I hadn't planned to write a blog post tonight but as I'm sat here watching back-to-back christmas films, beside my boyfriend who is so patiently putting up with all my festive traditions (bless him!), with the lights twinkling on our lovingly decorated Christmas tree and scented candles filling the air with the smells of Christmas cookies, I feel completely and utterly festive. So I thought I'd just briefly share with you a few of my favourite things that have contributed to creating my cosy Christmas...
Just 4 days left to go and I still haven't finished my christmas shopping or christmas crafting. Every year I seem get to this stage, having the year before said to myself that next year will be the year I get myself organised in advance of all the craziness that ensues after mid-december. Although I am in a similar position yet again, I have at least planned and made my christmas cards. I've never really wanted to have a go at linocutting, but after watching this year's Sky Art's Landscape Artist of the Year and subsequently finding a great DIY Stamp Set from Tiger, I decided to have a go at cutting my own festive stamps and using them to make christmas cards for my family and friends.
It's SO nearly Christmas! If you couldn't tell from my consistently festive tweets and instagram posts, I'm just a *tad* excited. My excitement has been slightly delayed this year because of the amount of work I've had for the course over the past few weeks, which has seriously dampened my spirits, however now it is all done and dusted, the excitement and festive crafts are in full flow!
Thank god it's Friday again eh! I hope everyone's Friday is more a POET's day (aka Push Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday) than another normal working day and that everyone is looking forward to a well deserved weekend. I posted quite some time ago about starting a Society6 store and although uploading new illustrations onto it has been put onto the back burner for a while, I still log in to explore new uploads from the HUGE range of talented artists, designers and illustrators on there.
Can you believe it's November?! Having flown out to Malaysia on the 5th (so cool to see all of the fireworks from above!) and come back on the 19th, I feel like I've hardly been in the UK and because of that, this month has literally just flown by. I had such a lovely time in Malaysia and would definitely recommend visiting. It's so different out there, which just adds to how surreal it feels to be back. But, with Christmas just around the corner, there is lots to look forward to and it's probably time to start crafting those handmade gifts (yay)!
I recognise how extremely fortunate I am when I say it's not very often that life gives me lemons. Recently I've had a few lemons tossed my way and in a fashion that is typical of me, I've either been knocked sideways by them or I have actively (and successfully) ignored them. In my line of work, I frequently advocate mindfulness, but much like the old saying, and to my dismay, I actually rarely practice what I preach. From now on though, when life does gives me lemons, I'm going to try and be non-judgementally aware of them.
It's getting close to party season (yay!), which can mean only one thing; cocktail-flavoured cupcakes or cuptails as I fondly call them! I've made these for almost every party I've ever thrown and every time I have, they have always gone down a treat. Mojito's are my absolute favourite cocktail and at my last party, where I made both Mojito cuptails and Chocolate Vodka cuptails, the Mojito cuptails were not only my favourite, but also my party guests'.
So I've been feeling super creative recently and really enjoying blogging about the bits and bobs I doodle or make in my spare time, which along with my recent pledge to be more organised with my blog, means you may have noticed a bit more activity on here. I've wanted to share this doodle for ages but got caught up with all my other blog post ideas. Last year my sister and her (then) boyfriend bought two gorgeous and ridiculously cute kittens, Poppy and Pepper, which did absolutely nothing to lessen my desires of getting my own kitten.
It's almost halloween which means it's time for me to sort out my nails and get them looking less ghastly and more spooktacular. I'm really not a fan of blood and gore and so I really struggled to come up with a halloween-related design for my nails this year. I'm loving the Snow Queen look (probably because it's more festive than it is spooky...) and so I thought I would go with a bit of an icey theme. This definitely inspired my choice of colours, however whilst I was looking for inspiration, I stumbled across this beautiful photograph of a spiders web. I intended to add 'dew drops' like those in the photo but in the end I decided that I quite liked the nail design as it was.
Hello! I'm writing this from my 'sick bed' and feeling very sorry for myself today as I seem to have contracted an evil lurgy. It's not unusual for me to be poorly at this time of year; as soon as the winter comes knocking on my front door, my immune system gets up and leaves the building (what a traitor!). Before my immune system abandoned me though, I did manage to squeeze in a craftoween project that I'd been wanting to do for a while. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have seen how obsessed I am with 'no-carve pumpkins' and so I thought I would share with you a few photos of my own 'no-mess mumpkins'.
If, like me, you love getting into the spirit of Halloween - it is after all, a good excuse to have a party and wear fancy dress, which, post-uni becomes a bit of a rarity - but hate the thought of decorating your home with (probably badly in my case) carved orange pumpkins (orange will definitely never be the new black), cobwebs (why did I bother cleaning?!) and generally all things offensive to the eye, then you'll love some of the alternative halloween decoration and fancy dress ideas that you can find on Pinterest.
Another quick and easy clay jewellery DIY from me again! I'm loving simple delicate jewellery pieces at the moment and after pulling out a beautiful concrete necklace by Maple + Mauve that one of my friends bought me for my birthday (how lucky am I!), I thought I would have a bash at making my own sphere necklace using air dry clay. I really love the 'dipped' effect that I've seen on some other jewellery pieces and so wanted to also incorporate this.
I feel like the title of this blog post has probably been done many times before, however the song 'Hey Macarena' (well, macaron-a) was the first thing that popped into my head when I decided to have a go at making macarons and I haven't been able to say macarons (heeey, macaron-a, ahai!) quite the same way ever since.
It's all go again here, officially back to work and studying. I can't believe how quickly my three and half week annual leave went, however I did have a lovely time (I guess time does fly when you're having fun!) and did a few little crafty projects which I had so much fun doing. Whilst doing them, I took lots of photos and blogged about them afterwards which I have scheduled to post on here in the coming months. I even have a spreadsheet (thank you for the idea Dorkface!) so for the next few months I will be beautifully organised (or at least, that's the plan...) and even if I'm chocker at work, things should be a bit more consistent on here (hurrah!). In the spirit of feigning organisation, I thought I would get my nails looking a bit tidier (you'll see the state that they were in in my upcoming blog posts) and share with how I decided to neaten them up.
I hope that you have been happy and well since my previous post. I'm trying really hard to post more regularly, so be sure to let me know what you think of this blog post and what kind of posts you would like to see more of in the future! I do have some nail art posts up my sleeve... But today, I thought I would share with you an easy little jewellery DIY.
How is it Sunday already! Hasn't this weekend just flown by?! In fact, this entire week seems to have gone by really quickly, although that may have something to do with this week being pretty fun and busy. One of the things I got up to last week, was popping to Petworth House and Park to have a mosey around the manor and a leisurely gander around the grounds in the sunshine.
I hope that you have been having a lovely week and enjoying the weather. I, for one, have had such a great time recently fulfilling bridesmaid duties (assuming 'duties' include stuffing your face with food at fancy restaurants & afternoon tea!), celebrating several weddings and simply enjoying the warm weather. Part of my enjoyment of these various occasions has been how lovely it has been to catch up with my lovely friends. It's so easy to forget what and who really matter sometimes but this little reminder, at this time, was exactly what I needed. 
Can you believe it's July already?! For me, the fact we are now a couple of weeks into July means the end of placement is in sight (only 4 weeks to go!) and my three and a bit weeks of annual leave are almost within reach. So since my last post, I've been working hard whilst enjoying the odd bit of sunshine (it's been so hot here in the UK!) whilst really trying to take the whole 'I'm a priority' thing seriously.
Apologies for being a bit quiet on the blog / instagram / twitter front this month. The last few weeks have been a bit rubbish in terms of work and stress. As much as I am enjoying this job, it's hard in a way like no other job I've ever had before. In the past I've always felt able to keep my work and home life quite separate but this course requires so much of my personal time as well as personal reflection that it's kind of hard not to be both personally and professionally challenged.
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has been having a restful and enjoyable weekend. I for one have been doing absolutely nothing and it has been amazing. After handing in my dissertation proposal on friday, I decided to give myself the weekend off before starting my next piece of work (it really is never ending!) and what better way to relax than a bit of a NΔIL ΔRT.
I received a Twitter notification quite some while ago informing me that ISOSCELLΔ had been nominated for the Liebster Award by Cake + Whiskey - how bloomin' exciting! If you haven't seen the Cake + Whiskey blog before, be sure to check it out, there are so many interesting and lovely posts on there ranging from food recipes to wish lists.
I don't know about you fellow worker bees out there, but I find it near impossible to find the time to pamper myself anymore. Working 9-5 - what a way to make livin' (couldn't resist!) - and commuting an hour and a half each way leaves me hardly anytime to eat and catch up with Made in Chelsea (yes, I have a very poor taste in TV), let alone do my nails...
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram then you may have seen that a few months ago I was working on an exciting little illustration for a good friend of mine. With her wedding fast approaching, she asked to borrow my creative skills and draw a map to send out with the wedding invites. Just a few days ago, I received my invite in the post. Not only is the invite just gorgeous, the final map looks great and I really enjoyed creating it so I thought I would share some pictures of the process and final piece with you.
Two blog posts in two days?! Whatever next! This is just a quick post as I wanted to share this little illustration I did a while ago. I haven't really had the opportunity to share it yet so seeing as it is my birthday today, I thought this was the perfect opportunity. I love how grumpy-looking the panda turned out to be and so it felt only right to have a grumpy little saying along with it!
Please share & comment :)
Hope you have a lovely Easter Sunday!
♥
What better time to get creative in the kitchen than at EΔSTER?! So yesterday, in an extraordinary effort to put off doing any work, I did some cupcake-baking. These had a chocolate sponge with both chocolate buttercream icing and plain buttercream icing on top.
In celebration of it finally being the end of the week, I thought I would share with you five pieces of artwork which have recently caught my eye. Since joining society6 I have become so much more aware of all the lovely art, illustrations and talented artists out there - it's been really quite eye opening! I absolutely love cats, so it could be that I'm being a bit biased but to me, cats most definitely have had a bit of a comeback?! Whether it's cushions, greeting cards, iphone cases, art prints or fashion, since late last year, fury felines are everywhere. No longer is it 'Be more dog', it is definitely all about BE(ING) MORE CΔT!
Remember me?! It's certainly been a while... Life has been so hectic since I started on the Doctorate and I feel like I've barely had time to do anything non-psychology related, let alone then write about it on here (sad times). But, I'm on annual leave this week (phew!) and am getting some much needed r&r (*happy sigh*). Anyway, I thought I would write a blog post as yesterday was rather momentous for ISOSCELLΔ...
