Super Snaps ❤

Gather round dear readers because I have something super fun and colourful to share with you all today!

If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don't, then you really ought to) then you might have seen the cute giveaway I'm running with UK based Super Snaps

We've teamed up to give one lucky winner a pair of Candy Doll Club pins and some Girl Gang stickers (designed by yours truly of course) along with an exclusive set of one of a kind magnets and retro prints from Super Snaps, all featuring some of my colourful designs.

Just look at all those treats! Who wouldn't want to win that lot?!

 The magnets and prints feature 10 of my illustrations (the 10th one isn't shown in any of the photos, so I guess only the winner will get to see what it is). I tried to pick a range of colourful designs that I thought would look good, so here's hoping that whoever wins thinks they look good too.

The lovely folks at Super Snaps were also kind enough to send me a set of the magnets and retro prints as well, which is really BRILLIANT because I've never seen any of my work on magnets before, It's all rather exciting. They arrived super quickly and the packaging was simple but still very cute.

Super Snaps give you an easy peasy way to order your own Instagram shots or digital photos printed on magnets and prints, so if you've ever wanted to see your own face on a magnet, or your pet/child/handbag on prints stuck to your wall, then Super Snaps is definitely the place to get em' made. They can also produce stickers, greetings cards + framed prints of your photos or designs as well as magnets and mini prints.

cute and colourful magnets

The quality of the magnets is really nice, they're quite thin but they went onto the fridge door without any problems and they look great. I was actually going to share them with my friends but I think I'll have to keep them all now because they look really fantastic on the fridge and the colours are very vibrant and sharp.

some of the fun magnets YOU could win!

The retro prints Super Snaps sent me were actually a total surprise so I was delighted to receive them. Once again the colour quality is gorgeous and I love the classic polaroid style and size of the prints. As I work primarily digitally I rarely get to see my work actually printed out but these turned out so well, I really like them.

I also think that the retro prints would make great pocket portfolios for illustrators, designers, photographers and artists since they're small enough to carry around and they're such good quality they'd really help to show off your work.

I didn't send any photos for the magnets/prints since I'm an illustrator and the only photos I really have of my designs are product shots, but I'm definitely curious to see how photos would look on these retro prints. I bet they look great and I'm wondering whose birthday I could order some for this year. I'm already considering a set of fun magnets for my sister, so if you're reading this Nikki don't forget to act surprised on your Birthday.

This is a great prize, I'm sure you'll agree, and if you think you'd like to try and get your hands on these cute goodies, all you have to do is click this link for info on how to enter the Giveaway. You can also enter it over here on the Super Snaps IG page. But don't leave it too long because we'll be picking a winner on Friday 27th January.

Please be aware that it's an Instagram only giveaway so leaving a comment here or on facebook or twitter will not count as an entry.
 
If you can't wait until Friday to see if you've won and you just HAVE to get these pins and stickers, then you'll find them here in my SHOP

And if you fancy getting some magnets, retro prints or other goodies printed up with your own photos or designs, you can get them right HERE

and those superstars at Super Snaps have also set up an exclusive discount code for all you Candy Dolls out there! All you need to do is enter code: CDC15 (in caps because it is case sensitive) at the checkout to get 15% off at Super Snaps until April.

They offer fast and free shipping to UK customers + express International delivery for those of you around the world.

And on that note i'll say goodbye because I'm going off to raid the fridge for dinner and admire my new magnets as well.

bye for now!

The Handbag of Dreams ♥

Welcome to 2017

New Year, New You? or not, whatever.

It's a brand new year filled with brand new possibilities and opportunities. Or in my case, same old, same old...

Except for one little difference that is (so far).

If you missed my last post let me offer a quick recap. It was my annual Xmas wish list post and you can read/re-read it HERE should you so desire. As per usual it was filled with lots of lovely things I'll probably never own but as always, I had a lot of fun coming up with it.

Anyway, the very last item on the 2016 wish list was the handbag of dreams aka an Anya Hindmarch all-over-stickers Bathurst in black.

Well my first illustration of 2017 is a 'handbag portrait' aka an illustration of a handbag flat lay, and it should tell you all you need to know... (disclaimer, unless you love handbags you're proabbly gonna find this post pretty boring so abandon ship now if you want)

That's right friends, all of my handbag dreams have come true because this babe of a handbag is now MIIIIINNNNEEEE!!!!!!!

So naturally I'm now going to blather on about it for a few minutes because honestly how can I not and also because my blog, my rules.

And before you start speculating over who I know that would get me such a magnificent gift, the answer is Me. I would get myself such a magnificent gift, so I did. TREAT YO SELF

Unsurprisingly the bag is perfect. It's everything I hoped for and more, and it smells incredible! And it's soooooooo pretty I LOVE IT! It's so good aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 

First of all it arrived in a snazzy striped bag (I will forever love black and white stripes) tied with a red ribbon and a cute fried egg tag. I won't lie, I did a little happy dance around the room when it arrived and I might have squealed. Once. Maybe. Or a few times, who knows.

The 'stickers' design on the bag is even better in person and the detail is amazing. Check out that stripy bungee handle as well! Too lovely.  It also comes with a full length leather strap and you can customize it lots of different ways. Brilliant.

It also arrived all bundled in a cute cotton dust bag/tote bag along with the cutest stationery featuring a sunny smiley face and one of my favourite Oscar Wilde quotes. Just when I thought it all couldn't get any more perfect my new handbag arrived with a card saying "I can resist everything except temptation." (I thought the quote was 'anything' instead of everything but I could be wrong. Either way, I still love it and it was a nice touch).

So why did I draw it you might ask?! Well on January 1st I was sorting out the cluttered cupboard in my room and I came across some of my old art college logbooks and found this Nathalie Lecroc inspired 'Handbag Portrait' from 2010. It's definitely not my best work but I vaguely remember having a lot of fun drawing it with my trusty felt tip pens. Don't get me wrong, I loved working on stuff like this back then but I'm sure glad I know how to use Photoshop now ^_^

To be honest not an awful lot has changed except now I don't need to carry around a digital camera, an iPod, an iPod touch AND a Nokia mobile phone! Now I just need my iPhone.

I also always carry a little case of my business cards with me, because you never know who you might bump into and I like having cards on hand to offer prospective clients and customers.

Also how fun is my new googly eyes purse from Superdrug?! Red is my favourite colour so I had to get this purse and the matching make-up pouch. My best friend Hayley also got me the purse in blue and it matches my blue Lulu Guinness bag perfectly. She knows me so well because I'd get this purse in EVERY colour if I could :)

I always carry a notebook with me as well, for ideas and doodles. My mum gave me this neat little notebook and my dad gave me the lovely fountain pen last Christmas. I personally don't really like using biros to write with. When I was 7 my teacher encouraged the class to use fountain pens and I've used one ever since. 

And a boring ventolin inhaler because like many people, in the winter the cold air can affect my lungs so I keep this handy in case I suddenly find it difficult to breathe. You know, normal winter stuff.

The matching googly eyes pouch is where I keep my contact lense spray (so exciting, I know!), my paracetamol, lipbalm, compact and my forever disappearing collection of bobbypins. If you know me at all then you'll know that I wear red lipstick almost every time I leave the house. 

At the moment I'm addicted to Mac Cosmetics Ruby Woo. I bought a tube for my youngest niece's 16th Birthday and it looked so good on her that I had to get a tube for myself as well! And Daisy, if you're reading this, the lisptick really does look amazing on you and I can only hope that it looks half as good on me!

So in summary, if you're still here reading and you haven't already slipped into a coma out of sheer boredom from my inane ramblings, I LOVE THIS BAG AND IT IS THE BEST FOREVER AND EVER.

THE END.

and on that note you'll be delighted to know that I'll shut up now and stop talking about my new handbag because there are far more important things in life than material possessions but I never leave my house and I'm too scared to go anywhere and actually do anything so for now, material possessions like this sublime handbag are all I really have in life. 

and while that may be pathetic, I don't care and I still love it.

bye!

Pingame ★

Hello darlings, this is my first blog post in 6 months!!! So yes, it's true I really am the worst blogger ever. But this year has flown by so fast and I've been so incredibly busy that I have simply neglected this blog in favour of other pursuits. Namely, running my online business and general daily life. But today is special and it warrants a return to the blogosphere because you see, on this day last year I launched my first ever enamel pin!

So let's call it my Piniversary.


Why is that special you may ask, well I recently brought out my 30th pin design so, you know... it's been a pretty good year.

all of the pins I currently have in stock.

You might be wondering 'what's the big deal?' what makes pins so special? While I can't give you a precise reason why they've become so popular in the last few years, I personally like collecting pins because they remind me of my childhood when it was 'normal' to collect dozens if not hundreds of the same kind of item like pokemon cards, pogs, pound puppies, polly pockets, tazos to name but a few. I think pins give people a sense of nostalgia, especially if they feature 90's toys and candy, like a lot of mine do.

I'm also well aware that pins aren't a new fad and that they've been around for ages and that this isn't the first time they've seen a resurgence in popularity (I know, I had a betty boop pin on my denim jacket in the late 90's). But as cliché as it sounds, pins are SO hot right now!

90's themed pins to remind me of my childhood

If you spend any time on instagram then you might be aware of this already. If you don't collect them yourself then you've probably spotted people showing off their pin collections and purchases under the hashtag #pingame. Pins have blown up this year and now everyone and their granny is selling pins online and at craft fairs. The market is becoming a little over-saturated right now so the big question is, what's next? What will the next 'must have' accessory be? I don't think pins are done just yet, but it's starting to get difficult to come up with original or pop culture inspired designs that haven't already been turned into pins.

This time last year I had just begun collecting pins (I had a grand total of 6) and after launching a woven patch design I decided that I needed to get into the pingame myself, sooner rather than later. I didn't really know much about what would and would not sell but I picked a design that I'd sold well on patches and stickers.

my first ever pin!

As I'd already bought 6 pins from other makers, I realised there was a certain way to package the pins for buyers, but it took me a while to figure out the best way to actually post the ruddy things. I started with envelopes but I use PIP mailer boxes now as they ensure that the pins arrive undamaged. I send my pins to customers all over the world (i've posted to every continent but Antarctica) so they need to travel a long way and stay intact and neat, hence the boxes.

When I brought out my first pin last December I really had no idea what I was getting into. I remember the first day I added them to the shop I sold 5 in 12 hours and I thought that was brilliant! Last month I restocked 150 of a popular pin design and it had sold out completely within 3 hours. What a difference a year makes.

my most popular pins to date, a set of 3 Polly Pins.

Pins are definitely my favourite products to design. I've launched new pins every month since last December and I still have a dozen designs that I haven't even had made yet. So it looks like next year will be a busy one as well (hopefully). It's incredibly time consuming to unbox, unbag and card hundreds of pins, that's part of why i've neglected the blog so much. When you have 700 pins to card and bag ready to be posted the next day, you don't really have time for blogging, or even netflix.

It's worth it though, I feel so proud to look down at a bag stuffed with boxes ready to go to the post office, or whenever customers send me photos where they're showing off their new Candy Doll Club pins. There's just something so fun about pins, maybe it's the fact that most people wear them on their jackets and bags, I love the thought of people walking around wearing something I've designed. Personally I keep my pin collection on a set of corkboards, but only because I'm scared to lose any of them! Not to mention the fact that they're not cheap to buy, I keep mine on display next to my desk.

my current Pin Collection

It has been a steep learning curve having to deal with larger numbers of outgoing orders and incoming restocks and deliveries. I've never dealt with things of this scale before, and i'm still small fry compared to many pin makers. I've gone from ordering my boxes in 10's to needing 1500 every few months and I've been taught so much about international postage by the lovely staff at my local post office. I now have an at home supply of customs labels, 'safe to fly' and airmail stickers along with a book of 'proof of postage' certificates and an entire box of post office receipts. I think they groan when I walk in with 2 bags crammed with orders. I'm lucky they're all so friendly and patient.

Selling pins is great but it's really not all fun and games. An average pin launch involves days of prep beforehand: getting the pins carded and bagged and assembling and labeling hundreds of boxes (luckily my lovely mum helps me with this part, otherwise i'm not sure how i'd get it all done in time). Once the pins are delivered and go live in the shop it's a race to get the address labels printed and get the orders boxed up ready to go. I visit the post office a few times a week and I know all of the staff by name. They must be sick of me by now!

my other most popular design this year, Magic Pony Pins.

 I've learned a lot more about my customers as well this year. I've been selling my work for about 8 years now, but never at these levels and not to people that come back again and again to buy each new pin I release. It's amazing to think that people like my designs so much they want to buy them and wear them! It's hard work keeping this all running smoothly, and it's definitely a full time job now.

Long gone are the days when I'd have 5 orders a week and spend the rest of my time reading or painting or watching netflix. Now I don't finish working most evenings until after 11pm if i'm lucky. Of course, working for yourself means that you can also take a whole day off to sit in bed and eat chocolate but I don't get to do that as often as I'd like to. I do still do it sometimes though, of course.

my Bubble Tape pin

 Like I said, it's been a learning curve, but a fun one nonetheless. To begin with each pin funded the next one until I learned how to pick my designs better and work out what my customers would want to buy. I've gotten better at judging which pins will sell fast and which ones won't, I don't mind slower selling pins but obviously it's nicer to get ones that fly out. If i'm honest, a lot it has been trial and error (and there have been more than a few errors!) but I also owe a lot of my successes over the past year to the Girl Pin Gang, the international all female pin makers collective I'm incredibly lucky to be a part of.

a few of the super babe Girl Pin Gang members.

My first three pins came and went before I was invited to join the Girl Pin Gang. I was one of the first members and at the time there were only about 20 of us, but today we have almost 60 members all over the world and people message us every day asking to join (we only open admissions a few times a year on a nomination basis via existing members). The majority of the members are in America so sadly i've not been able to go to any of the GPG meet ups or flair markets yet. But we all talk online and I think it's safe to say that together we're a pretty influential bunch of ladies.

It's exciting to be part of something like this and it's great being in a community with like-minded individuals going through similar problems in life and business. We often help each other out with design ideas, share discount codes for printers and talk about life in general. When you buy from a small online business I think a lot of people can forget that there's a real person at the other end packing up your order and working on new designs. In the age of amazon it's easy to think that you'll get what you've ordered instantly and that nothing will go wrong. But orders still go missing in transit or get stolen, and sometimes customers can be very difficult to deal with, so it's nice having people to talk to about these pitfalls, as we've all gone through them at some point and we can help support one-another.

just a few Girl Pin Gang pins.

I love how diverse all of our pins are as well! Everyone in the group has their own unique style of design. I think that when you sell pins, people can sometimes get confused about how it all works. I've had people look at me bewildered when I try to explain that I design all of my pins myself. Yes I sat down with a pencil and sketched out an idea, then i put it on my computer and added colour, then I sent it to a manufacturer and now I have pins with my design on them. See, not that confusing.

I've also had a few people look down on my work as though it's not 'real art'. I'm totally fine with this. I never used to be but now as far as i'm concerned, i'm no less of a 'real artist' just because I sell 1000 of something i've designed. Contrary to what some people seem to think, this does not make my work any less valid. My art has always been about commercial viability, and that isn't going to change anytime soon.

a handful of my pins

We live in a world filled with mass produced items, and sure, pins can be mass produced as well, but most pin makers (myself included) often do small runs of pins, limited to just 100 or 150. This isn't that different to purchasing a signed limited edition print from an artist, we still designed it and it's still limited edition, you can just put this on your coat instead of your wall. Besides which, I've always said that i'd rather sell a thousand prints or pins of a design than one single painting. And I do.

Reading this, I make it sound like all I do is design pins, but obviously I still sell other items as well, including patches, stickers and colouring books. But the majority of my design time is spent working on new pins and the matching backing cards to go with them. It's time consuming coming up with a card for each pin but it helps showcase the design and my customers always comment on how nice the cards look.

a few of the backing cards I designed this year

This means that unfortunately this year I haven't had chance to work on many Candy Doll pieces. I miss creating the Candy Dolls but they were always more for my own enjoyment than anyone elses, so at least now I get to produce things that other people actually want to buy!

So I guess that this year I've spent more time thinking about my business than my art. I've always created but now I create for a reason, not just for fun. Each new pin is a gamble, will it sell, will I be stuck with it? Only time will tell. But you know what, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do for a living right now than this! Even when i'm awake at 3am to edit proofs from my manufacturers, or sitting in all day waiting for DHL to deliver the next box of pins, or even when my fingers are shredded with paper cuts from making boxes, it's all worth it.

1 of every single pin i've designed since December 2015

and on that note i'll bring this to a close.

If you've seen a pin in this post that you just HAVE TO HAVE then get your butt over to my Shop asap and treat yo self! I'm not biased or anything but my pins make great stocking stuffers and secret santa gifts, so you should definitely get one. or two. or all of them!

I also send out a free girl gang sticker + sherbet sticks with every pin order, so you know... you'll get pins AND sweets!

I'm also giving away a £10 credit for my shop tonight over on my instagram, you can enter the giveaway HERE

And I promise to try a bit harder and make time to blog more in 2017.

I'll be posting my annual Xmas Wish List blog next week (probably), so keep an eye out for that.

and until then, thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed looking at the pins!

Colouring Books ♥

hello! It's been about 3 weeks since my last blog, which is a vast improvement for me and my blogging track record of late. It'll just be a quick post today, not rambling essay like last time.

So why am I making the time now to post a little blog? Well, i'm actually super excited to share my first ever colouring book with you all!

I've wanted to bring out a colouring book for years now, and i'm really pleased with how they've turned out, not bad for a first attempt. I was a bit nervous, even though I triple checked every page, I always panic that something might go wrong and i'll end up with something that I have to bin. But these arrived and they turned out perfectly.

I own a few colouring books myself but I rarely take time to fill any of them in (I get headaches from some of the more detailed ones!) so I thought it might be fun to have a go at creating my own instead. pretty much 'colour-in' for a living and when I post any of my lineart designs online, one or two people usually say 'oh you should make colouring pages', so that's what i've done.

as expected, the books are super girly and feminine, with girl gang themed pages and lots of candy and other sweet treats. Inside there's a selection of Candy Dolls ad a pair of Sugar Skulls along with some brand new designs created JUST for the books.

all of the images have a nice bold outline and while some of the candy doll images are on the detailed side, a lot of the 'montage' pages are nice and spaced, plenty to colour in without giving yourself a headache or hand cramp.

I think my favourite set of pages are either the 80's/90's ones (above) or the Space Babe ones (below). I had a lot of fun putting the pages together and coming up with cute things for each 'pair'. I think there's something for everyone inside, or at least for every girl. Someone asked me why I didn't put anything for boys in there... but why should I?! they get enough already.

So this is 100% girly, just like the rest of my work really.It has cakes and sweets, unicorns and trolls, a princess and a witch and heaps of GIRL POWER!

The colouring books are A5 sized (148 x 210mm / 5.8 x 8.5") saddle stitched with 32 pages and 28 pages to colour. The cover is 300gsm silk coated stock (nice and sturdy to keep everything safe) while the inner pages are 170gsm uncoated stock, perfect for pens, pencils, paints or even sharpies!

The books really are SUPER cute (even if i do say so myself), they're perfect for young, aspiring girl gang members, or grown-up girl bosses!

Here's a sneak at some of the other pages inside. As for the rest... you'll just have to order one of the books and see for yourself! 

speaking of which, I also have a brand new online shop. Although I still have items for sale on Etsy, I think my time with them might be coming to an end. So i've opened a brand new shop on Shopify.

and if you want to get your hands on one of my brand new colouring books, you can find them right HERE

if you do decide to get one, please, please, PLEASE send me a photo! I've already had a few snaps from customers, but so far I've yet to see anyone actually colour in any of the pages and i'm dying to see what cool colour schemes people come up with!

is that it, do you think i've plugged it enough? well, I hope so.

i'm just really proud of my colouring books, okay?

and on that note, i'll say goodbye, and hopefully it won't be too long until i'm back for another blog post!

so until then, thanks for visiting...

 

The Ways of the Force ★

Hello darlings, I would wish you all a Happy New Year but it's been over 3 weeks since NYE so I shan't bother. Apologies for the total lack of posts since 2015, I've started at least 3 on here but never seem to find the inclination to finish any of them!

Until now anyway. When I last blogged (last year!) I promised to do a post all about Star Wars... and you know i'd hate to disappoint you. I want to start off by saying that there are NO spoilers in this post, so if you haven't seen The Force Awakens or any of the Star Wars films, don't worry, I'm not about to spoil any of them for you. So let's crack on!

But first let me set the mood. Click play then carry on reading.



So then, Star Wars. If you're not a fan then you're probably rolling your eyes right about now thinking how you're SICK of hearing about Star Wars all the time... but if you ARE one of the sensible ones who likes/loves Star Wars then you'll no doubt rather enjoy this post.

I for one absolutely ruddy LOVE Star Wars. I was born in 1991 so practically all of the media I grew up watching/reading/listening to was from the 70's and 80's. Growing up I was allowed to borrow videos from my dad's movie collection and as a child, one of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday or Sunday was to watch all three original Star Wars films back to back.

I could read before I started school aged 4 and although I spent most of my time playing in the garden or indoors, I was never discouraged from watching TV or videos if I wanted to. This means that I grew up with a love for movies, especially the Star Wars ones. When I was at Primary School my parents took me on holiday to Las Vegas and there is a photo somewhere (I tried to find it but wherever it is, It's well hidden) of me in FAO Schwarz standing with a life-size Darth Vader with a massive smile on my face.

as you can see... things haven't changed much in the last 16 years!

To be honest my choices in VHS material weren't monitored very well. Sure my parents had told me not to pick any of the films with the red circle showing 15 or 18 but that was just a suggestion, right?! I watched the Exorcist when I was 7, surprisingly it didn't affect me at all but when I watched Alien aged 8 I had nightmares for weeks. You'd think this might scare me away from Sci-Fi for good, but when it came to Star Wars too much was never enough.

just 'some' of the Star Wars goodies I took with me to the Cinema on TFA opening night.

The kinds of films I would watch over and over and over again until I could practically quote them by heart included all 3 Star Wars, Ghostbusters and the Blues Brothers. At school one or two of my female friends had heard of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader or Princess Leia, but none of them were interested in playing playground games with make-believe lightsabers or spaceships. There was no chance I'd get to run around the playground flying an invisible Millennium Falcon with my best friends, because they wouldn't know a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter if it fell from the sky (as you can probably tell, I was a Geek from a young age).

Star Wars water spotted in a local shop in January 2016. and NO, I didn't buy any.

Growing up I tried to hide my geeky tendencies from friends, well the female ones at least. The 1 time I remember admitting that I loved Star Wars and watched Star Trek on TV pretty much every day to my female friends, I was met wish looks of horror and simply asked 'Why?!'. But by the time I reached sixth form I found myself one of only 2 girls in a Design & Technology class full of boys and for the first time ever I had no reason not to join in and talk about sci-fi movies, video games and other geeky stuff, you know... the FUN stuff! Since then I've never seen the point in pretending that I don't like something I secretly do.

yes, that is me on the left. good guess.

To me Star Wars was and always will be an escape. As soon as the music builds and the opening crawl begins, you're already being taken away, across the galaxy to witness new worlds and creatures. To this day the Star Wars score gives me chills, no matter where or when I hear it. I know that in the lead up to the new movie I've probably driven my friends and family MAD with my excitement over each new trailer release and snippet of cast/plot info. Sorry but I'm NOT SORRY!

the amazing Star Wars gifts my friend Danny got me for Christmas 2015.

 It's been at least 20 years since I first saw 'Episode IV: A New Hope' but I never grew out of my love for Star Wars. Sure the early noughties saw the arrival of the prequel movies (but we do not speak of those!) and there's been frequent talk over the years about possible reboots or sequels, but I was happy enough rewatching the originals and imagining how the story might one day continue.

Thankfully December 2015 gave us all just that. The Force Awakens has already broken several box office records and will probably continue to take over the world (if it hasn't already). I think it's success is mostly due to the fresh new characters introduced in the film. I mean yes, it was incredible seeing some of the original cast return but it didn't take long for me to get way more excited about the new characters.

Me after seeing TFA on opening night. Yes I really do love 'Rats Sraw'.

I've been to the cinema to see The Force Awakens 4 times since it opened, which is a personal record for me but somehow doesn't seem like nearly enough times. It's no secret that I LOVE this film. Sure it has a few plot holes and you leave the film with more questions than answers but OH MY GOSH IT IS SOOOO GOOD! I love everything about it, the action and the drama, the new villains, the new heroes, it's just all very brilliant.

the original movies centered around the trio of Luke, Leia and Han, and the new movie gave us the similar 'dream team' of Rey, Finn and Poe. It didn't take much to win me over to adoring these new characters! I was already a fan of Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron, on the right) and Finn (John Boyega, left) and Rey (Daisy Ridley, middle) are both fantastic and funny and BRILLIANT! And yeah, I like the new 'baddie' as well, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren is awesome, but it's the trio above that really stole the show.

the 300 Star Wars stickers I bought to decorate my desk. for Science.

I'm hopeless at drawing guys, I mean I'd love to have a go at illustrating Finn and Poe but it will only end badly. + Rey is the MAIN CHARACTER, so I decided to have a go at drawing her. Now as I've said many times, I'm not great at making my drawings look like the people they're supposed to, so bear that in mind here. I tried my best though, I even added BB-8 to keep her company on Jakku. So... here's my fanart of Rey.

The detail on this one nearly killed me! I considered giving up soooo many times, or kept asking myself why I had to draw every single fold and crease in the clothing. But it was probably worth it right?!

To be honest I can't remember the last time I drew someone who didn't have rainbow hair or candy coloured clothes. It was strange to use such a muted palette, but somehow Rey wouldn't look right in a pink outfit! She's a scavenger on a desert planet, she's a survivor and a fighter, hence the bloody knuckles and dirty, worn clothing. She's also utterly BRILLIANT and amazing and perfect!

I added lots of textures to the fabrics as you can see, and it took forever. But you know what, it was still super fun to work on this one. Probably because I listened to the Force Awakens score on repeat while I drew/edited. But what else was I supposed to listen to?!

if you've a keen eye, you might have noticed throughout the post that I'm a bit of a Darth Vader fan, and yes... my lightsaber is red just like the ones belonging to the Sith (no, that's not a typo). I'm not sure why but I've always sided with the dark side, being a Jedi just seems kind of boring sometimes. The Sith get to dress in black, wield blood red lightsabers and generally go around being dangerous and badass. Thanks to an online dress-up game, I had a go at dreaming up what I might look like as a Sith and I think it's safe to say that Sith Jade would be EPIC!

just call me Darth Jader. or don't, whatever...

Black and Red are my favourite colours so on a very basic level it makes sense that i'd align with the Empire/First Order. Sure they're all morally corrupted and power mad, yes they often go around murdering people and messing stuff up but hey... they sure look good while doing it.

Hmm I'm not really selling it am I?! Ah well.

Anyway, the point of this post is that yes, I do love Star Wars, and no... I will never grow out of it.

Now all I have to do is keep waiting along with everyone else for the next installment, Episode VIII in December 2017. At least we have the Rogue One movie this December, just give me ALL THE STAR WARS!

so on that note i'll say goodbye, i'll try and blog again soon but we all know there's a chance you might not hear from me on here again for a few months.

so until then... May the Force be with you!

2015 in review ❤

Hello chums, I know that in my last post I mentioned that the next one would probably be Star Wars themed... but as you can see, this is not the case. Since 2015 is now drawing to a close, I thought I'd keep up the annual tradition of taking a look back at the year gone by and writing a little bit about it. 

rest assured I WILL definitely blog about Star Wars in the New Year. I'm going to see 'The Force Awakens' for the third time next week (yes, really) so I'll make time to write about my love for all things Star Wars then instead.

so, on with the post. 2015 was a funny old year, as always there were some highs and lows along with plenty of laughter and tears. But then isn't every year like that?!

this is usually the point where I launch into a list of bullet points highlighting some of the ups and downs of the year... and you know what, I'd hate to disappoint so here you go!

this year I...

• spent two weeks in Larnaca, Cyprus with my lovely parents back in February. It was a really nice trip and it was also the first time I'd been back to Cyprus since I was a child. I got to visit a beautiful 9th Century BC church (read about it HERE) all while enjoying the balmy Cypriot weather.  

• was officially diagnosed with Aspergers. After 10 years battling with ongoing depression and anxiety I finally got some answers this year when my therapist suggested that I might have Aspergers. This kicked off a spate of written, audio and visual tests that culminated in a 3 hour interview in August where I received my diagnosis from a clinical psychiatrist and consultant psychologist from the UK. It's been fascinating learning about it all and why I'm the way I am. 

• got discharged from the local Mental Health Service. I originally started treatment back in February 2014 and I'm happy to announce that I was discharged in November of this year. I know that things won't be easy without the regular help of the service, but I'll do my best to get on with things by myself.  I'm hoping regular walks to the Glen will help.

• saw a great increase in online sales. In 2015 I really pushed myself to promote my work online, especially via Instagram, and eventually it started to pay off because I've had a definite boost in international sales this year. To put it into perspective, this time last year I got 5 orders in the whole of December, whereas this year I've had 111 orders since December 1st. 

• became a Godmother to a super sweet little girl. Back in September, Hayley one of my best friends from my college days kindly asked me to be Godmother to her youngest daughter Imogen. Obviously I said I'd be totally honoured and the Christening day was so lovely (read about it HERE if you like). I'm so grateful to Hayley for letting me be a part of her children's lives, I really love the afternoons I get to spend with her and her lovely girls. 

• dressed up as a 50's style Ghostbuster and spent the day walking around town on Halloween in my customized costume. Yeah I know, I'll never grow up, but this year I literally did not care what people thought of me, and I rather enjoyed my day as a Ghostbuster, I'm sure I'll crack out the outfit again when the new Ghostbusters movie comes out in 2016. 

• read 101 books. This year I managed to complete my Goodreads challenge to read 100 books, next year I'm thinking I might try and push myself to 120, but we'll have to wait and see. It's hard to say what my favourite book of 2015 was, maybe 'The Library at Mount Char' by Scott Hawkins, it was bizarre but brilliant, with an interesting mythology and some brutal characters + well written. 

• reached over 15k followers on Pinterest alone. I'm constantly striving to expand my online audience, it might sound petty and pointless to you if you're not big into the whole social media thing, but I definitely see an increase in sales when I get more followers online so It's worth the work and upkeep. This year my total reach went beyond 21,000 for all of my profiles combined, so fingers crossed that 2016 brings lots more new customers and sales (yes please!).  

• went on local radio and talked about my Art and Aspergers. Yes it might seem odd, but in October I was invited onto the 'Women Today' program on Manx Radio, it was a live show and over the course of an hour I spoke about my artwork, what inspires me and explained a bit about my recent Aspergers diagnosis. It was a lot of fun, a bit nerve-wracking opening up about mental health on live radio but a great experience regardless. 

• still didn't get a new job. I lost my job at the library in May 2014, and I've yet to get another job. I applied to another library but I never got an interview. And to be honest, other than that I haven't even really tried! At first it panicked me, I was starting to struggle financially, but now that the year is nearly over I'm not as down about it all as I probably should be. Yes I have no stable income BUT I get to spend every day doing what I love and that might be a naive viewpoint but It's more positive than getting all 'doom and gloom' about the situation. You never really know what's around the corner, who's to say I won't find a great job in 2016? Or maybe I won't, maybe I'll just continue working for myself instead. Who knows. 

 I can't really think of any more bullet points. But art and design wise, it's been a busy year. In 2015 I produced 100% girly and feminine work because I don't see why I should pretend that I want to design stuff for boys (newsflash, I don't). I added more new members to the 'Candy Doll Club' + developed brand new sticker, patch and pin designs and patterns to expand the Candy Doll Club as a brand. Feedback has been really positive and I love getting messages from customers sharing snaps of their new Girl Gang goodies. So yeah, I think I'm getting there, it might be rather slow progress but it is progress nonetheless. Here's a look at 12 of the new Candy Doll additions from 2015.

as always, it's also been a year of selfies! (For my views on why I think selfies can be super positive, check out this post HERE) Wherever I went on my travels, I made time to snap a pic of my face (I like to remind my Instagram followers that I'm a real life actual person, not just a machine mindlessly churning out girly illustrations) and like I've said before, I don't get many days where I feel good about myself so on the occasions when I look in the mirror and don't burst into tears, I like to take a photo to remind myself that I too can look like a mostly normal human being from time to time! So here are a few of 2015's selfies...

so that was 2015. Books, dressing up, Larnaca, Coventry, Dublin, Cork, France, Andorra, shopping, painting, packaging orders, good friends, great family, medical stuff, psychiatric stuff, airplane rides, boat journeys from hell, road trips, floods, good times and not so good ones. All in all, not a terrible year.

come on 2016, you can do better, I KNOW you can, don't let me down!

I don't have any plans for New Years Eve tomorrow night, my friends are all busy I think. I'm not sure whether or not to make an effort and leave the house, or just lock myself in my room and sleep through the midnight countdown etc. NYE isn't a great night for me to be without plans, I tend to go a bit loopy, I've no idea why but NYE just has that effect on me. It's like everything that's happened in the year comes crashing down on me and It's a bit of an emotional overload that I can't always deal with.  

I'm a bit scared to be honest, but hopefully this year I'll handle things a bit better than I did last year.

thanks for visiting, see you next year...