super cute goodies ★

So lovely readers, as i may have mentioned over recent weeks, i've not been feeling overly bright and cheerful lately! 

it might have something to do with the endlessly gloomy weather we've been having, it might also have something to do with the cough i've had for the past four weeks, but whatever it is it's been getting me down in the dumps!

so imagine my delight when a big box of goodies from those lovely folks at Paperchase arrived on my doorstep! 

you all know what a HUUUGE Paperchase fan/addict i am! so if anything was going to maybe cheer me up, Paperchase was probably the place it would appear from!

now sadly there isn't a Paperchase store on the Isle of Man, so all of the stuff was sent over sharpish from Birmingham!

there's something so fun about receiving a BIG parcel in the post! even more so knowing that there's a big box of goodies that's been popped in the post JUST for you!

so what did i treat myself to?! well it was a mini heap of gorgeous goodies!

first up, there's this truly kawaii-tastic neoprene laptop sleeve for my trusty old macbook

and a too cute 'cloud' luggage tag for when i go on my travels!

also for my travels is this colourful passport cover since the cover i have at the minute has lasted me for a loooong time and has definitely seen better days!

there's also a v sweet mini notebook (with plain pages, of course... for my doodling needs!) + some jazzy stickers, SO CUTE!

+ a pack of cute, girly stickers which i intend to stick all over my college file holders + my logbook! they're so adorable...

and then there's the tins... now i don't know about you, but i just love cute little boxes and tins to keep all my crafty/arty bits n' bobs in! it keeps everything organized while maintaining that air of adorableness!

i couldn't pick just ONE tin... so i went for FOUR instead! aren't they great! so colourful, i can't wait to fill them with arty stuff! i'll sit them all on my desk, filled with bits n' bobs, perfect!

and that's it! well, for now anyway!

and do you know what... all of this stuff has cheered me up no end! what a great way to end a day at college + food shopping at Tesco! to come home and find all this waiting for me :)

* * *

in other news, i've been working away today on some new drawings for college + some groovy TOP SECRET stuff... but more about all that another time!

i'll be running the first Creative Café post of 2012 either tomorrow or Sunday

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

Crazy Coventry ♥

so i didn't post this yesterday because i wanted to do the Blog Birthday post


incidentally, if you missed yesterday's post, check it out because i'm holding a little giveaway to celebrate the 2nd Birthday of my blog


you can get your hands on some cute kawaii goodies, check out the prizes + how to enter here - ♥ Blog Birthday Giveaway ♥


anyway, yesterday i got to hang out with some of my family in Coventry City Centre, namely my mum, my godmother, her daughter, her grandson and my two darling little nieces


here's a shot of the girls waiting by the fountain in the centre of town, Daisy on the left and Madison on the right

we had a fab time pottering about in the shops, one of our first stops was Paperchase (aka heaven) where the girls bought some pens + notebooks and i got some goodies for the giveaway

after that we spotted this awesome cupcake themed kitchenware display in Debenhams

just LOOK at that teapot!!! so cute!

myself + he girls collectively decided that i just HAD to have the darling little cupcake money box for my room...

after that we found some REAL cupcakes in this super sweet little bakery!

they had these gorgeous big cupcake birthday cakes + all other sorts of fabulous occasion cakes

and these adorable sparkly cupcakes!!!

they were super girly and super awesome, perfection in cupcake form...

the girls spotted this enormous shoe in the window of a shoe shop, cue window shopping poses...

so after a spot of lunch we decided to take a break outside, it was chilly but we didn't care!!!

here's my Godmother Marie, her daughter Tina and Tina's little son Dylan



this roundabout was set up in town, weirdly enough there's always been a roundabout set up here for as long as i can remember, in fact myself + my nephew Josh used to go on it when we were kids!

so naturally... little Dylan had to go on it!

what a little cutie!!!

after that we all parted ways for a bit and i was left with the girls, i decided to take them through town to see one of my fave shops, a little fairtrade + crystal store which they both loved, in fact we all left with new crystals

the shop also sells paintings by a talented local artist named John (unfortunately i don't know anything else about him but his work sure is cute)

we nipped over to the older part of town where i took the opportunity to snap a quick shot of Coventry's famous 'Lady Godiva'

then i treated the girls to a cookie from 'Ben's Cookies'

Ben's Cookies is my fave cookie cafe ever!!! there's a big Ben's Cookies cafe in Leamington which i always take the girls to and luckily they've got a small stall in Coventry as well

they're more like cakes than cookies! massive, piping hot and oozing melted chocolate... delicious!

then i thought a quick detour to Primark was in order, there was a cute girly window display full of these little tote bags, so sweet!

the girls didn't want to go to Primark but i insisted! i bought a lovely little blue dress and this gorgeous bracelet

 

and to my astonishment, the girls both bought identical bracelets!!!

bracelet triplets!!!

we spotted this Betty Boop themed window display as well! Boop-oop-a-doop



 one of our last stops was another of my fave sops in the city, 'Miss Rush' sells all manner of kawaii bits and bobs

the girls each managed to snap up a pair of gloves... just like mine

and for some inexplicable reason, they decided to by some vampire fangs as well

 

scary little kids...

after that it was time to go home, so of course we needed a family shot in the lift on the way back to the car park

superstar family!!!

* * *

and that's pretty much it!

today i stayed in again to work on a tattoo design commission but i woke up feeling SOOOO ill!

i have a killer sore throat, luckily i managed to get a doctor's appointment at my sister's doctor's surgery this afternoon so i have some tablets now! hurray!

tomorrow is the day i've been looking forward to, a day in Birmingham City Centre!!! YESSSSS

ok that's all for now

until next time,

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ♥ xX

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