Firstly Katuscon 2013 was a blast! Sorry to everyone at katsu who was pointed here by my old business cards, I ran out of the new business cards Saturday night :( So if you would like to start following (or continue to follow) my designs and events please go like the new page Belladonna on facebook! We're actually holding a little giveaway for liking the new page through rafflecopter :D

In addition we're working on a new website, for the time being the address is http://www.belladonna-boutique.us/ . If you like us on facebook or follow us on twitter, or tumblr, then you'll see our announcement when the site goes live!

For now if you would like to purchase anything check out our storenvy :) http://belladonna.storenvy.com/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fabric update and Bunnies & Bowls Pre-order soon! (finally...)

I'm excited to announce that all of the fabric designs from Spring/Summer are available on Spoonflower now! Click for shop. I know this took a really long time to get out, after the initial photo shoot spoonflower said that they we're changing their printing inks, so I had to reorder swatches of everything just to make sure they still printed correctly.  Well they also made swatches $1 instead of $5 so I took the opportunity to get Amelia's Locket and Medusa's Legion printed as well.  Now you can buy Amelia's Locket fabric! Medusa's Legion did not print as planned and honestly there were a few things wrong with the print so now after revisiting the print here it is in Oleander:

Firstly I changed the designs for this print as well, previously all the designs had a bustle and also they all had to be made with a long skirt length because of how large the print was.  In the new designs only the OP has a front bustle, made to look more like an overdress, and everything is done with the sailor/pirate look in mind.  There's a high waist JSK and a regular JSK, the regular JSK can be made in either long length or normal, and a high waisted SK which can also be long length or normal.

On another note perhaps this print could use some explanation :) I wanted to do a deep sea Medusa replacing her hair with creatures of the sea rather than just snakes.  In her hair are sea crates, LOADS of eels and a nautilus.  She's pouring poison into the sea because well, she can, but note that she's also using a special AE teacup with the Octopus design from Amelia's Locket while sticking her pinky out like the classy lady she is.  Originally the print was only going to include poisonous sea creatures, note the ring octopus and box jellies, but then I decided that the print really need a squid and an angler and I also stuck the whole life cycle of jellyfish in there because they're just so alien and beautiful I couldn't help myself.   This is also going to come in green (Lupine) and royal blue (Nightshade) with the colorway names all coming from poisonous plants.  If you look at my spoonflower link under Designs not for Sale you can see the other colors :)

The other exciting announcement I have is that the Bunnies & Bowls Pre-order can finally start soon! Here are some pictures from the first photoshoot.  Like I said earlier the fabric prints differently than how it printed here, however the new printing is so much prettier!! I'm also going to replace some of the lace I used for this photoshoot, I'm not happy with the quality so that was the other reason this pre-order was postponed.. I needed to find lace! Here is the Pricing for Bunnies & Bowls:

OP - $220
JSK - $200
SK - with apron $165, without apron part $150

From Left to Right Apron Style SK, OP, JSK

Hopefully I'll be able to start the Pre-order Friday, if not it'll be Saturday :D I'll close it after a week and then depending on how many orders there are everything should ship out by the end of September!!

Photography by Yenra

Time for Another Giveaway!

Enter to win a free custom skirt by voting for your favorite print! One winner will choose a design, fabric, and colorway and will receive a free Atelier Enchanteur skirt and custom matching headbow!  Some designs and print combinations are shown below:

Please help me choose what print will be in pre-order first by voting in this giveaway, the print that gets the most votes will go up for pre-order first! The prints to choose from are below:

Bunnies & Bowls in 4 colorways

or

Whimsical Chirimen in 3 colorways

or

Hanafuda in 3 colorways

 The giveaway lasts until June 16th! In order to enter you must vote for your favorite print. You can get additional entries by liking my facebook page, following my tumblr, and many other ways, see below! Please share with you friends~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be contacted by email after June 16th.  If they do not respond within one week a new winner will be drawn.  Please only one vote per person!

Want a discount on a future purchase? Write a review!

Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting me and following this brand!  As a thank you to any of my lovely customers I am starting a special discount specifically for anyone who has purchased something from me, either online or in person!

Now when you write a review on previous purchases you can receive a discount on a future purchase! You can write the review on my facebook page, storenvy, EGL feedback page, or post it publicly on your blog/tumblr/livejournal and email me a link to the review.  I will keep track of your review and discount, no code necessary!

You may only receive one discount per purchase reviewed, and the discount is only awarded for reviews of items that we're bought (feel free to review free gifts from orders or giveaway prizes but they do not count as eligible items to receive a discount!)

Discount cannot be applied to previous purchases, no maximum or minimum purchase required.  Clothing is defined by any skirt, jumperskirt, dress, one piece, blouse, coat, or jacket on my storenvy or EGL sales posts.  Accessories are anything else.

Spring Madness!

Well I've started the Spring giveaway, so go see my facebook page for details! Otherwise I've been hard at work getting together the spring looks for the upcoming photoshoot, as well as taxes, and other business things that are not so fun! (but they're finally done just in time, whew!)

Set of Actual Hanafuda Cards

Compared to the new print, Hanafuda!
Three Coloraways Ayame, Botan, and Sakura

For the Spring season I was greatly inspired by Japan and also by memories from my childhood.  One day when I was in high school I noticed a stack of brightly colored beautiful cards with all kinds of animals and plants in lovely bold colors that are from a game called hanafuda.  My grandmother who was always a very strict person (but also very sweet!) who you would never think would ever do anything naughty or even against the law taught me how to play hanafuda a popular gambling game (which was illegal in Hawaii where she learned to play lol...) and through this game I learned a little more about her.  Apparently her first job was washing dishes for a gambling ring in Hawaii.  The men would play hanafuda while drinking and eating food and my innocent justice loving grandmother was supported by their illegal business.. LOL.  Ohwell, I think it was all in good fun, I also learned later on that she used to smoke, who knew!  Now I have nothing against smoking or people who smoke but if you knew my grandmother you'd be really surprised that she used to smoke >.>

Whimsical Chirimen
Three Colorways Momoiro, Murasaki, and Kuro

Whimsical Chirimen is a print based off of traditional chirimen fabric; the kind of fabric used to make kimonos.  Of course real chirimen fabric is not printed on cotton but I was really only going for the look and not authenticity here.  When I was five years old I was a rather dexterous child for my age and I was always painting and getting into things I shouldn't do, but if you gave me something to occupy my hands with I could sit still for hours! Which is when my aunty taught me how to do origami.  The paper crane was the first origami pattern I ever learned and I've never forgotten it since! I used to amaze my classmates by making little cranes that flapped their wings and leaping frogs and talking fox faces.  In my family every time someone gets married we fold them 1000 cranes in silver foil paper... which is by far the most annoying paper to fold.  So I told my family when I get married please only fold me one large crane in whatever paper you want >.<  The rest of the print features many popular Japanese motifs and a temari (something my family uses to decorate our Christmas tree, although that's not what it's really for lol).

Bunnies & Bowls Print
Four Colorways Sesame, Sorbet, Cupcake, and Tarte

Bunnies & Bowls Coordinating Border print 

The bunnies and bowls print was the final print I finished with a separate coordinating border print as well.  I've always loved bunnies, they're my favorite animal, next to sheepies (so mymelody and her sheepy friend mysweetpiano are my most favorite sanrio characters ever!) I have a dwarf bun that I adopted from a friend because she couldn't take care of her anymore, here she is:

She's blurry because she won't sit still! :X

Compared to the bunny in the bowl here, which was inspired by my own bun.  However my bunny even being a dwarf would not fit in a regular bowl like this lol. The print also includes an apple bunny, a snow bunny, and a tasty mochi bunny! On top of stripes with cluny heart lace and a panel from one of the coordinating colorways of Whimsical Chirimen.

All of the prints feature the Sakura, the pinnacle of Spring flowers (in my opinion), as well as Botan (peonies)!

I hope you are looking forward to the new spring looks, what look is your favorite? You can see the new designs on my facebook page!

Huge website makeover!

I finally have a web store! So if you'd like to go shopping you can now use the Shop Now button to the right.  Also if you have not already, please like my page on Facebook. My Facebook page is going to be my main source for giveaways and since i'm 5 likes away from 100 likes the first giveaway is very soon!

 Currently I'm finishing up the Medusa's Legion looks, so when they're ready the first few will be up for sale and then the rest will be made to order.  I have Sea Foam fabric in stock again, and I'll have some Deep Sea fabric in stock soon from Amelia's Locket.  I have a bunch of jewelry that i'm finishing up as well that will be added to the web store shortly.

I've also begun working on my spring prints.  After going back and forth between a few ideas I finally settled on my inspiration for spring -  Japan! This spring will be all about bold colors, pattern mixing, and experimenting with different styles.

Medusa's Legion Photoshoot and Website update

Hello Everyone! Just wanted to let you know about a couple changes on the site.  Firstly the Amelia's Locket JSK was reduced $30 and is now $200.  Also check out the new one piece in the dresses section, the t-shirts in the tops section, and the necklaces in the accessories section! Currently I only have enough Sea Foam fabric to make something in size small, hoping to do another fabric order before Katsucon.

I've unfortunately had to raise my shipping price on clothing to $8.00 (shirts and jewelry are $5.30 to ship) since the postal service recently raised their prices, however every purchase comes with a free gift and I combine shipping so if you buy a dress and shirt you only have to pay $8.00 for shipping.

I'm also working on getting even more pictures on the website, and if you have not seen yet, the facebook page now has an album called customs which includes any custom merchandise I've made.  Over the next few days I'll be adding more photos of bows and cutsew options for the shirts.

Now onto the photoshoot!

For Medusa's Legion I wanted to shoot in an abandoned building, and my photographer Yenra showed us the way to a really amazing setting! At first we entered the old abandoned Henryton Sanitarium, an old graphitied building  with broken glass and sunken in floors.  However upon entering we started hearing crashing noises and doors slamming, which we figure we're the wind or the distant shooting range, but as they started getting closer to us and we started to hear voices we ran off to a safer area of the Sanitarium... Most likely what we heard was a bored teenager but I wasn't about to take any chances!

I modeled the Amelia's Locket JSK in marina, and my models we're in the new Amelia's Locket one piece in Deep Sea, and Medusa's Legion skirt and JSK in Empress.  The blouses we wore we're made by my bestie Dragoness Cosplay, and we also wore jewelry made by A Keen Eye Jewelry (btw she has a TON of different kinds of jewelry, she really makes something for everyone and her facebook pictures are a tiny part of what she actually has in stock) these will all be on sale at my booth at Katsucon!

Check out the new updated pages around the site for more pictures!

Photography by Yenra

T-shirts and Necklaces!

The T-shirts are almost ready, I'm very excited! I also attended a photo shoot on Sunday with Lolita Doll and got some product shots of the jewelry and a shirt, and also a surprise custom hat I did for a dear friend and one of the models from the Amelia's Locket shoot.  I liked making the hat so much I was thinking of making a few more.  Hopefully I'll get the stock pictures soon, until then the custom hat will be a mystery! But I'll give you a hint, it features a rather popular feline! (can you guess who?)

I'll also, of course, post pics from the photo shoot when I get them. I didn't wear any of my own dresses so it wasn't really something related to the brand but it was a lot of fun even though it was 22 degrees outside, and I'm talking Fahrenheit.... One nice thing was I got to try out my new circle lenses from http://www.kiwiberry1-collection.com/.  I got the Geo Princess Mimi Bambi lenses in sesame gray and they are HUGE.  And they're pretty comfortable too! I'll do a review later on all of my circle lenses, I have 4 pairs now and they're slowly growing into a real collection.

Happy New Year! And end of survey giveaway!

I'm happy to announce that roseandlilygarden was the winner of the free t-shirt! 

Thank you so much to everyone who took the survey, I've looked over the results and the top three color choices were: *drumroll*

Nautical

Plum

Mint Julep

Raspberry came very close to being in 3rd, so I'm going to print that one too!

The top suggested colors were sax blue and pink, mint and pink, and some color on a white shirt (I completely forgot to make options on white >.>) I'm going to look into doing metallics, gold and silver. Some of the other choices that were popular were Ruby, Violet, Blueberry and Guava.  I think my problem is that I like all these color choices so you will probably see these in the future!

To give an estimate, I'd say t-shirts won't be available for about 14 business days.  But I can promise that I'll be charging $19.99 usd for them.  At the moment I don't know when I'll be offering the DIY cutsew kits, I want to be able to sell them at Katsucon so maybe sometime in February they'll be online.

I'm going to make something similar to what sweet rococo has, in terms of customization,  for custom cutsews.  You'll be able to choose a neckline, optional collars, princess seams, added bows, buttons, and beads, puffy sleeves, ruffly sleeves, pockets, neck ties, and different kinds of lace and ribbon.  I'll also be making one of a kind cutsews and posting them here and on facebook to buy.  

As far as other merchandise the most popular request was blouses.  I'm going to try to match the prices of In The Starlight and Anna House, but that all depends on how fast I can sew pintucks! I will also offer bloomers,  bows (not just ones to match my prints but solids as well), hats, bonnets, purses, jewelry (I have some supplies coming in already!), stationary and pins.  The pins might be a while.

I've scheduled myself to finish the next print by January 7th! And I've scheduled a photoshoot on January 29th, so watch for new merchandise at the end of January! Thank you again for all you support and ideas!

Survey Time!

Hello everyone!

Please take my survey here at this link!

This is a short survey to help me bring in new merchandise that you want! This will also help me determine what colors the t-shirts will be printed in, the top 3 colors chosen will be printed. I may do more depending on the results! The winner will be chosen at random, each entrant will be assigned a random number from 1 to however many people take the survey, and I will use a random number generator to pick the winning number.   

I will announce the winner and the colors the t-shirts will be printed in this weekend after the survey ends! I will also contact the winner by email or LJ account.  There will be one winner, and they will choose which of the 3 final colorways they would like for free.  Please only take the survey once! 

Busy busy!

Wow ever since thanksgiving I've been busy with work and cooking, visiting family I haven't seen in months, and of course sewing the first pre-orders (almost done!).  Anyway I really wanted to do some printed t-shirts for this line so below are some of the color combinations I thought were fun.  These are not finalized and I'm thinking of doing a survey to figure out what will be popular.  I'm also thinking of doing a drawing of everyone who participates in the survey but I have not decided on the prize yet (maybe a free t-shirt?)!

Since I've opened my blog up to EGL I've made a google+ page (that is very lonely btw) and I've been updating my facebook page.  I also started playing around with the shopping app for facebook, there are two necklaces on there now you can check out.  I took the pictures of those myself so the quality isn't as good as when I have my photographer Yenra take pictures for me.

Currently I'm working on drawing the jellyfish and other wonderful deep sea creature for Medusa's Legion.  I'm working on some jewelry designs, and by working I mean shopping wholesale places for special finds, I'm also working on the OP design for Amelia's Locket as well as some solid print pieces! I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to bring to Katsucon 2012 (I'll have a booth in their AA), I know I want to bring shirts but I don't know what Lolita pieces I should make and bring yet.  And i'm making Christmas presents, cards, and food for my family and friends! Oh and I'm working... I work in retail so it's pretty crazy right now, but luckily I work as a Bridal Consultant so they're actually cutting my hours rather than working me overtime. Anyway, as you can see I have lots of work to do! So hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of this done and post updates on here!

Pre-Orders have started! Also some Accessories will be added to the pre-order!

Hello! I'm very happy to announce that I have opened pre-orders here!

Pictures of head accessories to come soon! I will update this post when I get pictures.  I will be offering a couple different styles of bows (one giant head eating one, and one more reserved), as well as some crocheted pieces!

Stock Photos! And pre - orders start this week!

Yesterday we traveled to Cylburn Arboretum, a lovely park (that's free to enter!) near Baltimore city for our photo shoot   The park is really beautiful, there are many great places to take photos and it's pretty quiet so you probably won't be disturbed by anyone when you visit.  Ken did a really amazing job with the photos and I even did some modeling in the brisk mid 40s degree weather.  By the end of the shoot my hands were frozen and I was having a difficult time buttoning shirts on the dress form but in the end it all paid off! Please check out the updated site pages, I'm hoping to start pre - orders very soon!

Close-up of the Amelia's Locket print

Josephine's JSK shown in Ocean. It was so cold without my jacket on but I'm glad the photos did not show that!

Photography by Yenra

First Video from the Photoshoot!

Here's some video footage so you can see how the clothes move! The hat shown with the Josephine JSK in Carnelian will be sold as well and will come in other colors, all other clothing and accessories were offbrand.  Stay tuned for stock photos and other accessories!

Video by Yenra

First Photoshoot!

Yesterday I had my first photoshoot for Atelier Enchanteur, I can't believe I pulled it off but I had a lot of help from my wonderful friends! Rachel from Dragoness Cosplay sewed with me through the night; we had two hours of sleep before the photoshoot! Why? Because my fabric had finally arrived at 4pm the previous day leaving us with little time to get 3 pieces sewn and ready for pictures. It was a major project runway make is work moment but we pulled through and I don't think we even looked that tired in the pictures!  I've made a lot of changes to the blog and added a bunch of wonderful pictures, here is the new background featuring my two models:

  

We really lucked out with the weather, it was perfect in the sun, a tad bit chilly in the shade and we even had sandwiches courtesy of my boyfriend.  I'm looking forward to more photoshoots, but only if I get to sleep the night before!

Thanks again to my models and photographer for making this happen!! You can find my photographer here!

~Print Complete! Amelia's Locket ~

I just finished the three colorways that will be available in October for my Jumperskirt and Skirt, Amelia's Locket.  This print will come in blue x green, light blue x blue, and mint x cream.  I will also be releasing the solid Jumperskirt, Josephine, at the same time with many crochet and knit goods from dragoness cosplay.  Expect pictures from the photoshoot and the big release in late October!

Amelia's Locket, Work in Progress!

I've decided on the general colorways for the print Amelia's locket.  This print is going to be featured on JSK 1 and I'm not 100% set on the exact colors yet as my monitor is notorious for showing colors unlike any other monitor.  The print will have five portholes in a yard of fabric, I'm showing three here because I had to shrink the image to upload, I have a lot of small details to add and of course all of the lovely sea life left to do, but these pictures show the general colors that the print will come in.

Light blue x Dark Blue

Ivory x Seafoam

Dark blue x Sea Green

I have not decided what I'm going to put between the change of colors yet, so look forward to more progress pics!

~Updates on fall collection! Voyage of the Nautilus~

I've added some photos and descriptions of what is to come in my fall 2011 collection "Voyage of the Nautilus"! I will have three dresses, two skirts, and printed t-shirts (customizable cut-sews).  I'm trying for at least three different prints for the shirts.  So far the first dress will have three colorways, and I would like the print dresses to have four colorways but they may end up with three as well, once I'm done with the prints I'm going to hold a survey and sell the top four picked colorways!

This collection is inspired by the deep sea and the beginning of submarines and sea exploration.  Robert Fulton built the first submarine, the Nautilus, in 1800, and although it had the iconic submarine shape we know of today it barely worked.  After revising his ship in 1801 the Nautilus managed to dive a remarkable 25ft! XD Well anyway, the print will feature plans of the Nautilus as well as some unknown creatures of the deep and also some friendly faces (or not so friendly).  Even though the Nautilus never made it to the bottom of the ocean this print tells a different tale and begs the question, what was at the bottom of the ocean in 1800?

Jumping on the Lolita meme bandwagon!~

I've been working on my logo, I have my font picked out I just need to finish my icon and I'll be done with that and ready to reveal my facebook page! *excitement* Lately our computers have been off, my mouse just died (needs new batteries) and my boyfriend's backspace key on his keyboard is still not working (oops I spilled water on it during a raid o_O) So now I'm using his left handed mouse with my left hand so everything feels like I'm going twice as slow, but in my blog reading this morning I came across this and decided sure why not, looks like fun! So without further adieu,


Day 1:  10 things about your Lolita bubble


1) Everything about bunnies is welcome here, well except eating or hunting them lol, but I love rabbits as a motif and I love my bunny, she's so cute *squee* ! Anyway, I've liked them for a long time, long before I knew what Lolita was, we used to breed rabbits, take them for walks, you know the usual XD Rabbits are great in Lolita for many reasons, obviously because they're cute, but also because they're the right shape for a cute bag, and they can be paired with fruit motifs (my bunny loves bananas!) and they look great in unnatural colors, like pink!


2) In my little world no one trolls.. HAH wouldn't that be nice?


3) I'm going to bring up the replica thing, but honestly I really couldn't care less if someone is wearing one.  Yes there are some circumstances where you really shouldn't wear one, for example to an angelic pretty specific party, I can see why that would be an issue.  But generally I'm a friendly person and if you're wearing a replica and it looks great on you Awesome! I wish more people had that attitude towards replicas.  As a designer if DOL decided to make a replica of one of my pieces I would be floored, honestly that would be like winning a Lolita trophy.  


4) Hello kitty does not belong in my Lolita. Don't get me wrong here, I LOVE hello kitty.  I have hello kitty sheets, hello kitty toothbrush, a freakin' hello kitty waffle maker, I'm wearing hello kitty pajamas right now! But will there be a hello kitty purse in one of my coords? NO.  I'm sorry but she looks odd paired with loli things.


5) I make everything myself, I'm a real DIY kind of person.  I don't have a lot of money so that is the real reason behind it but also I like the gratification of completing a dress and being able to say, yes I made this!


6) I don't actually have any friends who are lolitas who live near me, there was a post on parfait doll about being alone/lonely it really hit home with me, but it would be nice to meet some people and hangout.  I have not been able to make it to any local meetups, I work in retail and everyone wants to meetup on the weekends, which is when I get scheduled to work.  And then I was too shy at Otakon to really talk to anyone, haha but that's my own fault o__o


7) Going along with 6, it seems that sadly most of this community is online and then in person it's just, not the same XD the egl community is so inviting, real life was not the same.  I hope that I can overcome my fears and just walk up to a group of lolis one day, I guess it would be easier if I knew I talked to them through LJ or facebook first


8) When I first learned what lolita was I thought my style was sweet.  I loved the pastels and bright colors, the pastries, the cute little animals, but now that I've done my research and bought a few pieces I realized that I really love classic and gothic more than I thought I did.  I hope to add some gothic pieces to my wardrobe, I love the elegance! And honestly I feel as a beginner, it's easier to leave your house in classic than any of the other styles, I guess maybe it's because I figure people will think I'm part of some reenactment, going out in OTT sweet I don't know what people would think of that pastel explosion lol.


9) But then again I don't really care what other people think when I'm in Lolita.  Although in my perfect world it would be nice if people stopped asking me the same questions over and over again, it really just gets annoying but I suppose educating the public is a good thing.  And I suppose I should be used to it as a cosplayer, going out to eat in cosplay is always entertaining.


10) In my collections/concepts I'm very much so inspired by science and naturalism, I hope that I can leave my mark on the Lolita world and inspire others as well!


Well when I started this I didn't think I had that much to say, but I suppose I was wrong! I won't be doing these everyday or even every post because I am busy making this collection happen but eventually I'll do all 30! hopefully.. maybe..


cheers!

New Blog Huzzah!

Hi and welcome to my new blog! There will be a fun mix of things here anything from daily life posts to tutorials to the new collections of Atelier Enchanteur! Most of this blog will focus on Lolita fashion and what that entails however I have many more things to share from the cosplay, video game, and nerdom world as I spend much of my time costuming and playing WoW.  I will also be doing reviews of brands and companies for various items like new frocks and wigs.  I hope you find this blog entertaining and useful!

Cheers,