Japanese artist and illustrator Baku Maeda sculpts animals from ribbons and has called his crafty endeavour “Ribbonesia“.

Can you spot these creatures – cat, bird (twitter bird actually!), fox, panda, pony, seal, koala, reindeer and dog? I don’t know if that’s a blue crab…

They look good on clothes and perfect on presents too!

The label Atomic Green is a line of shoes designed by Japanese model Sachi. Her designs are witty and gently exhibits a touch femininity.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at all that Amazon jp has a collection of her shoes too!

Check out the inspiring Japanese blog Champagne Chair Place for very inventive seats.

Fabulous aren’t they?

Hope you’d enjoyed my daily serving of champagne. Have a fun weekend!

[p.s. I've added 3 paper crafting books in my Japanese bookstore. They're very inspiring!]

The last time I popped into one of the Shimojima shops in Tokyo, I picked up a free copy of Thanks Factory, a wedding favours + decor catalogue.

It’s not more than 35 pages but it has enough pretty stuff to grab my attention and ideas that will help refresh my memory of forgotten ideas.

Inedible strawberry towel cake

Edible strawberry chocolates

Seeds in eggshell planter

I just like this alley setting, looks so inviting.

It’s easy to fall in love with the fine aesthetics + clean lines exuding from the collection of homewares by Harumi Kurihara.

I first read about her a long time ago from an article on Newsweek magazine, where she was referred to as Japan’s Martha Stewart. I remember some mention of a website shufufufu.com (now defunct) where she shared her tips and recipes. If you like to follow some of her recipes, you can try the ones featured on her English programme “Your Japanese Kitchen”, which are listed on this page at NHK.

Her homewares are available in several big department stores in Japan. I’m most happy to find bargains on a sale wagon when I shop in Japan.

If you’re still wondering who she is, perhaps you would have seen her English cookbooks in your local bookstore.

Sweet pink rosy porcelain + enamel wares by Fuji Horo.

Available also at Amazon jp.

Something else I like about Marie Claire is their shoes! I’d wanted so much to do a feature on their pretty shoes but sadly I couldn’t find pictures anywhere, not even on the Bata (the company who owns the MC trademark for shoes) website.

Are you ready to see this?

Isn’t it tremendously cute?! This has got to be one of my all-time favourite finds. Discovered it first in a shop called 36 Sublo (in Japanese).

Happy 4th to all my US readers!

Another batch of unique cameras in a class of its own…mirror-less, compact and with nice bodies. :)

I just luv the leather patch on the Pen!

Popular Japanese hat maker CA4LA (pronounced “ca shi la”) designs head pieces that are so inviting.

I’m moved to try on some hats even though I don’t wear hats.

The Konjac mattress by FranceBed is inspired none other by…konnyaku! Mmm, makes me want to reach out for some refreshing jelly.