Ginza

Rainy, shiny and glistening in Ginza this afternoon. It's dark by about 4:30 these days. I really love winter in Tokyo. Seeing all of the Christmas illuminations around the city. Buying hot green tea from vending machines at train stations. Snuggling under pompom beanies. Cooking Nabe. Planning nengajo. I haven't cracked out the hokkairo packs yet but maybe it's about time. Ah, I wish I had a kotatsu.

Amazing New Craft Shop Opening: WRAPPLE

Okay Sandwiches...

This is a beauty!

This is the BEST. NEW. JAPANESE. CRAFT. SHOP. EVER!






I was lucky to attend the opening party of WRAPPLE tonight!!!

Wrapple is an amazing new craft supplies shop in Shibuya! (How convenient!)

Here you will find stickers, tapes, books, envelopes, wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, pens, wax paper, string, pipe cleaners, rubber bands, stamps, gold foil stars, present ribbons, stickers...






Tonight's opening had it all - an incredible curated collection of amazingly cute craft products, cute workshops, cute shop design, a decorating station, cute food, free badges, sparkling wine, cute Japanese peeps, Japanese customer service, incredibly lovely staff...

Love you Japan!











Wrapple badges at the shop counter!





Adorable display at Wrapple!



Some samples made by the cutest girls (seen in the second picture). They will host a workshop teaching participants how to make this cute bag in December.

AND...I am happy to announce that I will host a workshop at Wrapple next year too!





Guests at the Wrapple opening party.



Wrapple also has a collection of craft books in case you're in need of some inspiration. I spotted my first book there.



The opening party was so much fun - you had to decorate your cups before heading to the bar :)



The drinks and snacks bar at the Wrapple opening party. How cute are the little flags!



If you are ever in Tokyo, and if you like craft supplies or stationery, you will not want to miss this!

4th floor Parco 1 Shibuya

Enjoy Sandwiches!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Garland Advent Calendar Tutorial

Hello Sandwiches! It's advent calendar time! How about making a hanging garland type this year?


Step 1. Download this lovely advent calendar printable.

Step 2. Print out the box templates from my Gift Wrapping Book. *You could make your own small paper gift bags using this tutorial. You could also use store-bought small boxes or paper bags.

Step 3. Fill the boxes and bags with cute Christmas treats. Christmas ornaments, photographs, chocolates, a mini tea-break kit with tea bag and cookie, CD of Christmas music, a small make up zipper pouch, a handkerchief and so on.

Step 4. Punch a hole (using an eyelet punch is ideal) in the top of the gift box or bag and attach with a small length of colourful ribbon to your garland. * You can also use a small colourful bull dog clip to attach your gift to the garland. If you can't find colourful bull dog clips you could cover a regular black one with mt masking tape.

Step 5. Cut out the printable and stick one number on each present.

Step 6. Sit back and admire your cute garland advent calendar before you pop it into a box to send to your loved ones.

Note: If you live away from home and you're going home for the christmas break you could make the advent calendar a 'count down' calendar until the day you arrive home.



Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Outgoing Mail

Today's outgoing mail.

The bottom mail is an upcycled small box of cookies from Maison romi-unie.  You can see some of their cute house cookie boxes here. It's fun to send letters in recycled boxes don't you think?

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Mini Ribbon Bows

I made some mini ribbon bows for my friend.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the small scalloped edge circle, stapled a short length of ribbon in a loop, and used hobby glue to attach the two together. If you have any very short length of ribbon scraps you might like to try it yourself.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

November in Tokyo

Hello Sandwiches.

Can you believe it's already November?

It's starting to get really cold in Tokyo. I love winter in Tokyo! (This is a post from last years winter, and this is a favourite too) It seems just a few weeks ago I was getting around in sandals and now I'm searching for my pompom gloves to take bike riding. I always love the things that mark the change of seasons in Japan. At the end of summer when you first notice oden being sold at Lawsons, or when you spot nikuman at the cash register. By the way, do you know that Sunkus is selling a Hello Kitty-man! I rarely go to Sunkus but now I think I need a special trip. (Thanks for the tip Mami-chan!)

I was featured in the new Decopatch mook. I really really love the styling of this mook.  (Thank you Akiyama-san!)

A few months ago Akiyama-san, the editor of this mook, was riding her bike in Sangengaya. I was walking to an editorial meeting but took notice of her because she had the cutest coral dress with cute piping and looked so super sweet riding off on her mamachari. Then, as I was walking on towards my meeting I heard a 'Sumimasen!" and then "Hello Sandwich-san desu ne?"...Akiyama-san had recognised me from my blog and asked me to be part of this book! It was so awesome. I love '偶然' meetings like that!

If you have an interest in trying decopatch, please buy this cute mook!






Can you spot Hello Sandwich mentioned on the cover?



I finally ate the last Hello Sandwich original cookie.



I spotted my first book on display in a craft shop the other day. They'd even made a sample from page 47.



Breakfasts in the morning sun with coffee from my landlady and new cute napkins from Priscilla!



Harajuku bike / garden.



Ginza at night.



Mogu-chans cute Mr Yellow in Nakameguro.



Everyday snack.


Looking over Shibuya on a perfect-weather-day. I could see Fuji-san from the next window that day too!



Bowing at the start of my Martha Stewart EntreX workshop.



Worlds cutest cake!



Mirrors in Harajuku.

Stay warm Tokyo Sandwiches.


Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

One Bag Three Ways

Hello Sandwiches!

I bought a stack of tiffany coloured tissue paper bags and have been playing around with a few ways to turn them into cute bags for gift wrapping. Maybe you could try it too with Christmas just around the corner?

If you can't find tissue paper bags, you could try using regular tissue paper doubled over and make into a bag using this gift bag tutorial. For each of these bags I scrunched the tissue paper a few times to create texture.






For this bag I 'double hemmed' the top of the bag and stuck some thick colourful string handles on with masking tape. Glue some cute ribbon to a large safety pin and them staple on some cute collage papers. Attach to your bag, add some fluoro green mini dot stickers and you're done :)


For this bag I added pink masking tape stripes, zig zag cardboard edges and a cardboard label.  The zig zag edges were actually a manila envelope that I recycled. It's fun to upcycle use whatever you have around you!




For this bag I took inspiration from the very beautiful work of Australian artist Kirra Jamison and used coloured paper and foil origami paper to make a small collage.



I hope you'll enjoy making some gift bags, too. If you're in need of some more gift wrapping tips for Christmas, don't forget my Gift Wrapping Zine PDF for $10. It's in English!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo