May Drawing Challenge - Day 5

the theme for today was 'a window' but i've been out of the house all day and only just got back so this one was a bit of a rush...

anyway this is the view from my bedroom window at the moment.

my little cousin Sienna has come to stay today as well hence why i couldn't draw and post anything earlier :)

so until tomorrow, that's all folks... xX

Catch up times

Hello there, Happy Easter to you today if you celebrate it. And if you don't... then 'Happy Sunday' and if it's not Sunday where you are... then 'hello' wherever in the world you are + whatever you're up to today.

Golly gosh it's been a while since I last posted on here. You don't need me to tell you it's because i've been so busy because that's the reason I give every time (it's true after all...) but i've also been ill recently and am currently tackling a particularly vile viral throat infection (it's as sore and rubbish as it sounds) that has given me a raw throat, aching limbs, constant headaches + taken away my sense of taste and most of my appetite.

The weird thing is that over the past few weeks i've actually had things to blog about, I just haven't managed to get around to actually writing stuff up or editing pictures. However, seeing as i've spent the entire day cooped up in bed drinking endless cups of orange juice and gazing wistfully at my easter eggs (I woke up to find 8 kinder eggs waiting for me, pity I can't actually taste the chocolate at the moment though) I figured 'no time like the present' and got sorting through the pictures.


I'll start at the most recent stuff and work my way back ok. Bear in mind that this will be a mostly personal post full of pics of friends and family members so if you're here looking for a Creative Café feature or something similar... i'm sorry to disappoint!

Obviously to start with I should point out the blog redesign... yes that's right folks, gone are the candy stripes and headache inducing shades of pink and purple, instead we now have cute airmail stripes + a simpler banner. Let me know if you love it or loathe it, leave a little comment...


Ok on with the post! so yesterday was my best friend Courtney's 21st Birthday, I managed to leave my duvet nest for a few hours to see her in town (at The Alpine of course...) and hand over her Birthday gifts, part of which was this very special little hand stitched Owl plushie that i made especially for her 21st.

like me, Courtney is a big fan of all things Owl related, i'd already bought her a cute little pocket watch necklace but wanted to make her something as well so a girly candy coloured mini owl seemed perfect!

Sticking with The Alpine Café for a moment, I popped in last Wednesday to spend the morning sipping tea and editing files and Melanie, the café's lovely owner came over to show me the brand new menus that had just been delivered

if you think the illustrations look a tad familiar it's because I designed them!!!

if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you'll know that I visit the Alpine pretty much every time I head into town so I was absolutely over the moon when Melanie asked me to sort some stuff for the new menu designs several weeks ago.

I showed her 'the Alpine' design I made (inspired by the actual café) and she picked it straightaway only choosing to space it between the kids menu and main menu. It's brilliant popping into the café now only to see my designs on every table!

On Thursday night a new group exhibition opened at the Pavillion in Laxey here on the island.

the 'Miscellaneous' exhibition featuring a bunch of Manx artists, designers, ceramicists and photographers.

I have 4 little candy paintings in the show but unfortunately couldn't go to the private view because I was too ill, so sadly I have no snaps of the show or all of the awesome work on display :(

anyway, let's go back a week or two and my lovely little cousin Sienna came to stay for the entire weekend! Sienna is a regular on this blog and if you read my posts then you'll know what a blast we always have when she comes to stay.

That weekend was no different and we had great fun pottering around Douglas + visiting the annual On Your Doorstep Exhibition at the Villa Marina in Douglas (read about our cupcake fuelled trip there last year as well - Things that begin with 'S' )

during the weekend we played with all her Lalaloopsy dolls (+ some of mine...)

we also had great fun playing in the garden on the Sunday since it was such a gorgeous sunny day!

We went for a hula hoop walk around the house...

tried to see if we could spot some frogs in the pond...

we found the old the garden swing...

we even drew some chalk masterpieces outside the garage!

AND played hopscotch...

Then in the afternoon we baked up a load of cute cupcakes for the Easter fair at Sienna's school

and painted a special 'Princess' egg for the Easter Egg Competition

it was a great weekend and then I even had a fun final week at college before the Easter break started. Although my desk is still a mess of books and other arty rubbish...

oh and i've been making some new bears as well over the past few weeks

My Easter assessment went well and I got some positive critiques on my latest work... which I still haven't shared with you all!

About the new work, i've been sorting these designs and paintings since mid February and they are all going towards my final end of year exhibition at college + a new group exhibition

I would love LOVE to post some sneak peek pics on here, but i'm not going to (I know, i'm so cruel!) so if you want to see them you'll either have to come to one of my exhibitions next month or in June or... wait for me to blog about the stuff when the exhibitions go up!

All I can tell you is that the new work is very girly, very bright and very fun!

Speaking of girly, bright and fun, check out the Cath Kidston fabric swatches I got a few weeks ago!

+ here's a snap of my ongoing washi tape collection (yes, I may have become a tad addicted! But it's so handy and looks good on everything!!!) i've owned a few rolls of the stuff before but am a little late to the table so far as Washi tape addictions go! i intend to make up for that though... just give me time!

it's become a sort of weekly ritual that I treat myself to a new washi tape or two, great for my crafty needs, not so good for my bank balance! if only they didn't look so pretty adorning tags, books and orders from my etsy shop!

Ok one final thing now before I crawl back to my duvet nest and reach for the orange juice. A couple of months ago myself + a few friends decided to start a local design collective for young illustrators, graphic designers and animators.

It's called 'Smoo Doo Croo' which is Manx Gaelic and roughly translates to 'Think Ink Create'

Smoo Doo Croo currently consist of 7 members, all guys and girls between the ages of 19 and 29, all emerging artists and all multitalented.

Among our ranks we have some illustrators, some graphic designers, painters, web designers, crafters + a couple of Oscar Nominated animators and colourists (yes... really!)

so it would be amazingly awesome and great if you could head over and check out our blog – Smoo Doo Croo: Think Ink Create

+ if you're feeling kind maybe 'Like' us on Facebook (we need more likes... pretty please?!) - Smoo Doo Croo

or follow us on Twitter - @SmooDooCroo

we're also on tumblr – smoodoocroo

and we even have a few boards on Pinterest too! - Smoo Doo Croo

all that's left now is for me to say toodle-ooh, i think the blog might be on another hiatus for a few weeks after this while i recover + get back to college and back to the busy work times once again.

so until then, whenever it might be, that's all folks... xX

some new designs ★

so lately i've been a bit quiet again, i've been working on new stuff for college


(All images featured in this post belong to Jade Boylan© do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace ANY of her work without her express written consent. All Rights Reserved.)

these new designs are a bit of a mixed bunch! including...

some candy coloured bicycles!

i sold my bike a few years ago and kind of miss it, a lot! i always found bikes particularly tricky to draw when i was younger so i thought i'd have a new go at one or two ones now!

and somehow i ended up producing some funky 'his n hers' bikes

as well as those, i've also been working on two candy character pieces, featuring the Cupcake Princess

 and the Candy Floss Princess

i spotted an amazing Steampunk book in town the other day so after my somewhat failed Steampunk girls (see this post - News and Stuff ) i had a little go at a simple pocket watch instead

and then for some inexplicable reason, i drew a cuckoo clock and created this piece as well

unsurprisingly though, the clock was a lot of fun to draw! 

also, most of these designs are now available on iPhone cases via my Society6 shop 

* * *

in other news, my lovely little cousin Sienna came to stay over the weekend

as you can see, she got her face painted while we were out! it was painted by the lovely Torie at Imagination Station

anyway, once we got home we did lots of drawing and writing, Sienna also gave me a lovely biro tattoo...

other than that, we filled in colouring pages + a Hello Kitty sticker book, we even found some xmas crackers left over from Christmas!

and then there were the wigs... myself, my mum and Sienna spent a while trying them on and listening to music in the kitchen, here's the embarrassing proof!

obviously dyeing my hair blonde or pink permanently is the way forward! :D

* * *

that's it for now, i'm in college for the rest of the week but i have a very awesome Creative Café post to run so keep your eyes peeled for that!

also, in case you were wondering what had happened to the New Year giveaway, i'm saving it for the blogs 3rd birthday next month!

however, i'm only 20 followers away from reaching 1k on twitter! AND when i reach 1000, i'll be holding a special little 'EXCLUSIVE to Twitter' giveaway!!! you can 'follow' me here - @jadeboylan

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

★ Happy Birthday Sienna ★

so, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! hope you all had a fun NYE and saw in the arrival of 2012 in style!

well here we are then, the very first blog post of the NEW YEAR and... it's a personal one!

because on Monday it was my darling little cousin Sienna's 6th Birthday! yaaaaaaaaay

this meant that on Monday i was invited along to the party at 'the Fun Factory' in Onchan to help supervise the little party guests and help dish out the party food and party bags etc

it was soooo much fun and the party went brilliantly! Sienna looked like the perfect little Party Princess in her sparkly dress and little silver shoes

and it was lovely to spend some time with my little cousins Sienna, Hanna and my god-daughter Bonnie (who is also Hanna's older sister)

they're all such cutie-pies!

we had a lot of fun playing 'musical colours' (like musical chairs only you use the colours of the walls or floor... don't ask, it seemed like a good idea at the time!)

a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sienna, i hope she had a super duper day :) xX

* * *

in other news, i know they've been a long time coming but i thought maybe it was time for a teeny tiny sneak peek at some of the new 'candy character' scenes...

(All images featured in this post belong to Jade Boylan © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace ANY of her work without her express written consent. All Rights Reserved.)

they've all still got quite a long way to go, lots of details and textures to be added in etc but i thought i'd give a sneak peek of how the characters are looking at the moment! so expect more updates when i eventually get on with finishing these scenes off!

* * *

also, did i mention that there's currently 20% off everything in my Etsy Shop!!!

to celebrate the New Year, i'm offering 20% off all items in the shop, all you have to do is type in the discount code NEWYEAR2012 at the checkout

this offer won't be on for too long though, maybe a week or so more, so don't leave it too late!

* * *

that's about it for now i think, i was back in College today finding out about assessment timetables for next week + catching up with the other HNDers and BAers which was nice! 

i have a funky Creative Café post to run this week, maybe at the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for that

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