The Late Blooming Artist

These words written below came to me as I was trying to draw this pink suitcase at the left. Most of the stuff I've created so far has been done using simple vector shapes combined together with only a little bit of what I have called "actual drawing." But I am trying more often to do more drawing from scratch, if only for practice. As you can tell, this drawing is kinda sloppy, I'm sure the perspective is off (I also rarely try to draw perspective), etc. So as I struggled with it I paused to write my thoughts down.

You go your whole life telling yourself that you can't draw. Then one day you decide that you can actually draw. You may not be perfect. The lines you put down on the paper aren't quite right. Things look a little odd. But the lines on the piece of paper are proof that you can draw.

It feels foreign at first. You get frustrated sometimes (okay, a lot). At moments it is like speaking a different language that you know only poorly. What goes where? Does this line go here (does the verb go before or after the noun)? Why does it look/sound so funny? But you persevere and do it again and again (or throw it down and decide ... momentarily ... that you're forever done with this hard, difficult foreign art language). Something reminds you that you Can draw. Deep down you want to try again because you know that creativity is a part of you. It is not about being the best artist. It is that you are, within yourself, art. And that imperfection is part of the beauty of it. It is about your joy, not your perfection. Like the mud pies you may have made as a child. Anyway ... this is somewhat like my journey has been for me as a "late bloomer" to creating "art."

Once Upon an Eiffel Tower (T-shirts)

Maybe it is because it is spring that thoughts turn to romance and Paris. One of the most widely adopted iconic and romantic image of Paris is the Eiffel Tower. I may not be visiting Paris and this well known landmark any time soon, but I can still enjoy it by adopting it myself...as an addition to my wardrobe. Here are a few t-shirts I saw of the Eiffel Tower on YesStyle.com and Zazzle.com that I really am liking right now (plus a little something else).
The first is this Effel Tower t-shirt with the words, "Hello Paris" and "have you been to..." written on it. It is one of those loose, cozy kind of tees and comes in four different colors.

It's not a shirt, but I couldn't resist mentioning this pretty and sweet jewel Eiffel Tower keychain from Miss Girl that is available atYesStyle as well. The color is silver with a tower covered in rhinestones that is perched upon a clear crystal ball. It has a a "Miss Girl" charm on it as well. There is also a pretty white bow tied on it (that, alas, I do not think would last long in my purse). The site lists the measurements as Strap Length: 7cm / 2.8", Tower Length: 2.2cm / 0.9", and Tower Height: 6cm / 2.4". (I'm not quite sure what is the difference between the "Tower Length" and the "Tower Height.")

Over at Zazzle, designer GirlyTemplate has a few girly, Eiffel Tower t-shirt designs for us...all tied with pretty bows.

Paris...Je t'aime Tshirt

Paris Je T'aime T-shirt

Paris Vintage Tees

Paris Vintage Tee Shirt

Here are a few more Paris with the Eiffel Tower inspired shirts I found on Zazzle to close. I'm off to dream of spring in France. Ooh, la, la!!!

Eiffel Tower Girl T-shirt

Paris Love Tshirt

Paris Fashion Shirt

Paris J'Taime T-shirt

Kawaii Furniture Socks

This is one of those products that I knew nothing about, didn't know they existed, until just today. Chair leg socks. But they can be used on any furniture with legs too, so really they are furniture socks. Protect your floor from getting scuffed and prevent you chairs feet and legs from getting scuffed and beat up too with these cutest little socks.

I think they would help add a little charm to a small apartment or cottage.

Here are some other styles that are available. I have to say that I think the strawberry socks for furniture legs are my favorite.

Strawberry Chair Leg Socks

Clover Striped Chair Leg Socks

Brown Striped Chair Leg Socks

Green/Yellow Chair Leg Socks

I also saw these style of "furniture socks" that are so pretty and frilly. They are kind of like mini drawstring pouches, with a leather-like base sewn to the bottom. The base part is especially a good idea. In fact, with the knit version it could be a good idea to sew or glue something like felt or faux leather to the bottom so they will last longer. They are not as tall as the knitted socks though.

I think it would be easy to make these yourself too...but they are fairly inexpensive so I think it makes sense to buy them instead. They also come in a few different colors or prints.

Cute Anime Wigs

I've been writing a bit recently at a website called Squidoo. Some of the stuff I've been writing about are anime cosplay wigs. There is one about anime wigs in general it shows a wide selection of wigs, plus some videos I found about cutting and styling wigs for cosplay. Then there is one about wigs for Hatsune Miku and my favorite is about cute, pink anime wigs like the one shown to the left.

It is so fun looking at all the anime style wigs available. I think I like the multi-color ones the best, especially if they have pink in it.

Playing with Polyvore

Hey there...I've just been playing with Polyvore.com and noticed they have this blog feature so I'm trying it out to post my first "set" here. Polyvore is really fun to play with and find cute things.

Sleepy Kawaii by gigglish featuring star bracelets

Nautica Striped Capri Pajama Bottom
amazon.com

Star Fishing Charm by Sugar Bunny Shop
amazon.com

Star bracelet
heartschallenger.bigcartel.com

Kawaii Alarm Clock Throw Pillow
zazzle.com

Present Time Karlsson Medium Twin Bell Alarm Clock Nude Station
amazon.com

Designer Stencils: RAINBOW W/CLOUDS
designerstencils.com

Kawaii Alarm Clock Tee Shirts
zazzle.com

Blue Angel Embroidered Sleep Mask
etsy.com

Snoozies Stars and Moons Footie
amazon.com

Keep Warm wth Snuggly Bunnies

It's getting chilly! (I am wearing a couple layers of shirts and even two pairs of socks.) So this long sleeved t-shirt by PencilPlus with its trio of cute napping bunnies makes me feel warm. How could snuggling and napping with cute bunnies not keep you warm? Okay, so you won't be suggling with these bunnies for real. Still I think it would be great to pair this shirt with comfy, flannel pajama pants and snuggle under a nice, soft blanket or quilt with a good book or movie.

Cute DIY Vinyl Toys

Every now and then I think I would like to try my hand at creating my own custom vinyl toy from one of those diy vinyl toys kits, such as a Munny or the cat like Trikky (shown here) by Munnyworld.

If you have never heard of diy vinyl toys before basically they are blank (usually white, but sometimes other colors) vinyl toys that you can paint, add Sculpey clay to, use markers on, or use anything else that takes your fancy to decorate it with so you have your own custom vinyl toy.

You can also take existing vinyl toys and paint or otherwise modify them as well. (If I ever do end up doing a custom vinyl toy I think I will probably go to the thrift store or dollar store and pick up some used or cheap vinyl toy, such as a rubber ducky, for my first one to screw up practice on.)

Awhile back I raptly followed the progress of some artists as they painted some specially issued, gigantic (I think 18") My Little Pony blank vinyl toys for the My Little Pony Project 2012 event. Some of them turned out so cool and beautiful. I loved the one by Miss Kika especially. Now that size is not available for the average person to use their diy skills on (you have to be invited by Hasbro to be able create one of these special editions).

But you can get a smaller, regular sized blank, My Little Pony from the Hasbro website here. (Normally I'd link to where you can buy it on Amazon.com, but in this particular instance you'd pay a Lot more for it there than you would if you buy it directly from Hasbro.)

So anyway today I happened across a blank, diy vinyl toy that I had not seen before. It is issued by Toki Doki (whose Japanese culture inspired illustrations are Amazing). And I think the Stellina Unicorno DIY Designer Vinyl Figure by Simone Legno of Tokidoki is definitely my favorite I've seen so far. It's kind of hard to see here in this pic, but I think you can still see it is of the sweetest, cutest unicorn.

Another cute DIY Vinyl Toy I have my eye on is this cupcake vinyl toy.

And if you are a fan of the cute little Android mascot for Android phones and tablets you can even make an Android custom vinyl toy.

There are a ton of cute diy vinyl toys on Amazon.com for the creative and artistic souls out there. But if you really get into making diy vinyl toys then you might want to check out myplasticheart.com or similar sites to it for an even wider selection of diy vinyl toys you can customize.

 If you'd like to see some examples of some customized vinyl toys that others have done check out these kawaii ones on flickr. (Note the toys shown on that link may or may not be "kawaii custom vinyl toys", I just used that as search words and these are the results that showed up.)

Cute, Plush Animal Cushions for Boo Boos & More

Maybe it was the Halloween candy (I could have sworn I didn't eat that much), but most of today and (now night) I've been feeling queasy. Don't you want to just snuggle up with something soft and cute sometimes when you feel that way (or any other type of sick, like a cold)? Or maybe just for when you are feeling blue?

I just saw these cute, plush animal cushions by Babosarang on yesstyle.com and thought they'd be pretty perfect for cuddling with when feeling sick or sad. They are kind of funny as they seem to be armless (actually in some of the pics from the side it looks like maybe they have pockets where normally arms would be, or maybe these bear-like animal pillows are also like a muff to keep your hands warm?) and have stubby legs, but seem nicely huggable from the picture (arms aren't always needed for hugs). And somehow their expression (non-expression?) seems rather comforting and sympathetic to me...I can imagine that they feel just as sad about my upset tummy as I do. (I'm weird, I know...forgive me for feeling abnormally self-indulgent just now.)

They come in three shades of pink (pink, hot pink, and Indian pink) and two shades of brown (khaki brown and choco brown).
And measure 27cm x 33cm x 15cm (or approx. 10.5 x 11 x 6 inches).

(Update: I just found out from YesStyle that these animal cushion things from Babosarang Are handwarmers.)

I think some of the other cushions at yesstyle.com might make nice companions too. If you wanted some more cheerful ones than the ones above then you might like these animal faced cushions of a lamb, bear and panda. They measure 40cm x 32cm x 9cm (or approximately 15.75 x 12.5 x 3.5 inches). Their expressions are so sweet and cute. Just looking at them can make me happy and forget I have an upset tummy.

Or there are also these bear and bunny animal cushions (with arms!) that seems specifically for hugging (on the product page it calls them "animal hug cushion). I like their gingham ears. They have a fun style and look like they came out of a child's illustration book.
Somehow these ones seem like they would be good on car trips for some reason.

They measure 44cm x 34cm x 8cm  (approximately 17 x 13 x 3 inches).


The last animal cushions I will leave you with are by iswas come in a cute brown cat, black and white spotted cow, and pink lamb version (the cat one is shown here) as well as a slightly different version (different size) pink lamb, brown sheep, brown dog and pink bunny. They even have arms too (sort of). The cow is very amusing and makes me laugh. The cat makes looks very welcoming, like he/she is about to give you a hug. And the lamb, well it makes me want to give it a hug and watch a good movie that requires a box of tissues with it. I've added a pic below of the lamb being hugged so you can see how huggable these particular animal cushions are.

Pretty Birds Kawaii Samsung Galaxy S3 Case

Yesterday I wrote about this cute, suitcase like case for the Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. So I thought I'd follow up with a short mention of another cute Samsung Galaxy S3 case that I also saw that Strapya World has.

This hard case with pink and blue birds has a sweet pink background with some maybe sort of white, pink and blue doilies(?). Looks like cute vintage, retro fabric. I totally love its sweet whimsy.


They also have some cute Sanrio character Samsung Galaxy S3 phone cases, such as Hello Kitty, My Melody and Little Twin Stars.

Cute Samsung Galaxy S3 Case

Oh my goodness. Have you ever wanted to buy a cell phone just to go along with the cute case you just saw for it? That is what I am doing now. I just saw the cutest Samsung Galaxy S3 case online. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a very cool phone. But this case sold by Straya World makes it even cooler. It looks like a miniature, vintage suitcase (I am somewhat obsessed by vintage suitcases by the way). It is not over the top, kawaii cute. But more of an elegant cute. Or in case of the other colors, they are maybe more sophisticated and even masculine.

I, of course, love the pink one. But it also comes in white, orange, and navy. So there are color choices that both guys and girls might like (I wish they had a chocolate brown one though too).

It is made of synthetic leather. And measures 14 x 8.2 cm. (That would be approximately 5 x 3 inches.)

The Strapya World site describes it as a "diary" style case, but I am not sure why. I think it is more like a wallet. It has a place for cards, money and what have you.

It looks like it snaps to close. It has the bands and corner reinforcements that make it resemble a suitcase, plus the little handle/strap, of course (which looks a little small in the picture so I am guessing most people wouldn't actually use it, unless they want to slip just one or two fingers under the handle).


If you know someone who has a Samsung Galaxy S3 I think this would make a great gift for them.

If you would like to see some other Samsung Galaxy S3 Cases distributed by Strapya World check them out here.

A Few Cute Android Apps Games

I'm a sucker for  games with cute graphics...and I mean really cute, kawaii graphics. I rarely find any (most games are geared towards guys or the general audience and not designed for the *squee* factor...or maybe I am just not good at finding games). And when I do find some some cute ones the games are usually pretty simplistic.

Today, totally by accident, I found a couple cute android apps that are games. So I decided to blog about them. These too are probably too simplistic for my taste, but I thought that they were kawaii enough to write about anyway.

These apps I found by accident are by Retro Dreamer.

The first one is simply called Socks. What do you do in socks? You match the socks of course! Exciting? Well...maybe for some. But the pure cuteness of the graphics kept me playing longer than I might have otherwise. Probably a great game for kids.

The next one I tried was Ice Cream Jump. Again, really cute. Simplistic play. This is similar to Abduction 2, which I like more though, even though it's not as cute (but it still is cute). It's maybe silly, but the music in Abduction 2 really helps the game be more interesting to me. There is no music in Ice Cream Jump which I think would have made it better. There are some cute sound effects, but the sound of the scoop of ice cram landing on the ground pieces things sounds more like a typewriter and doesn't really jive well with me. They could have picked a much better sound for that.

And the game play just doesn't feel as nice as Abduction.
But still it is worth trying out, especially if you haven't tried Abduction 2 or other games like it that have pulled it off better.


There is another game by Retro Dreamer just like Ice Cream Jump, but it...uhm...features a cute pile of...poo instead of ice cream. For those who think that poo is cute and or funny, you might want to check the Happy Poo Jump version out too. o_O

Retro Dreamer has a few other games that have really cute graphics, but looked too simplistic for my taste to try (or featured the Happy Poo character...eww...so I didn't try those either). But you might want to check them out as well.

I wish I knew how to make Android apps. I'd love to make some cute ones myself.

The Love for a Soldier has never been Cuter!

Just came across this cute design on Zazzle.com and thought it was too cute to not share now (even though it is 2 am as I am writing this). It shows a cute cartoon, square shaped cat, with really big eyes, wearing an army helmet, as it salutes and says, "not squared to love a soldier." The pun of a square cat saying it is "not squared" instead of "not scared" is kinda silly, but the absolute adorableness of the cat carries it off.

If you or someone you know loves a soldier wouldn't this be great to wear?! One of my friends is a proud girlfriend of a soldier and I think this would be great for her. Actually this would be great for her boyfriend's mom too since she is a proud mom of soldier.

Not Squared to LOVE a Soldier Shirts by squaredycats

There are also some Squaredy Cat designs for Army Brats like these.

Not Squared to be a Brat T-shirt by squaredycats
 

Not Squared to be an Army Brat T-shirt by squaredycats
 

Or for an Air Force Brat.

Not Squared to be an Air Force Brat T Shirts by squaredycats

I also really like this design that says, "Not squared to Salute a Veteran" too.

Not Squared to Salute a Veteran Tees by squaredycats

If you liked these go check out what other designs SquardyCats has. There actually is not a lot of designs on there at the moment, so I hope that the creator of SquaredyCats will be adding more. I'm definitely a fan!

Kawaii Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a outrageously huge amount of Kawaii Halloween products out there...but don't fear (although Halloween is near) as there are probably enough things with Kawaii Halloween designs to feed your desire for the cute and adorable. And the amount available will certainly be even more next haunting season.

If you are looking for some Halloween themed t-shirts I suggest you check out the ones shown here at this page for Halloween for Teens (you can wear these tees still even if you aren't a teen...I certainly will).

But this is supposed to be a post about an important Halloween accessory you might want need...a Kawaii Trick or Treat bag (who says you are too old to go out Trick or Treating?) with deliciously evil/cute Halloween characters on it.

Here's a few I've picked out from Zazzle.



Trick or Treat Canvas Bag with the cutest skull (all right, it can be a little bit demanding with it's "give me candy or else" attitude...but really, that just makes it all the much cuter) by LizaPhoenix

 

My feelings about candy corn can generally be summed up pretty well by this cute and funny Halloween cartoon by Kawaii Not ... which could otherwise be summed up as "the candy corn is a lie" (hmm...that doesn't seem to have as nice of a ring to it as "the cake is a lie"...oh well). But that doesn't keep me from thinking that this Halloween Candy Corn Tote Bags by nani_nani is adorable.


Cute Pumpkin, Ghost and Skull Canvas Bag by SnipClipGig
Ghoul-Friends stick together through hard times, fun times and spooky times. This triple threat of cute ghost, pumpkin and skull with matching bows are BFFs.


N1ki's Halloween Kawaii Mummy Walking Bag by n1kishop
I want my mummy...I mean don't you too want this cute monster for your mummy?


Scaredy Ghost Bag by deerelora
Oh my gosh!!! (No more words are needed I think for this ghosty.)


Kawaii Little Witch Bag by KawaiiLand
And last, I leave you with this sweety (I'm sure she has a sweet tooth) who I think will be an excellent companion for gathering tasty Halloween treats.

There are dozens of more Kawaii Halloween Trick or Treat bags on Zazzle.

I'd also recommend checking Zazzle out for their other Kawaii Halloween goods created by various designers for even more spooktacular (sorry...ahem) adorable treats such as button badges, keychains, stickers, cards and more.