July Favourites ’21

I feel like I always say stuff like this when it comes to my monthly posts, but seriously… How is it August already?! This year has really flown by, so much so I didn’t realise my boiler was due a service because it only felt like yesterday that it had had one! xD

This month feels like it’s been… Strange? My mental health hasn’t been very good to be perfectly honest but at the same time it actually improved due to dog sitting my best friends dog Eddie. I’ll be talking more about him later… 😉

I’m hopeful for August being a better month. I have lots of fun things planned with friends and I can’t wait to go on some mini adventures with some of them too.

Beauty.

• Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soap in Peppermint.

This is an all purpose soap that my mom recently gave to me in lavender form. She’d treated herself to some of the scents but had found she had too many. As I wasn’t using it due to having a lot of my on stuff to use, I gave it back to my mom. When I did however, she offered me another scent that she hardly had any of, the peppermint one. This came at a good time with the heat wave we experienced in the UK. This is a multi purpose soap that can be used as a body wash, shaving and even for cleaning around the home! I’m yet to try it for shaving, but so far both me and Dane have used it on the body. As this is peppermint it leaves a lovely cool feeling behind after rinsing off of the skin, which felt amazing during the heat wave! I don’t know if I would go out of my way to buy this soap as I feel for less money I could pick up the Original Source mint shower gel for a lot less money.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Film – All the Jackass movies!

As some of you may know I am a MASSIVE Jackass fan and earlier last week the trailer for Jackass Forever came out, so I was kind of an excited fan girl… 😛 I was so excited that I decided to binge watch ALL five Jackass films, including Jackass 2.5 and Jackass 3.5. I forgot about some of the scenes from the films so it’s always a delight to be reminded of some of them. I can’t tell you guys how many times I’ve watched the Jackass series as well as the films now. Whilst studying my undergraduate degree I remember watching everything over and over again as it helped me whilst I worked on my dissertation. To add here, whilst I’m really excited for Jackass Forever I’m not excited about a few things. 1. The fact Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn won’t be there (who are both my favourite Jackass guys) and 2. This is actually going to be Johnny Knoxville’s last Jackass film… Gutted! It’s obviously the end of an era in a way and the young 11/12 year old Nat probably didn’t even realise how much this show would change her life. I’ll be writing a post all about Jackass towards the fourth film, which comes to cinemas on 22nd October!

Image taken from Tenor

Favourite TV Show – Beastars season two.

Me and Dane literally binge watched season 2 of Beastars as soon as it came out on Netflix. We watched the first season last year and really enjoyed it! As I haven’t read the manga, I didn’t expect there to be another season coming out, so when it was announced a while ago I was surprised! This being said, I was intrigued as to what would happen in season two and other questions about Legoshi (wolf) and Haru (rabbit). For those of you who may not know, Beastars is about anthropomorphic animals where carnivores and herbivores are divided. We follow Legoshi during his time as a student where we see how this divide is affecting students, as well as adults outside of the school/college/university. I definitely recommend watching! You can watch it on Netflix, subbed and dubbed.

Favourite Music – Girl Talk – All Day.

All Day is an album my ex actually told me about over 10 years ago and I still listen to it to this day. It’s a mash up album with all sorts of genres mashed up to make one amazing piece of work. I love listening to this when I have stuff to do, whether it be doing paperwork, blog work or cleaning around the house, it’s the perfect album to put on and listen to. I especially love listening to it whilst driving. There are 372 songs used on this album. Honestly go and give it a listen if you’ve never heard of it before… I don’t think you’ll regret it. 😉

Favourite Game – The Greatest Penguin Heist of All Time.

This is a game that Dane introduced me to about three weeks ago now! It’s an early access game on Steam and it is fucking hilarious! If you can’t gather what it’s about from the title then… 😛 Obviously you play as a penguin and you’re off on a heist, the greatest of all time! This game can be played alone or in a group of four through private parties and it’s one that me and Dane have been really loving playing together, especially on streams. You play various different levels and each time you are set tasks to complete. You complete the tasks successfully, you make big penguin bucks which can be used to buy new areas to play, as well as weapons, clothing and more! As this is an early access game there are bugs and items still in development but this doesn’t bother us too much as it’s still crazy and fun to play. 🙂 If you fancy watching us play it on stream make sure to drop us a follow so you can watch us play games! We stream this game every Wednesday between 7pm-9pm. Dane’s Twitch and my Twitch.

Just a few of my favourite things…

New Black Milk Clothing pieces.

Okay so I found some Black Milk Clothing bargains online in July, but I also picked up the Snorlax Snoozing Snuggle Suit when it was re-released! It originally came out in the second Pokemon collection. I’d been nagging BMC via Twitter for ages to bring it back and it would seem myself and others would get their wishes (and nagging!) come true. I’ve owned it for a month now and I’ve worn it loads when the weather was cool enough to. It’s really comfortable and I feel adorable as fuck in it too! If there’s one thing I realised this year, it’s just how much I love BMC’s snuggle suits and how I need more. 😛

As I mentioned, I did pick up some bargains, two in fact! The Snorlax Apples Apron Dress originally came out in the second Pokemon collection and I snagged for £10 less than what BMC are selling it for! Although I’m yet to wear it out and about, I have zero regrets about buying it! It’s a gorgeous apron piece that I’ve teamed up with a strawberry t-shirt from TU Sainsburys. Apron pieces are some I’ve always been unsure of due to the length, but with leggings or a pair of tights with shorts on top, I’m sure it’ll be fine! I’m planning to wear this outfit soon, maybe on a day trip with a friend or for a picnic date with Dane! It’s the perfect outfit for spring and summer!

The second bargain I picked up is the Mew Sheer Midaxi Dress which came out in the first Pokemon collection. This is a piece I’d always lusted after but… Couldn’t justify the monies. I’d bought the Gastly Evolution Handkerchief Dress and felt that was enough for me. However, months later BMC put the Mew dress into the sale and I started to think more about ordering it. I put it off and just as I went to, it had sold out… I was gutted and it was clearly never meant to be. However, one morning whilst scrolling through the internet I found someone was selling the Mew dress on Vinted for a decent price! It was a size M, so a size down from what I usually buy and after some chat with the seller I placed an order. It arrived a few days later and fits perfectly! I’m so happy I bought it and I’m waiting for the right time to wear it… But with the way the weather is now in the UK I may need to wait a while. xD

Lucky art commission from Claire Likes To Doodle.

About a year ago now my amazing friend Claire/Claire Likes To Doodle would stream whilst doing art over on Twitch channel and as she would stream during the day I would join to watch during work for company. I saved enough channel points so I could ask Claire to draw something quick for me! I asked for Lucky from Animal Crossing and she smashed it! Recently I asked her if she still had that initial quick sketch she did for me and she did! I paid for her to finish it for me and paint him. I met Claire for coffee last weekend and was presented with this gorgeous piece. I love how Lucky has a cute little butterfly on his nose, as well as the bees around the flowers too! I’m currently catching loads of bees on Animal Crossing so I can make lots of bee models for my hive!

If you’re interested in getting a commission from Claire yourself make sure to check out her Instagram page and drop her a DM. 🙂

New clothing in general… 😛

I seem to have acquired some new clothing pieces over the last week of July and I have my reasons for this! xD I’d seen the Disturbia Strange Oversized Skater Dress making it’s way around social media for a while and after a lot of thought, I decided to pick one up! I’d seen and heard in a lot of posts and reviews of this dress that the sizing of it was incredibly generous and as my size(s) had sold out, I had to go for a size I haven’t been able to fit into for a VERY long time. Alas a few days passed and the dress arrived. I was so anxious to try it on in case it didn’t fit, but alas it did and it was still very oversized. This being said I don’t mind it, it feels really comfortable and with a belt around (as shown in the image above) you wouldn’t even know how oversized it is! I’m planning to wear this over the weekend.

This sweater literally arrived a few days ago and as you can see it’s a Space Jam Lola Bunny sweater from George Asda. To be able to order an item I’d wanted for AGES I had to order something else, so I decided to get this sweater. It claimed to be oversized and it had Lola Bunny on it so… Win win really! 😛 I used to love Lola Bunny growing up, so much so my dad bought me a keyring/chain with her on. I loved it! I remember being so hyped for a female bunny character and Space Jam but when it came down to watching the film, I was left feeling disappointed and a bit freaked out by the aliens. xD I plan on watching it again soon.

Dog sitting a cutie pie! ***WARNING IMAGE HEAVY***

Finally I’m here to show off this little cutie pie, Eddie, my best friend and her husbands dog! He’s a Shih Tzu Yorkshire Terrier cross, or a Shorkie for short. Me and Dane love him to death so when our friends were talking about where they could put him (aka a kennel/dog boarding) whilst they go on holiday we offered to look after him! We had him for a week and we loved every minute of it. I wanted to share with you guys some of the memorable and funny moments we had with Eddie during his week holiday at ours! We’ll be looking after him again in August and hopefully September which we’re really looking forward to!

This is our living room and for some reason a couple of days into his stay with us he got obsessed by our living room light. As you can see it’s mirrored and he kept staring at it one day after Dane had come home from visiting his family. Eddie was going crazy after a while, in the sense he was trying to get up to the light, whether it was via my airer or the dining table! We don’t 100% know why but we can only assume he saw himself in the mirror and thought it was another dog. We ended up wrapping the light with kitchen roll in the hopes he would forget about it, he didn’t. 😛

On his way home one day from work Dane brought Eddie a puppuccino from Starbucks. It’s basically just a cup of cream but damn did Starbucks give Dane a big cup! Eddie really enjoyed it but he kept wandering off thinking he was finished, when he wasn’t! We might treat him to one in August/September if we get time to. 🙂

Most of the time Eddie would nap, especially during the work day when I was busy and in the evening when me and Dane were chilling or streaming on Twitch. This was taken the day he went back home after his mini holiday with me and Dane. This was typical of Eddie to have a nap next to me on the sofa, or underneath my desk. Look at his cute little face!

The weather was mostly lovely whilst Eddie was staying with us and one afternoon whenever I let him out for a wee or was sorting my washing, he would sit on our decking (I know it’s seen better days…) and look out at the garden and take in all the smells! It was really nice to sit with him and relax, especially if I wasn’t having a very good mental health day. Taking this photo of Eddie has really added to me want to get a dog to sit and have chill moments with… As well as other reasons of course!

Finally my favourite part of having Eddie stay with us for the week was all the doggy cuddles we got to have… More so me than Dane as Eddie really did get attached to me. Every morning Eddie would come and sit on my lap during my morning meetings and then later on come for snuggles and cuddles on the sofa during lunchtime and then on the bed before me and Dane would sleep. These two photos of him are my favourites as he’s given me those perfect puppy dog eyes for fuss. I mean, who can say no to that face?

I know I said finally before, but the day after Eddie went home, I went to my besties for a hot tub party! Typical Eddie came for snuggles with me… 😛 I didn’t mind of course. 😛

So there we have it guys, those are my favourites from July, with Eddie being number one of course!

What were your favourites from July guys? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time all, I hope you’re having a great weekend and I hope August is a good and sunny month for us all. 🙂

Cotswolds Crochet – Animal Crossing Cookie Amigurumi

Today’s post is one that has been a long time coming on my blog and I’ve been a mixture of excited and nervous to write it. Don’t have a clue about why I’m so nervous to write it however… I think due to how big a purchase it was, I’ve been in that frame of mind, maybe?

That being said, I really hope you enjoy this weeks blog post! If you’re an Animal Crossing and plushie fan then I have a feeling you’ll love this post. 😛

First of all, some of you may be asking, “What’s an amigurumi?”. Well, amigurumi is Japanese for crocheted or knitted stuffed toy, so basically an amigurumi is just that… A plush/stuffed toy crocheted. It’s something that seems to have blown up on the internet lately, more so since COVID in my opinion. I mean, I’ve even had a go myself at making Biskit from Animal Crossing.

As many of my regular readers and friends know, I LOVE Animal Crossing as well as Japanese culture and plushies, so for all three to come together really does make me smile.

I can’t quite remember how I discovered Harriet and her amazing amigurumi business Cotswolds Crochet, but as it was through Instagram it was more than likely through someone sharing her work on their stories. I fell in love with it instantly and gave her a follow. I continued to be in awe of her work and when Harriet announced she would be opening up slots for commissions towards the end of January this year, I KNEW I had to snag a slot.

I set an alarm on my phone and everything ready for the commission slots opening, but due to a busy day I COMPLETELY forgot and a few hours initially after her slots had opened, I dropped her a frantic DM on Instagram asking if I’d missed out. Thankfully I hadn’t and I got my request in to Harriet, as well as my deposit.

I knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it… Her to be. I requested for Cookie the dog villager from Animal Crossing, my favourite villager and my bae to boot. 😛 Four months later Cookie would finally arrive at my home and a month on she’s definitely fitted in well with my Pokemon plushies. 😛

I wanted to share my experience of requesting a commission through Harriet and Cotswolds Crochet with you guys today as Harriet is an amazing business owner and one of my favourites to work alongside for a commission. I know Harriet faced a few issues when creating Cookie for me, but this wasn’t a bad thing. I know it was a massive learning curve for Harriet and if anything it showed how hard working she is to make sure both she and her customer are happy with their purchase. I already cannot wait to commission Harriet again later this year and I already have an idea of what I’d like. 😛

Getting a commission slot with Harriet wasn’t too bad to be honest. I dropped her a DM on Instagram, told her exactly what I wanted and paid my deposit. Harriet keeps a commission progress board (hosted on Trello) visible via her biography on her Instagram page, so anyone who has commissioned her can see the progress of their piece. This being said though, Harriet does post often on her Instagram page stories of her progress on a piece she’s working on.

Harriet did this when it came down to Cookie and I was constantly excited to see updates on my cutie over on her stories, whether it be just starting off with the design, random updates through tags of what she was currently up to and even eventually seeing Cookie’s toe beans… Plus an up skirt shot. 😛

Throughout the process of creating Cookie for me, Harriet was a star and made sure to message me to keep me updated too or ask any questions. An example of this being to ask if I was happy with the colours she’d chosen for Cookie’s pink markings. I was more than happy and 100% trusted Harriet in regards to this.

Towards the end of April Harriet messaged me some pictures and stated she had finished Cookie! I was so excited to see the final result, however, I wasn’t 100% happy with how Cookie’s face was looking, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt… Off. Harriet agreed and she decided she actually wasn’t happy with how Cookie’s head had turned out and decided to rework it for me. Harriet apologised so much in regards, but I wasn’t fazed at all. I was more than happy to wait to ensure both me and Harriet were happy with the final product of Cookie. I knew that this was the first Animal Crossing dog villager that Harriet had worked on, hence why she wasn’t feeling the head shape 100%.

A couple of weeks later and Harriet made sure to keep me updated again, as always with how Cookie was coming along. Harriet had complete changed Cookie’s head, as well as removed the pink markings on her head from crocheted pieces to fabric, which personally I found looked a lot better and not as… Chunky.

A month had passed since Harriet had decided to rework Cookie’s head and she messaged me again with updated images of Cookie with a brand new head and looking amazing! Cookie looked like how I imagined her to be and with less weight on her head, she just looked better to me.

@cotswoldscrochet

Cookie 🍪 My hardest commission yet 😰 #animalcrossing #acnh #crochetiktok #amigurumi #fyp

♬ Bubblegum K.K. – DIMSVM

Also, how cool is his TikTok video that Harriet created to show off the creative process behind Cookie?! It made me smile so much when she sent it to me to watch!

I was happy with the changes Harriet had made and paid the remainder of the commission fee. A couple of days later, Cookie arrived at her new home with me and has settled in really well!

As I’ve only ever owned tiny keychain/keyring sized amigurumi’s, I wasn’t sure whether Cookie would be okay to cuddle and squish, so she lived in the box she arrived in for a week before moving into the plushie shelf that I have next to my side of the bed in our bedroom. Cookie has really fit in with my Pokemon plushies and is very much loved! I try and get her in selfies I take but my selfie game is usually happening in my office.

One thing I didn’t want to discuss/address on this post was how much I paid for Cookie as this doesn’t reflect on the overall piece. This commission was not cheap but fuck me it was worth every penny and I was more than happy to pay it! So much thought, love and hard work from Harriet went into creating Cookie and quite frankly I’m happy to support a small business, especially with the way the world is right now due to COVID. If you are really interested in how much I paid for Cookie, drop me a DM on Instagram or Twitter.

In the future I would love to commission Harriet again, whether it be to create a smaller dog villager such as Bones or Cherry, or maybe even Puppycat from Bee & Puppycat!

Speaking of commissions, Harriet’s commissions are currently closed, however Harriet did inform me that she’s hoping to reopen her commissions in September! I’ll definitely be in line to snag a commission from her.

If you’re interested in snagging a commission yourself later this year then make sure to go and check out Harriet’s Instagram page for Cotswolds Crochet, which is linked below, as well as at the start of this post.

I have also linked Harriet’s Etsy store as she does sell amigurumi patterns (Pokemon, Animal Crossing etc), as well as amigurumi plushies!

I have also linked Harriet’s blog, where she posts free patterns and her TikTok too where she posts videos of commissions she’s worked on, including Cookie!

Instagram

Etsy Store

Blog – access free patterns!!!

TikTok

What do you guys think of Cookie that Harriet over at Cotswolds Crochet created for me? I honestly love it so much and I’m so happy to finally have a Cookie plushie of some form in my collection.

If you were to commission Harriet for an amigurumi what would you ask for and why? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time guys, take care and have an amazing weekend!

May Favourites ‘21

I honestly can’t believe it’s going to be June in just a few days time… It’s really crazy how quickly 2021 is flying by and I don’t know how I feel about it. 😛

The start of June is going to be hella busy with me, with both mine and Dane’s eight year anniversary, as well as our five year anniversary in our home too! Alongside that my best friend is getting married, which is really exciting! I honestly can’t wait for it.

Aside from that I’m not 100% sure what else June is going to bring… Hopefully some better weather to be honest! I’m always a spring and autumn girl for the cooler weather, but it would be nice to have some decent weather so both me and Dane can go into the garden to do it up, have a BBQ and more. Plus, I have some pretty dresses that need to be worn and right now it’s too miserable and cold to do that. 😛

June is also the month that I need to go on a serious spending ban as I’ve spent quite a lot of money lately and yeah… I bought myself some cool accessories for my desk, as well as LOADS of Pokemon Nendoroid figures too! I would share some of these later on in this post but I’m contemplating having a post for it because… Why not! 😀 My new desk accessories are too kawaii not to share on their own.

Hint – they’re Razer x Sanrio themed… 😉

May I finally add how gutted I am that I won’t be seeing My Chemical Romance in June… It’s been postponed until May 2022 now… I’m happy to wait but, I am gutted. 😦

Anyhoo on a lighter note – let’s get on with this months favourites!

Beauty.

• SBC Propolis Shampoo – (link).

This is a shampoo I started using a good couple of weeks ago now and I LOVE it! It’s one my mom gave to me as she bought one too many and as we’re both fans of SBC, she thought I’d love it. Well, she wasn’t wrong. 😛 This shampoo smells like honey, both in the bottle, whilst using and after drying your hair too. It lathers up really nice and a little bit goes a long way, which is always good for my hair considering how much there is of it. It leaves my hair feeling soft to the touch, thick and without any frizz. It’s honestly been a bit of a gamechanger to my hair care and after it’s finished, I think I’ll buy it again! It’s actually a shampoo for scalp care and personally I have found my scalp isn’t as dry as it has been in the past, which is always good!

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention.

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Shows – Taskmaster and Line of Duty.

This month instead of a movie AND a TV show, I’ll be talking about two TV shows, as quite frankly me and Dane have been addicted to both of these in May and I know we’ll be obsessed about them in June too! We’ve been binge watching both of these TV shows recently and have fallen in love with them! Not going to lie, Line of Duty hasn’t been continued recently as we’ve been binge watching Taskmaster.

Line of Duty finished it’s sixth series recently and I decided that I wanted to watch the show from the beginning. I know loads of people who watch and love it and as I had nothing to watch I thought, why not? Dane started watching it with me too and we’ve both become hooked on the show. We’re currently on series four and DAMN so much has happened leading up to the episode and series we’re currently on. The show is about AC 12, a group of anti-corruption police with Steve, Kate and their boss Superintendent Hastings being the main characters. We follow them as they investigate “bent coppers” and sit on the edge of our seats as they do so. The show is amazing and I’ve been recommending everyone I know to watch it. As I said, we do need to continue watching it. You can watch for free on BBC iPlayer.

As I mentioned before, we’ve also been binge watching Taskmaster. I remember being told years ago when it first started to watch it and how funny it was. At the time it didn’t appeal to me and I thought it sounded crap, oh how wrong I was. We’re currently on series five of the show and hoping to get through the rest of the series before my free two week All 4+ subscription runs out. 😛 It’s such a good show to put on whilst we’re chilling out together, especially whilst eating dinner, doing work in the office, in the morning before work, etc. I highly recommend Taskmaster if you want something new to watch and want a laugh at the same time. A funny story to share, we went for a food shop over the weekend and we both occasionally commented on items used in challenges and how we would use them and such. Such geeks, right? 😛

Favourite Music – Tremonti – “Take You with Me” and Boston Manor – “Liquid”.

These two songs have popped up on my YouTube Music playlist this month and you know when you hear a song again and you forgot just how much you loved it? Yep, that. 😛 I have quite a few Tremonti and Boston Manor songs on my playlist and I often love hearing them come on and have a good sing, especially if they come on whilst I’m driving. I don’t really know what to say about these, aside from check them out and see what you think! Tremonti are heavy metal and Boston Manor are rock.

Image taken from Nintendo UK

Favourite Game – Miitopia.

Miitopia is a game that came out back in 2017 on the 3DS and it’s one both me and Dane owned and played to death! Now we play our Switch’s, we don’t touch our 2DS handhelds anymore, so when Nintendo announced that Miitopia would be coming out on the Switch I decided to order a copy for both me and Dane so we could play it all over again! The Switch version has some additional features, including better customisation for characters, as well as being able to have a horse in your party, which is pretty cool. I’ve been playing it none stop the past week as it’s such an easy and laid back game to play. To describe the game – a bad guy turns up and starts stealing people’s faces. You need to travel the land, fighting the creatures who have people’s faces. It’s a laid back and fun game and it’s one I thoroughly enjoy. There is a demo of this you can get from the Nintendo eShop but I highly recommend if you’re in the UK and want to purchase a copy, get it from Gamersheek! They have the best prices around. 🙂

Quite a few of my favourite things…

Animal Crossing and friends!

If there is one thing I have loved doing in May, it’s travelling to my friends islands on Animal Crossing to have island tours, meeting their villagers and exchange goodies! I especially love that my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) has finally got her own island to decorate and make her own. I went on a long tour recently and we took so many cute pictures, including the one above! This photo with her favourite villager Lily is PERFECT and I just had to show it off to you guys! If you love Animal Crossing content then make sure to go and check out my friend Sarah, she has an Animal Crossing Instagram account – acnh_kireishima.

Cross stitch.

If there is one thing I recently rediscovered it’s cross stitch. My mom got me into it from a young age and on and off over the years it’s a hobby I’ve done. I feel though since COVID I’ve done more cross stitching more than ever, especially the past month. I’d finished my Cookie cross stitch kit last month and had decided to buy some more in April/May, these being Lucky and Bones. Bones is almost finished and as soon as he’s finished, I’ll be working on Lucky. Then when Lucky is finished I’ll be ordering Cherry, Goldie and Shep. These Animal Crossing cross stitch kits are from DIY Crossing, who creates and makes some AMAZING Animal Crossing goods. Make sure to go and check them out if you’re interested. 🙂

Commissions.

If there is one thing I like getting, it’s commissions. Not only do you support a small artist/business owner but you’re getting something unique and hella cute out of it! I commissioned quite a lot of of people in May and I have ZERO REGRETS!

First commission – Claire Likes To Doodle. Claire recently opened up for people to commission her to draw her original character design Bernard to be cosplaying/dressed up as whatever you want! I decided to go for a Bernard dressed as an Eevee and holding a sign advertising my Twitch channel! It’s so cute and adorable. I have it on my Twitch, as well as on the right hand side of my blog, which you may have already seen as you read this post. 😛 I’ve spoken about Claire and her amazing store on my blog in the past which you can read here and here.

Second commission – mellencrossing. I’d noticed Mel’s work around Instagram and fell in love. The style of her work was so cute and the variety was even cuter! Mel does various styles including full body and a plushie villager, full body and two plushie villagers and two full bodies which is what I went for! The turn around was super quick and Mel was really easy to work with. I told her I wanted me and Cookie playing Switch’s together and for Cookie to be wearing the dreamy sweater. I also sent a photo of me wearing my Bee and Puppycat dress. Mel sent me the commission once it was finished and asked if I wanted to make any changes. I altered Cookie’s mouth from the usual smile to a massive smile. I love the commission so much and plan to print it off to pop above my desk. I’m planning on getting another one or two commissions from her in the future, but instead full body of me with two plushies instead. The one thing I want to mention is how fair Mel’s prices are for how amazing her work is. 🙂

Third commission – lunaquete. Finally I’ll be talking about Leony and her ADORABLE Animal Crossing designs. Leony is quite well known in the Animal Crossing community for her Pantone x Animal Crossing artwork and it’s also how I discovered her. I decided to commission her to draw me a Twitter header with my blog name on, as well as some of my favourite villagers including, Lucky, Marshal, Cookie, Eunice and Bones. It’s such a pretty commission and like Mel’s commission, I’m planning on printing this off to pop on the wall above my desk! I highly recommend checking out Leony’s work if you love Animal Crossing. If/when I hit affiliate on Twitch, I’m contemplating commissioning her to draw me some emoticons. 🙂

Cookie amigurumi.

I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS CUTIE!!! Back at the start of 2021 I discovered cotswoldscrochet through Instagram and when I found out she was going to open her commission slots for amigurumi, I was ON IT as soon as I could! As Cookie is my favourite villager, I decided to get a huge Cookie amigurumi made to display with my Pokemon plushies. Harriet was amazing when it came down to making Cookie, she asked me loads of questions of what I wanted and how I wanted her to be, showed me the colour of the wool before starting her and more. Harriet faced a few issues when it came to creating Cookie’s head as this was her first dog villager and more. I was happy to wait though for Harriet to work on Cookie a little more to get her perfect for me. Harriet was amazing and finally a couple of weeks ago Cookie arrived and she’s now comfortably at home with my Pokemon plushies. 🙂 I’ll be writing a HUGE review about cotswoldscrochet in June, so make sure to keep eyes peeled for that! Harriet’s commissions are closed but you can check out her Etsy store.

Homemade enamel pin hoops.

I need to add here in case anyone asks – NONE OF THE PINS ON MY ENAMEL HOOPS ARE FOR SALE. IF YOU ASK YOUR COMMENT WILL BE DELETED.

I decided in May that I was going to make my own enamel pin hoops. I’d wanted to buy some for a while but to be honest, the prices people charge for them on Etsy are a JOKE. I saw someone asking £10+ for one that was smaller than the ones I made. For two twelve inch hoops and two different types of fabric I spent £16. The amount of fabric I bought could make 8 twelve inch hoops too… Anyhoo! I decided to make my own as it seemed reasonable (price wise) and fun to do. I picked up the pin hoops and fabric from Hobbycraft whilst going bridesmaid shopping with my best friend and her bridesmaids. Making these was pretty simple and it took me max about an hour to do including popping the fabric into the hoops, cutting down to size and using a glue gun to stick the stray fabric to the hoop itself… I hope this makes sense. 😛

I decided to have one enamel pin hoop dedicated to all the Quirkory enamel pins I own currently. As and when I get more they’ll be added to the hoop. I would happily buy another hoop to create a second Quirkory hoop too! If you like the look of Quirkory’s designs, make sure to use my unique discount code on their Etsy store to snag yourself 10% off your order – “TMBQUIRKORY”. Also make sure to check our their currently Kickstarter campaign about Souls Of Nature. I’ve backed for some enamel pins and one of the deskmats.

I also decided to have a pin flag dedicated to all my Pokemon enamel pins. Aside from Quirkory, Pokemon designs take up the majority of my collection, with Animal Crossing and Ghibli hardly having any, which surprised me! I have more Pokemon enamel pins coming in the future after I backed Nyanzilla’s Eeveelution Kickstarter… I’ll be showing those off when they arrive. 😛 If you’re wondering who any of the enamel pins are by on this hoop, please ask.

Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard.

Finally I want to show off something that arrived for bank holiday weekend! I recently ordered the Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard from YY Kawaii and I HAVE NO REGRETS. As regular readers will know, back in March/April Dane decided to buy me my own desk for both working from home, as well as for my streaming on Twitch, playing games and working on my blog work. I wanted to have my desk be as cute as possible, so I decided to order the Razer x Sanrio goodies. You cannot get any cuter than this! Over the bank holiday

I’ve been using the mouse mostly (using at the moment!) which is perfect! It also came with the mouse mat seen in the photo which is adorable. It makes me so happy to look at. The design on the mouse is so sweet and not too OTT which is always good. I’ve also been using the keyboard on and off but I’ll be honest, it’s so fucking loud. I knew it would be due to the type of switches inside but yeah… I didn’t think it would be THAT loud. I’ve bought some stuff to try and help quieten the noise down a little. Aside from that, the keyboard is just as cute as the mouse and I cannot wait to use it more in the future for writing blog posts and maybe for work too.

What do you guys think of this months favourites? May has honestly flown by and I seriously can’t believe it’s June already. I know the first couple of weeks of June are going to fly by, which saddens me.

I’m just excited for June. I feel like I’m starting to sort of get back to normal. We’ve visited some friends, sat in the house with my parents to have a roast dinner, planning to go the cinema and planning to go for food and drinks. I can’t wait for the world to get more and more back to “normal” as the year goes on.

What were your favourites from May? Make sure to let me know in the comments. 🙂

Until next time all, I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holiday as well as the gorgeous weather!

Art by NIU – Animal Crossing Commission

Hi guys, I’m here this week to share with you an exciting post! Yes… It is Animal Crossing related, but is that REALLY a problem? I don’t think so. 😛

In the UK we are still in lock down and I don’t know about you guys, but with this I have been shopping more online… As well as window shopping. I’ve also been spending most of my free time playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so I have been craving some more Animal Crossing merchandise… Like the stuff I bought from Japan wasn’t enough (there will be a Nintendo Tokyo Store haul coming next month!)…

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

I discovered Art by Niu through a Twitter giveaway she was hosting for someone to win one of her Animal Crossing commissions. Of course I had to enter, the design she was showcasing was adorable and I honestly fell in love. To try for the competition you had to do the usual, such as follow, like, retweet and comment which villager you would have drawn and how you would have them be if you won.

I didn’t win – but before I even found this out I KNEW I had to get my own commission from Niu. I love commissions, especially when they’re kawaii and Japanese inspired and of things I love. Animal Crossing is something I have loved since I was 18 so to get a commission done really did make me happy.

The idea I wrote for my entry into the competition was the same one I asked for when I requested a commission from Niu. I had always wanted the dog villager Cookie to come to my town in New Leaf (she wasn’t around in Wild World) but she never did. So, the fact I was able to buy her amiibo card before New Horizons came out made me happy! I could invite her into my game and be happy. Since inviting her I always love to go and visit her on my island now and her happy, sassy presence makes me so happy t see her everyday.

So, I knew I wanted my commission with Cookie. I decided to go with Cookie singing to me (as she constantly calls herself a pop singer/princess) with the music note emotions over her head and me sitting listening to her music with the flower emotions over my head.

I sent an image of both my Animal Crossing character and Cookie stood together so Niu had a reference to go off of. The price I paid at the time was $20 and Niu suggested that I could pay half now, half when the commission was completed, which I thought was really fair! I filled in a little form that Niu sent me, paid my $10 deposit via PayPal and waited.

A day later I received a pencil/pen line sketch of my design and I was in love. I saved it straight away as I wanted to look at all the details that Niu had put into it, from Cookie singing into a microphone, to me clapping with my eyes closed. I was so pleased and couldn’t wait to see the image in colour.

Fast forward a week and Niu sent me my commission and I couldn’t have been happier! The colours are vibrant and my character is exactly how she looks in my game, even down to the rainbow cardigan she is wearing and purple high tops. Even the colours of Cookie are perfect especially the contract between her pink fur and the retro blue dress she wears.

Honestly, everything about the commission makes me smile and I’ve not only been adding it everywhere online (aka profile photos) and making it my screensaver on my iPad, I’ve been showing it off to people online, as well as via messages to friends.

After I received my commission via email, I sent the remaining payment of $10 to Niu and I had my lovely commission!

When I shared the commission Niu did for me onto Twitter it blew up! I’ve never received so many likes and retweets of a post before and it made me so happy that not only did people share my post, but how much love was being shown for Niu’s work. She deserves it!

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

If you would like to get a commission of your own from Niu, whether it be Animal Crossing related or something else, I have included all the information above that is on her Twitter page… Can you spot my commission on there? 😛

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Image taken from Art by Niu’s Twitter page

Niu has also posted some of the Animal Crossing commissions she has worked on so far (including mine), which I thought I would show you all too. 🙂

I thought I would post below some of Niu’s social media handles, as well as other links too:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Tumblr

Overall I am so damn happy with my commission from Art by Niu, so much so that Dane is going to get one with his favourite villager Cherry (dog villager) and I’m already planning to get another one with another one of my favourite villagers Bones (another dog villager).

Are you playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the moment? How are you finding it, whose your favourite villager, etc? Would you get a commission from Art by Niu? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay safe and take care everyone!