Death & Sneak peek of New July Product!

It's been a tough week. I just attended my first open casket Wake yesterday. One of my closest friend's mother died a couple days ago. It was all so sudden. :'( I bawled when I heard she had a few months to live and then a couple days later she passed. I cried a lot over it. I didn't breakdown at the Wake which was a slight relief. Nothing worst then being the loud catalyst of grief - when I cry I get pathetically loud and clogged. My heart and prayers go out to my friend's family. Especially my friend who has been nothing less then precious and to this day remains one of my most steadfast buddies. I love you, A.

That aside, been busy working on new designs! I have also expanded into Men's accessories. Lots of Mori Girl + Mori Boy / Dolly Boy items. Dolly Kei headpiece. Natural Kei + Fur Puffs and Tails are back after so many personal requests! Here's a few quick low quality pictures of my items until I get them photographed nicely. :) Enjoy!

As always, comments are welcome and I don't mind constructive criticism at all. :)

- Blogged from my iPhone

Blog Revamp + TNK Restock + New Hairbow!

I have been sick all Saturday. To the point I had to call in sick for the first time in months since this year. It seems like I have either given myself food poisoning (seeing as I am quite clumsy) or had a 24 hour stomach bug that some people at work currently have. Either way, the images of microbes dancing across my vision right now is revolting.

I added a button on the side called ‘Appify’ which will be my reviews, commentary, and such about Apple products, apps, and information for fellow Creatives and Creative Lifesytles-Businesses. I will refrain from random posting only to specifically target the Creative and Business niche. I begin my first iPad App review this Monday on Wacom-developed, Bamboo Paper. I’ll be attending the Toronto Apple Expo July 12th - reporting from a Creative perspective.

I restocked my items at Tomorrow Never Knows - a vintage and handmade store curated by the lovely, Eva Bowering. You will find more fascinators, lace applique necklaces (gold and silver chains) and taxidermy jewelry (rings and necklaces in gold and silver chains).

If you are in Toronto I would HIGHLY recommend that you visit her store and Ransack the Universe which are in the same building. Both carry my items and some of my mom’s items!

Despite the pain I told myself I had to be productive. I spent most of the day doing the moooost Photoshop in my life. Maybe, just maybe I might be getting the hang of Photoshop finally. I totally revamped the blog! LOOK! Isn’t it more beautiful and simple? :)

I also got a mailing list service up, set up my blog pages (upper navigation bar), made new earrings, and sewed some lace bow barrettes. I also have a new listing for up for Amigurumi Pea Pods by my mom on Etsy. I need better pictures of everything - so expect that all to be done by the next few weeks. :)

The lace bow barrette (seen in picture above) has been stocked at Tomorrow Never Knows and my Etsy for $20 CDN. I am in the process of making them in three colors: ecru, cream (pictured) and tea-stained (in progress).

Thoughts? Love it? Need it?

New Mori Girl, Cult Party Kei, and Dolly Kei pieces

Just a brief picture update of what I have been working on for my mostly finished June Ofelia Ljuv Collection.

Lots of headbands and necklaces with pastel tones mixed with neutrals. I have begun making more pendant brooch-necklaces on a smaller scale which will be priced lower then my current pieces. What do you think? Love them or hate them? I'm totally open to comments and suggestions!

Quaint tidbits for the enlarged soul

I am just a little upset I didn’t go to Anime North this year. If I had gotten a table - I would be there as it would make it financially feasible to attend. I had given my hotel room to a friend but I found out recently that they didn’t remove my credit card information from the file and now I have a hold on my freaking credit card for the hotel fee. Doubletree - I hate you.

Either way, moving is a top priority - and can you believe it?! I move in a week. A WEEK! I can’t wait - I have a penthouse level apartment that I will be deathly scared to peer out of due to a phobia with heights. Heights make the fireflies that live in my stomach whirl around and around and around. Or, so I would like to think. :)

I was inspired by a friend of mine, Chu, also a fellow Mori Girl. She had a table at AN last year and it was amazing. I wish I could have bought some things from her but I wasn’t physically there this time around. :( So sad. Her stuff has the aesthetic of what I would call ugly-cute. It’s very endearing - at first it was strange to me but then it grew on me like mould.

I was inspired by her to remember my previous plans (among many) to incorporate Pink House aesthetic of childishness into mature detailing. It’s hard to explain - but Pink House is one of the oldest labels in Japan for modern alternative clothing. It is said to be the root of Gothic & Lolita fashion before it became what it is today. But, Pink House is an expert at melding seemingly childish things into something wonderful and cute. Japanese housewives are their main clientele and we all know Japanese housewives are also huge lovers of Hello Kitty. So, there is something about cute and mature that somehow goes hand and hand in this scenario.

That aside. I made my first multiple sale and went crazy using that money to buy supplies. I bought 20 tiny handmade doilies, 18 handmade-and-vintage doilies in small and medium sizes, and 100 buttons made from wood in the shape of adorable animals like the ones I posted in my blog. I also got a Heartsy Membership and bought a voucher for 200 stamped wildlife tags. I’ve noticed that while my stamps are awesome the ink isn’t - it smudges. So, until I get more awesome ink I’ll be using these gorgeous tags for my items. :)

Ofelia Ljuv - May Collection!

Hey everyone! May is just about to end which means I just about finished my May items for Ofelia Ljuv. This month’s items is inspired by Spring, my awesome Mother, and Heirlooms. I ordered a lot of vintage and handmade doilies and enjoyed working with them so much that I used 9 of them in a matter of 1 day or sewing. Which is an accomplishment as I generally hoard supplies for months. I have ordered a lot more doilies now and in different sizes. I also have have used up all my brooch-clip combinations which means I’ll have to order a massive amount in the next week.

Scroll down to see everything!

Brand-spanking-new handmade headpiece! Sparrow Skulls! Finds!

The weather has been absolutely horrible here in Toronto. Hot, cold, hot, cold, rain…and I hear there’s going to be snow on Monday. Seriously, it’s mid-late April and we are getting SNOW?! 

I don’t get it. My program has been all about global warming and how weather patterns / phenomenon such as El Nino and El Nina dictate these shifts yet I still am unable to believe just how directly it effects everyone.  This also means a late growing season for farmers and it’ll effect so many things. I can’t grow my edible flowers yet because I’m too afraid to let them grow outside and starting them inside with such dreary weather doesn’t get my hopes up, either.

That aside, I’ve been out of town and away from my studio due to a slight emergency. But, as always I’ve dragged most of my immediate portable materials with me and I whipped up a headpiece two nights ago (along with a few necklaces but I didn’t take pictures). Currently, I am working hard at expanding my collection for the meeting I have with a local boutique owner this coming Friday. I hope she likes my stuff and buys/carries it at her store!

It’s so beautiful. I can’t bear to part with it unless offered a small fortune. :) It’s very Dolly-Kei and I can’t wait to coordinate it. I really love the warm copper charms I imported which add to the overall warmth and richness of red accents and the red wool bow. 

I begin with a brief laying out of what I prospectively want the headpiece to look like.

I don’t sleep for a whole night working on things like this and at 7-8 AM the sun shines.

I bless my items with the first rays of sunshine. Haha. Then photographing commences. 

On another note, I also got my custom order of plastic casted sparrow skulls from an across the border taxidermist after literally almost 2 months of waiting. It was a long and somewhat tedious wait but well worth what I got. I really wish I had gotten most of the skulls drilled because they look really awesome as necklaces. What do you guys think? 

Also, made a nice find at Dollarama recently. I’ve been desperately looking for millenary branches with buds - I tried Queen West, Fabricland…but was then recommend Michael’s. I found exactly what I was looking for at Dollarama instead - with at least 5 colortones in a huge branch for a mere $1. Score! I left with pale green and cream buds.

New Headpiece, AN Update, Wig + Circle Lenses, Consignment Opportunity

New Wig and Circle Lenses

Mossy Rock found on campus

Migrating Canada Geese Flock taken with iPhone 4

 It’s been a busy couple of weeks of ups and downs.

University is finally done - I hope I got the marks I wanted as I did work my ass off this term to make up for a rather lacking first term. At least I know I did my best and if anything doesn’t go planned then a new door will always open. 

I have been prepping for selling at Anime North since the beginning of this year - but since leaving Marionette Atelier I may have really screwed myself over. How? My former partner got a table. I bought the iPad 2 (waited for 6 hours in the cold), got tired, and slept through the deadline. Hahaha. I’ve paired up with a new friend who is near the top of the waiting list (while I sit at 41). But, I have doubts I’ll be selling this year. God, the irony. 

It’s disappointing. 

But, when a door closes another opens. A local boutique owner who’s store I was going to approach this week and I’ve had absolutely no contact with…actually emailed me via Facebook saying she’d be interested in my items. WHAT?! WHAAAAAAAT! This is so awesome. I’ve emailed her back - haven’t been able to sleep since because I am psyched. So, expect to Quaintrella items in Toronto boutiques soon. :3

Here are a few of my recent stuff. Still on the pendent necklaces but I’ve moved into headpieces:

Two new pieces. Headpiece and Pendent Necklace

Detailing

Close-up of details

Mega close-up of details

Headpieces are literally a larger translation of my pendent necklaces. They were harder to layout then I had anticipated. I sat there for 2-3 hours figuring it all out. I loved the end result. What do you guys think?

At the same time, a lot of my supplies for AN preparations have come in after a month. Notably, my Mori Girl wig and my NEO Toric Extra Dali Gray Circle Lenses. Review to come the circle lenses in an upcoming post. But, they look pretty natural - the wig and lenses. I had to order specific ones for my astigmatism. I am so happy with them. Though, they do make me look a little bit more exotic with my normal hair. I actually looked mixed with Russian with my dyed normal hair due to my jawline? Not sure. More pictures to ensue. I’m so happy with them both. :D

With new wig, handmade headpiece, and toric cicle lenses.

With normal hair and modelling the pendent necklace for my Etsy.