Random Pretty

Sharing some random prettyness today. I picked these two items up at the wonderful Pearl River Mart. Both for only 1 dollar 50. I would say that makes them great stockingstuffers! Since i bought them for myself, i will fill my own stocking with them! :0

The butterscotch candies really taste like werthers original candies, except these are square instead of round.

This lovely notebook i picked up at the 99 cent store today. How pretty! Again, wonderful stocking stuffer! The design is done by Eleanor Grosch, a very talented designer (she has a blog too). I don't understand how these notebooks ended up at the 99 cent store. Maybe because there are people out there saying Owls our so passe. I don't follow trends. You know whats good about that? If you don't follow trends you can love something for as long as you want. I loved owls longs before they became a trend and i will love them long after. Go owls!

Cherry Gelato

Cherry Gelato Lipbalm.



Not for consumption. Just for your balming your lips.

Calling Cuteness

The area of NY I'm now living in, has a wonderful mixture of different nationalities. Which is something i love since i came from Amsterdam which is a melting pot of cultures. So it feels natural to me.
There are a lot of people from Eastern Europe living here too. I never knew they liked cute things. Look at this adorable phonecard my Love found for me at the corner store. Too cute right?
And it gives you a lot of calling minutes too!

cute candy

Some candy i got over the last couple of days.

Limited Edition Cherry Creme filled Hershey's Kisses;
TicTac Freshmints Pink fight against breast cancer;
Hello Kitty Marshmallow Pops (yes. i am eating one. Kitty tastes yummy)

Asiajam

Been swooning over all the goodies at AsiaJam for a while now. A very kawaii online store carrying cute stuff from Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. They sell lovely clothes but i've been eyeing their accessories lately. Especially the Heart Cherries Adjustable Ring, Cherry & Bow Charms Pin, Deer Jewel Korean Earrings and the Thin Polka Dot Retro Belt. Luv it!

Cute (old) Drawing

Recently came across this old drawing i did somewhere in 2000. Didn't have a blog then so never showed it before. I think i drew it based on other manga pictures but i'm not sure, don't really remember where and why i made it.
If anyone recognizes this girl from a manga cartoon, let me know!

Issey loves the theatre

Issey spends a lot of time running in & around the Laguardia Theatre!

i'm thinking ribbon bows

i'm thinking ribbon bows to cutify some pouches with?
now that i've done some tryouts i think these would be cute as brooches too if i would place a pin backing on them.

will make more as soon as time allows.

this, that and something else

I opened my mailbox and found that my Love had sent me this adorable image. How super cute!
I don't know where he found it, it reminds me of a page from a coloring book. All of a sudden i want to go to the petting zoo and feed a small deer. Don't we love Bambi?

My friend has delivered her babygirl! I'm so proud of her. The little girl is an Indonesian/Dutch/Italian mix and already looks so pretty! They haven't send out their baby announcement cards, so i won't show the design i did for it here yet. Wouldn't be fair. But i did dove in my fabric scrap box and whipped up a pink congratulations with the new baby card.

I went to the market yesterday to get some zippers and found these wonderful old fabrics. I really wasn't planning to buy that many, but the lady was so kind to make me a deal i couldn't say no to. I bought some pink trimmings too. I was so happy that i totally forgot about those zippers i needed to get!

Look at what i've found!

They're cute tiny stickers from when i was a little girl!

clueless but cute

No clue what to do with these yet, but they are sooo cute!

Found in the bargainbin, they are meant as hairbands but i think i will deconstruct them and use as charms/beads. The rings around the little bears are filled with little balls that move around in the ring.
I was right huh, clueless but cute.

about last week

About last week. A little bit of this and that.
Me and my girls went to this lovely shop, Het Grote Avontuur (The Large Adventure). It's always ooh-ing and aah-ing over there. We kept our control and didn't even buy anything. I did make some pictures i wanted to share.

The flowers on the dark wall were cut out from (i think) wrapping paper and glued on. A great inspirational idea to put in my little decoration notebook!

This last Sunday a flea market was held in the sportscenter at the end of my street. Only a ten minute walk to many possible treasures. It was a bit rainy, but it was an indoor market so i put my umbrella up and walked down the street.
Glad i did, because the market was fun, met some kind people and found some goodies i'm real happy about!
I love all the cards i've found. I think i never came across that many additions to my collection at once before!

Just can't control myself when i find something adorable and not too expensive. The little hearts fabric is a baby outfit that i gave to my friend, tomorrow the tiny sneakers will be wrapped. I think every time i visit, i have a little surprise something something for her.
The shiny Hello Kitty was a gift too, but that one was for me!!
A very nice former colleague of my mom goes to Asia regularly and almost always brings something small and cute back for me! Thank you! It's a Hello Kitty keychain locker. When you open her up, there's a small mirror inside. Pretty.

it's a pair

One of my most precious things in my house is this sweet vintage doggy clock. I have found it maybe two years ago during a thrifting spree. The clock does work, but runs a tad bit slow. So for me the doggies are there for decorative purposes only.
The two glass swans in the foreground were a little surprise gift i got from Love one day.

mini art

mini fabric collage, felt chick with tiny embroidered eye and feet on small canvas frame (4x4" / 10x10 cm).




I have one more of these small canvasses. I'll surely be on the lookout for more. I think they're sweet and i have more ideas for them!

a happy place

a little corner of my home, it's a happy place.

Go sees

When i did my new site layout i also updated my link page.
Go check it out for links to crafty blogs, general crafty sites, designers and illustrators, crafty shops, street art and some miscellaneous interesting links.

Let's put some newly added and other links in the spotlight:
- Vonvonz, cute craftiness from Singapore - Adorable Japanese handmade crafts at Puchi Maiko - Great Designer toys from Tado - Decorative storage solution: keep your shoes in the hotelbox form designmyworld - Not too long ago i met this real nice lady of Bella & Buddhi, go check out her wonderful shop - Don't we all decorate and customize our laptops? Great laptop stickers from Boostid. They also print your own designs! - The WiFi rabbit Nabaztag I love electronic pets! Besides just being cute and playfull, this bunny communicates with you and the internet through a wireless network and will let you know when you've got new email and reads it out to you, it will keep track of (blog) feeds and does so much more. I want one! - Another cute personal email assistant is E-puppy. The puppy can't do as much as the bunny, but it's also way cheaper!

Pollie Poodle

Pollie Poodle, Ducky Quack and the bunny Wiesje Wollepop. Wonderful illustrations done by Yvonne Perrin. From the Nutricia childrens book series from the early 1960's. Back in the days you could save up for them by collecting points from the Nutricia coffeecreamer. The entire original series exists of 15 precious booklets. Nutricia did do a reprint in the '90's of 8 of the booklets. Until now i've found numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Hope to find the remaining ones on a lucky thrifty day and make my serie complete.
I've found this link where somebody scanned in the pages of Wiesje Wollepop. It's in Dutch, obviously, but there is no language barrier in looking at the pictures!

Be friends and play nice

Introducing 3 of my small vintage vinyl dolls from my doll collection.
I love the way they look so similar, but so different at the same time with their different facial expressions. So happy. Or so sad.
Don't you just love those adorable freckles? (as far as you can see those on the picture)

The curly one on the left had a signature H.K. on the bottom. My first thought was that that indicated Hong Kong. But why would it? Wouldn't it then say "Hong Kong" instead? It might as well be the makers name. It's a vintage mystery.
The other two are marked as made by Iwai Industrial in 1971 in Korea.

Now for something cute

like you never normally find cute things on my blog... ;)

It Sanrio's Nyan Nyan Nyanko in a small bowl of air freshener!

Monchhichi cards

This is the cutest card game i have ever seen!
In Dutch the cardgame is called 'Kwartet'. I don't know how to call it in English. (wikipedia tells me it is a typical old Dutch game, so maybe there isn't even an English name for it?) There are sets of 4 cards that you have to collect during the game. With this Monchhichi game, every set is a 4-photo storyline. Super adorable!
Who wants to play some cards?

Dreamland photography

Red Shoyru Neopet Interactive Robot in apple field.

info voice activated neopets more robopet descriptions Flying Shoyru Shoyru Description
Red Apple martini recipe

Vintage doll ads

Just sharing some wonderful doll ads i found in early 70's sewing magazines.

This is Wendy
Beautiful long, dark brown hair
that can be combed and done up,
real sleep eyes, movable arms
and legs...
sorry don't really feel like translating now. maybe will do on another day when i find myself with nothin to do. ? if you really want me to i will. of course. but the pictures are lovely.

doll
new style
Knitting, crochet, sewing
1 pattern, 5 models!



This is Tina
the newest doll from marion.

Now with patterns of 25 fashionable models to make yourself!

I collect

.. cute small pvc toy figures.

Is this Ismoyo's playground?

See whom I was welcomed by this morning!

I'm planning on making some more, attach straps or something so you can hang them somewhere and see how much fun they have. That would immediately solve my dilemma of should i attach the cupcakeholders or keep them loose so they can hop out when they want to. Well, i'm still finalizing the ideas for these cupcake-cuties.
One day i will open up shop and i want to have something that is really Ismoyo. Maybe these can start it off.

A dedication to love

My Love will be performing in Amsterdam. A new recordcompany Appletree records flew him over. Woohoo. I'm happy. Our hearts can hug again.

Dedicating love i scanned a couple of stickers from my old "Love is ..." sticker album from when i was still a little girl. I never made it to collecting all the stickers needed to fill the album, but i do got plenty to enjoy going through the pages. I must say there is a lot of old fashioned believes portrayed in the illustrations. Woman stays at home, cleans after the hardworking man. But then in other illustrations it makes up for that by honoring the woman and spending time together.
Kim Casali created 'Love Is...' back in the late 1960's when she drew the little pictures as love notes for her husband-to-be

Since most of my blogvisitors don't read or speak Dutch, let's translate, we go from left to right, top to bottom.

Love is ...
"... being a good listener."
"... listening even though you don't believe it."
"... finding a moment to call her all the time."
"... typing loveletters instead of invoices."
"... someone to cuddle all night."
"... celebrating your first anniversary and looking forward to the 25th."

Hide and seek

I came home today and found my friends Oogie and Woogie playing hide and go seek...

Meet my pets

My robot pet collection that is.

The two Micro Pet cuties on the top left really interact and play with each other, they react to each others movements and sounds. Very cute as long as they are happily playing together, when they get grumpy it can get a bit less cute...

The small cat and dog are really robot look-a-likes. They don't really move or do anything. You can move their legs and head yourself if you would want to.

I love my Meow-Chi pet cat. She sings, dances, purrs, her eyes light up (and turn into hearts when she really likes you!), totally adorable. But you have to give her attention, otherwise she'll get a real bad attitude! And the attention is also needed to have her develop her own personality(!). Meow-Chi has 7 different sensors to react to different situations. Because she doesn’t like to be alone, she has a little mouse friend, the sight of which makes her happy: eyes that light up with joy.

The bird is my latest addition. I found her in a small Chinese store in Brooklyn. All the way in the back of the store, her box was all dusty and she was clearly forgotten about. And most likely nobody wanted her either, since she was marked down to only 3 dollars. I needed to save Chat Bird from the shelve! I took her home, feeded some batteries and she was responding cheerful by singing and dancing. Cute! (I do miss her, since she's still in Brooklyn, waiting for me to return)

The adventures of Oogie and Woogie

Remember Oogie and Woogie?
I introduced them before. Oogie and Woogie are the youngest of the four friends, and love to run off on their own little adventures.
Oogie went of to the beach the other day, to play by the ocean. But Woogie didn't want to hang around and be lazy all day, so she visited these lovely estate gardens, to walk amongst all these beautiful plants and flowers. It was so peaceful there.

Introducing four friends

Please meet Snoogie, Moogie, Oogie and Woogie.
The four friends received their names just the other day. My Love emailed me what their names were when he saw the 3-D versions here on my weblog. Originally they all have double names, so Snoogie Snoogie, Moogie Moogie, Oogie Oogie and Woogie Woogie. Which i think makes it double cute.

I like how they came out in this illustration. Can i say so about my own work? I'm thinking of printing them up on some giftcards or maybe on the magnet sheets i still have laying around.

Oh, and i heard some rumors that Oogie and Woogie went on an adventure! I'll see if i can get my hands on the pictures they've made...

4 friends waiting to be named

Like i said before, happy to be creating again. As promised i would show the progress on my new little friends. Voila!

They seem to get along very well and having fun playing together.

I promised them a little party when they'll get their names. Will take pictures of course of their cute adventures.

I told my Love i hadn't picked names for them yet, he told me to put them on my blog and he would let me know what their names would be.

I can't wait to find out what he comes up with.

Love, got any inspiration already?

Tasty Pincushion

I had been working on this just before i left. Still had to finish it, so first things first and voila! Done. I now want to take a bite out of it.

There are so many cute pincushions to be seen online and every time i thought oh, i want to make one too. Now finally i have.
Done. To be striped off my to-do list.
Ahhh. Feels good.
On to the next.

By the way, for those who don't know, Booga J organizes the monthly pincushion challenge.

Cute Shopping

I can't go back home and not having bought any cute items at all. You know! Regular visitors to my blog will definitely know this by now..

Pearl River Mart is this great Asian store on Broadway near Canal street. They have a lot of great finds and in the back you can find lovely Japanese candy! Ooohh!!

The Dollar Stores and the Target Dollar Bins are also great places to find cheap cute things to satisfy my cuteness cravings.
Jim Benton's Happy Bunnies always make me laugh. They're so silly and cute. And because they're cute they get away with saying a lot of things. I found these magnets at a dollar store (Whoohoo, bargain!).
"I hear the other ucky people calling you.", "cruel but cute so I'm worth it." and "hey you made me throw up a little". Hey, i think they're hilarious.
Some people don't like her, but i will always adore her. Hello Kitty. I'm not discussing this. She's cute. Finding a HK animated magic show candy dispenser will make my day. And for a dollar, i will need to buy it.
Same goes for a Hello Kitty Icepack found in the Target Dollarbins. Or the Strawberry Shortcake version. Luving' it. Good to keep food cool, or also to be used to put on mosquito bites. ;)
Since I'm really finding my way back to drawing again (makes me feel intensely happy and at ease) i need something cute to store my pencils and markers in, right? What better then this Little Twin Stars pouch?
On the back it says: "On a wonderful day above the puffy clouds, everything seems more fun in the magical sky".

Cute things - Why buy plain?

Why buy plain if you can get it in a cute version too?

I bought the stripy/flowery/dotted tape a while ago and was sorry i didn't buy another one. Because when they sold out, the store never put them back in stock again. And mine is already almost finished. How happy was i when, a couple days ago, i saw they had new tape in new styles! I just couldn't leave the dotted tapes behind. Otherwise i just knew i would be sorry later.

The drugstore around the corner from my house started to sell this brand of makeup called essence. It's low budget and cute. Maybe not the very bestest of quality, but when the packaging is this pretty i will spend a couple of euros on it.

Ooh! Hihi. Probably meant for little kids, but how i adore these!

And i must admit. I like to 'under cover' brighten up my outfit. Like, wearing a business suit and heels, all very 'mature', and then having one of these small clips in my hair. Confuse people a bit. And let those who understand, notice it.

Maybe I'm not making any sense. Basically, the cherry hairclips were too sweet for me to resist.

Pink furry cute was feeling lonely

Pink furry cute (i should give her a name, right?) was feeling lonely lately.
So i made her a companion.

And i think they are falling in love!

Bunny wrist bands

Cute? Crazy? Or Crazy Cute?
I'm so used to wearing a (somewhat tight) wristband to support my wrist during all the hours behind my computer. Don't want to get RSI from using my computer mouse too much. But being so used to that, my wrist feels empty, naked when I'm not using my PC. So I "reconstructed" (cut up) two pairs of cute socks into these wrist bands.

So? Cute? Crazy? Crazy Cute?
hihi. They make me smile.

Found treasure: Sylvanian Families Poster

A good cleaning, turning your home upside down can provide some surprises.
In the corner of my bedroom, behind my tv table i found a cardboard tube, you know the ones you use to send posters through the mail. Didn't remember it being there, let alone what would be in it.
I found this adorable French 'Sylvanian Families' poster inside!
Now i remember!
I used to have the little Sylvanian dolls as a young girl!
My French isn't too good, but it says something like:
"We are the Sylvanian Families. Do you want to be our friend?" I don't know what it says exactly on the bottom.
Any French speakers who can translate?

It's pink, it's furry, it's cute.

But what is it?
Does it really matter anyway, as long as it makes me smile?
Well, okay, it's a furry drawstring bag with a face!
The inside has pink doggy fabric (also very cute). I think i could have added some ears. I might make another one.

Yesterday a friend of mine was visiting who has a little heartache and she was cuddling it the entire evening.


Already when i was a young girl i loved furry fabric like this. I wanted pillows, bedspreads and everything to be made out of it. But back then i didn't know how to sew yet, so my mom had to make everything for me. Which she lovingly did, but i always heard her mumble and grumble about all the furryness flying around her sewing area.
Now i finally know what she was talking about. The fabric is soft just the way i like it, and the end result makes me happy, but making it... wow... everything is covered in small pink plush.

Look at what i got:

For no reason at all my mom gave me this small present. When i unwrapped it i found this little sheep which has a measuring tape as a tail! Sweet! When you press its belly the tape rolls back up in again.

And my brother was so sweet to give me this t-shirt of his group. Ofcourse his sis has to have the pink one! They print shirts by the hundreds, but he told me they had only printed 3 of these pink ones, 'limited edition'. But now i see them listed in their shop! Huh? hihi.. Well, I'll feel special nevertheless.
He also gave me a very large shirt of The Goodlife. That's the name of his record label/recording studio. I wanted a large shirt to reconstruct. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but when i do, I'll show the before and after!

A little bit of this and that

I'm doing a lot but still I don't feel productive. I'm not making any major moves right now and I'm getting restless. Maybe updating my blog will give me the feeling I have done something at least.

Last weekend I visited this small fabric and supply store, Boeken, in the city centre of Amsterdam. I have been to the shop a couple of times before, but it's always too crowded to look through all their goodies. This time i was in luck, there weren't many people inside so I could browse and treat myself to some beautiful new supplies.
Guess what my current favorite spring colors are?

In another store I bought these cute potholders for only .50 cents! They're small and pink with polkadots and cupcakes. How cute!

On another note, I'm still waiting for my personalized Ismoyo noodle bowl. First it was a 6 week delivery time, turned 9 weeks and now they informed me it had became 12 weeks! Patience is a virtue.

Oh yeah, almost forgot! I got tagged! Slateblu is sweet. I would love to answer the five on the fifth. But I realized I wouldn't know any five other bloggers who I should tag next. And not doing that is like stopping the whole tagging process, right? Hope Slateblu won't get upset. I won't want to upset a pregnant lady. (Your belly looks beautiful!)

Yesterday when I visited the market near my house I walked by the petstore and saw that they had cute baby hamsters and rabbits in the window. I just had to go in, when this little bunny got up to the window to play with me! Awww....

I wanted to take her home with me!

Easter present

This Sunday, an old friend of mine came for a (unfortunately unexpectedly short) visit. She brought me this cute Easter present.
I like the fact that there are no eggs or other Easter related images on the candle holders. So I can use them all year 'round. The dark green parts are velvet, the light green is heavy glass. Very nice.
And the chick? Cuteness! Very light and made with soft fabrics.

Pink plush mascot

I made this small mascot (4 inch wide) based on the large plush pillow I made a while ago.

You can wear the mascot with the strap around your neck like in the picture on the mannequin. Or you can take the strap off and just click the mascot on your bag, your jacket, your keys or where ever you like it to keep you company!

Yesterday i've bought some small zippers so i can transform my next mascots into small coin purses.

Find the kitten!

Found this adorable picture in between a lot more cute pictures on the Cute Overload blog.

Behind Blythe in New York City

Oh I wish I was in New York already. I would have gone to the Behind Blythe exhibition today!

For those of you who are currently in the area, here's the info.
Behind Blythe is an exhibition of the revival of Blythe dolls with photographs by official Blythe photographer Gina Garan. Find out more about the rebirth of Blythe that began in Asia and has grown into a world wide phenomenon. Blythe producer Junko Wong from Tokyo will be on hand to sign autographs, with New York's own Blythe photographer Gina Garan! Be sure to bring your Blythe and camera for this exciting event!

March 3rd to March 17th
The Showroom NYC - Toy Tokyo
117 2nd Avenue 2nd Floor NYC, NY

Tamago Panda

I know that there are people reading my blog, so i'm not alone. But to keep me company while updating my blog i've adopted a Tamago Panda to sit on the side of my blog. I think she's just TOO CUTE!
Giving her attention and playing with her makes her show different emotions. It's kinda like a tamagotchi, but called Tamago Virtual Panda.

Furry Pink Pillow

I had some furry pink fabric laying around and thought of making a super soft pillow from it.
But why make it a plain, square one if you can make it into the shape of a sweet character?



My boyfriend called me a danger to myself: I cutify everything!

Cute creature from Japanese pattern

Finishing something feels good.
I was almost done with this cutie for quit some time now, but procrastinated on sewing the head to the body for a couple of weeks. Terrible huh? And it was just there, in my sewing area, head next to the body, looking at me with those big eyes... just had to finish it.
Inspiration was a post on the craftster forum by sewingstars which included a Japanese pattern that i used as base.

For those who love cute

Want to share this cuteness.
I thought i would inform you that our Sister site, Jaelle.nl is having her final end of the year sale! (10 % off everything for friends and preferred customers; get on the mailinglist to become a special friend!)

Jaelle.nl is an online cuteness shop filled with typical 'girly stuff'. A lot of Kawaii! Shop for Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll, Little Twin Stars, Pucca, and other cute company products. There are also cute links pages, character descriptions, pictures and more...
Verrrry Cute!

Learning to crochet: A purple pea?

This little project really made me laugh.

Getting inspired by reading other crafty blogs and seeing some of the cutest crochet crafts. I thought lets see if I can figure out how to do it. I was kinda searching for something creative which was portable already. Something more portable than bringing my laptop or sewingmachine everywhere I go. Crochet only requires the crochet needle and some yarn! That will fit in my bag!

Ok, so I decided to give it a try. Bought what I needed and sat down with a cup of tea. Hmm. I vaguely remember having crochet a kind of string of yarn at school when I was very young. But how?
In the store picking up some cheap try out yarn I ofcourse went for the cute purple color. If you can Cutify something, there is no reason not to.

I didn't use a pattern. Did look some crochet patterns up on the net, but that is still out of my league. I couldn't find any logic in it which I knew of I would be able to pick up on easily by myself. So I forgot about the patterns and just flowed with it.

After a while I ended up with this round, well, what is it, thingy. Next to each other I've put two buttons on. And now the purple pea can see!
Like I said before, if you can Cutify ...

Unazukin! Too sweet!

Reading other blogs, i came across an older post on Momo's blog. Unazukin? Why haven't i heard about this very cute little toy before? I think i just fell in love with it!

The small toys listen to your voice, when you ask a question it will nod the head or deny with a shake of the head. Kind of a cute version of the magic eight ball.

More info can be found >here .
I want one! hihi

Just couldn't leave her there

I had told myself to slow down on buying items just because i love the design, or just because i think it's cute. But when i was doing my groceries there was this big basket. All the way on the bottom there was a square box. It was purple, so obviously, it attracted my eye.
I looked closer and... Awwww... she's so cute!

How could i leave her there?
In that large and cold shabby supermarket? All by herself?
But what about my budget? Got to pay my bills..
And there it was, the pricetag: 1.89 Euro! That was like they were throwing her away for nothing.
There was nothing to think about anymore.
I was going to rescue her from that depressing place. If your name is Petite Cherie, you shouldn't have to live in a place like that.
So i took her with me and gave her a home.