Owls and Stuff ★

so this afternoon i got home after a quick trip to 'Sweet Ginger' (to say hi to my 2 fave shop owners Julie and Ciara) i got home to find a little parcel waiting for me in the garden shed!

but. . . this was no ordinary parcel!

last week my friend Kyren from college suggested a sort of 'art swap' type thing

we were talking about 'Kidrobot' stuff and Kyren offered to send me 2 duplicate blindboxed Dunny art toys he had, he offered to send them as a gift since i'm such a big fan of kidrobot stuff yet i have NOTHING from their site!

but i felt bad not sending anything in return so he asked me to make him a little owl plush since he's a big fan of all things owl related (he is quite possibly a bigger fan of Owls than i am!)

so of course i said yes!

this little fella was the result . . .

his name is Kyrowl McHooterton and he's 100% unique (but you can call him hooters for short. . .)

i've never attempted an owl plush quite like this before but he was soooo much fun to make! he's crazy coloured, a little bit Bauhaus and very very awesome 

i hope Kyren likes him!!!!

anyway here's the first Dunny out of the box, an awesome little cowboy/indian Michelle Valigura dude

the next one was also epically awesome, it's a Shelterbank one and i LOVE IT!

check out the back of it too

but the piéce de resistance was this guy

Kyren's custom painted Munny!!!

i still can't believe he's just given it to me! i imagine it will be worth quite a lot one day when Kyren is terribly rich and famous so i shall hold onto it!

similarly Kyren should look after his new owl because who knows. . . one day even that might be worth a few quid!

they're such awesome figures though, they've all been immediately added to 'the shelf' along with my momji dolls, popobe bears and other various bits and bobs i've accumulated over the years

massive thanks to Kyren!!!

by way of thanks i'm not going to shamelessly plug his work on here! ah that's the fun of having your own blog folks!

his art is actually super epic by the way, i'm fortunate enough to have been in college with a whole bunch of really talented people and Kyren is one hell of a talented animator/graphic designer/doodler

his work has this crazy quirky vibe to it, he draws wacky stuff and it's always fun and usually rather ruddy funny

last year for FMP at college he made all this amazing merch type stuff for his website DMND and i was lucky enough to snag a load of it for my 'wall of stuff'

check out the awesome little badges

+ poster

super duper stuff right!

of course it is . . .

for more awesomeness check out Kyren's blog - Symkytz

check out his 'Wall' on - Wall Collective

follow him on twitter here - @ksimkiss

or keep up to date with his work via his facebook page - DMND

he's currently drawing on a load of postcards creating unique designs that he's willing to send out to people for free so if you want to get your hands on a piece of original doodle artwork get yourself over to his blog/twitter/facebook NOW!!!

* * *

in other news. . .

planning a quiet weekend in ahead of my Birthday on Tuesday

absolutely DREADING Tuesday to be honest!

 Birthdays aren't really my thing i guess, more of a 'Christmas' kind of girl!!!

ah well, it's unavoidable and inevitable so why moan!

have a great weekend wherever you are + whatever you're up to

that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Ps - i'm not going to keep reminding you so just get your bum over to the giveaway post and enter it already! come on guys. . . i'm giving away free stuff what's not to love here! - Giveaway

Coombe Abbey ♥

hey y'all, so big apologies for the total LACK of a 'Super Sunday' post yesterday...

to be fair i'd been travelling since 6:30am and i had stayed awake solidly through the night drawing and packing, so by the time i made it to the hotel yesterday afternoon i was beyond shattered and therefore un-able to summon up the brainpower for a blog post

i'm sorry

i had a good one lined up as well!

however, this will now appear NEXT Sunday instead

so... 

during this trip to Coventry i'm staying at a hotel i haven't been to since my childhood

it's one of my favourite hotels and as the posts leading up to my trip may have suggested... i was very stoked and excited to be staying here again!

so i decided to go against my usual rule about taking photos at hotels (i.e. i don't really do it) and went ahead and got a few snaps on my phone, so bear in mind that the photos in this post are a mix of my own + lots of lovely shots off the hotels official website and trust me... it won't be hard to tell whose is whose!

so why the excitement, it's just a hotel right?!

well, no...

because Coombe Abbey is no ordinary hotel!

this is due to the fact that it was...  

'Originally a 12th Century Cistercian Abbey nestling in England's historic heartland in Warwickshire, Coombe Abbey Hotel has been restored to its former glory, set within 500 acres of breathtaking parkland'

ah it's SO good to be back here though! i loved staying here when i was little and i love it even more now!

i can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is here! seriously, the building, the decor, the grounds... 

you know i'm a MAJOR Architecture and Art History nerd so... yeah, this is pretty much my ideal hotel!

 i know what you're thinking... you're thinking that i should shut up and get on with the photos! well you know i'd hate to disappoint you all...

yeah... that's a website shot! but isn't it lovely!!!

here's the view you have as you come down the drive towards the hotel

that's the drive  

and THAT'S the hotel...

aaaahhh it is SO lovely! i love love love it! ok here's a few shots i took during my arrival...

the reception desk...

the chandelier as you go up the stairs...

here's a shot of my room (poor quality pic, sorry... blame the camera)

and my bathroom...

i know i'm a pain with all the photos but come on... this is a rare occasion for me so i'm enjoying it a LOT

you should see some of the other rooms though! for a start this is the bath in my parents room...

the picture doesn't really do it justice, it's a massive bath in the corner on a raised platform that you step up to. the weird thing is... 

there's a picture of me as a kid in this exact same bath!

what are the odds they'd get the same room again?!

but some of the other rooms are fabulous, i got these gorgeous pictures off the Coombe Abbey website

i love this pale blue one, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland...

they're all so beautiful, and completely unique as well! 

because according to the website...

 'Antiques, fabrics and furniture were sourced from across the globe to create interiors that are both luxurious and dramatic. There are now 119 bedrooms at Coombe Abbey, each one individually decorated with period details concealing modern fittings.' 

well i'm sold! i've always thought it was gorgeous here no matter what!

the best part is... the hotel has original paintings, etchings and wood prints hanging all over the place as well as a sort of mini sculpture gallery filled with marble busts

there's even a classical library downstairs... it's amazing!

although to be fair, the place looks just as good from the outside...

and just look at the gardens! so soooo heavenly...

i adore the gardens especially, i remember walking around them when i was a little girl, there's a park nearby in the grounds and my parents and my godparents would always take me to it to have a play on the swings

even the restaurant is beautiful, it has this incredible sort of Georgian Conservatory vibe to it

all this loveliness aside however... the hotel also happens to be one of the most Haunted places in the West Midlands = scary times

although i've never spotted any of the Coombe Abbey ghosts... yet!

ok on that spooky note and with this weird and incredibly bright photo taken just after i got here... i shall stop going on about how awesome it is here!

* * *

in other news...

i visited my big sister Simone and my brother-in-law Darren today + my nephew Josh and my two little nieces Madison and Daisy

i haven't seen them all since the Summer so it was nice to catch up and hang out for a bit

Daisy cracked out her pens and crayons when she got in from school and drew me a couple of pictures...

and one of her with an elephant in a polka dot dress...

and Maddie (Madison) did this funky little robot as well

after they'd handed over the pictures they sat flicking through the 'illustration play' book i got out of the library at college before i left last Friday. 

it's a smashing book full of fun, colourful and exciting examples of contemporary illustration, they both enjoyed looking through it anyway

glad to see the love of illustration runs in the family, these are pretty super duper pictures girls! thank you both xX

(once again i apologize for the bad quality photos but i don't have my scanner with me... obviously)

* * *

so what else?!

well today i also popped into Coventry City centre for a bit of a mooch around the shops, i saw plenty (and i mean PLENTY) of things i wanted to buy but i behaved myself and curbed my spending because tomorrow i'm off to Birmingham and i'll need as much money as possible for that trip!

however i did buy an adorable little pack of playing cards from Paperchase, they have this cute little Owl design on them and... well i just couldn't resist them!

and that's it i guess! 

i skipped dinner tonight so i could stay in my room instead, i've had a delicious feat of crunchy fresh bread and yummy malteasers all washed down with some pink lemonade... a veritable feast i'm sure you'll agree!

so i'll bid you all adieu and hope that tomorrow's post is as packed with lovely new Birmingham buys as i plan it to be! 

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ ★ ★ xX

Obrigado e adeus

(that's thank you and goodbye in Portuguese on behalf of Brazil. gostaria de visitar Brasil um dia, a gente se vê mais tarde!)

Flowers and Raindrops ♥

ok so we won't talk about yesterday, yesterday was not a great day! Yesterday involved a lot of frantic phone calls, emails and text messages. Yesterday involved a lot of rain and some rather annoying news + a total cock-up concerning a planned trip.

Let's talk about today. today it's raining... again! however, today when I got into college i had to go down to reception to pick up the beautiful big bouquet of flowers that had been delivered for me. They are now sitting on my desk making everything seem so much brighter and happier. I was so chuffed that there were some pink gerbera daisies in the bunch along with some gorgeous pink/red roses. I adore gerberas, red ones are my favourites but whatever their colour they're always pretty. Here's they all are prettifying up my desk space...

so today i've also been doing some more research into old ads. Had a great chat all about 'Mad Men' and 'Dick Tracy' and 'Metropolis' (the Dick Tracy/Metropolis stuff is for a commission i'm currently working on) with my tutor Ian. He's a massive 'Mad Men' fan as well so he seems to like my research so far. I also got on with some more drawings in my logbook.

 Today i'm listening to some Tchaikovsky, some French Opera (stuff from Carmen mostly, habanera, Seguedilla etc) + a bit of Vivaldi (i like classical stuff when sketching... go figure!)whilst working on some studies of pieces by Angelique Houtkamp who I spoke a little more about + posted some pictures by, in this post last week - 'Blog... à la college ♥'

so here's what i've been working on today...

it's actually finished now. i snapped this early this morning but her hair + tattoos are all drawn in now as well. it's taken me bloody ages to do! i didn't intend on drawing the tattoos but once i'd started i couldn't stop!

this photo also shows the original 1950's magazine cover that Angelique based her piece on. the pose is identical but she's really made it her own. it's one of my favourite pieces by her, so much detail in it, just gorgeous!

so yesterday... yeah it wasn't too good! the only GREAT thing about it was that my friend Jeni popped by to visit me and to collect the print of her 'Jeni in Penguinland' illustration 

(follow the link to see it if you haven't already) + a little postcard i got her during my trip to Cork over the summer. i also got the owl one for my friend Kyren. i don't know what it was about the one i chose for Jeni, it just reminded me of her for some reason and i just knew she'd find it funny.

 the owl one explains itself really + Kyren (or Kyrowl as he is more commonly known) really likes owls. inexplicably... 

anyway, the postcards are from Paperchase which is without a doubt my absolute most very favourite (thank you Charlie and Lola for reminding me how to describe things...) stationary shop in the world! especially the massive one in London! there's also a fab one in Selfridges in Birmingham which i try to go to every year. I fully love love love paperchase! 

ok dokes i'll stop rambling on and on and on now...

it's lunch time so i don't have to feel guilty about blogging today = good times

however it's nearly 1pm which is when lunch time ends = bad times

so on that happy note i'll finish this up

if you're reading this then i hope you have a truly super duper day

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX