I love to curate content and inspirations most of all.
That’s all I can really seem to do with the blog lately. I’m inspired and in love with many things as always, but don’t have a lot to say.
Stay healthy~ xx
I love to curate content and inspirations most of all.
That’s all I can really seem to do with the blog lately. I’m inspired and in love with many things as always, but don’t have a lot to say.
Stay healthy~ xx
Hey! I have been struggling with some health problems for awhile but I feel like I’m finally getting answers and I can begin to work towards a goal. The first goal of course is to stop sitting on some designs I had left in the “oven” for far too long!
Happy Valentine’s Day, loves! Here is a pair of pastel, candy, conversation heart earrings that say “KAWAII” or “CUTE” in Japanese Hiragana. These are on 14k gold plated surgical steel posts with butterfly earring backs. These are for sensitive ears and free of nickel or other low-grade metals that irritate ears. You can show your love of POP CULT cuteness in a whole new way with our first ever earring set!
Even if it’s a rainy day, you can carry a rainbow or two with you! Here are a pair of rainbowlicious, gummy rainbow, strawberry barrettes you can wear together or share with a friend, in honor of my own best friend, Kimi. Taste the rainbow and it just might taste like the perfect Pacific Coast strawberry! These are on gold plated steel bobby pin barrettes. There is a left and right side, perfect or pinning back both sides! You can show your love of POP CULT cuteness in a whole new way with our first ever barrette set!
My birthday is on February 13th, if you’re a fellow Aquarius or know one, you might enjoy this meme I found. XO
With Audrey Kitching as the brand frontrunner, I designed a lot of the designs you used to buy from the brands/stores Tokyolux, Coco de Coeur, and Lazy Bones Vintage.
It was rumored that she stole ideas — she would give me sketches occasionally and I would create them or I would send her my ideas. The cats and roses, for example, were created by me. I designed and created those. These designs were all completely original and well-loved. I do not have examples of her stealing. We created.
Tokyolux was featured in fashion magazines around the world, donned by celebrities, and sold in stores on Melrose in Los Angeles. It was all so fast. Then, as fast as it started, our doors were closed.
I never got the full story from any party but I was told orders were not being sent out and the brand image was damaged.
I will say that Audrey has continued to be kind to me so I will not speak on recent articles about her dealings with others. This isn’t about that! She has always been kind and giving to me, both in person and online.
I went on to do Audrey Kitching Los Angeles, and after that, Crystal Cactus (which I have not been involved in the “design of” since the very beginning).
I have so many designs that I was unable to create, use, or complete. I am at a time in my life where I would like to make these available to the public and those who loved Tokyolux.
These are both new and original designs never before released on new shirts, clothing, and accessories. I am now opening a division of Miseducated for t-shirts and fashion. These are one of a kind designs. made in house, solely by me. Some of our clothing will feature Pop Cult icons from our pin collection. Others will be similar to the designs you loved and adored from Tokyolux and Coco de Coeur.
Who said Mondays have to be a draining, uninspired pity party? Let’s have a Monday inspiration party.
Mood Board post category acquired.
Last night we welcomed the new week by having a card game gathering at our home and I was sure to get an array of tasty snacks: dark chocolate, wasabi soy almonds, popcorn and candies~ sparkling strawberry, pineapple water to top it off.
Dreaming of a photoshoot like I used to do. I don’t know why we leave behind parts of ourselves that we truly love! What’s a part of one of your old selves that you’d like to bring back?
xox
Does anyone happen to remember Nail Rock’s Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps? Those were amazingly cute! I was recently wondering if anyone had created anymore kitschy vintage nail wraps and so I made sure to find some for you~ xx.
I need to say a few things about Defending Disney Part One: I personally don’t think it was my best piece of work. Not after reading comments (because, come on, not all of them were negative to begin with), but pretty much since I pressed ‘submit for review’ I was on the fence about it. It wasn’t researched very well and the arguments weren’t very good. I’m glad that some of you lovely ladies seemed to have liked it, but I do feel the need to say that the article was written quite some time ago, and my feelings towards a majority of those Disney princesses have changed. In short, I’m starting to agree with the ‘offenders’ these days, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting negative views ruin my fun when watching the movies. Every story does have a basic moral to it that the intended audience can grasp fairly easily (ex. Beauty and the Beast- don’t judge someone based on their appearance). And honestly, I work with a multitude of children day and night and watch them grow up as the years go on: none of them seemed to be all that ruined by the ‘subtext’ of any Walt Disney film to begin with.
Someone did mention that Disney didn’t even come up with these stories to begin with, that they just took folk tales and books and turned them into 90 minute movies, which is certainly something to take into consideration when forming an opinion. It is also important to remember that Disney didn’t go word-for-word on said fairytales, and the way they portray the story differs from the way that the original author intended it to be.
All of that being said, there is one princess I will probably defend to the death, because this movie alone definitely taught me things that make me who I am today. What I learned when I was five, what I learned re-watching it at seventeen, and all the years in between, all components of the person I call ‘me’. So without further rambling, I give you the actual article:
” Why is Ariel on your list of inspiration people? She was stubborn, irresponsible, selfish, and put her entire kingdom in danger. Not to mention she basically gave up her ability to speak and voice an option for a boy.”
These are all very valid points. However, I feel like all of these things really do tie into a positive manner that we can all relate to. (This point I will discuss later)
Now, obviously this post was brought up after I received inquires about my new red tresses, but I’ve been meaning to defend Ariel as a role model for quite some time. One thing you absolutely have to understand was she was always my favorite disney princess, since I was old enough to comprehend what a princess was. Literally, I stood in front of the tv, and when she moved her hand, I moved my hand. When she sang, I sang. On cue. Every day. So these points I’m about to make are clearly biased to an extreme extent. Then again, all we’re really talking about is whether or not she’s a good role model, a concept which is based on opinion alone, and all opinions are biased. I’m not going to get into the logistics of it.
The predominant reason I find Ariel to be just an outstanding person that she has a dream and she goes for it. She doesn’t dilly dally, she doesn’t ‘go with the flow” and wait to see what happens, she doesn’t wait for the opportunity to come to her. She sees something that she wants, and she goes out to get it. It doesn’t matter if we, the audience, think her dream is stupid, if Sebastian and her father is consistently trying to deter her, she goes for it. And she not only did she have to go out way out of her comfort zone (have you seen Ursula’s Cove? SKETCHY), but she also had to break boundaries and take a huge risk in order to achieve what she had set out to do.
And I feel like that’s something a lot of us don’t do. We want to be risky, but we also don’t want to get hurt. We want to take the chance, but we don’t want to face the consequence if things don’t turn our way. We want to break boundaries, but it’s hard with everyone bringing us down. So we wind up complacent and stagnant and waiting for an opportunity. Ariel didn’t do that, she made the opportunity for herself, she took the chance, and she faced the consequences when things didn’t turn out the way she had planned.
Another small thing I really love about Ariel is her pursuit of knowledge and understanding of a culture that is different from her own, that contradicts her father’s beliefs and what he had taught her. I feel like this is, on a small scale, a demonstration that she does have a mind of her own and will not settle for hearsay before forming an opinion.
Lastly, and this is the part that I had mentioned in the beginning, she may very well have been stubborn. She very well may have bee irresponsible and selfish. And her actions very well may have put her entire kingdom into danger. This is clearly extreme Disney dramatization, because what’s a plot without a little conflict? And while all of these things appear to be negative, they have only taught me one thing: It’s okay to make mistakes and it’s okay to have flaws. When we’re young, we idealize these princesses and when we get older we become cynical and point out their flaws because they’re not as perfect as we thought they were. And then we stop liking them because they’re people too (in a sense).
We do this with real life people all the time. We make friends, we find about about a few seedy things they may have said and done, and then we’re not as close to them, or we’re slightly off put. So it really doesn’t come as a surprise to me that we do this with fictional characters as well. But the point being that Ariel had some flaws and made some poor choices, big whoop.
And while giving up her voice for a pair of leg is very well indeed one of those poor choices, I think it paints a pretty realistic picture. You have to sacrifice things to get what you want. However, when I was just a little girl, who was being ‘ruined’ with all this ‘disney subtext’ by being told by this movie my opinion doesn’t matter, I always thought that the reasoning behind Ariel sacrificing her voice was not to illustrate that she has nothing of importance to say, but that actions speak louder then words and talk is cheap, so Ariel was unable to win him with words and talk her way into Eric’s heart, rather she had to show him that she was something special. An when I was seventeen, watching it yet again, I noticed that the movie’s villian was the one who openly endorsed the idea that ladies should be seen and not heard, and we’re not supposed to agree with the movie’s villian.
And if he was smart enough to see how fantastic she is, awesome. If he didn’t, then she probably wouldn’t want to be with him in the long run anyway. Who wants to be with someone that doesn’t notice how amazing you are? Exactly.
Granted, if she doesn’t get him to fall in love with here in a mere three days she turns to some shrub in Ursula’s cove, but the chances of some little girl being in that situation is slim, said little girl will have a choice a to whether or not to pursue a relationship with someone that won’t possibly end in her turning into a sea plant or whatever.
And Eric didn’t fall in love with her at first. He fell in love with her voice. Hence he was easily tricked and put under a spell by Ursula/Vanessa, because he was too busy trying to find the girl with the girl with the voice instead of realizing what a prize he had right in front of him.
I would hope that we are at a stage in life where we have an understanding of things that should and shouldn’t be given up in that circumstance and don’t make life descisions based directly from the plot of Disney’s Little Mermaid, but I do think there are quite a few wonderful things that she can teach girls of all generations.
I suspect it’d have a bit more color in it’s face if I’d update at least one time a week.
You know how it is.
I started a new project recently since I arrived home from our beach vacation and I’m so excited to tell you!
I’ve decided to do Magical Girls pins which are honoring to actual female idols but in my own kawaii style (similar to my lucky cryptokitty pin!). They are each inspired by a real life magical girl whom exists in our culture and inspires others with music, fashion, charitable giving, love and mega heart beat motivation. She is not only a magical girl with super special powers but she is here to inspire you to be yourself and never give up.
These are ladies who are stars and have inspired me in a great way.
I also welcome suggestions and have received quite a few. So to be honest the list of future idols is LONG, but, if you suggest the next girl you’ll win a free pin of her. So get to suggesting, darling, and maybe you’ll be on the same page and win!
Our first Magical Girl is… Nicki Minaj. So please say hello to Magical Girl Nicki!
How can you get your own? Well you preorder her here, at my shop! Once there are 15 preorders she will be made and all 15 supporters will receive a surprise gift and their pin. And lots of love and virtual hugs from me. And a big discount for a future order in case you might have your eyes on some other goodies!
You might remember a past zine post I did called I love ZINES in 2015 where I explained buying, browsing and creating zines. Well, I’ve finally made some new zines for the Miseducated Etsy shop and NO, I still have not uploaded the video I promised! Soon.
A zine is most commonly a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via photocopier. Usually zines are the product of a person, or of a very small group.
“I never thought about a little zine tri-fold newsletter until my new friend, a recent swap partner, sent me hers. I LOVED it and I loved the format of using such a (usually) boring business template as a zine. I love reading hers. So first off I’d love to say a big *Thank you!* to Zinedra.”
Over Booked — My second printed micro zine. I am in a zine community and we were all asked to create a literary zine so this one mentions my favorite types of books and why.
I started by drawing the front illustration and then it was off from there! This is both typed and handwritten, full color! Similar to 5 Reasons I Love You (my first micro zine!).
Valentine’s Day reminds me of the 1980s for some reason…
Perhaps it’s because I was born the day before Valentine’s Day and that happened to be in the 1980s.
So for many (the jewelry, candy and greeting card companies would hope) Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love.
For me it is a time to celebrate pastel hearts and the 1980s and all of the cute, pinkness splashed through the stores.
What does Valentine’s Day mean to you, if anything?
I was also inspired to add a couple of new love-inspired items to my shop!
One of them is a Lolita POOCHIE pin because I have always been a big fangirl of Poochie.
The other is a reprint of my Micro Zine (6 pages plus a front and back cover), 5 Reasons Why I Love You. It’s a “Valentine” for anytime, much like Poochie!
and I would totally put these in the Valentine mail box you decorated and sat on your school desk
scanned 1980s Rainbow Brite Valentine’s~
a cute conversation heart coloring page~
Twin Stars Valentine wallpaper by Sanrio that I’ve had saved for years~
xoxo
It’s official! The shop is back open! Pin Street invited me to do a collaboration and design a Kawaii Shop. It’s pretty much one of the coolest lapel pin collaborations I’ve seen. It totally reminds me of the “Quilting Bee” pixel club and so many of the old website clubs we used to have in the late 90s/early 2000s! What about you?
Pin Street is an on-going collaboration between about 16 pin designers who are releasing new shops every month! Each pin has the same size specs so they will line up nicely but each is as unique as the Illustrator.
The Kawaii Shop is designed by me and is the 37th in our series. The last collaboration pin. It is a limited run, as the others are. The metal is rose gold and it is in all pastel colors as well as a glittery pink cloud with rose gold stars. I feel like I’m floating on a glittery pink cloud anytime I walk into a kawaii shop so it was a necessary feature! It also is a throwback to the old Times Square Sanrio store and Puroland with the rainbow on top!
If you’re interested in visiting the shop and checking it out, just click the link in the menu or HERE and stay tuned for a Cyber Monday sale~
Shipping now!
Follow @pinstreetshop on Instagram to keep up with the street!