College, Cupcakes and La Catrina ★

so today i went back to college seeing as i only managed to make it in for one day last week! 

i spent the day working on some new stuff including a sort of 'la Catrina' + dia de los muertos inspired pin-up girl 

initially inspired by the Calavera de la Catrina 

she's also based on one of the 666 photography shoots i wrote a little about in this post - Curvy Corsets & Pretty Pinup Photography

i've used an old lingerie pin-up girl from a commission as the base

 and started adding Catrina/sugar skull style make-up and tattoos using the sugar skull design i drew out the other day

still can't make up my mind about the colours though...

and i keep mixing it all up

i'm sure i'll work out how to fix her eventually!

* * *

i also painted my nails today (who knew this post would be SO interesting...) 

i used the new Barry M 'nail effects' varnish i bought during my trip to Coventry a few weeks ago

i hadn't used it until today but it works really well! makes the most awesome crackled patterns on your nails! can highly recommend it to you all...

* * *

oh as well as the Catrina style girly i also started a new embroidery piece today,

they're legs by the way... bizarre i know but i never said i was a good sewer or embroiderer!!!

seeing as this is my first EVER attempt at hand sewn applique it's bound to be rubbish though... right?!

ah it's a work in progress anyway and still has a LOOOONG way to go!

 it's supposed to be an embroidered + appliqued version of this

only time will tell as to whether or not i succeed...

* * *

in other news, my mum came home today with a goodie bag of... goodies for me from town

i absolutely loathe Monday's (who doesn't...) so it was extra awesome of her to gather this stuff for me today

we have...

a cute mini kokeshi doll...

...that opens up into a lipgloss!!!

+ a pack of yummy strawberry cupcake scented mini-wipes (genius!!!)

awesome sets of earrings

totally awesome in fact...

and last but not least, a REAL cupcake...

so cute (not to mention downright delicious) 

isn't she a total star! thanks mum x

* * *

s'all for today, i need some food now seeing as i haven't had any breakfast or lunch to speak of...

until next time

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

snow snow snow snow... SNOW ♥

well in case the title of todays post wasn't enough of a giveaway... yes it is indeed snowing ALL over the Isle of Man!

i couldn't make it to college yesterday so there was no HND xmas party for me this year!

the weird thing was, that yesterday there was basically NO snow up where i live (north of the island) yet the south and west of the island had come to a standstill due to the weather!

anyway, we all thought it would calm down overnight and in a way it did... then at 4am this morning it started to snow again

and it STILL hasn't stopped! :-O

now you see the problem...

THIS is what i woke up to!

now i normally LOVE the snow but to be honest i'm not so pleased about it's arrival this weekend for a few reasons

A: i'm supposed to be meeting my friend Charlotte in town today to exchange xmas prezzies + have a mooch around the shops for any last minute xmas bits... the snow has made this impossible!

B: my friends Mike and Kyren are supposed to be flying back to the island today... the airport is closed!

C: i spent at least an hour last night doing a sparkly, festively fun manicure (see below) and now i'm trapped in the house and have NO-ONE to show it off to... i want my friends to see my sparkly nails!

see... all sparkly! very Alexander McQueen i thought (slightly... maybe... a little bit) what with all the bright red and  gold going on

anyway it doesn't matter since nobody but the people that read my blog will get to see them!!!

i still roamed about in the snow though...

right well, it's frrrrrreeezing cold and snow is everywhere so here are some, well... A LOT of photos of my garden and the area where i live... enjoy

aaaagggghhhh why snow.. why today?!

in fact, the weather is SO bad, not only has the airport been closed and ALL of the islands bus services been stopped, even the Groudle Glen Railway had to cancel todays Santa Trains!!!

what a shame! stupid snow, ruining everyone's festive fun...

END RANT

* * *

>>>Sewing/Embroidery UPDATE

so last night i sat and watched/listened to 'Moulin Rouge' and cracked on with a bit more embroidery

as you can see she's coming along quite nicely, with proper eyes and a mouth at last! next step is finishing off all the hair... and there's a lot of it!

anyway, i'll post a photo every time i've worked on it so you can see how it's progressing 

* * *

and that's just about it for today, i'm feeling rather bored what with being trapped in the house and all that so don't be too surprised if i end up posting again soon-ish

maybe not today, but almost definitely tomorrow

so wherever you are, have fun, if you're somewhere cold then wrap up warm and stay safe

and if you're somewhere warm... well, then you're very lucky!

that's all folks...

 ★ ◕‿◕ ★

muchas gracias y adios

(that's thank you and goodbye in Spanish on behalf of Argentina, another country i've sadly never visited, maybe one day i'll get to see it, gracias amigos ♥)