Desk Life ♥

hello chums, just thought i'd throw together a quick blog post before I head off on my annual travels through the UK to France and on to Andorra and Spain. I don't leave until Thursday but i'll be super busy tomorrow packing and stuff (or more likely reading all night and then packing at the last minute!) so I'll do a blog tonight instead.

i've mentioned it before on here a few times but last year I FINALLY bought myself a proper desk so that I have a place to work and also to display some of the random colourful junk i've collected over the years. You might be thinking 'who cares about a stupid desk' but it's my blog and I really like my desk so I'm gonna talk about it a bit and post some photos so if you're dead inside and hate anything fun, then you don't have to stay here...

 

So back to the desk. As an artist i'm quite a visual person (wow there's a surprise!) and I like to have lots of inspiring things near or around me when I work to help give me ideas or just to brighten things up a bit. I'm fortunate enough to have a retired painter and decorator for a dad which means the wallpaper in my room is utterly hideous and won't be replaced any time soon. So I long ago resolved to cover every available inch of it with as much random crap as I can muster. Hence the walls full of stuff!

 

I tend to keep a mix of items around my desk, you'll notice quite a bit of my own work pinned up along with designs from other artists I admire or just general bits n' bobs people have sent me or i've collected on my travels. Although I have a separate space to paint in (which sadly has walls i'm NOT allowed to decorate with cool stuff!) my desk is where I come up with most of my ideas for designs and products. It is for all intents and purposes, precisely where the magic happens.



I know i'm not the only artist that works this way, in fact most of my arty/illustrator/designer friends have similar desks or studio spaces chock full of items they've acquired over the years. I'm not sure about them but I know that I find it really helpful to have a heap of cool stuff in front of me while i'm working on a design or making something.



I'm lucky enough to have some very generous creative friends who've sent me all sorts of nice stuff like fun prints, postcards and groovy stickers! I stick most of this stuff up next to my desk to help with colour palettes and you know, because it looks pretty! And if YOU had hideous skin disease wallpaper then you'd probably slather pictures all over your walls as well.

I'm a big kid at heart and i'll probably never really grow up, so you'll also spot plenty of daft toys on my desk, like my trio of Monster High girls and my mini popobe bear collection. There's quite a lot of Geeky stuff as well, like fanart and other homages to various fandoms. I also keep my 'thinking crown' handy for those times when creative block strikes, I pop on the glitter crown and issues usually resolve themselves. And if they don't, who cares, i'm wearing a crown, nothing matters.

The desk is also home to my beloved Pullip doll and a whole host of other critters including Catbug, Puppycat, Paddy the gnome, my Lego Ghostbusters set, Moomin family, Sailor Moon, Toothless the dragon, Maurice the monkey, Arale, Jack the giant Popobe bear, Tofu Dolls, Dunny figures, oh and a Tardis because why not?!

it might look like a cluttered nightmare but it's surprisingly well organized (for me!) and I have quick access to all of the bits I need to create stuff and if I can't find something then I just shuffle through it all and swear profusely until I can. It's a very successful if entirely inelegant system of organization, typical to most artists. 



you might also spot Tom Hiddleston's face lurking on the desk as well, this was a recent gift from my friend Lorna as sadly the real Tom Hiddleston wasn't available, apparently. You might ask 'but Jade, why so much stuff everywhere?' and all I can say is that as far as i'm concerned, if it's not teeming with stacks of random stuff then it's not a real desk!

you might also think that i'm not left with much space after all that junk, and i'd like to take a moment to ask why on earth you're so judgmental but instead I will tell you that despite the clutter I manage just fine...

Now onto the other reason I wanted to do a post tonight, yes that's right, I lured you here under false pretences only to ambush you with something else entirely! As I mentioned at the start, i'm off on my holibobs this week which means i'll be closing the shop for a bit. However, i'm going to the post office in the morning so if you've been hankering for a treat or need to buy a present for someone, this is your last chance until the end of the month!

And as a special sweetener, i'm throwing in a FREE Girl Gang sticker with every order + EVERY purchase gets a 20% off voucher for their next order!So i'm not sure what you're waiting for, go buy something cute! SHOP NOW

and on that happy and colourful note i'll say goodbye, I won't have proper internet access while i'm away but i'll do my best to post stuff over on my Instagram page so if you want to see what I get up to on my holiday, then maybe you should follow me on there!

so until next time, that's all folks! speak to you all 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

May Drawing Challenge - Day 24

i've been at college again all day so i left the doodle a little late, but the theme was 'ABC' so here's what i came up with...

the alphabet blocks were admittedly my friend Jennie's idea and since i literally couldn't think of anything else... that's what i doodled!

and until tomorrow, i guess 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...

* * *

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 and Girly ♥

Ok I know... i've been lazy! No new blog posts since Thursday! Oh noooes!

I don't even have a good excuse... or any excuse for that matter! Just pure old fashioned lazyness i'm afraid!

Sorry!

So to make it up to you... here's a sh*tload of pictures!!!

last night I was bored so I visited my tumblr account. Now i'm a real tumblr slacker, I always forget to post stuff so I thought i'd have a bit of a mooch about and find some bits to post.

However... I ended up on one of the most awesome and fabby dabby tumblr pages i've ever seen!

I get distracted quite easily so when I spotted a post in my news feed by the fabulous 'acrylicana' (of whom I am a massive fan) I followed the link to the tumblr account of 'Fuckyeahcuteandgirlyshit!' and to kick off the girlyness here are some gem encrusted pastel creamy macaroons... beats ‘Ladurée’ macaroons any day!

so I pretty much ended up spending a good hour and a half just trailing through the site drooling at the sheer awesomeness of the pictures in it... i mean look at these necklaces! cameos with diamantés!!! hell yes!

Like the title of the page suggests, 'Fuckyeahcuteandgirlyshit!' is full of all things girly, supercute and generally pretty amazing and down right fabulous... i mean look at this awesome old 'Polly Pocket' playset!!! 

i got far too excited over this picture mainly because when i was little i had this, i had this... I HAD THIS!!!!!

Now one of the things I like most about the 'Fuckyeahcuteandgirlyshit!' page, is the fact that it's also full of examples of gorgeous girly illustration, manga and animation. I love blogs and tumblr pages that teach me about fabulous artists that i'd never have heard about otherwise!

For example... whilst browsing the pages I spotted this beautiful piece...

seriously i recommend clicking it for a full view (since i can't full size the image in the post or else my blog will cut half of it away...) it's just gorgeous! so much detail and so god-damn girly!

anyway, the tumblr page didn't say who it was by but contained a link to someone's flickr page! so after a bit of sifting around on the flickr link i managed to find the artist. 

it's by a Japanese artist called Junko Mizuno. 

it turns out i have actually already heard of him, i've just never seen the above uber girly piece before. i know him for creating exquisitely detailed paintings that look like a mixture of modern graphic design and classic Japanese woodcuts.

i mainly know of his work from doing my picture book research for college last year. this is one of my favourite pieces by him that i still have a crappy little printed version of pinned up in my room. 

check out his site anyway (Junko Mizuno) his work really is totally super duper.

right my lovelies, on that happy and not to mention extremely colourful note i'm off now! 

it's lunch time + i need to watch the Singapore Grand Prix (yes... i AM a big F1 fan, go figure?!) so i shall bid you all adieu

enjoy the rest of your Sunday, whatever you're up to and wherever you are in the world

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX