It's finally time for these itty bitty paws to shine (literally)! Originally designed in 2021 but shuffled behind spookier projects until now, these soft enamel with epoxy mini pins are looking forward to joining your collection!
💖 WELCOME TO PINTOPIA — A creative celebration featuring over 175 creators launching pin and plushie projects on BackerKit from January 23 to February 13!
✨ Here’s how to earn exclusive rewards:
Cross-Collab Freebies: Look for projects marked as Cross-Collab partners! Back both projects in a pair at a physical reward level and earn a FREE pin from each creator. The more pairs you support, the more pins you collect!
Gold Pintopia 2025 Pin: Back 10 projects to unlock this exclusive reward, surveyed and shipped by BackerKit.
⚔️ Rewards at a glance:
2 FREE pins for every Cross-Collab pair you back (one from each creator!)
1 FREE limited edition Gold Pintopia 2025 Pin when you back 10+ projects
⭐ PRO TIP: Maximize your freebies by supporting Cross-Collab pairs! For example, support 5 Cross-Collab pairs (10 projects) to earn up to 20 exclusive pins!
*Check individual project pages for specific requirements. **Gold Pin unlocks require backing physical items from each project.
This paw is drawn by me and inspired by Holly's campaign, since that collab format performed so well for Pintober.
Holly's is the same, drawn by her and inspired by my paws!
Mine is inspired by Melona popsicles - I recently finally had my first Melona and I am obsessed!! It will be made with the same glittery pigment that is in the toe beans of the other paws, except in the entire pin to resemble the frosty appearance of the popsicles. 💚🍈
Everyone who backs at least 1 pin from BOTH of our campaigns will receive BOTH collab pins for free with their respective pledges. You have to be backing both campaigns to qualify!
*this applies specifically to the affected countries above, if you are from anywhere else your pledge at any amount is fine!
Those who don't know me: I am Elena of Midnight Springs! I'm very long-winded but I promise there is a lot of valuable info in this campaign description that you won't want to miss.
This time for Pintopia, I am bringing back an originally-dropped concept of mine from 2021 - mini cat paws!
When I first drew these out I wasn't thinking of trying to go for realistic coat patterns at all, but I fell in love with the idea later and wanted to pursue it.
As pictured here and in the banner, I have already had 5 samples made so that this time I have accurate depictions of various enamel fill and print colors. I really wanted to try something new this time - a pearlescent glitter rather than the usual glitter pieces, which can be seen in the beans!
These are 20mm tall, very itty bitty and available in a gacha format.
Gacha machines are essentially blind bags, but instead of bags, they are capsules inside of a machine. Hence the term you will see regularly, "spins".
You can pledge for them as gacha spins (discounted, at-con pricing), or you can pledge at a slightly elevated price in order to choose a specific colorway you want! This is exclusive to the campaign and will not be an option online or at in-person events post-campaign, until all that remains are seconds pins. The ONLY exception is for events I am accepted into that do not accept gacha machines at all and consider them gambling despite guaranteed prizes.
If you are familiar with my two previousgacha campaigns on here, you'll know that each variant is listed as its own pledge tier and add-on listing so that the pins can immediately be ordered upon receipt of funds based on claimed counts of each colorway, rather than having to wait for the survey results! I am admittedly not the fastest with getting surveys out due to chronic illness, so this is the best method for everyone and ensures prompt fulfillment.
Any returning backers from any of my previous campaigns through BK will receive a freebie paw pin in the pattern of our new FIV+ rescue's paws! All of Donut Crumble's paws are like this except for 1, he's so cute!
Eligible are returning backers from any of my successful KS or backerkit campaigns, not just the BK-ran ones.
All early-bird (first 48hrs) backers get a freebie "paw planet" 3" vinyl sticker.
Glossy "pixie dust" type glitter holo vinyl!
Both benefits can apply, if you fit both criteria!
Unlocked at 3.4k, a freebie 4" glitter holo sticker for all who back for 5+ pins:
WIP and subject to very minor changes. This preview image is watermarked and has a swirly filter applied, final product will not!
In reverse chronological order, here are all of my gacha collections, starting with the current status of Pintober's Series 2 Moths!
Pintober was very recent, as implied by the name, so these have not yet been fulfilled. Fulfillment will finally start soon, half the moths are finished and on the way to me! I'll update the pic again at that point.
Previously, these "Jellinoms" were produced via the previous Pintopia!
In full transparency, I have changed manufacturers from this one to the paws' manufactuer, due to them not epoxying these pins as requested specifically many times. A few remakes are being sent to me with the moths, so the last 11 backers awaiting fulfillment who opted for the remakes are receiving their pledges as soon as I have those pins. This campaign has otherwise been fulfilled!
My other gacha collections:
I still have fish as my volume of conventions has slowed significantly since getting them produced late 2023, so I have a few fish spins available in the add-ons of this campaign as well as some jellinoms!
Dilute Tortoiseshell Gold and Black Gold and White Orange and White (Creamsicle)
3rd stretch: unlocks at $1,990 total
Orange Pink and White Purple and Black Martian
4th stretch: unlocks at $2,410 total
More pins of each colorway claimable individually! They are currently limited to a combined 20 (pledge tier and add-ons) as individual picks. This will add 5 qty to the add-on listings for every colorway, and even more will be available to potentially pull from gacha spins.
Please keep in mind that the gacha spins have to be out of the unlocked pin pool, too!
If we meet all goals, more stretches will be revealed!
Strawberry and Banana enter the Melona-inspired colorways~
This would make it then 3 different pins you can choose from for your cross-collab freebie if you backed both our campaigns.
I freely admit in the interest of transparency: the buffer on this goal is really high! For Pintober, there were so many errored pledges that a few of us (myself included) had to scramble to figure out how to achieve our final stretch goals...as they were actually locked again as a result of that. There is also no telling how many we will need/how many cross-collab backers we will get - we had over 70% cross-collab backers from our total backer count for Pintober! This is just to make sure it stays unlocked if we get to it, no matter what.
In addition to all unlocked pins and corresponding gacha spins being available for add-ons, here are the others available:
New product: cookie badges!
Excited to introduce these as made-to-order add-ons with no limit!
There will also be 2 matcha colorway options, one with "chocolate" one without
For organization purposes for surveys, as always with my BK campaigns, these are individual add-on listings per each colorway.
Returning: gacha spins of past collections!
Limited stock of cross-collab jellinom only available as add-on, not in gacha pool!
(Limited quantities)
Also in stock: Jewelry
Cat paw adjustable rings in silver (rhodium plating) and gold (18k gold plating)! Asjustable sizes 6-9 and in limited quantities, these are hypoallergenic with a brass base that does NOT contain nickel, cadmium, or lead. (Limited quantities)
Stickers:
Dessert Taiyaki A5 sticker sheet with glitter vinyl finish is in stock! An A5 sheet full of glittery cat paws is also available for add-on to be made post-campaign.
This image is watermarked with my name, the physical product of course will not be
For individual stickers, there's 3 options: a set of these line-less "coy kitty" angel and devil stickers, and a nekomata monster girl. You can also pledge for the 4" paw planet sticker that's free to early bird backers.
Chenille patches:
These are available in 3 colorways and sew-on only, they are not iron-on. They're approximately 3" tall and super fluffy!
Shaker keychains:
Dry shakers with v2 of my Sugar Paws design on them. (Limited quantities)
...More add-ons will be added as stretch goals unlock!
I will be upfront here and state that incoming tariffs complicate everything severely. None of us know when or if these will be implemented or precisely how steep they will be.
I will be closing my business at the end of this calendar year with this as a major contributing factor.
If you would like these rewards, from this campaign is the best option, and best price, to do so. 🐾
Here is the current price breakdown as I anticipate it to be, up through timeline of payment to the manufacturer, the same as the last campaign:
Fulfillment for these may run into Summer of 2025. There are so many things that may or may not happen this year that could impact this, including my health being on the decline in a way I haven't experienced before.
Please keep this in mind when backing!
Shipping charges are applied manually post-campaign, with additional card and address info collected via survey after this initial fundraising has been collected. As mentioned above, I am able to send out surveys late and charge late as well, due to already having accurate counts via the add-ons and pledge levels (VS the model I used to use of "1 unlocked pin" etc). This gives people more time to raise the money to pay.
Please contact me if you need to pay in installments or need me to charge your shipping fees/any add-ons applied via the survey at a later date. However, backing this original campaign remains the only way you can receive standard grade choice of individual pin!
Here is a list of some participating projects by artists I either know personally, have backed before, or have just seen fulfill campaigns before, to help ease the minds of anyone nervous about crowdfunding! All of these creators below make sure their backers get their rewards and the art is genuine.
I have never seen these creators not fulfill their obligations. They also have good customer service if you have any questions.
