Happy Day ♥

hello dearhearts, crikey it's been exactly a month since my last post on here, i'm really not too great at this whole blogging malarkey am I?!
wait, don't answer that...

anyway I'm here now and I wanted to fill you in on a few of the things that have happened recently to keep me away from here... but then I thought 'nah'.

so instead i'm going to tell you about what I did last weekend because you see last Sunday I became a Godmother! woooooo!!!

I was over the moon when one of my very best friends Hayley, whom I've known since College, asked me to be Godmother to her youngest daughter Imogen. I mean obviously I said 'yes' otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog. Although I was a little disappointed as I'd originally thought Hayley was proposing to me... oh well, you can't have everything I suppose!

Little Miss Imogen and her lovely Mama, Hayley.

Hayley and I first met the day we were both interviewed for a place on the Art and Design course. Luckily we both got accepted so on my first day of class she was the ONLY person I recognized or knew, so naturally I became her personal limpet. That was in September 2008 and we're still good friends now, so I couldn't have been quite as annoying as I thought! I feel very lucky to still have her as a friend as she's really nice and possibly even more sarcastic than I am! She has two very beautiful and adorable daughters and I felt very honoured that she chose me to be a Godmother.

the amazing (and delicious) Christening cake!

Anyway, the Christening day was last Sunday at St Peter's Church in Onchan here on the Isle of Man. It was a really lovely day, the sun was out and friends and family sat in the church to watch Miss Imogen Evie Reid get baptized. The Vicar was a little over enthusiastic with the holy water so most of the front two pews got baptized as well. I of course got a handful of water in the face, but I didn't burst into flames so that's one good thing!

proud parents! Hayley and Lewis with Imogen in St Peter's Church.

It was perhaps a little more eventful than planned as poor Imogen accidentally had a bump during the service and suffered a little nosebleed, there were some tears and crying but after that things went off without a hitch and after the Christening it was time for a bit of a party! Hayley and her family put on an amazing spread of food and sweet treats including a chocolate fountain (yum!) and more chips and pasty than you can actually imagine.

Gracie, Imogen's big sister.

along with the tubs of jelly and marshmallows and cookies, there were also some cupcakes that I made for the Christening. I'd met Hayley a few days before to take Gracie to the park and I ended up offering to bake some cupcakes to bring along. Now this might not seem like too big a deal but at the time I was in the early stages of a vile cold/sore throat, I had two commissions on the go and I'm not the most successful baker even at the best of times.

mid baking... oops!

So... as you can see, things got off to a great start. I had to wear a mask while I made them (so as not to give anyone else the dreaded 'cold') and it was going quite well; I'd made up the cake batter, I had everything ready and then, splash! While pouring myself a well earned glass of pop I ended up soaking myself and the kitchen floor creating a big sticky mess. Because apparently I am still a child and not in fact a twenty-four-year-old woman (with polar bear socks).

before and after.

It all turned out fine in the end though, after some very helpful mopping from Mama Boylan (thanks mum!) I ended up with 32 mini cupcakes (at about 11:30pm) so I decided to ice them the next morning ready for the Christening. I love piping pink vanilla buttercream onto cakes, it's surprisingly therapeutic and it's always fun to lick the spoon afterwards. Anyway they seemed popular at the Christening as there were only 2 left by the time I went home but it wasn't until I got back that I realised I completely forgot to try one myself!

the print I designed for the Christening.

It was probably more trouble figuring out how to transport the cakes from my house to the venue than it was to the make the ruddy things and i'll definitely think twice before I volunteer my questionable baking skills again in the future! Luckily my contributions weren't a total loss as Hayley had also (cunningly) managed to get me to volunteer for some less messy work. So as per her request, I designed a simple typography print with Imogen's birth info on for the Christening day. You will have seen it at the start of the post as well. Ducks are Imogen's favourite animal so there's four on the print; one each for her, her big sister Gracie and her Mummy and Daddy.

my gifts for Imogen.

I was definitely in a making mood all week because I ended up making two of Imogen's gifts myself. I stitched together a little pink bunny for her room and then I got my sewing machine out to struggle through making a string of pretty bunting. I love sewing by hand but the sewing machine and I do NOT often see eye to eye (it hates me for some reason) so the bunting is a little wonky, but still looks okay. The other gifts were a special laser-cut keepsake plaque and a cute teeny tiny pearl bracelet with her name + a little silver charm with 'goddaughter' on.

me... all dressed up!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the church and I couldn't manage to lure Imogen away from her mum/dad/grandparents/aunt/uncle to grab a snap with her. So instead you'll have to contend with a shameless selfie of me in the lovely dress I bought just for the Christening (it's from HERE if you're interested).

It was a lot of fun to be part of such a special day for Imogen and her family, so big BIG thanks to Hayley for putting up with me for all these years + asking me to be a part of her child's life!

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as you can probably tell this was more of a personal post today. So if you only come here for the art then i'm sorry but I am a real person and I do sometimes actually go out and DO things. I do have some new illustrated bits n' bobs to share with you but they will have to wait for another time, so I will do my best to post another blog next week maybe.

so until then, thanks for visiting! byeeeeeeee.

May Drawing Challenge - Day 10

today's theme was 'an Ampersand'. now i won't lie, i'd been looking forward to this theme purely for the chance to doodle one of my favourite typographical characters.

i'm a bit of a self confessed type geek so i apologise in advance if you really don't give a hoot about type and fonts in general. you should really care though!!! if more people cared we wouldn't be surrounded by ridiculously overused (not to mention wrongly used!) fonts like Comic Sans, Curlz, Lucida Handwriting and... Papyrus (shudder)

anyway i digress, here's my Ampersand...

it's a messy rainbow version of a Caslon Ampersand (my personal favourite) created by British type designer William Caslon in the 1720's

so why this one and not another i hear you cry, well it's quite simple. i adore this kind of Ampersand purely for it's decorative loops and swirls

+ the fact that unlike most modern '&'s this one looks like the word it was originally scribbled to replace (credited to a shorthand writing method proposed in 63BC)

you see, the ampersand is actually two letters combined. The E and T of the Latin 'et' literally meaning 'and', hence it's lasting use as a somewhat flourished abbreviation for that little joining word.

if you look at the lovely Caslon ampersand you can easily make out the E and the T.

And that's why i like it + believe it or not, it's much easier to draw than one like this &.

end of typographical rambling.

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

Creative Café #17 ★

so it's time for another Creative Café post! as promised...

you know the drill, go and get a cup of tea or something, grab a cake/biscuit/chocolate bar etc

settled and comfy? good stuff, let's get on with it then!

today it's all about a smashing Manx artist, someone whose work i've admired for many years, this person is very talented and produces some really incredible artwork! this feature is also coincidentally the first one to feature a guy so without any further ado, today it's all about... Adam Berry!!!

like i said, Adam is a Manx artist/designer/animator who is super duper talented!!! he's not the first guy to be featured on the blog but he is the first guy artist to get a creative café feature! i know this is traditionally a verrry girly blog but you'll see from his work... his unique style of design appeals to both guys and girls.

i've followed Adam's work for a few years now, he was the artist in residence for a year at the local Sayle Art gallery in 2008 and i remember visiting the gallery one day while he was painting this amazing piece featuring a girl in sort of pop art colours. it was during my first year at college and was the first time i think i'd ever seen his work! (i was kind of closeted from the Manx Art world when i was studying for the IB at my old school!) 

sadly i never got to see his residency final exhibition but i remember going back to the gallery at some point in 2009 and seeing postcards of his work, so naturally i had to get some!!! (they're on my desk board at college) then seeing canvases of his work on sale in Zooma in Castletown. i could never afford a canvas but the style of his work has stuck with me since the first time i saw one of his paintings so i guess you could say that his work has inspired me over the years what with the bold outlines and bright colours of his style!

his work is so beautifully detailled and kind of timeless in a way, mainly because his pieces often contain varying styles of illustration. often his work conjures up images of the 60's with rounded melting text and multitudes of colour. but then some remind me of Victorian style art nouveau illustrations, full of flowing lines and tendrils of text, then others make me think of 1950's Pop Art with their collaged layers and spray painted features! then some pieces are just purely modern in style and medium. it's this flux-like style of creation that i really admire!

there's also a great sort of psychedelic vibe to Adam's work and obviously i love the way he  incorporates lots of sassy pinup type girls into his pieces. all of his artwork is beautifully executed in a bold but brilliant style, bursting with so much intricate detail that my brain boggles just looking at it!

anyway i've rambled on for long enough, have a little skeet at some more of Adam's work. (ps - this time we have multi-picture collages due to the size of the originals + it means you won't get hand cramp scrolling for half an hour like usual...)

so there you have it! really stunning stuff for sure! each piece is absolutely sublime!

links time now...

to see more of Adam's art and design work be sure to check out his official website here - Adam Berry

you can also buy prints (and originals!!!) of his work from his online shop here - Print Shop

be sure to 'Like' his work via facebook too - Adam Berry Artwork

you can even follow him on twitter to keep up to date with all his arty goings on - @adamcrapola

oh and don't forget, Adam also takes commissions for designs and stuff so you can also email him about all that here - adzberry@gmail.com

all that's left for me to do now is say a big ol' THANK YOU to Adam for saying yes about the feature! he was also kind enough to place a little link to my site on HIS newly re-launched site so thanks again for that as well!!!

All images featured in this post belong to Adam Berry © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace ANY of his work without his express written consent. All Rights Reserved.

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so that's that! not much else to tell really, i've been working my arrrrrse off on some new commissions which i'm trying to get done asap so i can finally get on with some college work!!!

i won't be back in college until Wednesday but i'll try to find something to post about before then!

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

Polka Dot Love ♥

so yesterday afternoon for no particular reason other than the fact i was a little bit bored, i sat down at my desk and started sewing!

not entirely sure why but who cares! i ended up making 3 pretty little lavender hearts using polka dot felt, lots of embroidery floss, some ribbon and looooooads of dried lavender!

they're all hand stitched with the word 'love' (in my own handwriting) and blanket stitched but i whizzed them through the sewing machine as well to make sure none of the lavender will spill out! 

i messed up the lettering on the first one though so it's whip stitched while the other two are just stitched normally.

the only problem now is that my room absolutely stinks of lavender!!!

they're kind of cute though right! well i enjoyed making them so that's what counts i guess, they're all hanging from my wardrobe doors at the moment

not really sure what to do with them! should i gift them or make some more and sell them?!

who knows!

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in other news, i got kind of bored again today so in between working on commission files i ended up having a go at some weird little text manips using photos and magazine scans and craft knife cut out letters smoothed out on my macbook

 i made about 10 altogether but these were my favourites, using some quotes from song lyrics, Shakespeare's Macbeth and a quote from Mary Poppins. 

not sure why i made them! boredom clearly does crazy things to my mind!

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that's it for today i think, i'm heading out this weekend to pick up a few more goodies for the giveaway bundle but apart from that, no exciting plans going on in my world!!!

that's all folks... ★ ◕‿◕ xX

Creative Café #7 ★

hello dudes and dudettes! once again i've failed to post for a few days but i have a good reason, well. . . several actually!

but i'll tell you them later because now it's time for yet another Creative Café post!!!

i've been looking forward to this one for a while actually because i absolutely LOVE this artists work!

ok go go go get your tea or coffee or nice glass of ice cold water, grab a cookie or a cupcake and settle down for some super duper colourful artwork

today it's all about the truly fabulous Madi Barrett aka Madi Illustration

now if i remember correctly i first discovered Madi's work through Twitter sometime last year, as a fan of picture book illustration in general i immediately liked her work and the more i see of it now the more i love it!

Madi is a British artist and illustrator. she uses this amazing mixed media method to create her pieces combining basic collage with

cut up fabric and paper + hand drawn elements and typography

the result is this sweet, quirky, whimsical mix of texture, colour and detail that really makes her work intriguing not to mention instantly appealing to people, myself included

ok you know what happens now, this is the part where i shut up and let you enjoy her work by yourself without my incessant jabbering and rambling about how much i love it all (but i do!!!!!) 

to start off, check out Madi's adorable monsters. . .

they are scary cute! but talking of cute, wait until you see Madi's super duper sweet picture book 'I'm a little bit scared of. . .' (available to buy here - picture book) 

aaah it's so lovely! as is the gorgeous Fashion Illustration Madi does for Amelia's Magazine . . .

so sooooo pretty! Madi also sells cute stuff in her etsy shop including: prints, postcards, pocket mirrors, earrings, brooches, copies of her picture book and greetings cards

her typography work is also sublime, see for yourself . . .

so there you have it! obviously she has loooooooooads more stuff but i can only pack this post with so much!

right. . . links time!

to see her full portfolio + check out the rest of 'I'm a little bit scared of. . .' (before you buy yourself a copy!) head on over the Madi's lovely website - Madi Illustration

or if you fancy treating yourself to a little brooch, pocket mirror or greetings card, check out her etsy shop - madiillustration

you can also 'Like' her work on Facebook - Madi Illustration

and follow her on Twitter - @madiillustrates

check out her blog for more info about her work - Madi Illustration.

or her Flickr photostream for more awesome artwork pics - madiillustration

of course, big big biiiiig thanks go to the lovely Madi for letting me feature her work! she is totally 'fab' :)

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

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not much else for today my dears!

i've spent the day walking and running about in the garden + dancing and boogieing to 'just dance' on the Wii

must be the nice weather! it's making me all bouncy and energetic, might as well make the most of it!

oh and by the way, the reason i haven't posted until now is because on Thursday afternoon my friend Jenny came to collect me from college and we had a lovely skeet round all the little shops in Ramsey (including Sweet Ginger of course!) before watching a bajillion episodes of Family Guy and Adventure Time on my laptop

then on Friday i went round to my friend Courtney's apartment for a girly tea party with a bunch of our friends, we all made cupcakes, cookies, homemade fudge and other yummy things to take and drank yummy rose lemonade from pretty china teacups, it was super duper fun + great to catch up with some of my old friends from high school

and on Saturday i had a business meeting at my house before spending the afternoon in town with my cousin Mandy + my little cousin Sienna

phew! busy few days for me! and tomorrow i have to be in college. . .

and so begins another week!

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