Bad News.... And some good :)

Hi Everyone! All bad news here unfortunately... Well some good too but yeah my PC is still down and I am pulling my hair out over it. Going absolutely mental here. Luckily Ceri has lent me his laptop so I can get basic work done anyway. But this is nooooo fun. I am having a guy coming around Monday to have a look at it and hopefully give me a diagnostics. I must say I have learnt loads about the inside of my PC though, so at least something good has come out of it. But I swear there is a little ghost inside the PC just playing hell with me as nothing I do seems to work. I just hope it is nothing major.

On the other hand I've gotten loads of blog posts waiting for you. I've had the "time" to do loads of little DIY projects. Staying away from the computer often gives me inspiration in other areas. I am working on getting the baby corner in our bedroom sorted for our new arrival. So I have loads to show you from there, like this cot throw above for example, and things you can easily create yourselves, for your kids or yourself. It can be transferred to what ever you'd like.

Today I'm going to try to get out for a little bit. I need two frames that I can re-paint for the baby corner. And living in my part of town there is loads of charity shops around where you can pick up some lovely cheap frames. This is the mission for today and to start some orders that are due to be sent next week.
I don't like going out on my own at the moment as I find it very exhausting and it feels like baby can pop out any minute now. But I can't lock myself in to the flat. It is driving me mad. So I set little missions every two days or so. Even if it is just walking around the block. I never thought I'd become this immobile, but my god is it hard to move now. Can't wait to have my body back, even though I have loved every second of being pregnant. It'll just be nice to be able to go for long walks and cycles again. I can't wait!

Anyway, I'll get back to you after the weekend with a (hopefully) working PC. Please cross your fingers that this is an easy fix! I am! :) Have a great weekend all of you lovely people out there!

PC broken...

Sorry about being absent for a few days. My computer decided to give up the other and I am now awaiting some  new parts for it. It should be here tomorrow, but until then I can't do any planned blogposts as I've got all my stuff on my PC. My back up is broken too as I decided to drop that with a bang on to the floor. So yeah, happy days!
And even though I could do loads of things that does no involve the computer I tend to do nothing cause I feel very lost when I don't have it. Ah well, hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow. I do not want to spend another day in bed sulking, as I did yesterday.

Mon-Chi Custom....

The week is coming to an end and here's what I've been up to this week. Making custom orders!

I get custom requests quite often these days and I really enjoy them. It is nice to step away from the designs I see and make every day and to give them a little twist. I want to encourage customers to give me custom requests as it just brightens up my day.

I think this Mon-Chi custom came out so cute and I loved making it. The ears and the little hands go so well. I might even put something up like this as a permanent listing in the shop. I have to think about it for a bit.

But it is soooo cute though!

I'm also working on a little something for my little baby girl. I will show you more photos tomorrow if I managed to finish it by then. It turned out to be allot more work than I thought. It is looking real cute at the moment though and I have no doubt it will look great once finished. More about that tomorrow! Now I'm going out on the town to get something as amazing as slippers and a night gown. Yeeey! Need to get that birth bag ready as it is only just under 4 weeks left now. Peeew!

A Hearty Tree and its Pattern...

Good morning ladies and gents! Hope you've had a great weekend. I spent mine away from the computer and away from any work. I am suffering in this heat at the moment but have tried to leave the house anyway. Yesterday the sun decided to stay hidden so I actually managed to be out for quite some time without dying.

 Last week in my marker madness I managed to draw this little tree anyway. I've had half of it done on my rough sketched which I do to come up with new patterns. So I decided to finish it anyway and with this tree came many other ideas.

 I am very happy with it and I love the colours. Black, blue and red are some of my favorite colours to match. They compliment each other so well.

 And since I fell in love with the leaves on the tree I decided to make a pattern out of them. I lurvely pattern that I would like to have printed onto fabric and dress and armchair with or something. It's been a project I've wanted to take on for quite some time now. But I need to find a good armchair in a second-hand shop first. I have found a few but never had the money to buy one at the time. I know there is one waiting for me out there somewhere and when I come across it I will know.

 But for now, the pattern have to go on to phone cases. Which you can buy from the MobiLOVE shop of course. And they're available for both iPhone 4/5 and Samsung Galaxy S3/S4!

 How about them apples ey?!?!

The Moon Flower Buck: WIP 3

 Finally received the beads for my sculpture and he is now finished. I need to take him out for a photos shoot still though.

 I don't like selling off my work until I've got proper photos of them. To remember and to look back at.

 So once I've got some nice photos he will be up in the shop unless someone wants him before I get the chance to put him up.

 Let me know if you're interested!

 It was the first time I used rhinestones in my work. It is amazing how they can make things pop and look so much more luxurious(?)

 They were great to work with even though the smaller ones were extremely small. I found a good technique in the end though. They are absolutely impossible to handle with your fingers.

 Also applied some more flowers and he is sooooo fabulous now it is hard to imagine...

Going to try to get the photos done this weekend. But I won't promise anything as I am quite immobile at the moment. Only got just over 4 weeks to go now till the baby arrives :D:D:D:D So you can imagine what I look like. Like a bowling ball with legs basically ;) LOL

Lotus and Markers...

 Yesterday I decided, after finishing all my orders for the week, to spend some time drawing. Haven't really had the time lately so it was nice to take a break from the computer and let my mind free on the white paper.

 I decided to use the drawings from the Lotus flower study I did a few weeks ago and it came out as a lovely drawing. At first I planned to do this in Illustrator. It's been so long since I used markers though, so I decided to use them instead.

 I can still make a cool Illustrator pattern out of them later on. And also the Cat face I did the other day for the phone case, really inspired me to use more markers in my work. I think this will look real pretty on a phone case as it is and will probably upload one once I've had it scanned in.

I really need an A3 scanner. I hate working in A4 format, there just aint enough space on the paper. On an A3 on the other hand, you can go wild and work much better with details and such. So I think an A3 scanner will be next on the shopping list. Now I have to wait for my other half to bring this to Uni and scan it there...
Anyways, hope you like it and I will see you again tomorrow! With some updates on the Moon Flower Buck :D

Website is LIVE!!!

My new Website is now live! I finished it last week and I am so excited about it. It is my very first proper website and it feels like I have a proper place to promote myself as an artist and graphic designer now. Something I always wanted.

 I'm really happy with the about page, but it is hard to stay professional when you talk about yourself and your life. I think I managed to keep it short and to the point. I would love to hear what you think? Does it need more, or maybe less?

I think I am most proud of the portfolio setup. You get a good overview without clicking on anything of what I can do and of what I can offer my clients. What do you think?

I've also designed myself a new business card which has the same theme as the website. I will have these printed at the end of the month I think and then start promoting my graphic design business for real. I can't wait. It will be great to start working in another area of the art market.

There is still a few sections to sort out on the website, like the "services" section for example. I want this page to be very swish and professional looking so I am working hard on getting that bit sorted at the moment. I have a busy week ahead of me though so I can't really say when I will find the opportunity to sort it out. However I would greatly appreciate your opinions and tips on how to make my website as good as possible. Would you be happy to hire me after what you have seen? Thank you all for your support!!!! You can visit the website >HERE<

The Moon Flower Buck: WIP 2

 He is getting closer to completion. I've finished all the major work but seem to receive the bits I need with 1-2 days apart. Running out checking the post all the time hahaha... I just want to finish!

 Anyway, he is primed and painted. Had to prime him on a windy roof top which was quite interesting. Got there in the end though, so all is good.

 I decided to go for a mint green and pastel pink colour as I wanted him to be sort of flowery.

 The colours also worked really well with the fur I'd chosen for him...

He's now sitting just above me as I work and it is highly annoying as all I want to do is to finish him. I hate waiting for post! Want it all NOOOOW! *grumpy face*

West Wales and Rehabilitation...

I thought I'd share some photos from our week in West Wales. I forgot to use my camera stupid me, only brought it with when we went out on the boat. We only had one day of good weather really so that might have been why as well hehe ;) I always have my phone with me though so some Instagram pictures will have to do. This is the view from our bedroom window. Oh it is so hard to get out of bed in the morning with this view I can tell you that much. How I love the country side!

Breakfast in the sun is so underrated. There is nothing better! Nom nom nooooom!

Spent some time with my bestie Blackie. She is the most cuddly sheep but once you stand up she is off like a light. Little scardy cat!

The other two don't like cuddles and will only approach you if you got food in your hands. Because food makes everything less scary... Right?!

These are our ducks... I hand reared them all.... The black one (Swedish Blue Duck) we've had since he was an egg. They used to follow me around the garden and fall asleep in my arms. Well that time is long gone and now he attacks me to protect his ladies. And the other two they just bob their heads and make funny noises if you get to close. It seems they've forgotten their Mum :'(

I also ate allot of cake..... hehe nah, one is Ceris of course.... But I had a little bit of both. I tell you what. That carrot cake! OMG! Heaven! NOM!

And then came the big day... There was not a single cloud in the sky, which is very rare for Wales in general. And we headed out on the estuary! I haven't been on a boat since I was in my teens. I'd forgotten how absolutely amazing it is. I slept like a baby that night and felt very content and still do. What a great relaxing time we had.

Neither of us wanted to go back to busy Bournemouth after this. But I guess life always catches up with you. I could have stayed up there for another week or so I think.

So bye bye Wales for this time. We will see you again soon. How I miss you already!

The Moon Flower Buck: WIP 1

And I'm back! Wow did we have a great week away. I got all the time I needed to rest my weary head and my pregnant body. Now it's back to the grind though, but I feel that all the energy I lost is back and I am ready for another month of hard work before baby arrives. So yesterday I thought I'd take some own time and started sculpting something that has been in my mind for probably about a year now. The Moon Flower Buck!

I've had this creature in my mind for quite some time and yesterday was the day I finally felt ready to sculpt him. He is a creature of Tomodachi Island that I will tell you more about once he is finished. He is a flower God anyway.

 I started with building a base out of wire and foil, as I always do. Sculpey tends the go brittle if you layer it to thick and it won't bake properly in the middle when you burn it.

 After that I work out the rough shape with sculpey and then work on the finer details such as crinkles and wrinkles.

 I found it important to start with the body in this particular sculpt. I normally start with the head, but it was so important that the head was the right size and didn't look to big and clumsy on the body.

 Once the head was in place I could start working on the little features...

Such as the ears and the horns. I don't sculpt them straight on to the creature as I need to dress him in fur. But I have made little holes in the head where the ears and horns can be glued in to after the fur is in place.

There he is in all his shiny naked glory. Ready to go in the oven :)

 Baked and ready to be sanded. I tried the horns and ears out on him properly and they look lovely!

Sanding is the most tedious and boring job so I won't have you sit through that. But he is ready to be primed now anyway. I will prime him later today and hopefully start the paint job later tonight. I can't finish him yet though as I am waiting for some decorations for him. I am very excited about this little buck though. He is my biggest sculpture so far and I really can't wait to finish him. He stands about 31.5 cm tall at the moment (without the horns) and about 22 cm wide. He's going to be soooo purdy!!!