Pretty as a Picture

Hello dearhearts, back again with a brand new illustration and yes, you guessed it, it's another addition to the Candy Doll Club!

so instead of wittering on about it (like I usually do) i'll just go ahead and show you...



Now you might have noticed over recent months that lately i've been heavily inspired by a few of the many lovely ladies I follow via Instagram and Pinterest, in fact this new piece is an illustration inspired by a very lovely British blogger named Megan aka Briar Rose and she is basically a real life Disney Princess!



Look at that amazing hair! WOW! I always enjoy seeing Megan's gorgeous OOTD blog posts and snaps on Instagram, she has the most incredible wardrobe, so she seemed like an ideal 'real life' candy doll to inspire a new piece.

I was actually inspired by the photos from this blog post, and although usually I cover my drawings with candy coloured tattoos and pops of neon colour, this one felt better suited to pretty paler pastels similar to those found in Megan's outfit post.


Although obviously in my version that 'Princess' hair has a few pastel shades thrown in for good measure! But then how could I EVER draw a Candy Doll without giving her Pastel hair?! Also, i'm dreadful at drawing hats, they never seem to translate well when I add them so this one gets a flower crown instead!

I also wanted to have a go at drawing a girl holding a camera, following on from my 'time for a selfie' illustration, so when I spotted the pictures of Megan with her nifty little Praktica camera it seemed like time to get out my pencils and pens!

I had a lot of fun drawing this one as you can probably tell, it's been nice just working on aimless projects these past few months while I take some time off from work, I can't wait to see what I conjure up next (maybe something special just in time for Halloween... wait and see!)  

anyway the design is now available via my Society6 Shop on various items + there's Free Worldwide Shipping on stuff in the shop until October 12th so if you feel like getting some early Xmas presents, go have a skeet!

alrighty then i'll stop babbling now. Hope you liked the new illustration, i'm pretty sure that the Candy Doll Club will forever be gaining new members! So thanks for the inspiration Megan!

YOU can keep up with all of her fashionable snaps by following her on Pinterest or Instagram + here she is on Facebook and Twitter and of course, here's her brilliant Blog

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in other news, I FINALLY finished my two latest paintings!

here they are perched on my desk (along with a recent diddy posca piece) waiting to see what i'm going to do with them next, I haven't a clue where to put them!

I suppose I ought to try and sell them but i've gotten kind of used to having them around now, unless someone else were to grow particularly partial to one of them of course...

 i'll do a proper Blog post about them soon + show you the process snaps of how I got from blank wooden board to finished piece!

AND i'm starting two more BIGGER paintings v soon, I haven't decided 100% what to paint yet but who am I kidding, we all know it'll be members of the Candy Doll Club.

so until next time, that's all folks!

Bunnies and Bunting ♥

so i stayed in AAALLLL day yesterday to crack on with mastering the sewing machine, it was a miserable day outside so i didn't miss much! 

anyway i got bored of practicing stitches all afternoon so i decided to have a go at making 'Sophie Lapin'

remember Pepe Lapin??? (from THIS post - ribbon rosettes and Pepe Lapin) 

well that's Pepe with the button on his tummy and Sophie with the strawberry on her tummy is his little bunny gilrfriend (i'm guessing. . .) but i didn't have enough time to make her and Pepe at the same time from the kit Julie and Ciara gave me to test, so she's been a bit late turning up for their date!

well she's here now, but while Pepe is entirely hand stitched with a needle and thread (and a LOT of hours spent listening to 'the Freelance Whales' while sewing) 

Sophie is almost entirely machine sewn!!! it's probably a good thing though because i imagine that not everyone that buys the kit would own a sewing machine so they'd have to sew them by hand, or alternately they'd prefer NOT to sew them by hand and use a machine instead! well now there's one of each! i just need to drop her off at the shop so that she can be reunited with Pepe

she was machine sewn though which would explain the slight messiness to her, what can i say, only i would be mad enough to sew neater by hand than on a machine!!!

saying that though, have a look at what i made this morning before lunch

my very own candy coloured bunting! 

i've wanted some 'proper' fabric bunting for ages but every time i see some in a shop (usually 'the Tide' or the Cath Kidston section at 'Selfridges') i get this insane makers guilt, i.e. i love the ready made strings of bunting but when i see them i can't help but think 'i could make that' and so i end up not buying any pretty bunting at all!!!

well, now i have a sewing machine i figured it was time to have a go at some DIY bunting and voila! + it was a great chance to use some of the awesome cupcake printed fabric i got from 'Just Enough' weeks ago

there are 4 flags for each fabric, the pale pink heart spotted fabric, the cupcake printed fabric + the cute pink gingham i bought when we picked up my sewing machine

my seams are a little off on the ribbon but weirdly the seams for the flags are perfect, each flag is also double sided so it doesn't matter which way you put up the bunting, it will always look the same

it was great fun to make and providing i can get hold of some pink bias binding i could easily neaten this design up and make a couple more to sell via etsy or in the Sweet Ginger Emporium

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speaking of etsy. . .

i totally forgot to tell you all that my shop is open again!

if you follow me on facebook or twitter you'll probably have seen me posting links to the shop but if not, it's officially open again now

i've taken a few things out (for now) + added in a whole bundle of plushie necklaces + the new greetings cards

head on over and have a skeet at what's on offer - the Candy Cove on etsy

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not much else to report today, tomorrow i'm off to college to work on my essay + raid the graphics room printer again 

i also have some groovy new illustration stuff to edit and it's NOT anything to do with the cupcake princess, it's something new. . . sort of!

until then, that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ 

p.s. - have you entered the May Giveaway yet??? in honour of my Birthday at the end of this month i've decided to hold a little giveaway again, there's a bundle of cute prizes up for grabs and you have until my Birthday, the 31st of May, to get your entries in -

 ENTER THE GIVEAWAY NOW

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!

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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

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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

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not much else to share for today

until next time

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX