically i must now become a 'grown up' . . . shock horror!!!!

what can i say! i never got my letter from Hogwarts, sadly Peter Pan never flew in to whisk me away to Wonderland, the Doctor never showed up in the tardis to take me travelling through space, i never found my way to Narnia and i never fell down the rabbit hole to Wonderland!

still. . . 20 or not, i'd give it at least another couple of years before i truly grow up!!!

after all, what's the point in being a grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?!

until tomorrow . . . that's all folks! ◕‿◕ ★ xX

Ps - the 'May' Giveaway closes tomorrow night at midnight so hurry up and get your entries in now if you haven't already!!! - Giveaway

New Artwork ★

sorry for the silence over the past few days! i spent my 2 days off working on new drawings and files + i spent today working on a possible new character design

since i'm so inspired by kawaii culture i decided to have a little go at drawing my own kawaii-esque character (drawing influences from Angelic Pretty dresses and Marie Antoinette) 

i'm planning on drawing her little friends this weekend but for now, here's the first one...

it's an idea i've had kicking around for a while and seeing as my recent college work has all ended up ridiculously girly i figured i might as well carry on drawing girly things!

the original files are enormous so here's some close ups so you can see the detail a little better

as always, opinions are more than welcome... 

these are WIP designs so please don't copy them or post them anywhere else, i know i'm not normally too paranoid about my work but recently i've been sent emails from people that have spotted oh-so-similar designs to mine floating about on the web. 

i like sharing images on my blog so freely, so i'd really hate to have to start watermarking everything with big ugly grey watermarks!

* * *

not much else to report on, heading into college tomorrow to do some sewing, 

pics of that tomorrow night i should imagine


also, i don't know if the blog sidebar is showing up for anyone else but it isn't showing up for me?!


i checked my design and the parts are all still there, just not loading for me apparently!

anyway, until next time

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX

* * *

ps: please don't steal my work, i spend a lot of time working on it (contrary to popular belief) so i'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't copy it or use the ideas as your own... thanks x

Trip to Town ★

so today i got up at the crack of dawn (8 am... it was like dawn to me!!!) and head into town for a skeet round the shops

i picked up a few new bits including...

2 more mini lalaloopsy dolls (i guess this means i'm officially collecting them now!)

meet mini Mittens Fluff n' Stuff and mini Crumbs Sugar Cookie

that means i have 4 now including the two from last Saturday's post - Shops & Stuff ♥

they are sooooo sweet! 

my brand new blue dress from asos (see pic below) arrived this morning, oh and well i was out i also got this amaaaaaazing new cooking apron!!!

now i love the super duper amazing little 50's style polka dot pinny my friend Charlotte got me for Christmas (check it out here - Family & Friends ♥) but i've wanted a full size apron for a while as well, just because i'm a messy cook/baker and i don't want to ruin the polka dot one!

so when i spotted this i just had to have it!

it is soooo colourful and fun! with pink gingham pockets, orange ties and lots of floral patterns, so cute and girly!

LOVE it!

* * *

ok so the Giveaway ended last night/this morning at Midnight on the dot

by 12:00 am i'd recorded entries from precisely 44 people counting 51 entries altogether but 2 more appeared on tumblr about 5 minutes after and since this was my first proper giveaway i counted them as well

because i'm too sweet for my own good

anyway using random.org the number 13 was randomly generated

so big congratulations to number 13 on the list... Tiffany 

she is the lucky winner of all the cute Kawaii stuff and i shall be posting it all out to her first thing Monday morning

i still haven't managed to get in contact with her so if you're reading this Tiffany, please email me your address so i can send you all the goodies - info@jadeboylan.com

* * *

those of you that have visited my website www.jadeboylan.com in the past 24 hours may have noticed the new welcome page has a bit of a girly yet slightly creepy theme...

my girly college project has taken a spooky turn since i finally decided to have a go at drawing a Mexican Sugar Skull

it's a little different to what i usually draw but it was great fun to work on (albeit time consuming to colour) 

Sugar Skulls fascinate me and i've been wanting to draw one for a while so i'm glad i finally had a go

* * *

not much else to share for today

until next time

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Shopping Binge... again ★

so today i got up nice and early (aka 6am) and headed into Douglas town to run some errands (namely, returning the last of the red lego from the lego xmas tree project - Little Lego Tree) 

i parted ways with my dear mama at about 10am as she had to go off to work

literally one hour later i trailed into her workplace laden with shopping bags...

you see my problem isn't binge drinking or partying or smoking... i binge shop and it is AWFUL!!!

to be fair i haven't left the house since last Thursday (shocking... i know) so the sheer sight of so many things to see and places to go clearly sent me a bit loopy!

you may recall my last major shopping binge when i bought a pile of stuff i really didn't need... much - Shopping Binge

so let's get down to the important part... what did i buy today?!

well...

to begin with i bought a gorrrrrrgeous red polka dot ruffle trimmed dome umbrella...

(ignoring the terrible photo) and yes, i am modeling it indoors mainly because it's so ruddy windy and blustery outside at the minute the poor umbrella would surely have been blown inside out or just lost to the weather completely!!!

but that aside... isn't it adorable! i have a red polka dot Betty Boop handbag umbrella (a gift off an Aunt) but that's for plain old rainy days

this one is for super bad rainy days!

moving on...

i also visited one of my favourite shops on the Island, 'Abode' in Douglas which sells the most wonderful things and has the most gorgeous carrier bags

today i came away with this funky eye mask (i genuinely did need one of these in all fairness!)

and these adorable, gorgeous and luuuuurvely cushions for my room!

they match the quilt i got in Lismore, Ireland a few years ago PERFECTLY!!! i love their vintage style and the cute gingham ruffles, just lovely!

i also bought another cute rococo style picture frame for my college project only this time it's a pretty shade of blue instead of pink like the last two - candy frames

what else?! well i also bought an awesome pair of fingerless gloves/mittens

i love fingerless gloves but my wrists are always cold because i lose my wrist warmers so... these really are genius gloves! and they're 'tardis' blue (it's a Doctor Who reference, if you don't get it... don't worry)

now i don't care if you're supposed to wear them ruched down or rolled over or whatever... under my winter coat i like them like this, they keep my arms + hands nice and toasty!

i also pointed out to Mike that i thought they looked a bit like Quidditch gloves... but he wasn't very nice about that! 

oh no, Doctor Who references are FINE but as soon as i mention Harry Potter stuff he starts to tease!!! he's only jealous because he doesn't have a pair of gloves as awesome as these!!!

anyway, i also bought loooooots of yummy candy (PURELY for research purposes... honestly!!!)

we have lovely lovely lovely lollipops

a big marshmallow lollipop (i don't even like marshmallows but i thought this was adorable)

and some yummy little sugar mice

i also bought some more felt and floss for embroidery and sewing times at college

because... i've been making things again and i THINK it's about time i show you what i've made!!!

are you ready??? 

voila! 

that's right... these little beauties are stuffed 'felt' plushie lollipops! 

made from scratch using only felt, embroidery floss, fibre fill and a lollipop stick!

i made them yesterday just out of the blue

do you like them?!

sadly they're not edible but they're still kind of cute right?

i plan to make a few more of them although i'm not entirely sure what to do with them yet!

* * *

in other news, it's been quite a miserable day here weather wise, cloudy, windy, rainy, gloomy!

here's hoping this traditional Manx weather clears up soon...

not likely though!!!

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ xX

muchas gracias y adios

(that's thank you and goodbye in Spanish on behalf of Peru, i've always wanted to visit Peru ever since i was little and my Auntie Maureen brought me back a beautiful Peruvian doll after a trip to Lima, hopefully one day i'll get to see the country for myself, gracias amigos xX)