Tomodachi Store – Review and Haul

Wow, two review and haul posts in a row? I’m spoiling you guys this month, aren’t I? 😛

At the end of 2021 I was inspired to write so many review and haul posts, it’s crazy! If there’s anything I discovered in 2020 through Covid and lockdowns, it’s how much I really fell in love with supporting independent stores and artists and sharing them on here for others to discover and fall in love with too.

If there’s one store I’ve been meaning to talk about for well over a year now, it’s Tomodachi Store. I’ve mentioned them briefly on my blog in the past but since making my first purchase late 2020, I’ve always meant to write about them.

Fast forward another year and another purchase and it’s FINALLY time to talk about Tomodachi and why you should check them out, especially if you’re a Pokemon and/or Animal Crossing fan.

Tomodachi is an enamel pin and mascot designer from Mexico, who loves the colour pink, yummy food and everything cute, which you can tell through their work. Their designs are so cute and adorable, I honestly can’t get enough of them, which is why I now own all of their cereal enamel pin designs. Now, I know you’re saying, “Cereal designs? Why would you want cereal themed enamel pins?” Well, that’s why I’m sharing all of them with you today!

Image taken from Reddit.

The cereal designs in question are Pokemon inspired. Back in 2000 Pokemon had truly taken over, not just over the pond but in the UK too. I fondly remember my hype of it as a kid, especially one day whilst walking through Sainsbury’s. Pokemon cereal had started to be stocked on the shelves of various supermarkets and I remember begging my mom to let me have a box. It never happened and from my mom’s point of view, for a good reason. “You won’t eat them!” and looking back, she was probably right. I’m a fussy eater in general, but cereal is one where one minute I love it and the next I hate it. So yeah, ten year old Nat never go to have Pokemon cereal.

The cereal was basically oat hoops with marshmallow pieces in the shape of Pokemon Pikachu, Poliwhirl, Oddish, and Ditto. They definitely remind me of Lucky Charms but better… Obviously because it’s Pokemon. 😛

Years later Tomodachi would feel inspired by the marshmallow pieces in the Pokemon cereal to recreate them as enamel pins!

At the time of writing this post there are three volumes for Pokemon cereal enamel pins, as well as one volume for Animal Crossing. I own all of them… Because. 😛

I’ll be going through the Animal Crossing volume one collection and then each of the Pokemon volumes too, as well as some of the shiny pins I own too.

Please also bear in mind at the time of writing this post, some of the enamel pins are sold out.

I will also be mentioning the grade of each pin as they vary between A and B. I go a little more into how Tomodachi grades their enamel pins shortly.

The first enamel pins I ordered from Tomodachi were the Animal Crossing volume one cereal collection, as well as Ditto and Gengar, but I’ll talk about them a little later.

Full Set Animal Crossing Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $35.00 / B Grade – $30.00.

Individual Animal Crossing Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade $6.00 each.

The Animal Crossing cereal pins are adorable and although not how I discovered Tomodachi originally, but the Animal Crossing collection definitely caught my eye. In volume one there are seven pins in total; Tom Nook, Isabelle, K.K. Slider, Celeste, Marshal, Fossil and Leaf. Originally I was only going to order Isabelle, but decided to just go for the whole set! I ordered the B grade. It’s obvious on some more than others, but this being said as I display these in my home anyway, it doesn’t bother me much. 🙂

One thing I love about all of Tomodachi’s pins is that the backs match the coloured enamel of the design, which you can see with the Animal Crossing pins too. I always love when enamel pin artists do this, it just adds a little more to the designs, and it’s aesthetically pleasing. 😛

My favourite out of the pins is definitely Isabelle and the fossil. I just love them both so much! Whenever I’ve shown this enamel pin set to people they always love Celeste too.

For anyone new to enamel pins, some sellers grade them. In Tomodachi’s store they have a pin grading policy, which I’ll pop a link to here. Always bear pin grading when buying from enamel pin artists, not all will grade the same either. In Tomodachi’s case, I think their grading system is fair and really good.

For my second and more recent order with Tomodachi, I made a HUGE order and went full out Pokemon Cereal mode! Bar one (Ditto) I ordered all the missing pins I needed to complete volume one, as well as volumes two and three. I was so hyped when all my goodies arrived.

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $6.00 each / B Grade – $5.00 each.

As previously mentioned, I already owned Ditto (B grade) and as the full set of volume one was sold out, I opted to just snag all the pins I needed instead. It worked out well either way!

Volume one contains eight pins in total; Pikachu, Poliwhirl, Oddish, Ditto, Pichu, Wobbuffet, Celebi and Cleffa. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Ditto, Wobbuffet and Celebi, which I’m planning to buy in the future!

The original volume one enamel pins are so adorable and are heavily influenced by the Pokemon cereal from 2000 that I mentioned earlier, as four of the Pokemon from the cereal are in this collection.

The one thing I want to comment on first of all is the packaging that Tomodachi uses for their enamel pins. Not only is the backing card adorable with the oat cereal in the background, but you’ll either receive a backing card that states, “Thanks!” or, “Arigato!” which is Japanese for thank you. It’s such a lovely touch and one I really like. It’s also one that has been commented on by friends over on my Instagram!

The pins I ordered are mostly A grade with Pikachu being B grade. It’s not too obvious (in my opinion) which is awesome. I have to say my favourite design in volume one has to be Pikachu and I think this is mostly down to reminding me of how much I love Pikachu back in the day when Pokemon first came out.

Alongside the eight original pin designs for volume one, as mentioned before, there is also shiny variants too with a blue Ditto, purple Wobbuffet and pink Celebi, which I’m hoping to pick up in the future!

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 2 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 2 – (link) A Grade $6.00 each.

In my second order from Tomodachi I not only bought most of the volume one pins I was missing, but also all of the volume two and three pins as well! For volume two I picked up the A grade enamel pins.

Volume two contains eight pins in total; Slowpoke, Gengar, Psyduck, Magikarp, Skitty, Shuppet, Makuhita and Plusle/Minun. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Margikarp, Psyduck, as well as Rainbow Gengar, with the latter two being ones I’d love to buy in the future.

The first thing I want to say here is how gutted I am that I couldn’t get Minun as you either get Plusle or Minun, so I’ll make sure to get the blue electric mouse next time I place an order!

That aside, this enamel pin set is so adorable and has some of my fondest Pokemon in from the anime, especially Gengar which is one of my favourite enamel pin designs from Tomodachi! I bought a Gengar on my first order with Tomodachi, but with getting one in the volume two set, I decided to sell my first one to my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) who loves Pokemon too!

As I bought the whole volume two set, Tomodachi also sent me a shiny Magikarp, which looks amazing! 😀 I’m definitely planning to snag the rest of the shiny Pokemon in this volume, as well as the rainbow Gengar too, which looks so amazing!

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 3 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 3 – (link) A Grade – $6.00 each / B Grade – $5.00 each.

As I mentioned about in my second order from Tomodachi I bought both volume two and volume three! I picked up B grade enamel pins for volume three too. I have to be honest, out of all the volumes I actually think volume three is my favourite so far!

Volume three contains eight pins in total; Jigglypuff, Shellder, Wooper, Applin, Mew, Litwick, Mantyke and Duosion. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Wooper, Shellder and Mew, with the latter two being planned to be purchased in the future, especially Mew!

One of the reasons this is my favourite volume is due to Mew being part of it, which is one of my favourite Pokemon. The Mew design is one I fell in love with back in early 2021 and I knew I needed it. It took a little longer than I hoped to finally add to my collection, but better late than never!

One of the other things I love in volume three is the colour palette, which is mostly pastel themed with pinks, purples, blues, as well as green and red which I also love. It’s not that the other volumes colour palettes don’t work, but this one is just aesthetically pleasing to my mind, as well as fashion styles at the moment. 😛

As mentioned before, I did pick up the B grade for the volume whilst most of the pins look great, there are a couple (Jigglypuff and Applin) where there are a few specks on them, but this being said I don’t mind. I’m always happy to have B grade pins. 😀

Like with volume two, Tomodachi also sent me a free shiny pin with my volume three set, which is a shiny Wooper! It’s so cute with the pink colour, I love it.

Alongside the normal and shiny Pokemon cereal enamel pins, Tomodachi does also sell Pokemon Golden Kanto Pins, as well as Pokemon Cereal Sticker Sheets.

In the near future I’m planning to make a pin hoop dedicated to Tomodachi’s cereal pins. There’s so many of them, they deserve their own hoop now. As there are a variety of colours too, I’m planning to pop the pins on my future pin hoop in rainbow colours… Because why not! 😀 Plus, with a Pokemon volume four on the way (tomorrow from what Tomodachi revealed on this weekend!), I’m going to need to make room for some more amazing Pokemon cereal designs… 😛

From previews I’ve seen of volume four on Tomodachi’s social media we appear to have Caterpie and Haunter… I’m excited already to see who else we may get! I’d love to see Eevee and Dragonite next. 😛

Overall you can really see a lot of love and passion has gone into these enamel pin designs from Tomodachi Store. The cereal enamel pins are so cute and reminiscent to when we were all kids. The colours and designs of each cereal piece is perfect too. I honestly love them!

What do you guys think of Tomodachi Store and their amazing and adorable Pokemon and Animal Crossing cereal enamel pins? Do you own any, or have any on your wish list? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time guys, have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you next week!

Birthday/January Wish List ’21

Happy New Year guys! I hope you all have a great New Years, even if it involved you staying it. Not going to lie, some of my best New Year celebrations have been in my own, or someone else’s home.

At the time of writing this we are three days into 2021 and so far so good. I’m back at work tomorrow (4th January) and I feel rested after doing next to sod all the past eleven days and whilst I’d like some more time off, I do feel like being back at work will start to give me stuff to do again during the day.

As well as heading back to work, my birthday is also looming (6th January) and I’m going to be turning 31… I wasn’t arsed about turning 30 last year, but for some reason adding one more year to that has kind of deflated me a little. 😛

2021 is going to be a year where I start to experiment and “live” a little more. I want to do more with my resin making hobby, including starting to create pieces to sell! I’m also toying with starting to do gaming/chat streams over on Twitch… We shall see as this is a big step.

I’ve not set any resolutions for 2021 but I have said I’d like to read more manga, as well as continue with doing my Beatsaber VR workouts. My mom also bought me a bread maker for Christmas so I’ll be making more bread in 2021 too!

I’m not going to do the whole, “things will be better in 2021!” because I’m happy to take it as it comes. If it’s similar to 2020 with the way COVID has been… Then so be it. As long as I can be safe in my home with Dane and talk to my friends and family via Facetime, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, then so be it!

As it is my birthday in a few days I wanted the first post of 2021 to be a wish list post, with goodies I’d like to pick up/receive for my birthday… Mostly goodies I’d buy myself, especially considering two of the items are this list are things I’ve either pre-ordered or ordered. 😛

So, I hope you’re ready to see lots of kawaii goodies! 😀

• Her Universe Kiki’s Delivery Service Jiji Hoodies Cardigan (link)

I verrry much doubt I’ll get this for my birthday or with my own money. I’ve spent so much money before Christmas panic buying from American independent artists and with a 6 week wait until payday, I’m kinda poor this month. 😛 However, I really love this hooded cardigan by Her Universe that I had to mention it this month! I live in cardigans, especially when I’m actually working in the office so I’m always on the hunt for new ones that express who I am, whilst being acceptable to wear. I don’t know if this one would be, but it’s gorgeous. I’d wear it with my tartan trousers, as well as skater skirts and leggings. I’ve never ordered from Hot Topic before, has anyone in the UK before? Please share your experience for the future! However, I may do a big Her Universe order in the future… 😉

• The Sad Ghost Club book by Lize Meddings (link)

I’m a MASSIVE fan of The Sad Ghost Club and view it daily on my Instagram account. The Sad Ghost Club is described as “a club for anyone who’s ever felt sad or lost. It’s the club for those who don’t feel like they’re part of any other club.” and for years it really has helped me when my anxiety and depression are bad and I need to feel less alone. I’ve even sent the page to friends to follow to see if it helps them to feel less alone too. It was announced back in October 2020 and I pre-ordered it as soon as I saw it landed on Amazon. I haven’t read much in 2020 and plan to change that in 2021. I want to spend more time away from technology and with my head in a good manga/novel/comic, including this one. 🙂

• Pokemon Center Fit Plushie – Dragonite (link) Save 10% from YY Kawaii’s website with the code “YYCOFFEE10”

If there is one plushie I wish I could have picked up last year (as if it’s been a year guys…) when I was in Japan, it’s the Dragonite fit plushie from the Pokemon Center. It wasn’t available to buy whilst we were there and I was gutted. Dragonite is one of my favourite Pokemon and I always have one in my party in the games. I currently have a level 100 Dragonite on Pokemon Shield. 😛 Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and reached out to YY Kawaii about ordering on with her. It should arrive in January and I can’t wait to add it to my collection! I’m planning to keep it on the top of my plushie shelf alongside the plushies I bought in Japan.

• Pokemon Mew Funko Pop (link)

I just want to get this out there that the link I’ve attached (Double Boxed Toys) has sold out of this figure…BUT I haven’t found it elsewhere for sale in the UK yet… Anyway, I REALLY need this funko pop in my life! Like Dragonite, Mew is one of my favourite Pokemon and whilst I don’t own or really want any of the Pokemon funko pops, I really want this one. I think it’s a pop I would take out of the box and keep on my plushie shelf alongside all my Japanese goodies. Otherwise, I’d keep it in the box eventually for the day I can have my own desk at home to keep it on. 😛

• Animal Crossing Mega Isabelle Plush/Pillow (link)

This is something I keep wanting to pick up… But I keep thinking about money too. As many of my regular readers and friends know, I LOVE Animal Crossing and have done since I first discovered it in 2008 when I played Wild World. With New Horizons releasing, a lot of Animal Crossing merchandise has come out in the UK which is amazing. One of these items includes this amazing Isabelle plush/pillow that I really need in my life! It’s not a bad price currently on the website/store I’ve linked and I do keep umming and ahhing about picking it up. I’m going to wait and see my birthday pass in a couple of days and then toy with whether to order it. It’s available at loads of places so it’s not like it’s going to sell out and then I’ll never get it. 😛

• Stami Studios Whale Texting Enamel Pins (link)

Finally we have some enamel pins to talk about. To be honest with you all, I think 2021 is the year where I need to have a declutter of my enamel pins, as well as stop buying so many! I’m actually toying with selling some soon. Let me know in the comments if this is something you’d be interested in seeing. I have quite a few Pokemon themed ones I’m contemplating selling. ANYHOO I’ve really fallen in love with Stami Studios designs this year and some that she has released of late have given me some nostalgic feels. Whale texts are something I used to send to my friends all the time back ten plus years ago off my HTC phone. I loved it and I’d love to do it again this year for fun. Due to this, this is why I’m so in love with these designs. You can buy all three designs separately or together. If these are still in stock at the end of January when I get paid, I’m buying these for sure!

So there we have it guys, my monthly wish list for January, as well as my *gulp* 31st birthday.

One of my friends asked me before New Year what I was thinking of doing for my birthday and I had no idea. I knew I wanted to do some baking (currently torn between red velvet cupcakes and a Japanese strawberry shortcake) as my mom’s birthday is the day after mine. So I would be baking for both of our birthday’s really. Alongside that I’m planning to cook some Chinese food for dinner, as well as make some resin goods on Tuesday night that I can continue with on my actual birthday. I’m excited to just have the day with Dane to cook/bake together and do our one hobby together too. 🙂

I’m not gutted about having a lockdown birthday because I don’t know what I would have done out and about anyway! If anything it means when everything has calmed down and we start to go back to “normal” I can do something exciting.

Do you guys have much planned during the third lockdown here in the UK? What items do you have on your wish list for January too? I know we’re all skint at this time of year, so have you bought any sales items? Let me know everything in the comments! I love reading and replying to your comments. 🙂

Image taken from Cakes With Faces Twitter page.

One more thing to say before I finish this post, I’m taking part in Japanuary over on Instagram! It was created by Cakes With Faces and all you had to do is share a post daily on your social media platform (Instagram for me) with images and some text in relation to the day. I’m really enjoying this challenge so far and it’s keeping my Japan trip alive almost a year on. 🙂

Anyhoo that’s all from me today! I hope you’re all safe and well and 2021 has treated you nice so far. 🙂

Until next time, take care all and Happy New Year!

Black Milk Clothing x Animal Crossing

This has been a blog post I’ve been pretty excited to write and share with you considering it contains Animal Crossing related goodies!

If you don’t know by now I LOVE Animal Crossing and with the release Animal Crossing: New Horizons back in March I have been even more obsessed than usual.

I’ve also rediscovered my love of Black Milk Clothing in 2020 thanks to the Pokemon collection that came out in the summer. You can read about all the goodies I picked up from that collection here.

October 5th and less than a month after my Pokemon goodies arrived, Black Milk Clothing announced they were releasing an Animal Crossing collection and it would be released just over a week later on 13th October! I was all over it and watching my Instagram page daily for sneak peaks and reveals of what the pieces looked like that were going to be part of the collection.

I’m not going to sugar coat it… I was incredibly disappointed by the Animal Crossing collection and I know I’m not the only one either. Some of my friends and people on social media gathered to express their disappointment. It just felt like Animal Crossing was cheated, as the Pokemon collection was amazing.

At the same time though I was kind of pleased due to how much money I’d already spent on the Pokemon collection, as well as one piece I picked up from the Halloween collection as well.

I won’t moan too much about the pieces I didn’t like, but I want to be honest, which I know you guys appreciate!

The one piece that everyone commented on is the Pocket Skater Skirt that is literally the box art for New Horizons. This was in very poor taste and felt kind of… Lazy. They could have done so much more than just slapping the box art on the skirt. It reminds me of something you would buy from a knock off of Black Milk Clothing from Wish or AliExpress.

Another complaint myself and others said on social media is how the fossil stand alone design was missing from this collection, as well as constellation designs for Celeste. The latter would have been gorgeous as a skater skirt and or skater dress design. I just felt like a lot of the collection was the same prints wise and the styles they were put against was strange. One in particular being the Villagers Tie The Knot Jumpsuit. It’s just… Ugly and random and just a big ball of no from me.

I decided on three pieces I was going to buy from the collection and was super nervous when it came to the time to put my orders in. As we all know, the Pokemon collection sold out stupidly quick the first time and even the restocks sold out after a while. I prepared myself for this collection to sell out… But I didn’t need to at all. The collection is still in really good stock with only two pieces being sold out at the time of writing this post (12/12/2020).

I ordered my pieces and waited for them to arrive. I think it took a little longer for my goods to be sent out to me (and others) due to a printer breaking. I was offered a 10% discount code, which I used to buy the Sporty Stripes Hosiery 2.0. These are amazing, but I won’t be showing them off in this post.

After I ordered my pieces, I’d heard about some issues with a piece from the Halloween collection, that was similar to one of the Animal Crossing pieces I’d bought. I’ll go into that a little more later, but let’s put it this way… I was gutted to find out that one of my pieces would arrive and after being worn would have issues with it… >.<

My pieces FINALLY arrived on the 27th November and I couldn’t wait to try them on and feel a little like an Animal Crossing character! 😀

As I stated on the Pokemon post the tracking was really good! I was able to keep up with where my parcel was and more. It did give an estimated arrival, but my goods arrived a little earlier than what was suggested, which was good!

Like when I bought from the Pokemon collection, I don’t know why I wasn’t charged customs. I don’t know if it’s due to Royal Mail delivering my parcel or what. I was very lucky and I’m grateful I wasn’t stung. I find it odd though when I spent less money on my Halloween piece I was stung for £20 customs and I only bought one piece! :S

I didn’t take any photos, but the pieces I ordered arrived in perfect condition! All the pieces I bought were made in Australia and arrived in a special bag you can throw away in your compost bin and it’ll decompose. I love this idea and more brands need to do this.

Finally the time has come to share with you the pieces I picked up… But if you were aware of the collection and all the pieces that released with it, you may have realised by now just which pieces I picked up… Seeing as I posted a photo of them all together at the start of this post! xD

I just want to add here by the way that all the pieces I bought are not sold out, but may be limited in sizes OR may have sold out by the time this post goes live. As far as I’m aware the pieces I bought, once they do sell out, they aren’t making a return. There are some pieces under the Pokemon collection that WILL return (which you can see here), so make sure to sign up for restock alerts if items that aren’t LIMITED. 🙂

Sadly there are no pictures of me in the dresses as at the time of writing this post I’ve actually really badly pulled my shoulder and if I’m not in a world of pain, I’m smothered in deep heat to try and help the pain go away. I have tried my best to show off the pieces. Not going to lie, the photos aren’t the best. 😦

• K.K. Long Sleeve Oversized BFT (link)

I’ve never owned a BFT (boyfriend tee) from Black Milk Clothing and I’m not going to lie, you can definitely size down for these as they’re oversized (as it states in the name). I bought an L, which is my go to size to order from Black Milk Clothing. It’s really big but at the same time I like how baggy it is. I could get away with wearing this with leggings and tucked into mom jeans with no worries.

It’s a black tee with a massive image of K.K. Slider on the back, on his stool and with his guitar, ready to jam on a Saturday night. On the right sleeve there are yellow musical notes and on the left it says, “Animal Crossing: New Horizons“. I do wonder if they could have instead of putting the name of the game, maybe some of the pictures of the songs in the game by K.K Slider? Then on the front on the left hand side there is another image of K.K. Slider.

I do love the BFT and I know I’ll wear it loads, especially whilst working from home. The quality feels great and I know this will be loved throughout the autumn and winter and chillier days in spring and summer.

•   Nook Gingham Evil Skater Dress (link)

I love skater dresses from Black Milk Clothing and the Nook gingham one is no exception! The only thing I don’t like about it, is it doesn’t have pockets like my Eeveelution dress. The skater dresses from Black Milk Clothing are my favourite thing to buy from them. I can wear them all the time, later them up if need be and more! I can already see me wearing this dress on Christmas Eve/Day because it’s just shouting Christmassy colours to me.

As you can see the skater dress is red gingham with images of Tom, Timmy and Tommy Nook all over, as well as money bags and DIY recipe cards. I do love this, it’s such a simple but perfect design. If you know about Animal Crossing and who these characters and items are, of course you would get this straight away. However, if people don’t happen to know about Animal Crossing, it can just look like some cute raccoon/tanuki animals. I also feel like this dress would be a conversation starter for nerds alike!

Not going to lie… I’m wondering if I can get away with wearing this dress to work when I’m eventually back in the office again. I feel it would look lovely with a cream t-shirt underneath or a cream jumper over the top for colder days. I know I really want to get a new black/navy/cream boyfriend cardigan to wear with my Black Milk Clothing pieces.

There are quite a few pieces in the collection with this pattern, including short overalls and cuffed pants. I would love the latter to wear with geeky t-shirts but I don’t know if they would suit me… At the same time, I would love to grab some cuffed pants in different designs to mix up my Black Milk Collection a little too.

• Isabelle Gingham Apron Dress (link)

This is the final piece I picked up from the Animal Crossing collection and it’s one I want to talk about in a lot more detail than the other two pieces. You know I mentioned earlier in the post that one of the pieces might come with issues? It’s this piece…

So let me get the issue out of the way first. So the material the apron dresses are made out of are rubbish. If anything catches onto them, it can make a mar on he pieces and make them look frizzy/fuzzy. I’ve heard people report that wearing a seat belt causes issues, wearing a bag with a chain strap, but with the strap adjusters on the apron dresses that causes issues too, which is what has already happened to mine. I was expecting it, so I’m not too gutted, but I am at the same time too. I just really wanted a dress with this design on it. The Isabelle tartan design is my favourite from the whole collection. They did release a Pilgrim Dress and some Cuffed Shorts but I didn’t really want either (eventually I do want the cuffed shorts…). I could have cancelled my order and reordered but… Why should I?

The main issue here is that the material used for the apron dresses is a problem and Sharkies (name for Black Milk Clothing fans) have been raising it for a while now. Not only are the apron dresses affected but I know I heard of someone who faced issues with the Rainbow Garden Long Sleeve Scoop Skater Dress from the Animal Crossing collection, which is a massive shame! I thought about buying this dress as it has some of my favourite villagers on (including Cookie!) but I’m glad I didn’t know. I can deal with buying one dodgy piece, but not two.

I’ve not raised this issue with Black Milk Clothing yet, but I fully intend to soon. I wanted to raise it on my blog post because word needs to get out. There is a material that is SHITE and you should avoid it if you can. I could have cancelled my Black Milk Clothing order and just not bought the dress, but I wanted it. Why shouldn’t I have something I want because of some dodgy material?

Anyhoo, I’m FINALLY going to talk more about the dress, because it’s gorgeous and it needs to be spoken about highly too like it deserves.

I’ve never owned one of the apron dresses before and they’re… Interesting. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not used to them or what, but I’ve found it a tad awkward to wear. I have big boobs and a big bum, so trying to balance both of those factors with this dress is tricky. Plus I didn’t want to keep playing with the strap adjusters in case it damaged the dress anymore than it already has. The chest doesn’t feel covered enough for me, but then my bum won’t feel covered enough. When I eventually wear this properly I think I’m going to wear a long sleeved top underneath, or maybe even a shirt or jumper and instead of tights, I’d wear leggings due to the length of the dress.

The design on the dress is gorgeous and as I’ve already said, my favourite from the collection! It’s a green gingham with images of Isabelle, a white daisy (cosmos in Animal Crossing) and the classic Animal Crossing leaf. It’s just so perfect! In Animal Crossing: New Leaf Isabelle would wear a green gingham dress (as shown above) so this is perfect in every way, shape and form! If anything I wish they’d brought out a skater dress with this design on it! One thing I love is that this has pockets too! Pockets on dresses is definitely a way forward.

I feel like I won’t properly wear this dress until a special occasion. I could wear it New Years Eve around the house, my birthday in January or maybe anniversary in June. It’s a dress I’ll be cautious about wearing… But I won’t NOT wear it. Otherwise it’s a waste. I get why people have stopped buying the material in question that is having issues and I don’t know if I’ll buy it again.

So, those are all the pieces I picked up from the Animal Crossing collection! Although pieces are mostly limited, there are some limited and permanent pieces that I would love to pick up in the future, including – Isabelle Gingham Cuffed Shorts and Collectibles Cuffed Shorts. I’d love to wear these with sweaters and thick tights!

Overall I am really happy with the pieces I picked up from the Animal Crossing collection I do wish they’d been a bit more creative in regards to the pieces they released.

It’s a real shame to have seen the Pokemon collection do so well (it’s not on it’s SECOND restock!) and the Animal Crossing collection do so poor… It just goes to show the designs really didn’t do as well as they could have.

What do you guys think of Black Milk Clothing? Do you own any pieces by them? Are there any pieces you like the look of? In the New Year I might do a massive post showing off all of my Black Milk Clothing pieces! Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, stay safe, take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Quirkory Animal Crossing Gimme My Joy-Con Enamel Pins – Review

I cannot believe where July is going already. How are we already at the end of week two of July?

The past week for me has been a bit of a nightmare. I’m in the middle/towards the end of getting my bathroom redone and we’ve come across a few issues (not builder related). I just want it finished now to be honest with you so I can FINALLY start to relax and enjoy my bathroom in it’s completed state.

For today’s blog post I wanted to talk about my favourite independent artist/store, Quirkory. A few weeks ago I received some goodies I backed in their recent Kickstarter AC Companions ~ Gimme my Controller, which I have been so excited for!

I just knew I had to share these with you, as well as some special goodies that Quirkory sent me as a thank you for supporting them since I discovered them nearly a year ago through their Kickstarter campaign A profusion of Eeveelutions & Lunar Spookies, which I also spoke about on my blog here at the start of the year.

Quirkory’s designs are chunky, kawaii and make me smile so much when I look at them! Literally, their work brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it and when I see new things posted up by them on Instagram. I even get excited for spoilers they announce!

I’m here today to share with you the Animal Crossing designs overall, as well as the ones I backed and was sent as a gift. May I add – these were not gifted for blog purposes, but between “friends” if you will and as a thank you for how much I have supported them this past year. 🙂

I’m so excited to share all the designs, they’re so adorable and really do put a smile on my face.

The Kickstarter campaign for these Animal Crossing enamel pins had a cute and unique design of Animal Crossing villagers holding Switch Joy-Con controllers, hence the name “Gimme my Controller!”. There were nine designs to choose from, as well as a special Timmy and Tommy Nookloop design.

The nine designs on offer were/are:

Marshal with a right handed light blue controller.

Stitches with a left handed yellow controller.

Merengue with a left handed pink controller.

Lucky with a right handed purple controller.

Kicks with a right handed green controller.

Reese with a left handed blue controller.

Tom Nook with a left handed gold controller.

Isabelle with a right handed indigo/blue purple controller.

Daisy Mae with a right handed light blue controller.

I backed four pins and added the Nookloop design as an additional item. I knew straight away which designs I wanted to go for, but towards my enamel pins arriving, I did realise there were some designs I wish I’d backed for and gotten too.

The four designs I opted for were Lucky, Kicks, Isabelle and Tom Nook. I also added on the Nookloop pin too as an additional item.

I thought I would show you all of the enamel pins I opted for, as well as some freebies I received for backing them on Kickstarter. I’ll also be showing the two enamel pin designs that Quirkory sent me as a thank you…

I’ll talk about the items I received as extras first and then go on to talk about the enamel pins.

I was sent some stickers of all the designs available, as well as a print of Inari and Mosted and a thank you note from Quirkory.

I always love, appreciate and keep the little thank you notes that Quirkory send as they really make me smile. Plus I always think it’s such a nice personal touch when you get a thank you note in your packages, don’t you?

As I mentioned they also sent me a print of Inari and Mosted, which is a design they created back in April for the virtual mall event they were a part of. If you bought anything from their store at the time, you would get this exclusive print for free! I ordered some goodies from the website and this finally arrived. 🙂 It’s so adorable and I even got the digital wallpaper though few months ago too, which I have set as my iPad’s wallpaper. I love how it’s the loop style design that they’ve done a few times now, including with the Eeveeloop from the Eeveelution God collection and of course the Nookloop from the Animal Crossing Controllers collection.

On the back of the print is the shop logo that Quirkory designed for the virtual mall event. It’s so adorable! When I’m eventually back in the office at work, I’ll be sticking this print up next to my laptop so I can look at it whilst I work. 🙂

There was a little pack of stickers in my parcel, which to my surprise not only contained all the characters and designs of the enamel pins, but also two Nookloop stickers. One of which I’d ordered from Etsy months previous as I didn’t realise I would be getting one as part of my Kickstarter campaign.

Animal Crossing Stickers Pack (link) – These stickers are so adorable! They’re matte and on the back of them, the paper you peel away to reveal the stick has Quirkory’s logo all over, which I thinks really cool! I can’t say as I’ve seen this before. I love being able to have the stickers of designs I may have loved, but not wanted to get as an enamel pin.

Nookloop Sticker (link) – This sticker is different to the others in the sense it’s glossy, whilst the other stickers are more matte in texture? The sticker is so cute and I’m really glad I have two. I’ve already stuck one on my iPad case (where most of my Quirkory stickers have found themselves!) and it looks adorable. I absolutely adore the Nookloop design. Both Timmy and Tommy’s faces are so sweet and it just shouts the first day or two of playing New Horizons to me, which I won’t forget.

Finally I will be sharing the four designs and the Nookloop pin. I hope you’re excited to see them all properly!

They’re all made out gold enamel and have twin backs to them. The only design that is different all around is the Nookloop enamel pin, but I’ll talk about that in more detail when the time comes. On the back of the enamel pin they all say have, “Quirkory Gimme My Joy-Con” which I think is such a lovely touch. It shows what collection they’re part of too, which I love.

Lucky Enamel Pin (link) – This is one of my favourite Animal Crossing villagers, plus the dog villagers are my favourite types so I’m always a sucker for Lucky. He’s on my island for the time in any Animal Crossing game, which is amazing! All with thanks to amiibo cards. The Lucky design is adorable and it’s one I instantly fell in love with when it was first shown on Quirkory’s Instagram page. I love the little pink blob on his cheek and that he’s hugging a purple joy-con, as it reminds me of Halloween. This is my first Lucky enamel pin and I’m so excited to add it to my Isabelle ita bag! This is definitely up there as one of my favourite designs from this collection.

Kicks Enamel Pin (link) – This is actually my favourite design from the collection. I’ve always had a soft spot for Kicks but never really known why. When Quirkory showed off the design they had put in place for Kicks, I fell in love. His little face is just so precious and adorable and I want to squish it! I most of all love what he’s wearing, with his brown cap and the blue colouring of his fluffy tail. The mint green joy-con that he’s holding reminds me of the Animal Crossing Switch… Which a part of me to this day STILL regrets not buying. 😦 This pins design just makes me smile so much and I can’t wait to pop it in my Isabelle ita bag!

Tom Nook Enamel Pin (link) – This is definitely one Quirkory thought about and I love that about them. They think about such tiny detailing and I honestly adore them for it. First of all the main thing about this design for me is the gold joy-Ccon. I didn’t see that coming when they announced Tom Nook, but it really does make sense! I also love that he’s wearing his New Horizons outfit, even the khaki shorts! I don’t own any Tom Nook pins yet, but I’m really in love with this one. As much as I love Tom Nook designs, I’m kind of bored of seeing Tom Nook with bags of bells and saying how much he wants yours. This is simple and effective and I love that!

Sadly for some reason I couldn’t get the photo of Isabelle’s pin to take the same way as the other designs.

Isabelle Enamel Pin (link) – I couldn’t not order the Isabelle design. She’s my favourite character from Animal Crossing and I can’t believe she’s only been with us since New Leaf… It feels like she’s been with us forever! I adore her design so much. She has so much personality to her with the fact she’s winking and smiling as she cuddles the joy-con. She’s also in her New Horizons outfit and I love the coral red colour of her shirt, it really compliments her yellow fur. Oh and how about that little tooth showing, eh? KAWAII! I really love this design.

Nookloop Enamel Pin (link) – The Nookloop design is up there as one of my favourite designs in the collection. Tommy and Timmy are so precious and I adore them both… Especially Tommy. They both just look so adorable with this design, especially Tommy with his little flag! Everything about the design is so precious and it really makes me smile. I also bought the wallpaperwallpaper so I could have it on my iPhone, iPad and laptop! I’m planning to set it as my work wallpaper in the future.

Next I want to show off the two designs that Quirkory sent me, which are Marshal and Stitches. When I was showing off all the goodies I received from my Kickstarter on my Instagram stories, I mentioned how I regretted not getting Marshal and possibly Stitch as well. I didn’t see the appeal of Marshal for years… Until he moved into my island on New Horizons! He’s such a cutie and the fact he loves coffee makes me smile so much. I’d like to think he’s me in an Animal Crossing character! 😛

Quirkory also attached one of their thank you notes, but this one was more personal than the others. It was so lovely, especially the “Thank you for everything!” message and the little photo of the couple behind Quirkory. It really put a smile to my face. They also sent me a high quality version of the Inari and Mosted print, which I now have on my plushie cabinet.

Marshal Enamel Pin (link) – This design is so simple and yet adorable! I see Marshal all over it, especially with his grumpy looking frown that he’s pulling and his matching frowned mouth. He also has his fringe and navy t-shirt on. He’s cuddling up to a light blue joy-con. His little cinnamon roll tail makes me smile! I do just love this design and I’m so happy to have it in my collection. I’m definitely going to pop him into my ita bag.

Stitches Enamel Pin (link) – Finally the last design I’ll be talking about it Stitches. An adorable and unique looking bear that I have always wanted on my island… But just haven’t gotten… Yet. 😛 Out of all the designs I think this one is the most colourful and eye catching, which is one of the reasons why I regretted not buying him. This is where Quirkory’s attention to detail is amazing. They’ve added all the colours to Stitches on his fur with the orange, purple, green and blue as well as the different coloured stars on his white t-shirt. Plus, he’s cuddling up to a yellow joy-con which is the PERFECT colour to compliment all of Stitches colours. I just love this design so much.

Well, you’re probably wondering how you can get hold of one or two of these enamel pins yourselves? Well, currently at the time of writing this review, all the pins are on pre-order! So, if you would to get hold of one, two, or more of these enamel pins I would recommend getting some orders in now before you miss out. I know this collection will be permanent but I also know how busy Quirkory are at the moment as they finish shipping Kickstarter orders, Etsy orders and prepare for exciting things for us shoppers and fans in the future… Including a Patreon. I’m so excited for that! 😀

I already know that Quirkory have mentioned plans to bring out a second collection of the Gimme My Joy-Con collection and I HONESTLY HOPE THEY DO! I can already imagine so many more villager they can create, as well as what they could do with them. I have some ideas of my own…

I’d love to see Digby holding a left joy-con (so it’s opposite to Isabelle) and either wear his little yellow rain coat OR be holding a yellow joy-con so it represents his raincoat.

I’d also love to see another one of my favourite villagers – Bones, Cookie, Goldie or Eunice. I would love to see a sheep villager in the collection as they’re my second favourite villagers after dogs.

If you’re maybe not one for enamel pins, but love the chubby kawaii designs of the Animal Crossing villagers, there are other ways you can get your hands on them. You could buy some colouring pages, OR big or small wallpapers. All are digital so you won’t need to wait long before they hit your email address and you can start using them. Make sure to go and check out their Etsy store for more.

As always I will of course link below to their store and social media platforms:

Store (Etsy)

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

So, what do you guys think of Quirkory? This is the second time they have featured on my blog now and they have fast become my favourite independent artists and good friends over on Instagram. I feel like I interact with them all the time and they always reply so sweetly and are always happy.

If you didn’t think their designs could get any cuter after the Eeveelution Gods collection, then we were obviously all wrong! What do you think of the Animal Crossing Gimme My Joy-Con enamel pins? Which design(s) would you like to buy? Which was your favourite? AND most of all, which Animal Crossing villager would you like to see? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time all, take care, stay safe and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

July Wish List ’20

It’s that time of month again where I share my monthly wish list with you all! I know I say most months that I’ve struggled to put a list together, but this month I really HAVE struggled. In all honesty this is down to me buying things as and when I have wanted them.

During lock down I have saved quite a bit of money, which is great, but at the same time it’s also been nice having money to splurge on things I’ve wanted for a while, but now I’m running out of items from my wish list, which is a mixture of funny and sad. 😛

Half of the items on this list are Animal Crossing related… But is that such a big surprise? 😛

I hope you enjoy this months wish list, it’s sadly nothing special, but it’s better than nothing at all, eh?

• Fearless Illustration Danger Days Long Sleeved Top (link)

I don’t know why but I’ve really fallen in love with this top! I’m a sucker for baseball style t-shirts and have always loved them. They look great with anything, but especially jeans. I’d get this in the largest size too so I could have it baggy to tuck into my mom jeans and skirts. I know there is also a version with yellow/mustard sleeves instead of red, but I much prefer the red version. Also with the slogan on the top and it being called “Danger Days” it reminds me a little of My Chemical Romance… So this top could come in handy next June when I see them in Milton Keynes!

• Sugar Bunny Shop Animal Crossing Marshal Textured Print (link)

I’ve always been a fan of Sugar Bunny Shop and whilst people have bought me things from her store, I’ve never actually bought anything for myself. I’m LOVING the Animal Crossing prints the owner of the store has designed and I’ve especially fallen in love with this Marshal print. I never understood the fuss behind Marshal, until he visited my campsite and decided to move to my island. He’s one of my favourites now for so many reasons, but mostly because he loves coffee. This print would go in my bedroom along with my other Animal Crossing prints.

• Jenni Illustrations Froggy Chair Sticker (link)

This is another store that I have wanted to buy from for the longest time and never had. Well, recently Jenni opened up her store again with loads of new and old goodies. I decided I had waited long enough and made an order (which I’ll be showing you guys when it’s here, of course) BUT I made my order a little too soon. The next day Jenni added some more goodies to her store, some of them that I really wanted, including some Animal Crossing stickers, Blue’s Clues stickers and this Animal Crossing froggy chair sticker. It looks so adorable! I would have loved this for my iPad case or maybe even something else. With the amount of Jenni Illustration items in my wish list, I’ll be able to make another order in the future for sure!

• Eltamagotchi Isabelle Animal Crossing Cereal Vol.1 Enamel Pin (link)

This is an enamel pin I nearly ordered recently… But I went against it due to the cost of it overall to the UK with shipping. It wasn’t cheap and it made me cringe. This isn’t a massive enamel pin either, so I’m going to wait until I either buy someone else a pin as a birthday/Christmas present. The other thing that slightly puts me off is the fact it sort of looks like a “traced” copy of the Isabelle design from Nintendo? I don’t know if that’s just me? I do really love the idea of Animal Crossing characters in the size and shape of cereal. It would look adorable in my Isabelle ita bag… I’ll see. 😛

• Bobblejot Tori the Corgi Plushies Kickstarter (link)

First of all this Kickstarter campaign finishes Monday 6th July at 4.41pm, so if you like the look of this cute Tori plush by Bobblejot, then make sure to back the campaign before then! Okay, so I’ve been a fan of Bobblejot’s cartoon about Tori the corgi and Samuel the cat for as long as I can remember now, so when I heard they had brought out a Kickstarter with plushies of Tori, I KNEW I had to get one myself! Tori is an adorable young corgi who is finding out new things in the world, with the help of Samuel. I’ll link the Instagram page here so you can go and check out some of the cartoons for yourself.

• TK Maxx GC Home Decor White Giraffe Artificial Succulent (link)

Finally the last item on my wish list this month is this giraffe artificial succulent home decoration from TK Maxx. I’m not one for keeping plants in the house and I couldn’t tell you why… I love some flowers every now and again, but succulents and house plants aren’t for me. However, I would like to start potentially having some green around my house. This being said, I do not have a clue where I would keep this if I bought it… Maybe the office in the window or on the side by my front door? Who knows. I have fallen in love with the giraffe a little though!

So there you have it, my wish list for July. Again, I’m sorry there wasn’t anything “exciting” on there, but I like the items I popped on. I doubt very much I’ll be buying any of the items due to my bathroom being done. I’m going to be a little skint now until I’m paid at the end of the month. 😛

What item(s) do you like on my wish list? What items do you have on your lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and stay safe!

Japan Haul #2 – Stationary

When you think of Japan, I’m sure the last thing you think of is stationary, right? I know some of you might, whilst others think of sushi, Geisha’s and sumo wrestlers.

Japan is CRAZY about stationary and for all the kawaii characters that you can find there, I’m not surprised why they are so mad about it. I know I had to take advantage of picking up some cute stationary whilst I was in Japan and I left with more than I intended to, to be honest with you! I’ve already spoken about the Pokemon related items on my Pokemon Haul (which you can read all about here), but I will be mentioning them here again, because why not. 🙂

A part of me wishes I’d picked up more stationary items, especially from the Sanrio store, but hey ho. 😛 I thought it would be nice to show you all my stationary items anyhoo, as I know a lot of my followers love stationary!

Washi Tape

I picked up quite a lot of wash tape on my trip, which took me by surprise considering I’d never bought washi tape until I ventured to Japan. I ended up picking up four different ones, which I will talking about below.

Tanuku & Kitsune Mounttain Theater Washi Tape – The washi tape that kick started off my mini addiction is this one from Tanuki & Kitsune and this tape is from the Mountain Theater collection. This was from a pop up shop in Character Street (Tokyo Station) which I regret not buying more items from to be honest before it left. The design on the tape matches what the image on the front shows, which is so adorable. You have Tanuki wearing a green cap, a dark brown cape and falling to sleep whilst it reads a script, whilst Kitsune is also reading a script as it wears a red cape. They’re adorable and clearly getting ready to act in their roles!

Studio Ghibli Kiki’s Delivery Duo Pack Washi Tape – After I went and picked up the Tanuki & Kitsune washi tape I decided to pick up this adorable washi tape double pack from the Studio Ghibli shop in Character Street (Tokyo Station). This is my favourite washi tape out of the four I’ve picked up as Jiji is absolutely adorable on both of the designs I got. There’s a pale blue design with daisies and blue flowers on, alongside Jiji sitting down and standing up. There’s also a dark blue design with Jiji’s face over daisy flowers. Honestly cannot wait to use these washi tape designs in my scrapbook!

Mofu Mofu Eevee Washi Tape – As I had already bought two washi tape designs anyway, I decided as I’m working on a scrapbook soon about our trip to Japan and wanted to pick up more kawaii patterned washi tape to make the scrapbook look pretty inside. Of course I couldn’t not pick up this cute mofu mofu Eevee design, which is just loads of cute Eevee’s running along the tape. I haven’t opened this yet and don’t plan to until it comes to me using it.

Nintendo Tokyo Animal Crossing Washi Tape – This is the final roll of washi tape I picked up on my trip to Japan. From memory there was this design and another one with the fruits on (Apples, Oranges, Peaches, Cherries and Pears). This washi tape design isn’t anything special and is pretty basic with the Animal Crossing design we all know and love! As well as the symbols we all know from Animal Crossing, there is also images of Isabelle and Digby too, which is what sold me to pick up the washi tape in the first place.

Mechanical Pencils, Pencil Lead and Pens

Ghibli Museum Mechanical Pencil – As I had bought my Eevee mechanical pencil by this point I didn’t actually need to buy another mechanical pencil… But considering it was from the Ghibli Museum, it was a souvenir I really wanted to pick up on my trip. This pencil is gorgeous and very minimal in comparison to some stationary you can buy in Japan. The pencil is a white design with silver metal, blue accent colours and of course an image of Totoro with his umbrella, raindrops and “Ghibi Museum Mitaka” underneath him. I really love this pencil and I currently use it for my D&D sessions.

Mofu Mofu Eevee Mechanical Pencil and Pen – The blue design is the pen, the red is the pencil. There were four designs/colours in total including the blue and red ones I own, as well as a brown (pencil) and green (pen I think). I didn’t really want anymore mechanical pencils as I have a pink one I really love (well… loved until I bought my new ones in Japan :P) to use so I didn’t need another mechanical pencil. I picked up the pen, which is black ink and was happy. When I went back to the Pokemon Center, I ended up picking the pencil up too and I don’t regret it! The pencil writes really well and I much prefer it to my pink mechanical pencil to be honest with you! The designs on them both are gorgeous with the fluffy, happy Eevee designs all over.

Studio Ghibli Kiki’s Delivery Service Frixion Pen – This was actually the first bit of stationary I picked up and I have ZERO REGRETS! This is a red pen, with gold images of Jiji and his girlfiend Lily. The way you get the pen nib to retract is by the clear part on the pen. I love a nice pen to write with, especially when I want to jot down blog notes and sometimes for D&D too (although I used to use a pencil previous to buying all my Japan stationary). I used to use Frixion pens when I was an undergrad at university 10 years ago (God I feel old saying that) as well as in my old job so these rub out pens aren’t anything new for me to use. However, the pen itself is amazing and this is by far one of my favourite items on this list that I picked up. This pen actually comes with red ink, but I bought some black Frixion refills whilst I was in Japan for this so I can use black instead of just red. I don’t know about you guys but I was brought up to not write in red ink (unless for myself) as it’s seen as rude.

Nintendo Tokyo Animal Crossing Isabelle Pen – I’d had my eye on this pen since before I went to Japan for my trip, as I’d seen most of the Animal Crossing merchandise that was for sale in the Nintendo Tokyo store. I didn’t know if I was going to pick it up or not but to be honest, some of the Animal Crossing merchandise I wanted was sold out, which sucks (although I have it now, yay!) so I made up for it with stationary… 😛 I picked up the Isabelle pen, as I love Isabelle and you can’t have enough pens, right?! This is a white pen with cream yellow accents, as well as some images of tulips along the grip area of the pen. At the top of the pen on one side is an image of Isabelle with some yellow tulips and on the other side it reads “Dōbutsu No mori” which is Animal Crossing in Japanese, as well as an image of Isabelle’s face and some yellow ears, which you also use to retract the black and red pens.

Sanrio Pompompurin Pen – This is the last piece of stationary I picked up on our trip. I bought it a few days before we left Japan and I actually regret not getting the Cinnamoroll version as well. This pen writes so smoothly, I love it! It’s definitely up there with my Kiki’s Delivery Service pen. This is a simple pen really, with mustard yellow colours and a Pompompurin mascot at the top of the pen (which is removable), as well as his cute little hamster friends all around the pen. I find myself using this pen a lot lately when I’m in my D&D sessions, as it’s such a smooth pen to write with.

Pikachu Mechanical Pencil Lead – Due to now owning a total of four mechanical pencils (aside from the two I bought in Japan I already have two back home that I use on and off), it’s always good to make sure to have plenty of pencil lead for these! I couldn’t get a mofu mofu Eevee design (they didn’t make one…) so instead I picked up a cute Pikachu design instead, which is kind of similar to the mofu mofu design. This came with quite a lot of 0.5 size led inside already, but as I owned some already from my first mechanical pencil, I decided to add them into this holder. I’ll never run out of led now!

Notebook and Pencil Case

Mofu Mofu Eevee Notebook – I have too many notebooks… I needed this one though. It’s adorable! I don’t quite know what I’m going to use it for as of yet… Maybe blog related stuff whilst I’m out and about? Dungeons & Dragons in the future? I don’t know… 😛 I just needed it! The designs on the front are adorable, with all the Eevee’s doing different things such as sleeping on books, holding quills in their mouths and sitting in teacups. Cute! There’s designs in the book too, with the Eevee holding the quill in it’s mouth again.

Mofu Mofu Eevee Pen Case – I didn’t need a pen case… But due to how much stationary I bought whilst I was on my holiday, I kind of had to! That and the pencil case I use currently for all my stationary items is from when I was studying my GCSE’s at school… Which was 15 years ago now! That pencil case is great, but I wanted something smaller and more refreshing! This one is a perfect signs for everything I bought on the trip, and I really enjoy taking it out with me. It’s so cute to bring out of my bag when I want something to write with. The image of the Eevee’s cuddling together on he one side is so kawaii!

Clear Files

Mofu Mofu Clear File – I bought quite a few clear files whilst I was in Japan, but this is my favourite one by far! I actually bought this to keep my files in for Dungeons & Dragons, but as of yet I haven’t had the chance to use it. The image on the front of the two Eevee’s is so adorable, I’d still like to frame it to be honest! 😛

Nintendo Tokyo Animal Crossing Clear Files – I can’t remember if I knew about these or not before I went to Japan, but I am so glad I picked them up, especially now Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out! You get two clear files in this set, one of which is a scene on both sides of the file of your town/island with various of the villagers homes and buildings such as Nook Cranny, the museum, town hall, Able Sisters, plenty of trees (including apple) and of course various villagers! The other file is simpler with it’s beige colour and on one side the same various villagers that are on the other file and on the other side the “Dōbutsu No mori” and Animal Crossing names.

Pokemon Cafe Clear Files – Me and my boyfriend knew we wanted to get some files for our trip in Japan, as a lot of places we ventured to (aka cafes) have the place mats that you fold/roll up and take home, so we wanted some files that we could do that with. We ordered these when we booked out seats at the Pokemon Cafe and we never actually got around to using them, or any of the other files that we bought for this purpose. Even so these files will be handy for D&D BUT, I have started to wonder if you could frame these and hang them up like prints! These would especially look great around the house and in the kitchen. I have to add, the first file is by far my favourite with the kawaii Pokemon Cafe mascots, although I am baffled about why Eevee isn’t there?! The other clear file in this double pack is meant to be a party style scene but with lots of different Pokemon eating and drinking items from the Pokemon Cafe menu, as well as the cute Pokemon Cafe staff. By the way, you can read all about the Pokemon Cafe here.

Fullmetal Alchemist Clear Files – These are actually some clear files that my boyfriend Dane picked up from the Fullmetal Alchemist Cafe that we visited during our trip (I plan to talk about it in the future!) and I’m really glad he picked them up as they’re so pretty. One of the files has an image of Edward and Alphonse Elric fighting together, this is definitely my favourite file of the two he bought. The metal arm and leg of Edward’s really do shine in the light, which was what appealed to me the most. The second clear file has the “good guys” on of Fullmetal Alchemist, which Dane had to have! I will honestly be surprised if we don’t end up framing these in the future and sticking them up in our office. 🙂

So, that is all of the stationary that I picked up from Japan! I thought this would be a nice little haul to share with you this week, especially as we went into lock down here in the UK this week too (well, Monday). I’ve been working from home and on my breaks and after work I have still been doing my writing.

Although we are in lock down here, my blog stuff will not change, I will continue to get my blog posts up every week. 🙂

So, which piece(s) of stationary that I picked up in Japan did you like? Also, what are you doing for the next couple of weeks during the lock down? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care, stay safe and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend. 🙂