Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Creepy Cute: Kawaii Bats

One of the biggest trends in the world of kawaii at the moment is creepy cute! Which can mean any sort of cute thing that has a creepy element to it such as spikes, eyeballs, bones, bats, or any other campy spooky thing done up in a rainbow of pastels. My personal favorite creepy cute motif is the bat! Luckily tons of other people love cute bats too because there are lots of places to shop for adorable sparkly pastel bats to add to pretty much any outfit.

glittery bat hair clip from nerdy little secrets
From Nerdy Little Secrets on Etsy
Creepy cute fake nails with bats and eyeballs by kawaii claws
From Kawaii Claws on Etsy
Blue glittery bat necklace from Rara's Jewels
From Rara's Jewels on Etsy

Flying bat necklace from Cute Parade
From Cute Parade on Etsy
The thing I love best about all these pastel bat accessories is that you can pretty much find any accessory or clothing item with bats on them! From hair accessories to fake nails to jewelry. There's even clothes!
Fluffy bat sweater from Magic Circle Clothing
From Magic Circle on Etsy
I love cute pastel bats so much that I've even added them to a pair of tights I offer in my own shop! I really hope to make more bat themed tights in the future too, but for now I have different color options of this one particular pair.
Ophanim pastel bat tights
From my own shop, Ophanim.
I absolutely love the fact that you could potentially wear bats from your head to your toes! I also love how, despite the fact that bat shapes are generally pretty universal, and there's only so many different pastel colors, so many people have come up with so many unique takes on such a simple design!


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Retro Push Button Japanese Pencil Cases

Pretty exciting on the outside.
I know that pencil cases probably aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but I'm secretly sort of in love with them. You see, when I was little in the early-to-mid 90's, it was all the rage at my elementary school to have a really ridiculous pencil case that had buttons on them that made various gadgets pop out. The coolest cases were pastel colored and had blobby animal mascots on them. This trend was on it's way out by the time our grubby little hands got a hold on these pencil cases, so their popularity was quick lived amongst my age group.

But even more amazing on the inside! Photo from Flickr.

I, of course, was not one of these cool kids with the magic push button pencil cases, but these ridiculous cases sort of stuck with me over the years and I have been trying to hunt one down. Unfortunately they tend be outside of my pencil case budget since everyone else tends to be nostalgic for them as well and are quick to snap them up when they pop up on Ebay. Even the new ones ("Deluxe Pencil Case" they are often called) on Amazon are going to cost about $25 after shipping, which is probably twice the amount that I've spent on pencils in the last decade. 

Check out how deluxe this is! On Amazon.

I'm pretty content with just looking at them online though, as there are a number of retro pencil case collectors out there who share a pretty impressive Flicker pool, and push button cases are sprinkled throughout the pool. But I still do dream of the day when I happen to visit a flea market that has one of these excessive exorcises in pencil holding for a cheap price.
Some of them were a bit more deluxe than others. From Flickr.

Some were relatively simple. From Flickr.
For a change, have some mint green! From Flickr.
The more I stare at them in their dreamy pink push button wonderfulness, the more I talk myself into thinking that I need a crazy place to put my pencils and I'm honestly probably going to give into my nostalgia one day and and just spend the $30 one of these is going to cost me. As far as collections goes, it's not the most pocket-emptying one you could have, it's just the fact that I know that some of these weren't that expensive back when they first came out, and I'm sure there are hundreds the world over just gathering dust in the backs of closets just waiting to be discovered again!

That's one of those blobby pastel animals I mentioned. From Flickr.