Brooches of the jewellery box

I only just realised that I don't think I ever posted the final for my self directed project last year that I was working on and kept posting work of on here. So, here it is. It was printed out at A2 and hung up in the exhibition. You can't really read what any of the writing says but they're all quotes from my Nana.

This was by far my favourite brooch to draw and paint and I'm really pleased with the outcome. This whole final poster and all the work that went with it is something I'm actually really proud of and happy with.

Some photos from over the Christmas holidays

presents from Tim :)

beauty corner

(L-R)

1. cupcake maker from Tim's parents 2. New years eve 3. Pacman tshirt

4. New chameleon charm 5. raccoon socks 6. fox socks

7. Tim<3 8. tartan forever 9. Books I got for Christmas :)

Just some photos from the past few months in Carlisle 

Welcome to Carlisle

Some crappy photos of my new room in Carlisle, I'll probably take some new ones in the next couple of weeks to show you the differences between September and now :) These are from September. 

There's quite a lot more stuff in it now and it's more erm, lived in? (it's messier). I will be quite sad to leave this room in a few weeks, but I'll be moving into a proper house for my second year so it's not all bad :)
But yeah, photos of my up to date version of this room in the next couple of weeks when I'm back from Easter holidays (I'm going home for 2 weeks yes I am! arghghghg!!)

The big one

Well here's a post I never thought I'd be writing, especially after how excited I was about going onto Viscom at Leeds Art when I got in about this time 2 years ago. Obviously I cannot go into a large amount of detail, nor do I want to really, it's not my place to say anything bad about the course, let's just say it wasn't for me.

It took a bit of a wake up call from Tim suddenly wanting to change course as he was unhappy that I realised that I knew I'd been miserable on that course for a whole year but I was still going to stay on it for the duration and for what? Because I was scared or because I didn't have the guts to just leave and do what I actually wanted to do. So as well as so many other things I can thank him for I can hand on heart thank Tim for giving me the push I needed without even realising it.

After Tim decided he wanted to change course and set off for his holiday I was on my bus home about to book my first driving lessons, but I couldn't stop thinking about how unhappy I was and that if Tim could change then I could too, I just needed to go for it. Rae and Connor were already on the Graphic Design & Illustration course at the University of Cumbria in Carlisle so I'd heard about it before and it was easy enough for me to ask questions about it. I'd looked at the course and the website before and I liked what i saw, so when I got home instead of booking my lessons, I emailed Cumbria instead about applying to the course (bearing in mind this is late August so all applications are done and I'm about 2/3 weeks away from starting my second year of Viscom). After quite a lot of back and forth emails I find out I can still apply and not through UCAS since I'm past A-level/college stage and have the grades to get it. Cue staying up till 6am three nights running on Skype with Alex making a personal statement. I prepped my portfolio just in case I needed to suddenly rush off to an interview, which I kind of did. I sent my application on the Wednesday and had an interview on the Saturday. 

Tim and I travelled to Carlisle early Saturday morning, setting off at around 6am to make sure we were there on time. I then had a tour round the campus and an interview with Tony, who is now my first year tutor. I got my place in interview and I've never been happier and more relieved in my life. I'm not going to lie I cried. I knew I had it in me to get in and that my work and my mindset and my passion was enough to get me in but I still had that sliver of doubt that made me think I couldn't so just hearing that I was good enough and I could do what I wanted to do made me so incredibly happy.

About 2 weeks after this I moved to Carlisle, which was pretty daunting for me as I went to uni before in a city I knew and lived near and have studied in since I was 16. I also didn't want to leave my Nana, who I live with, as obviously when at Leeds I was quite nearby, Carlisle is a 4 hour train journey away and I wouldn't be seeing her for months at a time. But I had to do what I needed to do and my Nana has always pushed me to do what makes me happy and supported me, she was great through this whole thing. I moved into halls again, into a house of 9 first years (I went into the first year again also) which was also pretty scary.

I think when I was applying to uni courses I felt that I would struggle too much on a graphics course even though I was on one I didn't feel I could match up to uni level, and that made me sad.  But it was only when I left graphics that I realised how much I loved it and wanted to do it for real. I'm so glad I took the plunge and changed courses, it's honestly the best thing I've ever done and I'm so much happier now.

Sorry for the ramble, but that's just me telling you what happened as it actually happened. Graphics is what I'm happiest doing and I'm so glad I can say once more that I'm a graphic design student, 

Return to Edinburgh

I had such a lovely time in Edinburgh that I wanted to go back as soon as possible and as Tim was going on a 'big holiday' with his friends we decided we'd go to Edinburgh for a little holiday for a few days at the start of September. We went for 3 days and like Frankie and I did we stayed in a Travelodge (different one) near the city centre. 

We had such a lovely time and did lots of stuff to fill our days and visited lots of different places, it was really nice to get away together for a few days and see some new things. We walked a lot, did a bit of shopping, climbed the real Arthur's seat, visited the museum and the museum of childhood, went to the cinema, had food at the Hard Rock Cafe, and visited the Camera Obscura and the tartan weaving mill and lots more and oh my gosh I had such a good time. I also got to see the Paralympic rings up on the mound, to go with seeing the Olympic ones in June, I'm happy I got to see both, feel pretty lucky. 

I love Edinburgh so so much and I fall more and more in love with it everytime I go. I didn't get many blog-worthy photos but here are a few:

Summer things

Over summer (after Edinburgh and Barcelona) I did the usual stuff really, going to Leeds and seeing friends, shopping, relaxing at home after the year at uni and stuff like that. However, in between the usual I did do some pretty cool stuff with Rae, and then Connor too once he arrived, as well as going to Telford for the weekend for Sacha's birthday.

First up me and Rae went to the MCMExpo in Manchester, basically one of the UKs Comic Cons. We went by coach and although we both felt poorly for some reason we still had a great day. It was so cool seeing all the artists and illustrators, as well as people dressed up in Cosplay and all the cool stuff you could buy. I'd definitely like to go to one again, hopefully the one in London which is supposed to be huge.
 

Myself and my Girl&Boy comic

I also watched my first american football game at Rae's with her and Connor. We had snacks and things but we also had our first attempt at making skittles vodka. Not really sure how I felt about it, it wasn't anything massively special sadly :( But look at the cool hates we wore whilst we watched, both Connor's :)

We also went to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and we stroked a wallaby :D There were so many lovely animals there and we all had a really good day. I especially loved the lemurs and the owls. Definitely want to go again this summer and take Tim.

For Sacha's 19th she had a fancy dress party at her house and I finally got my Stitch onesie I'd been pining over for months, I finally had an excuse now and argh I was so excited. Sacha dressed as Fantastic Mr Fox and it was just such a nice day and aah I had such a lovely time at her house, meeting all her family and being so welcomed into their home and aah such a good time, all in the confort of a onesie. 

It turns out I didn't have as many photos of things I did over summer as I thought, oops. Note for this summer: more pictures for blogging. 

Barca-barcelona

At the beginning of July Frankie and I began our next adventure: BARCELONA! For 3 days, with just a rucksack each. It was incredible. We saw a lot of things, ate nice food, walked everywhere possible for as long as possible and it was just amazing. We kept busy every minute of the day which definitely made it better. We stayed in a hotel right on Las Ramblas (basically one of the main streets which is very busy and has a lot going on) and only 5 minutes walk from the nearest metro station.

We saw alot of general things just by walking around for hours, but the main 'attractions' we saw/visited were Park Guell, La Sagrada de Familia, the Arc de Triomf, we rented a rowing boat and also found lots of small places that weren't 'famous' but we really enjoyed seeing. Basically, we had a few days of exploring and taking in a hell of a lot of culture and it was awesome! It was relaxing even though we were so super busy all the time. 

As always, a selection of photos to follow :)

Above are some photos from an incredible market that we visited everyday. The smells and textures, along with all the bright colours and the hustle and bustle made it a really nice place to visit. We boughtfruit and fruit drinks from there every morning. I wish there was something like that here but it'd never be the same.

Park Guell was an amazing day out, we walked round it several times and saw so much stuff. It was also an amazing day weather-wise and we got a good bit of sun. There's so much beautiful artwork and architecture in Barcelona, a lot of which can be found in the park, and it was just beautiful. It took us around an hour to get to the park as we had to use the metro and then climb up a few large hills, some of which also had escalators built into then (something quite common in Barcelona but I still found it pretty strange). All in all a really fun day exploring. I also bought a pretty evil eye bracelet there too :)

This was a park we found near the Arc de Triomf. I loved the elephant statue, a lot of people were climbing up and sitting on his trunk but I couldn't quite manage it :( I also rowed my first boat ever!

Sagrada de Familia was incredible to look at, we didn't go in as you have to pay and we are poor students but seriously the outside was enough. It was absolutely beautiful, I never really look at architecture enough but you can't help but get lost in this, I could have stood there for hours. We also found this car up in the air. 

All the photos that were just everywhere. Fruit! and Frankie!

I'd definitely go back to Barcelona again, I think going for a few days really pushes you to keep busy and do a lot in a short space of time, rather than dawdle about and waste time. Barcelona isn't really a beach kind of holiday, well it wasn't for us anyway. We like keeping busy. But yeah it was incredible and I loved it and now I want to travel more and more!

Hasta la vista for now Barca!