Traveling Thursday: Scotland part 2: Rosslyn Chapel

Hiya there!

How's everyone doing? I've been a bit sick as of late, getting slightly better today, though I still have a bit of a cough and sniffles... my nose is a bit raw already, G called me Rudolphina today!

For today's Traveling Thursday is part 2 of my trip to Scotland! I'm sharing some photos of my trip to Rosslyn Chapel. If you've read the Da Vinci Code or seen the movie you will have heard about this place. It is really a remarkable building, worth of any and all praises, and of all the new visitors that the book and movie are bringing there. Full of carvings, and when I say full, I really mean full! From the ceiling to the floor all the walls are covered with carvings! I'm really thankful to Dan Brown for helping discover such an amazing place! You can think whatever of his books, but they do make you want to visit places, and some are less well known than others, and well worth the visit!

Rosslyn Chapel, proper name being Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, is located at the village of Roslin, and nearby the ruins of Roslin Castle. It was a day trip for me and Patri, by bus, not too long a journey, and a totally worth one! The weather wasn't too bad, but cloudy and threatening some rain, which I guess it's not that rare for Scotland.

When we arrived, the chapel was undergoing some maintenance and rehabilitation work, so a giant structure was all over it, which meant no proper photos of the outside for me, but I took many many photos in the inside, and also a few ones of the corners that were free of the metal structure. And when I say many, I do really mean MANY! I'm so thankful for digital cameras!

Thanks to the rehab work you could go up and see the ruins of Roslin Castle

Pale is one thing, a ghost is more accurately describe me here!

The Apprentice column

The Master column

There are some unusual stained glass windows in the newest part of the chapel

Rosslyn Chapel is a wonderful place to visit, and I'd love to go back there, and also take some time to visit the ruins of Roslin Castle that we couldn't visit cause we were running out of time to catch the bus back to Edinburgh!

Giveaway Winning: Illustrated Ink!!

It had been a while since I won a giveaway, so instead of the usual Friday Feature, I wanna share my booty from the last giveaway I won with you all!

You already know how much I like Leila from Illustrated Ink's art from previous blog entries, so when she organized a giveaway in her blog to win a print of her "Love & Hate" original watercolour, I jumped aboard instantly!

I was lucky enough to win the giveaway, so I was awaiting patiently the arrival of my parcel, and when it arrived not only I got the print, but also a postcard AND one of Leila's paper dolls, Nurse Nora! ;)

Her style is amazing, I love the old school tattoo and the colours are always stunning!

Miss Nora is now just waiting for me to cut and assemble her on of my next days off!! I don't know where I'll hang her though, so that's why she's still in one piece... any ideas?

Mark This Book Monday: OMGcow, The First Year!

Hello there everyone!


I'm starting the week by telling you that this week I'm gonna be absent enjoying some off days with the boyfriend, so I've worked on scheduling some blog posts the past week, and here's the first one!


With some mind food and a new edition of Mark This Book Monday, I have the pleasure to share with you the very talented Sheika and her webcomic turned into book: OMGcow, the First Year!


I've been following Sheika's webcomic since she started it, and I've loved reading it, but for a bookworm like myself, having the possibility of reading them all (at least the ones that are part of the book) in one go, in book shape has made the experience even better!




Sheika has a very distinct style of drawing, that can vary from more comic-y to more realistic, but it's the kinda style you'd recognize everywhere & anywhere as hers. Her comic is autobiographic, so she takes us through her art classes, her relationship, getting herself a cat, to art exhibitions, dancing cows and even her car accident. The mood and tone of the comic is just as life itself, sometimes more light & fun, and sometimes darker, sadder and even inviting to reflecting on our lives, through the reflections she makes herself.




Reading it is a breeze, it's addictive, entertaining, even makes you think about life, the universe and everything, and once you finish it, you wish it was longer! But, the reader is in luck in this case, since you can pick up from where the book ends and continue reading on her webcomic.




It's not every day that you get to question why you do what you do, and if you are doing what you really want to do, all while going "awwww" at dancing cows!


And since I pre-ordered the book, I got it signed by Miss Sheikasaurus Rex herself! And along with it some mini-comics and some awesomely cute cards for all occasions, and also proof that Miss Sheika is terribly talented at what people would call "proper" art, a sketch of my lil Cinnamon that made me smile and cry at the same time.

















If you want to give a chance to comics for a change, and superheroes are not your thing, you can order OMGcow, the First Year here, and you can check the ongoing webcomic here!

Sandygrafik: Sandra Vargas's Art & Goodies!!

Aaah, Friday! Today I'm enjoying the day off, even if I have to work the weekend. Errands, some shopping and something in the mail, always a good start of the day!


If you remember a previous post about my Haut Totes' bag, I went for a Sandra Vargas design, and I obviously had to check Sandra's own Etsy shop: Sandygrafik. I'm absolutely in love with her Wizard of Oz designs (particularly her Elphaba, cause after reading Wicked, I'm quite a fan of the Wicked Witch) and with her Alice in Wonderland series, all females in her view and all gorgeous, my favourite has to be the Lady Hatter, her version of the Mad Hatter, though her Queen of Hearts is fantastic too!




For my first purchase from her shop (cause I do intend to go back for more) I went for her Alice in Wonderland set of bookmarks, since a bookworm like myself can never have too many bookmarks, and her diecut vinyl stickers with the Lady Hatter & Elphaba and her choice of other two.



When I got my order, Sandra had also included a wonderful postcard of her Lady Cupcake design. I love how vibrant the colours are in her pieces, and what a lovely attention to details all her characters have! I got two Elphaba's stickers, and I'm planning to use one for my suitcase and the other for my car.











I love the tassels the bookmarks have, cause sometimes bookmarks can get lost in big books, but not with a tassel clearly hanging from the book!







For my next order, I'm thinking of a set of the Alice postcards and probably either postcard or print of her Little Prince illustration, I've always had a soft spot for the Little Prince!

Illustrated Ink!!

Christmas/Holidays is now officially over in Spain too, we've got our presents yesterday on the 6th, overindulged in Roscón de Reyes (if you have no idea what it is, here's what wikipedia says about it) and now it's time to take the decorations down, the lights off the streets, and start thinking about the plans for the New Year!


I have a few entries I should have done before, but between the holidays in India with G, the 5 days stuck in London, I have a bit of a backlog of posts, but I'll be catching up on the coming weeks!


Today, I'm gonna be giving the spotlight to the very awesome & talented Leila from Illustrated Ink! For my regular readers the name might sound familiar, cause I've already featured some brilliant custom work she did for me to give as gifts here.


Leila is a full time artist, that paints lovely originals, draw wonderful illustrations, and gives new lives to ugly old vintage pieces she finds, all in her unique mix of Day of the Dead and Old School tattoo style!


After loving the pieces she created for my friends, I knew I needed to get some her art for myself, so after much pondering and trying to choose (her Etsy shop is filled with loads of amazing pieces, from prints, to painted wall decorations, to some pull toys, to paper dolls... all sort of wonderful things!) I decided to go for two of her prints: the Day of the Dead Siempre cat print and the Day of the Dead Amigos dog print, not only cause they're perfect for any animal lover but also because she donates part of the profit from those prints to the Humane Society! And to complete my order, I went for one of her unique Vintage Style lockets, with her Day of the Dead Hello Kitty illustration! Truly a wonderful piece!





Both the prints have really vivid colours, and I'll be sure to frame & hang them once I get a place of my own!






I'm completely in love with the locket! As I'm sure many of you know I'm a huge Hello Kitty lover, and this necklace just combines that with my love for handmade, so it's a total win-win! And the size of the locket is perfect for my taste too! Not too big, but also not too small, and you can clearly see the image since it's enclosed in a dome that magnifies the image!















Leila also sent me a few postcards with some of her art, including one with the Day of the Dead Hello Kitty, and the colours are just fantastic! So alive and vibrant!




If you are looking for some art that is out of the ordinary, you must check Leila's! I'm sure you'll find something you'll love! She's even created a Pin Up Nurse Paper doll!

Shopping Handmade: Gaurav's Birthday!!

Hello everyone!


2011 has been around for quite a bit, and it's the first Monday of the year! Instead of a recipe, I wanted to show off something that I got for the bf's birthday!


Aside from his EyeScream scarf and a RIPT Apparel SW tee, I asked the very talented Sheika of OMGCow aka Sheikasaurus Rex for a custom oil painting of the both of us together! Sheika is a fantastic artist, that painted our portrait without us ever posing for her, just out of photos, and on top of her uni workload and with an injured arm! She did a brilliant job, and we are painted as seen in a camera visor, which reflects our love for photography!


If you want to check more of Sheika's art you can check her semi-daily autobiographic comic OMGCow, and also check her Etsy shop and sign up for her newsletter! (you can get awesome free e-comics!).




You can see us two posing with our ink & canvas doppelgangers! Gaurav loved the super cute idea, we're both quite cheesy, so getting this was the perfect present! We've already decided we'll get another done, but we'll pose for it, maybe for when we get married?

Immortal Longings: Shakespeare Art & Illustrations from London!

Friday is here! But for me, this week is just one more day in the quite long chain of days in a row I have to work, but it's all for the good of spending one full month in India with the bf, so I will not be complaining!


I want to share a shop that is a must for all book lovers, writers, aspiring writers and lovers of art in general! I discovered this shop while doing a search for journals on Etsy, and when I saw Immortal Longings' The Tempest leather journal, I just fell in love! I started checking out their entire shop, and wow, all filled with gorgeous illustrations by Elisabeth E. Schuch all inspired in the works of the Bard, in the shape of prints, calendars, postcards, journals, bookmarks, or even wrapping paper (Hamlet wrapping paper, ain't that amazing?).


It goes without saying that I've spent quite some time looking at this shop, wondering what to get, cause "everything" wouldn't really sit too well with my wallet nor my bank account, so I narrowed it down to choosing between all the available sets of leather journal & bookmark, and that was a hard job in itself. Midsummer's Night Dream? Maybe Romeo & Juliet? Twelfth Night? Macbeth? Much Ado About Nothing? Waaaay too many choices!


What to do? Well, I decided to go back to what drove me to the shop, and I settled on The Tempest set, not only is a play I like, but also it's blue, and that's my favourite colour! So, I went ahead, and ordered my Tempest bookmark & journal set!


When the package arrived, in less than a week, from London (apparently Royal Mail is back to normal again) the first thing I noticed was how well protected the journal arrived. There was this thick wrapping of giant bubble wrap around it!


Not only I got my amazing journal & bookmark, but I also got a Tempest postcard, and I absolutely love the illustration!






The journal is the perfect size to take with you in your handbag (unless you have a small one or a clutch) and I absolutely love the combined smell of the leather & inks... smells like a new book ready to be written or read! Sort of like the smell on old style bookstores... Forgive the crazy bookworm talk! ;)






What can I say, I'm in love with my journal, and I'm really hoping it'll help me get back into writing... it's been way too long since I've managed to write something other than my little ramblings here.







Hopefully, I'll be able to fill it up with short stories, ideas for shoots, all sort of things, so I can buy another sort of soon! ;) I'm still trying to decide which one would make the perfect Guest Book? Any ideas? Also, I'm thinking I really need that Hamlet wrapping paper...