labels

Woohoo, more apples means more canning which means more labels! More pictures to come when I put the labels on the jars, of course. I used some fonts not made by me this time (except "spicy" that one's mine) I used mission script from lost type and lake script from dafont.

wreath!

This is my very first wreath, and I am quite proud of it! We didn't have any wire or really anything besides linen string, so that is all I used (there is no backing.) I know it looks quite christmas-y, I will attempt to make more "fall" decor but it seems they skip over some of the cliche fall decor here because of course there is no Thanksgiving. In fact Limerick City has already put up Christmas decorations, it's a bit silly.

London

I went to London for a few days and had a lovely time going to some museums (you HAVE to go to the Somerset House and see the Tim Walker show if you have the chance!) I also met up with an old friend and got to wander with her, we mainly went to some markets and just walked, it was great!

why can't it be party time?

Look, I made something kind of successful with photoshop! I happened across a number of super duper  cute websites the other night and wanted to then buy tons of cute things with no reason to. I wish I had the resources to throw a fabulous party, but I don't at the moment, so I put this post together instead.

The party hats and gold backdrop are from confetti system, a fabulous company I have been crushing on for awhile.
The flowers are from a wedding on style me pretty.
The skull cupcake toppers and striped straws are from Layer Cake Shop, they have everything cute ever for baking.
And finally, the Japanese paper strawberry balloon is from Uguisu.

yuck

Okay so I don't really do much art stuff on the computer. When I do I get upset and start making weird noises at the machine. I want everything to look perfect and how I want it but I don't yet have the skills for it. So I made this ugly drawing. It was supposed to be cute but then it was going so poorly I decided vomit would be a good addition.

yum yum

One of the major benefits of being in Ireland is the food. The people I live with are big into farm grown organic foods and Rick is an amazing chef. There are also a bunch of apple trees and we picked a ridiculous amount of apples, too much to eat and fit in to pies. So jelly was the answer! Also I used the assistance of a computer to make the label which is unheard of, but I have access to the necessary programs here so maybe I will give it a go more often.

florals 2

Well it seems all the colorful plants are pretty much dying off with the colder climes, those first couple arrangements were made weeks ago. The last one is my first wintry looking arrangement, I am absolutely in love with those white berries though I have no idea what they are. Meg found them picking blackberries and brought them back, rightly thinking that I would enjoy them. I think I might try some wreaths soon! I've never made one but I'm sure I can figure it out.

The Ronettes rock

I reworked my illustration of "Love in the Time of Cholera" a bit. By the way, I finished that book and it was fabulous. The other two pieces are of the Ronettes. Oh how I love them. I was listening to their tunes and then decided to enter the vortex of the internet and find out about their story. It's a sad one as they often are, stupid Phil Spector messing people up. Anyways, they were bad ass chicks, I mean that hair, that eyeliner? I wish I could be that cool. Unfortunately I made Nedra look like Emily from Pretty Little Liars in the last one, please forgive me.

home improvement

The trade-off of me being here in Ireland is that I work on the house, which fine by me! I am doing a range of tasks from organizing books to gardening to rearranging furniture to telling them what they should buy and even getting to paint some stuff. I really enjoy getting to add these mini mural/wall decorations around the house. These two are the only ones I have done so far, in addition to the liquor cabinet, but I need to re-photograph it. I would love to do this kind of thing in other people's homes. Maybe a future business idea?

sketch dump

idea

So I have just had the best idea. I want to go to a German Christmas Market. In elementary school I was pretty obsessed with Germany, not sure why, but I wanted to learn the language and I wanted to visit the Schoner Brunnen Fountain and turn the lucky ring. So maybe since I am much closer to Germany at the moment than I was in the US, I should take advantage and visit one of the magical festivals. And hopefully I will find odd trinkets and see a billion sparkly lights and drink mulled wine and exalt in the glories of Christmas time. Anyone have suggestions for this potential trip?

funk brothers

I just watched the documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" on the musicians behind a huge amount of their hits in Detroit. I bet pretty much any Motown hit you can think of, the Funk Brothers were responsible for instrumentals, all those catchy riffs and beats that make you wanna dance, you can thank them for. Sadly, they didn't get much recognition at the time, everyone preforming and working with Motown knew them, but the general public did not. SO if you want to learn more and listen to some great tunes and stories, you should definitely check out the documentary.

Also I had to include Dusty Springfield singing "Can I get a Witness" because it is such a fabulous version, though originally of course it was Marvin Gaye with the Funk Brothers.

Parteen-a-Lax

This beautiful estate was built circa 1904 by an architect as his personal home. It is so gorgeous, the perfect country home. But man is it cold. Stone walls and ceilings that are probably 14 feet don't exactly keep a place cozy.

blanket?

I brought a nice big piece of oatmeal colored fabric with me to Ireland, with hopes of it someday becoming a blanket of some sort. I am going to do my best to cover it in pretty embroidery while I am here. I haven't done all that much yet, embroidery sure is slow going.

These images are the work of two wildly talented ladies who inspire me. The first is a new find, Yumiko Higuchi and the second is by illustrator extraordinaire, Jillian Tamaki. You should really check them out, I'm pretty jealous of their mad skills. Maybe I should add monsters/creatures to mine?

fairy tales

Boy do I love fairy tales, and any kind of art based off them. Movies, books, photos, paintings, you name it. Two books I would recommend for those in agreement are The Book of Lost Things and Of Bees and Mist. Especially the latter. In terms of movies, it is more difficult than one would expect to find good, dark, fairy tales. Not sure why. Anyways the photos are from Miwa Yanagi, Lissy Elle, and Annie Collinge. Also, the painter Alejandra Alarcon has a tumblr with a lot of great fairy tale type images if you want some more. While writing this I've realized there really aren't any good synonyms for fairy tale. Sorry.