new mini pencils

gentle spring

the siren's haven

renewal

mod in mauve

vintage denim

bamboo forest

♥,

m

the journals have arrived

vibrant lotus (purple)

copper autumn

in the fishbowl

the siren's haven

dreams of a geisha

all $16 per set, all earth friendly, all gorgeous!

♥,

melissa

'metamorphosis'

today, i was featured in this gorgeous butterfly treasury.  i love this theme!

here is my 'fanciful flight' pencil set up close:

i hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season!

♥,
melissa

'grey green asian persuasian'

my 'japanese teahouse' earrings (secretly my favourite pair!) have been featured in a most stunning treasury on etsy (thank you so much, beadyeyedmonster!) and i wanted to share with you:

i hope you all are having a wonderful start to your holiday season!  thankfully, i think all my holiday shopping is done, but if you need some wearable japanese art for the people on your giftlist, you know where to go ;).

happy holidays!

♥,
melissa

it's time for holiday shopping!

and to celebrate, i'm happy to offer a holiday sale: 

shop the maoiliosa etsy store now through november 30th, enter the code HOLIDAY at checkout, and instantly receive 10% off your entire order!

happy holidays!

♥,
melissa

okay, so i may be a little pencil-crazy ;)

i can't help it - every time i sift through my hundreds of sheets of washi paper, i find another design (or two... or three...) that absolutely need to be made into a pencil set!

when you're passionate about something, you can't help but immerse yourself in it.  fortunately, my passion is being rewarded by all you lovely customers - i have sold over 700 pencils through my etsy shop and my wholesale and consignment vendors since i introduced them 3 months ago.  i've made over 1000 total pencils (that's a lot of pencils!) at this point, and i'm still loving it!

this pencil set is my favourite of all:

'beauty at sunset'

i made this one to replace the limited-edition 'autumn arrival' set that i am sold out of (i'm trying to get that paper back in stock, but in the meantime, feast your eyes and fingers on this!):

'autumn afternoon'

and this one is just plain fun for artsy people and fall-lovers alike:

'within the branches'

thank you, thank you, thank you, fabulous customers, for allowing me to earn a living doing what i love!

♥,

melissa

'winter wonderland' is back!

my popular holiday necklace is back again this year and has been revamped: it's now a skinny necklace!

grab yours here.  keep in mind that this piece is limited edition, as i only make a few each year.

yay!

i also added a new ribbon necklace to the shop today:

this sweet little rabbit has been made for months now, but i haven't had time to list him until now.

3 new pencil sets are coming to the shop within the week, as well.  as you can see, i've been busy!  'maoiliosa' has proved, once again, to be an excellent distraction from health issues.  it's looking like i will be having surgery in january or february.  if you'd like to know more, or if you'd like to donate to help me with my medical costs, a few of my good friends have set up this blog for that purpose.

of course, every purchase from my shop also helps me directly - thank you to all my wonderful customers for your support!

♥,
melissa

okay, ONE more pencil set...

this is 'namaste', my newest pencil set, available in my etsy shop.

i love this paper probably more than almost all of my other washi papers - the lotus blossoms are so detailed and gorgeous!  i simply had to use this paper for a pencil set :).

enjoy!

♥,

melissa

ps - on a personal note, i finally got a diagnosis on my health issues: intestinal endometriosis.  i had stage iv endometriosis 3 years ago, and it can recur at any time (even after menopause, if you already have a history of endo!), so i can't say i'm terribly surprised, but... in my colon?  positive thoughts and well-wishes are GREATLY appreciated.  this has been a hard time for me, as you can imagine.

and another one ;)

i've got one more new pencil set to show you for the time being:



bound to be a classic! this is 'swimming lessons' - koi on seafoam green and blue water :).

i can't believe how popular my pencils have been. i'm even starting to get copy-cats on etsy... i guess imitation is the most sincere form of flattery? ;p my pencils, however, are the only ones that come in this adorable size, with the best quality washi paper available from japan, and with no corners cut during assembly. and they are the only ones to come in a gift box ;).

that promotion is still running for a free pocket mirror with purchase of pencil set, but it's not going to last much longer (until the 15th of september, maybe?), so get in on it while you can!

in other, less exciting news, i recently found out that i most likely have ulcerative colitis, a chronic condition which is no fun. i've been having pain and extremely unpleasant symptoms for about 5 months now, and finally was able to see a gastroenterologist. i have a colonoscopy this week to confirm the diagnosis; happy thoughts are more than welcome! :)

♥,
melissa

new pencil sets in stock!

my pencil sets are a huge hit! this morning, i listed 4 new sets for your writing pleasure:


'fanciful flight'

'spring and summer'

'rain or shine'

'autumn arrival'

this last set is a limited edition, with only 2 sets available.

and i'm still running the 'free pocket mirror with purchase of pencil set' promotion, so what are you waiting for? ;)

♥,

melissa

introducing: maoiliosa washi-coated pencils!

you have no idea how excited i am to show you these pencils! i'm really happy i was able to get these made and available in time for back-to-school.

'kawaii koi'

each small (3.5 inch) pencil is, of course, covered in japanese washi paper, then packaged in a gift box, maoiliosa-style ;). these are great gifts for teachers, office-supply-lovers (ahem, me!), writers, and students, and are awesome party favours, too!

'whisper'

'blithe blossoms'

'vibrant lotus'

'tsunami'

'night and day'

'believe'

'rice petals'

available here, in my pencils section. i hope you like these as much as i do!

♥,

melissa

introducing: skinny necklaces by maoiliosa

as i suspected, i haven't been able to blog much so far this year, but i have been keeping so busy! my number of sales per month didn't go down after the holidays (!), so i've been packing up orders and making replacement items just as quickly as i can.

i've also been making new items. i'm proud to introduce my first run of skinny necklaces! these sweets can be found in the necklace section of my etsy shop and are $13 (on a chain, too!) the designs measure .5" x 1", so very skinny and cute!

here are a few:


'jasmine'

'cotton candy'

'koi on blue'

'chococherry malt'

'ohm'

there will also be skinny earrings and some new magnet and bobby pin styles listed in the shop over the course of this coming week.

in addition to making new items and packing up orders, i've also made a new maoiliosa catalogue for my spring line. now, when stores want to buy wholesale from me, i can simply mail them a hard copy, email them a pdf copy, or drop by with a bound copy! i spent a lot of time on it and i'm very pleased with how it turned out. if you're interested in having a copy for yourself or your business, feel free to email me at maoiliosamerch@gmail.com.

last but not least, i got a job at a floral shop that will be opening up near my house. i will be managing the store when the owner isn't present, making floral arrangements, etc., and my maoiliosa items will also be for sale there. i'm excited!

so that's a pretty sizeable update for you ;). i'll of course keep you posted on all the other new merch that will be making its way into my shop soon!

♥,

melissa

1000 hearts!

i'm so excited because i just checked the hearts situation in my etsy shop, and i'm at 1000 now!

2009 was awesome for 'maoiliosa', and i can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for me!

thank you to all of you who have supported my little business venture over the past two years - i am so grateful!

( and happy holidays, by the way ;) )

♥,
melissa

introducing... 'kabuku' by maoiliosa!

as you may know if you follow me on twitter or are my friend on facebook, i've been working on these new necklaces for a few weeks now, and i'm happy to say they're finally here! they're called 'kabuku', which is the word that kabuki comes from, and it means "to be out-of-the-ordinary" in japanese. fitting, yeah? :D

i am just so excited about these new pieces! each is made using a kind of washi paper (of course!) called katazome, which is stencil-dyed instead of being silk-screened like chiyogami washi paper is. the result, as you can see, is bold, delicious colouring, which makes for very dramatic and fun pendants.

i've been wearing my test piece, which is just like the red lotus necklace above, everywhere i go, and i've received SO many compliments already! i set out to make a fresh, funky, chunky, indie-chic line of necklaces, and i think i definately succeeded :).

the pendants are approximately 1" by 1.5", and are a bit thicker than the other pendants i make, which i love! also, each pendant is pierced with a thick-gauge sterling silver ring and suspended from one of my 18" silver-plated chains. they're $17 each.

here are some of the others available in my etsy shop:

and in true maoiliosa fashion, they each come gift boxed like this:

how do you like them?

♥,

melissa

featured in the storque!

i am on cloud nine right now! (and oops, so sorry for not updating my blog in forever!)

my 'beautiful day' washi fortune cookies were featured in etsy's blog, 'the storque'!

here's a link to the article, in case you missed it (i sure did! i had to ask in the etsy forums why my cookies were getting so many 'hearts'!)

wow, i never ever thought i would get featured by etsy... i'm so grateful!

life has been crazy since i last posted, but everything's going great - business is running smoothly and keeping me busy, and i've only got 4 more classes left in college (and it looks like i'm going to graduate summa cum laude, even!), but being insanely busy is all worth it when recognition comes, as it did today :D.

i hope you all are having a fabulous spring, as well! and a big THANK YOU to everyone who's supported my 'maoiliosa' business venture - you all are the best!

♥,
melissa

feature friday: boygirlparty

i am so excited to begin my 'feature friday' series with popular etsy artist susie ghahremani of boygirlparty!

having been completely infatuated with susie's etsy shop since, well, practically since i discovered etsy, i recently decided i owed it to myself to partake in some boygirlparty items that i had been adoring from my favorites!

what i bought:

yellow owl to do list notepad, $8

as you probably know, i loooove owls, so of course susie's whimsical version of one of my favourite creatures was a must for me to own! this notepad is very practical; i am always scribbling ideas and plans on post-it notes, which are definately not as cute :), and also, having this one notepad keeps everything in one place, not scattered across my desk! my favourite part? the "do later" column ;D. i am such a huge procrastinator!

there is also a blue version of this notepad, also for $8.

what i got as gifts:

my birthday was january 13th, and my beloved husband took the hint that i wanted a very etsy birthday :). he bought me these goodies:

finch notepad, $6

soooo cute! i admit the paper is so pretty i am hesitant to use it, but i just love this! the bird is darling, and the stick trees and stylized hills make nice accents to this stationary!

owl notecards, $12

my obsession with owls continues! while brandon bought these for me, i'm sure he'll be getting the majority of them back when i write "love you" notes or birthday messages in them for him (he also loves owls!). or i might just hang them up as little mini pieces of art!

other notecard styles are available in susie's illustrated paper goods section of her shop.

favourite things about my shopping/receiving experience:

susie is incredibly friendly and sweet! also, i thought the packaging was lovely, especially the vividly-coloured tissue paper she uses to wrap up each order.

what i still want:

hedgehog piano giclee print, $20

well, if i could buy everything available at boygirlparty, i totally would! but right now, my most desired piece is this precious little hedgie! look at his little smile, awww!

boygirlparty is truly a fabulous shop. with all these unique, functional, and affordable goodies, you can't go wrong! it's no wonder susie is so successful :).

♥,

melissa

(all photos courtesy of and copyrighted by susie ghahremani of boygirlparty)