[shopping] small business support – purchases of second quarter 2025

Continuing my previous posts documenting my hauls from small businesses and independent artists, this time starting from April to June 2025! As mentioned, I try my best to support artists selling their own artwork and other small goods instead of buying stuff from big companies. Of course I can’t help spending on official franchise merchandise or random items I don’t need from Daiso (at least I’m supporting a business located in my area?), but I make an effort to support local artists especially ones who aren’t as busy as others. Now tariffs on overseas goods not gifts make it difficult to support artists not in the United States and is increasing production and merchandise costs for artists domestically. One can only hope the tariffs will be repealed asap.

Here is everything I got from Kirakira market on April 5th! You can see my wa-lolita coord for that event on a previous post. First off are two loose leaf tea bags and a kumya frosted sugar cookie from Olive Bakes. I also got sparkly strawberry earrings and custom nails (pics in a future post) from Tottemoii Designs. I got the handmade black/red heart purse from SewSpoiledCrafts on Instagram. The crochet scrunchie was from Strings N Things and the lolita sticker and Sanrio bracelet from Pastel Polaris Shop. I have no idea where the Bluey sticker came from, it was a freebie. And the pearl necklace and smut slut badge was from Starpo Shop. All in all, a decent haul from a few makers I haven’t shopped at yet before!

Next is this amazing bundle for the Dungeon Meshi cookbook fanzine To Your Heart’s Desire. I have only watched 6 episodes at this point, but I’m really into collecting fanzines that are also cookbooks, so one day I will finish the series and try out the recipes. This bundle includes gorgeous artwork on stickers, charms, notepads, recipe cards, prints and fun diecut cards from various artists.

A cute bundle bought from OrbularBird on Etsy and Instagram full of Transformers merch and I guess pre-pride month stuff, not just for trans folks, but all of the rainbow (all more or less present in the canon Transformers franchise!) The seeker jet hologram sticker is for clinging onto your window, currently on my car, the Sentinel Prime lanyard holds my keys, and the Seeker badge is on my ita-bag. I love the pride stickers but haven’t used them yet lol.

Now for my merch haul from Weeb-con artist alley! This is my first year attending, it was kind of close to my house, my friends were vending, and I wanted to see what it was all about, so I just went on Sunday for a few hours. On the lefthand side is Transformers Prime Starscream plushie with a Starscream knife enamel pin and Soundwave sticker, all from plushisheep. The tarot card earrings and heart sticker are from rinnekanzaki. The Genshin prints and gacha badge ribbon are from  yangosart. The cute Xinyan charm and Apothecary Diaries sticker are from Cat Nerd Creations. The Fern bag and white rabbit washi tape are from Mochiron Store. The sweet dreams and sleepy vibes pixel stickers are from Pixemancer. And the fox pin and witch print are from Shiye (carrd link.)

Err I forgot which event this was lol, I think it was the Bunny Bash Beach Episode at Lucky Bunny in May. The cute iced cookies are from Ali Chan. The bottle print is from… err, I forgot already lol. The cute bunny stickers are from In the Blue Moon. The red/pink envelopes and more bunny stickers are from elbth.cafe.

This art haul was from the Mirai Magica event, in which you get magical girl trading cards with purchase, I was pleasantly surprised to get Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus and Tomoyo from Card Captors. The Alucard print and Megatronus Prime sticker from Nemesiskyo. The Chrono Trigger sticker sheet and boba sticker from Choqo Witch. And the pink sticker sheet and relaxing bear sticker are from Desutroyer.

Decorating stickers and a berry cake sticker from ahn.studio!

More decorating stickers from diwata crafts on Etsy! I’ve been using these gorgeous clear holographic stickers to deco card holders, got this tip from my bff Cat.

This is a haul from the June Animeuwu art market. The Moo Deng sticker pack is from bearibop. The capybara car coaster and knit leaf is from Tiny Tusk Studio. The other Moo Deng sticker and tummy ache sticker is from Valki Draws. The pink dessert sticker sheet, howdy card and witch washi tape are from kira kira calico. The Mario print and holo sticker are from Adriana Leyva.

Merch haul from the Gundam pop up event at Toridori. I might have gotten a drink, but I know I did get a matcha cupcake which was yummy, and then bought from 2 artists to get the trading card and sticker bundle prize, heheh.  The Sonic sticker, Starscream pin and washi tape and bishoujo Starscream charm are from plushisheep again and also starlitesparrow and pikel.art. The Optimus Prime and bishoujo print and Sailor Moon print is from cookie keko. Haven’t even watched Gundam yet, was just there to chat lol.

Whew, I only forgot one artist this time! We’re getting better! Anyway, I just can’t remember which booth I bought that bottle print from, and the art doesn’t show up on anyone’s instagram accounts that I looked at, if this is you, let me know so I can link back! Stay tuned for third quarter review, July to September. I’ve been doing my best to continue support for small businesses, but of course, costs for everything are rising and I am not getting a raise anytime soon.