A Peek Inside My Sketchbook

Every now and again, I crack open my sketchbook and pour my imagination into its pages. Here's a few things I've been doodling recently. I've been thinking of making this into a regular feature to give me the push I need to keep drawing. I keep forgetting how much I miss it. 

Mr Nutcase review

Mr Nutcase appears to be some sort of mind reader. When I was in need of a new phone case, there they were in my inbox. Would I like to review one of their phone cases?* Yes please!

Their website was full of fun designs to choose from, as well as being able to upload your own photos. 

I decided to use one of my own designs and I am so pleased with how it turned out! 

The phone case arrived super quick and for £14.95 you get what you pay for. I love having such a unique phone case. :)

What phone case is your phone rocking at the moment?

*Disclaimer: Mr Nutcase sent me a phone case of my choosing to review. All opinions are my own.

#BEDM DAY 30: Talent

It's times like this when I wish I was American instead of British. American culture encourages you from an early age to big yourself up - that confidence is essential to drive you forward in life. I feel very British right now. Having to talk about what I think I'm good at makes me want to curl up in a ball in the corner and hope no one sees this. 

It reminds me of a time at school in England when a girl in my class had bitched about how I apparently thought I was "soooo good at art", behind my back of course (don't you just miss school?). Honestly, I wasn't big headed about it at all so where her outburst came from I really couldn't say. I didn't care how bad or good I was. I just loved art. I would pretend I was injured so I could get out of PE and go to the empty classroom to paint, I doodled during other classes, I made comic books at home, all for the pure love of it.

Dis...dis is mein.

So, I'm going to be brave and share my opinion of my talent with strangers. Lets do this. I'm good at drawing. Scratch that, I'm a freaking FANTABULOUS illustrator! I always wanted to be something creative when I was younger but somewhere along the way I guess I lost my way. I somehow managed to get into business studies at college (definitely not arty), then fashion business (slightly more creative) at uni.

This guy needs some more adventures!

I started this blog to get back in touch with my creative side after working at a boring job and somewhere between losing that job and getting my current one I lost my mojo again. I do have a habit of losing things...

Now that I'm commuting, I'm already making more time for my drawing again - just doing a few doodles here and there to get back in the swing of things. It's just like riding a bike I think; slightly shaky at first, then with practice you're speeding along with the wind in your hair again. 

See what I did there? 

One more: you can go ahead and rain on my parade, I've got an umbrella (boom!).

Well, lots of umbrellas to put it more accurately. 

Long term readers may recognise these prints of mine from quite a long time ago. I just want to do more things like this. This is my way of saying, stay tuned. I don't want to ignore my talent again.

And if you don't think I'm talented at drawing then don't worry, I can also pick up random objects with my toes. See, I told you I'd work that in there somehow, Topher!

What's your talent?

Project 365: Week 12

This week is flying by. One more day and then it's holiday time!

March 19th

Doodling constantly

March 20th

Ugly ring is ugly

 

March 21st

Found shoes for cousin's wedding

March 22nd

Took new parka out for a spin on 20 mile walk

March 23rd

Found my holiday reading

March 24th

More new shoes

March 25th 

Lamb hotpot! Delicious!

How was your week?

365 project: Week 2

So far so good, I've managed to do 14 days of photos in a row. Here's what I got up to this week:

WEEK 2: The week where...

January 8th

I wore cat print

January 9th

I doodled

January 10th 

Dinosaur!

January 11th

I officially lost 1 and 1/2 stone since I started Slimming world in October!

January 12th

Tried the famous Slimming World Diet Coke chicken (delicious)

January 13th

Painted my nails glittery

January 14th

Got a Lush goody bag at the Pinned it made it event. Will blog about this soon!

How was your week?

Outfit post: An illustrated edition

Now that I walk through town to get to work I get the free newspaper on the way. The other week, the edition of the Stylist was a completely illustrated one. Amazing! 

It inspired me to keep going with my drawing and maybe even implement it into a few other areas. So I did this:

The writing is a bit small here so see below for the full transcription:

"When it comes to my wardrobe a piece is for all year round, not just for a single season. This outfit has seen me through both summer and winter. I just change up the accessories and layering. I can't believe I found this skirt in a sale rack in Primark. It has been my go-to skirt this year. I love pairing it with this sleeveless New Look dress/tunic and my beloved River Island ankle boots. Do you have specific season items that you wear all year round anyway?"

So, do you? And what do you think of this illustrated post? My thoughts are make the pictures bigger, but would you mind if I did another one sometime?

Btw, what do you think of my blog re-design?

My week: 30

I really didn't take many photos this week but I managed to scrape together a few. Really need to carry my camera around with me more. 

*I am now a spreadsheet whiz...kinda.

*Doodles - I like buttons.

*Vintage fair weekend.

*Enchiladas! I promise you they were not this yellow in real life, the lighting wasn't great.

*Sunday dinner - I literally cannot move.

*We put up canvases today! I had the hammer and the bf held the bag of nails. 21st century couple, ha ha.

So this weekend I had two vintage fairs. Very tiring but I had a great time at both and made a profit so it's all good. I may have spent a little bit of money too. Mainly on stuff for my table display but I also indulged in a clothing purchase too. Definitely divulging the details in a post this week. Stay tuned. 

And just to be a complete Brit and discuss the weather - how gorgeous was it this weekend? I got to give my sandals another spin before retiring them until next year. Where was the sun last month? Ah well, winter is coming! (Still reading a song of ice and fire - it's been 11 days and I'm a third of the way through. What a brick of a book!).

How was your week?

My week: 28

I actually took quite a few photos this week. I'm quite impressed I had to go through and narrow them down. I hope to keep up this habit.

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*Drawing I did on housemate's t-shirt by their request

*Salmon, rice and courgettes

* Starbucks at the office

*One of my colleague's got some stickers and was very nice and shared. There weren't many left but I was quite pleased with the result. 

*My painting is coming along slowly but surely. The sky kinda looks more like the sea though....ah well - artistic licence. I meant to do that. 

*Went to fab cafe for my friend's birthday. It's a must for any sci-fi nerd living in or visiting Manchester. Every club needs a darlek in the corner and a mural including Spock. I'm loving that Zapp Brannigan was there as well. 

*Finally used my Lush fairy want from Christmas - smells like Snow Fairy!

* My outfit for the birthday night out. Dress is from Monsoon - picked up for £25 in the sale reduced from like £85

*My refreshing pint of lemonade at the Chorlton vintage fair. Explore More - wise words indeed.

* A little peek at my stall.

So for the last week I've been all by my lonesome while the bf and my housemates have been away but it hasn't been too bad. I've kept myself busy. I'm looking forward to having everyone back though, especially the bf of course. It's weird having the whole bed to myself - I keep waking up diagonal at the wrong side!

This weekend, I went to a vintage fair in Chorlton which was really fun and then I had to hurry home to get ready for my friend's birthday night out. Sunday was spent mooching around the house trying to get stuff done.

This week coming up is going to be good because it's only a 4 day work week for me. I took Friday and next tuesday off around the bank holiday so I'm getting an epic 5 day weekend. Then only a 3 day work week next week. Why can't it always be this way?

How was your week? Do you have any plans for the bank holiday weekend?

All the ice cream...

...in the world. A print I finished recently.

I sketched it on paper, perfected it on my iPad, then tiled it on photoshop. 

I love it. I can look at it and pretend it's summer.

Are you pretending it's still summer or are you planning your A/W wardrobe? 

Let's play catch-up

So the last you heard from me (apart from yesterday), I was about to move house. Well, we're all moved in now and I have to say I love this house. Yes there are a few bits and pieces that need to be fixed but it's ours and I'm loving all the space. If you're interested, I'll do a proper house tour when we've completely unpacked and got it looking all nice. For now, here's what I'd been up to last week (Jordan posts coming soon!):

*Flowers from work for my birthday

*My Harry Potter inspired nails for my birthday (still got to narrow down all the photos!)

*Birthday present from Claire - lovingly stapled

*Sinister owls made by Claire

*Rose and my laptop

*The cats trying to come with me, ha ha

*Axl being a softy.

*New house - view from upstairs at the back of the house

*Me and the bf's mahoosive bedroom

*The joys of moving - so much yoghurt!

*4th of July shoe on my desk calendar

*So.Much.Tea!

*So.Much.Bubblewrap!

*My nails for Jordan - spots and stripes

*My latest print - ice creams. My new desktop background.

*Upcoming prints.

Only two more days of being in Jordan. I can't believe how fast the time went. Do I have to go back to work? I'm really excited for all the new products for my vintage shop. I'll post about that tomorrow...

Any tips on getting myself back to the real world with as little pain as possible? :P

My week: 25

I'll admit it. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting and watching the England vs Italy match. Yes, I'm into football at times. I'm just amazed that England are still in. Anyway, my week in photos.

*The awesome banana shoe on my desk calendar. 

*Crazy Rose

*Ginger cat paying us a little visit

*Crazy Axl - don't you just love it when you chuck a load of stuff on your bed and the cat comes and sits on it? He looked so hilarious I couldn't resist!

*Chris Hoy!

*A sneak peek of a new print I'm working on

*Deansgate before the torch came

*Random boy with torch - You go random boy! You could tell he was really happy. This was on Fountain Street.

Once again, I didn't take a lot of photos, but I do have two hauls to show you some time next week. I stopped by Primark on Saturday while running errands in town and I went to a car boot this morning. 

So Saturday after running errands, I went round to the bfs to hang out. We got a text from one of our friends saying that he was going to see the Olympic torch in town. So off we all went. I had actually completely forgotten that it was going to be in Manchester yesterday but I'm really glad that we went. 

We started on Deansgate which was great because Chris Hoy was carrying the torch! I don't have a photo of that because I knew I wouldn't get a good shot with my phone so I just filmed the entire thing. It's about 10 minutes long! When it had gone past, we walked to Fountain Street to see it pass again and this time it was random local boy (his full name) carrying it. I really liked seeing both sides of it - a celebrity and a local. The atmosphere was amazing and I can't believe I almost missed it. 

This morning, me and the bf went to a car boot (an indoor one of course!). I have to say I've been having a dry spell with jewellery buying for my vintage shop but this was a very successful day. I will show you my haul from that (and from Primark) soon. 

This week coming up is going to be epic as it's my birthday on Tuesday and I got the day off to go to the Harry Potter studios. Excite! I'm so glad I'm doing this as I'm a massive HP fan and I usually have a BBQ on my birthday (just look outside people - I don't think it's ever rained on my birthday before). Then at the weekend, I'm moving into my new house. Good times ahead whatever the weather. 

How was your week?

My week: 24

Another week gone, another week of rain. Someone stole the sun. Ah well, it can't put a dampener on my mood. It's my birthday in just over a week (going to be entering my mid twenties - eek 24!) and in less than two weeks I'll be moving house. Excite!

So I didn't take many photos at all this week, so here are my slightly pathetic offerings:

*I went to a fair in Chorlton yesterday and despite the weather I did quite well. I sold less items than the last time I went to this one but the items were more expensive (cha-ching). I have to personally thank the lady who in one swoop bought the cost of my stand. Thanks lady, you rule!

*Finally bought a lace dress. I've been wanting one for the last couple of years but could never find one with the right shape for me. It was from Primark and I love it :)

*Axl being friendly. I will miss those two kitties a lot though I probably won't miss having to do a ninja jumping spin every time I leave the house. Those with cats and no cat flap should understand. 

*My epic doodle skills. I used to do these all the time at school but never this big. My fourteen year old self would be proud. 

Apart from going to a vintage fair, my weekend was spent successfully getting the bf addicted to Beauty and the Geek. If you have not watched this before, you must. It is hilarious! We were both laughing our heads off. 

In preparation for the move, I have started squirrelling away packing equipment. Since I work in a homeware buying office (not doing buying), we get pretty big samples which obviously need big boxes. Every time I see a good one I just go, that's a nice box and smile. So far I have two living in my car and a whole load of bubble wrap. They were just going in the bin anyway so they may as well get some more use. Now I just need to start packing. 

How was your week?

My week: 22 & 23

To make up for my lack of a my week post last week, I have turned today's post into a 2 week edition. This also includes the bank holiday weekend where I drove back to Nottinghamshire to meet with the family. 

*Clearing out my room and found buttons!

*My new Primark maxi skirt and new look kitten heels.

*Umbrella illustration.

*The weather when it was actually still sunny. (Come back sun!)

*Took Woy for a cheeky car wash before seeing my parents.

*My outfit going to town with my mum.

*Going through my old things at home - this was on the contributors page of a magazine I interned for in Jordan. Yes that is only a wig!

*Forgot that I had left a Lush christmas bath bomb at home. Score!

*My desk at work - it is under there somewhere.

*My bicycle painting.

*Lunch at Las Iguanas with my mum and brother. I just loved the decor colours.

*Really pretty road on the way home which I turned into a print.

*This is apparently a shoe...

*Both my housemates cats asleep on my bed. So cute.

*Went to the pub yesterday to watch both matches for Euro 2012. I was really disappointed as they should have been exciting games.

*A bit of old school Cliff Richard on the TV before the match. 

So a busy couple of weeks. I had an awesome time at home. It was really great to see my family and even though I didn't get the Tuesday off, I made the most of the three days I had. The only disappointment was that I didn't get to do a car boot sale as it was chucking it down on the Sunday. I really wanted to both get rid of stuff and buy some things for my vintage shop. This was the car boot that I got some amazing things at last time so I wasn't happy at all. I will definitely be heading back in August for the next bank holiday. I hope it's sunny then!

This weekend was a great one since we finally found a house to move in at the end of this month. I was starting to get worried there. It was the first one of the day that we saw. Love at first sight. I couldn't believe that it was the one I had been overlooking for the last couple of months. It's beautiful and spacious and in an awesome area so I couldn't be happier. Roll on the end of June!

How was your week?