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

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 

Sunshine and Stuff ★

so not that much to report today really, I still feel ill, finished reading my new book today, watched a movie or two...

i've also been writing my picture book related essay all day like a good little art student!

i'm still stuck at home although i have to say, the weather today has been divine!!

in fact it was so nice today it even lured me outside for a little walk around the garden, i mean just look at that cloudless blue sky...

it was still ruddy cold though! look, this pond had even iced over! 

apart from that it was genuinely nice to see some sunshine

and for once, there was virtually no wind! and trust me, normally it's almost always blowing a gale here on the Isle of Man!!!

there was barely even enough breeze to stir the Manx Flag!!!

anyway on with the actual point of today's post...

I have some new business cards!!!

these little lovelies arrived while I was away in Coventry so I was delighted to find them waiting for me when I got home on Saturday night

aren't they adorable! I still adore my old business cards (see below) but these are just so swishy and super

there's only a dozen of them seeing as they're more of an experiment really, i just wanted to see what they'd look like but the quality is gorgeous with a lovely silky finish! you can see how the old one and the new ones compare here as well

I picked my picture book pages for the designs so that whoever I pass them along to can have a teeny tiny little bit of pretty picture book fabulousness in their pocket

i'll be throwing one of these new business cards in with the giveaway bundle + a niiiiice quality A5 sized 'lollipop' print of the winners choice (from this selection... oh and the A5 print won't have the signature in the corner either)

that means that the winner of the giveaway will be the first person in the whole wide world to receive one of these limited little business cards!!!

obviously there are some 'proper' prizes up for grabs as well! 

there's been precisely 26 entries so far so it's not like you'd be up against an awful lot of people if you entered now... (added incentive!!!)

There are precisely 10 days left to enter so you know... get entering!!! - 

♥ Giveaway ♥

* * *

also on a slightly random note, i added a pair of angel wings to one of my pinup girls...

don't ask! i watched 'Dogma' last night for the first time in ages (it's one of my fave 90's films) so i wondered what one of my pinup's would look like as an angel

and yes i know... she looks weird!

end of random post!

* * *

that's it for today, i'm now going to head off and write a little more for my essay + maybe start reading a new book

who knows!

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX

ps - no-one told me which country i have to do a farewell to next so for now the multilingual farewells are on hold! any suggestions would be awesome x

Weather and Wheelbarrows ♥

blanket... CHECK! 

cup of tea... CHECK! 

fave owl mug... CHECK!

chocolate biscuit... CHECK!

So I have spent the past two days (ok... half days) outside in the cold, cold October weather to help my dear old dad move tree branches and rake up leaves for our annual Bonfire on the 5^th of November to celebrate 'Guy Fawkes Night' (if you haven't heard of Bonfire night then I suggest you read this – Guy Fawkes Night)

so why have I been helping?

Well... I've spent most of my week off college sat inside on my laptop and pretty much doing NOTHING (apart from the odd bit of housework now and again) so he offered me £20 in exchange for some work in the garden

i'd have been a fool to say no so...

I didn't.

However... the work outside wasn't fun and it wasn't easy but it WAS very cold and windy and rainy and not the most pleasant way to spend your half term!

Anyway... this afternoon while I was snapping endless piles of chopped down tree branches and shoving them into a wheelbarrow (I HATE the wheelbarrow!) I took a little photo of a particular branch...

that's right... even though it was pouring with rain and i was freeeeezing cold and soaked to the bone, i STILL found time to get a quick shot of a tree branch snapped in half...


THAT'S dedication right there! or is it just stupidity...


i don't know what it was about the branch though, i just really wanted to get a photo of it. 


there was something so beautiful about the way it broke, the way the bark split but didn't snap completely in two creating that perfect little arch with all the greeny phloem tissue and the cambium layer and the wood (thank you old Biology lessons) 


i just really liked the arch it made i guess!


and yes... i am aware that i sound like an idiot but come on... it's kind of pretty! c'est incroyable et mervellieux... oui ou non??? 


by the way...


i should probably explain something about my garden if you're sitting there thinking... well it can't take that long to shift a few branches from one side to the other...


it's not exactly a normal garden per se...  for a start, a river runs through it and there are trees EVERYWHERE 

you see... a river! true story! and lots of trees = lots of branches to move...

STUPID stupid branches because... my arms hurt from lifting them, my feet hurt, i have scratches all over me from them and i picked up a massive branch this afternoon and it whacked me straight in the face and sent me flying... not cool nature NOT COOL!

it's a pain of a garden to be honest! takes ages to sort, but you know what... i still love it! especially when it's covered in snow...

now let me point out that it is NOT snowing here at the moment, these photos were taken in January 2010 when the island was hit with some of the worst snow it's had in a loooong time! 

it's pretty though right?! kind of... 'Narnia-ish' maybe? it's when the garden looks best i think, don't get me wrong it's super duper in the Spring/Summer with flowers and lots of green everywhere but come on... fresh snow makes everything look prettier!

see what i mean about the trees though? they are freakin everywhere!

ok i'll shut up about the garden now... promise

* * *

in other news...

due to the hard graft and manual labour i have endured over the past 48 hours (yes i did just write that...) it means that i STILL haven't started any more Halloween Pinup Girl illustrations...

this means one of two things... either i will get my bum in gear and get to work on some sketches asap... or i'll just abandon the plan completely and make it up by doing LOADS of Christmas themed illustrations instead for November/December

i haven't decided yet but stay tuned!

ok, that's all folks...

tatty byeeeee 

♥ ◕‿◕ ★  xX

ps - apologies once again for another boring post... i'll do my best to liven it up a bit next time!