Shirakawago

Hello Sandwiches,

If you ever have the chance, please pop on over to Shirakawago, Gifu. We stopped here after my book promotion tour. Shirakawago is a gorgeous little world heritage  village of traditional farm houses. It's gorgeous and green in summer, and looks really beautiful in the winter snow, too!



You can take a bus to the village and wonder around, and then walk up to the look out for a breathtaking view something like this!





The flowers in summer were just so pretty. You'll want to make sure your camera battery is charged to it's max.








It's incredible to look at the construction of these homes!






After wondering around, we set up our painting kits and created mini watercolour works.















We stayed at a lovely Ryokan in nearby town, Takayama.



Each night they served us amazing dinners in our ryokan room.







Pretty floral futons in the morning sunlight.

Gifu is a really lovely area and we decided to rent a car and drive back to Nagoya to soak up some more scenery. We took the scenic road along side the river and listened to The Postal Service and took photos along the way. There is also something I really love about stopping at Japanese road side diners.

I can highly recommend a trip to Shirakawago. There's some more information about the village here.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Kyoto and Osaka Workshops

Hello Sandwiches!


We just got back from a Book Promotion Tour in Kyoto and Osaka. We hosted workshops at Keibunsha Books in Kyoto and Standard Bookstore in Osaka. They are both the most beautiful bookstores. If you are ever in the Kansai region please check them out!

Thank you Keibunsha and Standard Bookstore!

Here are a few pics from the workshops.











Keibunsha set up a very special looking desk by the window for me to sign copies of my books. Wowsers it felt special! 









We also popped into Sanseido Bookshop in Osaka and checked out the Hello Sandwich display. Thank you Sanseido!

If you have any pictures of my book in any bookshops (anywhere in the world) I would love to see! Please email them through to me, or post on the Hello Sandwich Facebook Page!

And Sandwiches, we will have a Hello Sandwich Book Party on 8th October! If you're in Tokyo please come along! The details are here! Let's drink pink sparkling wine together!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Tote Bag Decoration Workshop

Hello Sandwiches!

Let's enjoy decorating tote bags together at my next workshop in Tokyo!

In this workshop you will use an array of craft items to decorate a pre-made tote bag. Use pompoms, ribbons, fabrics, buttons, fabric paints, stencilling and assorted trims to decorate your tote bag. There will also be a stamping station where you can stamp cute stamps onto your bag! Once you have learnt the various techniques for decorating a bag you could make more for your friends at home!

Shibaura House
4th October
7-9pm
More details are over here on the Shibaura House website.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

A Private Tour of The mt Factory!

Hello Sandwiches! Do you remember when I went to Takamatsu for the mt school? Well, the amazing team at Kamoi took me on a private tour of the mt factory! Can you imagine how excited I was pulling up in the taxi to mt heaven!!!


We had a refreshing glass of green tea and a little chat before walking around the factory and seeing where the tape is made. The cute Japanese team of workers wore tiffany green coloured protective clothing and shower caps. This factory has a serious attention to detail. I spotted a lady dabbing the edges of the tapes with a folded piece of tape to avoid any unwanted dust sticking to the packaging. You can be absolutely certain mt brand tapes are made to perfection.

As we walked along, we were given off cuts of the giant rolls of tapes complete with crop marks and colour codes.

(Pictures inside the tape making area of the factory are not allowed - sorry Sandwiches!)

 

The mt factory has an exhibition hall featuring samples of the product history. From fly catching tape to colourful decorative mt tape, here you can see it all. It's interesting to see how the packaging has evolved, too.



This is the display wall that features every mt tape ever made! There were some limited edition (only in Taiwan) tapes that I desperately wanted!



At the end of our tour Takatsuka-san asked me if I could sign my book for him! I was blown away! I felt like they should be signing it for me! Then, he kindly drove us back to the local station in the mt company car. Thank you Kamoi for a wonderful tour of the mt factory! I hope you enjoyed these pics Sandwiches! xoxo

Printing at Harvest

It's been such a whirlwind tour in Australia that I haven't yet had a chance to show you the screen printing I did at Harvest!

The girls at Harvest helped me make this screen from a drawing of mine. We're calling the pattern 'rice' for now but some people have also mentioned it looks like watermelon seeds or sprinkles!





One day, I had the entire Harvest studio to myself and set up a giant row of tea towels ready to print with hot pink ink!











I also printed up some paper (the second one from the right is a photocopy of the gorgeous pattern made by Harvest!). It will be fun to use this paper in my craft works soon!

















The finished products hanging in the cute Harvest kitchen! It was pretty fun to re-learn screen printing. I studied it at art school but most of the techniques for printing are now a faded memory. Thanks Harvest for this opportunity! You guys are ace!

I miss working at Harvest! An incredible way of life, printing and creating in gorgeous light and a beautiful big space. We can't forget the 'No Bloggers coffee' at the Brunswick East Project, and eating the same risotto almost everyday for two weeks straight! When I think about it, I can still hear the ding ding of the number 1 and 8 tram passing by...懐かし！

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you everyone for entering the giveaway and for your amazing craft project suggestions! The lucky winner is Katrina!

If you would like to get your hands on my book, you can easily click the translate button on amazon Japan and order my book here.

Thank you Sandwiches!
Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Japan Book Promotion Tour!

Hello Sandwiches!

Next week I am going on a Japan book promotion tour to Kyoto and Osaka along with my Editors! I will be hosting workshops at Keibunsha Bookstore in Kyoto and at Standard Bookstore in Osaka!

We will be making the luncheon mat from my new book! I hope you can come along.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo