Fabulous finds { Naraya bags n' accessories }

Few months ago, I made a visit to Bangkok for the first time in five years. I felt like a total foreigner in my own country. So much have changed, new buildings, roads, but what remained unchanged is a hot, sauna like and very steamy air that Bangkok has.

I was doing some shopping for souvenirs for some friends in Canada, and I thought this might be the best, suitable and affordable gift for my friends.

I visited Naraya bag and accessories store in Sukhumvit branch. The store is very well known among Japanese and Korean tourists. Of course, I couldn't help buying some for my fiancé's mother and sister :)

I got myself a new makeup bag. I love small flower prints and baby blue fabric :)



and some small pouches for friends....



Other items from Naraya:



Photo credits:
shir0i

Lovely + Inspiring { Czech Republic }

One of Europe's finest. One of the countries I would LOVE to visit.









.....and if you have a tight budget










photo credits:
Czech Republic tourism
View from a above at Cesky Krumlov by rockpaperscissors
Prague town hall clock by kainet
Prague by sharonradisch
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic by midweekpost
Strahov monastery by roger j porterChristmas Market, Old Town Square

hostels:
Miss Sophie's in Prague
Sir Toby's Hostel Prague

I hope you will enjoy Czech like I do. Have a lovely weekend :)

Japanese food { Kakiage soba }

I made something new today. My sister is a fan of this youtube channel, Cooking with dog. She told me I HAVE to see it. I've been looking for a simple and easy way to make Japanese home style food for quite sometime now. If you love homey style food, you might like it like I do :)

I added some fish tofu and some lotus roots. I also used buckwheat soba instead of a regular soba. It turned out so well :) The soba is so soft and chewy. Yum yum.

Florals & Frilly

Not sure since when did I start to fill my closet up with florals and frilly clothes. Before I know it, my closet is full of these type of clothes and dresses. My boyfriend even teases how girly I have became! Trust me, I'm not girly, I just appear that way!

Not long before, I wouldn't wear something with flower prints on it (but I love frilly clothes). I thought that the look is very hard to pull off. I somehow started to love to mix and match floral, flower prints with other clothes and accessories from my closet.

One of my favorite dresses at the moment is from Pageboy. I got it on sale too! yay! The dress is a little bit too big for me, though.



Got these tops from Forever 21 last week.





Lastly, one of my favorite tops in the summer. Got this at a flea market in Thailand. I love wearing cotton in the summer!

New banner

Hello.

Notice something different? I made new banners a few days ago. I made one for my blog and one for my shop. It took me nearly 6-7 hours to finish them :)

Here is the new version vs. the previous versions.


I have been visiting many blogs lately. They're nicely organized into sections and such, making it easier for readers. Oh, they are very lovely as well! I want to upgrade my blog too!

I have added my favorite blogs on the left side. Please check them out. They're really amazing :)

On my desk

I have been busy updating my shop for the past few days. I made a new business card design. It's MUCH better than the previous one. My sister helped me with that (Thanks little sis!!). Without her, I don't think I could figure out photoshop and other programs. I'm a photoshop dummy.

I also did some research on shop packagings. There are sooo many lovely packagings out there and I felt so inspired after looking at them. I want my shop's packagings to be a little different from other regular mails. It would be nice to receive such a nice packagings don't you think?



Lastly, I have been addicted to using these lovely hair pins. It's so handy in such a hot weather like this! The weather is extremely brutal that I have to tie my hair up into a bun. I use these hair pins to add extra cuteness. My favorite is No.5 :)



You can now choose your favorite pins. Please check out my shop for more details.

Craft Fair

Cocoa Chu Chu is having a craft fair in downtown Toronto!!!

When: Thursday, September 3rd

Time: 11 am - 3 pm

Where: Butterfield Park, OCAD

Address: 100 McCaul Street Toronto, ON M5T 1W1



I'm looking forward to my very first craft fair! It's gonna be fun. If you live near Toronto area, hope to see you there :)

Currently sold out & Craft fair

My two necklaces, Paris, je t'aime and Allons en France are currently sold out in my shop. I have already ordered some supplies and hopefully they will be in stock again sometimes next week. These two necklaces are the bestseller necklaces up to date. They even got featured on Etsy's front page. They make me proud. They are just like my babies :)

Just a quick note that I will be doing a very tiny craft fair on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at OCAD in downtown Toronto. It will be my first craft fair ever! I'm looking forward to it. I will post more information about the craft fair later this week in my blog. Please stay tuned :)

Finally there's some sunshine in Toronto. It's been raining cats and dogs for the past week. My puppy got scared when she heard thunder sounds. She would quickly come sit next to me. I found it very cute!!

I heart

(a) Sabon body scrub vanilla coconut.

(b) Tour de France necklace by Cocoa Chu Chu (my new creation).

(c) Marilyn hair accessory by which goose.

DIY cushion covers

My old cushion cover I bought from Ikea a few years ago was ready to go. The zipper was broken and it was beyond fixable since the cover itself was falling apart (my dog loves to tear it up).

I happened to find some lovely fabrics at Fabricland. I love bright colors as well as sweet pastels. I was so happy to find these 2 fabric patterns from Liz Claiborne and on SALE :)



It took me almost a week to finish sewing one cushion cover (by hand). I don't have a sewing machine, but would LOVE to have one in the future. Let's hope that my dog wouldn't start tearing this one up again.

500 Days Of Summer

I watched it!! I finally got to see 500 Days Of Summer and I'm a big fan now. I just love the whole thing. There's no better cast than Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel!! The song, Here comes your man by The Pixies, is now officially my new favorite song :) I kept smiling during the whole film :D

Well, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't watched it. Let's say that I'm a big big fan. By the way, my man is away for the whole week (work related). I miss him already!

Some of my favorite scenes from the movie:







Credits: Aloneintown, Hollywoodjane

If you like this movie like I do, please check out this website. It has a bunch of info on the movie :)

Green tea ice-cream

I got this green tea ice-cream at a local Korean grocery store the other day. Whenever I find green tea flavored snacks, ice-creams or any products, I just have to give it a try :D

This green tea ice-cream is quite bitter. It has this bitter feeling at the tip of the tongue. I personally prefer it sweeter. I love green tea ice-cream from Baskin Robbins as well. I heard somewhere before that girls should eat sweets once a day to maintain happiness. Wonder if it's true, but it sure works for me.....haha

I'm LOOKING forward to Taste of the Danforth this coming weekend!! I can't believe I've never been there before. I've heard that the Calamari is really good. I can't wait to give it a try. If you have any recommendations, please share it with me :)