Kawaii y Latina x Babylipgloss1995 Bumper Sticker

One of my favorite things about running Kawaii y Latina is getting to make cute merch to go along with the blog. Admittedly, sometimes my ideas exceed my current skill set. One of these ideas I had was to make a bumper sticker and the perfect solution to this was to reach out to an artist to collaborate with on this to bring this idea to life. I had to reach out to none other than Jessica Esperanza aka @Babylipgloss1995. I've featured her on our Instagram before and her Esty shop is listed on our shopping master list so I'm happy to have a proper blog post dedicated to her art. I was happy that she was totally down for collaboration. I pretty much gave her free range on the design because I knew anything she came up with was going to be amazing.

A picture of artist Jessica Esperanza included in one of her journal spreads

I've been following Jessica on Instagram for many years at this point and seeing her art always brings me so much joy! I love the combination of nostalgic Latino themes in her art and the super cute art style that is so unique to her work. I first met Jessica at one of my Rilakkuma fan meet ups a few years ago and we've kept in touch since. I also have a bunch of her stickers all over my journals. I did a little photo shoot for the stickers and sprinkled some Mexican candy charms I had on hand to go with the theme. So insanely happy with how these turned out and I'm excited to see how you guys use them.

Below is the final product of the bumper sticker and a limited quantity is now up on our shop. Here is a description of the design straight from Jessica herself. "My name is Jessica Esperanza (aka @babylipgloss1995) and when Nathalie commissioned me to make a ‘Kawaii y Latina’ bumper sticker my mind was immediately flowing with cute ideas ☆ !!! I knew I for sure wanted to draw my trinkets and favorite Mexican + Japanese snacks scattered around, like on a picnic blanket then it hit me…serape. A serape is a Mexican bright stripped woven blanket so I knew that would make the perfect background and of course I had to change the traditional colors to fit my style more <3 !"

I also included some of my other favorite art pieces of Jessica's that also give very much Kawaii y Latina for you guys to admire <3 You can shop the new bumper sticker now here! 

Tamakid Decoden Workshop at Pinku Studios

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Tamakid's second decoden workshop at Pinku Studios in Little Tokyo. Evelyn Gonzalez (also known as Tamakid online) is a digital artist, toy collector, youtuber and multimedia artist. She is a Mexican artist with work that is influenced by many different things including Japanese kawaii culture. I first came across Evelyn's work a year ago before the inception of this blog. I was telling one of my close friends, Tanji (who runs a super cute scanned stationary account btw) about my idea for Kawaii y Latina and she immediately told me that I needed to reach out to Tamakid about being featured on the blog. I instantly fell in love with her work and how it feels like it comes from a totally different dimension of all things cute. Things have felt like they've come full circle now that I had the opportunity to cover her workshop for the blog. 

Flyer for the event

When I arrived to the workshop there was a line outside of the shop. By total chance I got in line behind another Latina youtuber, Chiaverse! We chatted about how excited we were for the workshop and ended up at the same table inside, joined by another mutual and reader of the blog whom I finally got to meet. Before the workshop had even started, it already felt like such a special gathering of the sweetest people. Meeting new friends and then getting to craft together felt like the icing (or decoden cream) on the cake. 

@Chiaverse and @Tama_kid

After we walked in, we picked our two deco cream colors and the type of case we were going to decorate. (I brought a clear case for my pink Nintendo DS that I bought specifically for this event). We got settled at our table where we were served the cutest heart shaped flan to snack on while we flipped through some Japanese deco magazines for inspiration. Everyone took turns going up to the charm bar to pick out our share from both Evelyn's handmade charms as well as charms provided by the studio. This was I think one of the funnest parts. The charm bar literally looks like a mini bakery and it was so hard to choose between all of the choices. I went back and forth between all the options before I settled on the charms that would best compliment the chocolate brown and pink theme I was going for.

It got a lot more quiet once everyone got their charms because we were so locked in on getting the charm placement just right. Because of that I was able to hear the music that was playing in the store, which were cute songs I recognize hearing in some Tamakid videos. Not sure if that was intentional but I thought it was a cute detail and really added to the feeling that we were all in an alternate Tamakid universe for the afternoon.

Another highlight was the Tamakid merch booth set up inside of the workshop. There was a line forming before the workshop even started and to no one's surprise, newer items of hers like the photo holder parfaits and chocolate pencil cases sold out right away. I was able to score one of her iconic chocolate deco pocket mirrors, sticker sheets, and a matcha girl themed memo pad. In all the craziness I totally forgot to get one of her posters I've been eyeing so like I'll have to keep an eye out for her next shop update. It was really to sweet how Evelyn has such a supportive group of people around her to help her run the merch booth, passing out supplies, and making sure the whole event ran smoothly. I know from experience how overwhelming event organizing can be, and how much work goes into making everything look effortless. Being on the other side this time was a real treat, and I truly appreciated getting to fully experience the care and thought the Evelyn and her team put into creating something special for everyone who attended.

@_ajmart_ helping out at the merch stand

After we finished our cases, the final step was having them lovingly boxed up by the Pinku staff in special dessert-style boxes, where they would safely dry once we headed out. So many of us stuck around for a bit to take pictures together and exchange Instagram handles to stay in touch before leaving. Since the studio is located in Little Tokyo, my favorite neighborhood in LA, I took the opportunity to shop around and pick up some snacks before heading back home. I could not think of a better way that I could have spent my Saturday! Huge thanks to Evelyn for inviting me and for generously sharing photos for the blog. Be sure to check out her Instagram to keep up with her art and future workshops, and visit her website to shop her work and support her creations.