Marvellous Merch ❤️

hello dearhearts! It's been a fortnight since I got back from my holidays in Ireland and I have been SUPER busy since I got home.

I'm having a stall at the local Vintage Fashion Fair this weekend and have been working hard every day to get new products ready + sorting out existing goodies to take to the fair!

so I thought I might give you all a sneak peek at some of the tasty new treats i'll be selling at my stall!

if you follow me on Instagram (and by now, you really should if you don't already!) then you'll probably have seen snaps of my new products but for those of you that haven't, here are some of the candy cute items i'll have of offer on Saturday...

first up we have some luuurrrvely new Candy Doll Club postcards! it's been a good while since I last got any new postcards printed so I thought it was about time I got some of my more recent illustrations made up. There are six new Candy Doll designs to choose from.

As well as three cute fanart designs as well. I picked three of my fave ladies from Japanese Pop Culture and created some fun illustrations inspired by them.

next up we have one of my favourite new products, glitter heart brooches!
All of these funky brooches are handmade (by yours truly) using top quality glitter fabric (that doesn't shed glitter!), laser cut wooden hearts, nickel-free brooch backs and a collection of cute hand-painted resin charms! There are lost of different designs to choose from and i'll have some of each with me on Saturday, so stop by the stall and treat yourself to a sparkly treat!

 if glitter isn't really your thing, I also have some lovely wooden Kokeshi Doll brooches. Each one has been carefully hand decorated using satin ribbon and teeny tiny gems and pearls, a very sweet addition to any outfit i'm sure you will agree!



I will also have BRAND NEW dapper fox brooches + rainbow elephants and a whole host of other random and one-of-a-kind designs!

onto my brilliant new Girl Gang sticker sheets! each sheet contains 12 different stickers in vibrant candy colours, a must have for any wannabe Candy Doll or aspiring Girl Gang leader!

as well as all of this lovely stuff, i'll also be be bringing some Special Offer items including MEGA Mystery Goodie Boxes and Candy Doll Club Membership Packs, sticker packs, greetings cards, prints, zines, cushions, tote bags and even a few original paintings!

so you know what to do, if you're a local then get yourself to Braddan Church Hall on Saturday and snap up some sweet treats!

and don't worry if you can't make it or if you live far away, most of the goodies are available to purchase in my Etsy Shop!

that's all I have for now! i'm working on a new Candy Doll illustration so y'all can expect to see that over the next week or so.

so until next time, thanks for stopping by! hope to see you here again soon...

Merry Little Moomins ❤

Hello chums, back again. I was going to run a brand new post t'other day but I got shaken up by some not-so-good news (I lost my job, if you must know...) and it knocked me off kilter a smidge. But i'm here now so lets get on with it shall we!

Today i'll be wittering on about the eternally brilliant and (in my opinion) hilariously adorable creatures that are... Moomins!

Those of you that have followed the blog for a while might recall me having mentioned Moomins before (namely HERE) but today I need cheering up so I just felt like posting nice pictures of something I like.

And since i'm pretty sure you'll all stop following me if I just post a stream of photos of Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston (although I think we can all agree that they truly are quite lovely) I figured Moomins were less likely to drive you all away from here, also making me less likely to turn this blog into a Fangirl one (like I accidentally did to my Tumblr. You were warned, click at your peril).

Don't worry i'm not about to embark on a gargantuan explanation or a detailed history of Moomins, maybe some other time, today i'll just be posting nice pictures and rambling on a bit. That's all.

 
As i've also mentioned before, I have a terrible habit of ordering piles of junk (or treasure) on the interweb, well a recent purchase (was it a week ago, or two... or three! I forget) included some brilliant little goodies that came winging all the way to me from the HOME of the Moomins aka Finland...

That's right... I bought myself some little Moomins! Here they are all lined up on my desk ready to say hello to you.

And I also got some v pretty postcards and super cute badges to go with them. Because if there's one thing better than a Moomin... it's a Moomin reading a book! Yay MOOMINS!

The teeny tiny little Moomin figurines that I got from Finland are far too adorable! They all have movable arms and come with little accessories, just like the characters in the books and animations.

So now Moomintroll, Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Snorkmaiden all live on my desk. Oh I do hope they'll all be happy there, I don't know maybe they can go hang out with Loki or the Ghostbusters sometimes if they get bored!

I'm not too sure precisely what it is about Moomins but i've always liked them since I first saw them on the telly box. I remember avidly watching the (admittedly rather creepy and at times a bit spooky) cartoon when I was little, and Ialways enjoyed it even when the slightly scarier characters made an appearance on screen (i'm looking at you Groke, you creepy bugger).

Maybe it's because their Moominhouse is so sweet, or because Moominvalley looks like such a nice place to live and they always have such fun adventures with their friends! Whatever it is about them, they're kind of twee and I like them. 

There's something so charming about their simple design and cute little faces. They never seem to let the world get them down, even at times when things are going a bit wrong.

I think it helps that the books by Tove Jansson are so brilliant as well, there are a full set at the Library where I work (or where I used to work) and I have spent many a happy lunch hour flicking through them reading the stories and comic strips chuckling at stories about Sniff and Snufkin, Little My and the Moomins and of course the peculiar little Hattifatteners.

 

I think perhaps the appeal lies in the fact that Moomins live a simple but fulfilling life, finding enjoyment in even the most mundane tasks and pastimes.

 

But then I mean it must be impossible to be unhappy when you look like this, right?! 

 

Okay that's enough wittering for today. I seem to be all about the sudden stops lately, it's almost as if the tap in my mind just switches off and the flow of sentences and words immediately ceases.

I have a thrilling flotilla of post ideas meandering around inside my mind so hopefully i'll be able to type some of them out over the weekend or next week.

so until next time, that's all folks and thanks for visiting! 

don't forget to leave a comment if you feel like it, I always reply, it's not like I have anything else to do!

bye for now

What's this? What's this? There's colour everywhere...

What's this? a BLOG post?! surely not.

but yes, it is. it's been a year + one week since i last did a proper post on here and i thought, hhm... why not start again now! surely it's as good a time as any.

so why the sudden desire to inflict my opinions upon the world once more?

well for one, i was a smidge bored.

and for another reason, it's nearly Xmas time so i figured it might be nice to do a post about some of the lovely stuff i sell in my online shop, you know, as Xmas gift ideas for y'all

so here goes!

over the past year i've tried to expand my range of merchandise a little, so now i can offer even more funky stuff featuring my designs. here are a few of the things i think would make rather nice gifts for people you don't despise.

to start with, if you're in need a nifty stocking filler?! why not get them some groovy vinyl stickers to stick on their stuff - £2.50 for 3 

looking for something for the booklover in your life that isn't books?  then why not get them a bag that they can just carry their books in! + each bag comes with a free 38mm badge - tote bag £10

 

know someone with an iPhone 4/4s, then maybe you could get them a quirky cover for their phone + each one comes with a free matching postcard - iPhone case £10

 

if they have a sweet tooth maybe they'd like one of these pastel pretty cupcake necklaces - necklace on chain £8.50

or if cupcakes aren't their thing, maybe try a Macaron pocket mirror instead. each mirror comes in a little organza bag to keep it scratch free - pocket mirror £3.50

if they're particularly health conscious or the environmentally friendly sort then this set of bicycle postcards might be right up their street - His n' Hers Bicycle cards £1.75

if you're really struggling to pick something then a surprise goodie bag is always a fun gift. Each one contains 8 lovely surprises all bundled up in a sealed dotty treat bag! the contents of each bag are worth anywhere between £12 to £20 but i'll be selling these special treat bags at a verrrrry tasty price - Marvellous Mystery goodie bags £10 each

postcards can be nice framed so why not treat someone to a pair of funky folk art inspired designs - postcard pack £1.75

really not sure what to get the person that has everything?! then a piece of original artwork could be the perfect gift! 100% hand painted and hand drawn by me - original painting on heart board £40

 

 + obviously there is heaps more lovely stuff in my Shop, lots of other tote bag designs + pocket mirrors, postcards, badges, necklaces, greetings cards and stickers galore.
go check it out.
but only if you want to!

anyway i think that's it for now, who knows, perhaps i will resume regular blog posts now. better later than never right?! 

we shall see.

until next time, cheerio folks xX

College Exhibition 2012

hello again, i know, i KNOW... i said i'd post the other day but it was my final HND assessment yesterday at college so it was all a bit 'panic stations' while i sorted everything for that.

the good news is that i have been offered a place for the final BA year next year :) so yaaaaaaaay!

anyway, i thought i might share a few snaps of my actual exhibition. bearing in mind that we all get the same grey or white boards on which to display our work, we're kind of limited to how it's all going to look so it's not particularly glamourous or exciting... but it is mine!

so in case you can't really tell from the pictures, my end of year exhibition consisted of a set of printed cotton Tote Bags (with the handles pinned away) with matching Badges

a series of four acrylic painted canvases...

 

i also had three printed and embroidered cushions... (you can purchase these here)

some postcard and business card bunting + real sweetie garlands (they were so much fun to make!)

 as well as some little exhibition booklets... (available to buy here)

 

there are actually 20 pages in each booklet, they feature ALL of the 'candy pop dolls' as well as matching lyrics pages featuring the song lyrics that inspired each doll + some funky end papers :)

so there you have it! exhibition 2012... done!

in case you hadn't guessed it already, pretty much ALL of the stuff is already for sale

i have prints and postcards featuring the dolls as well

they're ALL available via my big cartel shop RIGHT HERE


and also on my Etsy Shop


(i'll hopefully be adding some badges and totes to the shops soonish as well)

and as if that weren't thrilling enough, there are now even iPhone cases/skins, hoodies, tees, prints, canvases and cards also available via my Society6 shop

they're also available on iPhone cases, stickers and stuff via my Red Bubble Shop

+ you can currently get 15% off ALL iPhone cases with the code IPHN15

* * *

ok i'll shut up about shops now! promise :)

i'm toying with the idea of giving some of this stuff away to one of YOU luuurvely readers but i'm not sure yet, would anyone like to get their hands on a free print + a booklet and some postcards and badges???

anyway, until next time, that's all folks... xX