Manga I Love ~ Otomen

Hello Lovelies~

 I was recently asked by a reader what my favorite manga was. My automatic response was 'Sailor Moon', as that's my response to most things, but then it struck me that while I love everything about 'Sailor Moon', the Anime, the Movies, the Live Action Series, the Toys, the Music, .... it's not actually my favorite manga.

I read a lot of Shoujo manga. Stories of sweet love and elegant art work. It all started with Fushigi Yuugi. A Wonderful epic of a normal high school girl who is sucked into a book and proclaimed the only one that can save the kingdom from war.

 Time went on, more storied were read, and I fell in Love with Kitchen Princess. A story about a girl who is accepted into a school for the gifted and talented due to her eidetic sense of taste and perfect recreation skills.

 More stories followed, many of which I read over and over because I can't get enough of them, and at the moment, my favourite manga happen to be 'Otomen', by Aya Kanno.

It's a story about a boy named Asuka who is said to be the manliest man, but must hide the fact the he loves knitting, cooking, and other girly habits from the world due to his mother's issues with her husband leaving her.

Asuka falls in love with a girl named Ryo who can't cook or do anything feminine, but is skilled in Judo, Karate, and various manly activities and can no longer hide his girlish heart.

The manga follows their love story as Asuka learns it's ok to be who he is and helps others come out of their solid walls of what gender specific habits should be.

This manga is really worth reading. The art is soft and delicate, but at the same time bold and elegant.

It's so...dreamy.

If that's not enough there is a cute boy who loves makeup, one who loves flowers, an adorable boy who just wants to be more manly, a manga artist, and many, many more!

 While this widely popular Manga was never turned into an Anime, it was turned into a Live Action Show which I Love. It follows the manga pretty well and is very cute.

Behold my 'Otomen' Collection!!!

There are volumes I don't have. The manga actually has 18 volumes released in Japan as of January 2013. Upto volume 16 has been released here in America and the next two volumes aren't scheduled to be available until 2014.

DIY Cute Studded Shorts (Tutorial sort of)

Hello Lovelies~

 I know it's November, but in some parts of the world it's warm and I'm dreaming of warm wind and sunshine. A friend of mine, while doing massive amounts of laundry, for a pair of old shorts and asked if I wanted them.

Free shorts? You Bet!

 Now I've had a bunch of light pink studs I've been holding on to since studding came into fashion, but I had yet to find just the right thing to use them on, until now that is.

Step one ~ Lay out your materials. All you need is what you want to stud and the studs. Super Easy!

Step Two~ Choose your design.

 I went with a heart on one pocket and I played around with designs for the other....

Step Three ~ Push the studs through the fabric of your chosen project and carefully fold over the prongs. This was the hardest part of the whole thing. To fold over the prongs, use something heavy and solid. I used a unopened soda can.

 I don't have pictures of this process because I honestly forgot to take them. But I'm sure Youtube has a few good videos on how to do it.

In the end, this is what I chose. The studding was very hard work, but it was well worth it. It's an adorable look that I feel great when wearing.

I really liked doing this. It was so much fun!

 Thanks for reading!!!