Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

~*~SPONSORED REVIEW~*~ MIMO Pencil Case Shop ~*~POSITIVE~*~


Hello Everyone!

Today I've a very exciting review for you! If you read my site regularly you may remember that I recently posted a segment on Kawaii stationary and one of the featured stationary sites was MIMO Pencil Case Shop, in case you didn't, MIMO is a on-line shop that focuses on affordable cute and kawaii stationary. Based in the USA MIMO is run by the lovely Jeanette.

MIMO sent me a huge box, containing a planner set to review! Funnily enough this arrived on my birthday yesterday! The box contained everything you would need to start using a planner and some! I'd originally planned for this to be an un-boxing video - everything was so beautifully wrapped, but Harry had other ideas - he got very confused by me talking to the camera and thought I was asking him to come and play and the video very quickly became a write off! (I will try and re-film this in the next week as I really do think it'd be great to show you the products, especially the planner, up-close.)


One of the first things I found in the box was this adorable little note - I love little touches like this as it makes things seem more personal. I really like the design on this little note-let and have a plan for it already!


The first little package I opened contained these mini highlighters, a role of deco tape and a role of eraser tape! These will be so useful for me! 


I use highlighters a lot when I'm researching for articles and having lots of colours is really handy as it means I can colour code my research. I'll also be using these a lot to highlight important dates in my planner! Each highlighter has a cute character on and I really like the stripy design as it makes them bright and colourful. The little packet is mega useful as well as it means I can keep them all together and put them in my bag to take out and about. 


Deco tape is something that has always interested me - it's exactly what it sounds like, it's a tape you can apply to paper that has little decorations on, this one has bunting and butterflies - how cute is that? I'm definitely going to use this a lot as I think it'll be fun to use to mark important days. 


Corrector tape is always, always useful for me! I'm rather prone to making mistakes on paper, and I do tend to draft out things on paper first so this is super useful as well. It'll also come in handy if I put a date in my diary (I nearly always use pen) and I need to move it, rather than leaving a huge ugly scribble I can just use this to cover it! I love the design of this to, I find it funny that it looks like a milk shake bottle, it almost looks like milk is pouring out when you use the tape!


Next was a box containing two decorative tapes! I like that the front of the box shows the pattern of the two tapes in detail - this pack contains two kinds of lace style tape.


Look how pretty these are - I think they'd be fab for edging important pages or even for sticking in photos! The colours used are very vibrant which means they'll show up well on paper.


Eep! Totoro! Oh my gosh, I love, love, love Totoro! He's right up there with Rilakkuma! This is a little cellphone/bag mascot and he's so soft and squishy! This has already made it onto my handbag so I can take him with me where ever I go.


Check out these adorable paper clips - these have definitely been made with love. They are so detailed and such pretty colours! I'm going to use them in my planner to mark pages and hold in some loose leave notes.


Here's where I got to before the video ended - so I was able to get some photos of the lovely wrapping Jeanette does! I mean look how perfect that is! I am horribly useless when it comes to wrapping, and there's usually tape everywhere if I've had some kind of involvement, but this is sealed with a single cute sticker! I am in awe of her wrapping skills!


Inside this package: Animal stickers, Lovely days pages markers, Rilakkuma page markers and post-its and daily schedule post its.


If you know me, you know that I love stickers! These are adorable, puffy little animals with funny faces! No doubt I will use these everywhere possible! Page markers are always useful, I also use them to make little notes when I need to remember something important or when I need to reference something. These ones have such a cute bear and friends design, they remind me a little bit of Pinny-Mu.


My favourite Rilakkuma!¬ I have no doubt I will use these absolutely everywhere! This is one of my favourite designs too! The daily schedule will be very useful for me as I often have a few things I need to remember to do on a day to day basis. I love the giraffes face peeping in from the side of the page.


More of that awesome wrapping! I love that Jeanette has taken the time to match the tape or stickers to the paper!


In this package was a white kitty pen, a bunny ruler and an strawberry milk pen.


How cute are these little faces? The kitty pen is a black gel pen which is very smooth to write with. The bunny ruler has to be one of my most favourite things in the package, it's a great size and I love his expression! The strawberry milk pen matches the correction tape. This is actually an erasable pen which means it'd be good for draft writing or even outlining drawings!


Oh, ho, ho! It's my favourite Rilakkuma! Look at his squishy little face, he's made out of a super soft fabric and really well made. This is a pencil case.


Check out the details on his tummy - he even has little yellow paws.


Inside the pencil case were some colour gel pens! There is a whole set here and probably every colour imaginable - they are very fine tipped so perfect for writing in small spaces or even sketching with. I know I will use these a lot. Bonus: You can see that the pencil case has Rilakkuma's name embroidered on which is a really lovely touch.


The last thing I unwrapped was this pastel purple macaron planner - this came wrapped in a lovely box, which is a great idea as it'd protect it during shipping.


Look how beautiful this planner is! I've always, always wanted a pretty coloured planner, so much so that I have in fact ruined my boring black filofaax with spray paint in effort to kawaii-afy it! I adore this colour, it's just pefect. The material used is a high quality textured PU leather. It has a hand button snap at the front to keep it closed.


Inside the planner is a six ring binder. On the inside of the front cover there is plenty of room to put business cards, a bigger slot for notes or papers you may need and a loop for a pen.


The diary insiders are a perfect size for writing in. I've also found the filiofax ones way to squished in to get all the information I need in. I also like that these don't have printed dates - that way you can put your own in any format you like, and also if you bought this part way through the year you wouldn't loose out on use if the previous months were no good.


The back of the planner has another slot for loose papers and another pen holder! This is really handy as I like to keep a pen and pencil in my planner. I also tend to keep any useful bits of paper, such as directs or leaflets in my planner too so there is plenty of room for that.

Some dividers and extra inserts were also included with the planner. I'm going to decorate the dividers with some of the stickers and tapes that MIMO sent in the package.


This is the front page of the diary inserts and it's given me an idea for this planner! As well as using it as a normal day-to-day planner, I'm going to turn this into an inspirational and motivational planner too! I'll be doing an update on the planner in a post very soon so you can see what I have used it for and get an idea of how you can use it too!

I want to say thank you to Jeanette at MIMO pencil case shop for this beautiful set, I really do love everything she sent and it's been packaged with such care and attention. I can honestly say that I would purchase from MIMO and know that my order would be taken care of perfectly.Customer service is spot on and Jeanette is a lovely person to talk too and she is only to happy to help with any queries you may have.

Please go check out MIMO pencil cases shop, if you've seen something you like in my review you can be sure you'll find it on the store, but give me a shout if you need help finding it!


You can also find MIMO on the facebook below:

MIMO PCS FACEBOOK PAGE

Ta-ta for now,
x

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Kawaii & Cute on a budget! Stationary

Hello Everyone!


As promised, here is the first post for Kawaii & Cute on a budget!
Today's subject is stationary! 
I love cute stationary, but its often hard to find or really, really over priced.


Paperchase and some of the other high street stores in the UK have started to stock kawaii items like the Iwako erasers, or in Paperchase's case, their own lines, but these are often quite expensive outside of a sale, but do keep them in mind around sale seasons - eg. After Christmas, as I've managed to find quite a few bargains here, if you don't mind stocking up you can even pick up cute Christmas cards and decorations for next year!

Of course buying online is nearly always cheaper and usually offers a better selection than you would find on the high street and if you don't mind waiting a week or two you can also purchase from abroad giving you even more choice!



So for online purchases you have a few options: eBay is one of the main ones, though it can be a tad hit and miss. As long as you stick with sellers that don't have too high a percentage of negative reviews you should be fine - and you can always dispute if paying by Paypal if you have an issue. The key to finding great and cute things is to search worldwide - there are a lot of sellers charging way over for items they have imported from China for a fraction of the cost, if you look carefully, you'll be able to find the item direct! Another way is, again keeping the world wide selection on, search for the item you want and switch the sort by to items ending soonest, quite often I've found items with very few or extremely low bids.

I thought I'd also share a couple of stationary shops that I've found whilst on my travels on the web too!



MIMO PENCIL CASE SHOP

USA BASED - free shipping for domestic USA orders - other countries need to email for a shipping quote.



Oh my gosh you guys, I recently discovered this store after a friend tagged me on a photo of a Rilakkuma pencil case (I can't imagine why they tagged me, haha!) it's totally filled with the most Kawaii and cute stationary! MIMO specialise in providing cute stationary that you won't find in main stream stores. 

There's my favourite Rilakkuma, the adorable Bunny Molang, cute kitties and so much more! They sell a variety of themes but more importantly they stock a really wide selection of items. I also love that they sell planners and everything to do with decorating planners! 



I've found pens, markers, pencils, highlighters, diaries, tapes, stickers, mascots and more!! The site itself is bright and cheerful and really makes you want to browse the contents which is also super easy due to the clean layout

I also like the banner at the top which features new and upcoming products (it currently has the Rilakkuma pencil cases and some pretty pastel coloured Macaron planners that are arriving soon. 



The prices are also very good and definitely on the cheaper side of the scale, which is always good news! Handily for those not in the USA there's an option to change the prices from USD to GBP, CAD or Euro too. They also offer a gift wrapping service for a little extra, which is great news if you are buying a gift for someone. 

MIMO also has their own reward scheme which means you'll get discounts with them for future purchases too - I like when stores offer this as it makes me think that they care about return customers.

To check out their store click the link below!



www.mimopencilcaseshop.com


MODES4U



Hong kong based £2.25 base postage + fee based on weight OR free postage for orders over £54.00 FedEx also available for those in a rush!



Now Modes4u I have known about for a few years and I've used them once or twice to purchase presents for a friend. Modes4u only stock genuine products -  Rather than just stationary Modes4u also stock lunch boxes/bento, phone cases, fabrics and other items too! 
The site itself is very easy to navigate with different categories and there's a useful search bar so you can go directly to what you are looking for. 



Some of the stock seems quite expensive but they are well worth checking out if you are looking for something specific, especially as its genuine, and its definitely worth checking out the sale page!



You can also change the currency from USD to GBP and the site is available in a few different languages too. I seem to remember the last time I ordered was around Chinese New Year and they sent a little new year gift of washi tape  with a card which I thought was a lovely touch - everything arrived quite quickly too which is always a plus.

www.modes4u.com

Do you have any favourite shops for stationary? Let me know in the comments below!

Ta-ta for now!
X

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

An interview with Chiichanny!

Hello Everyone!

Today I have a very special interview for you! I think by now that you've seen my gorgeous little Becky logo up in the banner - the gorgeous Chiichanny created her for me on commission! Chiichanny has agreed to a fun little interview with myself so you can learn more about her and her beautiful art!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Q: Your artist name is Chiichanny - who is behind Chiichanny and what made you pick the name, tell us a bit about yourself?
HEYA! yep im known as Chiichanny, but the lady behind the alias is Jade Love ::waves::
My name is a small but I guess kinda funny story, the first anime I ever fully watched from start to end was Chobits and I completely adored it, with Chii being my favourite character, when I finally got to the online world, I tried to join a forum and chii/chii-chan and all the sorts were taken, so I remixed it and decided to go with Chiichanny all as one word and it just kinda stuck from there haha. I think if I could go back in time and pick another name for my artist alias I probably would have, but after having the name for about 10 years, I just felt that it was too late to change my Alias now when many people out there DO know me as chiichanny, so yeah. As for more about me, I'm Female, live in the UK and I'm currently 24, my star sign is a scorpio and zodiac is a Horse... I'M A SCORPION HORSE a Horpio


Q: How long have you been an artist? What made you decide to share your beautiful art with the world?

Since I could hold a pen, scribble on walls, floors, anywhere haha. I didnt start taking it seriously til I was about 13 and I just knew that art was my passion and something I really loved doing, so I tried to keep taking it to the next level, when I was 14 I started going on art forums and such and I just kept going from there! I joined Deviantart about 8/9 years ago to share my work around, at the time I just wanted others to see, what is the point of doing anything if no one will ever know about it? ^^
Q: What inspires you?

Anything and Everything, I get inspired at random, ideas will just appear from the most random things and I'll want to draw it. It can be a puddle, a cloud, some rubbish or I'll just randomly think of something, its hard question to answer for me because its never consistent!


Q: What is your favourite medium to work with?
Although I love digital, I love Paint, pencils and markers for my traditional work.
Q: How do you think your art style has changed over the last few years?
Well when I first started I was drawing realism because at schools and such this is what they taught you, when I discovered video games and anime, my work progressed, I was drawing characters from the shows and when I got older I was confident enough to make my own characters, since then I've been evolving my work to reflect myself, my feelings and who I am inside.
Q: What would you like to achieve in the future?
I'd love to make a living out of my work, sell at conventions, online, and such. I want to make comic books, have a business with lots of hand made dolls to sell and then human clothes, accessories and more!
Q: It takes a lot of work to start a company, with Amare Dolls/Chiichanny what so far as been the most straight forward thing and what has been more complicated?

Gosh it is! for Amare Dolls, the most straight forward thing was designing the doll itself and then next to that is making it, that was the easiest part! The hardest part is the casting process, I had so many problems, like bubbles, leaking moulds, pimples, specs... I almost gave up at one point, but with help I finally got there! For my Art work, the idea is the easiest part, I have so many idea, the problem is making sure they are right and come across correctly once I'm drawing it, thats the hard part ^^

Q: Do you have a favourite piece of artwork by yourself?

I have two actually!

The first is the Huntress and the second is Butterfly Decay, even though I haven't finished Butterfly decay yet, I just like it!



Q: Where would you like to be in a years time?

Hmmmmmm I'd like to have my comic done, and I'd like to be earning at least part time minimum wage from my art and dolls by that point also haha. And have a years supply of Arizona Green Tea with Honey ... I'm addicted to it atm...


Q: If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

If I could have any part time paid job that I could just do whenever, I'd love to be a food and event critique, because I think I'd enjoy that in a wierd way XD
And just for fun!
Q: If you could have any job in the world what would it be?
If I could have any part time paid job that I could just do whenever, I'd love to be a food and event critique, because I think I'd enjoy that in a wierd way XD
(GIMME ALL YER FOOD!)
Q: Do you have a favourite character/TV Show?
I HAVE TOO MANY! Y U do this!Ok, its list time!The Walking Dead - ALL HAIL RICK
Breaking Bad
Steven Universe
Spongebob Squarepants
Digimon
as for characters:
Kasumi from Dead or Alive
Amethyst and Garnet from Steven Universe
Chii from Chobits
Yuna, Fran, Vincent Valentine, Shantoto, Cait Sith, SUMMONS and Tonberries - Final Fantasy X/XI/VII/XII
LORD OF THE RINGS CHARACTERS ARE JUST FFFFFFFFF amazing
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander Data - Star Trek The Next Generation
This list could go on for a while....
So there we go! I personally love, love Chiichanny's art and I want to share it with the world!

To check out more of Chiichanny's art you can check out her Facebook page which contains links to Amare dolls and her webstore!


Ta-ta for now!
X