Shopping on a Saturday: Japanese Envy

I don't know about you, but I did some shopping-soul-searching and realized that it's been a very long while since I've bought something really cool from a physical shop. All the things I've squealed about have been spotted and bought online (needed, or not). Usually at some point close to midnight. They don't call it the witching hour for nothing..!

So, in an effort to stop these Cinderella moments from happening when the clock strikes twelve and I relapse back into this poor girl with evil stepsisters called Desire and Envy, a list might help with some planned shopping. You know, lay everything out on the table and make better judgements.

The round-up this week consists of all the things that are so wonderfully awesome that the heart says "YES!!!" but the brain says "NOOOOooo!!" to. The wallet doesn't really care so long as someone feeds it because all it cares about is being full. Selfish little thing.

From top to bottom, left to right:

• Tempo Drop - a minimalistic "fuzzy" way of telling you what the temperature is outside. Of course, you could just open the front door or open a window, but why do so when you can stare at something so pretty! 
• Leaf Color-Changing Thermometer Paper - this one actually can be found in Sydney! Saw it on King Street at either Octopus Designs or Pentimento Papeterie (can't remember now). Remember those Hypercolor T-shirts back in the 90s? These things are like that as they react to the surrounding temperature and change color. Of course, if you're pretty impatient like me, you would go stick your finger on it just to see a blotch of yellow appear to get your fix.
• White Balloon Lamp - yet another simple, minimalistic idea. You could do so many things with these! Think of the parties! Attaching them to gifts! Or.. use them like they were intended, as lamps, although I'm not sure if it would be bright enough for more than just mood lighting if you only have one.
• Arooma Natural Aroma Box - it's wooden (piano wood!), it smells nice AND it's got a pretty LED.. what a perfect combo! I love how natural (as natural as you want to make it, depending on your choice of aroma) is all is and how it would blend into any surrounding.
• Metaphys Savone Divided Plate Set - clean, simple, bubbly and functional. I likey. A lot. How to store the plates after admiring and using them. I no likey. A lot. With that in mind, regardless of the price tag, this will remain in that "I really really love it and I want to make it work but I wouldn't to buy it" category unfortunately :(

Have a happy weekend!

P.S. This round-up is no way endorsed or sponsored by any of the aforementioned shops, websites or companies. These are finds that I've stumbled on during my internet travels that have impressed me enough to share with everyone else.

Want it. Need it. Love it.

We're on Wanelo! What a funny word, eh? Not so, when you realize it's a mash-up of "want it. need it. love it." and then you get that lightbulb moment :)

I remember reading about it yonks ago, and not really understanding what it was all about. Now that it's taken off a bit more, it's much easier to understand. I still feel like a contestant in Supermarket Sweep with all that visual overload and that "grab what you like" mentality. The only way I can describe Wanelo is ... like a Pintrest-meets-old-Google-Images where it's a never-ending wall of pictures. My mouse scroll wheel has been getting a workout!

So.. come and find us there! Share a few of your likes and favorites! True to their warning, you gotta be careful. That place is getting quite addictive.. 0.0

Tutorial Thursday: Tissue Paper Pompoms

It's Spring and all things bright, happy, fresh and pretty for one half of the world (and yes, I'm envious but our turn will come soon!), but it's Autumn and we've had a shocking run of weather ups and downs in the past month or so. I feel like a plant nowadays, gravitating towards any spot of gloriously warm pool of sunshine in our apartment. So! To cheer things up, I wanted to share our tissue paper pompoms that I made for our wedding.

There are a TON of these tutorials (just google "how to make tissue paper pom poms" and you'll get "About 380,000 results"), so I'm not going to re-invent the wheel. The bulk of them are based on Martha Stewart's tutorial, which I also worked off. The Polkadot Bride has a clear, concise tutorial that I also liked. I just wanted to share a few tips and modifiications I made get these pretty, cheery little lovelies!

So what you'll need are:

• Tissue Paper - this is where I had a field day and ordered a stack of them from eBay, some of which had flecks of glitter and metallic bits to make things more interesting
• String - Instead of the floral wire (which I don't have lying around the home), I used twine to tie everything up. A stapler is another alternative, but you'll need a heavy duty one that can staple a hefty stack of tissue paper.
• More string - This is for hanging up your fluffy tissue pompoms, but I used fishing line so they would appear to be "floating" rather than hanging.

Other modifications I made:

• Increasing the tissue stack from the suggested 8 sheets to a minimum of 12 and up to 20. The more, the merrier! The extra layers just make your pompom "fuller" when you fluff it all out. I tried one with 8 sheets and it looked a bit sad and malnourished :(
• Snipping away triangles instead of scallops after folding all the sheets accordion-style to get spiky pompoms. It really doesn't have to be perfect because it doesn't really show up (unless you've lopped off whole triangles or something spectacular).

After all of that, I ended up with oodles of 'em! Practice makes perfect, they say.. and each one got easier to make. 

The trickiest part was fluffing the pompoms. I found that it was easier to start from one side and work through roughly half the layers, flip the funny looking half-sphere of tissue over and start fluffing the other side. You can adjust the overall shape at the end of it all, so don't be too worried if your pompom looks lopsided like I was when I first did it.

If all goes well, you'll have yourself some of these to liven up your corner of the world!

For Starters

On Etsy we've opened!

"Um, what's Etsy?," you ask.

Where do I even start..

Such a monumental task!

Oodles of pretty things
Both handmade and supplies,
Are lovingly crafted
To bedazzle your eyes!

Clothes and homewares,
Stationery, wedding supplies and art,
Geeky things and kiddy things,
and whatever else you heart.

They often say that a picture

Is worth a thousand words.

So here's a Treasury list

For all you future Etsy nerds!

Snow White, Blood Red by missymessy

AsymmetreeDesi... $119	FeatherRiverBo... $8	seabornpress $80	Rockcakes $16
PapetteBoutiqu... $5.95	GoodWishesQuil... $25	littleRamstudi... $15	PrinceDesignUK $23
hausofcake $25	GiselleNo5 $10	GreenTreeJewel... $12.95	Strangestudios $15
Lolablossomclo... $99	Dreamzzzzz $15	MeKu $48	KAYEganda $6

Treasury tool supported by the dog house