How cute is this? Pretty in the Kitchen made this tiny Blythe dress using my Bunny and Panda fabric from Spoonflower! I think this is actually the first time I’ve seen someone using my fabric, yay!

She sells her dresses on Etsy (this one has sold!) so take a look if you’re a Blythe owner. I would quite like some of these in adult sizes.

If you were to dissect my spending patterns, I guess the main part would be secondhand books, zines, dresses and citrus flavoured things. We’re talking personal spending here – my overall spending would be swayed towards cellophane bags in 500 sizes, envelopes and promotional postcards. Anyway, the point of this rambling is, I bought some nice things recently and thought I would show you.

I’m supposed to be on a fabric shopping ban, but I have been coveting these for months so when I found them at affordable prices in a UK shop (Fabric Rehab – yes, the irony is not lost on me), I had to get some small pieces. The boats is from the V&A collection and the others are by Heather Moore for Cloud9 and are apparently selling out fast.

At the top of this post is just some of my recent book buying (and mooching), mostly from Up North. My mum’s shop is right next door to an antiquarian bookshop, which had far too many amazing old travel books. I’m thinking of going to the Isle of  Wight next year, so what could be better than a completely out of date guide book? It does have beautiful fold out maps though and some lovely illustrations. I also have to say One Thousand Curiosities of Britain is definitely going to provide me with some fascinating facts to bore people with.

The other books are mostly from the bookshop at Logie Steading near Forres. If you are ever up that way, I definitely recommend it. The cafe is great, the art shop has some nice stuff and there looks to be some pretty gardens and a river walk, but it’s always either been raining, snowing or closed when we’ve visited. My collection of out of date astronomy books is growing slowly – what they lack in up to date discoveries they sure make up in illustrations. Plus you know, the stars aren’t exactly going anywhere.

Also from Logie Steading are these pretty cards by Gail Kelly. They are actually lino cuts printed on to linen, which gives them such an interesting look. I would very much like her Japanese garden print too, but she doesn’t have an online shop. Boooo.

I think that’s all (other than some bizarro lemon/lime chocolate I got from Brodie). I do have several billion zines to write about  sometime too.

So, it’s December and you better have started your Christmas shopping! If anyone’s thinking of buying me a gift, then here are some things I would like. Well, my friends and family do read this blog!

A lovely hand-printed teatowel from Ink & Spindle. I so nearly bought this for myself but the shipping is a bit steep to the UK, sob. Aw, they fixed the shipping for me so I already bought this – I didn’t want to miss out!

This ace screen printed We Make Posters poster by Telegramme. So awesome.

I also have stuff in my Etsy favourites, like this adorable keyring from Mochikaka, but anything on there would make me happy. Some things are sold out but the sellers will probably have more in their shops.

And there is tons of stuff on my Amazon Wish List, which is even handily organised by how much I want stuff (and secondhand copies are totally fine). And if you still can’t decide, I will never ever turn my nose up at Amazon gift vouchers.

To be honest though, I’m not really that bothered about Christmas presents – I already have So Much Stuff. So no-one please feel pressurised into buying me anything – I’ll be quite happy with a card :)

Although I didn’t buy as much in Japan as last time, I did buy a LOT of stuff and so much of it makes me very very happy. Want to see?

Taiko Panda! We saw these panda pillows in Osaka Loft and then saw them again in Tokyo. It’s become a tradition that I buy a kawaii pillow every time I go on a long-haul holiday (they’re great to have on the plane home!) so I didn’t even try to talk myself out of it. Anyway, how could I resist that face? He makes an awesome neck pillow too.

I will post about the Design Festa more in another post, but I got some amazing things there, including this totally adorable felted snowman. He’s so happy! I’m not sure who was more astonished – the girl who made him that I wanted to buy him, or me that someone could be selling adorable snowmen for under ¥300. Bargain. However, he is very soft so I had to transport him home in a Rilakkuma soup carton. Amazingly, I was not pulled over by airport security for this madness. She has a blog here, with more adorable photos. Eeee!

When we visited the Takoyaki Museum, it was nothing like we expected, basically a lot of stalls making takoyaki plus a shop. But what a shop! I came away with a kawaii takoyaki coin purse and a takoyaki bunny charm. Takoyaki Bunny! It’s like they knew I was coming.

A trip to Tokyo is not complete with a peek into the Aranzi Aronzo shop of delights. I was very restrained this trip and just picked up some cute postcards (and a little enamel Usagi badge) and then Nic showed me that Christmas card. Aaargh. Every time I look at it, I feel like I should give up illustration – cutest thing ever.

We were at the airport a bit early for our trip home and I was surprised to end up getting my credit card out again when I wandered into a toy shop. Not only did they have cute credit card cases – I’d been looking everywhere for one – and Rilakkuma on Mt Fuji charms, but I then discovered what I can only assume is Angel Bunny’s mum! So she had to come home with me.

You can see lots of other stuff I bought over on Flickr including gashapon, Design Festa postcards, a lot more bunnies and that Hello Kitty snowcone maker I mentioned previously.

I also bought a ton of stuff for the Super Cute Kawaii shop, so you can pick up your own piece of Japanese kawaii right here.

I’ve been unpacking all the cute things I bought in Japan! I didn’t buy nearly as much stuff as last time due to the exchange rate and also because my MUST BUY NOW threshold is much higher thanks to all the cute things I see every day running Super Cute Kawaii. There’s nothing I regret not buying though, except maybe that I didn’t buy a crate of Melon Soda Fanta and ship it home.

I’ll take photos of everything individually soon, especially since I forgot to include quite a few things in this photo. I bought so many things that are in daily use. I think my favourite purchases are my panda cushion, a takoyaki bunny charm, a zine about bunnies dressing up as sushi and the most adorable hand felted snowman (the latter two from the Design Festa). Most ridiculous is a 3″ high Hello Kitty snowcone maker which really works! It even comes with a teeny weeny ice cube tray!

I also bought lots of stuff for the Super Cute Kawaii shop so if you’re looking for a banana shaped kitchen sponge or a totally amazing calendar then you should keep an eye on Twitter for when it all gets listed.

I’ve also started adding my photos from the trip to Flickr, day by day. Lots more to come!

It’s that time again – Zazzle have a big Labor Day sale this weekend (30% off shoes!) and I have £100 of commission in my Zazzle account. This means I can possibly buy two pairs of shoes! So I designed four new pairs of shoes. And now I need your help.

I am almost definitely getting the balloons and bees design above because I will never stop being amused by those shoes. What I am really stuck on is which of the other style of shoes to get.

Cakeify and Friends?

Or happy suns and sad rain clouds?

I can’t decide! I also made some pretty vintage flower ones but they were never really in the running. Please tell me what you think I should get.

And if you want to save some money at Zazzle this weekend, just use the code LABORDAYSALE at checkout. It’s good for 30% off shoes, 20% off bags, 10% off tshirts and mugs and an enormous 60% off aprons! (Code works on Zazzle.com accounts only, but they ship worldwide)