photo shop_zps4e91b29b.jpg  photo about_zpsab9889c9.jpg  photo contact_zpsf03ef059.jpg  photo Untitled-2_zps43e03738.jpg

Monday 29 July 2013

Picnic in the Park - Our Vegan summer picnic!

On Saturday my local park, Avenham Park, hosted a big Picnic in the Park event. Preston Vegan Society thought this would be a great opportunity to get to know each other and share lots of yummy vegan food.

I don't know many local vegans, and had never met most of this group before, so it was really good to meet lots of like minded people and have a day of chatting and eating delicious food in the sunshine by the river.

Everyone bought their own food to share out. I made my chocolate chip cookies and a mint, split peas and quinoa salad (recipe to come if I actually remember what the eff I put in it!). There were so many amazing foods on offer; chocolate strawberry cheesecake, lemon poppy seed muffins, chai cheesecake, bakewell tart and vegusto sandwiches to name a few! We all agreed it was very surreal to be able to eat whatever we wanted without asking the ingredients.

I had such a fantastic day meeting new people, trading recipes and scoffing. And I hope we have many more events in the future!


Sunday 28 July 2013

Desk of the Day 27/07/2013 Pink & Purple Pretties

Today I'm finishing off these pink & purple cloud mocassins. They're going to be covered in lots of little donuts.

I'm also working on a simple shoe customisation tutorial! I'm so excited to get this project started and can't wait to show you guys!




Friday 26 July 2013

Desk of the Day 26/07/2013 Sweet Stilettos

Since getting my new style of stilettos in stock I've been wanting to paint a pair for myself. Here are some I've been working on. Today I'll be adding the final details and sealing them ready to wear!

Can you guess what the theme is?



This style of shoe isn't available through my Etsy Shop just yet, however you can email me at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com if you'd like a pair :)

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Vegan Police Giveaway!

A couple of weeks ago I did a Vegan Etsy Treasury and discovered a load of fantastic vegan shops. One of them was Vegan Police who sell cute, hand printed vegan t-shirts and tanks. I think I added almost all of their tank tops to my Christmas wishlist for this year. Not only are their tops adorable and spread a load of vegan love, but the shop also donates 10% of their sales to animal charities!

Heather from Vegan Police has very kindly offered to let the lucky winner of this giveaway choose a tank from her shop. You can enter this giveaway below the pictures of awesome t-shirts:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Etsy Finds - Honest Abe

I was struggling to think of ideas for a treasury this week. So I decided to look to my Abe Lincoln shoes for inspiration. I don't really know much about Abe or any American Presidents, but the little I do know about Abe makes me want to learn more about him. Plus, I think his beard is super rad, so he deserves his own Etsy Finds post.


Monday 22 July 2013

Sunny Days and a Giveaway winner!

I've been a little absent from the blog over the past few days. There's a good reason for it though I promise! I've been out enjoying the sunshine!

Where I live in the North West of England we very rarely see a blue sky or warm weather. In fact, the weather in my particular village is so dreary that in the second world war they decided to build a bomb factory here so the cloudy skies could protect it from being seen by planes. I don't know how factual that is, my driving instructor told me about it, but it makes sense to me.

Over the past couple of weeks we have had beautiful, warm, sunny weather. So I've been trying to make the most of it.

I'm so lucky that I live about an hours drive from The Lake District, one of the most beautiful places in the UK. Last weekend I drove up to Grasmere to meet a friend who lives near by. We decided to hike up to Easedale Tarn which was an absolutely stunning walk. There were great views all the way up as we followed the path of a waterfall. We even found a little pool to have a swim in and escape from the heat. When we got to the top we were greeted by a big tarn and even more beautiful views. It was bliss.

Later on in the week I travelled down south to visit my gran for a few days. My gran lives near lots of beautiful countryside too, so I spent lots of time relaxing, strawberry picking and even got to go to a buddhist temple that served yummy vegan food!


And, it's time to announce the winner of my Betty Turbo Giveaway! Congratulations to Tamara! 



Thursday 18 July 2013

Matryoshka Wedding Invitations

I've finally decided to set up a listing for custom wedding invitations on my shop. After being asked to do some wedding invitations a few weeks ago, I enjoyed them so much that I want to do more! I can do them in any theme (the wackier the better, obviously!).

Here are the finished invitations from a couple of weeks ago, I'm so happy with how they turned out. The brief was Matryoshka Dolls and swallows on brown paper. It worked out better to fill the background with a brown paper texture and print on white card so I could keep all the detail of the bride's white dress.



Tuesday 16 July 2013

Etsy Finds - Maneki Neko (Lucky Cats)

After painting two pairs of Maneki Neko shoes recently (you can see them here and here) I got searching Etsy for fun Lucky Cat finds. Here's what I found:


Monday 15 July 2013

Betty Turbo Giveaway!

Betty Turbo (aka Agnes Barton) is the creator of fun and kitschy prints, original artwork, greetings cards and lots more. If you like sweet stuff, crazy fonts and the starship enterprise as a cookie sandwich, then this shop is for you.

Agnes has very kindly offered to giveaway a print and a greetings card to the lucky winner of this giveaway! Check out these awesome works from her shop and enter below:



a Rafflecopter giveaway


Sunday 14 July 2013

More Adventure Time themed pictures!

Remember my Adventure Time Russian Dolls & Converse? I found some pictures that I took of them together before the converse got sent off to their new home.

I wish I could do matching shoes & Russian Dolls more often.

If you'd like your own custom Shoes or Russian Dolls check out my Etsy Shop
or email me at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com



All of the characters here are copyright of © Cartoon Network. This is just my own fan art & I am not associated with Adventure Time or Cartoon Network in any way.




Friday 12 July 2013

Desk of the Day - 12/07/2013 - Pastel Slime


I'm working on these fun shoes today! I love the original colour of the high tops so much that I decided to let a lot of it show through. I found a new high top stockist who sells them in pretty colours like baby pink and baby blue as well as the normal white ones, so I'm hoping I get some more pastelly orders soon!

Customised High Tops are available in my Etsy Shop. If you don't have Etsy you can contact me about orders at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com

Thursday 11 July 2013

Fluff & Abe Lincoln High Tops

This has been such a fun pair of shoes to paint! When it comes to theme ideas, the crazier the better! And I think this has definitely been the oddest order I've had this year.

The lady who ordered these gave me a simple brief; green tentacles, Marshmallow Fluff and Abe Lincoln. At first I struggled to think how these could work together, but in the end I'm really satisfied with how these have turned out.

You can see some work in progress shots of these shoes here.

Customised High Tops are available in my Etsy Shop. If you don't have Etsy you can contact me about orders at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com


Marshmallow Fluff is copyright of Durkee-Mower Inc. These are just my own fan art of their retro packaging and I am not associated with them in any way.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Maneki Neko & Polka Dot Heels!

You might remember this custom order that I posted a couple of days ago. It inspired me enough to paint some heels I had lying around. I'm now a little obsessed with Maneki Nekos and contemplating doing some digital illustrations of them when I get the time.

You can see some work in progress shots here.

If you would like some of your own customised shoes you can contact me at my shop or email me at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Etsy Finds - I heart Blythe

I have always loved the creepy cute look of Blythe dolls. I have three myself and one of my New Years resolutions this year was to have a go at redoing my Blythes faces and hair. Naturally, being the Etsy addict that I am I've been surfing Etsy for inspiration and clothes to go with my dolls new looks (when/if I finally get around to making them over!).

Here are my top Blythe items on Etsy:




Monday 8 July 2013

Desk of the Day 08/07/2013 - Donuts & the Sea


Here are some more progress shots of the pink heels I've been working on as well as some other heels I'm currently painting. It's so fun to be getting to paint such dramatic heels!

If you'd like some custom painted stilettos email me at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com
These are new in so not even in the PonyChops shop just yet!

Sunday 7 July 2013

Superga x House of Holland Maneki Neko shoes!

A few weeks ago a customer asked me to paint some of her Superga x House of Holland sneakers which had got discoloured in the wash. I absolutely love the original pair of shoes, so I hope I did them justice! These were kind of tricky to paint on because of all the seams on the shoes. But I'm still tempted to get some for myself to paint.

The owner of these shoes loves Maneki Nekos (Lucky Cats), which I think is such an awesome theme for a pair of shoes (I even loved it so much I painted my own pair of Maneki Neko heels).

You can see some work in progress shots here.

If you would like some of your own customised shoes you can contact me at my shop or email me at ponychopsshop @ gmail . com