Testing

The shop is almost ready...I'm working on the last details. Unless something unexpected happens it should be opened in April....so looking forward to that moment!
I'm 'testing' all the products myself to make sure everything is high quality and fun. Today I used the pink striped washi tape and some kawaii stickers to create a little gift bag for a friend.

Japanese KitKat

Never knew there are so many different versions of KitKat! In the Netherlands we only have the regular milk chocolate one and sometimes you can find the white chocolate one. In Japan they are a bit more creative and last year I already tried the green tea flavor and strawberry flavor. The green tea version tasted quite good.  Not sure about the strawberry one though...too sweet for my taste.
Today I found citrus flavored kitkat (yumm!) and strawberry tarte (not for me). And I've heard stories about a soy sauce flavored KitKat... 

Celebrity poodles

Source:  http://fashionsmostwanted.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/mad-on-poodles.html

Kawaii stationary props

I'm busy this week taking pictures of all the products for the shop. The picture above shows some of the props I bought this week for the product pics. So sweet!

Product sneak peaks

Another rainy day today which I spent taking product pictures for the soon to be opened online shop. Here are some sneak peaks.

Paul & Joe lipstick give away

Scathingly brilliant is a wonderful blog by the lovely Kate Gabrielle. Kate, like myself, loves cats and this week she is featuring a give away of the Paul & Joe lipstick from their cat-astic collection on her blog. The lipstick is shaped like a cat. I'm not sure how easy it is to apply to your lips with the cat ears sticking out. Guess a brush would definitely come in handy here!

Oreo cupcakes from Annie's eats

When browsing Pinterest I came across a picture of some very attractive cupcakes. They are
Oreo cookie and cream cupcakes from Annie's eats and I really wanted to make these myself. Like with any recipe it was a challenge gathering all the ingredients in the my local supermarket since I can not read any Japanese. But in the end I managed to find all the ingredients and yesterday I spend some time in my kitchen baking these. The bottom of these cupcakes is made from an Oreo cookie and there are chopped Oreos in the batter too, yumm! This recipe is not too hard to make and although my version did not look as good as Annie's, I was still happy with the result and taste (and ate at least 4 of them....).

Things to love: Japanese stationary

Ow how I love Japanese stationary. I've never seen such cute stationary before. The colors, the designs...I'm amazed with the amount of creativity that goes into it. My collection is growing every week. This week I bought two sheets of stickers that show body parts. Not sure where I would stick these on...I mean where would you put a sticker of a liver or lung on? Still I couldn't resist since looking at this design made my day!

Another nice find are these thick plastic animal stickers. Again I fell for the level of detail here. The rabbit has a tiny bow-tie around his neck and the tree is all fluffy and has a paper bird. 

Besides the seals I also found another roll of Japanese masking (washi) tape with a pattern of birds, bows, flowers and macarons. Love the pastel color of it!

Cake pops

Cupcakes were a big hit in 2011. I'm predicting 2012 will be the year for cake pops! And Bakerella is the queen of cake pops. She published a book on how to make these 'too cute to eat' cakes on a stick...I'm going to give it a try this weekend!

 

Happy Valentine's day!

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.