Santa Trains and Sienna ★

so yesterday i got up bright an early (ish...) to head into town to pick up my darling little cousin Sienna for the day

she was all dressed up and ready to go in her candy coloured winter outfit + sweetie patterned welly boots! 

we had a nice little mooch around the shops first though, she helped me pick out a few last minute xmas prezzies for some people so i treated her to a little Hello Kitty necklace for being such a sweetheart!

and she even got to meet Santa outside the local shopping centre!

but then it was time to take her on our annual day out to the fabulous Santa Trains at the local Groudle Glen Railway

we took her last year and had a brilliant day out despite the chilly weather! so we were all looking forward to heading to the glen again this year for another trip on the trains. here she is with my mum aka her 'Auntie Joy'

it was pretty cold when we got to the Lime Kiln Halt so we did some dancing about to the Xmas music to try and keep warm while we waited for the train...

but then at long last, we heard the all too familiar 'choo-choo' of the train as it came chugging around the corner to collect us

then it was on to the Lhen Coan Station to get some mulled wine, a mince pie, and then go and meet Father Christmas!

the Station looked very festive, all decorated for Christmas as the train kept heading back and forth to collect and drop off more visitors

we had a fabulously festive and fun day and i'm sure we'll be visiting the Groudle Glen Railway again next year to take Sienna to the Easter Bunny and Teddy Bears Picnic Trains

for more information about the Railway line be sure to check out the official GGR website here - Groudle Glen Railway

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after the Trains, we popped out for some lunch where Sienna decided to open the little gift Santa gave her at the station 

turns out it was a very VERY awesome little wooden marionette puppet

Sienna eventually decided to name him 'Lenny' and i'm not gonna lie, we had a LOT of fun making him walk and dance about on the table top!

unfortunately we had to drop little Miss Sienna off after that because today she got the boat over to the UK to visit her family for Christmas!

but we had a great day, it's always a fun day when Sienna is around :) x

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in other news, i got a lovely little surprise in the post yesterday as well!

the very lovely Astrid from 'Schwarzie Design' had sent me a cute little bundle of mini print cards and a little note via 'snail mail' all the way from South Africa!

it really made my already lovely day that extra bit awesome so big thanks to her for that!

her artwork are very gorgeous, i'm sure i'll have to run a post about her and her sister's designs on here in the New Year, but until then i recommend you check out her website here - Schwarzie Design

* * *

and i think that's it for now! not many plans this week, i've finished buying and wrapping ALL of my Xmas presents to i'm a bit unsure of how to spend my time other than reading, watching old movies or editing drawings!

but i have something super duper sweet to share with you all tomorrow evening so be sure to look out for that!

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

Wizard Wednesday ♥

so i promised i'd do a little post today didn't i!

well today i've been busy sorting stuff for my trip to Ireland tomorrow + working on some commission files

anyway, on Wednesday (as in, the Wednesday just gone) i had a brilliantly busy day in Douglas here on the island

i spent the morning trawling around the shops looking for goodies to put in the giveaway (don't for get to enter! - August Giveaway)

then in the afternoon i got to visit my cousins Gary and Sharon + their kids Robson, Hanna and my little god-daughter Bonnie

it's been a couple of months since i last saw Bonnie and Hanna so it was lovely to spend some time with them

we had a good giggle doing some drawing and colouring, + playing with Oscar the cat

i got the girls a special little treat since i know they're both such big fans of Hello Kitty (Bonnie has a HK pencil case and school bag) i got them Hello Kitty marshmallow lollipops!

which unsurprisingly... went down rather well with the two little ladies!

they didn't want to eat them at first though! Hanna just kept sniffing hers...

but after a while Bonnie realised how yummy Hello Kitty's ears were!

oh it was so great to see them! i've missed both soooo much!!!

they're just the sweetest little sweethearts! 

anyway after that i had to go all the way down to Ronaldsway to collect my dad from the airport, we stopped for a coffee/frescato at the new Costa at the sea terminal before heading to the gorgeous old Gaiety Theatre and Opera house on Douglas Promenade to see the Taylorian production of 'The Wizard of Oz'

i may have mentioned it before but i'm a big BIG fan of Musicals both on film and on the stage, i've always loved the book and i loved the movie of the Wizard of Oz as well so when i found out this was going to be on at the Gaiety i really REALLY wanted to go!

luckily... my lovely mother won a pair of tickets to go and see it and since my dad is such a big fan of Musical's too, he took me along to see it

i love going to the theatre! especially to the Gaiety, it is one of my favourite buildings on the island, so so beautiful, i just love it

i've grown up visiting the theatre to watch shows + i've taken part and helped backstage in a few as well over the years. i've been coming to the Gaiety for as long as i can remember actually, i just love it! it's gorgeous outside but the interior is even more amazing! 

isn't it beautiful! 

anyway back to the point, the show was incredible! such an amazingly talented cast of Manxies, the sets, costumes, lighting, music and acting was just top notch! i loved every minute of it :)

if you live local i definitely recommend you go and see it! my friend Shiny went with her family last Tuesday to see it and my cousins went to see the matinee performance this afternoon and they all LOVED it too! in fact, i haven't heard a bad review of it yet because it's just THAT good!

* * *

anyway not much else for today, sorry for all the uber personal posts lately! i'm sure you don't just come here to read about my day to day life! or do you...

ah well, Ireland tomorrow so you can expect lots of lovely shopping and scenery filled posts! + i've got a couple of Creative Café features up my sleeve as well so watch out for those!

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

★ ♥ August Giveaway ♥ ★

wait what... a giveaway... really?!

YES!!!!

i promised you all an August Giveaway to say thank you for getting me to 100 blog followers

so... without any further ado! let's have a look at what YOU could win this time!!!

oh my look at all that pretty stuff! please allow me to 'break it down' for you...

up for grabs we have, three gorrrrgeous British Summertime themed necklaces: an ice cream one, a mini ceramic teapot one + a diddy wellington boot  + tartan bow one + a pair of ridiculously cute polka dot bow earrings (from 'Accessorize' and Douglas, Isle of Man)

there's also a super duper awesome Hello Kitty embroidered luggage tag, possibly THE best luggage tag ever... fact (from 'Funny Love' Douglas, Isle of Man)

add to that four adorable pouting lips magnets, a charming little metal 'with love' tag (both from 'Curphey's' Douglas, Isle of Man) + a lovely embroidered felt lavender heart (handmade by me!!!) 

i'm also giving away one of my limited 'Let them eat cake' Postcards + 2 brilliant vinyl stickers featuring my 'sugar skull' and 'lollipops' designs (postcards available via - etsy shop and stickers available via - redbubble)

and last but certainly not least... since everyone LOVED the poodle necklace from the last giveaway (see original post here - Blog Birthday Giveaway) i decided to put another poodle necklace in THIS giveaway!!! 

+ i'm all adding an equally as adorable and gorgeous little bunny necklace (both from fabulous kawaii shop 'Funny Love' in Douglas, Isle of Man)

there's also this cute little fairtrade handmade mini notebook from Peacock & Ruby in Cork, Ireland

and a sheet of candy coloured kawaii bubble stickers from Accessorize in Cork

and last but not least... a yummy little rainbow swirl lollipop

pretty amazing and downright gorrrrgeous stuff right!!! 

and who knows... i'm off to Ireland on Sunday so there might even be a few more little bits and bobs added to the bundle!!!

♥ ♥ ♥

alrighty then on to the MOST important part! how can YOU enter to win it all . . .

oh and remember i don't care if you're on the other side of the planet, if you win the giveaway i will post this stuff out to you, no problem!

i know i have a lot of international followers and i don't want any of you to think that you can't enter!

YOU CAN (in fact, please do!!! the last giveaway winner was from Canada and the one before that was from the USA and those countries are soooo far away from where i live yet i posted it all out no bother! so i am happy to post these goodies out no matter where the winner lives!)

also, the competition is open to both BOYS and GIRLS! i know the stuff i giveaway is kind of cute and girly but lads, if you take a fancy to any of the giveaway goodies don't be shy, feel free to take part and enter the giveaway...

maybe you'd like to try and win the stuff for your girlfriend/wife, your sister, a family member or friend... 

GO FOR IT!

ok so to enter all you have to do is comment on THIS here post right here on this here page right here that you are reading... here just scroll down and leave a comment HERE

(even if it's just a word, leave a comment and you'll automatically be entered)

alternately, if you follow me on Twitter @jadeboylan you can retweet to enter or send me an '@' reply/mention saying that you want to be entered in the giveaway. just put 'count me in' or something to that effect maybe put 'gimme the prizes' or something :)

leaving a comment here is simple but if you don't have a blogger account you can send an email to this address telling me that you want to enter - info@jadeboylan.com

and you can also "like' or leave a comment on the Facebook Fan Page scroll down until you find a post mentioning the giveaway or just leave me a little wall post saying that you'd like to enter

it's  really T H A T  simple!

to gain extra entries you can also reblog me once or twice on tumblr - jadeboylan

i'll reblog about the giveaway at least once a day so just scroll my page until you find it or check my archive to find it quicker

(i had a surprisingly high amount of tumblr entries last time i did a giveaway in fact the winner was a tumblr girl so if you have a tumblr account i'd DEFINITELY recommend entering there as well) 

oh and for an extra EXTRA entry you can mention this giveaway in a blog post but if you do this then please PLEASE leave a comment linking it or send me a link so that i can see the post and count your entry

in fact one of the last Giveaway winners mentioned my giveaway on her blog so you know. . . get blogging dudes and dudettes!

♥ ♥ ♥

maximum of 6 entries per person

(that gives you a comment here/email, like/comment on facebook, retweet/mention on twitter, a blog mention or a couple of tumblr reblogs or multiple likes/comments/retweets if you don't use tumblr. also, if you do reblog it on tumblr please know that i'll only count up to two or three reblogs as separate entries, any more and you'll only be doing me a favour... they won't be counted!)

the giveaway is running until Midnight (UK time) on Wednesday the 31st of August 2011

so... you have 20 days to enter!!!

i will draw a winner on the Thursday morning (1st of September) using a random number generator

i'll post the results later that same day (the Thursday) and the winner will be notified via email, facebook, tumblr or twitter accordingly

so go NOW and enter the giveaway

DON'T sit there and pretend you wouldn't like to get send this little bundle of loveliness in the post... because i KNOW that you want it!

SCROLL DOWN THE BLOG ENTRY, LEAVE YOUR COMMENT AND ENTER THE GIVEAWAY NOW!!!

* * *

yay giveaway times again! i LOVE doing these little giveaways, i always spend a big chunk of cash on the prizes and i know it might seem daft for me to just give it all away to a stranger but i luuuuurve holding giveaways on my blog :)

i've been busy this week working on commissions + sewing some stuff, yesterday i had a lovely day with family + a trip to the theatre but i'll have to tell you about that another day!

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