Horror Movie Tag

Hello everyone! I hope all of you are having a marvellous weekend! It's 19 days into October and I'm only now posting something Halloween-y. This is shocking behaviour and I thought it was about time that I fixed it!! Over the last week or so, I've been trying to come up with spooky post ideas, so it was perfect timing for the lovely Kim over at Chimmyville to tag me in this Horror Movie Tag! Be sure to head over to her blog and check out her post :) I hope you all enjoy reading my answers! 

1. What is the first horror movie you remember watching?

When I was around 10 or 11 years old, I was hanging out at my friends house and being the weird little vampire-obsessed kids that we were back then (totally not changed much, haha!), we decided to watch Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). I felt like such a rebel because I knew I wouldn't have been allowed to watch it at home :D In all the excitement, we then wanted to watch another horror, and ended up choosing Alien (1979) next. Are there any movies that made you feel cool when you watched it as a kid? 

2. What is your favourite horror movie?

My more well-known favourite horror movies are A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (2005), and 2017's IT movie (Chapter 1). I also LOVE a much lesser-known horror by Wes Craven, The People Under the Stairs (1991) and a more recent fantastic, and often underrated, movie called The Witch / The VVitch: A New-England Folk Tale (2015). Any fellow Black Phillip fans reading? :D 

3. What's your favourite horror movie genre?

I love slasher movies best. I also thoroughly enjoy a good old psychological horror/thriller, especially The Silence of the Lambs (1991). 

4. What genre scares you the most?

I don't get scared by horrors, but there's definitely things that make me cringe (and not in a 'gosh, that's bad' kind of way). When it comes to some gore, I always have cover my eyes but of course, I'm peeping through my hands because I'm too curious for my own good, haha! One scene that comes to mind is from House of Wax (2005) when a character gets their Achilles tendon cut with scissors... eeeek! 

5. What is the last horror movie you watched that actually scared you?

As I said above, I don't really get scared when watching horror. I just love them! But I've jumped a couple of times... I'm not a fan of that clown doll in Poltergeist (1982) that pulls the kid under the bed! I also once watched one of those dramatized 'based on a real story' style thrillers, called Megan Is Missing (2011) and there's a dead body scene in that which looked so realistic the first time I watched it that I jumped! Anyone ever seen this movie? 

6. Who is your ultimate Scream Queen?

I think Drew Barrymore was brilliant at the start of Scream (1996)… did you know that she was originally offered the lead role but she couldn't do it, so Neve Campbell was cast? I love Neve Campbell's performance though so I'm happy it worked out that way! I'm gonna have the iconic 'Hello Sidney' line stuck in my head for ages now XD One of the best horror movie intros ever! 

Maika Monroe's role as lead character in It Follows (2014) is fantastic, too! I know it's not a movie, but Sarah Paulson is always epic in American Horror Story :) Who else watches the show? If so, do you have a favourite season? Mine's Season 4: Freak Show. I love Anya Taylor-Joy as well; she's fabulous in the Witch and Split (2017), and I can't wait to see her in more horror/thriller movies. 

7. What's a concept that you'd like to see in horror?

I'm not sure, because to be honest I am a sucker for certain tropes, even if they've been done time and time again. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit :) It's always a welcome surprise to see a unique twist to the stereotypical storyline of most slasher movies though! I love unique concepts, such as the one for It Follows, which you really need to watch if you haven't already! Oh, and I would love a good cult movie, that isn't cheesy af. I've not watched Midsommar (2019) yet... If you have, what did you think? 

I have started to enjoy sci-fi horror a lot more after discovering that they are not all about aliens... which are not really my cup of tea when it comes to horror. I enjoyed Splice back in 2009, for example. It would be great to see more like this, that have more focus on the science side of things, if that makes sense. 

8. What is your favourite on-screen kill?

Oh wow, there's so many! What horror fan doesn't have a long list of favourites!? (or maybe I'm just weird...). To name a few: the scene in Child's Play 2 (1990) when the guy gets his eyes impaled in the factory's doll production line, the end of Hostel: Part 2 (2007) when the protagonist gets her own back!, the puppet scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Paris Hilton's characters death in House of Wax, the chair torture scene in (I think) Hellraiser: Deader (2005). I could list more... but I'll stop now before you'll all think I'm weirder than you already know I am XD 

9. What's your favourite franchise?

I adore the franchise by Rob Zombie that includes House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil's Rejects and I am yet to watch the newest addition, 3 From Hell (2019). RIP Sid Haig T_T. I am also a lover of all the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Most of the Hellraiser movies are awesome, too, as well as the first few Child's Play movies. 

10. Who's your favourite horror director? 

Wes Craven and Rob Zombie are my all-time favourites. Clive Baker too, of course, for Hellraiser. I know that Guillermo del Toro is more well-known for his creepy fantasy but the Spanish horror The Orphanage (2007) is brilliant and he's another of my favourite directors, so I'm including him anyway. Who else loves his work? 

Well, those are my answers to the horror tag! I very much enjoyed writing about my favourite movie genre, and I now want to re-watch, for probably the 50th time, the horrors that I mentioned. However, I am currently doing a Horrorthon challenge, where I watch a horror movie that I have never seen before each day of October. I'm having a lot of fun with that, and I'll be sure to blog all about it at the end of the month. Are any of you guys doing a spooky movie marathon this month, whether it's a horror one or not? Before I finish up today's post, it's time to nominate some of my fabulous fellow bloggers to join in. I tag: Jess, Natalee, Eleanor , Vikki and Kiah to do the Horror Movie Tag. I'm looking forward to reading your answers guys! Feel free to answer this even if I didn't tag you, and please send me a link so I can have a read of your post :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What's your favourite horror movie? 

What is the last horror movie you watched & was it any good? 

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Nerdy Stamps Galore!

Hey guys! Happy Friday! Well, blogging is going just great for me this month, isn't it? :D Oops! I've been full of a cold and the seasonal changes in temperature are starting to have an effect on me already! I feel like I have been in a constant state of brain fog this past week, and so productive Sarah has gone into hibernation and sluggish Sarah has taken over my life XD I need to find a way to get my productivity groove on again! Any tips?

So anyway, a few months ago  (yeah, it's taken me that long to share!), I bought some fabulous nerdtastic stamps!! For those of you who don't know already, one of my hobbies, that I've been partaking in ever since I was in my early teens, is penpaling/ snailmailing/ good old fashioned letter-writing. I just love it!! I mean, who doesn't love receiving fun mail? And I find a lot of joy in brightening up someone else's day with my mail! One of my favourite things about getting letters and postcards from all around the World is the fact that I get to see so many different stamps :) There are some gorgeous, excellent designs out there, such as The Moomins stamps from Finland and Disney stamps from North America! Did you know that we also have 'fancy' picture stamps available here in the UK? Today's post is going to be all about two of my absolute favourite editions of stamps that we've had since I first started this beloved hobby of mine. I hope you all enjoy reading, as much as I enjoy telling you about them! 

I usually hold off sharing a photo of the contents of my blog posts until later in the post, so that it doesn't show up as a the cover photo/ thumbnail/ whatever it's called, and thus give away spoilers before you all have a chance to read it. However, I really love how this photo turned out so I couldn't resist! How gorgeous are these stamps though!? Keep reading to see them up close :) 

Before I talk more about these fabulous stamps, I wanted to tell you guys all about the types of stamp sets that are available on the Royal Mail website (and at some post offices) and the sort of prices you can expect. The Royal Mail release several purchasing options when it comes to their new stamp editions. My favourite to buy are 'Presentation Packs'. By buying these, not only do you get one of every stamp in that collection but also the most awesome packaging, filled with artwork and information about the stamp theme, that you can use to keep your stamps in. These cost £11.20 each, but you get fifteen 1st class stamps typically, unless the stamps in that particular collection are valued at more than a 1st class price (such as £1.25 stamps, and so forth). There is also options to buy smaller design-specific set, such as a sheet of five individual 1st class stamps from that collection. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but I will show you guys an example in this post :) These are £3.70 (because 1st class stamps are now 70-something pence each!). 

That's enough rambling... I don't want to bore you all :D On with the stamps! 

The main reason that I did this haul in the first place was to get some of the Game of Thrones stamps. I wasn't sure if there would be any left, since they had been out for quite a while by the time I had the cash available to buy them. I was very happy to discover that they were still online!! (Although I don't think they are now, sorry guys!). I already had a book of the GoT 1st Iron Throne stamps that I bought from my local post office a few weeks before to keep in my wallet and use whenever I needed to post something, but I wanted all of the picture stamps to keep and never use :) I, of course, opted for the presentation pack, and LOOK AT HOW GORGEOUS IT IS!! 

Inside this pack, you get fifteen stamps! These ten character stamps above, and also the other sheet which includes four giant stamps of the Direwolves, Giants, Dragons and The Night King and his White Walkers, plus a little standard-sized stamp of the Iron Throne. These stamps are honestly so stunning, even better in person! Every stamp is so detailed, featuring a background behind each character depicting a scene/location related to them. 

My favourite are Tyrion and Arya, but I might be a little bias since they are my favourite characters from the TV series and the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Behind Tyrion, we get artwork showing wildfire burning bright green during the Battle of Blackwater Bay. I really like that they chose this scene because even though it was tragic for those on the receiving end of it, it showed that Tyrion had great skill when it came to battle tactics and his talents really got to shine in the scene! Plus green is my favourite colour so it's nice that my favourite character has been paired with it. As for the Arya stamp, it's fantastic that she's got her trusty needle in hand and looks ready to kick some ass, haha! 

My other favourite designs are the Eddard Stark stamp because I just love that they've chosen a beautiful weirwood tree as the background, and also the Direwolf stamp because it has all six one them on there: Nymeria, Shaggy Dog, Summer, Lady, Grey Wind, and a very angry-looking Ghost. I love all of the stamps to be honest, except for the dragon one. I absolutely adore the dragons from GoT, with my favourite being Rhaegal so it's great that he's made it onto the stamp, but for some reason they haven't include Viserion, and the picture that they decided to use for Drogon is really crappy looking in my opinion, out of all the amazing CGI used for them on the show, it seems they have chosen one of the worst... he looks very unrealistic (as far as fantasy creatures can look unrealistic), and it doesn't blend in well with the overall look of the stamp. Would you agree? Aside from that one stamp, I am super impressed! 

As for the presentation pack artwork I mentioned before, inside the Game of Thrones one you get this huge map of Westeros, which is really cool and would look great up on the wall framed! It has detailed illustrations of key landmarks and is annotated. What's not to love, if you're a fan of the franchise!? Also, poking out of the left side of the map, you can see another item that I picked up from this collection, and that is a 'First Day Edition Envelope'. I only recently discovered, thanks to someone posting their envelope haul on Instagram, that the Royal Mail sell these envelopes along with each new collection that features a illustration keeping in with the theme. It only cost me 30p and it's a big envelope! I'm definitely going to be looking out for more of these with future stamp collections :) Did any of you guys know about these envelopes? 

Since I was already buying stamps, I wanted to snap up some from the Harry Potter collection before they ran out. Just like with the GoT stamps, I had already picked up a couple of the stamps featuring Harry himself when I went to my local post office to send some postcards, and I had no idea that there was actually a Professors sheet available!! I bought the presentation pack as soon as I noticed this sheet, and I am delighted to add all of the others to my small collection of stamps (*ones that I want to save, which so far includes an Alice in Wonderland collection and a Beatrix Potter one). As always, you get fifteen stamps in the pack: Hagrid's Motorbike, Ginny, the Triwizard Cup, Neville, the Knight Bus, Hermione, the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron and his dad's Flying Ford Anglia, as well as Professor Sprout, Slughorn, Trelawney, Lupin and my main man, Snape. 

My favourite stamps are Hagrid's Motorbike, the Knight Bus, Neville, Ginny, Lupin & obviously, Snape *insert gif of Snape saying obviously* :D Even though Neville and Ginny are not my favourite characters from the franchise, I really like that they have been featured in this collection since I feel like their characters don't get a lot of representation, even though they are integral to the story. Just like many other fans, I feel like the movies really neglected Ginny, when in the books she's an brilliant character! So yeah, it's great to see her and Mr Longbottom getting some love. 

The reason I love the stamp of the Knight Bus and Hagrid's Motorbike has more to do with the backgrounds. As with the GoT stamps, these HP ones have very detailed backgrounds. Hagrid's Motorbike has dementors looming behind Harry and Hagrid, and the Knight Bus has a picture of the Sirius Black's Animagus form. They both feature the moon as well, and I'm a big fan of the celestial aesthetic :) 

The thing that I like most about this presentation pack is second sheet featuring the Professors. I am absolutely lovin' that the background for the sheet is the Marauder's Map and that it has the infamous line, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. It makes the potterhead in me smile :D Like with what I said about Ginny and Neville, it's marvellous to see some of the other Hogwarts teachers getting more focus. I'd have expected to see a stamp of Dumbledore, McGonagall, and maybe Quirrell or Lockhart, or another stamp of Hagrid. Instead we get Professor Slughorn, Sprout and Trelawney (I really like that she's holding a crystal ball, too) and I think that's wonderful! If you've been following me for a while, you will know that I am a massive fangirl when it comes to Severus Snape, so it will be no surprise to you that I would immediately love his stamp. What I like most about it though is his facial expression; in typical Snape fashion, he looks thoroughly unimpressed. 

The artwork inside this presentation pack is a lot more simple than the GoT one, but not any less awesome. I love the wisps of smoky purples, blues and greens throughout, and how it borders the stills from the movies, especially the train one in the centre. It has information on each of the topics/objects featured on the stamps, which means it's also great for anyone who isn't a fan of Harry Potter to buy and still be able to learn about the subject. 

I said that I would show you all an example of the individual character packs that I was trying to describe at the start of my post, so here it is. The sheet that you can see above is the set of five 1st class stamps that I bought for just under £4. I love that these stamps still come in their own little illustrated presentation card. It's very pretty! I bought these stamps to actually use on my snailmail, and I'm considering using the card afterwards to store any loose stamps that I might happen to pick up from the post office in the future. 

Before I finish up this post, there's something more I want to show you...

And that's stamp postcards!! I first discovered these a few years ago in the bigger post office one town over from my hometown, and I think they are really cool! For each collection that the Royal Mail releases, they also make matching postcards! Of course, they are intended for you to use with the stamps, but I just buy them to use for my postcard swapping hobby. They always feature a huge picture of the stamp, surrounded by a pale brown shade that makes the stamp stand out even more. 

The post office in the town next-door to mine opens up the packets and allows you to buy them individually, but when you order them online, you have to purchase the whole pack. It cost me £7.20 for sixteen Game of Thrones postcards (one for each of the stamps, and then one featuring a picture of the entire sheet with the Direwolves, giants, etc.) Not bad considering that they work out at 45p each! You could send them, keep from or even frame them/stick them up on your wall. I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to use them; we'll see! 

So those were all the stamps and other postage goodies that I ordered a few months ago. I am over the moon with them. They always look so much more stunning when they arrive! I know not all of you will be into stamps and snailmail stuff, but I hope that you all enjoyed reading about them nonetheless. The stamps are lovely to look at, at least :) I cannot wait to see the next nerdy stamp designs the Royal Mail comes out with... I've got some Star Wars ones, and there's even been a Marvel collection this year. It would be fantastic if I was able to bring these picture stamps to the attention of whose who might never have heard of them before, so please let me know if I did! Even if you're not a letter writer, picture stamps can be a nice way to decorate an envelope when you are sending birthday cards to your loved ones and such, so it's worth looking into the upcoming collections. I am looking forward to seeing what this years Christmas stamps will look like! If only we had special Halloween stamps, don't you think? (pretty please, Royal Mail, if you're reading this!). 

I'd love to know which presentation pack you guys prefer: Harry Potter or Game of Thrones? I'm also very curious which individual stamps are your favourite. So definitely let me know in the comments :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

Who are the best Game of Thrones characters in your opinion? 

How about Harry Potter characters? 

Also, have you ever bought picture stamps? Tell me about them! 

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More Super Cute Pins by Stami Studios

Hi lovelies! I hope you've all had a spooktacular first week of October, aka 31 days of Halloween :) I know I have! I've been doing a movie marathon/'horrorthon' and watching a horror that I've never seen before. each night. I love horror so it's been a lot of fun so far! Are any of you guys having a spooky movie marathon this month? Let me know in the comments what your favourite Halloweentime movie is. 

Anyhow, on with today's post, which is not spookacular, but certainly cutetacular XD I need to stop, haha! It's a post for my fellow lovers of kawaii. And I hope you all enjoy it! 

If you're a new reader of my blog, firstly thankyou so much for taking the time to visit my little corner of the internet, and secondly, you may not have heard of Stami Studios or their fabulous Super Cute Pin Club before, so let me fill you in :) Stami Studios is a store run by UK-based artist, Sam Rostami, selling the most adorable products, including clothing, jewellery and stationery. But my absolutely favourite things made by Stami Studios are their pin badges!! That is why I couldn't resist subscribing as soon as I discovered that they offered a monthly pin subscription, and today's post is going to be all about the pins I received from them in August and September. 

Signing up to get a surprise pin every month will only cost you £8 each time (and free shipping if you're in the UK, although they do offer worldwide shipping), which is an incredible price considering the pins are always gorgeous and so well-made! I've been very much looking forward to sharing the last two pins I was sent in my subscription with you guys. I was wondering, do you prefer when I talk about several pins at once just like in my previous Super Cute Pin Club post (check it out here, to see the variety of designs you can expect), or would you like me to blog about each new pin as it arrives? Any feedback on this would be very much appreciated :) Well, it's about time that I showed you the pins! 

How sweet is this sleepy duck pin!!!? I love love love it!! Everything about the August pin is perfect in my opinion, and I was so delighted when I received it. There's just something so much cuter about sleeping animals, and this little ducky looks so snug nestled into the fluffy white cloud. I really like the tiny star and sparkle detailing, and yellow and blue is one of my absolute favourite colour combinations, as well. The bubble coming out of his nostril is such a wonderful addition to the design, too. There's nothing that I don't like about this pin and I am super happy that it is now part of my pin collection. 

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you may have noticed that the packaging/presentation of the Super Cute Pin Club has changed, and not that I didn't love the old design featuring pastel polka dots and the cutest cats, but I am in love with this new design!! The individually packaged pins on the prettiest backing card look even more professional and fancy :) And they are much easier to store now in the tins where I keep all of my pin badges. The mixture of stars and plants on the card looks lovely, and the colours are so warm and vibrant. It's a 10/10 from me! 

Here is the pin that arrived through my letterbox last month. The design for me just screams Summer so it was great timing to receive at the end of Summertime to give you one last dose of summer vibes before Autumn takes over! This little squirrel looks so pleased with himself that he's stumbled across a patch of strawberries and is happily feasting away on them :) He's even took a chunk out of the strawberry by his foot. How cute! 

I am a big fan of the strawberry aesthetic, if that even makes any sense... I adore things that are decorated with a strawberry print, and will buy anything strawberry-related that I happen to come across whilst shopping. I'm not sure why! Other than strawberries always remind me of my childhood, since we grew them in our garden and I loved searching for any ripe ones whenever I was playing outside. So I was over the moon to get a pin featuring strawberries and I love the shade of red used for them; it just makes me crave the real fruit whenever I look at the pin! :D I'm also lovin' how the seeds covering the strawberries have been done in the same gold as the outline, because it makes them super eye-catching! I very much like the gold outline of both these pins in general (I usually prefer silver outlines), because I think it's really pretty and goes nicely with each of the colour schemes. 

See how much it shines when you angle the pin! I can't wait to wear them out and about, especially during sunny weather because they are going to sparkle beautifully when the sunshine catches that gold outline *all the heart-eyed emojis*. Aside from the strawberries, the next best detail of this pin for me is that glorious, curled tail! It reminds me so much of a dormouse... so I'm questioning whether this is in fact a dormouse and not a squirrel? What do you think? Nonetheless, the tails looks so floofy and makes my kawaii-loving heart happy :) 

Awww!! They are so precious! Something that is lovely about these pins is that the animals both look really comfy, Mr Strawberry in his squishy bed of fruits and sleepy duck on his pillow in the sky :) Each and every one of the pin badges that I have been sent now (other than one) have been big, and that's something that I think is so awesome about this subscription. Large, colourful pins are my favourite because of how much they stand out. Plus, it is much easier to not forget that you're wearing a pin and accidently knock it off without realising until it's too late >.< I can't be the only one who's done that, right? 

Another fantastic feature of Stami Studio's pins is the fact that they are doubled backed, so this is an added safeguard against them falling off your clothing, bags, etc. The backs are made me of smooth rubber and so there's no risk of being scratched like with the traditional metal pin backs. Who doesn't love a bit of pink too? 

So, those are the stunning, fabulously kawaii pins that I was recently sent, and I am so excited to see if I get a Halloween themed pin for October, but we'll have to see! No matter what theme/design it is, I am sure that it will be adorable! I'm curious, which pin is your favourite of the two? Mine has to be little ducky slumber boi :) I feel I can personally relate to him at the moment... all I want to do is sleep! Although I wish I had a fluffy cloud pillow T_T. Thankyou Stami Studios for bringing so much cuteness into my life each month! And I hope you guys enjoyed me passing it forward and bringing cuteness into your lives as well, haha! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

Do you collect pin badges?

If so, what's your favourite pin in your collection?

Also, I'd love to hear what your favourite thing about Autumn is! 

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Aviakey Giveaway Prizes!

Hey everyone! I hope you've all been having a lovely start to September! I'd love to hear about anything you've got planned/are looking forward to this month :) Today, I wanted to blog about something that helped to brighten up my day on Wednesday, which feels even more special and important considering everything I'm going through right now. If you follow me over on Instagram then you probably know what I'm referring to.... it's still so hard to talk about though and I'm writing this post to celebrate the little things that make me happy, so let's get back to that! 

Last month, I won a giveaway on Instagram, and I was so excited!! The artist hosting the giveaway is called Aviakey and they create the most adorable and wonderful artwork! A lot of their work is based around the fantastic Nintendo game, Animal Crossing, but they also do lots of other fantasy and fandom-related art, such as pokemon and anime. I know you guys will love Aviakey's work, so please go and show your support and give them a follow over on Instagram & Twitter :) So, without any further ado, here are my prizes I won! 

I wanted to firstly say Congratulations to Aviakey for passing the 250 followers milestone, which is what this giveaway was in celebration of!! And for now having close to 400, you deserve it! Your artwork is absolutely brilliant and so cute ^.^

Before I actually show you guys my prizes (along with the fabulous stickers above), I wanted to explain what I won :) The prizes included an Animal Crossing-inspired original character commission, which is AMAZING!! As soon as I won and messaged Aviakey my address, we discussed what I would like and if you know me well you'll probably be able to guess which animal I went for. I also won an Animal Crossing sticker sheet! 

Ta-da! Here is the custom Animal Crossing villager that Aviakey created for me! It is, of course, a cat :D If you have been a regular follower of my blog for a while, you will know how much I love nekomimi (anime cat girls) and so when Aviakey asked me what outfit I would like my villager to have, I opted for a traditional maid outfit, which is what you often see nekomimi cosplayers wearing. I adore the character that Aviakey created for me, her outfit looks so sweet, and I love the tiny bow detail as well as the fact she has a bell collar!! 

I was also asked what accessory I wanted for my villager, and I thought it would be cool for her to have a little magnifying glass to look for pretty insects. Insect photography and surveying is what I've been doing all summer so it seemed like the perfect choice, plus collecting bugs was always one of my favourite things to do back when I used to play Animal Crossing: Wild World a lot :) I really love that Aviakey included the butterfly and tiny caterpillar, they are a fabulous addition! Also, how gorgeous is the background.. the bright summer grass and the blue sky with fluffy clouds!! And her happy facial expression!? She's so excited to be exploring nature! Thankyou so much for making me such a marvellous OC!! 

Here are all of the stickers that I received, too. I love how vibrant and colourful they are! They are so eye-catching, and it's going to be hard for me not to hoard them and never use them :D Although, I can't wait to add the little money bag stickers to my planner to represent paydays, haha! I love that all of the stickers are small enough that I can use them to decorate snail mail letters, postcards and planner pages :) All of the characters are fantastic! 

As for the single/loose stickers... I really really adore them!! They stand out so much! I especially like the bold outline of the frog girl and I'm going to call him newt boy; it just makes them even more eye-catching! The purple & yellow, and pink & bluey-green work really well together as well. I had a little accident when removing the stickers from the plastic sleeve thingie they were in, and frog girl got stuck on the sticky part... unfortunately, when I tried to remove her, it took some of her colouration off. Oops! But I think it totally looks like she has markings now, and I've decided she's a cool species of speckled frog from a tropical rainforest :) The expression of awe on her face is incredibly cute! 

It was a wonderful surprise to see something Pokemon themed with my prizes, and this sticker is so pretty!! I love all of the little nature details, such as the different colours in the grass and the long fern-like plants. Green is my favourite colour, so it's lovely to see so many shades of it :) The blue and pink bubbles are a nice touch too, and I love they are pastel coloured. The star of the show is of course, Oddish himself! He looks exhausted, poor little dude! I can relate, haha! 

I am so delighted with everything that I won from Aviakey! I was honestly over the moon when I realised I would be getting sent a print of my Animal Crossing OC, because I assumed that it would be a digital commission only. I feel so lucky to get a printed version, and it's now displayed on my art wall! It was packaged so nicely too, in a blue dotty paper bag! It sounds weird but I really like when things are sent in paper bags. Does anyone else agree? They always make me think of pick-n-mix sweets :D I just wanted to say a big thankyou to Aviakey for hosting this epic giveaway & for designing me the most beautiful cat villager!! Don't forget to check out Aviakey's art on social media guys :) Let me know in the comments what your favourite item was in today's post? Have a spectacular weekend everyone!

Thankyou for reading! 

♥  

Are you a fan of Animal Crossing? Do you have a favourite villager? 

If you could design your own villager, what would it be like? 

Funko Harry Potter Mystery Box

Hi guys! We are now in September, I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by! But yay, it's the start of the spooky-season, as I like to call it. A time when all the cool kids are way too excited for Halloween (and Autumn) to accept that there's actually another month left before it is upon us. I am one of those people :D Halloween starts today, in my eyes! And if you're a fellow potterhead, you'll know what else is special about September 1st.... 

It's Back to Hogwarts Day! The day when all witches and wizards head to King's Cross Station in London to board the Hogwarts Express and begin their school year! And even though I am still waiting for my apparently navigationally-useless owl to find my house and deliver my acceptance letter (fifteen years late, oops!), I can't not celebrate this day like the absolute nerd I am! I decided that it's also the perfect excuse to finally get around to blogging about something that I've been meaning to for a while now. And show you all what I got inside my Harry Potter Mystery Box! 

I bought this box back at the beginning of July, after wanting it for months and months! Being from the UK can really suck when it comes to Funko Pop collecting as the headquarters for Funko is based in North America and many of the stores exclusive to the country team up with Funko to create Pop's that are only available there! We either never get a chance to get them, other than by buying them directly from US collectors of course, or we have to wait for months for European retailers to get hold of some. This Harry Potter mystery box was released by GameStop, so it took a while for it to become available over here! 

Many months after first hearing about the release of the box, I notice that Pop in a Box had it on their website but couldn't afford to spare £29.99 for it at the time. I was very lucky in July however, because they announced a special sale to mark the company's anniversary/birthday. I couldn't resist grabbing myself a box whilst it was reduced, and being a subscriber to the Pop in a Box monthly subscription, I get 10% off all my orders and free delivery, too. I managed to get myself one for just £16.19!! Which is an amazing price for a box that contains a Funko Pop! (RRP £10-12), a Mystery Mini (RRP £6.99), a Five Star figure (RRP £9.99) and a Pop! Pen (RRP approx. £3.99). It would have been silly to not snap it up at that bargain price! Here's exactly what was inside... 

This Harry Potter Mystery Box offered a 1/2 chance of getting certain figures: a mystery mini figure of either Boggart Snape or Professor Trelawney, and the opportunity to get a standard or chase variant of the Sirius Black Pop! vinyl figure. The other two items were the same for every box. I'm not gonna lie, I originally wanted this box just to get my hands on the Boggart Snape! Severus Snape is one of my favourite characters from the franchise, and I needed this figure in my life :D I was so thankful when I opened my box and it revealed the mystery mini I was hoping for!! Let's take a close look at the items. 

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll be able to tell that this entire box is Prisoner of Azkaban themed! This movie is a particular fan favourite, and to be honest, it's my favourite movie of the lot, too. It is also one of my favourites when it comes to the books, along with the Half Blood Price and the first book, which will always hold a special place in my heart. Anyhow, before I go off on a tangent, this pen is of Dre Head, a Shrunken Head who is introduced to us when Harry rides the Knight Bus. He is a movie only character, but still very cool. He reminds me of these little voodoo doll keychains I used to collect when I was a teenager, as you do, haha! I love how detailed the Pop head is, considering if just for a pen, and I like that the actual pen itself is purple in colour, just like the Knight Bus. Everytime I look at this pen, I imagine Dre Head shouting 'Ernie!'. I'm very happy with my first Pop! Pen :)

Another new addition to my Funko collection is this Five Star figure. Before getting this box, I was yet to own one, and what an adorable first one to get! I was putting off buying any because I already have over 100 Pop's, as well as collecting Funko mystery minis and pint size heroes, and after giving in and finally getting a Rock Candy figure last summer, I didn't need to start anymore figure collections. Not that I can stick to this figure ban for very long, because I'm now collecting Banpresto QPoskets... I have a serious problem! 

Receiving this Quidditch Harry might have started something :D The design of these Funko Five Star's is just too cute, and I love that they come with little accessories. The detail on Harry's quidditch uniform is so brilliant for such a small figure; I am certainly impressed, and I can't wait to get him out of the box and photographed. Oh, and if you enjoy toy photography, you can check out my dedicated Instagram here :) 

So, it's time to reveal which version of Sirius Black I got!

YAYYYYY! I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY GOT THE CHASE!! 

If you were super observant when looking at my photo above showing all of the contents of the GameStop Harry Potter Mystery Box, you'll have been able to make out the chase sticker on the front of Pop! box ;) Let me know if you actually did! I was so surprised that I got the chase, I am never this lucky! Not only did I get the mystery mini I wanted, I got the special Sirius as well ^.^ I was gobsmacked, as the saying goes, to be honest! I so prefer this sepia version of the Pop and I am over the moon to have another chase in my collection. It's so cool!! The box and Pop both arrived in perfect condition too, with no scuffs or marks, or paint job errors as far as I can see. Eeee! 

I really love this Pop of Sirius! It's just fantastic!! His hair looks excellent, definitely not as dishevelled as it was in the books :D How awesome are all of the little details!? Such as the tatty, frayed look of the bottom of his pants, the letters/symbols on his prison identification plaque, the colouration around his eyes and the tattoos on his neck... everything is just so intricate. 10/10 from me on the design of this Pop! 

And lastly, lets talk about the star of the show! Just look at Boggart Snape!! Isn't he fabulous!? The scene involving Professor Snape's hilarious outfit makeover always makes me laugh so much! Alan Rickman did such an amazing job bringing this scene to life so perfectly, don't you think? It's wonderful to receive another figure that is so well designed and fantastically detailed, down to the buttons on the dress. The best feature, other than Snape's unimpressed facial impression, has to be the vulture hat! The impression of the vulture just makes it look like it's in on the joke, if that makes sense, which makes me chuckle even more as I remember the scene. I couldn't be happier with this mystery mini!

Overall, this box is certainly worth the money, even if you don't receive the chase variation of Sirius. You get a lot of value for your money, and surprise boxes are just so much fun to open! If I had more money available at the time, then I totally would have paid £29.99 and been delighted with what I got for that :) Pop in a Box unfortunately no longer have the item available but I'm sure they will get it back in stock again! I hope you all enjoyed checking out what I got inside my Harry Potter EXC/GameStop exclusive Mystery Box! I'd love to know, what was your favourite item that I received? Would you have preferred to get a mystery mini of Professor Trelawney or Snape? I hope all of my fellow potterheads have celebrated Back to Hogwarts Day in some way! I am currently waiting The Philosopher's Stone as I write! I wish you all a marvellous month; I will try to get back to sharing regular posts :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

If you got accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 

which subject would you look forward to most? 

Also, what's your Hogwarts House? 

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I am a Ravenclaw!

If you're ever interested in signing up for a Pop in a Box subscription, with which you are sent a mystery Funko Pop! figure from your wishlist every month, then it would be wonderful if you could use my referral code :) It's 'SARAH-R1Z'.