Ski Illustration + tiny update.

Ah shit, so I haven't posted in a VERY long time, because I have been so busy... BUT today I submitted the project that I have been working on since November and I finally feel free... so with my day off, I made this little illustration of my boyfriend's mother from when we went skiing in April.

Next post will be of my Disney Land Paris trip I took over Christmas with my Mummy.

Hello Autumn

Its officially spoopy and I am living for it. 

what now?

I haven't posted on my blog in a few weeks manly because I am in a major creative slump and I have honestly now idea what to post. I haven't been creating any new art in weeks and when I do I don't really like it or its messy and basically im feeling very out of practice but i'm trying.

My 25th Birthday Photo Diary

Home-Made Mojitos

Hand-Made Gold Animal candle holders

On Wednesday it was my 25th birthday and I had a lovely day. I went strawberry picking and out for ice-cream. 

In preparation for my birthday, me and my boyfriend Iain actually made the animal candle holders by hand! We have simply brought some small toys from Asda which you use to put in children's party bags and drilled a small hole in the top to put the candle holder in and then spray painted them all gold. I got the idea from Pinterest and I'm so happy with how they all turned out.

Instax from my birthday!

Redecorating my art room

I have redecorated my little art room in the loft and I am so pleased with it! I repainted my desk "organic woodland" and basically organized everything ready for university.

Slam Dunk Festival 2018! #SDF18

Yesterday my boyfriend and I spent our bank holiday Monday at Slam Dunk Festival Midlands which was so much fun and I'm so grateful he came with me because it's really not his kind of thing. Some of the bands we saw include Four Year Strong (top two photos above) which is a band I have loved since I was a teenager, we saw the first set and then their acoustic set later on in the day. They played all the songs I remember and loved and that I use to listen to on the bus travelling to college. We also saw, Knuckle Puck, State Champs, Taking Back Sunday, Say Anything, Northlane, Moose Blood and last but definitely not least we saw Good Charlotte (the bottom photo) and they were so good.. even Iain loved it and sang along.
My overall experience at Slam Dunk was good but I do have some issues like I bought a very tiny backpack for my stuff like purse, lipstick, tampons and water bottle but I wasn't allowed to bring it in so I had to take my ID and debit card out of my purse and put it in my boyfriends wallet since I had no pockets at all.... this wouldn't bother me so much but I saw loads of other girls wearing much bigger backpacks.

Going back to University and Sketchbook Pages

Okay, so I have posted about this on my blog absolutely loads, like so many times I can't even remember what I have or haven't posted about to be fair. But yeah, in September I am finally going back to University after being MIA for about 6 years. When I first went to University I definitely wasn't ready and spetting back and leaving was the right thing to do otherwise I would have just gone through the motions and not really enjoyed it which isn't what I wanted from my university experience.
To get ready for Universty I have actually tidied up my art room and started practising my drawing more because I have been so busy and pre-occupied with just normal life and work I feel like I haven't had time for drawing or painting.
Below are some of the work I had in my sketchbooks that I used in my interviews to get back into University. They are all mostly pen or ink work with the exception of Rick who is made with Lino Printing.

March so far

Right now I will do just about anything to avoid packing my suitcase for Canada or sorting out my student finance so here I am making writing this very boring blog post about things I have done in March (and Feb).
Well, first of all, I have joined a gym, it's really shocking I know but something even crazier is that I have been going every day since I joined mid-Feb. I really love going to spinning classes and I have honestly never felt better about myself.
Something I did at the end of Feb was got my nose pierced again, so now I have a double nose piercing and I love it so much.

27/02/2018

First post of 2018!

Okay so I haven't actually posted on my blog in literally months because I have been so busy with work and sorting out my portfolio I haven't really had time to sit down and just make blog posts which totally sucks because I love documenting my life this way. I have been spending all my time in the garage attic which my parents have kindly turned into an art studio for me where I can keep all of my art equipment and keep it as messy as I want.

Some of the Art I have been working on.

Lola's cupcakes. Left - My sister's unicorn birthday cupcakes. Right - Vegan coconut passionfruit cupcake. 

I feel like I actually did really well during 2017 to keep my blog up to date until the last two months, I am hoping I will be able to keep up the posts this year too.

What I read this Summer

Okay so this isnt everything I have read this summer but these are the three books that have stood out to me the most. Before you read this I want to make it very clear my reviews are rather terrible... if I manage to write anything more that "I like it" I will be amazed okay.

The Girls - I heard a lot about this book from Book Youtuber and actually saw it all over the internet so I felt like I already knew a lot about it when I actually got around to buying it. I want to start by saying this book is written in the perspective of a young teenage girl and so are the other two books I'm going to review. The theme of the book is very much about cults and getting sucked into a cult and how they change you or make you do things you wouldn't normally do

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - One of the reasons I bought this book is because its set in Seattle and if you didn't know Seattle is my favorite city (People of seattle, give me and green card and let me move over there okay, thank you). Its about mental illness and the different relationship within a small family of three. Like all the books I enjoyed this because it was easy to read and I never felt bored or trapped in a long chapter.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - This book is my favourite of all three, I actually found this book on Goodreads after I had finished Where'd You Go, Bernadette because it was one of the recommended books to read and it had such good reviews and ratings. This once again is about a relationship within a family apart from this time its about a young girl and her uncle.

Summer Favorites 2017

So about two years ago I actually did a "End of Summer favourties" post and I haven't done anything like it since so I thought, eh why not! There have been loads of things I have loved this summer and I wanted to write them all down and share them. This post will include make-up, clothes, food and even places! I have loads I want to talk about so I feel like this will be a very long post.

Starting with these two beauties I bought recently.

Monki Printed Jacket - £60 From the moment I saw this jacket I knew I had to have it! I first found it on the ASOS website for £60 but I used my birthday 20% off code to buy it for £48 and it was worth every penny, I seriously LOVE it and I really feel like it goes with all of my outfits. I brought this jacket in a M (I normally wear a 14) and its a lovely oversized fit.
B&O PLAY by Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H4 Wireless Headphone, Tangerine Grey -£249 Okay, so I have never really spend more than about £40 on headphones so this was a big investment for me. I was looking for weeks for a pair of wireless headphones but I didn't find anything that interested me until I saw these. I know its rather stupid of me to buy very expensive headphones just because of the colour but I couldn't help myself and I actually found them on sale on Amazon for £175.

BarryM Gelly Hi Shine Chai, Paprika, Almond and Peanut Butter £3.99 BarryM is one of my favourite drugstore brands for nail varnishes, I feel like you can always find a colour of texture you want and for such a reasonable price. Gelly Hi Shine is a type of nail varnish from BarryM that I seem to own a lot of.
BarryM Coconut Infusion in Paradise One of my goals this summer has been to find the perfect purple grey and I feel like this comes pretty close to the colour I was after.
BarryM Molten Metal in CopperMine This particular shade was the first Molten Metal nails varnishes I picked up, I have since picked up three others but this one is still my favorite. I know you can sense a theme going on here now which is my favourite nail varnish colours this summer haven't been very summery colours at all and I'm not sure why but these are just what I have been using and loving this summer.
BarryM Sunset Gel in Dark Side Of the 'Shroom This nail varnish I feel is maybe the darkest shade in my favorites apart from maybe chai.
Butter London Nail Lacquer in Old Blighty The only none BarryM nail varnish in my favourties, this was rather expensive I think for a nail varnish but when I saw it I knew I had have it! The colour is a slightly orangey brick red and it looks amazing when I have a bit of a tan.
M&S: Pineapple, Coconut & Lime Lollies I'm going to be heartbroken when summer is over and they stop selling these beautiful ice lollies, seriously they are incredible... they taste just like a pina colada.
Audible - Harry Potter I have always love apps like this, spotify for my music and itunes for podcasts and now Audible for my books! So far I have only been listening to the Harry Potter series and I have just finished The Goblet of Fire. I feel like Stephen Fry is the perfect narrator for the Harry Potter series and I could just listen to them back to back forever.

Disneyland Paris Trip I have already posted a little photo diary of my trip to DisneyLand Paris but I haven't really spoken about it until now. Me and my boyfriend went to DisneyLand Paris for my birthday back in June for three days and it was totally incredible as always, I have been to the parks in Paris twice before and always loved it and this time was obviously no exception. We arrived on my actual birthday in the afternoon and went and saw the Buffalo Bill wild west show, went on a few rides and saw the fireworks! All three days in Paris where so unbelievably hot, it was 36°C and there wasn't a single bit of breeze. Considering the heat we still managed to do lots, go on as many rides as possible and watch the parade. I  had the most wonderful time and it was definitely one of my favourites parts of summer.

Snippets from my sketchbook + Update

Top left - water colour studies of vegetables

Bottom Right - More illustrations of bugs and a fine liner drawing of a Voodoo Doughnut I had in Portland

Top Right - A illustration of my grandparents house with a cut of my mother and grandmother when they where younger

Bottom Left - Working with inks and other media 

Left - Drawing of Beetles in different media

Top Right - Glass and Mushrooms created with paper marbling

Bottom Right - Experimenting with media to create leaves 

Update

Okay so as of today I have OFFICIALLY started my UCAS form for university next year which is exciting but mostly absolutely terrifying as I am worried I will get everything wrong and just make a terrible job of it all. Sometimes I really wish I could of finished it when I first went and I wouldn't have to do all this again (I'm going to have to write another personal statement, sob) but I knew at the time it wasn't right for me.

 I'm also planning some more blog posts, I have been very MIA on YouTube and dont want to force myself to make videos so I was thinking I should start slowly and focus on my blog. The next two blog posts I have planned won't be more drawing  but will actually be a "What I have read this Summer" and a "Summer 2017 Favourites". I'm not sure when they will be up but i'm working on them.

And finally last but not least I have started a Instagram account for my dogs, its called TwoLabsandaCollie and which you can get to by clicking this link HERE.

Swing into Spring

It's finally spring time and I couldn't be happier, it's currently 20°C outside as I'm writing this post. One of the things I love about springtime is the weather.. its warmer and its lighter for longer which just makes my soul happy.
Another thing I'm very happy and extremely excited about it the fact I'm going back to Disneyland again this year hence the photo above (I'm keeping my tradition of going to at least one Disney park every year). I'm going in two months for a few days and I can't wait, the day we fly will actually be my 24 birthday.

 

More things I love about spring it my bike, I mean I love my bike in winter but I really love my bike in spring (and summer obviously), Since the weather is warmer and the nights are lighter it means I can go for a bike ride after work rather than just sitting around and napping like a sad potato.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I know not everyone celebrates Valentine's Day but I can't help but love all the heart shaped items you see everywhere. I haven't really got alot to say at Valentines itself really, I'm actually having a date night with my mum since Iain and my dad are both working late. The real reason I wanted to post today was because I am in a fantastic mood since Iain and I booked a few days away in Disneyland Paris for my birthday in June, I obviously can't wait and the yearly tradition keeps going!

New Pin

I brought a new pin and I love it. I have loads of pins and one day I will make a Pin Collection blog post.
This pin is available to buy HERE.

Random thoughts and other bits

Okay so I am pretty sure my last 100 posts have just been my holiday photos with literally no (or very little) text at all and just post after post after post, well I'm done now... thats right I have actually finished posting all of my holiday photos and I will move on (kinda) I actually still have loads of editing to do and I am sure it will be the end of 2017 before I'm done uploading them vlog to Youtube.

I'm pretty sure I wrote a blog post in 2016 saying I was going to blog more and make loads of videos and make my life great and all that other new year's nonsense well I didnt really manage to do that and I don't really have any reason for it, when I had the time to write on my blog I just didn't feel like it and I didnt want to force out something half hearted since I'm the only person who reads this and I will know.
Moving on from 2016 because its all over now and its time to concentrate on 2017 matters, i'm going to start by saying I have no idea how much I will post on my blog because I am spending my time making a new profilo because I am really interested in going back to university next year and I will need to do the whole UCAS/interview process again.
I want to save money again this year like I did last year for another America road trip but I'm thinking maybe the east coast this time. I am also saving up for a weekend in Paris in May because I have been to at least one Disney park once a year since 2014 and I'm not about to break that tradition now.
I also really want to do more of the things I love, I find myself very tired after work and I have to sleep a lot to make up for getting up at 5am most mornings and then doing a nine hour shift on my feet all day so I have been trying to nap less and do more of the things I love like take really long Lush baths, read, play videos and draw.
Moving on to things like my health and fitness, well I am trying to get fit but I have no real passion for working out and losing weight is very hard so I have decided I'm just going to cut out bad things, eat a little less and try and ride my bike more.
I don't really have anything else to say right now so I guess this is the end of this rather boring rambly post.

I make Youtube Videos

Just incase you didn't know I actually make youtube Videos in my spare time, my channel is mainly fashion(ish) and beauty with the occasional vlog thrown in now and again. I have been making videos since the start of the year and I try and upload at least three or four times a month. 

I will leave a link to my channel HERE.

I also have another youtube channel that me and my boyfriend make videos for together, its mostly us playing games and making food. You can find that one HERE.

Whats in my bag?

Due to the natural light being rather rubbish on this day I had to edit this photo and it just looks awful so I'm sorry

I am a user of mostly small bags so I don't tend to have much on me most of the time. Here is the contents of my bag as I write this post.

1. Marc Jacobs Purse. I have honestly had this purse for years, its a good size and I really like the colour, the only real problem I have with this purse is that I always seem to get notes stuck in the zip.
2. Leopard Tangle Teezer. With having a fringe that likes to get all gappy this is a life saver.
3. Receipts. I have an annoying habit of keeping receipts in my purse 
4. YSL Black Opium. Obliviously I keep this with me most of the time because its currently my favourite perfume
5. Many Lip Products. Six lip products... I think I have a problem. 
6. Sellotaped up iPhone. My poor iPhone has been dropped one too many times and now its taped up so I don't loose any of the glass in my hand while using my phone
7. Hair Ties and Pins. Always a must
8. Car Keys. Another must

End of Summer favourties

Sadly its officially the end of summer so I thought I would make a little post of all the things I loved over the summer this year. Most of these favourties are random but there are a few beauty bits!

• Fujifilm Instax Mini 8. This was a early birthday present from my cousin and it was literally the BEST present I got this year. I have been using it all the time and sticking the photos all over my room. 
• Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner. I have actually had this gel liner for the longest time and only ever used it on my water line (tip, if your eyes water away normal eye-liner try gel liner) but this summer I started using it to do my winged eye-liner I love it!
• Disneyland Paris and Trading Pins. This year for my 22 birthday my parents took me and my sister to Disneyland Paris which I absolutely loved for obvious reasons. Another thing I love about Disney is buying the trading pins for a keepsake.

• Urban Decay Score Afterglow 8-Hour Blush. This is my new favourite blusher ever, its a lovely little pop of colour. The blusher itself reminds me a lot of Nars orgasm 
• Make Up For Ever Hydrating Primer Step 1 Skin Equalizer. I brought this in Paris and I have been using it pretty much everyday since, between this and The Smashbox Hydrating primer I don't think I will ever need find another another. 
• YSL Black Opium. The sweetest perfume ever, I think I'm addicted
• bareMinerals: Marvelous Moxie in Speak Your Mind. I got this little mini in a massive set for Christmas and since I had so many in the box it took me so long to try them all but this is one of my all time favourties, so creamy, hydrating and such a lovely colour. As soon as this is finished I am 100% buying the full size. 
• Bourjois Liner Pinceau Eyeliner. This is another oldie, I have honesty been using this eye-liner since I was at uni (3 years ago+) and I still love this product. Its very easy to use and extremely long lasting... everything I want from my liquid eye-liner.
• Kiko Golden Game Sculpting Bronzer. I brought this in winter last year but I didn't really use it until this summer but now I use it every single day, its creates such a nice warm  glow and your face. One problem is that I'm 90% sure its limited edition so I'm not sure I will be able to get it again when I am all finished.

• Barry M Speedy Quick Dry. I am not a massive nail varnish fan because I can't wait for them to dry without smudging them or completely ruining them and I cant normally wear them for work but I have been loving these, they actually are fast drying which is why they have been my favourite.
• Fudge Urban Iced Raspberry & Vanilla Hairspray. I have already done a post on this hairspray which I will leave a link too here.
• Converse Black All Star Hi Top Trainers. I think the black hi top converse are such a classic shoe, it makes me think back to my teenage days. They are comfy and they look so cute with babydoll dresses and little frilly socks. 
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I found out about this on Lex's June favourties and I totally trust her book recommendations so I ordered this on Amazon straight away and I loved it so much, I am going to re-read this as soon as I find the time. 

Theses are just some of my favourties from this summer, there is a lot more things I did this summer but these are the things that came to mind then I was writing this post. Thanks for reading.