Cotswolds Crochet – Animal Crossing Cookie Amigurumi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@cotswoldscrochet

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

♬ Bubblegum K.K. – DIMSVM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instagram

Etsy Store

Blog – access free patterns!!!

TikTok

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

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

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

May Favourites ‘21

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

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

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

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

Hint – they’re Razer x Sanrio themed… 😉

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

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

Beauty.

• SBC Propolis Shampoo – (link).

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

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

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Shows – Taskmaster and Line of Duty.

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

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

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

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

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

Image taken from Nintendo UK

Favourite Game – Miitopia.

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

Quite a few of my favourite things…

Animal Crossing and friends!

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

Cross stitch.

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

Commissions.

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

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

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

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

Cookie amigurumi.

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

Homemade enamel pin hoops.

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

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

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

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

Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard.

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

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

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

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

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

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