“Oh my! Has my clock gotten out of whack?”

So while my motivation and inspiration to bake or do crafts has been on holiday (or hiatus), I've occasionally been embracing another interest of mine.

I'll start with some backstory. When Pinterest was still fairly new, I would spend hours on my laptop adding craft projects and recipes to my boards. But while scrolling through the main feed, I found myself drawn to something else too -- clothing collages. I wasn't very familiar with them before, but these style boards showed creative ways to give the full effect of an outfit, and I quickly started collecting those images to my Pinterest boards as well.

Fast-forward to a seemingly unrelated hobby I picked up more recently -- collecting Animal Crossing amiibo cards. I love them. There are groups and forums dedicated to trading these cards, and I have sent protected sleeves across the world in order to fulfill some of my trades. And I don't even want to talk about how much money I've spent finishing my collection...Well, it's finished except for two particularly rare and expensive cards from Japan, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'll most likely never have them.

*sigh* Oh well...

While working on my collection, I often saw people in the card-trading community who were super creative. I'd see posts showing off paintings, plush toys, stickers, and all kinds of things that fans had made inspired by the game series. So during my madness to collect cards and use them in my Animal Crossing games, I also found the idea of outfit collages popping back up in my mind.

And thus begins the journey into my absolute nerdiest (and possibly cringiest) hobby ever: creating outfits based on Animal Crossing characters. I'm talking villagers and NPCs. I'm talking head-to-toe outfits. I'm talking hours of my life that I'll never get back. But hey, I've had fun putting them together, so maybe you can enjoy what I've come up with too.

So without further ado, here is my first Animal Crossing-inspired fashion collage.

I'm not sure if it's necessary for me to go over each item in detail, but what the hell, I'm going to anyway.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Isabelle is the amazing secretary who helps the player become the best mayor they can be. For this reason, I wanted an outfit inspired by her to be organized and cute, with a few details that reflect on her personality.

• Blouse: (Bernard Lafond): I knew I wanted a white tie-front blouse for this outfit to complement the cute ribbon on Isabelle's shirt. Plus, the ruched front and rounded collar gave the professional yet youthful aesthetic I wanted.
• Sweater (Bernard Lafond): Rather than copy Isabelle's green checkered vest entirely, I thought an unbuttoned chunky cardigan with pockets would look nice over the white blouse. Not to mention the fact that a knit sweater would be nice to wear in an office that always seems to be chilly (you office workers know what I'm talking about, right?).
• Pants (True Religion): I thought some cobalt blue jeans would pair well with the blouse and sweater in contrast to Isabelle's navy skirt, and I feel that it brings some more playfulness to the vibe the outfit gives off.
• Shoes (Milesline): Again I though that this part of the outfit could reflect both the professional and cute theme I wanted. Some brown oxford heels go nicely with the full outfit, and they complement the purse I'll be mentioning shortly.
• Headband (Motique Accessories): Pretty basic, but a red headband gives a wink to the bow on Isabelle's shirt along with the ribbon on her head.  
• Earrings (Kate Spade): These bow earrings are tying in (no pun intended) with the bow on Isabelle's shirt.
• Necklace (Sydney Evan): I loved this necklace for an Isabelle-inspired outfit as soon as I saw it. I mean, it's a bell and whistle, it's perfect. 1) Isabelle "is a bell," if you didn't already know (look at the shape of her head -- it looks exactly like a bag of bells from Animal Crossing). 2) The whistle looks kind of like a dog whistle to me and Isabelle is, like, a dog.
• Purse (Hadaki): I thought a messenger bag would be ideal for an Isabelle-type of outfit. As a secretary, Isabelle needs to stay organized and on top of things. So what better way to carry around her planner and notebook (or iPad...) than in a messenger bag?
• Bag Charm (Valentino): This leaf-shaped purse charm will look super cute on the messenger bag, and on top of that, it totally fits with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Ahem. I don't think I need to explain that further.
• iPad (Apple, obvi): If Isabelle were real, I think she would have advanced from carrying a clipboard around town and moved to a tablet of some kind. She would be much better able to keep track of Public Work Projects, holiday festivities, and the town mayor's schedule. And it will fit perfectly in her brown messenger bag.

If you were able to make it all the way through this post, thank you! I appreciate you indulging me and my cringe-inducing hobby, and I hope you'll allow me to make more posts like this in the future.

Talk to you all soon!