Stuff and more Stuff ★

before i kick off the post properly i should let you all know... the Mini Merch Giveaway ended last night/this morning at midnight

big BIG thanks to all of you that entered via comments here + on facebook, twitter and google plus

there were only 35 entries (a record low for one of my giveaways actually...) and using 'random.org' i got number 4 which was Rachel Clarke aka 'Sweetpea London' from the UK

she seemed pretty excited to have won (which is always nice) and she picked out a macaroons postcard, a sugar skull pocket mirror and a flower cupcake badge

so i'll be posting all of that off to her first thing tomorrow morning!

oh and if you get a spare minute, be sure to check out Rachels' blog, she posts some really cute stuff, i especially love her Chanel wellington boots! - Sweetpea London

thanks again to everyone that entered, i wish i could give you all a prize... but then i'd have no merch left!

don't feel too bad if you didn't win this time though... there are still plenty of badges/mirrors/postcards available to buy via my Etsy Shop

and of course, i'll be launching a fabby dabby mahoosive xmas giveaway around the end of November so be sure to keep an eye out for that!

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oh AND yesterday morning when i checked the post i was super excited to see that some stuff had arrived for me!

first up, there was a cute little print + some sets of stickers from Acrylicana aka Mary (i did a BIG post about her amazing work here - Creative Cafe #14)

and there was also the very VERY awesome copy of Flamingo Magazine that i won from WLD/WLVS last week

i'd been looking forward to this arriving and it definitely hasn't disappointed me! it's an Illustration and Design mag chock full of amazing artwork and interviews from some really talented creatives!

here's some of my favourite pages from it...

 illustration by - Mary Ferfyri

 illustration - Alex Culang and Ray Castro

 illustration - Donya Todd

 illustration - Jo Cheung

 illustration - Emma Carpendale

illustration - Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy

to get your own copy of 'Flamingo Magazine', head on over here - Flamingo Magazine Shop

oh and massive thanks to WLD/WLVS for giving me a copy! :D

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right, so i broke up for half-term on Friday, it was a verrrry busy day! i had to spend all morning finalising a 'professional practice' report to cover one of my units then in the afternoon i had a meeting with a client (which went really well!)

anyway, on Saturday i popped out for a bit and had a nice little mooch around town

i got some groovy stuff, including...

some pretty new fingerless gloves for A/W 2011

i am a fingerless gloves fiend! and i couldn't resist these...

i also treated myself to a lovely big book on Renaissance Art and Architecture!

well... you know what an art/architecture nerd i am! 

and i always find the art and architecture of the Renaissance particularly fascinating (i really am so very, very cool!)

anyway i also got... a very cute little picture book called 'Emily Button goes to a party' written by Elaine Field

it's all about a little rag doll called 'Emily Button' + her little friends 'mousey' the mouse and 'bobble' the cat

the illustrations are absolutely adorable! it was illustrated by Kathy Gemmell (with additional illustrations by Sami Sweeten and Katherine Hartley) and i will definitely be looking up more of her/their stuff after seeing this!

aren't they cute! there are even 'emily button' dolls + 'mousey' and 'bobble' plushies you can get to go with the story!

all just far too adorable!

oh and you just HAVE to visit the 'Emily Button' website! it is soooo lovely - Emily Button

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and that's that i think! nothing else to report on today, i'm heading off to Coventry in a few days to see my family but i've got plenty of commission stuff to be getting on with before then!

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

cake, commissions, cases and coding ★

so as i mentioned in my post on Sunday, i've spent the past few days working busily on various commissions for clients across in the UK, there've been logo/banner designs for a cupcake business, CD and book cover designs for a meditative training centre as well as a few new flyer designs for various vintage festivals/shows around the country

busy busy busy

and STILL no proper start on any college work :O

for the first time in my life i think i'm going to have to stop accepting new commissions! something i thought i'd never ever do

sad times :(

anyway, in the midst of all my editing/business meetings over the phone/drawing today, i popped up the hill to check to postbox and was delighted to see that my little prize had arrived from my friend Laura at 'I Love Crafty'

she ran a little giveaway on her blog and i was one of the runners up so i won a super duper cute pair of battenberg bow earrings!

and they arrived in the cutest, teeniest little package ever!

and had a cute mini packet of love hearts all wrapped up with them!

so lovely! i love little surprise parcels like that! i mean i knew i'd won the earrings but i'd sort of forgotten about them being posted out, so busy i forgot i'd won a prize! geez louise!!!

anyway, I Love Crafty is the most AMAZING shop in Bristol over in the UK, sadly i've never been to it myself but i love seeing snaps and vids of it on Laura's blog/site/facebook page

it looks absolutely divine! and i really REALLY hope i get to visit it one day and meet Laura in person! oh lord i can just imagine, it will be the longest shop post ever... i'll just want to snap so many photos of such an incredible store!!!

luckily though, Laura also sells lots of lovely handmade crafty and kawaii type things online as well, so even if you can't make it to the actual shop, you can still treat yourself (or someone else!) to something super duper cute and sweet!

like i said hopefully one day i'll get to go myself so i'll do a MAHOOOSIVE feature about the shop then (i sooo will!) but in the meantime i recommend that you check out the awesome ILC website here - I Love Crafty

you can also 'Like' the shop via facebook - I Love Crafty

and follow Laura on twitter for updates and info about the shop + all her crafty/arty goings on - @ilovecrafty

so thanks again to the v lovely Laura for sending me the divine little earrings! :)

(cute pictures here via I Love Crafty ©)

* * *

in other news, i found out this morning that red bubble have just started selling iPhone covers featuring members artwork/designs

i already sell iPhone covers and skins via Society6 (you can see them all here - Jade's iPhone covers)

but i've a few different designs available via red bubble now, here's the full range so far...

my red bubble shop is here - Jade's Red Bubble shop

 oh and fyi i don't set the prices, if i did... they'd be a lot lower! ;)

ps - and all of the designs there are also available as stickers + printed on t-shirts, hoodies and baby onesies.

* * *

apart from all that i've not really much else to share, maybe because i haven't been out of the house (other than to check the postbox) since last Friday!

oh AND i also spent a good 2 hours last night getting a crash course in web coding

now before you snigger, i've been able to (v basically) code stuff for my blog and my tumblr for years but as far as i was concerned, my website existed via magic and witchcraft, maybe a bit of fairy dust...

however my Jedi Master (aka Richard my web designer pal) has now taught me everything i needed to know to update the site + add images etc

it was mind bogglingly insane and complicated but 100% worth the epic coding headache!

right, back to college for me tomorrow, i think the plan is to get some printing done (if myself or Jennie remember how to do it!) so who knows, i might have some cool stuff to post about tomorrow!

then again maybe not!

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

News and Stuff ★

so i've got a few things to share today, firstly... i won a t-shirt design contest last week!!!

this is the second time i've entered a design into the weekly contest on All Tropical and i still can't believe i won!

the prize is to get your design printed up and sold in the shop (+ some prize money which has gone straight into my 'iPhone fund')

you can see my design up as the 'winner of the week' on the All Tropical site here - All Tropical

my 'CMYK cupcake' got the highest ratings of the week! which is AWESOME and i still can't believe i won!!!

massive MASSIVE thanks to everyone that rated my design (+ extra special thanks to all the friends that i badgered and nagged via facebook and twitter to vote for my image!)

the design will be printed soon (so i'm told) so i'll let you all know when it's availble to buy via the All Tropical shop

* * *

in other news, i've been working on some lovely vintage themed commissions lately but like always, i get distracted while i'm drawing and often end up coming up with something completely different (aka useless!) 

yesterday, having spent the morning trawling through gorgeous Steampunk websites, i ended up drawing a few Steampunk themed girls based on some fab outfits from Steampunk Couture

these were the results...

Abby Addle - Airship mechanic + goggle repairer

Lady Lorena Kingsford - Anachropologist

Hattie Lewis - Dirigible technician

Miss Constance Wickham - Aerial Buccaneer and apprentice Aerophonotologist

anyway, i know that they're very different to what i usually do and i'm not sure if i like them or hate them!!! 

i'm pretty sure i hate them since i can't draw noses to save my life and for some weird reason i never drew Lorena's hand in but oh well!

i'll let you decide...

ps: in case you were wondering, an Anachropologist is someone who studies Anachropology, the practical study and observation of periods of time in the past. and an Aerophonotologist is a researcher of randomly occurring sounds from the aether. some Steampunk jobs sound so marvellous! 

* * *

also, the August Giveaway closed last night at Midnight 

big thanks to everyone that entered! this time there was a record number of entries, 257 to be precise!!!

i drew a winner this morning using random.org 

the winner was number 5, Caroline Crossley from Weston-Super-Mare, UK

she's the blogs first Europe based winner seeing as the last two were won by people in Canada and the USA

so big congrats to Caroline! i'll be posting out all the lovely prizes to her first thing tomorrow!

but don't worry if you didn't win THIS one... i'll be holding another super duper Giveaway around Christmas time!!!

* * *

not much else to report on today, i've spent the week cooped up inside busily working on commissions

no plans for the weekend... as per usual!

but i have a few more Creative Café posts to get through so i'll do one of those either tomorrow or Saturday

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