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This makes the fourth holiday that I’ve done an insert for. XD But with so many cute pins out there, and this perfect bag, I couldn’t resist doing an Easter insert. (Decorating eggs was always my favorite part growing up.) Though they’re unfortunately sold out now, the bag came from SweetBerriStudios, who still have a shop on etsy. The bag was especially perfect this year because the pastel colorway makes it trans pride colors. ^~^

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I usually focus on my bags, but I’ve also got some gorgeous banners! This one (and several others I have) came from Pinfeathers Studio. With its design, it felt made for the cozy cottagecore pins in my collection. ^~^

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I always say I’ve got two modes—Disney princess or Disney villain. And my love of Valentine’s Day aesthetics, for the most part, falls on the princess side. XD A happy, fluffy insert to celebrate a happy, fluffy holiday. :D

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Recently I got to visit a brick-and-mortar Box Lunch for the first time and fell absolutely in love with this bag when I saw it! (How could I resist two of my favorite things put together—Darth Vader and spangly glitter? XD) The confetti is loose behind the hard face plate so that it can shift around. It seems made to go with the Imperial fascinator I got from Cosplay Burlesque last year. :D

And they both feel like a good match for this dress—love it when an outfit starts to come together!

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Tee Turtle has so much cute stuff for the holidays, I gave them their own insert. XD Rather than the usual strings of LEDs I use to light this one, I repurposed a light-up novelty necklace so that they’d look like real Christmas lights. Normally this insert lives inside my wreath-decorated bag. ^~^

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I’m back on my insert-making bullshit because I found this gorgeous tie-dye fabric that will be absolutely perfect for my Coraline collection! I may make some for some space-themed pins too. ^~^

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This is the perfect time of year to work on a The Nightmare Before Christmas bag! I had this one sitting empty for a while and realized it would be the perfect home for these pins. ^~^

The designers for the official merch pins have really been bringing their A-game for the last couple years, but especially lately—I assume because this year is the 30th anniversary. So many different cool enamel effects and gimmicks!

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Forgive me for going on a bit of ramble—I never expected to have OPINIONS about inserts for ita bags, but here we are. XD I love that they’re included with so many of the Western bags that have been coming out the past few years (and even more that they frequently come with a bonus enamel pin, too), but there are a few issues that I wish the designers would take more into account. As a certified purse gremlin I’ve noticed there a couple that keep coming up.

Bioworld and Heroes & Villains bag inserts are painfully firm. It’s good for holding the pins in place but murder for getting them on in the first place. It takes so much pressure to pierce the insert that I’ve ended up stabbing myself a number of times. It hardly ever happens with softer inserts.

On the other end of things, most independent artists have softer inserts, but they’re also usually too thick for rubber pinbacks to stay on. I love locking pinbacks, but they can really add up if the pins don’t naturally come with them. Worse is when the designer deliberately chooses to make them extra thick specifically so that you won’t need the pinbacks at all. I’ve seen the reasoning for it explaining that the thickness should hold the pins in place like a cork board would. Except that doesn’t really take the wear-and-tear motion of actually wearing the bag into account. It doesn’t seem like it would be a lot, but I’ve pretty much always seen it lead to the pins jostling free.

One designer that seems to nail it perfectly is Jelly Pinch. The inserts for their ita jackets seem to be thin fabric covering plastic mesh, still flexible enough to be comfortable but a good firmness for the pins and backs to grip to. I don’t think I’ve ever had a backing fall off of one of theirs, and it’s how I make my own now. They should be releasing their first full-on bags later this year, and I hope the printed inserts with them will be just as good. :D

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One of my favorite menhera themes is the crossed bandages, so I needed to do up an insert with them for my bag. I’m so happy with how it came out I might do another one to leave un-pinned. :D

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I’ve been making inserts again, and I love how these two in particular came out. Both of these fabrics are just so fun! I think I’m going to use the roses to cover a notebook too, add some glitter paint to really make it pop. :D

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I love this magical girl-inspired bag from this kickstarter; I just wish the artist had a website where they could still be ordered. In this color way it gives me big Card Captor Sakura vibes, so I’ll definitely be doing a CLAMP-themed insert for it too. ^~^

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Not ita bags this time around, but I love this seller so much I have to show her stuff off!

These are both by Candy Wife Creations on etsy; the sootsprites are a roomy fanny pack, and the Beetlejuice-themed one is a handbag. I fell in love with both pretty much on sight. XD They are so well made, and especially size inclusive—I can almost never buy waist accessories “off the rack” but the strap on the soot sprites can actually adjust to fit me comfortably! But my favorite part is that she also always has matching zipper-pulls for the bags.

I could not love these more, and she’s super friendly—please check her stuff out! 😍🤩

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I am very weak to cute critter bags, so I could not resist these adorable raccoons!

The main bag is from Myuna Art (myuna-art .com), and the coin purse is Toast from Yencatx (on etsy or ko-fi). The plush keychain and most of the pins on display are Chaps and his friends from Windy Woods (also on etsy).

If you love trash friends as much as I do, please check out these wonderful artists!

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Recently got some absolutely adorable sea creature-themed Kickstarter rewards! First up is the shark ita bag by Onicake—though I went with the orca option when it was unlocked. ^~^

It’s so cute! Though my favorite part might be the shark took zipper-pulls.

Next up is the sea turtle bag by Pin and Tonic. That variations on that campaign were all different colors rather than designs, and I went with the blue. It was just so pretty!

It also came with an extra insert to give it a solid shell-look rather than just pin-display.

Both are great, beautiful bags—definitely recommend looking them up!

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Perfect for this time of year, my partner and I actually both have this bag! And so this insert is dedicated to matching hers, filled with either matching or corresponding pins. I always loved ‘best friend’ jewelry and charms growing up, which is probably where this idea grew out of. XD Plenty of room still to fill in on our journey together! <33

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Sometimes I love an artist/studio so much I end up dedicating an insert to their original art. This one has a few years’ worth of CatMint Studios’ winter kitties! Their shop is closed right now, but I can’t speak highly enough of them! Check them out sometime at catmintstudios.com ^~^

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I’ve been collecting the odd cute/pretty Star Wars holiday pin for a while now before finally realizing I should do an insert for them! Still plenty of space to add to right now, but I’m happy with how it’s coming along. ^~^