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!

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!

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!

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!