Happy Hop Tu Naa

what's this... a blog post?! surely not :O

yeah it sure has been a while since i last posted huh! i'm not sure why but this year all of my blogging 'get up and go' has just leapt out the window without a goodbye or an explanation!

also, for those of you not in the know, this September i started my FINAL year at college, so in just over 6 months time i will (hopefully!) graduate with a BA in Fine Art

this means that i have even less time than i had before to try and whip up the occasional blog post. yeeeks! i will try though. even if it's just one a month O.o

anyway, today is Halloween! or, if you're from the Isle of Man (like me!) it's Hop Tu Naa

but wherever you are + whatever you're up to today, have a nice day ok :D

so since it is Halloween and all that jazz, here's a little Halloween inspired illustration + some close up details of bits n' bobs, enjoy...

after all, what would Halloween be without stripey witch socks and bright orange converse!

and big helium filled balloons covered in spiders

 

oh and don't forget your book of magical spells! 

 or a skull-tastic pirate dress!

 and since i made the pic of the girls into a cover photo for my Facebook Fan Page, this little guy needed a quick makeover to match as well

so what else?! well, i STILL don't have an iPhone but i do have a swish new iPod touch so i'm now on instagram! yay! so if any of you fancy witnessing even more of my daily insanity follow @jade_boylan

so what do i post pictures of?! well i'm glad you asked...

some of you may remember that around this time last year i took my two darling nieces to see Ghostbusters on the big screen at a cinema in Coventry, (if not, check out the old post HERE)

well... much to my fangirl delight, this year it was on at a local cinema here on the Isle of Man so i got to go and see it again :D IT WAS BRILLIANT! obviously. so of course everything had to be Ghostbusters themed for the days leading up to it :)

also, the day i went to see it, the local council was encouraging people to dress up for Halloween, so naturally i spent the day wearing these!

i also recently posted this sneaky peek of some newly packaged items that might be going on sale soon. watch this space!

i'm also very pleased to announce that some of my designs, merch and handmade goods are now for sale at Mostly Manx in Douglas :)

oh and one final thing before i go...

 since it's Halloween, i'm currently offering 20% off all orders in my Etsy Shop! no tricks, just treats…

just use code TREAT31 at the checkout :)

so that's it, for now! farewell dearhearts xX

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

* * *

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

Halloween Countdown ★

whaaat! there's a star instead of a heart in the title!!!!!

crazy times! 

anyway.

so i've been poorly today = the reason why i failed to make it into collegio today! bad times all round...

this means i have pretty much spent my day watching Family Guy and Mad Men... so it hasn't been all bad! ◕‿◕ 

i have something to share though, since it's October and Halloween (or Samhain or Hop tu naa or whatever you want to call it) is fast approaching, the Haunted House Halloween Showcase of images has once again been opened up on Art Wanted.com (one of my fave portfolio websites) aaaaand... i've got a couple of illustrations in the showcase!

i honestly don't have a clue where the other three pictures are but i know that the creepalicious Tattooed Pin-up Girl (see previous Blog Post - 10/10/10 ♥) is on the FRONT PAGE of the showcase!!!!!

so at the minute i think my picture is about 36th out of 50 on the front page of thumbnails. i feel very honoured to have made it onto the front page for the second year in a row. you can see the whole Showcase riiiight here - Haunted House

just follow the link above, click on the 'thumbnails' option in the top left corner and scroll down to spot mine ♥

i got a little screencap just to keep a record of it being on the front page (i did this last year as well for my 'killer zombie heels' as well... i know i'm a saddo!)

i LOVE getting my pictures in the Halloween Showcase simply because it always seems to get me sooooo many image hits! last year the Killer Zombie heels got 1847 hits in October alone!

so i uploaded the 'Tattooed Pin-up Girl' yesterday... and she already has almost 500 hits!!! in 24 hours that's amazing for someone like me!

i sometimes get 500 hits a MONTH with the collective hits for 100 images not just 1 picture on it's own...

god bless the Halloween Showcase Haunted House!

* * *

anyway, in other news... and literally 'news'

as i've said before, i'm not a particularly religious person and i'm definitely not much of a praying girl... 

but right now my prayers are all going to the Penniman family, praying for the swift and safe recovery of Paloma Penniman.

in case you have no idea what i'm talking about, it's all to do with the singer Mika and his family.

basically Mika's sister, Paloma had a terrible accident and is critically ill in hospital :-(

now you all know i'm a huuuuuge Mika fan, but i'm also a fan of the Family Penniman in general since they all seem to be so amazingly talented and super duper (I'm a huge fan of his sister Yasmine's wonderful illustrations + i sat near the whole brood at Mika's London gig last year and they really were the sweetest bunch of siblings!)

from left to right we have Zuleika, Yasmine, Mika, Paloma and Fortuné

i know it's literally none of my business and everything but i am a fan and it's sad to hear that she is so ill! 

they are renowned for being such a close family so my prayers go out to all of them at what must be a terribly traumatic time.

i won't go into details but if you want to know what happened you can read the full story here - Daily Mail article

* * *

ok that's it for tonight i guess, bit of a short post i guess... apologies!

i spent the afternoon tidying my room (oh what jolly fun) and i have decided to post a few pics of my room. you may be wondering why the hell i would want to do that... but wait and see! you haven't seen my room!!!! there are so many books in there i might as well be living in my local library! 

ok, off to watch the rest of 'rude tube epic fails' which i recorded the other day. i recorded it for three very important reasons! it's very VERRRY funny, it's EPIC and full of fails and most importantly... it's presented by the adorable and rather super duper Alex Zane!

that's all folks...

so long and thanks for all the fish!

 ◕‿◕ ★ xX