Support your local Girl Gang ♥

that's right folks, i'm back again at long last, after a quiet week spent making things and reading books 84 and 85 of my 2015 reading challenge!But because I love you all, today I took some time out of burying my nose in book number 86 to stop by and put together a quick post for your delectation...

anyway, today I want to share my brand new Girl Gang patches with you all!

that's right, I finally got some PROPER patches made, featuring one of my Candy Doll Club designs. The woven patches were professionally made in the UK and they are so NICE! I really love them, i'm super pleased with how they turned out, the detail is really good!

since my work is ALL about Girl Power, the design features a mix of cosmetics and weapons, perfect for any aspiring Girl Gang leader or member. And naturally it all comes woven in pretty pastel colours!

The design is a slightly tweaked version of the one I designed for circle stickers back in May this year.

As this was my first foray into patch design, I wasn't sure how they would turn out; I had visions of them being illegible or wonky or something. But considering the intricacies of the actual design, it turned out really well as a woven patch! And the patches look PERFECT on my Girl Gang vest (if you're surprised that I own one then you really don't know me at all...)

The Girl Gang vest is a constant work in progress but i've already amassed a pretty sweet collection of patches from some of my fave Girl Gang artists and designers including a bunch of my own designs as well, because if I can't self-promote on my own clothing then where can I?!

I'm really happy with how people have been responding to the patches, so far i've had 100% positive feedback from Candy Dolls all over the world and I sent out the first batch of orders earlier today. If you think you'd like to add one of my patches to your collection, or you know someone who might like them, they're available to buy HERE + I send out cute freebies with every order!

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in other news, it was Hop-Tu-Naa (or Halloween, if you prefer) this past weekend, and of course I got dressed up and walked around town like a prat! BECAUSE IT IS TRADITION!

 Unsurprisingly I dressed up as a Ghostbuster (just like last year) only this year I updated my outfit to include a skirt + some other additions, so I guess I went out as a sort of retro style Ghostbuster, complete with voluminous petticoat, customised converse shoes, epic back patch, personalised name tag + an official Ghosbusters trainee ID badge!

To my surprise (and delight) when I met my friends in town for lunch it turned out that my friend Simon had dressed up for Halloween as well. So he was the Babadook while I was a slightly terrified trainee Ghostbuster! Simon's costume was a hit with shoppers in Strand Street, he scared a few small kids, one boy high-fived him and some women even stopped to have their photo taken with him.

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by how few people had bothered to dress up this year, considering Halloween fell on a Saturday i'd expected to find town full of people in costumes. As it was there were plenty of kids dressed up but very few adults. We did bump into a group of teenagers dressed as a whole host of brilliant characters including the Doctor (from Doctor Who...), the Joker and Harley Quinn AND Supergirl + Ash from Pokemon and a few others that even I'm not geeky enough to know!

here's a close up of my 'uniform'. All I need now is a proton pack, PKE meter and ghost trap and i'll be all set!

here's hoping that next year more people dress up so I don't look like such an eejit wandering around in costume!

and on that note i'll say goodbye for now.
So until next time, cheerio and thanks for reading!

Happy Day ♥

hello dearhearts, crikey it's been exactly a month since my last post on here, i'm really not too great at this whole blogging malarkey am I?!
wait, don't answer that...

anyway I'm here now and I wanted to fill you in on a few of the things that have happened recently to keep me away from here... but then I thought 'nah'.

so instead i'm going to tell you about what I did last weekend because you see last Sunday I became a Godmother! woooooo!!!

I was over the moon when one of my very best friends Hayley, whom I've known since College, asked me to be Godmother to her youngest daughter Imogen. I mean obviously I said 'yes' otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog. Although I was a little disappointed as I'd originally thought Hayley was proposing to me... oh well, you can't have everything I suppose!

Little Miss Imogen and her lovely Mama, Hayley.

Hayley and I first met the day we were both interviewed for a place on the Art and Design course. Luckily we both got accepted so on my first day of class she was the ONLY person I recognized or knew, so naturally I became her personal limpet. That was in September 2008 and we're still good friends now, so I couldn't have been quite as annoying as I thought! I feel very lucky to still have her as a friend as she's really nice and possibly even more sarcastic than I am! She has two very beautiful and adorable daughters and I felt very honoured that she chose me to be a Godmother.

the amazing (and delicious) Christening cake!

Anyway, the Christening day was last Sunday at St Peter's Church in Onchan here on the Isle of Man. It was a really lovely day, the sun was out and friends and family sat in the church to watch Miss Imogen Evie Reid get baptized. The Vicar was a little over enthusiastic with the holy water so most of the front two pews got baptized as well. I of course got a handful of water in the face, but I didn't burst into flames so that's one good thing!

proud parents! Hayley and Lewis with Imogen in St Peter's Church.

It was perhaps a little more eventful than planned as poor Imogen accidentally had a bump during the service and suffered a little nosebleed, there were some tears and crying but after that things went off without a hitch and after the Christening it was time for a bit of a party! Hayley and her family put on an amazing spread of food and sweet treats including a chocolate fountain (yum!) and more chips and pasty than you can actually imagine.

Gracie, Imogen's big sister.

along with the tubs of jelly and marshmallows and cookies, there were also some cupcakes that I made for the Christening. I'd met Hayley a few days before to take Gracie to the park and I ended up offering to bake some cupcakes to bring along. Now this might not seem like too big a deal but at the time I was in the early stages of a vile cold/sore throat, I had two commissions on the go and I'm not the most successful baker even at the best of times.

mid baking... oops!

So... as you can see, things got off to a great start. I had to wear a mask while I made them (so as not to give anyone else the dreaded 'cold') and it was going quite well; I'd made up the cake batter, I had everything ready and then, splash! While pouring myself a well earned glass of pop I ended up soaking myself and the kitchen floor creating a big sticky mess. Because apparently I am still a child and not in fact a twenty-four-year-old woman (with polar bear socks).

before and after.

It all turned out fine in the end though, after some very helpful mopping from Mama Boylan (thanks mum!) I ended up with 32 mini cupcakes (at about 11:30pm) so I decided to ice them the next morning ready for the Christening. I love piping pink vanilla buttercream onto cakes, it's surprisingly therapeutic and it's always fun to lick the spoon afterwards. Anyway they seemed popular at the Christening as there were only 2 left by the time I went home but it wasn't until I got back that I realised I completely forgot to try one myself!

the print I designed for the Christening.

It was probably more trouble figuring out how to transport the cakes from my house to the venue than it was to the make the ruddy things and i'll definitely think twice before I volunteer my questionable baking skills again in the future! Luckily my contributions weren't a total loss as Hayley had also (cunningly) managed to get me to volunteer for some less messy work. So as per her request, I designed a simple typography print with Imogen's birth info on for the Christening day. You will have seen it at the start of the post as well. Ducks are Imogen's favourite animal so there's four on the print; one each for her, her big sister Gracie and her Mummy and Daddy.

my gifts for Imogen.

I was definitely in a making mood all week because I ended up making two of Imogen's gifts myself. I stitched together a little pink bunny for her room and then I got my sewing machine out to struggle through making a string of pretty bunting. I love sewing by hand but the sewing machine and I do NOT often see eye to eye (it hates me for some reason) so the bunting is a little wonky, but still looks okay. The other gifts were a special laser-cut keepsake plaque and a cute teeny tiny pearl bracelet with her name + a little silver charm with 'goddaughter' on.

me... all dressed up!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the church and I couldn't manage to lure Imogen away from her mum/dad/grandparents/aunt/uncle to grab a snap with her. So instead you'll have to contend with a shameless selfie of me in the lovely dress I bought just for the Christening (it's from HERE if you're interested).

It was a lot of fun to be part of such a special day for Imogen and her family, so big BIG thanks to Hayley for putting up with me for all these years + asking me to be a part of her child's life!

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as you can probably tell this was more of a personal post today. So if you only come here for the art then i'm sorry but I am a real person and I do sometimes actually go out and DO things. I do have some new illustrated bits n' bobs to share with you but they will have to wait for another time, so I will do my best to post another blog next week maybe.

so until then, thanks for visiting! byeeeeeeee.

Older and Wiser ❤

hello dearhearts, here I am, back at last from my travels! I actually got back late Thursday night but i've been so busy with appointments and stuff i've only just found time to sit down and work on a little blog post to share with you all.

in case you don't keep up with me on social media, let me tell you that yesterday was my 24th Birthday!

Shoot by Laura Stolfi

I spent all day yesterday out with my closest friends in the South of the Island (which made a nice change seeing as I live in the North and rarely get to visit the South any more). I don't really have any photos of the evening out in Port Erin but it was lots of fun, even though it was cold and raining! I'm lucky that they were all kind enough to come out for a few drinks and some food on my Birthday-Eve.

one of my birthday cards, since i'll never really grow up!

I know that to most people Birthdays can be quite a big deal but I come from a family where it's usually 'just another day', we don't really go out for Birthday celebrations or throw parties (I had parties when I was a child but as i've gotten older, Birthday's have become less of a big deal). I don't mind this though, as long as I get a cake, i'll spend the day doing whatever!

this year's delicious Birthday Cake + glitter crown!

I'm sure i'm not the only one that feels this way, but I can often find Birthday days to be a little overwhelming, when family and friends call or demand I make 'proper' plans and expect me to spend the day doing things. I have been known to lock myself in my room on May 31st and refuse to answer any phonecalls or open any presents until later in the day or the evening. I'm not sure why but the stress or expectations of the day can get to me and spark off some anxiety or panic.

a lovely colouring book gift from my friend Simon

 But this year I didn't have any of that! Which was brilliant. In fact NO-ONE called me all day (it was so great!) and I only got one text message. I woke up and had chocolate for breakfast (as is tradition on both Birthday and Christmas) and opened some really lovely gifts, then I spent the entire day in my room reading my new books + listening to music and editing a new illustration. Just another day...

the beautiful book my sister Nicky gave me

Seeing as it was my Birthday and i'm now a 24-year-old (which is scary) I thought i'd take a moment to look back on the past year and some of it's ups and downs! As per usual it's been a mixed year, sad times and happy times and some times in between.

lots of goodies from my friend Lorna including 30 rainbow bouncy balls!

 Since I lost my wonderful job last June, I've been in a constant state of flux, darting from one thing to the other, coming up with and discarding new ideas on a daily basis. I still miss the Family Library more than anything but I try to keep myself busy and relatively structured; spending my time at home trying to build up my online profile and promote my etsy shop via social media every day. As you know I also started painting again and i'm always working on new products for my shop. I'm not making a 'living' per se but i'm trundling along, doing my best.

one of my more unusual Birthday cards!

 It's not where I saw myself being in 2015 when I celebrated my Birthday this time last year, I figured i'd still be employed for one thing, hopefully in my own Flat at long last, maybe learning to drive, who knows. But in the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, 'you can't always get what you want'! So here I am, back where I was a few years ago only now I don't have the excuse of being a college student. It's frustrating of course, I know where I 'want' to be, but like most people, don't necessarily know how to get there. But I intend to figure it out, eventually.

Star Wars Birthday gifts from others and from me!

It's been difficult coming to terms with some of the changes this past year has brought, i've lost a lot of my already ramshackle independence (no steady income means no apartment in town) but by letting myself be cared for by family and friends i've realised that it's not a bad thing to ask for help, there's no shame in needing someone to lend a helping hand or to just sit and listen for a little while.

the lovely Danish watch Mama Boylan gave me.

It doesn't do well to dwell on the negatives, I know that only too well, so let's look at the positives!

Some Highlights of the past year include:

• Reading and devouring book after book from my 'to be read' pile (currently on number 46 of my Goodreads reading challenge).
• Lovely holidays away in Cyprus, Andorra, France, Spain and trips to see family in the UK.
• The helpful support and treatment for my ongoing Depression and Personality Disorder.
• Lots of evening trips to the Movies with my best friends.
• Fun days out with my little cousin Sienna.
• Heaps of unnecessary cheap retail therapy via Ebay (no-one needs inflatable flamingo cup holders from China, but that did not stop me).
• Creating brand new rainbow haired ladies for the Candy Doll Club.
• Some nice new products for my shop and an increase in UK sales.
• Watching my two beautiful nieces continue to grow into incredible young women.
• Working on some new paintings for no reason other than that I want to paint.
• Adding to my ever growing 'desk collection' of random bits n' bobs.
• Making new friends on the island + lots of new internet friends as well.
• Getting new international sales to countries I haven't sent stuff to before.
• Treating myself to Ghostbusters Lego (not even kidding, one of the best parts of 2014!)
• Gaining new followers online and reaching 14.7k followers on Pinterest.
• Finally getting back in touch with long lost friends, because life really is too short not to!

an entire set of beautiful Nausicaa Manga from my friend Danny

May 2014-15 has been a mixed bag but i'm another year older (definitely) and wiser (possibly) so all I can do is continue to take life one day at a time and hope for the best. As always, i'm eternally grateful to my family and friends for being so nice and supportive and brilliant and for always putting up with me no matter how much of a pain I am! I wouldn't be able to make it through some days without them, whether it's a warm hug and an assurance that things will be ok or a sarcastic message telling me to stop being a prat, they're always there for me and if you'll pardon the pun, they keep me sane.

a little graphic I whipped up for my birthday

So that's that, another year done and dusted, and only 364 days left until I turn 25, I'd better start thinking of things to fill the time! 

thanks for stopping by, i'll try to make the next post a little less serious (aka boring).

so until next time, toodle-ooh! I hope to see you again soon xX

 

Post Birthday Blog!

Well... it certainly has been a while since I last posted anything on here! Lets see, it's been just under seven months since I last published a blog. Yikes!

Never mind, i'm here now anyway, that's what counts. In fact you may or may not have noticed that the blog has a brand new look. That's right, here it is resplendent in all of its eye achingly colourful glory. Yay!

So what's THIS post all about I hear you cry? Simple really, on Saturday I celebrated my 23^rd Birthday and I thought what better time to re-commence my blogging habit than on my birthday. Or a few days after it as is actually the case.

Anyway, I thought i'd share a few snaps of Birthday related bits n' bobs with you all. I don't really have anything else to talk about at the moment. so it's going to be a mostly picture laden post. And there will definitely be a significant number of exclamation marks used throughout. Enjoy.

For starters, feast your eyes on this terrifically tasty treat of a Birthday cake! (i can verify that it is indeed delicious)

i was also surprised with a lovely bunch of flowers from my Aunt and Uncle. i hardly ever get flowers so these really were a lovely gift + Gerbera daisies are my absolute favourite flowers.

i got ever so many cards this year, by the end of the day on my Birthday i was beginning to run out of room for them all!

I was very VERY excited to find a little parcel of Birthday cards from my fellow Librarians waiting for me on my Birthday. I was even more excited when i opened the parcel to find presents as well! Even more so when i realised just how brilliant the presents were.

It's no secret at the Library that i'm a bit of a Sherlock fangirl (understatement!) so imagine my delight when i opened up the parcel and find this BRILLIANT Benedict Cumberbatch colouring book 

If i'm not busy fangirling over Benedict and his glorious cheekbones, i'm bound to be rambling on about my other fangirl crush Tom Hiddleston. I'm not sure if i could ever choose between Benny and Hiddles and decide which one is my absolute favourite, so these pencils really are the best thing ever because now i don't HAVE to choose! It's printed on the pencils so it MUST be official.

And as if all of that wasn't fabulous enough, there was even some of my favourite sweeties in the bag! what a lucky duck i am. Yum!

After spending the day at home (in my pyjamas) I made my way into Douglas to meet my friends for Birthday drinks.

My super duper pal Lorna gave me this luuurrrrvely Mary Poppins necklace (which i immediately put on and wore ALL evening). Mary Poppins is one of my favourite characters (i think i secretly want to be her) so i couldn't NOT love the necklace. + it's a locket, so Lorna says i have to put pictures of Benny and Hiddles in it. Obviously!

My flatmate Matt got me a Ghostbusters mug (and a Lady Raincorn wristband) which i was v chuffed with. Ghostbusters is my favourite movie, i can't believe i didn't already have a mug. Well, now i do!

For my actual Birthday outing, i celebrated the same way i did last year, by heading out on the Promenade with my friends to enjoy the atmosphere of the Funfair and the TT beer tent + music stage. Luckily it was a sunny day and a balmy evening so it was all good. As has become Birthday tradition, i slathered on some red lipstick and got vaguely dressed up, i debuted my latest purchase, a lovely vintage circle skirt. 

Here's the obligatory Birthday selfie...

All in all it was a good Birthday. i got to celebrate it with my family and friends which is exactly who i'd want to share a day/evening with. So i'm another year older now, definitely not any wiser and undoubtedly still a big kid at heart (the highlight of the evening for me was getting a big bag of pink Candy Floss on my way home from the beer tent!)

So here's the being 23, completely immature and as ever, utterly oblivious to what the future might bring! Fingers crossed it's a good year...


And on that typically peculiar note i'll say goodbye, i can't think of anything else to write so this will have to do for now!

farewell folks xX

May Drawing Challenge - Day 2

well it's day 2 so here's my 'Tree' doodle for today...

obviously i'm pining for more tropical climes!


at college today my friend & desk buddy Jennie (who is also an illustrator) wanted to have a go as well so we took some time to out of our busy college day to work on the doodles...

so here's Jennie's really lovely tree drawing

 + a little bunting one to make up for missing yesterday's theme

+ here's Quinn's beautiful tree doodle for today

+ here's my friend Danni's gorgeous drawing for the day, especially loving that cute owl (for more of Danni's work check out her website doodlesbydanni)

 + here's a great 'Tree' doodle by my pal Grant (he's a Graphic Designer, check out his tumblr here)

and another 'Bunting' one for yesterday's theme

Jennie, Danni and Grant are also in the Smoo Doo Croo design collective with me + a few others

i'm glad to see so many of my creative friends getting involved with this project and taking up the doodle challenge. i can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for the rest of the month! :)

so until tomorrow, that's all folks... xX

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