Patreon Reward and Raffle Prize from Rainbowholic

For a few months now, I've been a patron of Kaila of Rainbowholic on Patreon, and I've loved it. I've been on the "Sakura" level, which entitles me to a cute postcard in the mail every month, as well as access to secret videos, printable sticker sheets and a few more things. But more than that, a community has developed of like-minded cute stationery and journalling fans.

This month, Kaila was offering a copy of The ABCs of Journalling by Abbey Sy at one of the higher levels. It was a book I'd been wanting for a while, so I decided to upgrade. A stash of cute stickers and stationery was included -- plus the prize I won in the raffle that Kaila holds on her monthly livestream! I'm a very lucky girl.

I was too excited to do a real unboxing, so there are no photos of the outer packaging, but I can assure you it was pink and cute!

The ABCs of Journalling is a gorgeous book, beautifully illustrated and with lots of ideas for creating a diary and decorating it.

The stationery that came with it included some Gudetama and Little Twin Stars themed items. I love them all! There was a cute postcard with a lovely personalised message from Kaila, too.

Here is the raffle prize -- a notebook hand-made and decorated by Kaila, and some sticker sheets. (er, I didn't seem to get any photos of the stickers, sorry!)

I just love the notebook, which she made as a demonstration during one of her Patron-only videos. It feels so strange and exciting to see something I've seen on the internet, now on my own desk!

I love these retro patterned papers, and the 'postage stamps' are actually washi tapes with a series of different stamp-like images on them. It's almost too cute to use! I will have to save it for something special.

I've had mixed experiences with Patreon, but I've been entirely happy with my Rainbowholic experience. Kaila's positivity is infectious and she inspires me to keep making things cute every day! Her YouTube channel RainbowholicTV has frequent doses of kawaii journalling, crafts, DIYs and other fun things.



This post is purely my opinion and I have not received anything in return!

Mocoro Robotic Mop Ball

After seeing it on an old episode of Eat Your Kimchi, I couldn't resist getting a Mocoro ball, which allegedly sweeps the lint from your floors. Our house has hardwood flooring throughout, so the Mocoro is perfect ... if it works!

It was almost obligatory for me to buy a pair of balls, so I could make the jokes that naturally stem from such a product. I purchased them from this ebay shop; the price was $25.20 for two, including postage. They came from Laos and arrived within 10 days. The parcel was a bit crushed on one side, but the products inside weren't affected.

The Mocoro balls come with a set of 4 different coloured microfibre covers. The covers zip off for easy cleaning.

Each needs 1 AA battery to work. Inserting the battery requires a screwdriver. According to the box, the battery should last for up to 5 hours. I hope this is true as replacing the battery is quite fiddly.

There is an on-off push button on the side of the ball. I was worried that this would get pressed accidentally while the balls are rolling, but this wasn't the case. The balls have a weight inside them, which causes them to jiggle and roll around in random directions. At first my balls didn't move around very much. I posted a short video here on my Instagram. (You can also hear the sound they make.) They seemed to serve more to distract the cat than anything else!

However, just as I was composing a lukewarm review in my head, one of the balls shot off down the hallway, all the way into the bedroom and collected a good amount of lint from under the bed!

Surprisingly, the Mocoro balls work!

However, you will still have to sweep your floor! Because they move around in such a random way, there's very little chance the whole floor will be covered. Plus, I haven't tried cleaning the covers yet. It may well be easier to just sweep. The Mocoro Robotic Mop Ball is more of a novelty than a useful cleaning product, but it's fun.

And, you know, balls. Teehee.

Decoden Etsy Shop Review and Project

Yesterday I was moving some stuff around in the hobby room, and I came across a haul of decoden supplies that I'd bought from MissSapporo on Etsy last year and never done anything with. I must be in a very crafty mood at the moment, because I had a sudden urge to deco things, straight away!

But first I will write about the shop itself a little bit. When the supplies first arrived, I took some photos of them, so why not do a review? I have ordered from MissSapporo twice now, and I was absolutely 100% happy with the whole experience both times. Here is my most recent order (well, May last year actually, but who's counting!):

The parcel arrived very fast from Japan. In fact, everything I order from Japan comes amazingly fast, compared to the U.S. and even closer places like China and, ahem, other parts of Australia. Everything was parcelled up very carefully with bubble wrap, and there was a lovely note. From the words Yuriko had written, it was clear she remembered me from last time. It was really lovely.

Along with my order, there was a little parcel of extras! I wouldn't order anything Barbie-themed normally, but I loved the other items. Yuriko also has another Etsy shop dedicated to fabrics, which I have ordered from once and had the same wonderful experience. She also seems to have regular sales and discount codes available. I would definitely recommend purchasing from her!

Now for the decoden project. I needed something to decorate, and fast! I chose this powder compact from Daiso. Even though it's a cheap compact, it works really well for me, so I can see it being in my life until it's all gone. But as you can see, it's in a prominent spot on my makeup stand, and it's boring!

Boring!
Gathering my supplies. I used a toothpick to apply the glue in small patches. I made myself a gem picker with a chopstick and some gaffer tape, but I ended up using the toothpick to place the gems as they were so small.

I decided to use one of my square cabochons in the centre, and I chose a colour that would match the hot pink gemstones. I put the bunny and rose on at this point to add extra interest:

Getting there! I was working on our coffee table, and leaning over became a bit painful after a while! It was getting quite late by this point, so I left the rest for the next morning.

Finished! The gems were a bit uneven on the edges, but I don't think it looks too bad. Next time I think I'll start at the outside edge and work inwards.

Back where it belongs:

No longer boring!

Angoo-Mart Washi Tapes Purchase and Review

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posts recently. Just before New Year I came down with a flu which took me about 3 weeks to recover from. In fact, even now I'm still feeling a bit tired and lacking in energy. But still, today I wanted to share my Deco Tapes / Washi Tapes haul with you!

Angoo-Mart is a deco tape manufacturer and seller based in China. I have placed 2 orders with them so far, and was very pleased both times, so I thought I'd share my experience with you. The first time I ordered from Angoo-Mart, about 2 years ago, it was very difficult to find deco tapes in Australia, and most overseas suppliers were very expensive. When I heard about Angoo-Mart, of course I was attracted to their cheap prices and large range, and wanted to place an order. The big drawback with Angoo-Mart (but the only one, really) is that their website looks a bit dodgy:

Screenshot of front page.
It's basic and and the design is very old-fashioned looking.There's a bit of 'Manglish' on it, too. Normally these things set off alarm bells for me when placing an order online, but I decided to take a chance when I placed my first order. The site accepts payment by PayPal, which is safer than entering your credit card details.

Screenshot of category page.
There is a huge range of deco tapes and washi tapes to choose from, as well as kawaii stationery, stickers, pencil cases, mobile phone charms and similar items. The site is organised by type of tape, then by width (large, medium or small) and sometimes manufacturer if the category is very large. Many styles are represented: Disney, Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma, Shinzi Katoh and other characters; generic kawaii; patterns like polka dots, stripes and checks; punk and goth styles; elegant French styles; and traditional Japanese styles. And many more! The Decorative tapes are made of plastic with a shiny look, similar to Sello tape but thicker and stronger. The Washi tapes are the traditional Japanese style, with a texture similar to masking tape. I have never ordered the paper or fabric tapes, so I can't comment on those.
Angoo-Mart have a Flickr account, if you would like to see good quality photos of the products.

The check-out process is very fast and easy. I placed my order on 6th January, and I was notified that it was posted on 7th January. The notification email had some personal touches that you don't always see when ordering online. I received it on 25th January, which I think is quite standard from China to Australia.

The items were packed into an amazingly small box. I was surprised at how they managed to fit everything in there! Yet nothing was squished or overcrowded. Everything was safely packed in with no gaps, and the box was lined with batting to protect the contents.

2 free kawaii notepads were included with my order (presumably because it was so large!).

As for pricing, the cost was extremely reasonable. The narrow deco tapes were AU$1.10, and ranged up to AU$1.99 for the wider ones. The washi tapes were a little more expensive at AU$1.99 to AU$2.99. The mini sets-of-3 were AU$1.50 per set. The stationery, pencil cases, etc. are also very reasonably priced. Shipping was a bit more than I would have liked though, at AU$17.20. (Bear in mind it was a large order. The fee is scaled by weight so it would be less when ordering less items.) I had a 15% discount voucher for being an email subscriber, so all up this haul came to AU$61.70. In my opinion this is a lot less than what I would have paid on Ebay or Etsy. Even at Daiso this number of items would have cost AU$78.

The complete haul!
Here's a shot of some of the deco tapes in action in my art journal:

Page is unfinished, obviously!
I have found all the tapes to be of very good quality. The glue will stick well on plain paper, as well as paper that has been painted with watercolour or acrylics. Even the tapes I ordered 2 years ago still stick well in my old art journal:

Clear tape with red grid; black tape with text/shapes (left-hand page).
I've painted over the tape in one spot and the paint sticks no problems!
Overall, I was very pleased with my purchase from Angoo-Mart. The tapes are cheap but good quality, and there's a huge range to choose from. My parcel was posted quickly and customer service was friendly. Even though the website looks a little dodgy, it's easy to navigate. The manufacturers welcome international orders, and are obviously trying to reach a world-wide market, with translations into 22 languages available on the site. I receive the email newsletter once every 3 or 4 weeks (not so often that it becomes annoying!), and there are regular offers and discount coupons.

I will definitely order from Angoo-Mart again!

5-Minute Obsessions #4 : Bunnies!

I met the cutest rabbit last night, and she confirmed what I'd been suspecting for a while: rabbits are adorable!

See what I mean?

Unfortunately sometimes life gets in the way, and I have to report that there was no crafting or arting at casa de la ApartmentCat this week. Well, not in my corner anyway. Boy did an amazing drawing for his course. You can check it out on his blog.

P.S. If you like cute things, I do hope you'll vote for Puska the Photogenic Cat [link defunct] in the Face of Whiskas competition. Disclaimer: Puska's owner is Boy's friend, so I kinda have a personal interest. He's genuinely cute, though!

---

Previously in the Obsessions series:
1. Spindles.
2. Terraria.
3. Bookbinding.

Suddenly Serviceable

Last week I finished Boy's Hat:

A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything!
Yay! Now his head and his ears will be warm! There are more details about the hows and the whys in this post.

And, I'm pleased to say, that today I finished S's scarf in time for his birthday shindig (with about 5 hours to spare, as a matter of fact).

The old scarf-photographed-on-the-windowsill trick!
I was a bit cheeky: he's not one for being showered with gifts (gosh knows why!) so he declared that everyone should take the money they would have spent on a gift for him, and buy/do something nice for themselves. Well, I enjoy buying yarn and knitting things with it, so why not knit something for him? And I had a red hot go at it as well. I spent about 45 minutes choosing this yarn at Cleg's. I ignored the price tag completely. It's an absolutely gorgeous blend of wool and alpaca. And 'cause alpacas are just so darned cute, I had to find us a pic:

Cute!!
And look at these amigurumi alpacas from Moon June!:

It's a well known fact that everything is cuter in amigurumi form.
And, in a blindingly white ultra mega moment of the ultimate productivity, I finished an art journal page today too!:

Materials used: gesso, acrylic paint, scraps of newspaper, envelopes, magazines, wrapping paper, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, Pilot Choose gel pens, Signo Uniball gel pens, Think wedge felt pen, vintage Japanese rubber stamp and ink, spirograph, metallic rub, deco tape, embroidery thread

I really just put the finishing touches on it: some dabs of green paint and metallic rub, a couple of swirly bits and a quote from Ray Bradbury about creativity. I have quite a large collection of quotes saved on my laptop now, and I felt like using one. So I did! For some reason, it really irks me the way that quotes are traditionally presented, with the person being quoted at the end. I always look at that part first, and then I know who is speaking when I read the quote. If I read it as presented, then just as I'm letting the profundity of the thought sink in, I get interrupted with a jolt by the sordid detail of who it's attributed to. It irks me. Is that just me? I thought so. Anyway, I thought I'd put the author at the start and see how that feels. The quote says:

Ray Bradbury: Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You must simply do things.

It's an important thing to keep in mind when doing art. Perhaps not so much when doing craft. But it definitely applies to meditating.

---

P.S. About that subject line: my powers of alliteration failed me today.

Lost in Translation; or; Capybaras ... how cute are they??

Hello, konnichiwa and other cliched greetings from Japan!

There is so much to say that I don`t know where to begin. The cuteness is just overwhelming! The craft shops are overflowing! And the souvenirs are filling up my suitcase!
I will just quickly share with you my newest obsession - kapibarasan!
Yes, it's a capybara. Who hangs out with a camel.

Here is the 3-D version. They come in about 5 different sizes and you are supposed to display them stacked　on top of each other with the biggest at the bottom and the smallest on the top. Cute and tidy!

{Picture Source}
Here he is (or she? I don't know!) in board book version:

{Picture Source}
I haven't seen any of the books myself yet, but they also come on tote bags, keyrings, etc. I have a smallish plush one, a coin purse-head one and a bag charm one. I tried to buy a second bag charm from a gashapon (plastic egg dispenser) machine, but it ate my money. *pouts* I have about 30 gashapon so far of everything from cheesy 70s TV show monsters to marble heads of ancient greek personages to an actual fossil.

And cause I`m a librarian at heart, here`s a picture of a real capybara for reference:

{Picture Source}

The real thing is just about as cute as the Japanised version, I think!

Speed Posting, Part 4

I'm going to try and keep this short today as I want to get back to crafting! After the doctors' appointment, and doing some dishes and laundry, etc etc. I'm home sick from work today (or should that be 'sick'...?) but I haven't had much of a chance to do anything crafty. Here are the photos I promised last time though:

It's amigurumi - in chihuahua form!

I finally finished the amigurumi chihuahua that I started in July last year. That's a whole year, people! It shouldn't take that long to finish, even if it was my first one! I was too hurt (both physically and emotionally!) by the memory of all the needle wounds from sewing the arms and legs on. But he is done at last! Actually, the main reason I got on and finished it was so I could take back possession of the really cool beauty case I was using to hold the project. But don't tell him, he's very sensitive! He's currently sitting on the bookshelf waiting for a name.

Next up is the scarf I made for a work colleague of a friend. It took a lot longer than I'd hoped, and I feel pretty bad about that, but apparently she loved it! There are ups and downs to making things to order, the main up being you have a guaranteed sale! I'm still enjoying working with different textures and colours of yarn, so I wouldn't mind making some more.

I've also been working on my third kokeshi doll:

I'm still a bit iffy on how the proportions are going to turn out, but I'll have to wait and see I suppose. I have an idea for how I will embellish the body but I'm not going to reveal that yet!

I started a second cat blanket to donate to the Lost Dog's Home today. The first one is nearly finished, so I felt justified. I was working on it this morning in bed while I was listening to the Hound of the Baskervilles talking book and drinking coffee. Geez, I could get used to this lady of leisure thing!

I also re-jigged my sidebar a bit, for anyone who may be reading this independent of a reader. It now has a 'non-yarn projects in progress' section. This reflects the projects I have started and want to start to do with the Retro Crafts book I mentioned in my last post. Yes, I'm still obsessed with it! For a while I wanted to make every project in the book. But I admit that might be a little too crazy, even for me! I'm hoping to have time to work on my painted things tonight.

Gotta go now!

[Later:]
I finished the Farmyard Pencil Cups!

Chihuahua

Chihuahua, originally uploaded by patisotagami.

I felt bad leaving a bitter note after the last post, so I thought I'd leave you with a really adorable note until I have time to write a proper post.

Chihuahua kisses to you all!

I Heart MochiMochi Land

I never thought I could describe a blog entry using the words 'festering' and 'adorably cute' in the same sentence:

MochiMochi Land