New Year, New Goals and Hopes.

Happy New Year, everybody! Hope you had a wonderful time celebrating and resting, had some fun and something yummy! The last days of December were very tiresome for me, not only because there was some unfinished shopping, - in Russia we give presents not for Christmas, but on New Year, - but also because I was very anxious  to start new projects, that would make my room a battlefield of clay, textiles and other craft stuff. And I couldn't afford such a mess, since I really didn't want to spend the last days of the year cleaning it all up and having unfinished projects lying around. So, a new year and a new crisp clean start for new ideas!

Since I haven't started anything yet, it'll be just right to make some resolutions to line up all the toughts and plans for the upcoming year:

make a print. At least one finished garment. I have the ideas, time, skills and funds, so there really isn't an excuse.

sew more. For myself, make textile accessories and garments for my indie brand.

learn new polymer clay techniques and expand styles I can work in. Wanted to start making wedding jewelry for quite a while.

set up a personal web site. Etsy is fine and dandy, but doesn't always cut it.

draw more and try out watercolors. Got several sketch books as presents, better put them to good use.

be more physically active - go to a gym or pick up dancing.

try to get back into collage for either a major degree or pick up fashion design from the begining.

stop procrastinating!

renovate my room. Repaint the walls, the furniture, get some new book shelves, curtains and decor. A lot more stuff to do, but possible step by step.

be a better person - less jealousy and gossiping, more focusing on being productive myself and forgiving toward others.

be happy and get the most out of every day!

Well, that's quite a list! I'm pretty sure that I've forgot something and that there will be more resolutions thoughout the year, but for today I'm done, so I'll finish off with the cutest teapot and jar set my BF got me this New Year.

I think Pinky Pie found herself a new hat and home, hehe! The jars will be so great as jewelry boxes.

Winter Fuzzies

The holiday season sure takes up a lot of fime - over the year I worked pretty hard and the increase of orders compared to last year is quite noticable! This is really inspiring, and I'm glad I decided to renew my faux fur accessories collection. I've added some new, more playful designs and am rather pleased with the results - I've been quite inspired by mori and fairy kei, so there may be traces of them here too! Too bad I couldn't find any wine red fur this season, but there is some beautiful jewel blue and green fur I'd like to try out.

Teddy Bear Scoodie - it's lined with fleece for extra warmth!

I've seen that collars are quite popular this year and decided to try out them myself - I drafted a wider version and a narrow one, and decided to decor them with some pearls and roses for a classic look and stars for a sweet fairy-kei look.

I still have quite a few ideas to work on, so this isn't the last fuzzy and warm items to be seen here. The very least, I have a few personal projects planned, which are sure to be posted - there isn't enough non-work posts around here and I'm going to change that.

A Little Color on a Gray Morning

The weather is getting soggy and gray around here, so let me show off my latest colorful purchases - I was feeling a bit down after the con last month, so I made a mini shopping spree to Ebay.

A Care Bears coin purse and earphones and 2 vintage Polly Pockets that I simply love! One you may recognize from my nostalgia post - of course it's not the same thing I had, but still, - and a yellow heart locket. I'll need to clean it up a bit and replace the cord and it'll be a supper neat accessory for my fairy-kei mania.

Shooting Star Sneakers

Finally got my hands on the sneakers I bought this summer.Now I finally have a fitting pair to coordinate with my black jeans and with my lavender fluffy hoodie for a great casual look! Now all I need to do is to get some black shoelaces, make star beads for them and these will be perfect!

Can't wait to start working on a white pair - I'm planning on making those pink x mint with a candy motif. Unlike the lolified sneakers I saw people make, I don't have any print clothes to match them with, so I'm not restricted in ideas.

It Was Fine While It Lasted

As much as I was excited to try and move to Artfire as my main base of action, they disappointed me big time - over the months I only had one sale of of them and now, since they discontinued basic accounts, I don't see the point of staying. Plus, Etsy copied their one-page-listing system, so there isn't a difference now, except for the fact that on Etsy I get more publicity.

Well, that gives me more time to manage my Facebook Kiosk and other venues, so it won't be missed that much. Anywho, I've finally put up my newest creations up for sale - pretty soon I'll upgrade the series with ufo and rocket rings too. I've also added stud earrings and a star'n'pearl bracelet to the current line.

Fun-Kei Space is here!

Yay, finally! The biggest part of my newest series is ready! Since I made my Fun-kei Stars, I had these designs in my sketchbook, so, here they are in all their glittery glory.

Wishing Star necklaces - a little bandwagon too good to miss, but with my own personal twist. They are 57 cm long and are very sparkly and cute.

Set course to places no lolita has been in this awesome rocket! These necklaces are extra glittery and fun - they will feature a chain with an extra star bead and will be 77 cm long.

Welcome the most cute and friendly invaders! This is also a long, 77 cm with a trail of stars to follow these pastel spaceships.

There will be more items coming in this series, such as star bracelets and bow 2-way clips, but I was too excited to show these, that I couldn't wait another day! All the items will be made in any chosen pastel colors for perfect personal fit.

Artsy Fundraising

Since business was really slow for me lately I had some time to focus on drawing. I was always more fund of illustration during schooling, rather than of other forms of graphic design, but, alas, couldn't afford a good tablet and thus vector was my only way of making something decent digital art. Sure, I still managed to make some non-vector work too, I tried every trick I found on the Internet that could be done without a pen and tablet. But the result never fully satisfied me, so now I'm gonna make things change.

I'm offering affordable $10 art commissions in a minimalistic, but versatile style, very cute for picturing lolita, fairy-kei, decora, mori and other fashion styles. Hopefully these will help me afford a nice tablet, so that I can improve my skills as a digital artist.

 I will be very thankful to everybody who can mention about this in their blogs - even if you aren't interested yourselves, maybe someone whom you know is. I also take art commissions in other styles, as well as different forms of design work.

I'm sorry, here, have some ponies!

Oh god, this is really embarrassing - forsaking my readers for so long after I said I had a lot of inspiration and ideas! It's already th middle of summer and thus a very busy season for me - doing a lot of items for a fair at the local anime con plus working on 2 cosplay costumes is really time consuming! Between commissions and work there is hardly any time for personal projects, like 2 pairs of sneakers waiting to be pastelized with some cute stars and candy. But I found a few moments to relax over some pony art, enjoyable for MLP fans and simply lovers of things cute and pastel.

Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie.

Sweet and Scar Hearts

After a nice two-week break which helped me clear my head, I'm finally ready for action! It's always a good idea to take a break when you feel like your brain is about to reach a meltdown - the best action for me was to change my surroundings, take a trip and to forbid myself to even think about work. So now on return I'm full of fresh ideas for blogging and crafting, but today I'll just post some crafts I've been holding up on.

"Box 'o' Chocolate" brooches and rings. This was my first complex design about two years ago and finally I put it op for sale. At first I wanted to make a necklace but never got around finding the right design. Chains, ribbons - it all looked so off, so the charms just sat in my craft box for month. So recently I dropped the necklace idea altogether and decided that a nice brass colored ring or pin base will work lovely. It's very interesting to work with each, since I try not to make matching candies in the same box.

"Love Letter from Paris" is also one of my very first designs, and I even sold a few when I didn't even set up a shop yet. But only recently I gave it a proper photo shoot and will be happy to finally add it to my stock again. So romantic and it looks so light and airy.

Fond Memories

It's kinda strange to feel "old" being in your early 20-ies, but for the last couple of years I began to think more and more about the toys I had as a kid, most of with were left behind, when we moved from Budapest in 1996 (we lived there for several years due to my father's work). Some of them were a real challenge to find after all these, since I pretty much didn't remember the brands and names, but I managed! And with my current obsession over spank! I'm sure that I'll be on a never-ending search on Ebay to get the long-lost candy-colored items of my childhood (and some pieces I didn't have, but which are just so cute!)!

Oh, Fun Times...

I, actually, been quite waiting, when this would happen. I was really intrigued to watch how the second-hand market would develop after that. Would there be rage? Hysteria? Dunno, but some drama was to occur. I'm talking, of course, about Sugary Carnival - one of the most priced sweet lolita pieces of the last couple of years. First a replica, and now - as far as I can tell, - an un-modified re-release.

As much as DOL trolled all the owners of the original SC, I think AP trolled all the scalpers and their previous victims even more.

As far as myself, I actually wanted a lavander and black skirt or JSK for some time, but I guess that was the "rare" factor (I like the design and think it'd be a fun piece, but you DO NOT say to me something is a rare or limited piece, lol). And now... Not so much. It seems they didn't re-release a skirt, which I would consider at this point, so I'm not sure I'll use this $330 opportunity.

Shoppe Changes

After much thought, I've decided, that Etsy doesn't satisfy meas a selling platform anymore, due to some not-so-good management. I won't go into details, but right now I'm setting up a new "studio", as they call it, on Artfire. For some time it'll be a parallel store, where you can buy my handmade items, and I'll be comparing pros and cons of both sites, but it's likely I'll be staying on the latter.

And so, to mark this announcement, I'll give you a peek of my Spank! inspired series - simple, but very colorful.