Be nice to me, I gave blood today....

Yes, I finally manged to give blood (I tried to do this in time for our last issue) , I held off getting a tattoo, got back to my old weight and got a job where I get proper days off!
Inspired by Bunny's regular blood donating blog updates and my own realisation that I hadn't any proper reason for never giving blood before, I booked myself in.
I managed to get a morning appointment, which I always prefer, got myself down there, drank more fluids in ten minutes then I do in a whole day and got myself ready for the blood giving.
The nurse said I had good veins (I do I have MASSIVE veins) and I was lying down giving, as two others were midway through theirs. Then we all finished at the same time!
People who know me know I'm pretty quick at doing most things, turns out I'm even quick at giving blood, I took less then five minutes.
I then sat myself down and went for the orange cordial and the mint Club, wish I had gone for the packet of biscuits, I love those biscuits in little bags!
I'm also pretty sure the lady that took my blood used to be a dinner lady at my school and friends with my mum, I'll ask her next time....
So for the rest of the day, everyone has to be nice to me!

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a lovely place for a day out, there's so much to see and beautiful grounds to just have a walk around in if you've looked at art for a bit too long! I went last week and despite the pouring rain and gale force winds had a lovely time as always...

There were some good exhibitions on but the things that caught my eye were in the gift shop, typical I know but it just re-inforces my theory that 'the gift shop is a major highlight of any day-trip' .

The first things that I gravitated towards were these lovely framed heads by Victoria Whincup, a mixture of cute girl and deer... drwaing and textiles...I'm instantly in love!

Click the photo to see more of Victoria's work in her shop!

Wandering aimlessly round the shop, past the mounds of Rob Ryan stuff, some yellow and pink caught my eye...upon closer inspection it's a beautifully detailed image with mushrooms, woodland and a fantastic creature. I instantly thought 'wonderland' and picked it up, the image is by NY based illustrator and artist Aya Kakeda. She not only draws but also does some really sweet work with a needle and thread, click the picture to check out her website.

Hope you like these ladies' work as much as I do, if you get a chance to go to YSP I highly recoomend it...but you might want to wait 'til October as there will be an exhibiton by Manchester based artist Rachel Goodyear whose work is amazing and like nothing else out there!

Flesh And Bone exhibition

On Thursday evening Kandy and (and other cool folk we know) headed to Manchester's Common for the preview of David Baileys Flesh And Bone exhibition.
David Bailey is super illustrator and all round good egg who has done a shit load of awesome work and runs Manchester's #1 zine emporium Good Grief!
Flesh And Bone is weekly comic strip.
It was super busy on Thursday, and with all Common exhibitions, the art literally adorns the walls, so we didn't get to see it all properly, we returned the next day in hope to see more, but it was the start of Bank Holiday weekend, so still busy! We did bag (HA BAG!) ourselves a Flesh And Bone tote though!
The exhibition runs until the end of September, so go visit, it's laugh out loud, not the kind where people go 'oh that's funny', but the kind where you start reading, then start pissing your pants, then can't even get to the last frame in the strip as your eyes have filled up with those laughter tears. It's also quite pleasing on the eye, just visually like, GO NOW!

The one where it was my birthday....

So yes, I turned 27 at the start of the month, and as the below blog post states, I had a rad 'ol time in Wales, but because I'm like the queen and think I have two birthdays, I did other stuff too, a few more select pictures form the celebration of my birth 2k11 style!

1- Party Poison jacket my pals clubbed together and got for me, this rules for many reasons, it's blue, it's sooooo 90s and it's MCR merch (best merch ever!).
2-Knitted panda, the first thing my friend Leesey has ever knitted!
3-Flowers, lovingly made by my pal Alison.
4-Bad grrrrl bowling.
5-Cocktails, Charlotte and I enjoying some cheeky booze!

Where am I? In the village.

The beginning of May saw my birthday and this year I spent it in North wales, near Snowdonia with all my favourite folk!
We stayed in Porthmadog in two caravans, travelling on the Friday and leaving Monday morning.
I had the best time, OK ankles were broken and it went far too quick, but just hanging out with all my friends that live all over the country, for longer than half an hour was rad, especially doing it all in the sun!
We spent my actual birthday in Portmeirion, home of TV show The Prisoner, the prettiest place in the world! So surreal, and like I was in a foreign land! We also boarded a steam train this day, much excitement all round!
I don't want to rabbit on too much as it will just be a lot of rads and awesomes and best evers, so I'll just leave you with some choice snaps.

I Know What You Did Last Summer....

What did we do?
We screen printed! (yes this is a very belated blog!)

Last summer saw us screen print for the first time ever! It was so much fun! OK so I'll admit we got regular Sugar Paper contributor Benjamin Cooney to tidy up the logo and expose the screen, but we did the messy bit!

We screen printed a fine selection of totes that every member of the Sugar Paper gang now sports......

.....get yours too at the Sugar Paper Shoppe

Sugar Paper #7...

IS OUT NOW!!!!!!
With such amazing things as macrame, knitting, sewing yr sen some shorts, baking, cooking, dot-to-dot and hanging out with the trees. BUY HERE

Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention & SP#7....

So we shall be having a stall at Victoria Baths Zine Convention on Saturday......

We will be premiering Sugar Paper #7 at this as well as checking out what's on offer at the other stalls including Sugar Paper faves Nude Magazine and Memo.
Be there or be square!

Reverse Applique Kobra Kid tee!

So the other week it was my all round good pal Nick's birthday, I hadn't been paid from work yet and wanted to give him something rad, so I knocked out a t-shirt heavily inspired by that worn by My Chemical Romance's Kobra Kid AKA Mikey Way.
I thought you some of you guys might want to make it too, so here's how.....
You will need:
-black t-shirt
-yellow t-shirt
-sewing machine

-yellow thread
-tailors chalk/pencil
-scissors
-pins
-unpicker

1- First, unpick the front of the black t-shirt from the rest of the t-shirt (up the side seams, front of arms, and neck)

2-Once unpicked, pin to the reverse of the yellow t shirt front and stitch together.

3- Keep inside out, and on the black draw animal print style shapes. Pin in several places.

4- Stitch around these shapes with straight stitch, it's best to pull the t-shirt tight as you sew, it will keep from pulling when worn.

5- Once all the shapes have been stitched round, turn the shirt to the right side and get some small scissors.

6- Snip out the yellow middles of the shapes, stitch around 1cm from stitch line. The best way to do this is pull up the centre stitch a hole and work your way to the edge, trying best to separate the black back.

7- Once all cut out your animal print will be revealed, wear with pride and do kung fu on a rock!

(yr the best Nick!)