Snap Tokyo Girls Bunting DIY Kit + Zine

Monday, May 30, 2011 5 Comments A+ a-

The A4 Paper Convention Collective festival begins tomorrow night! The opening will be held at Sydney's Paper Mill from 6pm. Along with Kit I will be helping at the A4 zine stall selling zines from some of Australia's most loved zine makers and artists. I too will be selling some handmade wares like my new 'Little Book Of Mt Masking Tape' Zine as well as a special 'Snap Tokyo Girls Bunting DIY Kit' that I have designed and made just for the night!

The 'Snap Tokyo Girls Bunting DIY Kit' includes an how to instruction sheet as well as Tokyo Girls stickers, Fluro coloured pieces of cardboard, twine as well as Washi (mt) tape - all to help make your 'Snap Tokyo Girls Bunting'!

I thought this would be a nice project for Tokyo fashion lovers to make, that will also pretty up the place and bring a little sense of Tokyo home!

Kitiya Palaskas: Party Zine + Crafty Events

Saturday, May 28, 2011 2 Comments A+ a-

Kitiya Palaskas writer of blog Candy Castle, creative member of A4 paper collective team, now Craft Online Producer of Better Homes & Gardens magazine... could she be any more awesome? Ummm... Yes! Kit IS the Queen of trinkets, treasures and party fun and her new Party Craft zine creation is proof of this.

Launching her new crafty party creations at this years MCA Zine fair, her colourful store included; yummy felt food brooches, tiny book of disguises, BFF illustration zine, zine dedicated to felt landscapes and off course her Party Craft zine. Kit hopes to inspire readers to create their very own handmade parties and with the Party Craft zine filled with confetti, for me, whilst opening the zine became a party in itself! 

Along with zine maker Anney B, Kit will be hosting a zine 'tips & tricks' workshop which is part of the A4 Paper Collective festival. Some tix still available so get in quick! See here for a full program list of paper events. Below is an interview with Kit via Paper Convention newsletter.

You might have heard already that Etsy will be coming to Australia! Thanks to Kit & Vivid, Sydney peeps will be able to get in on the craft celebration by attending a craft party held at Kit's Eagle Soup studio in Chippendale. Kit has already hosted a felt cake making tutorial at New York's Etsy labs, so there is no doubt that she has some new fun craft tutorials lined up for the night. RSVP your spot here


Thanks Kit for making me smile!




MCA 2011 Zine Fair

Thursday, May 26, 2011 3 Comments A+ a-


The MCA Zine festival is 'the ultimate' zine event of the year, so as a zine lover and maker it's not to be missed! Like always there was so much to choose from! Here are a few pictures of the day and some of the lovely zines I purchased. I also took with me a couple of copies my new zine to sell; Little Book Of Mt Masking Tape'. Was also super excited to see Susy from distro Bird in the Hand selling copies of my first zine; 'My Life In Biscuits' on her stall.  

I already had Hiki's Tokyo photobook and 'Inside Garden Plant' zine on my list of 'must' purchase as I am a regular reader of her Jollygoo blog and shopper at her online Japan stationary/zakka goods store UGUiSU. Hiki takes beautiful photo's that capture her life and travels in Tokyo. Just love the strawberry store in the above picture - Only in Japan!

Lee Tran Lam's 'Speak-easy #12 Food issue' zine was the perfect accompaniment to my warm hot chocolate and sit down at the Rocks Guylian Belgian Chocolate cafe in Sydney. Filled with top chef interviews, quotes, reviews and observations on restaurants from around the world make a 'foodie' must read. Its the little extras that come with Lee's zine that make it special like; stamped post-its and original photographs that are mt taped to the pages. How cute is this paper sandwich (above) made by Grace Lee.

For me a zine festival would not be complete without a copy of the latest issue of 'Spoonful'. Created by the delightful Thea, Spoonful is a happiness companion which puts the spotlight on unique crafters, writers and illustrators. I always enjoy reading the 'spilt milk' feature which is always an up-lifting story about failure. Issue #4 also includes elephants and musings on tea.

I have an on-going 'blog-crush' on Japan's Polkaros. Ros a lifestyle product designer based in Tokyo has made her first zine dedicated to traditional Japanese crafts. It was so popular that it sold out in the first hour of the fair! It's a 28 page zine filled with photos, illustrations, motifs/patterns, a make your own Hyottoko and Otafuku face masks and it's pages have hand-stitched binding. See here for a page by page video.

The Bird in The Hand zine store! Susy was lovely enough to sell my zine 'My Life In Biscuits' and made me feel extra special by giving me a shout-out in the MCA Zine Fair program - Thanks Susy!


Had a great chat to long-time friend Katerina Valentina who makes her own accessories and lingerie at her Salon Chaton stall. There was also some great zines found on the Beef Knuckles, Michelle. b,  Erin Space and John DC table. 

Pantone Stationery

Monday, May 23, 2011 2 Comments A+ a-



Oh my the stationery of designers! I am now in colour palette stationary heaven with these Pantone coloured pencils (made in Japan) and notebook.

Now I will be able to refer to the cover of my notebook for colour inspiration when designing. I am looking forward to using my Pantone Universe pencils in shades; paradise pink, Spring Bouquet and Apricot Sherbet on my new creative projects!
With Pantone mugs, fashion & electric accessories, chairs and even eyewear! I wonder what Pantone product will come next? I have my fingers crossed for a lovely acrylic gouache Pantone paint set!

Little Book Of Mt Masking Tape

Friday, May 20, 2011 4 Comments A+ a-

Here it is fresh from the printers, my 'Little Book Of Mt Masking Tape' zine!! 20 pages dedicated to my love of Japanese mt (washi) tape which includes craft projects, collages, gift wrapping ideas and my own little 'mt tape story'. 
I will be selling copies at the upcoming A4 Paper Convention Collective opening night on the 31st of May - more details here. I'm still trying to find a table to sell my zines at the MCA zine festival this Sunday, so I will keep you posted about that in the next day or so.

'Little Book Of Mt Masking Tape' is now available to buy at my online store.



Little Book Of Mt Tape Zine: Coming Soon

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 6 Comments A+ a-

For those of you who read my blog regularly, you would probably know how obsessed I am with Japanese mt washi tape.
So it made sense to me to design and make a zine dedicated entirely to just that- mt tape!

My 'Little Book Of Mt Tape' includes collages and craft projects that include - yep you guessed it- mt tape!

I will be selling my new zine at a few upcoming events over the next month. I will have more info on these in the next couple of days. For those of you who do not live in Australia, I will be selling some copies online via my store. If you are interested in pre-ordering, feel free to email me and I will put aside a copy for you.

I also just want to say a big thanks to my continuing readers, your on-going support and lovely comments mean the world to me and make my day. Wish I could give you all a big hug!

My Life In Biscuits Zine PDF

Sunday, May 08, 2011 0 Comments A+ a-

'My Life In Biscuits' Zine is now available to buy in a download PDF version from my online store!

If you want to head down 'the biscuit memory lane' and are a lover of tea, pretty tablecloths and doilies - you may love this.

Only a very select few hard copy versions are still available from my stockists.

Special thanks to kawaii blog 'Drop Dead Cute' for featuring 'My Life in Biscuits' on a recent post!

Paper News

Friday, May 06, 2011 1 Comments A+ a-



The Paper Convention is finally here! After attending one of the first Paper Convention workshops at Finders Keepers last year I am super excited about their upcoming workshops happening around Sydney in June at The Paper Mill & Object Gallery. The Paper Convention collective is a group of innovative peeps & emerging artists dedicated to creative paper making. Those behind the love affair of all things paper include Lox & Savvy's Lisa Loxley, Melbourne paper group Trial and Error and Matthew Roland- his illustrated work is often displayed at The Sweets Workshop.


A lover of all things paper myself....and making things with paper I am looking forward to their upcoming workshops. I have already made my booking for the 'Zine makers talk' with my fave bloggers the wonderful Anney B. and Kit Palaskas (Candy Castle)- to me she is like a paper version of 'Willy Wonka' & all things colourful. With so much unique craft talent, no wonder she has been hired as the new craft online producer at Better Homes & Gardens magazine! 

Other talented 'paper giants' include Paperform wizard Benja Harney a maker of 3d paper installations seen on music posters, ads, magazines and books. Japanese Paper extraordinaire Yoshinobu Miyamoto will also be sharing his 3d paper skills during a talk and workshop. I think I am in paper heaven!

It seems that the world...including me is going crazy for all things paper, so it makes sense to have a magazine dedicated to just that! Enter the amazing Paper Runway magazine.Paper Runway magazine is edited by paper lovers Nikki Buckland and Maree Oaten. The first issue features; Jo Neville of Paper Couture, collage artist Nicola Starr, spotlight on independent artist and designer market Magnolia Square, paper products by Rob Ryan, Mae etc. How to make crepe paper flowers and confetti dipped goodie bags by Tokketok and Jayde Leader of Little Paper Lane talks mt tape....my fave paper product! I am all ready hanging out for the next issue!




Japan 2009

Sunday, May 01, 2011 5 Comments A+ a-

Yes! Finally got around to making a photographic printed book of my Japan 2009 trip that I went on with my now hubby.
I must say it did take some time to put together as we had LOTS of photos to choose from. I really enjoyed designing the front and back cover as well as the backgrounds the most. We ordered our photo book through picaboo. Here you can download a program to  turn your travel photo's into a book. Much better then having a heavy photo album and makes it easier to take around to show family and friends. Ha! I am still working on the written journal part of things, so when that is done I am thinking of turning it into a little self-published travel book.


1. A post-it note itinerary of our travels 2. My fave place in Tokyo- Ikebukuro! 3. Namja Town food theme park! Situated on top of Ikebukuro's Sunshine City mall 4.Gibli museum at Mitaka! 5. Harajuku 6. Shimbashi/Ginza 7. Nakano Broadway- anime heaven! 8.Osaka 9.Peko Fujiya patisserie in Kyoto 10. Kamakura 11. Kyoto Shops 12.Disneyland 13.Disneyland Hotel- that's right! had Mickey Mouse head pancakes and salad bun!