June Favourites ’22

I can’t believe we are already on day three of July! June really did fly by due to how much fun me and Dane were clearly having with our week off, Manchester, seeing friends and other stuff. But, at the same time it sort of dragged towards the end of June. I remember mid June having a phone call with my dad and saying, “It’s July next week!” and it was due to me thinking about payday… Oh dear! July wasn’t due for another two weeks at that point.

Speaking of payday, I was SKINT after Manchester in June and I’m already “skint” this month too. I made some big purchases I probably shouldn’t have, as well as recouping all the monies I’ve put on bills and such as well. Due to that, after my payday treats this month, I’m going to be really good with money from now on, especially as me and Dane are hoping to make a big purchase for our home in the near future…

That aside I’m not sure how I’m feeling about July yet. At the time of writing this post I’m miserable as fuck in general. A lot of crap news has come up in the news, as well as personal so right now I’m just going with it. I don’t really have a lot planned for July, aside from meeting up with friends I’ve not seen for years due to Covid, as well as lots of D&D game nights! I’m hopeful my mood will lift as the month goes on however, I don’t want a sad one. :’)

Anyhoo, enough of my woes, on with the favourites!

Beauty – The Body Shop Banana Body Yogurt.

Back in 2018 The Body Shop brought out their banana range and I fell in love with it! They brought out a shower gel, body butter and body yogurt and I bought all three of them of course. I managed to get through a lot of them, but I still have some of the products left brand new, including the body butter and body yogurt. As regular readers will know, I started to use body lotion as my skin was honestly screaming out for it and I feel so much better for it since. It’s come to the time where I need to start using the body yogurt as my stash is growing quite low. I’m sad to because I know I won’t be able to pick it up again anytime soon, but at the same time, it means I can get some new goodies in. Hey, maybe I’ll find another banana body lotion soon? The Body Shop body yogurts are amazing, especially during the warmer months as they’re thin, cooling and still very moisturising. Plus, a little bit of this stuff goes a long way! As strawberry is my favourite scent from The Body Shop, I’m planning to pick up the strawberry one in the near future!

Movie – Everything Everywhere All at Once.

First things first, this film is amazing and it isn’t what I was expecting at all. The trailer didn’t really do the film justice for me, but at the same time that wasn’t a bad thing either. I knew this was a film Dane wanted to watch and I was happy to give it a go, because why not. The film is about Evelyn, owner of a laundromat with her husband. Her father lives with them and their daughter appears to have moved out. Evelyn has a lot going on, along with accepting her daughters sexuality and girlfriend, her father needing her care, as well as her business being in trouble money wise. Everything Everywhere All at Once is broken up into chapters, like a play, and whilst the film is a little bat shit crazy, it’s done really, really well! I highly recommend checking this out, no matter what genre of movies you prefer, it’s amazing and I get the hype of it being titled film of the year.

Image taken from Giphy

TV Show – The Boys Season Three.

As regular readers of my blog will know, I love The Boys. It’s a hilarious show with a unique concept, with the show being created off of a comic book series. We’re not on series three of The Boys and it’s getting darker and more intense with each episode. I don’t want to say too much as I may end up spoiling it for some but lets just say there some hilarious adult humour, some fucked up deaths and stuff I didn’t expect Butcher to do. It’s also now been given the green light for a fourth season, which in turn makes me really happy! The original comic book series is by Garth Ennis who also wrote the comic book series Preacher, another TV Show both me and Dane loved. Both are on Amazon Prime Video, so make sure to go and check them out if you haven’t already!

Music – PVRIS – Use Me.

This is an album I’ve found myself listening to a lot towards the end of June and I honestly can’t stop. I’ve been listening to it when working from home, driving to work, and even in the office when I need to get my earphones in and head down to concentrate. I love all of the songs PVRIS work on and release and whilst Use Me isn’t my favourite album (All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell is my favourite) but it’s a close second to be honest with you. I keep meaning to book tickets to see PVRIS in January 2023, but I feel like each payday, the right time isn’t appearing. 😦

Game – Sniper Elite 5.

This is a game me and Dane randomly started playing together after he started to play it on his own. It’s on Xbox Games Pass, so was “free” for us both to pick up and play together. Sniper Elite 5 is set during World War II and your goal is to try and defeat the Nazi’s taking over parts of Europe. It was such a fun game to play with Dane and the more levels we got through, the better we got! We’ve completed the game now, but we’re planning on buying the DLC very soon so we can play some more of the game together. It didn’t take us long to complete the game, I’d like to say a week but that being said, it was a lot of fun! I’ve been asking Dane if he can find something similar for us to play next.

Just a few of my favourite things…

Image from greetings.nerds

For my other favourites this month, I wanted to talk about some small businesses I feel deserve to get some new shoppers, or at least some new followers on their social media pages. I read the above post on Instagram by greetings.nerds earlier this week and wanted to take a moment to share some people who I feel deserve to be mentioned. With the changes to the world from Covid and now the current conflict happening in Eastern Europe, the changes are affecting some people drastically, where others just slightly. Small businesses all over are being affected sales wise, and with social media platforms making it harder than ever to reach new customers, they could do with as much support and help as possible. Which is what I have strived to do since 2019 on my blog, and Instagram page. Even if you can’t afford to make a purchase from any of the mentioned small businesses today, please drop them a follow on their social media accounts. They’re all down to Earth, amazing and friendly people. They’re also my friends and I wouldn’t be friends with them if they weren’t any of the points mentioned. 🙂

Happy Place Cosmetics

Store, Instagram, TikTok.

Cruelty free and SLS free handmade cosmetics, based in Scotland. I’ve been a massive fan of Happy Place Cosmetics since before 2020, but it was only during Covid and lockdowns that I finally bit the bullet and placed my first order! Since then I won’t got anywhere else for my body scrubs AND I’ve become such good friends with the owner too. HPC don’t constantly have stock in, but instead release themed beauty and wax melts boxes for us to buy, with themes including 90’s, horror, pop culture and more! Alongside that HPC will of course release certain stock every now and then. I like the way they release their goods, because it means I can really treat myself to goods! I recently had some new wax melts arrived, with some smelling of Lush Tramp shower gel, an old favourite of mine and the owners! I burnt one yesterday and it smells AMAZING and to boot the scent lasted ages in our office, even after my tea light had gone out. She also included some Calpol scented wax tarts too, which I’m so excited to burn.

Claire Likes To Doodle

Website, Shop, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

Claire is one of my oldest friends and for years I encouraged her to turn her art from a hobbie to a job, which she did a couple of years ago! I’m so proud of where she has come, her work is unique and beautiful and every time she posts something new on Instagram, it really does make me smile. Recently alongside selling art, she’s started to play with clay to create pieces of her original character Bernard. In the near future I am hoping to commission her for a piece myself… 😛 Please make sure to go and check her out and maybe even give her some support over on Ko-fi and maybe buy some goodies from her too!

Quirkory

Shop, Pin Club, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Quirkory are by far my favourite enamel pin creators. Their work always makes me happy to see and really does brighten my day. I discovered them in 2019 and since then I’ve been supporting their work, as well as befriending them over the years. Currently I’m loving what Quirkory are doing with their Patreon/pin club and Discord communities, their new designs and ideas for the future are kawaii AF and I cannot wait to see more in the future! Plus don’t forget I have a discount code for Quirkory where you can save 10% on purchases with code TMBQUIRKORY.

Worlds Apart, Birmingham

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Worlds Apart is the oldest comic book shop in England and for that fact alone I’m proud to call them my local and favourite comic book shop! I can’t speak for Worlds Apart or other comic book shops but with places like Amazon selling comics and manga online, as well as bigger businesses such as Waterstones too, smaller comic book shops can struggle at times to get custom, especially during Covid! One thing that Worlds Apart did during Covid was open up orders through their Discord, as well as through Instagram, which I used often during lockdowns to get hold of merchandise and manga. I’m a part of the Worlds Apart Discord, which is full of amazing people! I highly recommend if you’re from Birmingham to support Worlds Apart if you can, even if it’s just promoting them online.

So, there we have it guys, my favourites from June! June did really fly by and I’m just wary the rest of the year is going to follow suit, which I don’t want. I mean, I’d love for cooler months to come by so I can start layering my clothes and feeling cosy!

What did you guys love throughout June, and what are you looking forward to in July? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a lovely weekend and great start to July.

HUGE Shop Small UK Guide – Christmas 2020

Can you believe there is only 18 days until Christmas? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? I’m awful this year and I’m not done. I usually have all my gifts bought by now, but alas I still have my parents to buy for.

This year I wanted to do a gift guide, but not my usual one aimed at the geeks, otaku and kawaii fans, beauty, fashion etc etc. I wanted to instead focus on small companies/independent artists/businesses who need our support more than ever due to COVID and it’s affects from lockdowns here in the UK.

First of all, I’m only speaking about the UK as with a Twitter poll a couple of weeks ago, it’s what you as the readers voted for. However at the end of the post I will mention who you can shop small with all over the world too.

I’m going to add all sorts of categories here, not just geek, kawaii, otaku related. I’ll be talking about beauty, home, geek, Japan related, food and more! I want to try and talk about as much as I can, so when you need ideas for Christmas gifts you have lots of choice. I will also mention the last date to order for Christmas too if you’re in the UK. Please bear in mind with the COVID situation and Christmas on the horizon, Royal Main is struggling a little, so if you want to order, order as soon as possible!

Let’s get started! I really hope you guys enjoy this post. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Geeky/Kawaii

Image taken from Jennifairy Illustration

Jennifairy Illustration – Creating cuties to make you smile. Enamel pins, stickers and keychains, all inspired by cute animals, video game characters and more.

Last date to order for Christmas – 14th December. However, if order after this date it could still get there but that can’t be promised. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Jennifairy Illustration is an independent artist/store I have spoken about on my blog since 2017 and I knew they were one of the first places I wanted to speak about today! Jennifairy has a range of products – enamel pins, stickers and keychains. Her style is incredibly cute and kawaii and the designs make me smile whenever I see them, both on her store and in my home. If you know someone who loves cute animals and certain characters from popular video games, then they will love to open a cute design from Jennifairy. Christmas wise you can pick up some gingerbread friends or even a Christmas Pikachu, with a Santa’s hat and a cup of coffee. There are loads of different designs to choose from, there is something for everyone.

Image taken from Littlest Spook Shop

Littlest Spook Shop – We put the Oo in spooky! Cute spooky ghost prints, mugs and other items to choose from!

Last date to order for Christmas – Currently Littlest Spook Shop is looking to close 9th December.

Halloween isn’t just once a year with Littlest Spook Shop. I discovered them around Halloween this year and I love their spooky ghost designs. They’re so damn cute and spoopy and I’m down for that. I regret not ordering some of their Christmas cards this year to be honest, but there’s always next year. If you know someone who celebrates Halloween all year around then a print (or two!) from Littlest Spook Shop may just be for them! Not only do they sell prints but they also sell mugs, tote bags, enamel pins and patches so that spooky friend or family member can show off their love of ghosts and all things spooky all year around! The Always Cosy Club spooky print shouts out to me so much. During the colder months I’m like that little ghosty.

Image taken from FoxLeap

FoxLeap – Kawaii designs inspired by Disney and Japanese characters from films and video games.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

FoxLeap is an independent artist/store I love buying enamel pins from. They’re adorable and there is always something in the store I want to pick up, including the Jiji enamel pin which I may need to order myself as a treat for writing this post. 😛 There is something for everyone when it comes down to FoxLeap including designs inspired by Disney (especially The Lion King series!), Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Wolf’s Rain, Okami and more. Anyone who loves enamel pins will really love to receive a FoxLeap design and honestly they probably already know of FoxLeap’s existence. Not only do they make and sell enamel pins but they also sell prints, t-shirts, stickers, enamel pin flags, tote bags and more so there is plenty to choose from!

Image taken from NaomiLordArt

NaomiLordArt – A freelance artist who creates adorable prints inspired by animals, magical creatures, witches, Goddesses, Critical Role and more!

Last date to order for Christmas – Orders will be shipped until the shop closes for Christmas on 20th December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Guys you know me I love kawaii animals, especially foxes and that is something NaomiLordArt does so bloody well! I mean, look at them cute seasonal fox designs! I feel anyone of any age will love a little stocking filler that involves one of the many designs that NaomiLordArt has on offer. Plus if you and your friends are fans of Critical Role, she’s drawn all of the gang and put it onto a print, which you can find here. I feel NaomiLordArt would be perfect as items to gift children, teenagers and anyone who loves prints and stickers. I’ve gifted my best friend goodies from there before that were surrounding Star Wars and Harry Potter. There are also RPG class animal stickers and prints too, so if you play in a D&D group and are taking part in a D&D themed Secret Santa, these would make perfect gifts alongside some dice.

Image taken from GIPHY

Japanese Snacks

Image taken from Something Japanese

Something Japanese – UK based online shop that sells the best things from Japan! Chocolate, Candy, Collectables, Otaku Goodies and much much more.

Last date to order for Christmas – December 21st. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Something Japanese is a store I have bought from for about five years now and they are really good! I especially love to pick up the Japanese snack boxes from them as they’re always an amazing price for how many Japanese sweets and treats you get. I ordered the Halloween one and it was amazing and I’ve ordered the Christmas Japanese Candy Box too. This might make for an amazing gift to someone who loves Japanese sweets and treats and who may also miss Japan or want to visit Japan. COVID has prevented travelling to Japan for a lot of people and I know a lot of my friends who missed out on their trips this year. This would make for a nice treat to open Christmas Day. Something Japanese does sell other items too and separate sweet treats so make sure to check that out too.

Image taken from Tofu Cute

Tofu Cute – A UK kawaii shop that sells all sorts of cute and unique Japanese snacks, plushies, accessories, stationery and other goodies.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

Tofu Cute is a store me and my boyfriend often order our Japanese sweets from as they’re great prices and they always seem to have the goods that Japan get at the same time. Not only do they stock sweets but also drinks as well! We’ve bought many bottles of ramune and Pokemon fizzy drinks from Tofu Cute and they’ve all been enjoyed! Think my favourite thing I’ve ever bought from Tofu Cute are the Melty Kiss chocolates. They’re to die for and would make an amazing gift for someone’s stocking this Christmas. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Home

Image taken from Cushty Co Twitter page

Cushty Co – Handmade home fragrance. Scented soy wax melts beautifully crafted with sprinkles of glitter and careful colouring. Vegan friendly.

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 14th December – Store will close at 5pm. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Cushty Co are my go to for wax melts and I’ve ended up buying so many this year! Their autumn/Halloween collection being my favourite to date. If you know someone who loves burning candles and wax tarts like me, Cushty Co are a great place to check out. They do LOADS of different scent varieties and three different sizes of wax so the choices are huge. They currently have their Christmas/winter scents in stock and I have all of them! They’re absolutely amazing and if you know someone who loves Christmas and wishes it could be everyday, then some of the Christmas/winter scents will be right up their street. Not only do Cushty Co sell wax tarts, but they also sell room sprays too, which I’m yet to try. If you know someone who loves Lush then they’ll love Unicorn Dreams which smells exactly like Snow Fairy and Nightfall which smells exactly like Twlight.

Image taken from Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty

Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty – Lovingly Custom made 3D printed Bubble Baskets.

Last date to order for Christmas – 17th December if ordering a pink, black or ombré bubble basket. 14th December if ordering a custom colour. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently decided to buy myself a bubble basket from Books Baths and Beauty as I’ve wanted one for over a year now and as my bathroom was redone in the summer, I’ve finally been indulging in bath products and having bath cocktails more. It arrived over the weekend I’ve used it a few times since. It’s really good and if you’re like me and use bubble bars, shower gels and more to create bubbles, then this is for you! They’re made with a 3D printer and are sturdy and amazing! 😀 If you know someone who loves taking baths and using the same products as I do, this will be perfect for helping them create lots of bubbles! Teenagers will love this, as well as mermaids.

Image taken from GIPHY

Beauty

Image taken from The Bath Bae

The Bath Bae  –  Handmade bath treats to make you glow inside and out. Vegan and cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 21 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 48 or Tuesday 22 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 24. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently made my first order with The Bath Bae and honestly – I have zero regrets. They focus on bath bomb products in various different varieties and scents so there is plenty to choose from! So far I’ve only tried the bath cubes and they are amazing, perfect for anyone of any age. You can pick up bath sparkle, sparkle rocks, bath cubes and bath soak. These would make great stocking fillers for teenagers and anyone who loves a good soak in the bath. My favourite scent from them so far is Oh So Slushie, which reminds me of Tango Ice Blast slushies from the cinema.

Image taken from Happy Melon

Happy Melon – Handmade beauty products made in small batches and packed with cuteness, colour and yummy fragrance. Cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Restock this Sunday (13/12/2020) and as items sell out quickly, there isn’t really a last date to order for Christmas.

Happy Melon is a brand I discovered this year and bought from during their last restock. If you know someone who loves their beauty and bath products and for them to be as colourful as possible, Happy Melon is a good indie brand for this! They have a wide variety of products including bubble bath, lip sugar, perfume oil, bath soak (snuggle soak), sugar scrub and more! One of the bubble baths I own is a Lush Snow Fairy dupe (Sabrina bubble bath) and it’s one of my favourite products to use after a long day. Plus a little goes a long way and this stuff lasts AGES! One of the products I am excited to try soon is the Pop Kei Snuggle Soak, which smells just like Tango Ice Blast slushies! It would work so well with the slushie bath cubes from The Bath Bae. Again this is a great brand for teenagers due to how colourful everything is and maybe even children too due to how colourful and sparkly the bubble baths are.

Image taken from Hex Bomb

Hex Bomb – Divine handmade gothic beauty products for dark sweets hearts. Creator of the first black bath bomb! Cruelty free and vegan!

Last date to order for Christmas – 21st December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Hex Bomb is a brand I have always wanted to try since the Black As Your Soul bath bomb came out. I’m yet to try it still and plan to buy it in the near future! I’ve mentioned some colourful and kawaii beauty indie brands so far, so I wanted to through a gothic, dark brand in there for good measure. I love me a dark bath, it reflects who I am inside and this brand would be perfect for any goth friend or relative out there! Not only do they make bath bombs but Hex Bomb also sell shower gel, soap, scrub, lip balm, perfume oil AND even wax melts for your home. If you aren’t sure what to buy that gothic beauty in your life (because Hex Bomb have a lot of variety!) you could always pick up one of their gift boxes which contains a variety of products. If you want to see a review (or two) of Hex Bomb make sure to go and check out my great blogger friend Raiin Monkey’s blog posts here.

Image taken from GIPHY

Honourable Mentions

Geek/Kawaii – Quirkory – Due to being based in Italy, they didn’t qualify for this shop small post. However, I couldn’t not mention them! They sell enamel pins, stickers and prints inspired by Japanese video games and cute animals.

Geek/Kawaii – Claire Likes To Doodle – The reason I didn’t mention my friend Claire and her store is because she got a post allllll to herself recently! Which I am going to link here. 🙂

Geek/Kawaii – 1 In 100/One In Hundred – A local Brummy like myself, Alex over at 1 In 100 has some amazing designs on her store and you can buy items from clothing, badges, keyrings, stickers, prints, stationary and more. I keep meaning to pick up some of her Japan inspired prints. Check them out here and here.

Geek/Kawaii – Chibi Shibby – May have bought a Christmas present from one of my favourite artists… 😉 Shibby recently reopened her store and has filled it was gorgeous kawaii goodies! There’s also some Christmas related goods in there too.

Geek/Kawaii – Lunaticgumis – Due to being based in Gran Canaria, they didn’t quality for this shop small post. However, I am planning to write about them on my blog very very soon! 😀 They sell stickers as well as amigurumis (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures). They stock Bee and Puppycat designs WHICH I LOVE!

Geek/Kawaii – Taiyakiblue – This store is joint owned by tattooists senseoftheterrific and tubbybeartattoo. They stock clothing, prints and even some keyrings and pins made out of resin. They’re both inspired by geeky/kawaii themes such as D&D, Studio Ghibli, Dragonball Z, Moomins, Adventure Time and more. I’ve purchased a Christmas present from them and plan to buy prints in the future! I love their style so much.

Bath – Bath Bake Love – No restock until after Christmas where there will be lots of enchanted teasers for the New Year Wonderland and plenty of goodies in January!

AND THERE WE HAVE IT! My HUGE shop small Christmas shopping guide for the UK!

What do you guys think? I wanted to try and cover as much as I could and I like to think I’ve done that quite well. In the future I may pop up with some of these after Christmas, just as good shopping guides throughout the year for birthday’s and more!

Honestly guys, I hope you enjoyed this post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m off work for the week and the first thing I knew I wanted to do was to write this post.

Are there any small shops in the UK that you feel I should know about? Make sure to let me know and I’ll take a look for next time!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend. 🙂

Shop Small – Claire Likes To Doodle*

Can you believe Christmas is now less than a month away? With Christmas comes Christmas present shopping, have you started yours yet? I have and I’m almost finished! I know some people who wait until the last minute to buy their presents and some who buy them throughout the year.

I like to get my shopping done early and always have done so that I have more money for Christmas parties and trips to the German Market throughout December… None of those are happening this year due to COVID… 😛

However this year I have decided to shop small and mostly buy Christmas presents through small and independent artists. Some own their own stores online and host on websites like Etsy. I’ll be writing and sharing more stores with you in the coming weeks.

Today I want to talk about my good friend Claire, who owns Claire Likes To Doodle. I spoke about Claire and her commission work last summer (which you can read here) and we have decided to work together again, but this time to talk about her online store!

Claire opened her store again around July this year and since then she has filled it with loads of amazing goodies – especially her original character Bernard.

Since working together last year Claire wanted to share an update in regards to how her work has changed since then, as well as how Claire Likes To Doodle will be in 2021!

The last time I was featured on Nat’s blog, it was primarily for my chibi work. That was my main focus for commissions and merch too. I’m still a commission artist, I do watercolour pieces and portraits, MTG alters and tokens. My personal work has changed up a fair bit though!

The great (and sometimes frustrating) thing about being an artist is that you’re constantly evolving and changing up your work and style until you settle into what you love creating best. I found that when I was doing Inktober 2019 and I introduced a little monster called a Bernard. Since then I’ve been creating more and more work around Bernards and their world, and people have fell in love with them! I now have an active shop with Bernard goodies, original art and other oddities.

I’ve got big Bernard plans for 2021, watch this space… Once again, thank you Natalee for featuring me and letting me introduce Bernard to your lovely readers!

I really love when independent stores/artists I work with have an input in my posts to tell me all about them and how they got started, their store and plans for the future.

I have been friends with Claire since 2006 and our friendship has grown more and more as the years have gone by. I’m so proud of Claire for how far she has come and I have a feeling 2021 will be her year!

Inside this package there was a lovely note from Claire that really made me smile. As someone who has anxiety and depression this note is very much appreciated. Whenever people write down words like this, whether it be on a letter or a text I keep them and read them back when I feel down. I’ll be doing the same with this note too. 🙂

Claire kindly gifted me all the items in this post (apart from one item which I bought with my own money) for reviewing purposes. Apart from the quote above from Claire, all words are my own and items that are gifted will be marked with an *.

Claire has a variety of goodies on her store to buy from stickers, badges, original work, paintings, stationary and more. I was sent a little bit of everything to show to you today!

First things first – if you are UK based like Claire is – she offers Free UK shipping on certain items. If she does offer this, it will state it on the item in question e.g. stickers and badges. I felt this was an important note to add as I know a lot of people in the UK may be looking for small gift and stocking ideas for Christmas and throughout the year.

The cut off point for ordering in time for Christmas is Monday 14th December 2020. Commissions are now closed until January 2021.

Finally before I start to share the goodies share sent me – Claire Likes To Doodle is having a Black Friday sale! When you use the code “YOULLBEBACK” at checkout you will snag a cheeky 20% discount on everything in her shop. This is valid between Friday 27th November 12am GMT – Sunday 29th November 12am GMT. So, if you like the look of anything here, make sure to go and grab a bargain.

Oh… I also have an exclusive 10% discount code for Claire Likes To Doodle’s store, which will be on the right hand side of my blog moving forward. I have added it here though too for readers who my see some good below and want to make an order. 🙂

Finally… I’ll share with you the amazing goodies that Claire sent me! 😀

• Autumn Bernard – Square Sticker (link)*
• Autumn Bernard – 38mm Square Badge (link)*

A square sticker/badge with a cozy autumnal Bernard, enjoying her favourite pumpkin spice beverage and wrapped up warm. Take a bit of autumn with you wherever you go with this unique sticker.

As regular readers will know, I love enamel pins, badges and stickers! Badges remind me of my emo kid self back in the day, I would stick badges all over my bags and jackets to try and show off who I was as much as possible. This autumn Bernard is so perfect to me purely because I love autumn. It’s my favourite time of the year and Claire has captured that perfectly with her autumn Bernard design. My favourite colour is purple so I love that Bernard is wrapped up in purple accessories and is holding a warm drink. I also love the little pink flushed cheeks, just showing how cold it is where Bernard is. You can show really off your love of autumn all year around with both the badge and the sticker, as well as show off and support Claire’s original character.

• Chill AF Bernard – 32mm Badge (link)*

Need a little calm in your life? I get it. So does Bernard. May this 32mm button badge be a reminder to take a step back every now and again.

This chill AF Bernard is a reminder for everyone right now to take a deep breath and relax whenever you can. With the way the world is at the moment I think everyone could do with this badge as a reminder to step back and take a few minutes for yourself. It can also help with anxiety too to remind people to take care of themselves. I really love this badge and I think I’ll be sticking him on my work laptop bag to remind me to relax for five during the busy work day and grab a drink and maybe a casual chat with colleagues. 🙂 To add as well by the way that both of the badges I received from Claire are amazing quality. They feel really well made and sturdy!

• Flower Crown Bernard – Sticker (link)*

Original design – take this summer-themed Bernard wherever you want to go!

This Bernard reminds me of the summer, drinking with friends in beer gardens, going to festivals and basically summer vibes and activities with friends and loved ones before COVID. This is a sticker that reminds me that we need to be patient, because when COVID is gone – we can all have fun with our loved ones again and make some amazing new memories. The flower crown Bernard is so precious and I love how colourful the crown is! I wish my garden could look more like this. 😛

• Halloween Holographic Stickers (Halloween exclusive piece – not available to buy)*

Sadly these stickers aren’t available anymore, but Claire sent them me so I wanted to show them off to you guys! These were exclusive for Halloween and only stuck around the shop for a short period of time. There were two designs released with a baby Bernard inside of a pumpkin and a Bernard flying on a broom. They’re both so adorable and the fact they’re holographic too makes them feel even more spooky and seasonal for Halloween. The quality of these stickers is thicker than the other two stickers Claire sent me which is really cool! I might not stick these anywhere and actually use them as decorations for the Halloween season and stick them on my kitchen window! 😀 In the future keep your eyes peeled on Claire’s store for more store exclusives!

• Round Cat Painting (Twitch stream piece – not available to buy)

This is a painting I purchased on one of Claire’s streams in the summer during lockdown and sold pieces she painted on stream. Due to to COVID I’ve only recently received it due to not being able to meet up and such. I paid £10 of my own money for this print and have been so excited to add it to my little growing collection by Claire. It’s a little round cat that looks like a Siamese breed. It’s so derpy and cute that I just had to buy it! I’m not a cat person to be perfectly honest with you but the derpy look in this cats eyes just had me! It feels so… Expensive(?) if you will due to the special art paper Claire has used. It was so relaxing watching Claire paint this piece, it’s cool to now have it in person. 🙂

• Artgust – Original A6 Watercolour Paintings – Electric (link)*

Through the month of August 2020, I did a painting every day based on a prompt list put together by myself and my wonderful Discord community. A mix of funny pieces, sad pieces, portraits and Bernards done over 31 days! Each piece is A6 size, painted in watercolour.

The final piece I want to talk about that Claire sent me I was taken back by. I didn’t quite expect her to send me one of her watercolour paintings but I’m not going to complain, especially considering she sent me a Pokemon themed print! Back in August Claire took part in Artgust where you draw/paint something everyday of the month. This was day 28 of August and it’s titled “Pikachu”. As you can see it’s Claire’s original character Bernard who is surrounded by hearts and has a Pikachu on his head. It’s so bloody cute and I love it! This is going to go on my plushie cabinet alongside my other prints. I’ll be keeping it in the cellophane packet it came in to keep it safe. For an A6 print size it packs a punch and not only looks amazing, the quality of the piece itself feels high quality too and expensive.

Claire still has quite a few prints left from the Artgust challenge, as well as one she took part in in October called Annarack October that are all looking for homes! The prints created during October are all Bernard themed too, so if you like the look of Claire’s original character and would like to pick up something with them on, definitely go and check those prints out!

They’re all A6 size and cost £15 each. They’re also unique one of a kind pieces, no reprints here. Once they’re sold, they’re gone. For example if you go onto the website the Electric print is sold out, because of course I own it now.

I’ve had my eye on one for a while now and definitely contemplating buying it soon! It’s the Black design from Artgust. I’ve always loved the look of it and if there’s one style of art Claire does really well it’s the blackout style. She did it for a time on her Instagram page and it’s one I always find myself gravitating towards. Who knows, I may end up buying it after this post is live… 😉

Something else I may pick up soon for when I return to the office for work is the ‘Distanced’ A4 Year Planner 2021. Not only is it handy but also really nice to stick on the sides of my desk for a bit of artwork… Nothing wrong with livening your desk up, eh? 😀

So there you go guys, the first of many independent artists I’ll be talking about during shop small in December! I’m so happy that Claire Likes To Doodle could be the first one I talk about.

Store

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Twitch

What do you guys think of Claire’s designs and store? Will you be adopting a Bernard of your own in the form of a sticker, badge or print? 🙂 Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, take care guys and stay safe. 🙂

Life Lately – Past, Present and Future

I really love this photo! Shall I add it to my “about me” section? P.S. I love Instagram filters! 😛

For my post this week I thought I would do a life lately post and have a catch up about stuff that’s been happening since my last life lately in July (which you can read here). So, go and grab yourself a hot drink because this post is going to be lonnnnng!

I’m going to get this out there straight away and say that since September life has been a bit shit… But thankfully it hasn’t affected me too badly…

September is my favourite month of the year as many know, but this year it was one of the worst. My aunt unexpectedly passed away and I’m still torn about it. October was her funeral and as I’ve been so busy with work throughout October and this month I’ve not really had time to think about it all… Which isn’t a bad thing but I’ve just been so busy.

Due to everything happening one after the other, I am mentally drained. I had a day off work yesterday and it was much needed. I spent the morning doing nothing and catching up on Twitch streams, cleaned my bathroom in the afternoon and ordered a takeaway in the evening. It was a very good day and I loved it so much.

I was bloody knackered this day… Busy work day!

Anyhoo, I don’t want to talk about how shit the past three months has been too much here, but I did want to be honest. I just want to continue to be there for my mom and try and look forward to Christmas as it’ll definitely be a hard year for me, but especially for my mom. I want to try and spoil her as much as possible, especially when her birthday comes around after mine in January too.

Alongside that we’ve also had a second lockdown in the UK, which is set to finish in less than two weeks. To be honest the second lockdown hasn’t affected me. I’m still working from home so I’ve been fine workwise and as miserable as it sounds, second lockdown has been an excuse for me to stay at home and not have to worry about having energy after a busy day to socialise.

COVID and lockdowns has fucked with my head however. I’m happy to stay at home and not hang out with people and be social. I like staying in my house and when both me and Dane have a week off work in December, we intend to do that for pretty much all of it. We’re going to be working on the house and doing things we’ve meant to do the past four years of owning our home.

COVID and lockdown may have fucked with my head, but it has made me realise how much I love my home, but also how much work we still need to do. We’ve neglected it because of being social bunnies since 2016 and I’m done with it. I have certain friends I really fucking miss and can’t wait to see when things go back to “normal” but that’s about it.

I don’t give a fuck if I’m miserable. 😛 Has anyone else had the same happen to them that has happened to me? Aka turning into a hermit. 😛

One of the many pretty baths I’ve taken lately. This one was so damn pretty due to the purple and blue swirling into one another.

I’m getting into the festive spirit a little now in the run up to December. I’m halfway through my Christmas shopping and I’ve already pre-ordered my Christmas food ready for the big day. I won’t be putting my tree up until the 1st December, I can’t stand putting it up early as I find it takes the magic of Christmas away. It comes down just before New Years Eve so we don’t have to worry about putting it down and away before we return to work for a New Year. A lot of people think this is miserable… I think due to being in a home that didn’t really put a tree up this is just something that has passed onto me somewhat.

Speaking of Christmas and the New Year I have so many exciting things I want to talk and share in regards to my blog! 😀

I decided almost a month ago that I would do a MASSIVE post at the start of December about shopping small in the UK. I’ve never done this before in the sense of all stores to be mentioned will be small so I’m REALLY excited for it! With 2020 and lockdown due to COVID, I feel I have shopped smaller more than ever and I love being able to share them with others on my Instagram (theremightbecoffeeblog) so I want to do the same here on my blog too.

I asked you on Twitter what you wanted to see, UK, USA, Europe or everywhere. You mostly voted for me to focus on shopping small in the UK, so that’s what I’ll be doing. I’ll have categories such as beauty, home, kawaii/geek, enamel pins, etc. Are there any categories you would like to see in particular that I haven’t mentioned?

I’ll be looking to research for this MASSIVE post very soon (maybe even after this post is live!) so I can get it out for (drumroll?) 5th December, which is in a couple of weeks! If you also know of any UK stores I should mention, please let me know!

I quickly want to interrupt what I’m talking about to show you these AMAZING Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon leggings I found for a total bargain on Depop! Someone sold them brand new with tags for £40. I snapped them up and I have zero regrets. I’m going to wear these religiously during my week off work. 😛

Alongside that blog post idea for Christmas, I have also decided in 2021 to make a slight change to my blog… and when I say change I mean my monthly posts in particular. I have toyed with this thought the past few months and after reaching out to you guys again on Twitter you all had the same thought as me.

With my monthly favourites posts I am going to move away from mentioning my five favourite beauty items and just mention one or two. I’m planning to share TV shows, movies, music and games I have loved that month, but I’ll only talk about books if I’ve actually read any. I love reading manga, but I’ve not ready any for a while. I’m going to change that in 2021 but I don’t see the point in having books on my monthly favourites if I’m not reading any each month… It’s just pointless.

I’ll be adding some new categories such as – favourite piece of clothing, favourite candle/scent and anything else that comes to mind to be honest with you! It will be random each month me thinks depending on how that month has been like etc.

I didn’t know whether to lump  my monthly favourites and my wish list together so I have more room for content each month but I don’t know… I worry a post will be far too long then, so I am swaying towards keeping them separated. What do you guys think? I do love my monthly wish list posts! 😀

Please take another amazing bath photo! If there is a brand I have fallen in love with this year it’s Bake Bath Love. They’ll be getting a mention in my Christmas Shop Small UK post.

In 2020 I haven’t work with as many people as I usually do with gifted posts, but at the same time we obviously know why this is the case! However, I am hoping in 2021 to work with more people, but we shall see! I’m not fussed if I don’t of course. 🙂

One more thing I want to share with you today is something that I ordered at the start of November as a payday treat for myself. As many know, I love Bee & Puppycat and have done since I discovered it back in 2013 but 2020 has been the year I’m finally buying some merchandise (fan made mostly) from the show.

I finally decided to treat myself to an amigurumi (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures) of Puppycat, as well as some stickers. He’s by Lunaticgumis and I love him so much! He arrived today and he’s been very much loved already. He’s now on my plushie shelf next to the Puppycat polymer clay keyring that I commissioned from MelonDesignsByEllen. However, I think I will be doing a massive talk about these on a separate post in December. 🙂

That’s basically everything I wanted to catch up with here though… I have some exciting posts coming up in December, which may even end up going through to January too including:

Black Milk Clothing x Animal Crossing – I am beyond excited for all this stuff to arrive… I say all, it’s just three items. It’ll be similar to the one I wrote about the Pokemon goodies, which you can read here for the time being.

Pikarar – This is going to be a huge haul and one I need to share with you all! It’ll include Pokemon and shiba inu clothing! 😀

I’m sure there will be more but those two stand out for me at the moment so I wanted to get them mentioned here. 🙂

Told you I loved them Instagram filters… 😉

I’m not going to ramble anymore guys! What do you think of the small adjustments I’m thinking of doing to my blog in 2021? Make sure to let me know what you think in the comments.

Is there anything else you would like to see more or less of on here? I’d like to hear what you think. In 2021 I want to mostly continue what I’ve done this year, aka one post a week and write about what the hell I want to! 😀

Aside from letting me know what you think, how have you all been doing? How are you dealing with COVID? Are you loving lockdown hating lockdown? Let me know everything. 🙂

Until next time though guys, stay safe, take care and I’ll see you soon!