April Cute Things

Hello Everyone! Wow... it's been absolutely ages since I last blogged, and for a second there, I wasn't sure if I was coming back. Not gonna lie, 2023 hasn't started off great for me. Sorry to begin a cutesy themed post like this, but I don't want to sugarcoat things. Mental health struggles are unfortunately common and if me being open about my own struggles helps just one person feel not so alone, or gives them that little push to be open about what they're going through with their loved ones or a therapist or something, then it's worth it. Up until my early 20's, I used to be one of those people who hid what I was going through, but my OG readers will know I'm pretty open about the mental health conditions I have; I've even written a few posts about them in the past as well. Anyhow, this year has brought with it many unforeseen circumstances that have had a big impact on my already messy mind, and my ability to get-up-and-go all but vanished, until literally last week. So, here I am FINALLY with a new post, something short and sweet, as the saying goes (well, I'll try to keep it short but overexplaining is part of my package deal, haha!). I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Back in late December when I was doing what a lot of us do, thinking about our goals for the new year ahead, I came up with a post series idea. I used to share several posts a week at one point, but reality check: going from nothing to that just wasn't happening. I was trying to wrack my brain for ways to still talk about all the things that make my day-t0-day life that little bit brighter, whilst only sharing something once a week. Eventually, I thought why not do a sort of round up post at the end of each month, to share with you all anything cute that I might have bought or watched or whatever. I feel like most of you folks are here for that anyway! I'm not sure if the title will stay the same, but getting back to writing took enough energy without attempting to come up with a catchier name... I mean, does it really need one? We'll see :) 

Since today's post has more of a catching up vibe, I'm going to be sharing all about the cutest additions to my life since Christmas Time. Some might think it's a little late for that now, but the last few months have felt like one giant never-ending month. Somehow simultaneously speeding by and dragging at the same time! Who can relate? Plus, I think all my cutesy acquisitions deserve to be celebrated. I know I'll enjoy talking about them and remembering the joy I felt when I first got them. Fingers crossed it's still a fun read for everyone else! 

Decided to start off with these embroidery pieces. Aren't they gorgeous!? They were made for me by my wonderful blogging bestie, Natalee from ThereMightBeCoffee. Embroidery has been a new hobby of hers for several months now and she's made some lovely pieces, including these which she surprised me with for my birthday last Autumn and for Christmas. I know that I said I was just going to be featuring things from Christmas onwards, but I couldn't not show both pieces off,  because I'm absolutely over the moon with them! Both these characters are special to me, as Lily is my favourite villager from the Nintendo video game series, Animal Crossing, and Hamtaro holds a big place in my heart from my childhood. It was an anime series that I really adored growing up, so much so that I even named a pet hamster of mine after the main character. If you're also a fan of this little cutie, you should check out my previous post all about the Hamtaro Nendoroid :) Which is your favourite of the two pieces Nat very kindly made for me? I feel so loved because I know how much time these pieces take to put together ♥ I cannot wait to get them up on the wall in my bedroom! 

It wouldn't be a Raiin Monkey life update if it didn't include something about plushies! I am addicted to buying them, always have been and don't think I'm gonna be stopping any time soon, with new releases and collections popping up all the time. I have my eye on Jelly Cats now, so watch this space, haha! I've actually added a couple more to my collection this year, but I thought I'd leave something for the next edition of my monthly Cute Things series. Which of the plushies below pulls on your heartstrings the most? 

I have been aware of this lovely little froggy character since the early days of the internet, at least the early days for me which would be the early 2000s. I have always been very fond of frogs, but the obsession hadn't quite taken hold back then. I was all about Sanrio and San-X, especially some of the less talked about characters nowadays, such as Chi Chi Monchan. I would occasionally see this froggo around the kawaii enthusiast communities, but I didn't have a clue who it was until a few years ago. Its name is Pickles, and even though I have a tendency to refer to plushies as 'he', something cool about this frog is that, according to the info I found on wiki, its gender is a secret. I think that's really cool. Back in January, a new store was brought to my attention on Instagram called Disco Waffle. They sell plushies that can be quite tricky to source here in the UK, and as soon as they announced that they were stocking Pickles, I had to have one! I chose yellow, because it's just such an eye-catching and cheerful colour, and I am very happy with how well-made this plush is. 

I said I was going to attempt to keep this post short, but that ships already sailing... I can't help myself. I have to tell ALL THE DETAILS :D 

Another plushie that I got back in January was this fabulous Cinnamoroll from the Build A Bear Workshop. When BAB announced that they would be bringing out a Hello Kitty plush for the iconic character's 40th Anniversary, I was super excited, however, I wasn't a fan of the silver design choices they went for. I still have the original Hello Kitty plush they released when I was a teenager (it was my second ever purchase from them), so I didn't really need another, but the anniversary release had me hoping for a new series, like they seem to be doing a lot over the last several years, with the Pokemon collection for example, that seems to be still going strong! It was the prospect of more Sanrio characters that made me snap up a Cinnamoroll as soon as I spotted an ad on the stores instagram. I don't usually buy white plushies, just because of how quickly dust and stuff shows up on them, but I couldn't say no... he's sooooo cute! I love his little cinnamon bun shaped tail and squishy, floppy ears. They make up for the fact that whoever stuffed him did so so thoroughly that he can't be put into a sitting position, making him tough to display with my other plushies. Oops! Are you hoping for anymore Sanrio BAB's? Kuromi is my fave, so I'm hoping for a plush of her, but I'm also super curious how they would design Pom Pom Purin to make sure he's the chubby cutie we all know and love. 

How sweet are the squishmallows!? The standard sized one on the right was bought for me by my sister off my Christmas wishlist. It's supposed to be a beluga whale, one of my favourite sea creatures, and his name is Laslow. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him, but the name also had a nostalgic appeal to it. I've been trying to think of where I'd heard the name back when I was a kid, and my sister made me remember the Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo, so I'm thinking that might be the one! Again, as I'm not generally a fan of white plushies, I am really glad that Squishmallow decided to shake things up and make Laslow a pastel lilac and blue colour, and to give him what I call the uwu mouth, that classic :3 face. It's so cute! The tiny squishmallow was gifted to me by my lovely friend, Sophie, and it was the perfect surprise because I'd been thinking about getting the standard sized Maggie the Stingray squishmallow for a while. If it wasn't due to the fact that my room is slowly being overtaken my plushies, I would have so many more squishmallows by now, but I'm trying to only get the ones I really have a mighty need for, so it's great that I now have a pocket-sized Maggie instead :) No matter how long it's been since I bought my first squishmallow, I am still amazed at how soft they are everytime I touch one! 

I thought I'd include some snippets from my instagram of other cute things I've been buying. There's just something about pez dispensers that makes me never able to walk away whenever I see one of my favourite characters. So, I had to grab this Bulbasaur when my sister spotted it in B&M. And of course because I have no self control, when she mentioned that they had a Pikachu in stock, I got that one, too. Do any of you guys like pez? Have you kept any from your childhood? The rug I got from Kenji when I headed to Manchester City with my best friend in December last year. I'd spotted these fabulous little rugs/mats back in September when I had visited the Trafford Centre store for the first time, and very much regretted not picking one up then. The Arndale store didn't have the Oppy the Frog one I wanted, so I got my second favourite Tiny K character, Dorothy the witchy cat. I was really impressed by how soft these rugs were, and love that they aren't fluffy so will be easy to clean. They were £8 each as far as I remember! 

I have the most fantastic of friends!! All but one of these items was a gift from one of my loved ones :') Thank you for being amazing, guys!! 

So, the only item above that I purchased myself was the stationery blind box with the adorable strawberry pig on the front. During my Christmas Time trip to Manchester, I popped into Miniso to see whether the rumoured Sanrio collection had been stocked yet. Unluckily, it showed up not long after we'd been! Because I was a little gutted, I was determined to find something to buy, but it's a pricey store so I was almost ready to admit defeat, when I spotted these little Miniso X Penple Toys boxes not far from the till (and discounted!). I have no idea what's inside yet, as I've been meaning to unbox it on the Tiktok I made just for sharing my toy collecting and unboxing hobby. I've not posted on there in ages, but hoping to change that very soon. So if that's your cup of tea, please give my account a follow. 

My friend Sophie, along with the tiny ray squishmallow gave me a gift bag filled with all sorts of lovely things when we met up in February (thank you!! ♥). Due to covid and just general life getting in the way, we hadn't seen each other for a ridiculously long time so it was so great to finally get a chance to hang out! We had lunch at a cute little tearoom in my hometown, and then headed to a local park to feed the ducks and have a wander about. It was a really nice day! And thanks for her, I now have my first Cats VS Pickles blind bag!! It's been so tough not to open, but I'm trying to save things for my tiktok. Everyone cross your fingers for me that there's a super cute cat inside! Lovin' the Winnie the Pooh initial mug she got for me, too. I really like the old style illustrations of A.A. Milne's charming characters, vs the cartoony ones :) 

Another of my awesome blogger friends, Kim from ChimmyVille, surprised me at Christmas Time by getting me something off my amazon wishlist. She's been buying me a gift off there for my birthday and Christmas for a few years now, because she's such an incredibly kind person ♥ I really appreciate it! This time, she got me the Jolteon Funko Pop, so I now have all three starter Eeveelutions thanks to her getting me the electric baby :) Really chuffed about that every time I look at my Pokemon shelf! 

How adorable is that Tiny K notebook from Kenji!? When we went to Manchester at the end of 2022, my best friend wanted me to pick something for my birthday and christmas presents, and this was one of the things I chose. Kenji has been my favourite store for a long time, and I am so delighted for them that they have grown so much that they are doing partnerships/collaborations with other companies and also expanding out of the north, with a few stores now popping up in the midlands. Go Kenji! We spotted this notebook in HMV, and I absolutely adore that it features most of the store's original characters, apart from the frog and the orange cat. It's also a really thick notebook and has the cream pages that I prefer. Only time will tell if it ends up being added to my hoard of notebooks that I can't bring myself to use, haha! 

Look how precious these babies are!! It's been well over a year now since these endearing Pucky X Pop Mart figures became my new favourite collectable blind boxes, and if it wasn't for the fact we've been experiencing a cost of living crisis in the UK since then, I'd have so many by now! These adorable little vinyl figures are always so well detailed and brilliant quality. I love that many of them come with tiny accessories, too, and the fact that there's loads of versions available. My most sought after collection is the Animal Tea Party Pucky Babies, which is where the two figures above come from. My sister bought me these for Christmas and I couldn't wait to open them in all the festive excitement. I probably should have included a photo of all the different figures you can find inside these blind boxes, but the ones I wanted most were Ducky Baby and Poker Rabbit Baby (as it looks like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland!). It must have been the Christmas magic because I only went and got Ducky Baby in my first box!! What a sweetheart he is with his tiny duckling mug!! I'm obsessed with how each of these cuties come with their own mug for the tea party. I was just as happy to get Squirrel Baby because there's not one Pucky Baby in this series that I don't like. A big thank you to my sister for making my Christmas Day so wonderful! 

In the previous photo, I featured another of the Animal Tea Party blind boxes and that's because the other gifts that my best friend got for me were Pucky Babies blind boxes!! Thank you so much, Jess ♥ I was super close to choosing two of the Tea Party ones as there was a deal on 2 in the Kenji Arndale store; I can't remember the price though, but I hope they keep that deal as a permanent thing! However,  I was so intrigued by the packaging of the Pucky Festival Babies! Each figure is dressed in a traditional outfit to represent elements of a festival celebrated in Asia, and they all have a gorgeous design! I'll get around to opening them on my tiktok soon, so keep on the lookout, fellow toy fans! 

Well, that's all I've got for you today, guys! I really hope that this was an interesting read and that I had you all thinking 'AWWW!' at some point thoroughout. Please let me know your thoughts on this new monthly series idea :) I am very glad that talking about some of the cutesy things I've gotten over the last several months with you all has pulled me out of that blogging slump that I was starting to worry would never end. It's good to be back, and I hope I can stick at it! Much better than I can stick at keeping my word count down... I think that one's an impossible hurdle for me though! Wishing you all an excellent month of May (in addition to being a fan of the adorable things in life, I am also a Eurovision Song Contest fan so I'm very much looking forward to that!). 

Thank you for reading! 

♥

What's the cutest thing you've bought lately?

Also, tell me what you're looking forward to next month! 

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so why not give me a follow over there?: 

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Playing Ichiban Kuji with Japan Award: Plushies Galore!

Hello & Happy Sunday, guys! Apologies that my post is super late and that I randomly took a week off, but last week was filled with hard work in the garden, mostly lots of clearing and loading old junk into a skip. I was too exhausted to function afterwards and it took me a good few days to recover, but most of the pesky garden stuff is out of the way for now. I also had more clearing of stuff inside to do, since we finally had the opportunity to throw things out with hiring the skip. Woo! Adulting sucks... :D I have also come down with a cold, which isn't helping! Currently, my concentration levels are almost non-existent. Oh well, nevermind. At least a post is here now! 

It's been too long since I last blogged about one of my favourite YouTube channels, Japan Award. This fantastic channel is dedicated to Japanese nerd life: ichiban kuji, arcade games & toys! Some of the things that make my kawaii little heart super happy :) 

I've shared all about playing kuji through Japan Award before; click here if you'd like to read my previous posts ♥ However, it's been quite a while since then and I've played lots! A few of my friends have told me they'd be interested in reading all about the adorable plushies I have gathered, and so being the ever-eager-to-please person I am... I'm delivering, haha. Enjoy!

I usually start off my Japan Award posts by giving an introduction to the fabulous game that is ichiban kuji, so I guess that's what I should do now! Ichiban kuji, mostly referred to as simply kuji, is Japanese for 'number one lottery'. It's an activity that involves buying tickets to win prizes :) Something that I absolutely adore about kuji is that you always win, so it's not like those ticketed fairground games you guys might remember playing during your childhood, where most of the time, you walk away after spending far too much money trying to pull a ticket ending in a 0 or a 5, with no prize to show for it! 

As I said, each and every ichiban kuji ticket coincides with a prize, all of which are usually brilliant because they are themed, and you wouldn't be playing that particular lottery if you weren't interested in the fandom/theme itself anyway!  The aim of the game is to pull one of the top prizes, which are typically A, B & C. There are fewer of these tickets up for grabs, and obviously more of the lower letters, i.e. F prize. Most people I know actually want to win some of the lower prizes, and so you can play the game however it suits you. For example, I am a huge fan of charms/keychains. These are usually in E, F or G categories and often come in blind box form. If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll know that I LOVE blind boxes!! 

Anyway, most of the time, A prizes, and even sometimes B & C, are big plushies that are exclusive to the kuji and thus are highly sought after. I see a lot of them ending up on eBay being sold for ridiculously high prizes >.< ugh. It's really not fair when you are normally looking at only £7-£15 per ticket. It really does feel epic to win a massive limited edition plush for like £8, one that would easily cost you £30+ from kawaii supplies in the UK!

I hope I explained that well enough :) I tend to go off on a tangent when I'm excited! I still can't believe I won these plushies though!! Despite having pretty much ran out of space to store and/or display them, I couldn't be happier to have them in my collection! The quality is always superb, as well. But, it's about time you guys saw them for yourselves.... 

LOOK! It's everyone's favourite round pink boy, Kirby! This is the first A prize I ever won, so I had to show him off first. He was a part of the Banpresto KIRBY STYLE Relax ichiban kuji. Almost all kujis are hosted by the company Banpresto, which you might of heard of already if you're a fan of anime figures. I won him back in November 2018, but didn't receive him until early 2019 as Japan Award always lets me start a box that I can fill with kawaii goodies over time, until it's full and ready to be shipped. It's amazing :) 

I was over the moon when I won this adorable guy! Because throughout my life, I'd never seemed to have much luck when it came to winning prizes and whatnot. Since then, the magic of Kirby seems to have unlocked my winning streak! And thus, I've got a bunch of top prizes to show you all. 

I love the texture of this huge Kirby plushie; it makes him so fuzzy to snuggle! The design is so sweet. I mean, look at those rosy cheeks!! I've always loved Kirby's big feet/shoes, so naturally that's one of the best features for me. They are usually bright red, but I really like the more muted salmon shade that they've chosen for the design of this plush. I like the overall colour scheme in general, as I'm used to Kirby being super bright pink. It's a nice change to see him in pastel. 

His vibrant blue eyes are precious. They are very 'puppy eyes', wouldn't you agree? And his hat is lovely, especially with the pom-pom on top. Are you a fan of round pink boy? What do you think of this plush? 

It's Tokage!!! My favourite Sumikko Gurashi character ever! Oh my gosh, I am soooo delighted that I have a plushie of him now. And how amazing that it's so big and squishy and special!! *imagine squealing here*. Tokage is the word for lizard in Japanese and if you didn't know already, lizards (and reptiles in general) are my favourite - herpetology is my jam :)

The story behind this character is too cute: 'Tokage is actually the last of the dinosaurs. It pretends to be a lizard to avoid being caught'. Awww! I can't help but love him the most out of all the other Sumikko Gurashi characters. I very much love the sky blue colour of this character, and it matches so well with the green 'clover' crown. Green is my all-time favourite colour, and blue sky follows that, so the colour scheme is perfect for me! 

This particular kuji was called 'I Met Brother Neko'. Neko is another character in the franchise by San-x. The A Prize was a plush of Neko himself and as you can see, B prize was the lovely Tokage. I played this kuji back in February 2019. Japan Award actually bought out an entire set of ichiban kuji because it was in very popular demand with viewers. He did a live stream on YouTube, pulling our names at random and getting his adorable daughter, Vivi-chan, to open tickets for us ♥ It was super fun to watch! 

My name was pulled last in the draw, which is fantastic!! This is because all ichiban kujis have a 'last prize', meaning there's a special prize just for the person who purchases the last remaining ticket available. You get two prizes for the price of one! It's such a lovely gesture for Banpresto and the other companies involved to offer this, because kuji is amazing so people would play regardless of this, which makes the last prize like a huge thankyou for your patronage gift, and I won it! Eeeee!!

And so, I got another massive, huggable plushie, this time of Shirokuma, a polar bear who dislikes the cold weather, haha! Isn't she the sweetest? I absolutely adore the flower crown she's holding. It's so bright and eye-catching, since it stands out against Shirokuma's white 'fur'. Her little pastel pink ears are super cute, too! Do you prefer this plush or the Tokage one? 

Now it's Eevee's turn :) I won the adorable plushie, that you can see in the first photo on today's post, playing the kuji 'Eievui & Melodies'. Eievui is the Japanese name for the Pokemon Eevee. This was such a gorgeous kuji for a Pokemon fan like me! Vaporeon happens to be my favourite Pokemon so I couldn't have been more thrilled when I saw that the kuji was themed on Eevee and all of its eeveelutions. I was delighted at the prospect of winning some Vaporeon goodies! 

And I did just that! I got a blind box charm of Vaporeon, plus a towel featuring it, along with lots of other wonderful prizes! It was an spectacular kuji and I still cannot get over the fact that I actually won the B prize. Let's take a closer look at it! 

If you hadn't guessed from the name, this kuji was music-themed. All of the keychain charms, for example, featured each Eeveelution with a different instrument. Vaporeon had a harp, and I also won an Eevee & Umbreon. Umbreon was standing on a keyboard and Eevee had a background of music notes. I actually won a duplicate Vaporeon, but luckily, I had a friend who also played and she wanted to trade her duplicate Leafeon charm for my Vaporeon. Leafeon is my second favourite of the Eeveelutions, and he came alongside a violin. How pretty they are all! If you guys are interested in seeing my charms, let me know and I can share a photo over on my instagram. 

Anyway, the B prize features a sleeping Eevee on a piano. What's not to love about this design!? I've always wanted one of the sleepy Eeveelution plushies that are sold at the Pokemon Centre stores, and now I have one... and it's so much more cool because mine's also a cushion. The cushion is made of a smooth, satin-like material which isn't something I'd enjoy resting my head against, but it's lovely for displaying nonetheless. The Eevee plush itself is very soft, and I kind of wish that he was detachable. But I'm still happy with winning him. The A Prize was an Eevee plush dressed in a bow-tie, fashioned to look like a orchestral composer! Super cute :) 

I also have a couple of smaller plushies to show you all. I won them playing two of the Sanrio ichiban kujis, 'Sanrio Characters All Stars' and 'Sanrio White Winter'. When it comes to Sanrio kujis, the prizes are categorised using numbers VS letters, and instead of having various colour and style options available for specific prizes, such as E prize being a towel, where the winner will get one of four different designs, with Sanrio kujis, each individual variation will be lettered. That was tough to explain in a sentence... I hope it made sense :D This means that there ends up being 50+ prizes available and it can get confusing. 

One of the tickets that Japan Award pulled for me whilst playing the Sanrio Characters All Stars kuji was a 5, which won me a plush puppet of Pochacco. It's really sweet and I used to love these kinds of puppet plushies when I was a kid. However, Pochacco is one of my least favourite Sanrio characters and I would have preferred to win one of the other puppets available: Cinnamoroll, Hello Kitty or Keroppi. I'll probably end up giving this prize to my niece when she's a little older, so it's still an awesome win :) Who's your favourite Sanrio character, by the way? Mine are Pompompurin, Corocorokuririn and Kiki of the Little Twin Stars. 

Speaking of Kiki! This is him; the blue-haired boy twin from the Little Twin Stars franchise. He has a sister called Lala who has pink hair, and they are the loveliest pair of pastel buddies ever! I have never seen something Little Twin Stars themed that I didn't love! These cuties have a story behind them, that they were born on a star inside a dream cloud and that they travelled to Earth so that they could learn to be the shiniest, greatest stars they could be. Cannot get more adorable than that, right? I love stars and anything starry-patterned, so along with the pastel colours, I think that's what drew me to these characters as a teenager. 

You can imagine how happy I was when I discovered I had won Prize 2, of which you could get either Kiki or Lala, and thankfully I got Kiki! The quality of this plush is so fantastic. The fabric used is so smooth and the attention to detail on his outfit is marvellous. I love the ribbon bow with pom-poms under his chin. And the star on his back, of course! 

The final plushie that I'm including in today's post wasn't one that I won playing kuji. But as I mentioned before, Japan Award also shares videos featuring the wonder that is Japanese arcades. They look incredible & the prizes you can win there compare to nowhere else in the world! Before the corona virus came along, Japan Award would often visit arcades to pick up certain toys for his customers and share videos over on Instagram stories. I spotted the most adorable Amuse plush ever whilst watching Japan Award's stories and I had a mighty need!! 

I collect Amuse plushies and I have several now. Each time I go to Comic Con, I can't come home without something by Amuse, as they make the most fabulous plushies ever! I once blogged about my collection, which has grown quite a bit since then but click here if you would like to have a look at some of my other Amuse plushies :) I asked Japan Award to try to win me a super cute pink hippo plush!! I've only ever seen probably two hippopotamus plushies in my life until seeing this one, and none of them were nearly as precious as this one! It reminds me of a Moomin!! 

If you also loved the show The Moomins growing up, you will understand how much this resembles one and I couldn't not get it because it's massive and so soft and perfect and squidgy and he is now the best plush in my entire Amuse collection (sorry Alpacasso's!). I don't remember how much Japan Award won it for now because so much has happened in my life since then, but it was a fantastic price for such an amazing plush and nowhere near the price you'd be looking at for a Japanese plush of this size here. My photo doesn't really show how big it is either, but its head hangs off the top of my square unit! I am very impressed with this plush and his name is Smushy-Smush, if you guys wanted to know :D 

The labels for Japanese products are like no other! They are always so cute and colourful and enticing for a kawaii lover like myself! I am super thankful that I stumbled upon Japan Award's channel in my suggestions one day. They're so brilliant and I am very happy that I'm now able to get so much gorgeous Japanese merchandise :) Thankyou for always being so lovely to talk to and for searching for things I want; you're awesome, Japan Award!! Definitely go and give their channel a follow, and don't forget to check out their instagram, too. I can't recommend them enough! 

I really hope you guys enjoyed reading all about my ichiban kuji haul/entire collection of plushies won via Japan Award. I had a lot of fun writing all about them and showing you guys the cuteness overload! I guess that's a positive to me not blogging as often this year... you get to see a load of cute things all at once :) Please let me know if you'd like to see similar posts in the future, because they are my favourite to do. I hope you've all had a great weekend, and wishing you a fantastic week to come. It will be my birthday week!! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever played ichiban kuji? Or purchased some of the prizes online afterwards?

Do you have a favourite Japanese franchise/character? 

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Fox Leap! Haul & Review

Hey lovelies! I hope you are all well, and that you're looking after yourselves during these stressful times ♥ I wanted to bring a little brightness into your day, especially since its been so overcast today... (well, it has been pouring it down in the North West of England anyhow), by showing you guys some of the most gorgeous pins ever!! So if you are a fellow collector of pin badges or just enjoy all things pretty, then you're going to love this post :) 

I have had my eye on a fantastic online store called Fox Leap! for quite some time, after first having it brought to my attention by my awesome blogger friend Natalee from over at There Might Be Coffee. Ever since, I have absolutely adored Fox Leap's artwork and it makes me smile whenever some of it pops up on my feed over on Instagram. Sophie, the artist behind Fox Leap!, creates the loveliest art; her style is so adorable and unique *all the heart eye emojis*. All of her fanart and original characters have these big eyes that make your heart melt, at least that's the affect they have on me! 

I noticed back in April that Fox Leap! was having a sale and so I jumped at the chance to finally get myself one of Sophie's beautiful pins. I wanted the Kovu and Kiara pin, since The Lion King 2 is my all-time favourite Disney movie & I barely ever see any merch of the characters, but it was unfortunately sold out. I instead opted for my second favourite Fox Leap! pin :) 

So, which character did I choose? 

Scar, of course!! This devious, sarcastic lion is my No.1 Disney villain; he has been since I was around 5 years old. I think he's hilarious and even though I should 'hate' him, I just can't! Who else loves Scar?

This 'Be Prepared' pin design is just so stunning! LOOK AT IT!! I really love that Sophie chose to design the pin after this scene because I am such a big fan of the song! Each time I see my new pin, I instantly want to start singing :D Jeremy Irons' version is obviously marvellous, but I always think about the performance from the Broadway musical, which was the first ever musical theatre show I went to, back in 2013 with my mom, so of course, it's a memory I hold very dear to my heart. The fact that this pin makes me reminisce about the musical will mean that it will forever remain one of the most beloved pins in my entire collection! 

Here's what the pin looks like when tilted in the light (if that makes sense!)... 

Super bright & eye-catching!! I am in love with the colour scheme :) Black and green are my favourite colours so it's hard for me not to adore this pin based on the colouration alone. But there are so many more things I love about Fox Leap's Scar pin! 

I have mentioned many times before on my blog that pins with gold outlines aren't really my cup of tea, even though I'll admit that lots of pins do look lovely being gold-plated and so I have several like this in my ever-growing collection, however, in general, I'd prefer a pin with another coloured outline/plating. And so as you can imagine, the fact that this Be Prepared pin is backed in black is one of the details that drew me to it. It really love the outline colour, and how it can be subtle yet still shine just as nicely in the sunlight as any gold-plated pin can! 

Another feature of this pin that I love is the shape... I think it just has a very unique structure to it and your eyes are instantly drawn to the yellow and green smoke, and then to Scar's big eyes. They are super cute! Who can resist a chibified version of a baddie, though!? His little smirk is so endearing, too. Oh my gosh, I can't express how delighted I am with the entire design of this pin! Sophie has really captured the unique look of Scar's mane, which is another thing I love! And those swirls/wisps of smoke look super cool, don't you think? 

It's so awesome how the colours change depending on the angle and lighting. I can't wait to wear this pin out and about (eventually!) and show it off! 

You may have noticed the little sneak preview of another pin in the photo above ;) And that's what I'm going to talk about next. Sophie was amazingly kind and gifted me the loveliest pin, and I have been super excited about showing it to you guys!! 

Ta-da!! HOW STUNNING IS THIS PIN!!? Just look how intricate and detailed the design is. I was so wowed when I opened my package and found this little cutie inside!! I can't get over how beautiful it is. THANKYOU so very much, Sophie, for sending me your Silver Fox* pin!! ^.^

If you guys didn't already know, a silver fox is a colour variation of the Red Fox, where instead of having bright red/orange fur, the fox looks black or very dark grey. If you've been following my blog for a while now, you'll probably know that foxes are one of my most loved animal species, and so I was over the moon to receive a fox pin!! Fox Leap!, as the name would suggest, has created several gorgeous foxy pins, so definitely go check them out if you are a fox lover like me! Talking of foxes, how brilliant is Fox Leap's logo!!? It makes me super happy... especially because of its huge, floofy tail! I can just imagine a real Red fox sleeping in a meadow full of summer flowers when I look at the logo! 

So, what is it about this pin that I adore? 

Where do I start? haha :D I love the boldness of the colours, they are striking! There's also so much to look at, from the detailed facial markings, to the pointy pink ears, to the leaves in the background, the flowers & the glittery tail and paws. You can definitely see how much attention to detail has gone into the design of this enamel pin! 

I'm not sure if this makes much sense to anyone other than myself, but the Silver Fox pin really reminds me of a mountain! Let me explain... the tail makes me visualise a snow-capped mountain, and the surrounding blue makes me think of photographs I've seen of Japan's Mt. Fuji against the backdrop of a cool evening skyline. The blossoms represent sakura/cherry blossoms for me, and the leaves could be the forests surrounding the mountain. This pin makes my imagination run wild and that makes me love it even more! 

Despite the pin having a gold outline/plating, I actually don't mind it because I feel like it really helps to make the colours stand out more. They are vibrant and wouldn't look as pretty on a black or silver plated enamel, in my opinion. The gold has a lovely warm shine to it, and could totally be the sunset for my mountain! :D Oh, and another element of the design I love are the fox's green eyes, because it's almost like they are reflecting the leaves. So pretty!

Anyhow, those are the two new pin badges I got from the fabulous Fox Leap! I am very impressed with the design and overall quality of them, and I loved how nicely packaged they were. The backing-cards were lovely, and I don't know why but I just think it's wonderful when I receive items in paper bags. I guess it subconscious;y reminds me of getting pick'n'mix sweets or something! Is anyone else a sucker for paper bags, or am I just weird? :D

Before I finish up today's post, I just wanted to let you all know more information about the pricing of my new pins. As I said earlier, I got the Be Prepared/Scar one on sale, during which it was only £6.40. It's usually £8, which is a great price for such a brilliant pin, although I love a good bargain, haha! All of Sophie's pins are £8, but you can get yourself a foxy pin from her website for only £6.40 at the moment. The P&P for me in the UK was £1.50, so altogether I paid £7.90, which I was very pleased with. The package arrived pretty quick as well, considering all of the corona-related delays going on. 

I'd love to know which of the pins is your favourite and why, guys! I hope you all enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing about these gorgeous products! I will certainly be shopping from Fox Leap! again in the future. They even have a monthly pin club on Patreon, where, for just approximately £9 a month ($15 for international backers) you can get a pin, a vinyl sticker and a mini print, and I'm so tempted to sign up! A big thanks to Sophie for kindly gifting me the fox pin... I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I hope you have a wonderful week, everyone! 

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

Have you been buying any new pins lately?

Do you have a favourite species of Fox, or Disney character, or both?

Let me know in the comments!

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Naomi Lord Art Haul & Review

Hey everyone! I hope you're all had a lovely Tuesday, and that you still have lots of chocolate leftover from Easter, (or have taken advantage of the discounts!), to enjoy :) I am a firm believer that there's no such thing as too much chocolate, however I am currently living on a diet made up of almost entirely chocolate & I am scared I will get sick of it! :O That would be borderline illegal behaviour! I have some at the side of my laptop as write up this post, haha. Not many things make me happier than chocolate & nerdy merch... and if you, too, love the latter, then I'm sure this will be a fun read for you :) I hope you all enjoy reading &  checking out the fabulous artwork I have to show you guys today! 

If you follow me over on my Instagram, you may have already seen the items that I'm going to talk about today, and you might have even watched the videos I posted on my story showing them off, but I just had to blog about them as well, because it would be wrong not to... everything I received is so wonderful & needs to be shared with others!! I'm sure that most of you will have seen Naomi Lord's gorgeous artwork on various social media sites across the internet, and if you haven't, then I'm very happy to bring it to your attention :) 

Naomi Lord is a UK based freelance artist, who creates both original characters and fanart. She is probably most well-known for her Harry Potter artwork, which is not surprisingly how I first discovered her. She is super kind and hosts a giveaway once a month over on her Instagram, giving one of her lucky followers a chance to win a custom portrait of themselves (or a friend) as a Hogwarts Student, in their house colours & with their very own Patronus! It is through these giveaways that her beautiful art came into my life, and I have been wanting to order from her ever since. I am delighted that I finally could! 

As well as Harry Potter themed work, Naomi also creates art surrounding a wide variety of other topics, including Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Disney, Studio Ghibli and more! She designs a lot of mythology based characters and her own interpretations of fantasy creatures, deities, witches and astrology symbols. So many of my favourite things have been brought to fabulous, colourful life by Naomi Lord, and I adore everything she illustrates! 

So, it's about time that I showed you guys my entire haul from Naomi Lord's Etsy store. 

Ta-da! Sorry, not sorry, for hitting you all in the eyeballs with cuteness overload! … That might be the cheesiest/weirdest line I've ever written, but I don't care because LOOK!! :D How adorable is every single thing that I purchased, and even the business card & little thankyou note is incredibly cute! It is always so sweet when artists include a note, and even more so when it is includes a hand-drawn doodle :) That cat is an exact representation of me when I opened my order! It's nice to know when artists and independent businesses appreciate your purchase.

Let's take a close look at each of the items I added to my basket, and I'll tell you guys what I think :)

I knew that I would be buying some stickers, specifically the San/Princess Mononoke one, which I've had on my wishlist for a while now, but the other two were chosen after a very stressful decision making period. All of Naomi Lord's work is beautiful and it was super tough to settle on just two more stickers, but I had a budget so I had to rein in my mighty need to get ALL THE STICKERS!! 

Since it's Springtime, the season of pretty flowers and sweet baby animals, I opted for this lovely flowery Eevee design. The flower crown is gorgeous, and makes me think of the apple blossom that grows in our garden. It's very difficult to say what my favourite feature of this sticker is, because I love the huge floofy neck, the big teardrop tail, the bunny-esque ears and the tiny toe beans, as well as the sprinkle of grass and the tiny heart detail. What's not to love about this Eevee? 

Something that I adore about Naomi's characters is that they just look so cuddly! Detective Pikachu actually looks like a plushie and I just wish that I could give him a hug :) His big, friendly eyes are full of personality and make me 'awwww' each time I notice them. Pikachu's rosy cheeks and oWo expression is what made me settle on this sticker. It wasn't until I saw it in person that I really noticed just how stunning the sakura (cherry blossom) illustration in the background is, and how clear the steam rising from Detective Pikachu mug of coffee is. I love it!!

As I said, this item was one of the things that I knew I would be purchasing before I even started browsing through the wonders on offer. Princess Mononoke is my favourite Studio Ghibli movie, and San is one of, if not the main, most iconic character from it. Again, I cannot choose just one feature that I like best, because there are just so many intricate details. The trees and sky that make up the backdrop for one look spectacular. Each time I focus my attention on it, I can just imagine myself laying on the forest floor and looking up through the canopy. I really like the contrast of the green and blue against the colours of San's outfit and mask. Along with her bold outline, which is something that I absolutely love when it comes to Naomi's illustrations, this contrast really makes the character pop. I also find her solemn expression so cute, and it's just the best expression to use for San, in my opinion :) 

I couldn't resist picking up one of the 6x6 print's that Naomi Lord has available. All of her designs can be purchased in either a sticker form or a print, which I think it's really great! I struggled to pick between getting Princess Mononoke in print form or Kiki, the character that I eventually decided upon. Kiki is the protagonist from another movie by Studio Ghibli, Kiki's Delivery Service. It's one of my top five from this fabulous Japanese production company, and the reason why I ultimately went for Kiki as a print version is due to the expression on her face :D She looks incredibly excited and enthusiastic about whatever adventure she's going to be facing next, and her happiness is almost infectious, so I thought it would be wonderful to display this print up on the wall where I can see it & have it instantly put a smile on my face!

A lot of Naomi's art is coloured in more pastel shades, which is another thing that I love about it, however when it comes to this Kiki print, the colours chosen for her are much bolder and vibrant. Her red bow and shoes are especially eye-catching! Not gonna lie though, the main factor as to why I wanted this print might be because of Jiji (the cat).... I relate so much to his character & it's lovely to see him smiling, instead of looking gloomy or nervous, haha. 

And finally, if you know me well, I'm sure that you would have been fully expecting to see Snape somewhere in this post, as soon as I mentioned Harry Potter. If you didn't know, he's my main man, my favourite character from the franchise, one of my all-time favourites when it comes to fantasy in general. I have no shame when it comes to my love for this character, and if you don't like him... you need to leave my blog immediately XD I'm kidding, but we can't be friends, maybe...

Guys, look how adorable this version of Snape is! It's brilliant to see the stoic, grumpy Professor we all know and love (or should do!) designed in a chibi style, and I am all for it! I need more cute Snape merch in my life! But for now, I am over the moon with this print from Naomi Lord. 

I love that this kawaii interpretation of Severus is crossing/folding his arms and baring an unimpressed look on his face. I am very happy with all of the attention to detail when it comes to his outfit, too... the buttons along his sleeves, the high collar of his shirt, and the most importantly, the flowing cape! I am very impressed that the print features a 'softly simmering' cauldron :) It makes my little potterhead heart happy! And the addition of the potions are fantastic, too... and that tiny skull on one of them!! Cuteeee! 

Oh, and this is an 8x8 print and is the main reason I made my order in the first place. I am just a fangirl through and through XD I can't describe how much I love the way this illustration of Snape looks, and I cannot wait to get it a nice frame and be able to show it off. The only thing that would have made this print just that little bit more perfect would have been for it to have a more detailed backdrop. I do like that the background is pale as it ensures that the character stands out more, however it would be nice to see scenery like with the Kiki print & sticker artwork... maybe a mix of different shades of green to represent Slytherin? Nonetheless, I think this print is marvellous! 

Before I finish up this post all about my recent haul from Naomi Lord Art, I just wanted to share a little more information for those of you who want to get some of these wonderful products for yourselves or a loved one. The pricing of Naomi's art is superb, and is something I was super impressed by! The stickers cost me £1.30 each; the prints: £3.20 for the 6x6 & £5.20 for the 8x8. How amazing is that!? The shipping was £2.10 for me as I live in England, and my order arrived so fast. It was sent a sturdy envelope, with the cutest kitty doodle drawn on the back. I loved this little touch. Thankyou, Naomi! I can't recommend this store enough and I will certainly making more purchases in the future... I still have my eye on the Weasley family portrait & the artwork of the Egyptian Goddess, Bast :) 

I hope you all enjoyed reading my post, and be sure to check out Naomi's social media and Etsy because I guarantee that there's going to be something that catches your eye, too, so long as you appreciate all things kawaii. And who doesn't like cute versions of their favourites!? 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Which is your favourite of the items that I picked up from Naomi Lord? 

Are you a fan of Studio Ghibli, Harry Potter or Pokemon?

If so, I'll love to hear who your favourites of the franchise are? 


Did you know you can find me on tumblr? And Pinterest? Also over on Twitter?