kawai

New stickers to my collection! I bought 5 sheets of the donut/ice designs but regret not getting more of the bear/bird design! $1 a sheet from Ichibankan. Made these from polymer clay. The Oreo-color resulted from mixing 1/4 pack of Black Sculpey with 1/8 pack of Chocolate Sculpey. I had a hard time mixing the colors for the heart shaped wafers and I felt that they look more like waffles instead of wafers. I mixed a little Tan, a little Chocolate and mostly Sunshine Sculpey to get this color. I don't know the exact amount. If I thought it was too brown, I'll just keep on adding the Sunshine color. Heart and bear shaped cookie cutters were used. For the rectangular wafers, I just used a razor blade. I'm not sure if I will use silicone caulk or the Grace whipped clay for the wafer cream.

Made these w/ Sculpey polymer clay more than a month ago but never had a chance to seal them. The 3 "chocolates" on the right were sealed with Sculpey Glaze in satin. I though the satin finish wouldn't have much sheen but I was wrong. The pieces looked super glossy& wet. Not the look I was going for. So I went to Michaels yesterday to purchase a matte varnish. I applied it onto the 4 pieces on the left. Once they were dried, no sheen was detected so they looked more realistic. In fact, you cannot even tell that a sealer was applied to the pieces. Delta Ceramcoat Matte Varnish, $9.99 at Michaels . These fruit canes were purchased from Etsy @ $3 per cane. A friend told me that these canes were not handmade. They're mass produced in China so that's why the cost is very low and each piece looks identical to the other compared to handmade canes. You can find these canes in Hong Kong for about US$1.

Yay!! My Japanese clay arrived today! For the whipped clay, the pink box is the regular one while the yellow box is a soft one. They both look the same but when you squeeze the soft version, the tube feels like night cream. So the soft one may be more suitable for spreading while the regular whipped clay will be better for piping. I just need to stop by Michaels or Daiso to get some acrylic paint. Especially the white paint because Grace resin clay is translucent so I learned that adding white paint will make it opaque.

Stopped by New People again to finish checking out the 2 nd floor. Along the way, I picked up 2 more DIY clay craft books (the one in the middle was purchased on my first visit). Exterior of the Building: Secretly shot these as I was walking towards the New People store. On the 2 nd floor, they have signs everywhere that indicates NO PICTURES ALLOWED. I always wonder why certain stores won't let you take pictures. The shoes on the 2 nd picture are sold on the 2 nd floor. If you enlarge the pic, they are ninja shoes w/ funky designs. I got to the place around 4:30PM on a Sunday. The New People store was packed with people but they were just browsing the store. Once we got up to the 2 nd floor, it was quiet and just a few people there. The employees of each shop, except for 6% DokiDoki , didn't even bother to greet us. They were just totally in their own world doing their own thing. At 6% DokiDoki , you can get gifts there for a decent price. Hair bows were $6 and up. At B...

My latest cute finds. I haven't worn such thick headbands since the 2nd grade! But the huge bow is just perfect for a hime gyaru look. I was debating whether to get the black or the cream colored one because I tend to dye my hair SUPER jet black even though my hair is already dark so the bow won't be as noticeable. The floral charm from the cream colored headband had gold trimmings and I'm not a huge fan of gold accessories. So I ended up w/ black. I know my boyfriend will think it's silly to wear big bows on the head but you can never please everyone, anyway! Forever21, $8.80. Finally received this tee! Got this kitty tee from Delia's for $24.50. Saw this a few weeks ago but was backordered. I just love how the red glasses and bow contrast with the black/white image of the kitty. Planning to wear this tee w/ my hair fix into a huge high bun + a small red stain bow in front of the bun.

Yummy! I tried another flavor and this one contains chestnut chunks embedded in a smooth creamy chestnut paste. The filling tastes exactly like the Hong Kong style chestnut cake. As I was paying, the cashier just suddenly thought of the mini insulated bags and gave me one.

This was the dress I wore to a friend's wedding. Hmm...I should have straighten out my dress before taking this pic but that day was such a hectic day that I didn't even have a chance to eat anything until 5pm. The black bow was from Claire's and purchased a long time ago for $5. The dress was from Jessica McClintock for $120.

I arrived at the brand new Newpeople store at 7:40pm yesterday and was only able to visit the "goods" section because they close at 8PM. In addition, when we took the elevator up to the "fashion" floor at 7:50PM, they were already closed and wouldn't let us get a peek. Overall, I was sort of disappointed at this brand new center because the local newspapers created such a hype on how it's going to be a huge shopping/cinema complex packed with cute and unique Japanese pop culture goods but the New People store just resembles a small museum gift shop. The basement is the cinema and the lobby has a kiosk selling drinks w/limited seating. The lobby is very spacious in order to accommodate the moviegoers hanging out before/after the movie but looks like a waste of space when not much people are around. As you walk up a couple of steps towards the back of the building, it will be the Newpeople store. I mostly saw books there but there were some cute items like ...

Here are the October re-ment releases: Sushi, Hotel Buffet, Pooh Bear Cafe. I think I will buy the sushi and hotel buffet sets. This sushi set will be Re-ment's 3rd all-sushi series so it would have been better if they were keychains or pendants. Too bad there's no Hello Kitty items in Oct because I'm not really a Disney fan.

Tomorrow will be my friend's wedding so I've been discussing w/ her sister the possible games we can play when the groom arrives at the bride's house. Wedding door games are part of Chinese customs where the groom is given a hard time before he can see his bride. This usually involves games or tasks that range from disgusting to racy. We planned out a few games and they are: Seaweed passing game (AKA Suck and blow): The groom and the groomsmen will pass seaweed sheets to each other with just their lips. They cannot bite or hold the seaweed between their lips. Mahjong tiles: The groom will need to take off his shoe & sock. A basin will be filled with ice cold water and an assortment of mahjong tiles. The groom will pick up a few mahjong tiles with only his toes. Describing or comparing the Bride to an undesirable object/person: We picked out 2 food items. The first one is the durian fruit (shown in the pic). This fruit is infamous for its stinky smell and flavor. In ad...

Recently, I'm in love with anything that has bows on them. I just bought a cute party dress (pic will be up on Sunday) for a friend's wedding and that also comes with a bow. I'm thinking of wearing these earrings with the dress and a black necklace w/ a bow. Will it be too much bows? For this heart locket necklace, I didn't really like the little oval design on the necklace chain so I made a bow out of black velvet ribbon and attached it right over the oval plate. The bow looks simple but it took me an hour to make. I also have black satin ribbons at home so I'll play around with them to see which bow looks better on the necklace.

I don't know what I can do with these but I really wanted them. I saw them a week ago but didn't buy them because I was sure I have no use for them. During the week, I just kept thinking how adorable those cupcakes were and for just $1.99 each, it will be an inexpensive collectible!

Although this year's mid-autumn festival is more than a month away, I've already sampled my first moon cake. Not the traditional kind but the iced crust type that has a soft chewy mochi-like crust w/ a flavored bean paste and is served cold. The price has gone up from $3.99 to $5.99 compared to last year but it's still worth it because the company has made a huge improvement on the paste. Their bean paste in the past was somewhat dry but not anymore. The moisture level is just right. I'll continue to sample other flavors that are being offered while waiting for my favorite brand (I think it's called Tai Pan) of iced crust moon cakes to arrive in the states. 2 pieces, $5.99

Buttery chocolate biscuits w/ cute designs on them. Each image is unique! $1.99 at Manila Oriental Market

Here's what I currently use and would like to share my thoughts on these. Make Up For Ever UV Prime: It's suppose to be a moisturizer-sunscreen-primer-in-one so despite the pricey cost I still bought one. I thought it would eliminate the duration of my morning routine and the built-in primer will give me a smooth, shine-free skin. But I was disappointed! It came out as a sunscreen-like white cream and as I was rubbing it into my skin, it left my skin shiny. It did quickly absorb into my skin so there wasn't a layer of grease but wasn't it suppose to make my pores disappear and take away the shine? I think the worst part was that it gave me a grayish/bluish tint on my face and my boyfriend said I looked ridiculously pale. I tried applying Smashbox's Photo Finish Bronzing Primer and it did help eliminate the paleness, grayish/bluish tint plus the shine (the Smashbox bronzing primer is usally too dark for me. I have light skin). So I'll continue to use this w/ the ...

This series didn't appeal to me when I first saw the preview online but I saw a sample in person and thought it was worth having. Each case contains 10 different styles but the complete collection has 11 styles. So that means that you have to buy at least 2 cases to accumulate the complete set. I guess I was pretty lucky because the one I didn't get was the one I did not want which was some sort of robot or monster. Each "cookie" comes w/ a pastel colored ball chain. Looking at the close-ups, don't they look yummy?

I intended to use my Michael's 40% off coupon on a spool of beading thread. Once walked through the ribbon section, I saw this gorgeous set of glitter! Retails for $29.99 but after 40% and tax it was only $19.65. There are 24 assorted colors and comes out to only ~$0.82 a vial! The package suggests using these w/ glue pad & stamps to create your own greeting cards but I'm going to embed these into resin. So pretty!

Okay, here are my friend's Brite Smile result pics from yesterday. The 2 images w/ the blue frames were taken at the dentist's office while the other 2 pics were taken w/ his digital camera (taken under natural lighting). The cost was $299. What do you think? After the process, my friend was given the 2 pics w/ the blue frame but did not have the chance to look in the mirror yet. He was initially very disapointed and the dentist heard him in the other room and came over to see what's wrong. My friend was expecting bright white teeth you see on celebrities. The dentist said natural teeth will always have a yellowish tone. Whenever you see super white teeth on a person, those must be veneers. The dentist further explained that the slight yellowish stuff near his bottom gumline can be removed through deep cleaning. The greyish spot right next to the front tooth is actually a tiny cavity and will be invisible once it gets filled. When I saw him I did notice that his teeth were ...

First one is the Golden Girls Steak House series. The second set is the Mushroom Stall series. While in Hong Kong this March, I saw the Mushroom Stall sets displayed out but they were not for sale. The employee said they were displayed to gather customers' opinions. I really liked the Mahjong tiles & table but would have to wait for a friend to purchase them for me. Or for a higher cost, I can always look for them on ebay. The 3rd set is the Mimo Cake Shop series. The flier indicates that it's a special edition. Not sure if it means limited time only. The bottom one is the Mimo Bakery.

Just got my set of keychains. I usually buy the whole box so that I get the coomplete set. Re-ment actually included an extra one as a sample. The details of this series is pretty good. For the ice cream cone keychains, you can actually turn them into necklaces instead. Looks yummy!