Pastel Raindrops ♪ View RSS

ALRIGHT!

Got you a time when the sale starts!

March 2nd, 8pm-9pm cet/german time.

I guess that should be a decent time for at least most people around the world and I hope it all goes right & to have everything finished by then.

Bet you will find some neat things, it's a lot of stuff, that's for sure :)

If anything changes I'll let you all know!

Much love,

Mio

Hellow!

This is just a tiny update to let you all know what up and coming!

I know, I know, PR has been terribly neglected, which is not necessarily because I don't have things to blog about but more because I don't have much time to take care of it right now as well as a change of priorities for me. I'm not going to go into much detail about this now because that would go a little too far.

Now, already weeks ago my paid photobucket account expired which leaves me with a limited bandwidth. Due to the amount of traffic I get here that goes hand in hand with my pictures disappearing. I TRIED to fix that but for some reason I couldn't get my account renewed. Anyway, I'll take the opportunity to switch to a different host but for that I will have to re-upload and change all the image files on here, which will take up a lot of time I don't have right now. So I'm pretty much forced to make-do with this now, meaning that for most of the time PR will be down on all images. This sucks but I can't change that right now.

Which leads me to the main factor that is taking away all my time.

Other than me trying not to spend oh-so much time online I have been planning my university term abroad, working on many things for uni and working on my job. For the past months this has taking up basically all of my weekdays. Either I've been at uni or at work.

On Monday, however, I will be finally leaving my home to move to Nottingham, UK for the next six months! There I'll be continuing my fashion design studies, focussing on accessory design, mainly.

So yep, I got exciting things ahead of me!

As I'll be trying to really focus on my life and studies there I will not be online very much and I decided to not document my travel online. Maybe this will bum out some but I figured most will not be interested in this anyway and I don't want to waste much energy on something like that. 

Guess that is all for now! I apologise for the inconvenience caused on this blog and I hope to improve things here soon as I can.

See you back next year!

Much love,
Mio 

Hey cuties, I'm back again to continue my little documentary on Tokyo!
How have you all been? It's October already and it's getting so autumn-y these days, I just love it. Even though I like all seasons, autumn has got to be my favourite.

Enough of the chit-chat for now, though, let's get straight to the point. I know what you want to see and I will deliver only for you ♥ 

But mind you, this is going to be picture heavy. And I mean REALLY picture heavy. I picked out almost 100 photographs from that day because we saw so, so, so many lovely things then. To ease it up a little I will put them under a cut though and split this into two parts, so lean back and enjoy!

When we arrived at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium there were already a few strikingly fashionable people outside and and as we got inside the room was filled up with the models I've only seen in magazines before. I think that was certainly one of the many magic moments I felt while I was on the trip.

After waiting a little we got to see the lovely outfits that were picked for us, were to try them on and also rehearsed the way we would walk and act on stage which was really exciting for me! The stage was so much bigger than I expected it to be and this whole place was really big.

After some little nice lunch we took the train to get to Ikebukuro and were introduced to a very neat place!

We visited a place called CLUXTA which is kind of like a beauty balon but which such an extraordinary concept that I kind of wish I had one like it in my town as well.

The salon itself is run by Panasonic and looks fairly normal at first. They have many beauty goods installed from make-up to electronic but the twist is that you will not get a beauty treatment there but can actually rent a space there for a small fee to treat yourself and use their products. It's something that is used my many different kind of people such as school girls as well as business women who use it to get ready to go out after school or to refreshen themselves for the next business meet. It's a very unique location I think and it comes in very handy when you are on a tight schedule.

Once there, we got introduced to the many different products they keep there and were offered to try some on ourselves.

All of the electronics we got to use there were ones I've never tried or seen in my life, which was exciting! The big Oval one was a machine that would give you different types of facial treatments using steam and such which was strange but comfy, feeling the hot air coming out of it. Kind of like a miniature sauna. There was also one to clean up pores, a pulsing device to stimulate the face and one to massage your skin in order to slim your face or legs for example. I think the last one was my favourite because the rotating gummy things on it just felt pretty nice.

After visiting the place we all got a lovely present from them, an electronic lash curler! It was something I've never tried before and I was really surprised of how well it worked. But I will talk about it in another entry~

Our next stop took us to La Foret in Harajuku!

And this is also where the massive picspam starts to please follow the cut for all that's next~



For those who don't know, La Foret is a huge departement store in the heart of Harajuku that has many floors and features lots of little stores from many, many fashion brands! Once you step through that door it's almost as if you've been brought to heaven. Seeing all the different styles and shops is so inspiring but it's also tested my money saving skills big time. But already seeing all the eye-candy was glorious and since we were allowed to take pictures I could save it forever as well.

The first shop we visited was JOYRICH!

It's a very cool store that brought me 90s-Fresh-Prince-ft-Miami-Vice kind of feelings. Lot's of bling, character goods and of course just as cool staff, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:




Next stop brought me to my very limits because we visited Nile Perch!
And well, it's amongst my favourite brands so I went a little overboard, simple because everything in there was adorable.




I think you can guess just how happy I felt being there -
But wait! There's more!
We also paid a visit to Angelic Pretty which is also one of my absolute favorites! Lovely dresses and ruffles everywhere. And not only that, the interior was also more than just wonderful.




I am actually 100% convinced that this was Marie's natural habitat ♥

After we finished rolling in cuteness our last stop would take us to MONOMANIA where 'cool' was once more the theme.
It's also one of the brands I love a lot (even though I own almost nothing from it) but I simply love the designs they have and could sure as hell empty the shop in an instant if only I could.




This was the last store we visited but not the last stop we made on that day. However, that would go beyond the scope of this entry, considering how many pictures I already posted. Thus, I'm afraid you will have to wait until my next entry to see the other things we did that day but I hope you enjoyed all this nonetheless, so far.

With this I say good bye for today but stay tuned for what is coming up soon!
Much love,
Mio~

Hellow!

I know, I know, I was going to write about this earlier but despite having "uni break" (aka the time when you finish everything that's left over from the last semester) I don't have much time for anything at all. Daily life struggles, work and university things add up way too easily.

Nonetheless, I've come to talk a little bit about my first day in Tokyo to continue my little series.

I didn't take many pictures that day since I got the habit to lock away pretty much all my electronics when traveling so I only have some from when I got there.

I started off in Bremen in the morning to say good bye to good old Germany after a quick stop in Frankfurt to get on a different plane. There I had a little time off to get me something to drink and wander around the airport when I spotted a lovely lolita around - Marie!

We were both a little hesitant at first because neither of us knew if we would be heading to the same destination but it turned out we were! So lucky for us, we already got to meet so early and got to take the same plane, that was really a lovely start!
On the plane however, I slept quite some time (like I always do, haha!) and to not get such a bad jet lag.

Once we landed at the Narita Airport we were warmly welcomed by those who invited us so kindly (and who are, by the way, so dearly missed now). I was so, so excited to meet everyone and look! Who's that? A gyaru girl? We also met Stella there, the next member of us five Kawaii Leaders!

Our first task was to take a few shots and takes for the show before we took a taxi to the heart of Tokyo where our Hotel was: Shibuya!
I remember just how awfully excited I was to be there. Right where I always wanted to be, in the midst of one of the biggest cities in the world - it was amazing!

Here's my outfit for the day, more casual than anything but I wanted to be comfy while being on the plane, hence the lack of a wig~

Once at the hotel we got to take a little rest and a nap before driving to NHK's headquarters for our first meeting with EVERYONE!

From left to right you can see Marie, little old me, Stella, Eva and Kaila!

It was the same time we all saw each other and it was really lovely to meet all of these girls. Even if we didn't know each other before, I think we grew together so much in these few days and in the end it was more than hard to say good bye.

However, on the first meet-up we discussed some things about the schedule for our week together, things about the program, got cute little cameras (thank you so much again NHK & Panasonic! ♥ ♥ ♥) and exchanged some first chats to get to know each other.

Lastly the five of us together in the restaurant and the obligatory food pictures~

It may have been a day with a little schedule but it was still a long and extremely exciting day for all of us I think! Especially getting to know each other and joking around on our first evening together was overly lovely and I still feel so blessed to have been able to spend time with lovely people like that.

Next time some more adventures from Tokyo!

Much love,
Mio ♥ 

Hello cuties! ♥

I'm BACK! Back with some news that may interest you~

The hiatus is over, at least for now!

Why?

Because I got quite some things I'd like to share with you, beginning with this post.
It's been quite a while and in all of this time I haven't been just busy with university, work and my general life but I was also lucky to spent the time of my life. The title might have already given you a little hint and those of you who are carefully following my tumblr and facebook have already heard the news.

I've been to Tokyo!

Thanks to Kawaii.i who have chosen me to be one of their 5 Kawaii Leaders, I got to see the city of my dreams. And even though I had to tone down my pastel business so much due to my daily schedule I was able to dress up in my favourite clothes every day over there. It was truly, truly, truly the best time I ever had and it was even better because of all the people I got to meet there.

So in the upcoming posts I will write more about my journey around the globe and will tell you all the stories I can tell you ♪

As for now, let me introduce this project to you a little more~

"Kawaii Leaders" is, like I already mentioned above, a project that was brought to life by Kawaii.i which produces the TV program "Kawaii International" on NHK International. They were looking for girls to represent Japanese kawaii culture and fashion from Japan to the world and vice versa. 

Our group consisted of Stella from Indonesia, Marie from France, Kaila from the Philippines, Eva from Hong Kong and me, Mio from Germany and while I'm at it I got to say I miss them so much, it's ridiculous. These four girls were really so much fun to be around and I'm so, so grateful for having been with them on this tour. But also being invited to be a part of this whole thing was the amazing and I wish I could just go back now. Because we experienced so many great thing but also since everyone on the team was plain wonderful and it was a fairly tearful farewell in the end.

However, and here comes the hopefully cool part for you, there is going to be a whole episode of Kawaii International on our adventures in Tokyo THIS WEEKEND! ♥

Yep! If you're interested in what we've been up to over there, please tune in!

Here's the schedule:

In Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) it's:

May 25, Saturday 15:10/19:10/23:10

May 26, Sunday 03:10/07:10/11:10

So please convert your accurate time and go to Kawaii.i's webpage to see our program!

In the meantime you can also check out their Facebook page to find looooots and lots of pictures from all the days we spent in that huge city and also for Kaila's Kawaii.i Giveaway!

Hope to see you again soon and I hope you will enjoy the show as well as my upcoming reports. Until then please take care ♪

Mio~

It's been... a while. No, not just a while, it feels like an eternity.

Did you all have lovely holidays? I hope so, even though it seems odd and funny to ask that when it's almost February.

As you can read in the title, I'm going to officially announce my hiatus for Pastel Raindrops.

I'm terribly sorry for this, especially since there are lots of lovely peeps always coming back to this place, hoping for an update. I'm sorry for disappointing you once more but there are several reasons for this and I've thought about this for a very long time. There's also more things connected to this and possibly there will be more announcements in the future but as long as things are not thought through carefully and as long as I'm not 100% sure on everything there won't be any news.

Now, I have no idea how long this hiatus will be, I merely know that I need a break from all this and that this doesn't have any future at all if I don't do it now. Besides that, there are a lot of things going on in my life and my head right now that are very time consuming so you can be sure that this break will be well used.

In the meantime you can take a look over at my tumblr since I have a couple of things explained more carefully over there and you might get a better insight into my thoughts on many things (also concerning this and other connected issues), and I will likely update more often over there as well. Not regularly but if there are any news I write them down there first.

After the kind of, sort of bad news I also have a little something to show. 

Some pastels? YES!

In form of a little illustration!

It's nothing very new but I didn't post it here before and if you are not frequenting my instagram it's likely you didn't see it yet.

This was done for a little project and the topic was 'Lolita' but of course I had to give it a little Fairy twist (and you all know I love salopettes, right?). It was nice in general to some illustration works again at that time. In fact, I'd like to get back to it again right now but I lack the time for it and I'm afraid I just don't feel it either. Instead I'm filling my sketchbook up with random things and drawings of the people inhabiting my brain, which nobody ever sees.

And that's it for now.

We'll see when I'll be back, I hope you won't forget about me in the meantime.

Much love,

Mio ♥

Are you all ready for winter to come?

Up here it gets colder by the day and last weekend we this first snowflakes came down as well. It's almost crazy how quickly this year passed me by. Christmas is only around the corner and so it the new year! If -as it's popular believe- it won't end before all that.

For today I thought of showing you some of my latest gets to give you an idea of my winter's wardrobe and outfits. Sure there's plenty more but these here are my favourite pieces right now, as well as the warmest ones. Especially after the latest incidences I need a cosy, warm embrace even more - even if it only comes from a nice sweater.

Yes, you guessed it! Half my wardrobe is still Monki and so I don't think it's really a surprise this one has become the most favourite sweater I own right now. I'm not even sorry.

What certainly is a bit new though is the fact I started wearing pants again. Like, legit, actual pants with two legs, a zipper at the front and everything. It started this summer when I didn't know what to do with a Weekday giftcard, so I got a pair of Cheap Monday high waists. That's also my one condition about pants: They need to be high waist! And these ones? They are perfect! These two are from Monki as well.

Another pair of cord pants (so, so comfy!) and socks by Monki. Also, a shirt from Illustrated People (hurry up, it's still on sale!)



I actually found that old Lacoste cardigan at the flea market just a few weeks ago and it's absolutely lovely, especially because it's so big. Yes, oversize everything for me as always. The skater skirt is from Sparkle & Fade at Urban Outfitters and I really love wearing it with my good, old, Underground creepers!



This Acne cardigan is probably the most amazing thing ever. Yes, it's Acne and to be honest I always wanted to have one of their amazing things but it's also very warm and lovely. The cute velveteen shorts are from Miracle Eye and the shirt is from H&M. A cute hair bow is always a go, obviously!



This Monki cardigan is SO HUGE! But also just SO great for this cold weather (especially since I don't have a warm coat yet) and best about is that I got it 50% off ♥ Old Martens are always lovely, too, of course and one can always use a cool shirt, Illustrated People again in this case.

What you see above is the first pair of pants I talked about earlier, the Cheap Monday pair. A simple cardigan from H&M's Men's department is also nice to have and one of my two Illustrated People sweatshirts I love so much ♥



OH NO! THE SHIRT THAT FITS MY SOCKS! Hell yeah! Yes, of course from Monki! The skirt, which has almost turned into a daily-wear-skirt for me is from Miracle Eye and the cardigan is from H&M Divided. Here are also my absolute favourite heels right now. They are from last year's Akira collection and incredibly comfortable. I call them my witch booties, they are just magical ♥


Now then, I better hurry to bed now, still need to pack my 'school bag ' ♪

Hope you enjoyed this little insight to my closet and that you could get a little idea about my very own winter.
Stay warm & much love!
Mio ♥

Pardon my long absence but these crazy, new times I'm working my way through right now don't exactly allow me much time to dedicate to blogging and internet things in general. To be honest, I've actually thought of closing PR♪ in this time but the thought of abandoning it saddens me too much. Leaving it for so long makes me feel weird already as it is.

Just to outline some of the past events in short: 

University started about three weeks ago and before that there were a couple of other things to take care of, as well as me being pretty ill once again. Now things slowly regain some sort of normality and I try to adjust to my new schedules as well as I can. Which is fairly tight, including my working hours, so it's not all so easy.

Nevertheless, I'm currently very well balanced and happy with how things are going and how my days at the university are. I must say, it's a really nice place with nice people and I like how it's not so big, yet leaves you so many possibilities. 

But that is that and we'll see how it all continues ♥

Guess I could tell you all a million things about all what's happening in more detail but like I said - I'd like to keep it short.

So just for this blog to make some sense again and to show something new to you all I got around editing some photographs of a past 'shooting' I did with Nechan and Anni. There are still like a million pictures to edit and a million other ones but I don't have the time and mind for that at all, sadly. On the other hand I'm much more inspired again and put my sketchbook to some more use but more of that maybe some other day.

Instead some pictures:

That day I also took photographs of my friend's Kuragehime Cosplays so while we were at it I decided to dress up as well and try on my -then- new salopette. Hopefully I can find some time to edit the other photographs as well since I think some of them turned out rather nice.

Also as a stupid extra:

Hopefully I can be back without such a long break and soon as I can. And I also hope you didn't forget me after all the days and weeks.

Marie ♥

I say it can't!

.

.

.

But I didn't get a complete diagnosis of this matter yet, so there's no way I could guarantee this for you.

The above picture may already be a hint and if you didn't guess it already (or seen it elsewhere), I've been quite crafty again! Once more with shoes - creepers to be even more specific.

Within the past weeks I simply couldn't keep my hands still, even drawing is a piece of cake these days, how weird! Is this a sign? Did aliens visit me to inject me creative energy? So far there is no answer to this but the results make me happy.

Painting a pair of creepers was actually a thing that has been haunting my mind for quite some time but I never found the right pair for this as I already saw the finished shoes right in front of me, I knew exactly how they were supposed to look. Then a few months ago I finally found a proper pair on eBay (which is now out of stock, sadly - but maybe the keywords can help to find a similar one) to get it started.

Almost half a year ago I already made a cheap Photoshop edit with my old creepers to visualise about what I had in mind:

Of course they didn't turn out exactly like this - after all my exact idea was slightly different.

So here is the final result of them:

This is what I meant when I called 'death by glitter'!

In person they are even more shimmery and glimmery, I love it so much. And I was surely very much content with how they turned out in the end.

For these I basically followed all the steps from my recent tutorial, just in case you were wondering. The only thing that's different here was the glimmery topcoat I made by mixing transparent fabric paint with loose glitter.

And since I felt like pictures weren't really enough to show just how much they sparkle, I prepared two gifs as well as a short video for you to show you the shoes in motion. Please bear with me, though, I'm by no means good at filming or editing videos but I tried my best.

Hope you enjoyed this sparkly journey!

See you soon~

Mio ♥

It's weird but in all the past weeks I've actually been fairly creative - for my own standards at least - and my mind to hand communication functioned pretty decently. There's plenty of artworks I've yet got to show you  and I'm not sure whether I should be presenting them little by little or all at once.

It's a fact, though, that I'm more than happy to draw more frequently again, that I actually use my sketchbooks again and that I get to really finish some pieces.

Yes, I do finish them. And not just after months and months, some of these were finished in just days and that's something that probably didn't happen in years.

The artwork that I want to show you today was merely the result of an experiment and isn't something that I usually do, at least not colour and material wise. It's just that I recently got infected with a severe case of neon-addiction, due to some of the application works that I did. That's why I'm having a couple bottles of neon acrylic paint around and that paired with my normal love for all that glitters and glimmers brought up this thing.

I finished the drawing and its colouration within one day and even though it wasn't done in as much detail as usual I was quite content with it. Using Copic Ciao markers and coloured pencils together with text marker ended in what I hoped for, some neon-mess.

The more unusual part for me was probably the acrylic paint and the fact I put everything together on a canvas, which gave me a very hard time until everything was completely finished.

The problem was to get the drawing which was done on paper onto the canvas and it took me three tries because the glue I used would always wet up again once I put a layer of clear paint over it and wrinkling everything. I had to wash everything off after each try and that washed out the colouration a bit, especially the textmarker that vanished completely.  After two new colouration touch-ups everything was finally done, even though I almost had some minor break downs in between since things just wouldn't work out. Ultimately I had to work all wet in wet and used the clear acrylic paint as a glue as well as a top layer.

Even though I cursed this artwork at some points I think I'm now quite cool with it. It didn't turn out quite as expected but it didn't end up as wrecked as I though it would be at some times. 

It found a new home at my sister's place now, too - even though I'm not sure if she already found it. I hid it in the things my dad brought her last week and didn't tell her about it yet so I'm not sure.

That would be it for today ♥ Expect some more art related stuff in the near future~

&& See you again soon!

Mio~

Here I am with blacks and white once again with another casual outfit. It's been quite a while, huh?

These days I've spent some lovely times with friends once again, had to say good bye and could welcome some from other cities. Had endless rain and got desert temperatures but all in all it was all good ♥

Some time ago I got a lovely parcel from SheInside, delivering me a wonderful T-Shirt! I was glad I finally got to wear it, and I absolutely loved the print for fairly obvious reasons. The Stones have been one of my favorite bands for a long time now and my dad has been playing them in our house ever since I can think. Well, what can I say? We're a rock'n'roll household and I was early vaccinated with it.

It was truly a wonderful day I had with my dears Maikel and Roya and the sunny, yet not too hot weather got me into the mood for autumn. I can almost feel it now, it feels like burgundy red, copper, lots of black and velveteen touches. Maybe now I finally got to wear the dark vine lipstick I got some months ago, that sounds like a plan!

Until then, take care ♥

Mio~

Another long absence lies behind me as well as more exhausting times of work, nerve wrecking waiting periods and lots of pencil work and paint. At last it all paid off in the end, if I may say so. 

How? I finally made it through to get a place at university and starting this October I'll be a student of Integrated Design at the University of Arts Bremen! To be honest, I still find it hard to believe I made it through in the end, it's like the rough ending to a roller coaster ride that was far too long and sometimes even scary. And though this also means that I'll have to stay in my little hometown for a little longer than planned I'm still incredibly happy and relieved about this turn. Besides that, this university is actually quite sweet and I feel I'll have a good time there, I can't wait to start studying!

Another thing that paid off at last was a little personal project of mine that I finally finished yesterday, which I will show you as we read on. I prepared a little tutorial for you all on how to paint your own, lovely and unique shoes ♥

I'll show you step by step how I created this pair of sneakers, with a design based off on one of my favorite dresses from Spank! Don't be afraid, it's a piece of cake with this method and you have countless ways and possibilities to create your very own design ♪

But first things first, here are the things you will most likely need for this.

Pictured are the things that I personally used for this and products I've used and can recommend. However, you are not limited to those and not all things are a necessity or will have to be used in this form. 

I suggest to use white canvas shoes or shoes made of some sort of fabric or else you will need a different type of paint. Fabric has the benefit to absorb paint very well and thus helps it to last longer. With a white base your colours will turn out more vibrant and will be easier to apply opaque.

I found my hi-top sneakers in a little shoe store in Berlin that sold non-brand shoes but you will easily find good shoes at stores like Primark, sometimes H&M or other high street shops as well as online on eBay for example. Just search for things like "Canvas Shoes", "White Sneakers" or "Plimsoles" but make sure to arrange the listings by price to find the best bargains.

Here you can go wild and chose any colour you would like of course and also have a brand paint of your choice and trust. You don't need the most expensive ones but ones that dry well, not sticky, have good pigmentation and I also suggest to go for rather opaque colours, especially for white! Maybe pay a visit to your local craft supplies store and see what they have available and if they have some test charts for you to look at check those out as well. My brand of choice is Marabu and Javana for the black but I'm not sure if those are available world wide.

My favorite kind of brushes are broad synthetic ones since the fibers are soft, yet don't bend as easily as they do with pointed brushes. They give you great control over what you do with them and work very precise. Mine are from Da Vinci and very easy to handle. In case you need some more precision for your designs it's also handy to have very, very tiny brushes, something like a 0 or even less depending on what you are going for.

This is something very convenient, especially when you are working longer on your project because it allows you to keep your paint wet to be used over several days or even longer. It's also nice because you can mix and store bigger amounts of a certain colour without having to mix it again and again. You won't have to worry about getting the shade spot on with something like this. It's not necessary for you to have a palette like this, though. Small bottles or jars do the same job as long as they don't leak out or allow air to get inside.

Some other things that are optional buy nevertheless great to have and use:

What I have pictured here are special effect paints, glitter and clear fabric paint all again mostly from Marabu and Javana but also Knorr Prandell and Eberhardt. 

With special effects I'm talking loose glitter, glitter glue, glitter pens, 3D pens and paint, velvet powder and paint, glow in the dark paint, pearl pens, decoration gems, fabric dye and in general all that helps you to create your very own, sweet design. There are so many materials you could use for your crafting and art supplies stores usually have a wide range of those things. You could also wander blindly through the alleys of your favorite store and simply get inspired by the products they offer and imagine how you could work them on your project. If you're going to work with loose things like glitter the transparent paint is very useful because you can mix many things within it and apply like normal paint. If you're going to attach things like gems on your shoes make sure you find a very strong glue or stuff that can also be sewed on so you don't lose any of your pretty decorations.

Now that you have all your materials and things ready it's time to prepare your shoes!

Make sure they have a clean surface, if necessarily throw them in the washing machine before you start on them, and remove your shoe laces if you have any. Next you want to cover the sole carefully with masking tape so you don't get any paint on it because in some cases it may be impossible to remove the paint afterwards if you mess up on some spots, so you want to take care of this beforehand. Eyelets or any metallic parts don't need to be covered because they can easily be cleaned.

Once you have your shoes all prepped you can start with all the painting! In my case I did a base colour first, covering all the visible fabric parts and I think this would work well with many designs one can create.

It's good to mix a big amount of colour for this because you have quite a big area to cover up! And remember to work in your paint very well into the fabric so you don't end up accidently having and left spots.

If your shoes are any other colour than white and you want to cover them, make sure you have a fabric paint that is for darker fabrics or your colours will hardly turn out opaque and you will have to go over it all a couple of times. 

Another option would be to completely colour them using a fabric dye following all the giving instructions.

Once your paint has dried completely you will want to grab your pencil to start drawing on the design or pattern of your choice. I already had a model to copy mine from but if you don't it may be easier to draw yours out on paper first since it can be a little hard to remove the pencil lines from the surface and it's goodr to have a clear scheme or idea to follow. Also don't put too much pressure on your pencil and try to keep your lines as sheer as possible because you will have to cover them up later without them shining through.

If you finished this important step you can finally get to really start on your little piece of art so surround yourself with your paint, brushes and water once again to get all started!

Some advise for these next steps:

♥ Your fabric shouldn't be too liquid as it'll takes away it's coverage and when mixing different colours together stir them carefully so you don't have any lumps in your paint and will be able to have a smooth application.

♥ Remember that wet paint always appears lighter than paint that has dried. When in doubt - or when following a certain colour scheme - rather mix everything a shade lighter than you normally would.

♥ Start building up your paint by using the lightest colours first. Darker ones will always cover up the lighter ones better, this will give you the cleanest results.

♥ Some colours will need multiple layers in order to be completely opaque and to cover up and lines or paint below them so just be patient and built up it up.

♥ It's very important to always let your paint dry thoroughly so you don't accidently mix to layers of different shades or create unwanted fuzziness, unless you want to create gradients.

♥ If you do want to have gradients you will have to paint wet in wet, using a soft brush for the edges and possibly help it with carefully adding a couple drops of water while blending.

♥ In general, don't be afraid to play around with your paint and try out different techniques. If you are unsure about the results you will get you may want to use a piece of fabric to test everything on.

From here on you just continue to carefully paint on your patterns and creations, little by little.

When you really let each layer you've painted on dry through completely it'll also be a lot easier to clean up any mistakes that you may make. For smaller flaws it could already be enough to scratch off excess paint and spots with your fingernails or a sharp-edged tool but if that doesn't help use a clean, wet brush to rub it off and then dab the surface try with a paper towel. For the case that you do mess up worse it may be a good idea to keep small amounts of the colours you've used for any touch ups.

After all that you may or may not continue by adding some glitter, sticking on some sparkling gems or adding some more funky detail to your shoes. Optionally you can also seal them off with some clear paint or Mod Podge afterwards to make them wind and waterproof if your regular fabric paint didn't already do that for you. Mine dries up waterproof on its own after a couple of days but another top layer may also be nice to have a glossy finish for example.

When all your work is done at last and your parts and pieces are all dry and neat it's your turn to take a bunch of q-tips and start cleaning up the metal parts you might have covered in paint.

This is very simple and works well - just dip them into water and attentively rub them over the metal and eventually all the excess paint will come of with barely any effort at all.

Then it's finally time to remove your masking tape if you used any - or in my case - grab a damp towel to rub off all the last spots and flaws from your sole and any other parts.

What I did lastly was to have me some fabric dye and use that on my shoelaces to make them fit the rest of the shoes. If you want to, this may be another lovely detail for yours but it's important your laces are made from cotton to soak up the dye well and that you use it all accordingly to the given instructions.

Given that you don't want to add anything else to your wearable, little artworks you are now all finished and can show the world all that you created! But just in case it gets rainy outside, you better wait until your paint has become completely waterproof - you wouldn't want to ruin your work now after all this effort, would you?

Now this is what my sneakers looked like in the end after this whole, long process. I'm much content and satisfied with their outcome! I finally have the perfect shoes to wear with my Spank! dress and even better: something pretty and unique to wear outside

I hope this tutorial was useful for you guys and that you will have as much fun as I had while customizing your plain shoes. If you need any further help or have any other questions concerning this please let me know about it and I'll do my best to solve it out with you.

And if you did end up trying this out I'd be more than curious to see your pretty results so don't be shy to show them ♥

Until next time!

Mio~ ♪

Busy times, busy times! 

I'm freshly out of my so-called 'vacation' a.k.a. the-time-I-pretty-much-only-spent-drawing-and-focusing-on-my-application. Yes, I believe that sums it up all well! I've buried my head, mind and fingers in all that is art, worked on some fine illustrations and in between had a little life crisis in between my entrance exam and almost missing the interview that came along with it. Let me tell you, there wasn't much vacation there.

Only the second week of it, when I spent 3 days in Schwerin with Flau and Mi and on one lovely Friday when I teamed up with Maikel, Nechan, Roya and Anni ♥ 

There aren't any that exciting pictures of those event to show you, only little lovely random shops from my iPhone but if you care and are able to you can find them on my instagram, my username is 'pastelraindrops' over there.

Apart from that there isn't much anything to show, really, or at least I don't have anything I feel like writing about from my archive. Maybe some other day, but not now. Today, though, I have some little impressions to show you from my ever growing toy collection.

I'd never pass an opportunity to get some lovely old toys, whether it may be at the flea market or online. If I'm in love, I better buy it. It can't be helped, I'm afraid. There are still lots of toys, dolls and plushies I'm dreaming of but they are hard to get for me. I wish flea markets in Germany would offer more for a toy obsessed girl like me but I'm already happy about the occassional Keypers or Polly Pocket find ♥

How about you? Do you have a little secret obsession as well or something that you've always collected? Or would you like to see more from this collection of mine perhaps? ♥

I hope you are all alright and that you all have a sweet week! ♥

P.S.: I updated the Press section with some new reads. If you'd like to, please check out what's new in there ♪

Much love~
Mio

I swear, I have an explanation for this way too long absence! 

It may be not the best one but nevertheless it is an explanation of some sort. Once again it was time for assignments and applications again for me, no I didn't lose my faith in getting a spot at university yet, and so I had to sit down and do some work to send in some neat little results. Thus far at least some time I spent on all that paid off since I've made it into the entrance exam scheduled for the end of the month that is taking place in Bremen. The other one was for a university in Berlin but I guess I need to wait some more for the results of that one as the due has only ended past Friday. All fingers crossed I can make it this time, I'm doing my very best at least.

Apart from all that I more or less enjoyed my life with all it's up and downs, work, friends and some thick bronchitis that I finally got to fight completely - or so it seems.

I hope I can also update more frequently for now since I really hate neglecting you all.

What I was initially going to show you today was actually a more or less boring review but I decided to take you on a little Shopping Update instead. The title already suggests it - it'll be minty. Colourwise.

These mint Pearl Doc Martens from last years S/S collection were such a must have, let me tell you. It was a long way too get them, though. When I first saw them on Ebay I sadly missed buying them in my size and only later I found them a size bigger than I usually wear but bought them regardless. Turned out they were way too big and I already lost my hopes on ever wearing them out until I found a German shop that carried them. Sadly they appear to be sold out everywhere now, I would've loved to get the other colours or maybe the Oxfords version as well.

Some more pastel shoes? YES! And sneakers, too. Reeboks even!

I'm not going to lie, I love Reeboks. I simply do. I 'only' really have them in two colours so far but I wouldn't mind having some more.

These were a lucky find on a German used clothing site (Kleiderkreisel, some of my German speaking fellows might know it already) and I just love them! They are so comfy and cute, too ♥

This jacket is definitely one of my absolute dream items from Angelic Pretty!

I still remember when it was released and how I fell deeply in love with that little collection but it wasn't until recently that I could call this my own, thanks to a egl_sales_comm ♥

It's simply perfect in every way possible. At least for me~

Lastly I treated myself two other Angelic Pretty items~

They're from the recent re-release of the print series 'Toy Parade' which was pretty much my first dream print ever since I discovered Lolita. Back then I always wanted to have the white OP version of it but having the skirt in the new mint colourway I have to admit that it's even better now ♥

And this would be all again for today ♥

Did you like these few items? I hope you did!~

In other news, as you might have noticed, I have a new watermark for my pictures but this time it's a real logo rather than just some writing. The main reason for this change is that in the past it has often occured now that people would crop off my watermarks and re-posted them online and so I've decided to put something a little bigger and bolder onto them for now at least. I hope I don't have to make it even bigger in the future as I, of course, would like to obstruct my photographs and pictures as little as possible but with some people acting so unfair this just has to do.

Please remember that I really don't mind others using my pictures for non commercial purposes and I'm even fine with them being posted to sites such as tumblr but please don't edit or change them in any way. Especially don't crop out my watermarks, give me at least that much credit, that would be kind.

But enough of these things now!

I hope you'll all have a great start into this new week and that you're all well ♥

See you again soon~

Mio

And there she was gone again for a couple of weeks, oh no!

But she's back again in good spirits and something new to show ♥

Where I've been? Well, t'was mostly just the usual daily life that caught me, regular work, meeting friends, celebrating my birthday and working on some things including a little bit of a surprise that'll come up sometime soon!

Back in March I also managed to finish another drawing that I've been working on way too long and after that didn't get around to scan until today. It's been for a lovely girl who once did a little drawing for me when we decided to do a little swap. It's been too long since that and I'm just very, very slow at drawing (which is why I'll probably never be able to do things like comissions, oh woe is me) but after all, I finish what I want to finish. Even if it'll take me centuries.

Just a lovely, little Lolita girl in her own little, dreamy world. Drawn with Copic Ciao markes and coloured Pencils as usual.

It's nothing really special but maybe someone likes it anyway ♥


Until next time ♪
Mio~

A guy who has been so dreamy they completely forgot to write a proper little something for this little bitty blog.

This was definitely not my intention but those days passed by almost unnoticed until it was time for me to leave my vacational comfort zone to go to work again this week. 

The daily grind has gotten back to me just as I have gotten back to you to show you something new from the past. This time it's pictures from a Lolita meet up in my hometown the week before Christmas.

It has been a really sweet little meet up with lots of nice peeps, glorious cake and darling hot chocolate. All of that in the somehow-snowy-but-not-actually-really-snowy Bremen ♥

(The following pictures are all courtesy of Kira ♪)

It was also, I have to admit that one, an excuse to wear Lolita again since I didn't do so in a long while! Though I actually really love this style and I wish I could wear it more often. What keeps me from doing so is just blatantly the fact that I consider it a fashion that needs it's own occasion and most of all friends who dress up with you. Neither are offered to me that often, so I'm thankful for any time I can go and wear my favorite dresses, even if there aren't that many that I can call my own. 

The one I've worn that day is still my latest fad Lolita wise and I think I've fallen in love with mint even more after having gotten this. Dreamy Dollhouse is still one of my favorite prints ever and I was so happy I could finally buy the jumperskirt version of it. I can't even really put my finger on what it is that makes me love it so much but I simply do. I really do love this dress ♥

Now my lovelies, I won't bore you much longer with my love declarations towards clothes, I'll continue by wishing you a wonderful, dreamy, good night and an even more wonderful weekend!

Take care ♥

Mio~

Hellow my little kitsch addicts ♥

Posting so soon again? HELL YES! Only very quickly though because I meant to go to sleep - what - 3 hours ago?

So let's do this! I have something new to show you and this time it's art relates.

Getting curious?
Then have some more ♥




H-o-l-y! I would've NEVER thought I'd actually finish this but somehow I did?
It all just started as a junk sometime last year whilst thinking about how I didn't draw anything just because I wanted to in a long time. Meaning, nothing except for portfolio stuff and things for others.
So this was merely supposed to be something little for me but on its journey it got bigger and bigger. At first I really didn't want it to be so clean and detailed but simply something to fool around with but then my darn perfectionism shimmered through again and took a turn into it all.

Then in early march I picked it up again, did the lines and quickly finished it step by step. Within maybe 2-3 weeks I had it finished and yes, that's pretty quick for me at least because I usually start something and then eventually work on it on and off over months.
Now, here have some progress pictures taken with Instagram ♪




And lastly some close-up progress pictures of this babe ♪



So, how do you like it? ♥
It's a little different from the usual pastel stuff but not less kitschy, perhaps a bit more like some of my older artworks from the Decora times only with an 80s vibe, haha~
Or at least that was a bit I had in mind with this. It's should be funky ♪
I for myself am surprisingly pleased with it and most of all I had lots of fun drawing it - like I didn't have in a long, long time ♥


Happy Easter!
Mio~ ♥

It's probably better to apologize beforehand for the massive picture spam that is coming up in this entry and I'm almost positive that your computer is going to hate me for it. Just sometimes, you have so many things to share and you want to share them all at once and simply can't decide which ones to choose. So, sorry if you browser will freeze because of this, I take all the blame~

Now it's been a couple of weeks again and I meant to write about it already some time ago but yes, it was time for the Leipzig Bookfair again! The LBM - as everyone calls it shortly - is certainly one of the nicest conventions of the year and pretty much the only one I visit still. Though this year I've only got there because of a chain of lucky events and only spent a couple of hours in between all those colourful, crazy and lovely people ♥

Nevertheless, it's been wonderful as always and I took the opportunity to go a little bit more wild with my outfit again and wore some of my newest purchases.

Let's go ♥

Not enough yet? Then have some of my beautiful friend Anni ♥ That day she cosplayed as Kuranosuke from Kuragehime ♪

Lastly, we'been a little bit dorky and kept it on pictures, yes! Actually, there are way more dorky pictures but we also had the idea to make some little gif pictures, so here they are!





And this would be about it ♥
It was a truly wonderful day and it was nice to spend it with some beloved people, even if there weren't that many of my friends there this year. But I also met some very nice people on this little journey and made some helpful experiences for me. The only downside is that - once again - Mimi and I forgot to take pictures together. As always. We don't even know ourselves but we always end up forgetting it, which is a pity.

I sincerely hope your computer is still alive and despite this massive amount of pictures at once that you still enjoyed them a little~



Have a sweet weekend my lovelies ♥
Mio~

...in a parcel. From a plane.

In February - or was it January? - a long awaited parcel was handed over to me, containing all the things that dreams are made of and a skirt I have been lusting over for the longest time.

So with the help of a sweet girl I finally had a little dream come true for me and wearing that skirt for the first time was like a revelation. Maybe I'm a little too dramatic about things like this but there is very little in the world that makes me as happy as clothes do and receiving new things in the mail can brighten almost every gloomy day in an instant.

So I guess I just start off showing you this wonderful thing~

Yes, this is the skirt of my dreams, eversince it came out a few years ago. Now 6%DokiDoki made a re-release of it and when it came out it almost looked like I still wouldn't be able to purchase it but in the end it all went good ♥ 

Then next up I got some things from milklim again ♪

A pair of shorts, a dress and another sweatshirt that I just couldn't resist. And really with my big love for sweatshirts right now and the fact that milklim's ones are especially comfy it was a little must for me again. But I also just love these kind of milklims things too much, I really can't help myself.
Though I also love the fact that all of the little moons on the dress and the shorts are embroidered, it's nice to see and feel ♥


Lastly there was a release from Angelic Pretty that was simply made for me, Sugar Hearts ♥
Later they also released a special version JSK of it which I think I might be looking to get in the future but for now I just got the skirt and some accessories along with it, also because I always wanted to have an AP skirt like this ♪



This skirt is just so much love and fun to wear, I tell you! Especially this lovely chiffon that it's made of is really amazing, so soft and lovely ♥
Now I also finally have a lavender skirt to wear with light colours and not with blacks, unlike my milklim one.
And another reason why I love this so much is simply the print - conversation hearts all over the place ♥

Now that's it for today but I'll be back soon I hope with more things to share like drawings and pictures from the Leipzig Bookfair!

See you soon ♥

Mio~

Another week gone, another yet to come ♪

And it seems that it spring slowly peeks out from behind all that grey winter gloom that is still left in the streets. Spring, we are waiting for you so please come soon, will you?

Apart from working more again I don't do a whole lot of things lately. When I'm not at work I mainly dig through my records, have a nice cup of coffee or two and - guess what - I'm drawing!

Extraordinarily much for my oh-so-low standards even! This won't be the topic of today, though since I didn't get to finish what I'm currently working on yet. Hopefully I'll do so this week, so I can show you some of it ♥

Speaking of art, would anyone be interest to take a little glance into my current art portfolio?

Onto what I was actually going to show you, some pictures from September and October, back when I finally got my hands on a pair of those absolutely stunning Black Milk leggings! They surely aren't exactly cheap for a pair of leggings but they surely are something very special, to me at least, and worth every penny.

I've treated me a pair of the purple ones after thinking of them for so long ♪

After all these months I can still say that I love them awfully dear! They simply feel wonderful on my legs, almost like a second skin and I wouldn't want to miss them anymore.

I also absolutely adore my Thelma Vagabond wedges which I've found at a small flea market last summer. That was one lucky day, let me tell you! Vagabonds for 9€? Always in on that! And out of all the wedges and heels I own they are certainly the most well made and most comfortable ones. I can walk an entire day in them without having sore feet, which is great!

Lastly I wanted to talk a little about the little Google Friends Connect widget that I also have on my sidebar because I've read that Google stopped that service for non Blogspot user with the beginning of March.
To be honest, I don't know how that worked in general because I've always only used it in Blogspot but I suppose if you didn't it comes in handy to have an alternative. So, I've just wanted to do a little shout out that you can still follow me on Bloglovin' in case you've lost track of Pastel Raindrops ♪ because of this issue. It works just as fine, if not even better, and it's a great surface to follow blogs in general, just in case ♥

And with this, I say good bye for tonight ♥
Have yourself a sweet week y'all!

Mio~

It was in September, I take, when I received a huge parcel from Japan all stuffed with pastel-y goodness and very sweet things which I collected at my shopping service over the summer.

Guess I never got around to show them to you, though you may have seen me wearing one or another thing already.

No, I won't talk too long about it, I'd much rather show you the things that I got back then ♥

Let's start off with some clothes I purchased from milklim, yes?

There's no use in denying it, milklim has to be one of the most adorable brands EVER.
Just everything they make is wonderful and they surely have some of the cutest prints, patterns and cuts ever. Actually I was going to buy from them a lot sooner but they were always out of stock with the things I wanted until then. No regrets, though - they have good prices, good quality and and their clothes are super comfy, too. Only the mint skirt it very short, sadly but it offers enough room for a little petticoat or another skirt to wear underneath so it's all good ♥

I also got some stuff from mbok, sometimes Japanese auctions are really awesome when you're looking for some cool stuff ♪

Finally got these wonderful MILK sneakers, I almost couldn't believe it! Guess I don't need to add how happy I am about them ♥

Jewelry Jelly & Colourful Sherbet OTKs from Angelic Pretty ♥ Finally some lavender overknee's!

I also got these two tee's from Banana Fish ♪ With them I finally have all the BF shirts I always wanted to have the most. Banana Fish will always be in my heart ♥

The last and, well, biggest thing I got was this~ ♥

A dress from Angelic Pretty ♥ I know Vanilla-chan wasn't an exactly popular print but I always really loved it! I just have a thing for long sleeved dresses and for me the print was purrfect ♥

This was all for now but in other news that you have probably already noticed now that you're here: Pastel Raindrops ♪ has a new layout!
I worked on it last weekend, made some new graphics, along with a new header, some new adjustments and now I also have a new comment form which allows to write replies. How do you like it? ♥
I really hope it works alright with your browsers and screens but if there appears to be anything wrong please tell me and I'll work on it~

Hope y'all had a great start in the new week ♪
Much love~
Mio

Back on a warm and sunny autumn Sunday I took the train off to Hannover with some friends of mine to spend a lovely day together. It's surely been one of the loveliest days from all of last year. Trust me, you don't need much for that except for some good friends who are ready to be fun and a little dorky.

Initially we went to a very small convention called 'NiCon' but in the end we only got there fairly late because of reasons and as we got there we just spent the time on the playground next to the house where it all took place. I for myself wasn't there for the convention anyway so nothing was lost.

Now when I look at those pictures I can't help but think: HOW LONG WAS MY HAIR?!
Am I the only one who never happens to notice how long their hair is unless they see it on photographs?
Well, my hair wasn't in its best condition back then (and for some reason it got kind of messy during the day even though I ironed it) but it surely was longer than I always thought.

Why I write about it this way you may wonder now? Well, I guess those who follow my tumblr don't happen to know it but I cut off my hair in December to get rid of all the damaged parts once and for all. Since then it has grown already a bit again and I'd say it's slightly above shoulder length now.
For me it's kind of unusual because: 1- I hadn't had a haircut like that since I was 9 and 2- I've always wanted long nice hair and chopping it off wasn't an easy decision for me at least.
Now it can grow all healthy again, even though it'll take some time.

I hope you enjoyed my little outfit post ♥
Much love && take care!
Mio~