You got any ID love? YES ACTUALLY!

Hello!
I haven't updated in a while because it was my 18th birthday on Wednesday and I've been really really busy doing lots of nice things and trying to drag it out for as long as possible :') I've got lots of pictures and things to show you so be prepared for a very long post. I'll be updating with more work very very soon though <3

On Wednesday I had college so I got up at 6 to get in for 9 and came out of my room to discover lots of '18' banners and balloons and some presents, cards and some of the cutest handmade cupcakes I have ever seen! (My entire birthday seemed to be cupcake based, with lots of cupcakes, cupcake presents and cupcake cards). I got some lovely presents from Becca and Nat (I got presents from Rae too but she had an interview at a far away place on my actual birthday, as did Frankie, sad face). At lunch Adam and I went to Wetherspoons and had a good laugh pretending we were on a date because there was only 2 of us; I had a chicken and bacon panini and chips, and shared a pitcher of 'purple rain' with Adam and then half a glass of 'green-eyed monster', lovely! Then back to college where Mike's mum had sent him with a gorgeous Hello Kitty cake for me to share with the other 2nd years, it was so lovely I didn't want to cut it :( Here's the only photo I got, nom nom nom.

After college we went back to Mike's to get ready to go out for a meal with my Dad, Step-mum and Mike's parents at Brown's in Leeds. When we got back Mike made me go upstairs until I was allowed to come down and when I did on the table there was a Playstation cake that Mike's mum had made me (!!!) and some lovely presents from both Mike and his Mum and Dad, including a 'reader e-book' and a gorgeous Cath Kidston purse. (I'm going to take pictures of all my presents for a different post tomorrow or later in the week so you can see them then, rather than me trying to explain). It was so lovely, just that hour or so was one of the best bits of my birthday because it was so simple and happy :) (Yes, I enjoyed all of my birthday, but that was very relaxing and family-ish)

After we'd sat down and had a cup of tea we got ready and went into Leeds for our meal. It was really nice and atmospheric and there was a piano player, which was a nice change from really rowdy cafes and pubs with chavvy CDs on :') The people at Browns were lovely and had tied balloons to my chair and brought me a complimentary champagne cocktail which I thought was really sweet. Mike and I both ordered these really exciting sounding burgers (his was wild boar!) which were delicious! After we'd eaten my Dad gave me my present, which was a pretty Thomas Sabo charm bracelet which is made from a sort of plaited leather, I love it! Mike and I shared a chocolate brownie with ice-cream afterwards which was so nice, then we sat and chatted for a while then went our separate ways and straight to bed, phew!

On Friday I went out for a meal with the girls (Frankie, Rae, Alex, Nat, Becca and Megan) to Wagamamas after a couple of drinks at Wetherspoons which was really nice because it was such a change, we never really do anything like that but I think we should try make it a regular thing form now on :D I had Yaki Soba, which is noodles with egg, chicken, shrimps, onions, green and red peppers, beansprouts and spring onions, garnished with mixed sesame seeds, fried shallots and pickled ginger. Best. Thing. Ever. (apart from cheese) :') After everyone else had left Alex and I went back to Wetherspoons and had a pitcher of 'blue lagoon'.

On Saturday night we went out round Leeds (Me, Mike, Frankie, Chris, Alex, Adam, Megan, Kate and Joe) which was fuuuuuuuuun :D I had lots of pretty cocktails and went to quite a few different places, including the Cockpit where we had a good sing-along and a dance and it was awesome :) Slept at Adam and Alex's, full on crashed on the sofa from pure tiredness with achey feet and came home to a not-so-surprise party with family this afternoon :')

A selection of some of the hilarious photos that were taken :') I'll do a post soon on my presents, as well as some better pictures of what I wore to all these lovely things I've been doing. This has been a very long post, congratulations if you have reached the end :')

Hasta la vista! <3

If you don't know that I like Hello Kitty then you are broken.

As promised, the photographs of everything Hello Kitty that I could find in my room, this is about 3/4 of the stuff, when I find the rest I'll photograph them too :)

Headphones :)

Collectable 'Pez' dispensers

Large plush

Small and medium plushs'

Pencil case

Valentines card

Badges

Egg cup and beaker

Hair slides

Purse, ring, toy, phone/purse charm

Key ring and lip balm

Keyring

Valentines chocolates tin

Bag, T-shirt and knickers (unworn)

THE COLLECTION! :)

Phew!
I know the pictures aren't perfect quality. Again, not focussing as well as I'd like + lack of natural light.

I like turtles...

This is the lovely handmade bracelet I was talking about in my last post. The photo isn't brilliant but the turtles are so small the camera wouldn't focus on it :') I love it! So cute! <3

Success!

I've had a lovely day today shopping with Rae :) Got 2 dresses and a gorgeous pair of shorts that I've wanted from Zara for ages. She bought us lunch at M&S too which was lovely, I had a tuna/cheese panini and cranberry juice and it was so tasty! Bloody love cranberry juice :') However, I am now beyond skint. Oops.

One dress is for going out round Leeds on Saturday night for my birthday and the other's the one I posted earlier, I just couldn't help myself :') I'm going to wear the shorts for my uni interview if they go with my shirt, they have braces on them :D (I did actually have a good excuse for the shorts really, I've worn a hole in my others from giving them too much love, oops) I'll post pictures of it all later but I'm keeping the Saturday dress as a surprise for now, need to decide on shoes and accessories and stuff next :D

Just opened a lovely letter in gorgeous packaging and envelope from Hebe, a friend from school, which had the sweetest little handmade bracelet in it with cute little turtles on it :) So nice! Through facebook we agreed to make handmade things for the first 5 people to comment on the status and they had to do the same in turn and repost the status etc etc and that's what she made me :) I'm going to start working on her gift as soon as I think of something nice enough, I want to try something new, rather than just my regular jewellery making.

A lovely end to a lovely day. Hurrah!

It's so hard being a girl.

I'm so undecided on what to wear for my birthday night out on Saturday (as well as my meals on Wednesday and Friday), but more bothered about finding something for Saturday! I've been trawling the internet and had a brief look in the shops but I can't find anything so I'm going into town with Rae in a little bit to have a proper look. I just don't know if I want to wear a dress, or shorts, or a skirt; eek! I need something that's not too casual but not too dressy, ouch. 

Going to New Look with Frankie in the next half hour or so to have a look at this lovely dress! Not sure what it'll look like on or whether it'll be too dressy or not but it's so pretty :3

I'm also a milk fiend.

Anybody who knows me in real life knows how much of a milk, cheese and general dairy products fiend I am. This can be seen through my 'likes' on Facebook if you don't know me in life :') Speaks for itself really. Oh dear.

I am a Hello Kitty fiend. I am not ashamed.

I like Hello Kitty a lot. A lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot! A lot.
I am a Hello Kitty fiend. I love it. I'm not embarrassed about it, which some people think I should be, because I'm 18 in a week. I think that's silly though, that's like saying you shouldn't like sweets because they're for kids. Weird.

What do you still like that people think you shouldn't because it's supposedly for kids? Answer in the comments section below, would be awesome :)

Within the next few days I'm going to do a post showing you everything Hello Kitty that I own, old and new :) You can all have a sneaky peek at my room then! Cheers <3

I must have done something right...

I got a letter yesterday from Visual Communication saying I've got an interview on the 18th April! Yes! I'm so relieved that I've actually got an interview and also that now I have 3 months to prepare my portfolio so that I can wow them :) PHEW!

I'm having a portfolio review tomorrow morning at 9am to discuss my existing work and what other things I can do to make it even better so that should be really helpful. It's scaring me a bit though that it's so far away because I'll be panicking for even longer, like most people I know are having them in the next month or so, but it's okay, it's just a relief that I've got a good amount of time to work with :)

Had an awesome time at Frankie's; we had pizza and ice cream and other nice things and played on Scott Pilgrim, watched Scott Pilgrim, then played on Guitar Hero (which I hadn't played before) lots :)
Very very good weekend! Bedtime now, cya x

'you had me at Scott Pilgrim game...'

Since I last posted I've started back at college and been given my new brief which is different to any other we've done before. We're doing advertising again, but this time rather than doing one set project we're doing 6 over 5 weeks; 4 of these are one-day hits, and the other 2 are week long tasks. We're also working on A4 sheets to be handed in at expected times, rather than a sketchbook like usual. I don't quite know what to make of it yet, I'll let you know when I realise :')

I've also applied for my provisional licence as I need ID for my birthday (in 11 days!) and I look nothing like my passport photo, at all :') Frankie's making me and Alex a joint birthday cake (hers is on Wednesday) which I'm really really excited about, and I think I'm going to hers tonight for pizza, ice-cream and to play Scott Pilgrim on xbox and watch the film, can't beat that :)

Don't think I've missed anything out apart from I'm well sleepy and have been for most of the week, this will continue until the next half term holidays :')

Visual Communication task - handed in, but not over yet!

I applied to BA Visual Communication at Leeds College of Art (where I study now) for uni and was sent a request for a preliminary work sample, which was a task that came with the letter. The shortest way I can explain the task is 'create a series of still/moving images to show how to make the world a better place, thinking locally rather than globally, using any media.'

I got the letter at the start of the Christmas holidays, just after my laptop had broken, Mike had lost his camera charger (I don't have my own SLR), I don't have any software and I couldn't get into college to do anything about it. I came up with my concept and my idea over a couple of weeks and had to borrow my friend Adam's camera and use Alex's Macbook to create my designs. They're lifesavers! Just hope the tutors looking at my work can see how much work has gone into it :)

I'm not going to put the images up until after I have received confirmation that my work has been viewed or that I have an interview.

I handed the work in about 40 minutes ago, and I'm just as worried about it now as I have been for the past month, it's nail-biting stuff. I just hope they get back to me soon to let me know if I have an interview!

Big Problem.

This was our first brief of the second year (beginning of September) and was a very quick 2 week one. We were required to create a logo which shows BP in a negative light for Greenpeace. I used darker shades of the original BP colours to show the negativity, as well as using the 'warp' tool on 'Illustrator' to distort my oil spills which are radiating from the middle of the logo. BP say that their logo represents the sun, but I think it looks more like a flower which is why I created my 'oil spill' in such a way, as it also resembles thorns. 

What you see isn't always what you get...

This brief was the second of the second year, running from the end of September to the start of November 2010. The brief was to design a magazine layout using "InDesign' for either 'Stylist' or 'Shortlist' magazine (I chose Shortlist) to raise awareness of Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD). This disorder warps the sufferers image and perspective of themselves negatively and can render the sufferer unable to leave the house, for fear of their perceived 'defect' being noticed by others. I chose to use very simple typefaces and imagery to convey my concept as I felt this would connect with my target audience (men) very well. I took inspiration from Gillian Wearing for the photographs and used the simple idea of signs to show that everyone has a perceived defect, whether it's big or small. I used a mixture of dark tones and a bright blue to show the darker side to the article, but the blue to highlight quotes (and also to catch the male attention). 

(Click image to enlarge, this is just a printscreen as I was unable to upload the original file)

Any feedback would be awesome, cheers guys :)

A series of doodles...

Over the past few days I've developed a new style of character, and I'm liking it. I'm hoping to develop on a few of the ones I'm about to show you, and a few do look the same as they are character developments. The doodles are very simple, and I was a bit worried about putting them up at first because I'm not very confident with my drawing but I want to practice a lot so that I can show Viscom that I can do it :)
So yeah, here's to my crappy little doodles in all their glory, enjoy :')
(Also, please excuse the quality, as they've been scanned in from my sketchbook)

The next 2 images are more developed in my opinion, and I'd like to work into them more, and create a potential character to work with on a small project for my interview, or just a series of developed illustrations. To me, the girl looks like a female Edward Scissorhands, which I really like :)

Awesome :) Also, I know some characters are wearing glasses but that does not mean they are me, are meant to represent me, or are based on me in any way, I don't think I'm cool enough to be an illustration :').
Cheers :)

I'd like it all but my bank account would cry...

I'm going to need to find a LOT of pennies in the next few weeks with all the lovely things I keep finding online, I need to stop :') Through Tumblr, I've just discovered a new clothing brand, 'Bad Wolf', whose website can be found here. Their stuff is gorgeous! I'm hoping to buy a few t-shirts so I can cut the neck and sleeves off to make into dresses for nights out and things, as well as keeping 1 intact for daytime outfits :3 Here is a selection of their items which I've fallen in love with! Sorry for so many updates. 

Their prices range from £14.99 for a t-shirt to £29.99 for sweatshirts/jumpers, which isn't too bad, considering how nice they are :) Check them out <3

Happy Derrian is happy :)

Alex drew me, I love her lots and lots :) You can find her blog here, she has pretty illustrations <3

My bank account has a sad face now, but I don't :)

These are my most recent purchases that I think might be of interest to you all :) I went a little bit mad on Amazon, there's more stuff I want to order but I'll have to wait until I have more pennies. I'm also thinking of starting a small sketchbook in which I will illustrate everything I buy, every day (inspired by Kate Bingaman Burt, her illustrations are gorgeous!)

The first book I bought that you can see here is 'Stickerbomb 2' (I already have Stickerbomb 1). It's a series of cute little illustrations and graphic images but they're all useable stickers! There's so many, it's brilliant, only problem is I like them so much I don't want to take them out the book and use them :')

 This book is the 'walls notebook'. Basically, it's a book full of pictures of walls and you just write on them or stick stuff in over them, it's awesome :) I'm not quite decided yet whether I'm going to use it for a college project or a personal one, I might end up having to order another one!

Last but not least is a book I was recommended by a friend called 'The perks of being a wallflower'. I've heard it's very good so I'm excited about reading it :) I might do a mini-review for you after I've read it. 

(All images are from Google images, not my own photography)