#stimtoybox

[dapperappleton]

I bought my first stim toy, other than the ones I’ve made, from @stimtastic and it’s the Oreo-shaped chew pendant. It has a lot of good texture from the pattern and doesn’t hurt my jaw too much. It came with a free bracelet that says stimicious and I love it.

I followed a tutorial from @stimtoybox to flavor/scent it and I used maple and butter flavouring in hot water. I put it in a mug with the flavouring/water mix and let it sit all day, and it smells amazing. It honestly smells like pancakes, which isn’t very strong, but it still smells really good. Next time I do this, I’ll probably use orange or citrus extract or something stronger. Due to science, the mixture soaked the strings even though I was careful to leave them out, so if you don’t want to get the strings wet, I’d recommend setting the strings straight upwards so it doesn’t soak up that much.

[stimtoybox]

[image description: three Christmas-themed squishy plush sitting on a mottled blue, white and black night-sky quilt cover. One plush is brown with white icing to look like a plum pudding; one is a tan reindeer with small tan antlers and a round red nose, like Rudolph; and the last is a grey bear with a red bow tie and a red and white Santa hat. All three plush have round dot eyes and curved mouths machine-embroidered in black thread.]

Christmas Squishy Plush - K-Mart, $4 AUD.

Variants: Plum Pudding, Bear, Reindeer, Santa (fourth not pictured).

Dimensions: 10 cm across (approx).

My local K-Mart has put out their Christmas decorations in their seasonal section--regular plush and squishy plush. The web listing above says “mini”, but these are the same size as K-Mart’s other house-brand squishy plushies.

These do have a fragrance, the same as their regular squishy plush--a sweet, bready sort of smell. It isn’t strong, but I’ve found that it lasts longer than the Squeezamals’ scent. If you can’t stand any fragrance at all, these may not be the best squishy plush for you. It’s mild enough for me, but the persistence is worth mentioning!

This is very early for a Christmas post, but I want to draw attention to these if you’re like me and want to pick through the boxes to find the softest plush. As usual, the softness ranged from “pleasantly squishy” to “how is that even foam”. Having three boxes new on the shelf meant I could choose the best ones--squishy soft with no dirt marks or stray threads. Unfortunately, because they are displayed in open boxes, it’s not always easy to find ones without marks, and many of them were far too firm for my hands.

While I’ve been struggling to stim as I once did, the koala from the original set has been my most-used toy in the months since purchasing. It has a small hole from wear and the plush is a bit flattened, but it’s held up so much longer than a foam squishy and it’s nowhere close to being too worn to use. Unless you dislike plush textures or need something completely odourless, I have to recommend K-Mart’s squishy plush--with the proviso that if you need the softest squishies, you should purchase these in-person instead of online.

I remember US-based folks saying that the original K-Mart squishy plush were available in your Target stores, so it may be worth checking there for these.

Also, can I point out that there’s a plum pudding? Food squishy plush!

[alloaroworlds]

[image description: a photo, taken on a red watermelon slice pillow, of four pieces of allo-aro pride merch using @arotaro‘s flag design: dark green, light green, white, yellow and gold (or darker yellow beads when gold isn’t available). From viewer’s left to right: a fishtail-braid bracelet made from embroidery floss; a pony-beaded gecko keychain fidget with coloured stripes running down the length of the gecko and bright pink claws; and two bead ring pendants. The pendants are composed of five beads each, either metallic or pearlescent, threaded on a silver split ring attached to a black braided necklace cord.]

Pride Merch Crafts

I also run the stim blog @stimtoybox, and since I’ve made quite a few DIY fidget toys in pride colours, it seemed natural to add allo-aro pride colours. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any pony beads that are a proper gold, so I used a darker yellow instead. I think it’s close enough to be going on with!

(On one of the bead ring pendants, it looks like the center yellow bead is more gold than the outer yellow bead, but in real life that isn’t the case! It’s just a lighter shade of pearly yellow.)

The bracelet is just a fishtail braid using embroidery floss. I use a small split ring to fasten it by wrapping the cord around my wrist and tucking the knot under the edge of the ring. I don’t have the ability to knot or unknot bracelets, and even sliding a knot or a bead through a loop of thread is difficult for me, so this is easier (but less secure). Wool, cord or yarn can also be used here, depending on what you have and how wide/thick you wish the bracelet to be. I found this video tutorial to be useful.

(You can also just plait/braid cord or thread, too, and there’s oodles of different friendship-bracelet styles. This article and this one show off a few more adult-style approaches.)

The gecko/lizard is a simple pony bead keychain. I used pink for the claws as a nod to the pink/green allo-aro flag variant, referencing the pink sexuality stripe. This tutorial linked on my stim blog is the one I’ve found easiest to follow.

The bead ring necklaces are my own design: pony beads threaded onto a split ring, attached to a cord with chain links. You can find a tutorial on my WordPress site (although I need to update the photos after changing URLs).

These are simple crafts, but for aro-spec, a-spec and LGBTQIA+ folks wanting merch and can’t find it for their identity, can’t find it in the preferred flag for their identity, or can’t afford to buy it from places like Etsy, I thought it would be good to demonstrate that there are DIY pride merch options!

I have the gecko attached to my backpack (which just happens to be yellow) and I have necklaces for all my identities that I alternate through depending on what else I’m wearing that day.

[eeee-lye]

I’m not dead. Yesterday’s spoons went to compiling a massive post and today’s went to my trying to make a proper author Tumblr (I have dreams of posting regular snippets and what not, even though years of chronic pain says that this isn’t like to happen) and I only have spoons for one thing at a time. I’ll look at posts tomorrow.

Probably.

When I’ve fixed all the damn cover images...

And when I’ve gone through all the people now following me and interacting on my @stimtoybox posts after the DIY Stim Toy Master Post Part 4 post, because a bunch of explicit porn blogs thought now was the time to swarm all over my posts...

@staff, I have better things to do than block explicit porn blogs, which are very likely bots, who are jumping on my posts because there’s activity happening on my blog even though my blog has absolutely nothing to do with porn. Like cutting my own toenails is a better thing to do. Washing dishes is a better thing to do. Cleaning dust out of my PC tower with compressed air while lying on my back on the floor because my tower sits under my desk is a better thing to do. Banging my head when I sit up because I forget I’m under my desk is a better thing to do. I say this with no particular expectation that you’ll do anything, but I’d really appreciate it if you’d do something about this.

It’s a little bit fucked up that I have more sense of responsibility in ensuring my followers who are minors don’t see explicit usernames and avatars on an entirely work-safe and should-be-safe-for-minors post than you do. Just saying.

[authenticautistic]

Here is my review of the edamame keyring from happyhands.toys, as requested by @jadedreality! This is one of two reviews which I'll get onto soon. I ordered this, along with the keyring fidget, on the 27th July. It took 9 days to get here and I was suggested 10-20 days! Because the images on the website are exactly the same as what you'd find on eBay, I was skeptical. Then my order was sent in two batches, one shipment for each item, and I was suggested 10-20 days shipping. More eBay like actions! My product came in the standard jiffy envelope with the oh-so-familiar (to me, an eBay enthusiast) massive label of a grid with lots of Chinese writing and a description of "plastic toy" - and a stamp from China. Let's be honest, it would have been easier to go to eBay. However! I'm still happy because I got what I wanted in a somewhat reasonable timescale, with /free shipping/! Onto the actual product: PROS: - discreet - cheap - the rubber (?) is flexible but holds shape - the beans feel nice to pop out and are yet to fall out forever (I hope they don't) - all 3 beans pop out CONS - can be slippery with sweaty hands - is a bit difficult to push the beans out - the above makes me irritated because of fine motor skills and it can hurt if I do it lots Overall I'm pretty happy and I'll definitely use it as a keyring! It feels like it'll help my dermatillomania for probably-gross reasons! (@stimtoybox ?)

[sockknitterporg]

@stimtoybox Finished! Side 1: Zipper, satin ribbon, a button & hole, and some stretchy elastic. Side 2: velcro, a little bell (and a pocket to keep it quiet when not in use), and a hook and eye loop (also made of stretchy elastic) Flip it right side out, stick your hands inside! It's fully customisable, you just sew on stims you like and don't include ones you don't!

[erisintheclouds]

Appreciation post

appreciation post for @stimtoybox bc i love them SO MUCH and they're probably getting sick of hearing from me but im so excited to start submitting to their wonderful blog and helping as much as i can. i just want to spread the word bc these people are doing so much for much for the stim community and have helped me out more than i can express. please please give them a follow, these guys are absolutely brilliant.

p.s mod k.a ur the biggest legends ever, you work your butt off answering asks even w/ u own stuff ur dealing with u still manage to be so helpful and informative and u never fail to do everything 110%. THANK YOUUUUU <333

[totally-tangular-blog]

Hey friends. This is an extension of the post that’s been bouncing between myself and @stimtoybox - I decided to make a fresh post as the last one was getting incredibly long and I know huge text posts are hard to read sometimes. 

Here’s the original post if you want to refer back though: LINK

So, I decided to order the Tangle Jr Silly Words, along with some of the Ben 10 Tangle Jr’s that Toys4Hands have on clearance (Ben 10 was one of my special interests when I was very young, so I could not resist, honestly can’t thank Mod K.A enough for pointing those out to me!).

My order overall cost €16.91 including shipping from the Netherlands to the UK (£14.94 GBP, $18.59 USD or $25.06 AUS). 

In my opinion, this isn’t too bad a cost for four tangles that have been discontinued (yeah, I accidentally ordered two keychains - the site is BUGGY so please be weary if you are going to purchase from them). 

I used secure Paypal to purchase these items, which is comforting because if there is an issue with my order I can discuss it with Paypal and get my money back if needed. 

I will post any updates regarding these over the time it takes them to get here - and any bumps we have along the way. And of course, when they do arrive I will review them and the seller again. 

I just want to give @stimtoybox one last big thank you for helping fuel my tangle collection, as well as giving my blog some attention! I appreciate it a lot guys - more helpful content coming shortly (watch this space for Tangle Flatz). Ciao!