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!

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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!

Chiichanny's Facebook page

Ta-ta for now!
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An Interview with Desu Box!

A few days ago I came across an intreagueing new company, based in the UK. Desu Box! Desu Box are aiming to start a monthly subscription service that will delivered tasty Japanese sweets, drinks and snacks to your door. This seems like a fantastic idea to me as it'll cut down on shipping times from abroad, and as far as I'm aware there isn't already something like Desu Box in the UK. I love Japanese foods so I followed them on Facebook to get regular updates of when they might be ready to launch. As this is something I'm very interested in and I thought my dear readers may be too, I contacted the owners of Desu Box to see if they'd like to do a mini interview!

Hello Desu Box!

Thank you for agreeing to a mini interview! I'm hoping I can spread the word about yourselves!

Q: Your company name is Desu Box - who is behind Desu box and what made you pick the name?

A: We’re a couple of friends, James (writing) and Jon, who both love Japanese tea, food and snacks. We (semi-)regularly go to the London Comic Con where we usually stock up on bags full of Pocky, Melon Pan and other snacks. Personally, I’m the one known for eating weird food at work!We thought about many different names and originally planned to come up with one that had a meaning, as Chanoyu does (the parent company we started), but in the end ‘Desu’ just sounded fun and out of the ordinary!

Q: Desu box is hoping to be a monthly box full of tasty Japanese goodies. What made you decide that you wanted to start a monthly subscription service, and why Japanese snacks?

A: I stumbled across a UK based retailer and while stocking up on a few snacks the thought just crossed my mind for a moment, but after looking for a subscription box and finding only international options I decided to research a little more, finding that these types of boxes are popular for almost every other niche, but with nothing already available in the UK (other than international options).

After attending so many conventions we’ve tried a myriad of foods - we also import Japanese tea (which is part of a future plan for the parent company, Chanoyu) and can’t stop drinking it! It’s been years of exploration that’s lead us to try so many different foods, so we had the idea that we would share the experience of trying new things with our friends.

Q: What’s your favourite thing about the thought of starting Desu Box?

A: My favourite thing must be that there are so many people I have spoken to who really want us to succeed so we can all try different snacks every month.

The emails we have had and the comments on Facebook are so supportive and positive, it’s quite amazing just how many people there are out there who think along the same kind of lines that we do! Considering we’re only eight days into starting, there must be so many more who think the same!

As a second favourite, there are many, many snacks that we haven’t yet tried ourselves, which we’re both really looking forward to trying!

Q: What would you like Desu Box to achieve in the future?

A: As long as we can meet our minimum Kickstarter funding goal that’s more than enough for us to ask! It would be so satisfying to know that others will be anticipating their boxes and will enjoy them every month.

We will have a very low funding goal of about 50 backers (we’re still not fully sure), which will mean we can just about pull this off, but we really want to put as much into the boxes as possible, so we’re talking with suppliers to negotiate lower prices for higher quantity orders.

Q: It takes a lot of work to start a company, what so far has been the most straight forward thing and what has been more complicated?

A:The most straightforward thing so far must be Facebook, which is turning out to be a great tool to help us reach new people, although it is getting expensive with all of these boosted posts!

We haven’t had anything complicated thus far so I’ll anticipate something for the future: Outreach. We’re currently compiling a list of blogs (like yours!J) whose visitors might be interested in us, so that we can contact them to see if the might give us a mention.

I would estimate that we might get about 5% of those blogs to spread the word about Desu box – at most 10%, so this will probably be the most difficult thing for us to achieve!

Q: Where would you like to see Desu Box in a years time?

A: A year is such a long time when it comes to this stuff – we could be running dry on minimal (~50) subscribers if the Kickstarter gets minimal funding, or maybe we might not even have started Desu box if the campaign doesn’t get enough backers. So this is hard!

What I’d really like to see is hundreds of fans who’re ecstatic to be part of a community, where we can all meet at conventions to discuss our favourite foods. Meeting the people who help make Desu box possible will be the real success for us!

And just for fun!

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

A: I won’t lie, I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial way of thinking so the ideal job would have to be my own business. I would love to travel regularly, especially to Japan and China – with Chanoyu and Desu box I’m hoping that I can do that a bit further down the line – even if it is just for business! :D

Q: Do you have a favourite cute character?

A: Favourite cute character, hmmm… You’ve got me on this one! …Pikachu? :D

I really hope Desu box managed to fund their kickstarter as this would be a fantastic company to have in the UK.

If you'd like to support Desu Box or find out more you can reach them at the below

Website

Facebook

Ta-ta for now

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Reinbo Neko - ~*~NEW SPONSOR! ~*~

Hello Lovelies,

That's right - You've read correctly, Kitt N' Kaboodle has its very first sponsor, the wonderful Reinbo Neko! Before we get on to the review item I thought it would be nice to do an interview with the owner of Reinbo Neko - The lovely Tia!

 Q: So we know your name is Tia and you own Reinbo Neko! Tell us a bit more about yourself?

A: Well, I will try to keep this brief and hopefully interesting! I've always been an artist, I started drawing as soon as I could pick up a pencil. Throughout my life I discovered many different types of art and crafts and decided I pretty much loved it all. In 2011 I graduated from university with a degree in Illustration with Animation. I'm also a lefty, I love cats, and it is my dream to visit Japan
Q: What made you want to start Reinbo Neko?

A: I started off as an illustrator, but that didn't really work out for me and I felt like I lost some of the passion for it after doing it for three years in university. Crafting helped me to discover new ways to be creative again and I find it so much fun! My interest in Japanese and alternative fashion led me to start designing quirky accessories, which then resulted in the creation of Reinbo Neko

Q: What’s your favourite thing about owning Reinbo Neko?

A: I love sharing my creations with other people. It's such a good feeling with someone receives something I've made and they love it. It's a little thing that makes a big difference to me. Overall though, I just enjoy making things and I'm glad Reinbo Neko gives me that platform to showcase it.

Q: What would you like Reinbo Neko to acheive in the future?

A: I'm planning big things for future! Going back to my illustration roots, I plan to create some designs based my original drawings and characters. I feel this will create a more unique feel for Reinbo Neko and it also allows me to combine different skills. My partner is also very creative himself and he supports my dream. As his style is darker and more gothic, we've been talking about some designs that he could create with a bit of a darker twist, as a separate range within Reinbo Neko. As well as this, I also plan to start attending conventions and events across the UK, where people will be able to see and buy my creations in person. I did my first stall for Reinbo Neko recently at a small convention in Manchester called Mancstercon and I very much enjoyed the experience.

Q: Everything at Reinbo Neko is handmade, how long do you spend crafting on a weekly basis?

A: Unfortunately my creative things don't pay the bills, so I also work a full time job during the week. My time for crafting is normally within a Friday, Saturday or Sunday at the moment, when I'm not doing other things. It is my intention to be able to create things full time one day though.

Q: Do you try and incorporate cute things into your decor at home or at the office?

A: Of course! I love to be surrounded by inspiration. I have a rather colourful home and I often make my own decorations, especially on occasions such as Christmas. I do however like to be inspired by other people's work too, so I do also have artwork around the place from various different artists and illustrators.

And just for fun!

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

A: Probably just to craft full time and maybe open my own little shop somewhere. I think that would be nice. I don't want to be rich, I just want to be happy and do things I enjoy.

Q: Do you have a favourite food?

A: My favourite food is Thai food, particularly Thai green curry and coconut sticky rice!

I'd just like to say thank you to Tia for choosing me as a sponsee (Is that the right word?) I've chosen a very cute little Alpaca necklace and the review will be coming very shortly. Having brought from Reinbo Neko before I know I'll love it and that I'm very much looking forward to working with them in future! I'm also super jelly of her amazing make up skills! I wish I could do that!

Ta-ta for now
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An interview with Tartan Kawaii of Staying Super Kawaii!

Hello my lovelies!

Today I am very lucky to be able to bring you an interview with one of the UK's popular kawaii bloggers! Kawaii means 'cute' in Japanese! In the below format Q: Is questions asked by myself and A: is Answers from Tartan!

Hello Tartan and thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! ~ ♥  I've been reading your blog for awhile now so I’m really pleased to be able to do this talk with you!

Q: So we know your name is Tartan and you reside in the Uk! Tell us a bit more about yourself?

 A: Hi~ Okay so as you know am Tartan and I live near Edinburgh. I am Kawaii blogger and hobbyist photographer.In my spare time I am a volunteer member of the Marshmallow Dream Maids Cafe , working as both a maid and photographer for the team.

Q: How long have you been into Kawaii and when did you first discover it?

A: Oh wow, uhumm I guess when I was about 8 or 9 years old... I was introduced to Anime on the T.V  channels being aired at the time and Japanese culture was touched on in other studies at my school, I sort of fell in love with all the aspects of Japan ,from its culture , fashion, traditions , language and most of all, everything that is Kawaii of course!

Q: What’s your favourite thing about kawaii things? 

A: I love Kawaii things the best thing about them , to me is they can make you smile and feel happy Every one will smile if they are gifted something that looks so cute. Smiles are the best, if some one smiles to you , you cant help but smile back. Kawaii things make you feel happy too. Those are the best thing about Kawaii.

Q: Do you have a favourite kawaii item and/or character??

 A: Oh ^^' this is hard...My favourite Kawaii item- I have so much it is hard to pick, I guess it would be my solar powered dancing pink flower. It dances in the sun and its really cute and amuses me . Also it means it is sunny enough outside to go and enjoy the sunshine too!
My Favourite Character again this is super hard ..Kyaa...but Hello Kitty means a lot to me and I can not help but love how adorable she is, no matter how many times she changes her own kawaii styles! Rilakkuma is my second favourite I would love to be like him and be a lazy cute bear and do nothing but sleep and eat some times hehe!

Q: Are there any particular J-fashions that appeal to you?

A: I love all kinds of J-fashion styles, I adore seeing others wearing J-fashion too. Am very Eclectic in taste - So I take inspiration from all types . I do admire  Lolita, Pop Kei ,Street styles and bright Kawaii styles. I think its fun to experiment till you find some thing your really like.

Q: Do you try and incorporate cute things into your decor at home or at the office? 

A: In a word - yes! My desk is full of Cute, Kawaii and things! Everything, I use on my desk is Kawaii from San-x products to Sanrio likes of my Korilakkuma or Rilakkuma pens and pencils, Cute looking erasers and staplers to Hello Kitty note books,  Kawaii pen pal letter sets, Cute ink stamps and don't forget Stickers too!! Oh and I do a of ''DIY Kawaii '' on normal dull looking objects to make them look cute too! In my house I have a room devoted to all things Kawaii but you can find Kawaii every where in my house. From Hello Kitty pink oven mitts to Kawaii looking rainbow shaped pillows. No room is safe. Teehee.

Q: Do you do anything in particular to try and bring kawaii into everyday life?

A: Hmm I do try and wear at least one thing Kawaii, I tend to pick a Kawaii Necklace - I have one on a chunky pink chain that has the Japanese symbol for Dream. It reminds to keep reaching for my own Kawaii Dreams.

Q: What kind of things would you like to see in future come to the UK? (I would like San-X to open a Rilakkuma shop over here!! T-T)

A:  I would love to see physical stores for Sanrio and San- X , I would love to see a Daiso Japan store come to the UK its like our own stores of B&M or Poundstreacher stores  but everything and anything is Super Kawaii!! I think it would be great to have those, but I think my bank balance would disagree!

Q: Do you tend to buy more things from abroad than from the UK? 

A: Yes I do, I find it is easy to shop online and order from abroad to get hold of items you can not get in the UK. I like to use Esty and Storeenvy. You can get lots of Kawaii and quirky cute stuff on those sites too.

Q: How long have you been running your site and why did you start it? Do you have any advice for those just starting up their own blog? 

A: It will be almost 3 years of running 'StayingSuperKawaii' Wow! Already? I started it for fun, like a diary of my Kawaii stuff and things I bought that turned into personal reviews. I hoped to connect with like minded Kawaii lovers and spread the joy of Kawaii. I think the best advise is , never give up on doing something you love, if you love some thing and want to blog about it , go for it! If it makes you happy that is all that matters. Its good to have nice photos for your readers to look at , and having a nice theme or art . Try a catchy name for your blog or a online name also ,helps readers recognise your blog too.

And just for fun!
Q: If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

 A: In the Dream world I would love to become a well known Kawaii blogger and work as a Kawaii Fashion street-snap photographer , in Japan maybe? Or be  Photographer at Conventions and events that have Kawaii fashion at them-to be full of Kawaii knowledge and equipped with my Camera Kit! ^^

Q: What’s your favourite food? 

A: Oh uhumm...I guess I would have to pick Cupcakes and Macarons because they are so cute looking,colourful and yummy  in so many flavours but it has to be the ones I get from a Cupcake shop in the City - I make a point to go there and bring Cupcakes and Macarons. - I have a sweet tooth! Hee hee

Thank you so much for my interview! It was really fun to answer your questions!

If you'd like to find out more about Tartan Kawaii or more about Staying Super Kawaii please check out her lovely blog! 

Staying Super Kawaii

If you would like an interview on the site please leave me a comment below!

Ta-ta for now!
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