Fern Living Porcelain

Whee! Bunting porcelain! Amazing. This is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Danish. I like it a lot.

Plants Plants Plants

In exciting news, we've found a new apartment to rent! Promise to show pictures soon, but I'm so relieved: the house hunting was getting me down and now I get to day dream about how to decorate it. One thing I would like is plants. Lots of plants. And hopefully, I will not kill them. 

Images here and here.

Wooden vases

Stunning wooden vases. Just so you know, they're sold out, but still just so pretty to look at here.

Mid Century Rocker

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Well this chair is just delightful. It is both excruciating and a relief that Urban Outfitters don't deliver furniture to Australia.

Tokuya Melbourne

Some very cute containers

Last Friday I was in Melbourne for work for the day, which was most excellent timing. I had recently read on Twitter (sorry - can't remember who tweeted, but thank you!) that a brand new Hyaku-en store had opened up in Melbourne. Many of the stores like this in Japan are from the brand Daiso, which is a high-quality, low-cost Japanese brand. Tokuya is (from what I could tell) made in China but Japanese design. And everything in the store is $3.50. Eeee!

Hula girls ribbon with hula skirts which come off the ribbon. Cuuute!

I only had about 15 minutes in the shop, which wasn't nearly enough. Although it's nothing on real Japanese Hyaku-en, it is a good, smaller sample size. There is lots of stationery, kitchen goods, hardware, cleaning products, beauty products and more. The kitchen section is very good, with lots of bento boxes, chopstick cases and little plastic animal-headed toothpicks. (Having bought about 40 plastic animal-headed toothpicks in Japan, I told myself no more. But really, can you ever have too many?)

Aroma pens, pencils and and cute little pens.

Hedgehog procession! "It walks side by side always together. It is a start of happy time"!
"Good sheep: it splashes in a lot of lovely child sheep. It follows one after another later"
"The Handmade Letter"
I can't go near hyaku-en without a Miffy purchase. This one is going to look especially grown-up in meetings...

Overall verdict? Most exciting and thrilling to have an Aussie hyaku-en. I didn't buy as much as I wanted, partly limited by time and by the fact that I only had a handbag with me. But it is a lot of fun, and if you love hyaku-en in Japan, you will adore this. Go, explore and love!


Tokuya: Basement, 236 Bourke St, Melbourne. (Near Target).
If you're heading to Melbourne, or if you live there, please tell me and I will ask for you to be a stationery mule! Seriously. I will pay cost + postage and maybe even treats to willing buyers!

Tokyo Zakka Shops

Loved this picture from Upon a Fold - took me right back to lots of zakka shops I visited in Japan and so many swoony bits and pieces I couldn't fit in my bags!

Paper Pencils

Have you seen these beautiful paper pencils over at Upon a Fold? That Justine really knows what she's doing! Just lovely.

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Akanbe!

When I was in Lorne last weekend, I found this incredible basket which turns into a BLANKET! I am still getting over it, to be honest. Picnic basket, craft organiser, baby things - the list of uses could be endless, really. I didn't end up buying it, but I have been thinking of it for a while.

'Akanbe' or あかんべ is actually a Japanese facial gesture, where you pull one eye down while you stick out your tongue, so this little bag is even cuter.

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Neck Pillow and Support

Last week I had a bulged disc in my neck which was incredibly painful. The whole time I was lying on my back, I craved a warm pack that was long enough to drape around my neck, keeping it warm.

As soon as I was able, I got to my machine, grabbed some favourite scraps from a current WIP and made a long neck pillow. I filled it with rice and a few drops of lavender oil, and heat it in the microwave when I need it. It is my new favourite thing!

3D Fruit Post-its

Third Drawer Down have the cutest paper notes ever. Thee apples and pears are from D-Bros and look positively edible!

All images via here.

Vanilla Week Diary

When I see a good diary, I buy it. Even though I know I'm months away from being able to use it! This one is particularly cute from Korean brand Monopoly. If Ebony designed a diary, I imagine it might look something like this: whimsical, pretty and oh so cute. Roll on 2010!

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Nineteen Seventy Three

Aren't these the cutest pics ever? Nineteen Seventy Three have such super cute cards - they look delicious.
The cat with shoes! And a moustache!

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Quilt WIP

Here is a sneak peek of my quilt WIP. I am having slight reservations about it, along the lines of "why am I cutting up perfectly good fabric to sew it back together again?" and "this is the literal enactment of writing a thesis - arg!" but otherwise, I am enjoying the process.

The beautiful scissors you see are my grandmother's (they were her great aunt's before that). Heavy and authoritative, I feel like I'm continuing a tradition when I use them. Below is my dear grandma's jar of buttons, full of hundreds of spare buttons from my mum's school uniforms, jackets and shirts that have long since gone. As a child, I used to love pouring them out and running my hands through them, sorting them into colours and shapes.

Pocket Carnival

I was lucky enough to find the delicious Pocket Carnival, and am squealing about the cuteness of the designs.
Pocket Carnival can be found at MadeIt and Etsy and you can find their blog here.

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By the way, you would know how I love open shelves, especially in kitchens... Check out this post for some delicious open shelf-love.

Embroidery Hoops

I love the way people create cheap and easy to make artwork with embroidery hoops. Here are some of my favourites from the lovely Desire to Inspire.

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Propeller Studio - Kawaii!

Looking on some of the stationery I brought back from Japan, I noticed a label I hadn't seen before. Happily, it led me to discover Propeller Studio, which has the cutest designs ever! This guy and the bear make me so happy.



Aren't these just too beautiful? They make me want to jump on a plane for Japan right now.

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Fruit and Vegies Say 'Yay'!

These fruit and vegie bags are the cutest alternative to small plastic bags that I've seen. I am a dedicated 'take my own non-plastic bags to the supermarket' kinda gal, but I always cringe at my own hypocrisy when it comes to using small plastic bags for multiple things.

All images from wonderthunder

Delicious Etsy Yummies

It's official. I've found a new favourite etsy shop. It's called nothingelegant, and believe me, everything is kissy-hot. This Paris postcard pack is quite delightful, and have a look at this cute filing folder, below - perfect for an organising frenzy.

These stamps are heartwrenchingly perfect. Whimsical and fun, without being too pretty. I love them dearly.
And deco tape with pretty stamps and European images? Enough, I say!
And this little girl reminds me of Yoshitomo Nara's beautifully angry girl portraits. So cute.