in the sweet little box

when I got home from the long flight and ferry ride back home from Japan,

I found this little box sitting on a dining table.

It was from my friend Jennifer.

She is a good friend of mine from Ashland.

She owns a cutest store there, called PRIZE.

I love love LOVE that store!

She has such a great taste in everything!!

The store is stocked with a bunch of goodies, like candies from all over the world and fancy jewelry.

She is in love with France, especially Paris, and Japan, so there are so many goodies from those places.

I also worked there for a while when I lived there.

We were to move to Canada, so I had to quit the job...

I loved working there and didn't want to leave.

It was very sad to say good bye to the store and Jennifer & her mother, Olive :(

I MISS MISS MISS THEM SO MUCH!

Okay, get back to what was in the box...

There were little gifts to my daughter!

a cute blanket, kitty booties, and candies!

This little box reminded me a lot about of the sweet memories of working in the store.

It made me miss Ashland even more....

You should most definitely visit this store if you have a chance to go to Ashland!

lace magic

I did a little sewing project today.

very easy and quick one to start with.

my mom got these very simple shirts for my daughter while we were in Japan.

they were $3 each, cheap for brand new baby clothes!

(yes, baby clothes can be really expensive!!)

I wanted to add something to the shirts.

so, I sewed some lace details on them :)

I also found the laces in a Japanese dollar store. good deal!

I find Japanese dollar stores so much better than ones in North America.

They have a lot more stuff, and they are much higher quality.

I like using lace in a lot of my projects.

I think they are so lovely and they add a nice accent.

a quick and simple project,

but they look so much cuter, don't you think?

japan finds

I am back home from our trip to Japan.

It took me a while to recover from jetlag, and it was especially hard with a baby...

She kept waking up so many times in the middle of a night,

and sometimes she was up for a few hours...
Now she is pretty much back on her normal schedule,

and I am trying to get back on sewing and crafting!

There were so many neat cute stuff in Japan.

I wanted to bring back a lot of stuff, but my small laggage had reached its max.

These are a few things I brought back home with me.

Cute Stamp Set

I love these!

I already used them when I wrote to my firends.

Masking Tapes

Cute masking tapes were 'in' in Japan.

I found them pretty much everywhere I went.

I bought a few to use them for decolating gifts.

naniIRO Fabric

I went to a fabric store.

I had no intention to buy any fabric there.

Well, more like I had to try not to buy any fabric

because there was little room in my laggage for anything.

But, I needed this fabric!

This is one of naniIRO collections.

I am thinking to make myself a summer dress :)

Sewing Magazine

Found this in a book store.

There are so many cute clothes in the magazine.

I have to make some things with the patterns.

a few days left...

My one month long visit in Japan is coming closer to the end...

Only a few days left.

We had a pretty good visit.

ate a lot, played a lot!

My daughter had a wonderful time.

Everyone loved her and adored her.

And she got tons of gifts! - lucky girl!!

I don't know how I am going to pack all the stuff, stuff we brought and gained,

into our small luggage....

My husband went back home earlier,

so I will be carrying my daughter in addition to my luggage all by myself!

I tried my best not to gain too much stuff.

But, it is so hard!

so many cute things over here in Japan...

It seems like I will have an extra bag with me on the way back.

My family doesn't want us to leave,

especially they want to keep their first granddaughter.

It is going to be hard to say good-bye to them at the airport... :(