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

Creative Café #1 ★

ok so i know i was supposed to post yesterday but it actually wasn't my fault that i couldn't because i was waiting on a reply from the artist i was going going to talk about

the good news is that she replied so i'll post about her today instead!

i've decided to start a new regular feature, since 'super sundays' have been on hiatus since. . . well i can't even remember when, i thought it was about time we had a new one!

i'm calling it 'Creative Café' since the idea is that you make a cup of coffee or tea settle down and get to see some lovely work by an artist/illustrator/photographer/graphic designer that you otherwise might not have heard of

i'm fortunate enough to know and network with so many talented creative types so i thought this would be a nice way of featuring some of them

i don't know if it will be a weekly thing, a fortnightly thing or an 'every-couple-of-days' thing yet but you can be sure there'll be several 'Creative Café' posts popping up over the next few weeks

so without any further ado i shall get on with the post. . .

today i want to share a super duper artist with her, you all know how much i love all things Burlesque and Pinup so when you see her work you'll understand the appeal straightaway

today it's all about the fabulous Charlotte Thomson 

Charlotte is a fine artist, illustrator and event organiser working out of Nottinghamshire, UK. 

she creates the most stunning sketches, paintings and digital designs of Burlesque and Pinup girls + her work is so pretty and fun, her girls are so amazing and each one has their own unique character and style

i only discovered her work recently when an old IOM College student sent me an email with a couple of artists to look up (yes you will find out about the others soon enough) and i just adored her work straight away

it isn't hard to see why either. . .

her work just has this quirky, fun vibe. the Burlesque and Pinup girls are a little bit naughty, dangerously curvy and undeniably sexy

her designs are so cute and girly, and you just know that they'd ALL look amazing as tattoos! i have a terrible phobia of needles but if i were ever brave enough to get a tattoo i'd love it to be one of Charlotte's Burlesque or Pinup gals

Charlotte uses lots of different mediums to create her artwork. these include: pen and ink, graphite pencil, acrylic, watercolour and diluted ink as well as digital techniques

she designs for websites and publications as well as exclusive commissions for Burlesque dancers, models, Brides and just about anyone else that fancies a funky bespoke portrait or character

some of her work also has this beautifully delicate quality to it as well, i just really really love the way she draws people. . .

some of her Bridal portraits are so divine though! what a lovely way to commemorate your day, with a one off Bridal portrait of you looking a million dollars!

ok you know what, i always ramble on in these posts so i'm just going to let you look through Charlotte's beautiful artwork by yourself. . . enjoy!

pretty darn gorgeous right!!!

anyway for more info on Charlotte + to keep up to date with all her amazing artwork (or to commission yourself a little something) head on over to her website here - Charlotte Thomson

you can also 'Like' her Facebook page here - Charlotte Thomson Art and Illustration

or follow her on twitter to keep up to date with all her arty news - @charlotteart

massive thanks to Charlotte for letting me feature her.

ALL images featured here belong to Charlotte Thomson © All Rights Reserved. Do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace any of her work without her written consent.

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so there you go, the blogs first EVER 'Creative Café' post

look out for the next one, i already have a list of people i'm just dying to feature so stay tuned for more 'CC' posts

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in other news. . .

take a look at this new Rockalily artwork

does it look familiar. . . well it should do, because I designed it!!!

late last night the lovely ReeRee over at Rockalily (more about her here - hairclips and lipsticks) sent me an email asking if i'd have a go at a lipstick logo design, 

i drew it out last night around midnight and spent this morning working on it, et voila!!!

it's now on the @rockalilylondon Twitter page and the Rockalily Facebook page

pretty groovy right!

i still can't believe she asked me to do it!!!!

it was so much fun to work on a design for a brand i actually really like and use

get your hands on a Rockalily lipstick of your very own right here - Buy Rockalily

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not much else to report today dearies, i'm heading out to the Imelda May gig tomorrow night so i shall no doubt be telling you all about that on Wednesday

but for now, that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Sweet Ginger Style ★

so of course. . . it was my Birthday this week at long  last!

Can't believe i'm actually 20 now! absolutely insane!!! i'm still about 8 in my head i think!

I got some really lovely Birthday messages though, I woke up to dozens on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr which was nice, so big thanks to all of you that wished me a Happy Birthday on Tuesday

also apologies for the disappearing act i've pulled over the past few days! Birthday's make me very grumpy and i just couldn't think of anything to blog about!

anyway. . .

today i have some awesome photos to share with you all!

over at the 'Sweet Ginger Emporium' they've been busy whipping up an amazing fashion shoot to showcase some of the shops super duper handmade items!

the clothes and accessories were modeled by Shauna McCallion and Sarah Hendy, 

dresses by the talented Jonee Fisher (+ some funky up-cycled pieces by Ciara Kilgallon and Julie James)

accessories by Danielle Lowell, Janet Withey and Jade Boylan (aka me!)

the photos were snapped by local photography mastermind and renowned genius, Phil Kneen

this was the result. . .

pretty darn AMAZING right!!!

Phil very VERY kindly sent me a set of the photos to put on here but obviously, full copyright belongs to him so do not, under ANY circumstances copy of steal these pictures. . . because he will hunt you down and beat you with a light stand or camera tripod! 

seriously. . . he will! so don't even think about nabbing any of these lovely shots!

also, i suggest you go and check out some more of Phil's amazing photography right now via this link, just keep scrolling down the page for more and more amazingness! - Phil Kneen

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in other news, those of you with beady eyes on facebook/twitter/tumblr may have noticed that i drew the winner of the 'May Giveaway' on Wednesday morning!

in the end after much adding up and many scientific calculations (as if!!!) it turned out that there was a whopping total of 182 entries!!!

just wow guys. . . 

you all Liked, retweeted, blogged, reblogged and commented for it loads and loooads!

it also really blew up on tumblr this time, in fact i think the most entries came from people reblogging it on there!

anyway, massive thanks to all those who entered but the winner was number 33 . . . Kat Rego from Ontario, Canada

i drew the winner using random.org and as you can see, number 33 was the lucky number!

so i'll be posting the giveaway goodies out to Kat first thing tomorrow morning!

don't lose heart though folks, i'll be holding another giveaway this summer when i go back to Ireland in August, i'm hoping to gather lots of goodies from my travels around Waterford, Cork and Dublin to make up a super duper giveaway bundle of prizes!

so stay tuned for that . . .

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speaking of giveaways, do you remember the sheer ruddy marvel that is Rockalily Lipstick???

let me re-jog your memory, have a look at this blog post i wrote at the beginning of April - Hairclips and Lipsticks

well the lovely ReeRee (super genius behind Rockalily Lipsticks) is holding a little giveaway on her website giving some of YOU the chance to win a Rockalily Lipstick of your very own!!!

the competition is all about tattoos and to enter all you have to do is upload a picture of your ink (+ tag yourself in the photo) to the Rockalily Facebook Page saying why YOU think you and your tattoo deserve to win 

she's going to pick three winners who will all win a Rockalily Lipstick!

ReeRee is also going to randomly choose one person who retweets 'Have you entered your tattoo to win a @RockalilyLondon lipstick? http://ow.ly/58y3d RT for an extra chance to win. #rockalily'

for full details on how to enter + terms and conditions, head on over to the site - Rockalily

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not much else to report on today dearies, heading into college tomorrow to hand in my final draft essay then i'm off for a week due to it being TT race week!

i'll try to resume normal blogging from now on!

i don't know why you all put up with me i really don't!

anyway, that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX