[100928] Walk on a day of Fall

I just LOVE her work. What else can I say. This drawing of Useless is done by Heli from Finland. (Those of you who saw I once wrote she was from Sweden, I am sorry, that was my mistake:P) Useless is in her front pocket... so damn cute. She is so talented<3

The theme was 'Fall'. My favorite parts of this drawing are the colors, the clothings of the girl's, and of course, Useless!
It's amazing to see how people are creative as hell. They always give me inspirations in so many different ways and I can't thank enough for that, as I can never be creating anything without those wonderful people:)

Ai

[100925] Useless Charm handmade by Christina from Greece

Christina is so creative! She is a talented girl from Greece and she made this beautiful charm for me... How sweet!

This gives me good luck, she says. Thank you so much, Christina! :D

Ai

[100924] Hobbes doll No.3 is now traveling

This is the 3rd Hobbes doll and he should be flying right now. I hope he is having a safe flight:)

I have one more request to crochet a Hobbes doll and it needs to be done by next Tuesday... It is not an easy job, but for the people who love my Hobbes dolls, I feel like I can make it, and I sure WILL make it:D

Ai

[100923] Mina Petra artwork

Somehow, I got to be an interpreter for the Croatian booth at JATA event in Tokyo Big Sight. And I met some beautiful ladies wearing beautiful hats!! I wondered who they are, but I really liked the hats, so I asked them if it's okay to take pictures. They said "Oh, thank you. She made it." and then I looked at one of the ladies and she was the artist!!! I was soooooooooo excited. Okay, okay, here is a picture of the lady I first talked to:

Isn't it beautiful? I mean, both ladies and the hats:)
The picture below is of the artist, Mina Petra from Croatia.

She was such a cute lady. I crochet as well, so I gave a small gift to her. (I hope she likes it;) She did a fashion show at the event. This whole experience made me feel like visit Croatia someday... Hmm... Places I want to visit in my life are; China, Thailand, Vietnam, Egypt, Italy, Ireland, and Croatia. Hehe, I love traveling!

[100921] A sweet message from Russia

This postcard has a spot in my heart, because the sender, Anna, from Russia, wrote me a heart-warming message for me with this amazing drawing of Useless.

I often feel I am so blessed and lucky enough to come across beautiful people in my life, and this was surely one of the moments I feel so. My happiness is in your hands. I agree with the quote from the bottom of my heart, because I am happy when the people around me are happy.

My happiness is in your hands as well, Anna!:D

Ai

[100920] GOPAN cafe

When I was checking out some recipes on my favorite cooking site "Cookpad", I came across this new product by SANYO, called GOPAN. It's a bread maker, and you can make rice bread from actual rice, which means you don't need to go get rice powder to make rice bread. So I instantly fell in love with it, and I went to see what it tastes like, all the way down to Omotesando today. What I like about the product already, is that you can also make normal bread with flour as well. I have never own a home-bakery, but GOPAN made me feel like getting one...

A lovely cafe called Zipzap in Omotesando was hosting the promotional campaign of GOPAN, titled GOPAN cafe. I arrived there at 11:40 am, which is only 10 minutes after the opening, but there was already a queue and I had to wait for a little bit. They serve a sampler with a regular order from the Zipzap cafe menu. As I just wanted to taste the bread, I ordered something small -- a cake set (The top picture is the cake I had. Chocolate & Berry cake... Yummy!). The rice bread was delicious. I would love to get a GOPAN already, but the concern is how much it will be... Well, I will see... 


Ai

[100913] A lovely handmade card from Shanghai

So... I have been a crazy busy bee in the past week with everything... and I barely find time to sleep. Happy Monday! Here comes another round. This postcard I received today was such a great start of the week. Thank you Qinqin! She says this is her first handmade card, but it just looks awesome! I love it!

Isn't this beautiful?:) Nihao, Useless~*

The stamps she put were with a mark of the Shanghai Expo that is going on these days and reminded me of my friends who are actually in Shanghai visiting the Expo right now:D I hope they are all having a good time:) I am the home sitter. No fun for me... poor Ai... Hahahaha

Ai 

[100911] Greetings from the Netherlands

I received two cards this afternoon, and both were from the Netherlands:) I miss it there... the country is so beautiful. Well, at least the places I went to, they were quite beautiful. I hope to visit there again someday. Most definitely!

One of the cards had an interesting quote, so I post it on here.

Very true, I believe. But it's funny when you think of it, because you can't live without it.
Art is everywhere. Even when you talk to people and interact with them, I think it's art of communication. That way, it easily gets so philosophical and can keep going on and on... but what I wanted to post here is that this card made me think again. I highly appreciate that she wrote it on the card. (Thank you Elizabeth!! You made my day~*)

Ai

[100910] Halloween Neko card

Yes, I know it's way too early. HAHAHA
Postcrossing told me to send a card to Taiwan, and the receiver really likes cats, but I didn't have any cat-related cards at the moment, and I thought.... I have Neko! I don't know, if she likes it, but I am sending this anyway. Safe trip, Neko chan:)

I have been loving Postcrossing a lot and it's been a month since I signed up for it. So fast. I told this to one of my friend when I saw her recently, but she says 'Eh, you have to give them your real address, right? that's creepy. they are total strangers, you know...' Well, that is true in a way, but it's like you don't go into the ocean because you are afraid of sharks and everything but once you got in, you will be amazed how beautiful underwater world is. Of course there are sharks and other predetors and such, but to me, it's so interesting to be able to meet 'people' online and getting something 'real' as written on an actual postcard. Anyway, that is just my opinion:)

Ai

[100910] New listing on Etsy

I have been hearing from a few people from overseas and they tell me if I have some extra Hobbes dolls to sell to them... I am blushing:) I am so happy to hear that people like my Hobbes doll and even contact me for it. I currently don't have enough yarn to crochet more of these dolls, but I managed crocheting a one-inch-smaller one with leftover yarns... Here is a picture of the doll.

Now I have it on Etsy... Let's see if anybody wants it.
To go to the item page, click here:)

Up next is an Octopus doll for my friend Cari's baby!! I will be working on it this weekend. Can't wait!!

Ai

[100908] Happy Birthday Sean

It's my boyfriend Sean's birthday today! Yay! :)

I am sending this drawing to him as he wishes to go fishing when he comes visit my home in a couple of weeks;)

I can't wait to see him! We are going to have so much fun in both Chiba (my hometown) and Tokyo area!! I really need a Doraemon to let me use his Dokodemo Door now.

Ai

[100901] Detective Useless

So, I got to send a postcard to a girl from China, and she says she would like a handmade card, and I was wondering what I should draw for her. When I talked to my boyfriend on the phone and asked him for ideas, then he suggested me draw something about detectives, as her profile says she loves detective stories. After the phone call, I sat at the desk and worked on it. Here is a picture of the postcard that is going to travel Wenzhou, China:)

Dragomander is supposed to be Useless's assistant in this one. (For those who don't know what Dragomander is, he is a hald dragon / half salamander little creature:) He is one of Useless's friends.) My friends from Singapore said I should go for writing a book of Useless, and I would love to do that in the future. I want to make a book of Useless, not only drawn by me but everybody from all across the world. Hmm... just to think of it makes me excited already!;)

Ai