Aloha tofu!

If anyone ever comes to Hawai'i (or if you live here like me) I would definitely recommend you stop at Aloha Tofu Town! It's this small cafe that is also a gift shop and tofu factory! Everything the serve is made with their own Aloha tofu. It's a popular stop for people from Japan, and for people who love tofu. My favorite is the tofu hamburger steak (no pic because I ate it!), but they also have bentos, curry, and loco moco! They even have tofu based desserts... Their tofu creampuffs are especially popular. One of my favorite things is that when you order a regular sized meal, you can also serve yourself tofu that hasn't been fully firmed yet... It is so good!  This is a local business that is also one of the few tofu companies remaining in Hawaii. They are located in dole cannery... Check them out!

Bentos to go!

The dining area

Making aburaage!!!

Serve yourself tofu... they keep it warm in a slow cooker and you can garnish it yourself too!

Maui!

I'm super lucky! The other day I was asked to be an emergency substitute for one of my coworkers, and I got to go to Maui! This was the view from the plane... Such a clear day!!! I actually was in the aisle seat and asked the me sitting next to me if I could reach over him to take this picture; he did and it came out perfect :)

Pouch sewing

With all the holiday weekends over Christmas and New Year's, I was finally able to sew some pouches. I've had some of these kawaii fabrics stashed for years, and I don't see these prints anymore. The pink and white alphabet fabric is especially dear!

Merry Christmas!

Busy weekend

I had a pretty busy weekend, so I didn't have much time for berrysprite crafting. I did manage to snap this photo of a rainbow (it was mostly hot and sunny, but there was some rain, which is my favorite!)

First ever mermaid!

So I received a custom order for a mermaid!  I had never done one before, (only a merlion) mostly because every time I try to make hair it turns out wonky (that's also why I don't have many human amigurumi!).  She came out pretty cute (with lovely hair!), and so I decided to make a few more based on my mermaid kingdom fabric (those will come in a later post, as I have to wait until the weekend to finish them!)

Waffle Mascot

I sometimes get asked to do create mascots, logos, or banners for people.  This is one from my vault.. he didn't get chosen for the final waffle, but he's still pretty cute.  Just in case you are wondering, I use a free vector-based program called Inkscape to draw in, and I sometimes use a Bamboo Splash to draw with.  I'm really hoping to find more time to draw and design fabrics, because its so much fun!

A nostalgic trip to Japan through some of my kawaii souvenirs

Fushimi Inari Temple, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari, Kyoto

I love love love visiting Japan.  The people, the culture, the history, the food, natural and architectural beauty... its no wonder people love to travel to Japan.  However, there is one thing that makes Japan one of my all time FAVORITE places to visit.... the shopping!!!

Dotonbori, Osaka

I started feeling nostalgic today because I was cleaning up my room and came up some of the souvenirs I bought on my last two trips to Japan.  Japan often has the reputation of being very expensive, but maybe because I live in Hawaii (which is very expensive anyway!) I find Japan to be reasonable.  Plus I am a very good bargain shopper.  I thought I would share some of the things I bought on my trips, along with where I got them and the price, as much as I could remember them. 

Jelly Sticker Sack (Tokyu Hands, Shinsaibashi, Osaka for ¥300 or around $3.00)

Shu Uemura eyelash curler... they had stopped selling these in the US for a little while, but I think they are selling them again. It's definitely cheaper in Japan though! (From Don Quixote, Shinjuku, Tokyo for ¥10,000 or about $10.00)

A Daruma! You fill in the left eye when you make a wish and fill in the right eye when your wish comes true. My wish hasn't come true yet! (I got him from a coin machine/capsule machine at the Kofuku-ji shrine in Nara for ¥500 or around $5.00)

My favorite sheet of piggy stickers! (From Loft in Shinjuku, Tokyo for ¥100 or around $1.00)

A kawaii sea animal fabric pouch (from Kaiyukan Aquarium, Osaka for ¥700 or around $7.00)

A teru teru bozu, a good luck/nice weather charm (from Nakamise Dori/shopping street, Asakusa, Tokyo for around ¥3.00 or around $3.00)

Really awesome pa nail polish, which comes in an amazing range of colors (including iridescent and glitter varieties) from various beauty stores and places like Tokyu Hands (¥280 each, or around $2.80)

The most adorable mini glass figurines! From Komachi-dori/shopping street, Kamakura (price varies, but none of these were more than ¥400 or $4.00. The average price was around ¥300!)

Kawaii fabrics cuts from Nomura Tailor, near Kawaramachi shopping street in Kyoto (¥500, or $5.00 each)

What trip to Japan is complete without a little UFO catcher action... I won this tiny llama from a random game store near the Hep 5 mall in Umeda, Osaka (each UFO try is usually ¥100 or $1.00. The trick is not to spend like $20.00 before you win!). 

This is probably my favorite thing I ever bought in Japan... he's a little goldfish beanbag! (From the Chirimen Craft Museum, Kyoto for around ¥300 or $3.00)

Strawberry kawaii

I love love love strawberries... They are so kawaii, and strawberry flavor is one of my favorites! I recently made these tiny cupcake boxes after some strawberry inspiration also prompted me to paint my nails.  Perhaps it was moving so solidly into fall after a such a long and hot summer. These boxes measure around 3" (7.6 cm) tall and will fit some tiny treasures. I was thinking they might be cute for a visit from the tooth fairy!

Wee bear

A super sweet customer of mine sent me a gift of some mohair yarn a while back, and I've only just made this wee bear! He stands only about 3 inches tall (7.6 cm).

New Fabric Design!

Wow, it's been a whole year since I've blogged, and its quite funny that my last post was introducing a berrysprite fabric design, because that's what I'm here to do again!  My newest design is a smaller scale design which includes little meadow sprites on a dark blue field of flowers.  I'm in love with this color scheme, and I love the way it turned out!  I used Spoonflower's free swatch day to test it on their newest georgette fabric, but I think it will come out just as nicely on any of their lovely fabrics. Available here!

It's a bit wrinkled because its georgette fabric, but still so pretty!

New Spoonflower Fabric Design: Mermaid Kingdom!

I've been working on this design on and off (mostly off!) for about a year, but I was finally motivated to finish it up in time for the free eco-canvas swatch day at Spoonflower.  I decided to call it Mermaid Kingdom because it features an entire population of mermaids!  One of the challenges of designing it was making all the different mermaids... I tried to give each one his/her own distinctive character.  I am in LOVE with it, and I think it came out so cute!  Did you notice the merlions?

I found that my original design size was a bit small for something bumpy like eco-canvas, so I increased the size a bit... now the mermaids are around 1" (~2.5 cm) versus .5" (~1.5 cm).     Mermaid Kingdom is Available now on my Spoonflower page!

More piggy pictures

I listed these in my shop last week or so, and posted to my Facebook too, but the pics are so cute!  So they are here too now :)

And the black one..... bam!

All the Korean Makeups

I had a spectacular day off on Friday, and I spent it shopping at MULTIPLE Korean makeup stores!  We are lucky in Hawaii, because within the past three years, three different Korean makeup brands have opened up shop!  This includes The Face Shop, TonyMoly and Nature Republic! Although I'm not normally a huge makeup fan, Korean makeup usually comes in kawaii packages (of which I AM a super fan!).  All three stores have comporable makeup and skincare products, such as lotions, cleansers, face masks, nail polishes, etc, at similar prices.  Together, they are a trifecta of amazing kawaii makeup products!  I'm actually going to Japan in a few months (the land of kawaii makeup), but I couldn't resist.  Here are my purchases:

Face masks on the bottom left (including Aloe, Mung Bean, and Honey).  The red box is a tomato lotion... Tomato is a very popular flavor/ fragrance in Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries.  The monkey box holds a mud mask and the green bunny is a green tea solid perfume!

Korean makeup stores are also really good about giving samples...The Floria tubes and Aura cream came as free gifts with purchase, and were included in the calendar box in the back!

 Panda hand cream.   I repeat.  Panda hand cream.  Not going to lie, I kinda wanted this just because it came in a panda.

Want to wage a war against your pores?  Use this egg pore toner!  

More hand cream!  This one came from Nature Republic, which is still relatively new in Hawaii... Their store is in Ala Moana.  See what I mean about packaging though?  From the minute you open it to the minute all the product is gone, you gotta love the whole "process" of using Korean makeup!  Additionally, the little sprout on this guy's head can be taken out and put in your cell phone's earjack, like a little plant is growing out of your phone (they're called pluggies!).  Isn't that cool?

So anyway, I'm going to have to not spend money for a little while, but I'll definitely have super nice hands/ smell super good/ clear skin in the meantime!