Sweets and Zombies ★

so did you enjoy the lovely Creative Café features this week???

well today is just a short post so you don't think i've vanished again, i've been busy this week working on commissions AND a few new pieces for college that i (maybe...) intend to have a go at painting.

so i thought i'd share some of my new work with you all

(Copyright © Jade Boylan 2011. All Rights Reserved)

anyway, first up there's a super yummy Ice Cream Sundae!!!

totally delish!

i'm still working on another ice cream one but it's not quite finished yet! i still need to work out some chocolate chips/fruity bits! but oh well... here's a peek anyway!

there's also a pair of donuts but i don't really like these, not sure why... just not too fond of them for some reason!

oh AND since it's the end of September and everyone is getting excited for Halloween, i thought i'd let you see this years Halloween Pinup a little earlier than usual...

so this year it's all about Zombie Pinups! yaaaaay, zombie pinup girl = automatic creepy awesome times!

last year we had 2 (sort of...) the Midnight Burlesque girl and the Tattooed Lady (see below)

and of course the year before that there was the Zombie Ninja Panda Bear... so NOT a pinup but still delightfully creepy!

so who knows, i might have a go at another pinup or spooky themed creation during October, not sure yet!!!

oh and fyi, the Zombie Pinup is currently being featured in the annual ArtWanted Halloween Showcase aka the 'Haunted House'

now last time i checked they had the zombie pinup and my sugar skull on the front page (click thumbnails) but it might have vamoosed by now, not sure, you can check out all the groovy spooky work here anyway - Haunted House

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and that's that!

i've been listening to Seth MacFarlane's album 'Music Is Better Than Words' on repeat all week since it's so super duper! for more info about Seth + to hear him sing, you can check out this old feature i did here - Super Sunday #3

there'll be no blog tomorrow night since i'm heading out to the Gaiety Theatre to watch my cousin's dance schools annual show + my little god-daughter Bonnie is performing in it!

should be nice, i always love a trip to the Theatre! any excuse!

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

★ Bonnie ★

i've been a rubbish blogger this week! i've just been sooooo busy working on commission files that i genuinely haven't had time to whip up some blog posts! 

but have no fear faithful (and deeply cherished) readers, i'm going to make a special effort next week to do more posts!

anyway, this weekend my darling little god-daughter Bonnie came to stay

we had a lovely afternoon in Douglas shopping and then had a yummy juice and cupcake break in the Alpine, (where we also bumped into my older sister Nicola!) so that Bonnie could test out her new dress-up sticker book.

then it was on to Tesco to gather some stuff for tea. but Tesco sounded boring (apparently) so i stayed in the car with little mademoiselle so that she could play with her new Pinypon dolls 

because Bonnie's godmother (aka me) is a fool and doesn't need any excuse to buy treats for her dear little god-daughter... and one of the dolls had red hair like Bonnie so it kind of HAD to be bought... you know!

ah what can i say, she's a little sweetheart, 100% worth it! even if she is too young to drive...

eventually we got home and within five minutes my room had been taken over!

to be fair though, Bonnie made up for it by drawing a lovely picture of me, check out my colourful dress!!!

   

she's quite arty actually (much to her godmothers delight...) and spent the better part of the evening drawing, cutting, sticking and colouring!

but eventually it was time to settle down a bit, so after dinner we watched the Wizard of Oz (Bonnie's choice) and some Family Guy DVD's (my choice... obviously!!! but in my defence they were bleeped and she was drawing most of the time anyway! honest...)

we were going to head out to the park in Ramsey this morning but it was a gloomy day so we stayed in and watched some more Family Guy, and after breakfast we did some baking instead!

Bonnie was ever such a good baking assistant! she mixed the batter perfectly and put all the cupcake cases into the mini cupcake maker (more about that here - Cute Cupcakes)

she also did a great job mixing up the fresh pink buttercream icing i made... even if my piping skills still suck!!!

we ran out of the buttercream, so she helped me mix up some pale pink icing as well

the decorations were all done by Bonnie, and i think you'll agree that she did a smashing job using heart sprinkles, colourful hundreds-and-thousands and the odd minstrel!

and most importantly... they tasted absolutely delicious!!!

so delicious in fact that we boxed some up so that Bonnie could take them back to share with her mum and dad, her little sister and her older brother.

she was a little angel (well, mostly!) as per usual, but the house is so quiet now without her! there's just a trail of mess and destruction left from earlier...

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personal post today but then that always happens when a family member comes to stay!

anyway in other news, like i said at the start, i promise to make more of an effort with the blog posts next week! promise promise promise!!!

in fact, i already have a cracking creative café post lined up for you all tomorrow evening!

so keep an eye out for that!

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

Cute Cupcakes ★

so. . . i failed to mention this yesterday or earlier because i had other stuff to post about but on Friday afternoon i came home to find a belated Birthday present waiting for me by the gates!!!

it was off my best friend Courtney and inside the pink tissue paper wrapped bundle i found a cupcake maker!

yes you read that right, she got me my very own mini cupcake maker!!!

a cupcake maker that allows you to make cute mini cupcakes in minutes!

i'm not gonna lie, i fully squealed when i realised what the present was! i'm not the world's best baker and to be honest i often struggle just to make decent cupcakes so this is a real god-send!

it's kind of like a little toastie or waffle maker except you pour cupcake mix in instead

according to the instructions, it's not necessary to use cupcake cases but i'd seen a few blogs and sites online showing people using cases with their makers, and luckily my cousin Mandy bought me a lovely little cupcake making kit for my birthday that i have been dying to try out!

the cases fit perfectly, so now all i needed were the ingredients!

like i said. . . not the best baker! i didn't trust myself with completely raw ingredients (measuring wise i really suck) so my dear mama got me some simple 'just add eggs/water' kits instead.

the maker itself is actually really awesome, once i'd mixed the batter and heated up the little maker it cooked the cupcakes up in no time!

+ it was an absolute doddle to clean (as you can see i spilt some of the batter) and super easy to use!

i actually cooked up 15 mini cakes altogether and then of course, came the fun part. . . decorating them!

i mixed up a bowl of buttercream icing with a dash of strawberry milkshake powder. ok so i failed to buy any proper vanilla essence or flavourings but the milkshake powder actually worked really well! it made the icing a sort of blushed peachy pink and it piped out really easily onto the cakes

even if my piping skills aren't quite as good!!! i threw on some sprinkles for good measure though

before promptly running out of buttercream icing!!! luckily my star of a mother whipped up a batch of chocolate icing for me to use

so i ended up with some strange sort of marbled iced cakes as well

but at the end of the day the proof is in the taste and these taste delicious! even if i do say so myself . . . and i do!

a mini cupcake success i think!!!

thanks to Courtney for the amazing gift, thank you deary xX

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in other news, i've spent the afternoon writing and editing my digital logbook ahead of assessment next week, 

planning on watching a movie or something now but to be honest i've been at a bit of a loose end since i finished my re-watch marathon of 'Supernatural' which means i now have nothing to watch!!!

any suggestions for a show i could maybe get into and watch/re-watch would be greatly appreciated!

i was thinking maybe 'True Blood' or 'Misfits' but i'd quite like a new show to watch

anyway, enough rambling! enjoy the rest of your Sunday

that's all folks . . . ★ ◕‿◕ xX

Sunny Sunday ★

so apologies once again for the lack of posts, i've not been too well this week and i guess i just haven't really been up to the whole blogging malarkey!

mainly due to lack of stuff to post about . . .

this is a short but sweet post since there really isn't much going on in my life to talk about at the moment!

anyway today i've been making some little ribbon flowers

i thought it was about time i used some of the gorgeous ribbons i have stashed about all over my room

so i sorted out my old hot glue gun, grabbed my sewing box and got making . . .

i'm hoping to pop into my new fave haberdashery shop 'Just Enough' tomorrow morning to get some pretty buttons to finish these with and then i might stitch them all onto hair clips or brooches, not really sure yet, what would you do with one of these???

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in other news . . .

today i also edited another one of the candy themed characters that i've been working on

sort of . . .

this is 'Sprinkles' the dog, he belongs to the eldest Cupcake Princess (who you've seen before)

i'm still working on the little Princess' pet, not telling you what type of animal it is yet but i will tell you that it's name is 'Swirly'

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nothing else to tell you about really

today's blog title is 'sunny sunday' because it has been gloriously sunny all day here today, unfortunately i've been cooped up inside all day coughing my lungs up + watching endless episodes of 'Fringe' (while making ribbon flowers)

college tomorrow 

+ tomorrow night it's the next 'welcome to the neighbourhood' exhibition from Juan Moore (more about him here in this post - Arty Stuff ) it's a gig/exhibition aptly names the 'gighibition' and i'm hoping to pop down to it with an old college friend (if she's not working and gets her act together) that is providing i don't wake up feeling ill. . . again!

that's all folks . . .

★ ◕‿◕ xX