This and That ❤

hello dearhearts, I know... once again it's been FOREVER since I last made time to post a blog on here!

I'm all out of excuses. It's been a mixture of laziness, apathy and a general malaise that i've been trying to shift for the past few weeks.

things are looking up though, i'm on my holidays in Ireland at the moment; I caught the ferry to Dublin first thing this morning and after stopping off in Cahir, Co Tipperary South for lunch I finally made it to Cork this afternoon. If you're a long-time follower then you'll know how Ireland always cheers me up, if you don't believe me/remember, just check out the Ireland tag HERE.

this year I'm staying in Cork, Carlow and Dublin so i'm looking forward to visiting some of my favourite places and spaces + discovering a few new ones along the way.

so what on earth HAVE I been up to for the last month?! Well, not much really...

Well I say not much, actually i've been up to quite a bit, but none of it is particularly exciting, hence why I've been such a neglectful blogger (again).

I suppose if I had to narrow it down to some of the things i've been up to, this is what I would pick...

1. Brand New Website

Yes, I have a NEW website. I'd been meaning to get a new site sorted for ages (years in fact), as much as I loved my old site, I wasn't able to alter or edit much of it without the assistance of my trusty web designer. This meant that most of the info listed on the site was no longer accurate, my age was listed as 21 (i'm 24 now) and it said that I was still studying (I graduated in 2013).

 I needed a change so after a lot of consideration and online fiddling I spent some time setting up a new site myself. This time around it's quite a bit less cluttered and more streamlined with clear navigation and nice simple galleries showcasing my artwork, it even has a gallery for my painted work. And of course most importantly, the 'about' page is now 100% up to date.

if you're so inclined, you can check out the new website HERE

2. Brand New Painting

That's right, I finished another brand new painted lady for the ongoing (and neverending) Candy Doll Club project! This time it was a painting of the 'Buzz Buzz' illustration I created in September 2014 (read more about it HERE)

 

I often work sort of higgledy-piggledy when I paint a new picture, meaning that I'm often painting and adding finelined detail at the same time. It's not ideal but it helps me to keep track of the outline + work out what needs fixing/tweaking before it all gets finished. 

As always, the most challenging part of each painting is the hair! I usually end up blending 5 or 6 colours together to create the colourful 'ombre' hair. It takes AGES but it's always worth it in the end when it's all finelined and seamlessly blended.

My favourite part of any painting is adding in the outline. Almost all of my artwork has the same bold black lineart and it's without a doubt the BEST part of a new painting. As far as i'm concerned, putting the linework down makes the painting pop and come to life. 

Without the lineart my paintings would just be jumbled and meaningless, but a steady hand and a mug full of permanent markers turns blended colours and splotchy shapes into a neat, ordered design. Drawing the honeycomb pattern on this piece was time consuming but totally worth it. 

Anyway, she was painted in acrylic, posca and spray paint on a 24x24" wooden board and is all finished now, living on my desk with some of the other paintings I have lying about at the moment.

if you're local (in the Isle of Man) and think you might like to see some of my work in person (or dare I say... buy it!) I currently have four paintings in the Isle Gallery in Tynwald Mills. 

 I had some more numbers to talk about but I think i'll save them for another post! 

Hopefully i'll actually put together another blog while i'm here in Ireland, I usually post about some of the AMAZING shops and villages I get to visit, so fingers crossed this holiday is just as fruitful for my blogging habit, or lack thereof.

anyway i'll shut up now, thanks for stopping by, come and visit again soon!

And if YOU know of any brilliant places in Cork/Carlow/Dublin that I should visit while i'm here, leave a comment below or tell me on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram 

bye for now... 

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

new website + other stuff ★

hey hey my lovelies! another few days of silence, i'm so sorry! but it's the last week of College and i've had stuff to do but i break up tomorrow until September so that means i'll have more time to post on here!!! (yay)

anyway, for those of you that keep up with all my stuff on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr, you might have noticed that i've posted a link to my website. . .

but the super duper part is that at long last the site re-deign is finished!!!

i'm now the proud owner of a swish (not to mention colourful) html site coded by my very super web designer friend Richard at RB designs here on the Isle of Man

it's chock full of stuff all drawn/edited by me + some easy to use galleries and links tabs, all in all it is a VAST improvement on my old 'flash' site (also known as the pink monstrosity) 

i am super duper pleased with is, i think Richard is a sorcerer... he must be to have done all this for me! + he even made me a teeny tiny cupcake favicon for the sites URL!!!

as you can see though, it's much easier to navigate + it's a lot cleaner and simpler, i am very muchly chuffed with it!

the last one was tricky to use because it was built with flash, so people on iPhones and iPads couldn't access it + it was sometimes timely to load for visitors, but this one is awesome as it's html so it runs much MUCH better

+ i think it's a lot more 'me'!!! because all of the elements were hand drawn and coloured by me it feels a lot better than the other one, feels like i've really put a bit of myself into it, and even if it comes across as a little childish and garish to some people, i don't care!

so long as it's easy to use and makes people smile, that's all that matters...

to see it for yourself in all of it's newly re-designed glory, head over and have a skeet 

www.jadeboylan.com

* * *

in other news, today some new Moo stuff arrived in the post, all decked out in lovely orange

a new sticker book of logo and cupcake stickers + some new business cards since the 100 i left out by my exhibition vanished during the college exhibition! seriously, in just under 2 weeks visitors nabbed about 98 of my cards

all that was left this morning when i took down the exhibition were 2 lonely little cards! i'm glad people liked them so much though! apparently loads of primary school kids went round on a tour of the block and just ransacked the business cards on my display!!!

anyway i got the same old designs for this new pack + one new one featuring some yummy macaroons

pretty cute right! as per usual the ONLY way to get hold of one of these is to buy something from my shop or to come to the Isle of Man and find me...

however, these pretty cards and stickers weren't the only things to arrive today!!! 

now i may have mentioned before that i'm quite a big fan of the TV show 'Supernatural' (yeah... i have mentioned it) now through some of my lovely fangirl friends on tumblr i got sent this set of truly amazing little chibi figures based on some of the characters from the show 

(i'm a fangirl so it's my moral duty to name them for you!!!! clockwise from top left we have: Castiel, Dean, Sam, Gabriel, Crowley and Balthazar)

i can't even begin to explain how completely amazing and awesome these stickers are! i have no idea where i'll put them or what i'll do with them but i absolutely LOVE all of them ridiculous amounts!!! they were sent all the way from the USA so massive MASSIVE thanks to the lovely Dean for sending me them x

arrrrgh they are so CUTE!!! (sorry, i'll try to keep the fangirling to a minimum on here from now on... promise!) 

* * *

so that's it i think, i had a super busy day at college today taking down my exhibition, packing up my desk, finalising my picture book essay (now 27 pages long... oops!) and i spent the afternoon working on a new princess design!

tomorrow is the last day of college, i have a business meeting at lunch then i'm hoping to hoof it into town and treat myself to an end of term present, i'm thinking... a book (surprise surprise) but we shall see!

will post tomorrow ma petite chou fleurs

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

Creative Café #3 ★

hey folks, time for another Creative Café post, today it's all about a truly awesome photographer so go get your cup of tea/coffee/whatever ready and settle down for some fabulous photos

her name is Elly Lucas. . . and she is awesome!!!

Elly is one of the people recommended to me in the email i told you about the other week, i own an abysmal digital camera but i am a huge fan of fashion and portrait photography and her work is particularly lovely so i knew i just HAD to feature her!

she captures scenes with this delicate, pretty vibe to absolutely everything,

everything from the models she shoots, the make-up she does herself to the wonderful locations is all so earthy and natural letting the individuality of the photographs subjects shine through perfectly

"Elly Lucas is a busy young freelance photographer from Derby, England. When she's not taking photos, she's playing music"

oh and she's only 20!!! so soooo talented and so young! super duper stuff

as per usual i will begin to ramble on and on so i'll let you look through some of her amazing photograhy by yourselves (get the tea/coffee/cake ready) and enjoy . . .

pretty amazing right! i knooooow! it's all so pretty and the colours are just divine and the models all look so natural and gorgeous yet each one is still so unique and individual! 

aaah i just adore her work

but she doesn't just shoot amazing fashion shots and portraits, she also snaps awesome musicians and bands

as well as the most adorable and sweetest little family portrait scenes

AND as if all that wasn't enough, her wedding photography is to die for! the way she's captured these couples special days is just so sublime! + i love the delicate little shots of the reception decorations and the flowers, just beautiful!

kind of makes me wish i was getting married soon just so i could get her to take the photos!!! 

i love love LOVE her work and am very grateful to Heather for introducing me to it + to Elly for letting me feature her

anyway, for more of her gorgeous GORRRRRGEOUS work check out the links bellow. . .

you can pop on over to her website and check out the rest of her galleries - Elly Lucas

here you can 'Like' her Facebook Fan Page - Elly Lucas

or follow her on Twitter - @ellylucas

follow her on tumblr (fyi i've been reblogging the hell out of her photos all evening!!!) - ellylucas

check out her deviantART profile - ellylucas.deviantart

or her flickr account - ellylucas

big BIG thanks to the lovely Elly for letting me feature her photography here, 

all images in this post belong to Elly Lucas © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace any of the images without her written consent. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

so what else! well today i popped into college for the afternoon to hand in my essay + clear my desk before we start clearing the whole block in time for the exhibition next week! scary times!!!

also. . . what's going on with my website?! 

- Jade Boylan

well as you can see it's currently down for a bit of remodeling, stay tuned for updates on how it's doing! 

oooh exciting stuff!

apart from that, not much else to report!

tomorrow i plan to stay in and crack on with some new paintings (yes. . . you did read that right, i'm actually going to paint for once!!!)

so pictures will no doubt follow

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