Hello guys! So yeah, I've remembered that I have a blog!! :D … I'm just kidding, but what can I say!? Life has majorly gotten in the way of me and my motivation to write. Covid hasn't helped and I've had something going on in my life that's wonderful but has also kept me rather busy ♥ And I apologise that this little blog of mine has taken a back-burner. Thankyou for all of you guys' continued support!! I haven't blogged in over two months, and yet you're all still interested in following my little corners of the internet! It's all very heartwarming because I often think I'm boring, haha! But for some reason you've all decided to stick around, and it really means the world to me :)
To those of my lovely readers who follow me on twitter or instagram (where I am most active nowadays), you'll probably remember when I asked if I should still share about what I got for Christmas despite it having been months and months since the big day. In many communities on the world wide web, especially within the crafter community from what I've seen, there's a trend of celebrating 'Christmas in July'. So I thought what the heck? I might as well jump on the bandwagon in my own way, since most of those who responded to my polls on social media said I should still blog about the prezzies I received. I am finally delivering my 'What I got for Christmas' post, on the last day of July (better late than never they say!). I hope you all enjoy reading and checking out some of my favourite gifts!
As many of you will know, Christmas 2019 for me was a very tough time! It was a challenge to get fully immersed in the festivities and joy of the holiday season, and I had a lot of mixed feelings. I won't go into details because I want this post to be positive and to be honest, I don't want to risk bringing up the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing throughout the latter half of last year. But all in all, my head space kept jumping between YAY ITS CHRISTMAS and dread that a whole new year was edging closer... fun times! However, something that was wonderful about Christmastime was that my sister & I tried to make it as lovely for one another as we could, and spoilt each other with presents!! Most of this post will include gifts that my sister got for me, and also some from my awesome friends :) I'll try not to ramble, but I'm going to get excited all over again writing about everything!
I've decided to separate the post into themed sections and this one is all about stationery! I am a huge fan of all things stationery-related, and my loved ones were so thoughtful with the marvellous presents they chose for me! I got a lot of adorable sticky notes and page tab thingies, that are perfect for using in planners but also for using in crafting, scrapbooking and for decorating the mail I send. JUST LOOK AT THOSE CAT TOE BEANS... and the birbs, oh my gosh!!
My sister bought me the loveliest sloth notebook that is so great to use as a list pad, and I write a lot of lists so I am always delighted with new list pads! Do you guys ever find that you are that little bit more productive when you get to write up your daily to-do-lists on pretty paper? Because I know I do! She also got me so many pens!! Some of which feel so soft and comfortable to hold (the panda, the bear and the piggie). Also, how cute is that festive dinosaur pen!? The pom-pom is super nice quality and the colour is one of my favourites. I love mint! And you can't really see on my photo but the actual pen part is decorated with polkadots, which is the pattern I most like! The pom-pom even has spiky spines and it's a rawrsome detail, don't you think!?!
My sister picked up a lot of these gorgeous bits and pieces from Ali Express, which I know gets a lot of stick but you can find some lovely bargains on the website & she loves shopping on it! The little box you can see above is filled with 45 bunny stickers and it was under £1! They are so adorable and I can't wait to use them in my snailmail and planner (when I eventually get back to using it, oops!). She got me another pack of bunny stickers because she's just that awesome, and I'm very glad that they are the loose kind of sticker seals(?), at least that's what I think they are called! I love being able to drop a couple in my mail and they are easier to store than stickers on sheets.
It can be tricky to photograph washi tape; in hindsight, I should have stuck a little on some paper so you guys could get a proper look at the design, but oh well! You'll just have to believe me when I tell you how sweet it is! If you didn't already know, I collect postcards and I used to be really into arranging swaps via instagram... I got so many rabbit postcards!! I must have 100 now, and many of the designs I was looking to receive where from a Korean collection called Afternoon Garden. Well, the washi tape has several bunnies from that collection on it!! So naturally, I adore it & i'm probably going to hoard it a.k.a. never use it.
Which is your favourite of the stationery I got for Christmas?
More bunnies!! These PJ pants that my sister picked for me are so pretty, and I'm looking forward to wearing them during the cooler seasons... I miss autumn T_T. Of course, my sister got me some Harry Potter goodies because everyone knows how much of a potterhead I am. The Hagrid keyring is one of the official Warner Bros. 'Backpack Buddies', which come as a blind bag. I was happy to get Hagrid because who doesn't love this big cuddly dude? But obviously, I was crossing my fingers and toes for Severus Snape (fangirl much). The sock set is superb!! They have little Lucius Malfoy's (hello Mr Isaacs ;p) on them and the other members of the dark arts gang. I always appreciate getting socks as they are useful (kid me would be shocked), especially for someone like me who often forgets that I'm wearing socks and wanders outside to get them covered in mud, haha!
I'd never heard of the plushies that my sister found for me, which isn't usually the case considering how plushie obsessed I am. The cat plushie above is one of them; my sister says she just had to get me another since she found them for a brilliant price! I couldn't fit them both into the frame, so I'll show off the second cutie later in my post. But let me tell you all more about 'my sugar friends'! They are essentially scented plushies with a clip on so you can attach from to your backpack or whatever. The red smiley thing that my new cat sugar friend is sitting in is actually a coffee cup, so as you can probably guess, she's coffee-scented. I actually love the smell of coffee, so this plush is right up my street. Her name is Latte Latte! Plush no.2 is a waffle puppy and his name is Wooffle... how cute is that!? He's honey-scented which I'm not much of a fan of, but I'll let him off because of his cuteness factor!
My sister knows my password on Pop in a Box (because she used to help my mom buy Funko figures off my wishlist for me!), and so she went through my wants, choosing two Pop! vinyl that I'd been after for ages!! And a horror figure from the Funko 5 Star range. I only own of these so far and I really wanted to add a horror characters to my collection. She got me Chucky, and he comes with a mini voodoo doll and knife. I love props like these that I can use in my toy photography (if that sort of thing is your cup of tea, why not check out my dedicated instagram account?), and he's just such a groovy little figure. Does anyone but me still use the word groovy? XD
Look at these badass girlies! I was very delighted to get these two, and now that I've finally blogged all about them, I can get shots of them for my toy photography account! I have only myself to blame for taking this long to share my christmassy post, however Christmas in July has quite a ring to it, and its nice to revisit the excitement I felt on Christmas morning when I was opening up these gorgeous presents for the first time!!
I love the Hermione in Herbology Class Pop mainly because of the mandrake!! I think these little mythological plants are fascinating and awesome, and I love that this little mandrake has such a grumpy face. It's too adorable!! I also love Hermione getting her magic meets biology nerd on, as it reminds me of myself! This Pop of Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones is one of the designs of her I like most from Funko; they've made a lot! Because it represents the time period from both the book & TV show storyline that I enjoyed the most! The dragons' birth was amazing!! And this pop makes me think of it, as well as the iconic 'dracarys' scene. Dothraki Dany is such an epic warrior! The only problem I have with this Pop is the baby dragon's colour. Fellow GoT/ASOIAF fans will know that it's wrong and it just bugs me, but if I'm not being picky, I really like it!
Before I talk about the overload of cuteness that I've just shoved in all of your faces, how cool is the mug that one of my friends got for me!? I love cats and I love swear words, so it's the purrrrfect (I couldn't help myself!) combination of some of my favourite things *instantly gets the Sound of Music song in my head*, on a mug so I can use it for drinking caramel lattes and that makes me and my taste-buds happy :D He also got me the sweet little Japanese doll nail-scissors that you can see in the first photo I included. My friends truly are the best!!
So, the absolutely stunning animal illustrations above are actually postcards and they came inside the pink box with the bunny couple on the front. They are another of the presents from my sister and I think they might be the absolute best thing that I got!! I FLIPPIN' LOVE THEM!! They are so beautiful and I want to plaster every surface of my room with them once my decorating is all done!
The adorableness never ends! You get 30 postcards, each with a different design featuring a mix of frogs, otters, rabbits, foxes, birds and sea otters. Honestly, I can't find the words for how over the moon I am with them!! Not only are the designs done in the most gorgeous watercolour style, with super cute animals surrounded by food and flowers (three of the greatest things ever), but they also feature the Japanese word for the animal, along with the characters so I can learn how to write the name myself!!
From of the selection I picked out for my photos, which is the nicest in your opinion? Let me know in the comments!
My sister has the loveliest penpal from the US called Lindsey and she is seriously so kind and sweet! I was so surprised and delighted when I found out that she'd sent a box of goodies for me, along with her mail for my sister, to pop under the Christmas Tree. When I opened it on 25th December, I couldn't believe what I found inside!! Lindsey had only gone and got me some of the Hello Kitty McDonald's toys that they'd released in the US and that I was desperate to get my hands on!! I might have cried ;') Not only did she send me three of these spectacular toys, but Gudetama socks, too!! Eeeee! What a star she is!!
I can't get over how sweet and wonderful my loved ones are!! They made me so happy and helped to make Christmastime special for me, when I thought that it wasn't going to happen. Guys!! My best friend actually got me these beauties from the Warner Bros. Harry Potter makeup range that was released last year (if I remember correctly). And even though the movies annoyingly made the crest animal wrong >.< this one actually looks closer to an eagle than the raven on the typical Ravenclaw merch I've seen from Warner Bros. so let's just pretend that the design team have got their act together! She got me the makeup bag and the eye-shadow palette, which I've been planning to give a post all to itself. So, you guys will have to wait until then to get a peek inside!
The last bunch of goodies that I want to show you all are these lovely wintery things! A pretty candle in a snowflake-patterned frosted glass, as well as some thick and snuggly socks. One pair has the cutest bear design with mini pom-poms for ears! I can't wait to get out these lovely gifts this year during Christmas, especially the candle! I love a good candle :D
You can't really see because of the sunshine that was glaring into my sauna of a bedroom this afternoon (it.was.too.hot!!), but the heart keyring says my name on it :) It's so nice! Are you a fan of trinkets with your name on? Do you find it tough to find your name in shops because it's so popular, or unique/has a unusual spelling? Everyone and their cousin is called Sarah, so a lot of the time all of the items featuring my name are sold out. It used to get so sad as a kid when I was on holiday at Haven or Pontins because the gift shops there, and those along the seafront of the towns where we would go, always had a massive selection of cool name themed gifts and I was barely able to get something with Sarah written on, when my siblings could always find their names! Anyway... I'm going off on a tangent!
Peekaboo! It's Wooffle!! Isn't he lovely? I really like that he's bright yellow! But why couldn't he be maple syrup scented or something *cry cry*. Are you team Latte Latte or Wooffle? I'm very interested to know!
So that's most of the presents that I got for Christmas 2019. I was incredibly lucky to receive such brilliant gifts! I hope that this post doesn't come off as braggy in any way, because my intention is only to share my joy with others and to hopefully brighten the days of my fellow lovers of all things kawaii :) I hope it was a good read, anyhow! I wanted to give a huge thanks to my sister (you're the best, Nicole!), and to my epic friends, Aaron, Jess (you should totally go and give her blog a read here) & Emma for forever putting a smile on my face and warmth in my heart. Well, that was cheesy af :D But all that you do means so very much to me!
Hopefully, you all enjoyed a dose of Christmas in July! What a random thing, but I guess it's a nice reminder that we are half way through the year and so Christmas will soon be on its way. But I'm much more of a Halloween girl, so I can't wait for the world to get its spook on! Maybe someone should start a Halloween in May? Just sayin'.
Thankyou for reading!
♥
What was your favourite thing that you got last Christmas?
I'm also very curious to know when everyone else starts preparing for Christmas/
begins their gift shopping?
If today's post has got you in the Christmas spirit, why not check out these other posts of mine?