Artist Interview - Dawn

My lovely readers, it's my bi-weekly artist interview. This week, we have Dawn of "Look what I can do". I doubt you have never come across her work, especially her colorful bunny series. Dawn has a incredible sense of mixing colorful fabric pattern which is truely amazing. When I go to fabric store, all I order is the same color tone and the usual suspects of black, whte and grey, maybe a bit of demin but really, look what Dawn can do! She's an incredible mother of the cutest boy and girl I've ever seen. Oh and don't forget a little doggie name Mr. Gucci. It's unimaginable how she do all the creative works, keep a blog, raised 2 kids, feed the little dog and take it to walk, all in the limited 24/7.

Here is Dawn:

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Dawn and I am a Plush-a-holic. I have always loved stuffies and making them is seriously one of the most satisfying things I have ever done. I have 2 kids and a fantastic Husband. My kids are my greatest inspirations and my Husband is my biggest fan/supporter. When it comes to sewing I am self taught. I did go to school for photography which is my other creative addiction. I carry my camera with me everywhere. I am also a fabric addict...especially vintage. It is the thrill of the hunt that keeps me going. I very much like the idea of using something that would most likely end up in a landfill.

What made you start making plush toy?

After we had our daughter I really started looking around at all the toys for kids and I thought it would be super amazing to make her some Creatures. I thought all Creatures deserved love so that's what I would call them. Then I was free to make monsters, dolls, animals...basically anything. I love seeing each and everyone come to life and naming them and giving them history and personalities...it's all very satisfying.

I like your shop name "Look what I can do"? How did you come up with this name?

One day our daughter said 'Ma...look what I can do! She said it all the time so that's where it came from, our daughter.

You say your kids are your biggest inspiration, and your husband is the biggest supporter. Other than your family, any other artist(s) inspires you the most?

There are far too many to mention but some of my all time favs are Ping of Wawaya, Jennifer of Cotton Monster, Le Train Fantome, Herzensart, Camilla Engman's stuffed work, Donna Wilson, Lizette Greco and Clive and Sunshine were my earliest handmade Plush inspirations but there are many many others now as well. My life has been changed by the flickr/blogging circle that I have been involved with since 2006 and I seriously can't thank any of them enough. I was an isolated stay at home Ma. It was so nice to have this community to share with. They are seriously responsible for helping me stay creative. I cherish each and everyone of you that has been kind to me. There really are more nice people in the world than mean...really.

I love your rabbit collections especially the mix pattern and color combination. How did you come up with so many different one?

Thanks...first of all.
I am addicted to fabric plain and simple so I am driven by this force to keep making more and more and more. The more I create the more fabric I get to bring to life...it's my drug :).

Your photos for the products are all very well lighted, do you have a special setup for them?

Yes I do but it's not professional....I am not wealthy so I improvise...I guess photo school paid off a little bit :)

Do you make special one for your kids or do you teach them how to make plush toy?

My daughter has a bunch of stuffies I made, some I traded for and others I bought. She is a plush-a-holic now too. She has favorites and tries to spend time with them all. She reads to them, plays with them and sleeps with them. She really wants to make some and we have tried a bit but soon we will really get going....there are never enough hours in the day and sewing is my escape.

How do you manage your time with family, your "plush-a-holism" and your photography habit?

I am tired a lot. I have always been a night owl and I never sit still for long...so I just do it....wish I had more time to sew but life is full of lots of things and sewing is just a small part. My kids are my main focus right now.

You've been on Etsy since 2006, what's the difference between then and now?

Now just about everyone knows what Etsy is and when I did my first Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle I would tell people about Etsy and hardly anyone at all had even heard of it, outside of the craft movement that is.

Any special plans for the future?

To keep sewing, keep learning, keep searching for amazing fabric and try to bring to life more of the ideas floating in my head. To expand and make clothing, make Love=Creatures with clothing, become a quilter and increase my sewing skill level....learning is what keeps me going.

Chinese Architecture - NingBo Historic Museum

I've been avoiding architectural content, mainly because I won't be able to give you any professional insights, I love and read lots of them from popular architecture blogs, but I always just share/star them. This is something different, because this is something on my "to visit" list and it's from China.

Even though I'm Chinese but I live in Hong Kong, all the great happening within the mainland, I have to dig them out. I've been contemplating having a short trip somewhere, usually I'd avoid going up north, but I stumbled across this Historic Museum in NingBo, which changed my mind.

When people say Chinese architecture, usually people think of Beijing, especially the 08 Olympic brought much attention to the Bird Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. I never thought anything outside Beijing will be in anyway spectacular enough for me to want to go visit, especially in NingBo, which I can't exactly tell you where it is...(I have to gain more geographic knowledge of my own country)

This historic museum is designed by Chinese architecture Wang Su of Amateur Architecture based in HangZhou. He reused the beautiful walls that you can find in the small villages surrounding Ningbo, created a museum using geometric shapes. Some locals may call it ugly, I find it absolutely interesting and worth a little visit. I'm glad we don't just build lifeless malls.

photo credit: Iwan Baan

Make me happy

I went tool shopping last Friday and I passed by this toy shop, I was staring at the little rubber ducks, the shop owner stared at me and my husband stared at both of us. I decided to take them home and I happened to buy some adjustable ring as requested by a customer, so I just glue them on and made a couple duck rings for myself. Cost me next to nothing, but makes me really happy for no particular reason.

When asked stupid questions at job interview like: what do you think is your best quality, I always tell them, I find happiness in the silliest thing. No one ever hire me for that answer...but oh well, but they missed out a silly happy person, their lost.

Giveaway Alert!

Usually the alert will be about somebody else's giveaway, but this time, win something from me. The wonderful Kelly from Design Crush approached me to do a giveaway, I of course is 100% delighted, because I love her blog. Her daily eat always makes me hungry. :D Plus, it's always a wonder to me why no one has yet to grab this pair of earrings.

So, go over to her blog, comment and win. There are already 30ish comments, the giveaway is opened till next Monday and I will hand pick the winner. (remember my bag for the lucky draw?...I saved it and I know I can use it again someday.)

New from Studio Violet

An email landed in my mailbox, new collection "Circus Violet" is now available from Studio Violet. I've been looking at the work in progress pictures from Camilla's flickr photostream for a while...my wish list has been growing bigger and bigger...

Monday Find - New Fav

Hey guys, how were your weekends? Mine is full of rain rain rain, so I just went into hibernation mode of sleep, eat, sleep and eat some more. Good to get some rest, I've been working on weekends for some weeks now. :D

This Monday's Finds are collectives from my casual browsing. I didn't collect much new hearts the past week to make a good selection, so I tap into my new favs to share with you. Some of them you may have already seen through my tweets. Enjoy!

1. These girls Vinyl stickers by Anke's Little Shop $4.5

2. Adriatic wave necklace in pink red by giia $110

3. White Mountain Find Art Print by Paper Whistle $30

4. Kicks in Yellow by ClaireMojher $10

5. White blossom corsage brooch by A Alicia Accessories $50

6. Sheep wall hanging by HeliS $17

7. Silver whale curiosity card holders by TsuruBride $20

8. Vintage suitcase pet bed by Vintage Renaissance $75

9. Red Vegan leather notebook by j.s. de la press $35

10. Mid Century Modern Tea Party from jessjamesjake $20

11. Babushka by Schmooks $25

Just a quick note

I know some of you like the little airplanes from my Fly away with me necklace. Great news! You can buy them now as a pair of earrings, and great price too, very affordable. ;D See the listing here.

Friday Collective - Fashion scans from Japan with love

Hey lovely readers, sorry for no update yesterday, but since you guys love to comment my banners, I let it stay on top for a little bit longer. ;D And I burned my left thumb working on an order. No worries, nothing major, it's now a black mark, hopefully the dead skin will peel off soon, so I took some rest last night.

Well my decision for the banner is final, I'm going to run both No.1 and No.3, since I can switch mid way through my ad period. ;D Problem solved! I'm so grateful for all of your support and help, it's the most commented post so far on this little blog of mine.

Anyway, I was flipping through my Japanese magazine collections yesterday for a bit of inspiration, and I realized how much I love their editorial pictures, I am hopping you may like it too, so I decided to share them with you guys.

BTW: I think I'm going to do more live tweets with many shared blog posts, etsy find and flickr share, come find me here. We can chat a bit while I'm flip through blog posts, flickr and etsy too.

image credit: So-En and Spur from various issues.

I need your help!!!

I really need your help here. I'm planning to place an ad somewhere, the size limit is pretty tight, I really need some objective and honest opinons about my little banner. I put different products in it, base on sale, view count and other factors, I'm leaning towards the top one, but, it has the most view count with no sale. My best seller, still is the perfect match box, and good time ring....I hate to loose the logo...it brings great popping color, but then, the clean look can be nice too...sigh..I really can't decide.

Please help me out here, which banner you think works the best for you? and make you click?

New Product - Rainy Days, Sunny Days

Hey my lovely readers, I have another new pair of earrings. ;D

This is also part of the extension series inspired by my wall decoration. I can't believe I can come up with so many different things with my wall decoration! I worked on it last weekend, finally find some time to get pictures taken. ;D Been filling a couple orders, and a friend from Hong Kong requested my Fly away with me necklace which I just mailed out. She's one sweet girl, she ordered a couple things from me already.

Instead of having both earrings being rainy days, which was my original idea, I gave it some thoughts, and decide to put a sun in it. I'm very much a moody person, and am always affected by weather. Rainy season is coming, and hopefully we won't see too much typhoon and landslide like last year. The day before my wedding day, it was major typhoon, I nearly didn't get my flower bouquet, but we managed. The best thing after rainy days, it's the rainbow and sun, makes you appreciate the sunny days more. This pair will be listed soon.

I think I'm moving on from the wall decoration, and I have so many other sketches and ideas needed to be test out and made...they're beaming at me whenever I turn my sketch pad pages. I had dreams about them...

Speaking of weather, I found this lovely weather site, which is also super cute.

Oh, just a little note of what else I'm up to. I'm starting to being more active on twitter starting this week, since I'm reading 1000+ posts everyday, and not all got shared here, I'm doing a share as I go twitter feed, so if you haven't follow me already, come take a look. ;D I am also helping to promote cute shops whenever I see one too.

Katsuhito Yamamoto "PLANETIZE ME" 山元勝仁

Ok, I have to admit I am becoming quite cheap these days. I will go to magazine places or coffee shops, have a pen and a note pad with me, when I see something really interesting while flipping, I will mark down the info, and plan to share them here. I used to have a bigger budget for magazines, and now I only by a couple necessary Japanese mags, and that's it.

So I stumbled upon Katsuhito Yamamoto's exhibition at Yuka Sasahara Gallery of his origami pieces. They're colorful and really lovely. I read his interview about how he want to translate the traditional art and make it vibrant and speaks to all people, Japanese and foreigner. It's his interaction with foreign culture that he actually looked more closely back to his root.

One thing I notice about me, is that I respond to color, I think lots of people do. We had 10 years of 90s where we use color very sparingly, so now, the minimalist of black white and grey is still great, but color, oh...I love them. I wish I can add some colorful pieces into my own collection too, but I need to figure a thing or two with materials, just more things on my to do list.

photo credit

Q tip for your neck

Usually I don't look at jewelry that much, for fear that something got stuck in my head and I'm subconsciously copying other without much awareness. I do research on things I come up with to see if there is any really similar thing. Then I stumble on to Maulo Paul's graduation collection. I just feel like I have to share. It's very architectural but in the mean time, use simple objects like q tips to form large statement pieces. Not something you'd wear for a night out, but it's quite nice to look at and my head is spinning with all sort of fun ideas with q tips.....just wait till I have spare time...which is never....

See more here.

Monday Find - From the people who hearted me. Just Random

Hello lovely readers, how were your weekends? My was rainy, so my planned hiking trip was cancelled, and I spent the Sunday afternoon flipping through my new hearts' shops. On this note, I just reached the 1500 mark. So a big thank you to all the old and new love.

I couldn't come up with a theme for this, may be you can help me to come up with a name. I tried to select from newer shops with lower view count as much as possible, and hopefully can spread some love to them.

1. Dot Trio by joyful little things $14.9

2. Small wood birds from Hello victory $16

3. Branches on a kiss wallet by Kimisew $52

4. Ginger Blossom oilive oil soap by Sweet Petula $6.95 (My English name is Petula also...so strange...)

5. Petite cocotte ornament by la Marquise des Anges $7

6. Ring bearer by JloveS $30

7. Let's go for a bike ride mini art pillow by Knitter girl $9

8. Reading set book cover and pillow by Alfa Studio by $28

9. Non-Phenomenal Lineage by Transfer Transfer $25

10. Mushorooms dinner plate by Jensen and marineau $58

Happy Weekend

It's the wee hours of Sat morning, I woke up to the chirping of the birds, they started very early....(-_-)...
My plan for the weekend is just sit back, relax, meet up for a family dinner. I hope you enjoy some good old r&r too.

Loving this fresh from the oven new set of ceramics from Nina. flirckr. shop. blog.

Friday Collective - Make something!

I've been working mostly at my little "studio" table in my living the room the whole week, and I felt so happy every time I finished a new thing, or filled an order (sales some how pick up a bit thisweek. ;D). If you have no particular plan for the weekend, why not make something, when you're done, and see what you've just pulled off, it's the nicest feeling. ;D

From Top to bottom, left to right:

So-En April DIY necklaces (in Japanese, but the pictures are very descriptive), Download full page scan here and here, Make use of your old book via sweetpaul, Make a lamp out of yogurt cup via crafster forum and if you have some extra cash, buy some gold leaf and make a gold filled rock via design sponge.

Michael Gondry will draw a sketch of you for 19.95

I love Michael Gondry and his movies, especially Science of Sleep and Be kind rewind even though his most acclaimed work is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What I love about Science & Be kind is the the use of handmade props. After watching Science, my urge for making something with cardboard is so strong and I had to take a taxi home, and cut up some scrap papers and tried to figure out what to make at midnight. And I love the make shift sets in Be kind then of course the poking fun at the 80s movies, people in the theater laughed out so loud we practically just couldn't contain ourselves.

He just launch a new website to promote his DVD, but the most interesting part is that he'll draw your portrait for $19.95. Even though the delivery is 6-8 weeks, but it's very tempting. I need to refrain myself from spending these days, I just went on a supply and tool shopping spree this week.

So I am going to utilize a phrase I learned from reading forums somewhere, start your sentence with "In this economy....". For this particular situation, it'd be: In this economy, 20 bucks is 20 bucks, even it's Michael Gondry drawing my portrait we're talking about. ;D

BTW, Mr. Gondry, the big red "Buy Now" seems a bit cheesy, as if you really need to earn that extra 19.95. ;P

via noquedanblogs

Artist Interview - Yokoo

My lovely readers, I'm starting and hoping to turn it into a biweekly series as Artist Interview Thursday.

My first artist interview who I'm truly amazed by her work, and her quick, "yes!" to my interview request, is Yokoo. Thank you for agreeing to the interview, and reply to my questions. ;D

If you're into the fashion in lookbook.nu, facehunter and read Susie Bubble, then there's no way you don't know about Yokoo, but even you're not into the 80s fashion comeback, you've probably already seen her in Etsy.

I am fascinated when I first found her and her shop. Not only her work is one of a kind, but people are drawn to her, as a special character with quirky, bold and "somehow this works so well" styling. When I learned knitting from my mom, I never would have thought that knitting can be something, hm...cool and fashionable, but Yokoo not only managed to make a living out of knitting chunky scarfs, along the way, became a bit famous herself, famous enough that Jenny, an Israel illustrator painted her and put it up for sale, which subsequently made it to the front page of Etsy.

True to her photography, her words are equally unusual and different:

You always seem kind of mysterious in someway, so who's Yokoo?

Perhaps, the reason why Yokoo is such a mystery to others is quite frankly because she is a mystery to me as well. Everyday I wake up with and have to look in the mirror to simply remind of myself of who I used to be. But I wouldn't have it any other way. It is as if I too am watching myself from afar wondering what I will do next. I know it must seem like there is some method to my madness, but no, this story begins with an ending nowhere in sight, this allows read it with as much anticipation as everyone else.

Where do you draw your inspiration?

You know what? I’m gonna be frank with you. I really don’t know what that question means. This is the first time I am admitting it, but for years I have been hearing this question posed to artists, I never knew what it meant, and I don’t think anyone knows what it means. You mean to tell me that there are people out there that can take walk and smell a flower, and suddenly sit back at home and paint better, and dancer better? Who are these people? How do they dress?

Did you teach yourself to knit?

Yes pretty much I taught myself.

Before etsy and knitting, what did you do?

Before I came too busy for anything but filling orders, I lived my life as rather faint and less notable and chronic sentimentalist. Yeah I was one of those girls. I fell in love more times than Erica Kane. I based my entire life around whomever I was in love with at the time. Painters, musicians, drug dealers. I even dated a man who used to pick pockets. Then somewhere along the line I realized I was just a hapless romantic who, like the rest of my peers, grew up on bad television and romantic comedies and I should stop torturing myself over men that didn't wipe my tears with silk handkerchiefs.

When do you realize you're kind of famous, not just within etsy community?

You know, the funny thing is, I have been bombarded with the usual bravado that comes with being an social entity, like being approached by total strangers. But it never really hit me until I went home last December and I had dropped my cup on the floor and when usually I would just pick it up, my entire family scrambled to do it for me. That when I suddenly realized something had changed profoundly.

I'd imagine knitting all day you need something to entertain yourself. Who's your favorite musicians and how do they influence your work?

Music doesn't influence my work unless I'm brainstorming for a new product to come up with. That’s when I have to be careful. Because I usually have my itunes on and if I'm listening to John Denver, then I'll come up with something like a bold Indian aztec scarf. If I’m listening to someone like Nas, I may end up knitting an irreconcilable death threat. So I have to be careful.

Other than Woody Allen, who else is your favorite director?

No one, just Woody.

Where do you make your things?

At my desk, in front of my computer.

What do you see yourself doing when you're 50 years old?

When I’m 50, I most likely will be knitting more so for pleasure then for a source of income. You know, sweaters and mittens for my children. I mean I hop so. Can you see me at 50 filling out Etsy orders -haha? I hope not. But one never knows, with the way the economy is going.

Your style is different, how do you describe your own style?

I'm happy you think so. Most women don’t usually pick up on it. My style is very much a reflection of the early eighties pop culture phenomena: the Claire Standish of Breakfast Club, the Janet Jackson of Control, the Beth Gallagher of Fatal Attraction, and the Mia Farrow of Hannah & Her Sisters. I feel that this was the greatest period of classic American style. Ralph Lauren had just released his Prairie line, the entire country would spend their Thursday nights together enjoying The Cosby Show; it was just this magical balance between adult innocence and childish vulgarity. The Nineties was the opening of the gates, but the eighties were like children cursing for the first time and then laughing about it. Sometimes when I think of where American culture is right now, it just fills me with deep sadness.

Do you plan out the clothing and styling for your photos shoot?

Yes, I do style myself.

Ever look at some old photos and have those "What was I thinking" moments?

Yes, it usually occurs ten minutes after leaving my home. I usually change my outfit around five times a day.

I know you don't do much advertising, people just seem to draw to you, your photo, your style. What's your reason for that?

I have very little business sense, but as of right now, we have been debating on where to advertise online. It’s very difficult because our market does not look at itself subjectively, instead they see things objectively.

Now that spring is here, and summer is rolling in soon, I see you do knit bags, what other things do you have in mind for hot weather?

Well Yokoo has some very special products coming out in the not too distant future. We have our line of exclusive cotton scarves that we just got back from the manufacturer, they’re absolutely gorgeous. We have some silk scarves and more of the knitted garments. We also have a huge project that we will announce in a few months as well.

My etsy wish list for print

I know I missed my mark on my Monday find because of the long weekend, so I want to share with you something that's on my wish list for forever.

The down side of knowing to make things is that, well, you look at things, and think, oh..I can do that myself, not that I know to make all things, but still, I always think, eventually..... So, my wish list grew from majorly jewelry and accessories, to majorly print, garment, and vintage. Here are some of prints.

From left to right, top to bottom:

Morning by Yellena, Retro kitchen mixer by CB78, Amaya with a red bird by Dilkabear, Carried by birds by Jayme McGowan, I miss the idea of you by Aimee Sicuro, Bird Tree by Geninne

New Necklace - Fly away with me

Sorry about the no update for the whole weekend and then some. It was a super long weekend of 4 days public holidays, so we went out and had some fun, and I tried to avoid the Internet for the most part of it. It's definitely a mind rest. I also managed to finish up a custom order and made a new necklace.

As you can tell, I'm in the mood for silver lately. I've been using brass for a while, and my shop is full of them. Brass is really good for experimenting and making really large pieces like the headbands, but silver is definitely my choice for making simple things.

I named this necklace "Fly away with me". It's sort of an extension of my wall decoration and Cloud 9. I changed the girl and made her grow up a little bit. The main reason is really a technical issue with the original girl's legs, they're too thin to withstand the use as a pendant. I love the new girl, with swinging arms and a little bow head ornament. Oh, and the little paper airplanes, I had so much fun making them. ;D It will be listed soon, but I need to head out to mail my orders and buy some supply today.

I will get back to normal blogging tomorrow.

My work this week

I made a couple things this week. A couple of them are not for sale, because they're made as gifts. There's this brass ring I made that's pretty good, but I didn't have time to take the photo before it's on my auntie's hand.

This ring I call it "Blossom Ring" which will be listed soon. It's a little bouquet of flower that sits on top of a ring. The bouquet's end merges into the ring. I know this ring is hardly anything original, but this was inspired by my own wedding bouquet and my flower market visit last Friday, something about spring and flowers is very endearing. I set out to make this as to challenge myself, technique and patience. I will list and sell the original, and this is the only one I will sell. As much as I enjoy making this, those little flowers when bunch together is very hard to polish, takes lots of time because I'm doing all by hand without some of machines you will find in normal jewelry studio. I so wish I can go buy some new equipments, but I need to save up some money first.

Anyway, happy long weekend!

Happy Easter Friday Collective - What a colorful week

Happy Easter! I nearly forgot until my friend told me it's public holiday. ;P The down fall when you work at home. I see lots of wonderful color blog posts this week, so this is a mega link collection for you to enjoy the long weekend.

I will be doing some hiking and barbecue, can't wait!

From left to right, top to bottom:

Tape 3 - noquedanblogs, Wish you were here homeware - design you trust, goodbloom - scoutie girl, Tham & Videgard Hansson arkitekets - Designboom, Megan Whitmarsh - 20 x 200, Ingird Ruegemer - Designboom, SF birthday party - Oh happy day, Pencil canvas - The red thread, Boom box wedding invite - Black Eiffel, Ella Moss - House Martin, Trofast changing table - IKEA hacker, Seattle home - decor 8, Aaron Feaver photofolio - lifelounge

Thursday read, Parasol a new free online magazine

I don't know if you know about N.E.E.T., a free online magazine for fashion, with a vintage, indie niche. Now, there's a new free online magazine named Parsasol, it's tag line is Design + Art + Creative lifestyle. This is their first issue, from the look of it, it's pretty nice. It's not as "indie", and it features a handful of artists and has a couple DIY tutorials. Download one and take a look for yourself. Seems like more and more talented people are doing download pdf magazines.

Hong Kong Tram

Allow me to indulge a little to talk about my city. Evening news last night talked about our signature Tram on the island side is now owned and run by a French company. I don't know what struck me, but I have all sort of nostalgic feeling for a Tram system that's more than 100 years old. You know, it only costs you 2 HKD (that's less than a quarter in USD) to go from one end to the other.

Cost aside, it's the best way to see the island side across when you have time, it goes through Central, the financial center with skyscrapers, and old districts like west point where it used to a district for all the brothels.

We call it "ding ding" because the sound it makes when it reaches a stop. I lived in the Kowloon side all my life, and the only sure way to venture around the island side when I was a pre-teen, was to take the ding ding, and it's affordable. I also had a couple romantic rides with my husband when we first started dating.

I hope, the new management won't transform the Tram system to something new and modern. Please let it stay the way it is. People love it, locals or tourists alike.

photo credit: Bahi P

Doggie bag

When I first learned the American slang, I always thought doggie bag means a bag you put the doggie poo into...and I was so wrong, and it resulted in an embarrassing but hilarious situation at a dinner many years ago. When I saw this, it made me laugh a little.

I can't afford to raise any animal, and my living environment is way too small for me to consider it's a comfortable living place for dogs or cats. But if I get a dog eventually, this is what I will carry around to walk the dog. Not to mention it's fully biodegradable?

buy at www.poopoobags.com

via lovelypackage

Cloud 9 Tee

A super nice relative from the US brought back 2 rolls of freezer paper for us. We've been wanting to make our own graphic tee ever since we bought "Printing by Hand", but we have not much luck with contact paper because the edges is not sharp and it bleeds through a little. We do have freezer paper available here, but at ridiculous price from some imported craft shops. So we gave it some patience, and now we can enjoy endless fun of making our own Tee or any printed garments.

My cloud 9 design is my biggest personal collection, a wall, a headband and now a tee shirt. ;D It's kindly of unexpected.

Something new and something clever

Delete key eraser

-Made me smile.

Fabric balloon by nendo

-Amazing, shown in sensware of Toyko Fiber 09.

Chopstick and steamer tray stool by Jason Dembski & Ryan Horsman developed at b.a.s.e. beijing.

-Reuse and upcycled. If you ever travel to Hong Kong or China, you'd be amazed at the alarming usage of disposable bamboo or wood chopsticks.

Cloud paper sofa by Tokujin Yoshioka

-Japanese has a fascination for paper, and I have a fascination for how they use it.

Japanese home

I have to give it to the Japanese for their talent in creating all small little junks, they all seem cute or maybe somewhat useful, but will give you an headache for too much cluttering, but they magically have the knack for making the cluttering look nice and clean in a limited supply of space. These images are from three different small apartments.

Images scanned from So-En May issue.

Spring blossom

Spring is here, and my trip to the flower market was a very rewarding one. I got the idea of taking a little break last Friday after seeing Kris's photos of her trip to Hong Kong, including the flower market in prince edward. Ranunculus is my favorite type of flower, even though it's very fragile and is much more expensive then what I usually have budget for, I couldn't help but bought a little bunch home. It's actually very hard to find it here, and they're only available in a short period of time. Then I remember Sarah's blog saipua which always have really lovely arrangement. If you're in the look out for wedding flower bouquet idea, her blog is full of wonderful inspirations.

Oh, and I'm having so much fun with Poladriod.

Monday Find - From the people who hearted me. Color Wheel

Another week, another edition of Monday Find, selection of products of shop owners who hearted my shop. This is inspired by a trip to the supply stores with all the bright colors last week.

1. canister bowl set from 26 olive street $42

2. large paddles by antinomy designs $250

3. optimism necklace by Radness $15

4. all you need is love record player by omgulr $175

5. mini paper mache 014 by mumbreeze $20

6. sweet tooth by marisa allegra william $40

7. bold knitwear bracelet by tom girl $30

8. rubber thimble pack from lovely art $9.5

9. vintage wrap skirt from this year's model $16

Happy Weekend

I know I need some coffee today, up early for a day trip to pay respect to a passed away relative.
Hope you guys can sleep in and enjoy a great Sat brunch.

photo by: anastasiajamin

Friday Collective - White on White

I'm hitting some rug in terms of content, seeing all the blog posts and lovely images is great, but the economic theory of diminishing return sort of hits me, too much of a good thing can actually become boring, especially one run through things that's repetitive. I remember I once had a summer job that's located above a big shopping mall, it was really exciting for the first week or two, then I sort of didn't want to look the window display anymore, because they didn't change it as often.

So I want to plan something for my blog so that it's not as random, and I can schedule things a little better. Apart from Monday Finds, I'm also starting this Friday collective. Either the blog posts or images that I saved up, so for the weekend, you can have something to read or explore if you haven't seen them already.

Here we go, from left to right, top to bottom:

philippe cramer porcelain cups, home office by indierocket, cream by molly, helvetica wall panel, white by camila engman, teacup lamp, white cat by kaylovesvintage, white slippers by netmir, book shelf by Irina, artmind ceramic

This is really cute. On sale too.

So cute, and on sale! Can't beat that.

Speaking of sale, I've lowered the price of my Objecitcation necklaces each by USD10, because honeslty, things are not moving for me for the past 2 weeks.

If you're in with love my various earrings and sugar and spice, I've also lower their price. I will raise them back if lowering price is still not moving products. I'm doing lots of thinking, pondering and rethinking, and calculations and what not this whole week about my store.

via design is mine

I found something nice in the mailbox - Zookimono

I found a package from France in my mailbox today from Zookimono which I blogged about some weeks ago. The super nice owner of it emailed me and said he want to send me an sample as a good gesture. He even made a template for my old original 4G nano. That's really something absolutely unexpected. He even included some extra cute stickers, I have no words for this, but thank you. It gives my old iPod a new life, originally it's just sitting at my home with my iPod Hi-Fi, now I want to bring it out again. ;D