Meet the Bears ★

so yesterday i spent the day sewing and watching movies (the dark knight + anchorman + the blues brothers) 

would you like to see what i made?!

why do i even ask, i know you all want to see!!!

i'd like you all to meet 'Beatrice the Bear' and 'Bernadette the Bear'

these little darlings are only a couple of inches tall so i thought they'd look nice on necklaces or keyrings, but seeing as i always lose my keyrings i thought necklaces were a safer bet

do you like them? they sure were fun to make + they're made of the same thick felt i used for 'Fifi the Fawn' (go and meet her here - Fawns and Fabric) so they're quite sturdy really, i also used some tiny gingham bows + cute buttons from 'Just Enough' to brighten them up a bit

i've ordered some pretty chains to put them on so fingers crossed these little bears + the plushie cupcake charms will soon be available from my etsy shop

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in other news, a parcel arrived for me yesterday from London and i was super duper excited to open it since it contained the new Postcards and Mini Cards i ordered

check out these sugary sweet postcards with my 'Sugar Skull' and 'Let Them Eat Cake' designs

and i also got three 'Where's Charlie?' themed designs printed up as well

they're pretty cute right?! the postcards are printed with a glossy finish but the backs have a lovely silk finish making it easier to write on

i'm quite pleased with how they printed out, the print quality is amazing, the lines are flawless

anyway they're all up for sale on the shop at the reasonable price of £1 each (this is reasonable to me seeing as in the Sayle Gallery here on the Island they charge £1.50 per postcard!!! + i know dozens of other artists that charge £1.50 - .£2 for their postcards!)

or you can buy them in little sets of 3 in which case they work out slightly cheaper . . .

go forth and have a skeet for yourself at the shop - The Candy Cove

but that's not all that arrived because i also ordered these . . .

now i love the business cards i got printed up a few weeks ago but there's only 50 of them! well, there was 50 of them before i started giving them out to people . . .

they're diddy compared to my business cards but i think that just adds to their girly charm

so i wanted something simpler to just hand out to people + pop in with all the etsy shop orders, i mean i enclose a little business card with every order anyway but now i'll be able to pop in one or two of these

i got 10 of my 'Girl' designs printed up and i'm liking how they turned out, they kind of remind me of old fashioned cigarette cards + i like the idea that people can pick out their favourite girl from the set 

and of course they still have my website + email on the back

total genius! i love them, i should make them little collectibles, so that people can collect the set of 10 girly mini cards

but of course, the ONLY way to get YOUR hands on one (or two) of them is to buy something from my etsy shop

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that's all for today i guess

i got another order for a custom plushie Fawn this afternoon so i guess i could make a start on that but to be honest it's been so long since i did any quantifiable college work i might just spend the evening drawing out new character ideas for the Cupcake Princess story

until next time, that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Trip to the Museum ★

so apologies for the absence of posts over the past couple of days, 

Friday i was out all day (testing out my new Rockalily lipstick) in town searching for presents for my mum's Birthday + meeting my Godmother for lunch

yesterday i met my best friend Courtney for lunch since it was her Birthday on Thursday and i wanted to hand over her Birthday presents

amongst them was this lovely little chocolate Owl . . . (which Courtney ate straight away!)

of course when i say we met for lunch what i mean is, 'we met for cakes at the Alpine'

although the main plan for the day was for us to go up to the Manx Museum for a few hours since we both love it so much

we've both been going to the Museum for as long as we can remember, growing up on the Isle of Man you end up visiting it loads for school trips but we've been coming here at the weekends since we were thirteen! and we've been popping back every now and then whenever we can for the past 7 years . . .

the museum is chock full of all manner of wonderful exhibits (all with a Manx theme of course) and despite how many years we've been coming here, i think we both always manage to learn something new during each visit . . .

and even if we don't always stop to read every tiny detail about each exhibition we still have a great time, it's a brilliant Museum and whenever i visit it, it always makes me feel proud to be Manx

one of my favourite parts of the Museum is the little Manx Folklore collection

which includes the origins of the famous Manx myths and legends all about Fairies, Fynoderees and Bugganes. the collection also includes this old handmade doll of 'Nan Wade' 

to be honest, the doll creeps us both out! that's why Courtney demanded that i take a photo of it to share with you all . . .

i love this little cross stitch piece that hangs above one of the Museum video spots, trust me to be more bothered about the sewing that the story being told! though i've seen the video so many times by now!

i also really love the little old fashioned 'sweet shop' reconstruction on display, the shop would have apparently sold pretty much everything, i kind of wish it still existed! i'd shop there . . .

now we almost always spot something new during our visits and this trip was no different, downstairs we found this lifesize cut out of Arthur Caley 'the Manx Giant'

now i remember seeing the bronze casts of Arthur's hands and boots on display in the museum but i've never seen the cutout before. by the way, Arthur Caley was a Manx man born in 1824, by the time he grew up he was 7ft 11ins tall and was the tallest man in the world (in his lifetime)

while we were down there we also snapped these gorgeous old Regency period dresses which remind us both of 'Pride and Prejudice'

and this beautiful blue dress

back upstairs we stopped by our favourite exhibit, a video all about the popularity of the Isle of Man as a tourist destination during the 20's and 30's

you have to sit and watch the video on old fashioned striped deckchairs which are sooooo comfy!

we also snapped a few of the old postcards on display, well i had to snap the Pinup one for sure!

as well as some of the naughty ones from the 70's

and the motorbikes in the TT display area

we ended our trip in the big Natural History room which is full of al sorts of fun interactive games and projections as well as all the old taxidermied animals and the massive Whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling

there are loads of little games dotted about the room as well 

so after a quick game of Manx Nature and Wildlife themed Pinball . . .

we settled down to draw some animals with the help of the projectors (no-one said the drawing tables were just for children!!!)

basically you pick an animal or plant and then move a sheet of paper under the projection to draw the outline, like "Millicent" the Stoat (drawn by Courtney) 

Courtney also drew this Brown Rat to begin with, later named "Constance" (not 'Contance' as the paper says . . .)

then it was my turn . . .

now despite the look of concentration (and despite the fact i'm supposed to be an illustrator!) my drawing really wasn't the teeny tiniest bit remotely good whatsoever!

but "Esther" the pipistrelle bat rounded off our little sketched menagerie for the afternoon

at last it was time to leave, so after a quick skeet around the Gift Shop we signed the visitors book and after a quick flick through found some interesting names listed . . .

you probably won't be able to make it out without zooming but this one, dated from August 2009 shows my signature + my friend Mike's from an afternoon when we popped up to the museum to visit our friend Molly who was working in the cafe at the time

a few pages later we found Courtney's signature dated from September 2008

it was crazy to flick back through the pages and find our own signatures, 2008 seems so long ago now . . .

anyway i have rambled on enough!

apologies for the (finely documented if not completely historically accurate in places) account of my day out!

if it bored you, i promise to try and cook up and more interesting post for next time!

if you've never visited the Isle of Man but have become strangely intrigued by the Manx Museum after this highly frolic filled post then i recommend you watch this little 6 minute 'Story of Mann

just follow this link - Story of Mann

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nothing more to add really, i woke up vaguely on time this morning to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix and since then i've spent the day sewing together 5 little plushie lollipops for an American customer

tomorrow i have to sew up a little Fawn for a local customer then i should really REALLY work on this tattoo commission!

enjoy the rest of your Sunday wherever you are in the world

that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX 

things that begin with 'S' ★

sunshine, strawberries, scrumptious, sweets, sauce, sprinkles, social, stalls, super stuff and Sienna

all things that begin with 'S'

(it will all become clear don't worry!) 

right so today i went to the 'on your doorstep' exhibition at the Villa Marina with my mum + my little cousin Sienna to have a skeet at all the lovely Manx things on display

one of the main things i was excited to see was the 'Cupcake Creations' stall

i've visited their website lots of times before + spoken to them on Twitter (@CCIOM) but it was nice to actually meet Sarah and see all the yummy cupcakes for real

here's Sarah posing with one of her 'cupcake creations'

the display was amazing and the cupcakes looked truly scrumptious, they had a DIY cupcake decorating option as well and since little Miss Sienna is so fussy with cakes, i let her pick her own toppings

in the end she went with heaps of chocolate sauce, chocolate mini eggs, smarties and a mini jammy dodger...

i picked one too only mine was covered in vanilla frosting tinted with pink and covered in glittery bits

i can tell you now that it was indeed... delicious!!!

for more info about these tasty little freshly baked homemade cupcakes for every occasion, check out the Cupcake Creations website here - IOM Cupcake Creations

i should point out as well that Sienna actually ate all of hers, to the point where she was licking the crumbs and sauce off the cake case!

oh i'll show you my nails as well, in keeping with the little strawberry necklace i made last week, i painted my nails to match...

so what else? well to be honest i didn't get the chance to take many photos of the exhibition stalls, the place was absolutely packed and it was tricky making your way around all of the displays let alone snapping photos of them all!

i did manage to get a photo of the Groudle Glen Railway stall though, and Alex (or 'the train man' as Sienna calls him) pulled his very best model pose while i took a quick shot of the display

we'll probably be taking Sienna to the Easter trains next month which should be super fun as always, 

in case you'd like to book yourself some tickets or find out more about getting involved with the railway, here's the website - GGR

and for my previous posts about the charming little Groudle Glen Railway check out these links - Super Duper Train Times & Super Sunday #4

* * *

one of the other main reasons i actually left the house today was to meet my friend Joseph at the villa because he had a truly awesome amazing and ruddy fantastical present for me!!!

since i'm not much of a 'gamer' anymore he's given me my very own purple gamecube to play on and even managed to get me a copy of my favourite old gamecuve game 'Pikmin'

i can't even begin to tell you how excited i am to be playing this again! this used to be my favourite game console and game to play on and i can't believe he has given me this!!!!

thank you thank you thank you!!!

Joseph... you are a star!

* * *

it's been a really super day to be honest, i've met with quite a few lovely new friends and caught up with lots of old ones + i saw my big sister Nikki for a bit as well which was nice

i guess i should actually bother to leave the house more if i want to catch up with people like i did today!

i got to pop in and see the new David Maddrell exhibition at the Sayle Gallery as well. big thanks to Joseph for coming with me since i don't really like to visit the gallery by myself (don't ask). and of course for carting the awesome gamecube all the way down into town for me!

* * *

oh i thought i'd share these pics of Sienna's doodles for you all to see, 

she got this great notebook from the Manx National Heritage stall and it didn't take her long to start sketching away in it

these two show a giraffe with a shark on it's head and a picture of me scared of the 'shiraffe'

and these two are both drawings of me

she's clearly inherited my artistic skills!

* * *

and that's it, enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you are

nothing else to say, 

that's all folks...

★ ◕‿◕