Monday 30 December 2013

Elsa


First things first, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas - did you have fun? I hope none of you were caught in the terrible floods, crazy! 

So, here is the second illustration in my little Frozen series, this is Elsa! Everyone seems to love Elsa the best, but I think Anna seems pretty cool too and I'm obsessed with her cape. Anna had a polar bear to cuddle, so I needed to give Elsa a little animal companion too. I chose a dainty bird which matches her outfit fairly well! I hope you guys like this one too.

My Christmas was spent at my parents house, where we mostly ate a lot of food! I also got the chance to go and see 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' on boxing day which was really interesting and I'd definitely recommend it. Not at all like Ben Stiller's usual films. Amazing scenery too, if you're at all artsy I think you'd love it! 

Do you have any plans for New Year's Day?

C xxx

Monday 23 December 2013

Anna


I have to make a confession and say that I haven't actually seen Frozen yet (I know!) but everyone was talking about it the other day on Twitter, especially Marta, so I decided I'd illustrate some of the characters. I'm definitely going to see this movie as soon as possible as it seems to have glowing reviews! Anyway, this is my interpretation of Anna, I decided to add a baby polar bear just for the cuteness factor so I hope you don't mind me taking a little artistic license. I've already started my Elsa illustration and hopefully I'll be able to post that after Christmas. I'll probably not be around on Twitter/my blog until the 27th so I will wish you all Merry Christmas now! I hope you have an amazing festive season, and I can't wait to read all of your Christmas posts. I've really been enjoying reading various gift guides and seeing all of your holiday decorations. 

You've all been so lovely this past year, all of your comments have been so inspiring and sweet! If you have any ideas for illustrations you'd like to see on my blog, then please just drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do in the new year. 

Thank you for visiting and for all of your amazing support! 

C xxx

Friday 20 December 2013

Christmas Wishes & Snow Bunny Kisses!

Jennie and I are very pleased to present the first Violet & Ted (short) story! We've been busy working on this little Christmas tale for a couple of months, and we've managed to come up with something we're both very proud of. Jennie has written the most adorable story which really shows off her excellent writing style and I'm sure you're all going to love it! Without further ado, here is...





I hope you enjoyed this story and I'd love to know your thoughts. If you have any feedback, please feel free to drop me a comment below!
Violet & Ted will be returning for a special story next Easter, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I'd like to thank everyone that has supported my blog this year, it means an awful lot to me. All of your comments are really inspiring. Merry Christmas!

C xxx

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Blogger Cuties


1/2/3

I decided to make this pattern on a bit of a whim, but I've ended up quite liking it! I wanted to include some of my favourite bloggers and it was tough to only choose four. In the end I decided to pick Laura, Megan, Zoe, and Kailey. Let me know if you managed to guess before reading this! 

In other news, I've finished all of my Christmas shopping now, although I didn't really have many presents to buy in the first place. How are you all getting on? I've also managed to hurt my fingernail on a tealight candle! 

C xxx

Thursday 12 December 2013

Lily & Aerys!


I promised that I was going to draw Lily Melrose as part of this series, and here she is (along with her kitten Aerys!). I knew that I wanted to draw her in a 'Game of Thrones' style as she is a huge fan, so I made her into an honorary Targaryen. I really loved creating this one, especially Aerys, I think she looks like a pretty fierce war kitten!

I'd love to know what you think too!

C xxx

Monday 9 December 2013

Winter Animals Pattern


1/2/3/4

I've been working on the animals for this pattern for quite awhile now but have only just gotten around to sorting it out! I think this pattern could make really cute Christmas wrapping paper as it has a wintery theme but isn't really too traditional. I've popped it up on my Society6 store already, and even made a little range. It would be amazing if they added gift wrap to their item selection, maybe one day! Let me know what you think of this, and if you have a favourite 'winter animal'. I adore robins too, but I thought they might be a little overdone at this point aha, they are still extremely cute though. 

C xxx

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Artists I'm inspired by: Rebecca Cobb





I came across the work of Rebecca Cobb quite recently while I was researching Quentin Blake and their originals both happened to be sold from the same website. She's definitely had a fairly prolific career so far, having illustrated many lovely childrens storybooks. I love how unique and original her illustrations are, they are quite painterly and carefree, and her use of colour is really beautiful. I'm sure I would have loved these when I was little too! Do you remember any of the storybooks you loved when you were a child? 

You can have a look at Rebecca's portfolio here!

C xxx

Sunday 1 December 2013

Phase Eight: Blogger Christmas Party Competition


1: Ava Emerald Drop Necklace, £25
2: Colette Sequin Dress, £295
3: Adele Clutch Bag, £49

Here is my entry for the Phase Eight Bloggers Christmas Party Competition! The brief is to choose pieces from the site that you would love to wear to a Christmas party and then put together a collage with your chosen look - I decided to illustrate mine of course. If you want to take a little look at the competition, you can do so here. I rarely wear sequins, but I think they can be very eye catching, and pretty for Christmas! I also went for a red dress as I've always seen red as a festive colour and it suits pale skin tones so well. I spied this amazing jewelled necklace on the site, which is definitely a statement piece and looks much more expensive than it actually is. I also wanted to keep the accessories to a minimum so went for a simple red clutch to compliment the dress. It does seem fairly unlikely that a little fawn would want to follow me around, but wouldn't that be lovely aha! 

If you decide to take part, then please let me know as I'd love to see your entries. The prize up for grabs is a £100 voucher to spend in store so it's well worth giving it a go. 

C xxx

Thursday 28 November 2013

Gingerbread Buttons in Storybook Form

This is a little project I've been working on for awhile based on Libby of course! I think Libby's a great blogger and it seems like she's been having a bit of a hard time lately, so I wanted to make something special for her. I decided to turn her into a storybook character! I don't actually have any text for any of the images because I'm not really much of a writer, but if anybody has any ideas, you can always email me! So let me know what you think, and I really do hope Libby will like these. 






C xxx

Friday 15 November 2013

Zoe and her Mandarin Duck


I've literally just put the finishing touches on this illustration in the form of the little heron flying away in the background. This is of course based on Zoe aka The London Lipgloss, who I have illustrated many times before because I think she's lovely. I thought she would be sailing around a pond on a mandarin duck because I see her as a fairly colourful person and these ducks are beautifully vibrant too! Please let me know what you think! 

C xxx

Sunday 10 November 2013

The Girl with Kitten Paws Dresses Up


I realise I've slightly missed the boat with this one, but I only got the inspiration for it after seeing so many amazing Halloween costumes (particularly Milkteef's!) so that's why I decided to do it anyway. It's made me want my own little apple bag though!

C xxx

Wednesday 6 November 2013

What the Fox Say?

I decided to make this on a whim yesterday. If you have no idea what this is about, then consider yourself one of the lucky ones!

C xxx

Friday 1 November 2013

Winter Cat Freebie

Like I mentioned on Twitter the other day, I'm going to start offering a couple of illustrated freebies that you can use on your blogs/websites etc! I have no idea about how frequent this will be, but I'll just see how it goes. All of the illustrations will be in PNG format with transparent backgrounds; and if you do decide to use them for anything, I'd really appreciate it if you could link back to me! I drew this little Winter Cat for an illustration I'm in the process of making at the moment which will feature a whole host of other Winter animals, so hopefully I'll be able to get going with those soon. 

Let me know what you think of this idea, I'd appreciate any feedback whatsoever! 

C xxx

Monday 28 October 2013

Tara and her Seahorse


I hope you've all had a great start to the week! This illustration is part of my blogger/animal series, and it's based on the adorable Tara from The Style Rawr team! I asked Tara what her favourite animal was and she mentioned a Seahorse and a Hummingbird, both of which I love. I decided to go for a little Seahorse in the end, so I hope you like my choice. I'm really happy with how this turned out; I really loved creating an under-water background, from the coral reef to the tropical fish. I have lots of other portraits planned out and I've already thought of a cool idea for a Lily Melrose/Aerys illustration!

C xxx

Thursday 24 October 2013

Back to Roots


I recently got inspired by Karla Powell's entry to the Illamasqua awards (which you can see below) and decided to make a cute illustration based on it. I really felt that Karla's creation had a distinctly owlish feel, so I just went with it! Karla is always trekking back and forth from London to the Midlands, what better way to travel than by owl. 



Karla actually went on to win her category, so a massive congratulations is in order! I'm so happy that she won, and I felt that she really deserved to. I loved the overall feel, and the fact that this girl looked like a 'character' when she was completed. Anyway, I just thought it was awesome and I hope you all like it too! 

I'll be starting the blogger/animal portraits now, and I suppose this is my first one really. I was thinking of doing all of them in squares like this one, what do you think?

C xxx

Thursday 17 October 2013

Violet & Ted: Sneak Peeks!

I'm sorry I haven't posted an illustration in a little while - I've been super busy trying to get all of the Violet & Ted Christmas illustrations ready, with the help of the lovely Jennie of course! I thought you might all like to see some sneak peeks, can you guess what is going on in any of them?




If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me mention that I will be starting a new illustrative series based on all of my favourite blogger's! However, to make it a little more interesting, they will all be flying/riding on various oversized animals. So, for example, I'm thinking of Jennie and a massive version of Ralphie. I have lot's of other ideas too so I can't wait to get started! 

I hope you're all having a great week so far.

Oh, and Tara, if you're reading this, please let me know what your favourite animal is (I don't think you have a pet?) aha - thank you in advance! 

C xxx

Sunday 6 October 2013

Sleepy Hollow


Seeing as it's now October, I thought I would do a special Halloween illustration based on one of my favourite Burton films, Sleepy Hollow. This is of course Katrina Van Tassel (and her awesome cape which I wish I had!). Talking of Sleepy Hollow, has anyone been watching the new tv series? It's actually pretty good! 

C xxx

Friday 4 October 2013

Aesthetic


I thought it was about time that I share one of my favourite images from my Aesthetic editorial with you all! As you can see, Michelle entitled it 'Wild at Heart' which I think is a beautiful name for it. Michelle was such a joy to work with, she gave me a comprehensive document containing all of the styling details and how she wanted each girl to look, she certainly made my job much easier! She was also super encouraging each time I submitted an illustration which really spurred me on to be as creative as possible with all of the background detailing etc. 

I chose this as my absolute favourite as I just like the overall composition, with the little path twisting away - it makes me want to follow it and explore! 

There are still some copies left if you were hoping to get one, you can purchase them right here

C xxx

Saturday 28 September 2013

The Girl with Kitten Paws visits Iceland


This idea was suggested to me by Marta, so here is the little Kitten girl in Iceland! I decided that she would be visiting to see the Northern Lights (I think I remember Tara talking about them a little while ago and it must have stuck with me). I would so love an awesome cape like the one she is wearing, with a fluffy hood preferably! 

Let me know if you have any suggestions for places that you would like her to visit as I'm slowly working my way through them all - it is probably going to take me quite some time though aha. 

C xxx

Friday 27 September 2013

A Sicilian Adventure


As promised the other day, here is my second Temperley illustration! I decided to choose a completely different type of outfit for this one, it's not quite as dressy but I love the combination of colours. As I was looking at pictures of Sicily to base my background on, I came across this really pretty meadow with lots of wildflowers and long grass and thought it would be perfect. It seems like the ideal place to spend a sunny afternoon. Anyway I hope you guys like this! I have another 'Kitten Paw' girl planned and Jennie and I are trying to get some Violet and Ted illustrations organised for Christmas - maybe we will even have some cute cards to sell! 

C xxx

Tuesday 24 September 2013

A Temperley Bride


"It’s about complete romance; a Sicilian dream; a tropical mood in a Mediterranean environment,” Alice Temperley said after her show this afternoon. “And it’s a real celebration of Temperley – the Alice line covers our everyday offering so that the main line has really become about intricate, spoiling detail and a feeling of couture.” (Vogue Online)

So here is my first illustration inspired by the Temperley S/S 14 collection. I was really inspired by the quote above and decided to choose a Sicilian landscape for the background, and I'm really happy with how it's turned out! I was going to do a group illustration but then I decided that each girl deserved her own portrait so I actually have another one to finish and hopefully I will be able to share that with you in the next few days. The other girl looks a lot like Drew Barrymore for some reason (it was totally unintentional!) but I like Drew so that's cool with me. I hope you guys like this!

C xxx

Thursday 19 September 2013

Zoe in the Park


Here is my latest Zoe illustration, this time she is just chilling in the park! I really love looking to her for inspiration because she always looks fantastic and I think she is really sweet too. Also, Zoe always manages to have the most shiny hair - how is this even possible! I don't know why I keep doing all of these 'summery' illustrations, when I should probably be trying to focus on autumn now, nevermind aha. My next illustration is going to be my Temperley one so I'm going to attempt to sketch something out this evening. I can't wait to get going with it! 

C xxx

My Moheda's

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win myself a pair of amazing Moheda clog/sandals over on the lovely Fritha's blog. It was an awesome surprise so I thought I would show you guys in case you are thinking of getting a pair of your own - which I would really recommend! 


So, I won the 'Betty' style sandals in the colour Cognac which is a really pretty tan colour, the sandals feature these gorgeous lattice-style straps and a 6.5 cm heel, so enough to give you a little height whilst still being very comfortable. I haven't actually worn these sandals out yet (as the weather is now rainy!) but they feel very sturdy and well made, and I don't get the feeling they will rub very much at all. 


You can see the heel height a little better in this photo! I also love the fact that these sandals have a little grip on the soles as I don't really like slippy shoes. 


All in all, I love these shoes! I am so grateful to Fritha for hosting such a fantastic giveaway and I'm very happy to now own such a great pair of sandals. These clogs also come in a wide variety if colours and styles, and you can view the full range here. I'm not sure if the Moheda website features a currency converter, but these sandals work out at roughly £58 which is very good for such a well constructed pair of shoes! 

C xxx

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Show I want to draw: Temperley S/S 14






All photo's taken from Vogue.co.uk

I seriously LOVED everything about this show, this was just a snippet of the awesome because every single look was perfect in my opinion. I'd love to draw all of these outfits but I think I'll just end up choosing a select few. I already have a lovely location in mind to use as a background (Sicily!) and I was thinking that it could be a group illustration as I very rarely do them. 

Anyway, have any of you guys been keeping up to date with LFW? Do you have any favourite shows that you recommend I check out?

C xxx



Saturday 14 September 2013

The Girl with Kitten Paws visits Machu Picchu


Here is the latest installment of my 'Kitten Paw' series which will feature this lovely lady travelling all over the world. Tara from The Style Rawr suggested that she should visit Machu Picchu next, so here she is! I thought this was such a wonderful idea, I probably wouldn't have thought of it on my own, so thank you so much Tara - you're the best. In the end I decided to make it a little more colourful just to fit in with my style a little better (I definitely don't find Machu Picchu dull though!). Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions of places she could travel to, please feel free to leave me a comment. 

I hope you're all having a good weekend so far! 

C xxx

Wednesday 11 September 2013

This is Halloween


This is my entry for a competition Party Invitations UK are currently running (it closes in a few days though!) called 'Spooky Scribbles'. The brief is to design a character which could be used on a Halloween party invite. I decided to create a character which would be suitable for a children's party, so hopefully I've managed to come up with something cute whilst still being a little spooky! I think the balloons are my favourite part, especially the ghost. 

C xxx