Pets, Cookie Magazine, and Etsy

I've been watching my mother's pets since last night and have to give Jack, her geriatric pitbull, his insulin shots. There are few things I hate having to do more than give animals injections.
I kept saying, "sorry sorry sorry sorry" as I grabbed his scruff and jabbed him with the needle- he didn't even seem to feel it, but I was so paranoid I'd done something wrong.I had to keep looking in on him every ten minutes or so. "You alive?" Like he'd answer yes or no either way.


I've been reading through a copy of Cookie Magazine from my mother- she isn't trying to drop subtle hints as far as I know- the ladies at her work pass around magazines quite a bit.  I thought it was funny how much I (a childfree woman) enjoyed this magazine.
 It really is quite darling! I really got a kick out of the article on dollhouses- ducklings were included in the photoshoot-



Check out McDuckyPants inside the house on the back! Had they included close-ups, I'm sure it would've been CuteOverload-worthy material.
'Cookie' didn't, at any point, make me wish for a munchkin of my own, but I did keep stopping and thinking, "Oh, that would be PERFECT for ______'s kid". I like to keep a small supply of baby/ child items on hand for gifts on short notice, and I saw so many good ideas in 'Cookie'.

One great gift idea I found by browsing through Etsy- Baby Mohawk hats! They're from Infantile (and they have adult ones also, I think I'd wear a black one).



How cute it that? Very cute! But I would have to get one in a unisex color for my gift stash.
This is the sort of thing, where if no friends or co-workers announced an upcoming baby, in a year or so I could just say, "To hell with that, I'm keeping this and one of the cats can wear it".

It is easy to get lost on Esty- there is so much to look through! For those who don't know, Etsy is, "Your place to buy & sell all things handmade", the variety of products is amazing- from fine diamond jewelry to handsewn cat toys. Many of the items are one of a kind, this is a great site to 
find unique accessories.

The sweetest shop I've come across on Etsy is Ugly Kitty's. Quasi is a rescued kitty with a smooshed-in face, and her human has raised over $1800 for shelter cats so far through her Etsy shop. I think Quasi is adorable, sort of a cat/ French Bulldog hybrid. Check her out!

Candy Review- Pocky Strawberry, Cute Fabrics and Totes from Japan

I'm not sure if Pocky can rightfully be considered a candy, but I'm going to stick it in that category. In my mind, the cookie sticks only serve as a vehicle for the candy-like outer coating.
I bought these over a month ago at Cost Plus World Market, totally in love with the packaging- they make me think of Strawberry Shortcake in Strawberry Land.


The box came with four packs with six sticks in each one, 
each pack has a cute print of little strawberries and the Glico logo.
When I opened the first pack, the strawberry scent hit me right away. The scent was so strong, I was surprised how mild the strawberry taste was. The ingredients list includes both dried strawberries (you can see the little bits suspended in the cream coating) and artificial strawberry flavor. The taste of the cookie stick actually stood out more than the outer coating.
I was a bit disappointed, but since I bought the box for the excellent packaging, I really can't complain.


I am trying to decide on what I'll order from Shinzi Katoh's website. If I had the money, I would order one of every item, but I can't do that. The tote bags are oh-so-adorable, and there are aluminum bottles to match quite a few of the totes. They also have some vinyl-coated bags, they cost quite a bit more than the totes 
(around $50 compared to about $18 for the totes) but seem like they would be sturdier, and they are a nice, big size. This one with the Elephant/ Oranges is too cute!

 

I use tote bags all the time, since I like to carry my sketchbook with me. Tiny purses just don't do it for me, and I don't want to run into anyone with even a similar bag to what I'm carrying.
Here in Phoenix, it seems like every other girl and woman has a real or fake Coach or Louis Vuitton bag on her arm. It all strikes me as being so unbelievably boring.
Shinzi Katoh has a selection of fabrics, not a lot but the ones they do have are darling.
Another online shop carrying some Shinzi Katoh products, and a much wider range of cute fabric, is Nuno-plus, they have a lot of teeny-tiny adorable prints. The fabric can get expensive, over $20 for a yard, so check Reprodepot first if you are in the USA, they carry quite a few of the same exact fabrics at cheaper prices.

The Elusive Happy-Faced Mug

Early last year I found this adorable little mug on FredFlare and bought one for my cat to drink his water out of (my cats prefer cups to bowls, no, they don't pick them up and drink out of them, but only because they lack opposable thumbs. If I had me a polydactyl cat, I tell you I'd have it not only picking up their cups, but also using little forks and knives to eat with. Oh yeah.)


On the other side it says, "Bonjour! Ca Va?" Cute, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it is.
Anyone who knows me very well knows I adore anthropomorphic kitchenware. I grew up in a household where we named the toaster. We named every damned kitchen appliance we had. I can hardly remember anything of one year of HS French beyond, "Bonjour! Ca Va?", but I will never forget that my family's first microwave was Mikey the Microwave.
While such an environment in my formative years may have meant a lifetime of madness for a weaker-minded individual, I am made of stronger stuff. I just put a lot of wiggly-eyes stickers on my belongings and collect stuff like the above mug.

I decided I had to have more happy faced mugs before they stopped selling them. And, Oh! FredFlare now carried them in green and blue in addition to pink. But they always seem to be sold out, and $9 seems a bit high for a little plastic mug. So I started looking for other happy-faced-mug-suppliers, and found these sites.

I've known about ReproDepot for a while, but I have no idea when they started selling housewares. Apparently the mug manufacturer is Cram Cream, and ReproDepot has a whole section of their goodies. They aren't quite the same style as the ones sold at FredFlare- these are stackable and come in a wider range of colors. Also, there is a winking happy face on the reverse side of the mug.



But even though the bottoms are tapered a bit to make them stackable, I don't think they'd be easily knocked over. So they are still suitable cat-cups. And, only $6.50 each. 

The next place I found these mugs was at The Glitter Workshop. If I wasn't on an obsessive quest for cuteness, I wouldn't have come across this little shop, and that would've been too unfortunate.
They carry the stackable mugs (in cream-color) at $6.00, and the pink and blue ones identical to the ones sold at FredFlare- for only $5 each. They had a better image of the stackable mug on their site, lookit that face. D'awwwwwwwww. Who could resist?



Besides their OBVIOUS function as cat-cups, these could possibly be used for small children as well. Not the ones in the sippy-cup phase, but the ones who can drink from a cup without making a slobbery mess who need a small cup for their little hands.