Washi tape

Maybe you have heard of Japanese washi tape or masking tape before. It's become very popular and I've seen it pop up at many blogs over the past year. Washi tape is paper tape originally made in Japan. It was used to mark areas when painting but nowadays it used for many decorative purposes. I have been using it to put pictures on my living room walls (it's easy to remove and leaves no stains). Here are some more examples of how to use washi tape.

Omiyage created some great looking birthday cards with the tape. Easy to make and stunning looking!

Picture: http://omiyageblogs.blogspot.com

Poppytalk used the washi tape for some colourful gift wrapping:

Picture: http://poppytalk.blogspot.com

Jen from The haysteck needle online used washi tape to create gift tags. Again very easy to do and with great effect:

Leslie from A creative mind has been very creative with washi tape. She used it to turn some ordinary vases into designer ones:

Picture: http://acreativemint.typepad.com

For the upcoming holidays you can find many ideas online on how to use washi tape to decorate your Christmas tree or even use the tape to put together a Christmas tree on your wall.

Hope you enjoyed these fun ideas!

Ps...more ideas can be found on Pinterest

Cake time!

Yesterday my love turned 32 and I bought him a small birthday cake. I found some cute candles as you can see above. It was a chocolate covered cake with a bottom crust that was filled with sesame seed. This gave it a true Japanese flavour.

Every time I visit one of the food markets I'm always amazed with how much creativity Japanese put into creating food. Not only does it taste good, every meal looks like a piece of art. And cakes are no different. 

Check the velvet red cake I bought for myself, almost too pretty to eat! The decoration on top is made from white chocolate and the inside of the cake was filled with a creamy blueberry mousse, yum!

And off course there are many Christmas cakes for sale now. I loved the cupcake pictured below, there's a Christmas cookie attached to it.

Fell in love with a be@r

Today I fell in love with a cool small bear. Medicom is a Japanese company that creates very cool figurines. A lot of their models have become collectibles.  Below are some examples.

Before I came to Japan I never heard of Medicom but apparently they are very famous all over the world and on of their most celebrated characters is Be@rbrick. Be@rbrick is a bear that likes to sport many different looks. After checking the website I want one! It will be hard to choose since there are so many cool ones. How about Be@rbrick as Popeye, Jack Skellington or Darth Vader? Or Be@rbrick dressed in the Dutch flag?

Kawaii!

In September this year I moved from the Netherlands to Japan. I had never been to Japan before not even for a short trip but for some reason I knew I would like it. Even after the big earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster moving to Japan felt like the right thing to do at this point in my life.

And after being here for almost three months it still feels so right. I love Japan. I love the food, the excellent service in shops, the temples and shrines, Japanese ladies in kimono's, the view on Mount Fuji from my bedroom and all things kawaii.

Kawhat?!

Kawaii translates to cuteness or loveliness and is an important aspect of popular Japanese culture. You'll find it in all sort of things like manga, clothing, food, toys and stickers. Hello Kitty is kawaii and so is Pokemon.

One of the first things I fell in love with were the stationary goods. I have never seen such cuteness before! Many of the products available here are difficult to find in Europe and that's what gave me the idea to sell these goods online. This way everyone back home can enjoy them and it will give me a good reason to keep buying them. So now I find myself trying to negotiate prices with Japanese wholesalers...challenging since I only speak a few words Japanese and most of them do not speak English. And then there's the cultural difference...I will keep you updated on my journey trough this blog.