spring bazaar

pictures from yesterday, if you missed me at the spring bazaar in cedar park, texas :

♥,

m

'mysterious garden' journal set

i made these beauties today and i'm so happy with the way they turned out!  i think this one is my favourite journal set so far.

get yours here.

♥,

m

coming soon

new things to (hopefully) be listed in the maoiliosa etsy shop later this week:

three new wooden bangles to suit your fancy.

three new fanciful katazome-wrapped pencil sets.

♥,

m

a much-needed vacation

hello, internet darlings!

i am about to go on a long-awaited and much-needed vacation.  as you might remember, a friend of mine won a trip for two on a caribbean cruise and invited me to go with her - i'm terribly excited!  i am leaving this friday, and will be soaking up the sun in the bahamas, st. thomas, and st. maarten until the next saturday.

before i go, though, i wanted to share a new pencil set i've whipped up:

this stunning set is called 'dreams of a geisha' and can be found in my shop here.

all pencil sets are created equally, but shhh, don't tell anyone:  this one is my favourite ;).

i will have dozens of new items available as soon as i get back from the cruise and get settled into my routine again, so stay tuned!

also, just a quick mention well in advance:  if you are in the austin area, maoiliosa will have a booth set up at the caffe medici  autumn art fair taking place 11 september, so be sure to stop by and say hi to me!

that's all for now!

♥,

m

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

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

washi wall scrolls are here!

i am so excited to share with you my newest line: mini washi wall scrolls!

i thought of the idea for these many months ago, but it took time to find out exactly how i wanted to execute my plan and make this beauties as perfect as melissa-ly possible ;).

finally, i am proud to show these off to you!



3 styles will be listed today in my shop, with more to follow in the coming days.

a few details on these:

each wall scroll measures 12" x 9" when hanging, and is suspended by a little ribbon loop. the entire item was hand-sewn by me. the scrolls come lightly rolled inside these gorgeous silken gift boxes (some scrolls come with red, some green) :



a simple set of care instructions and a special gift come with the scrolls, as well. the complete gift comes well-packaged (as always!) and is mailed by priority mail (u.s. only for now - sorry international friends, you know i love you! it's a matter of shipping cost :( ).



this is the first wall scroll to be listed.

wow, i am delighted that these turned out so well... in fact, they are exactly as i envisioned before i started!

feel free to comment on these - i am excited to see what you think!

♥,
melissa

'japanese wedding'

i just made a new batch of my japanese washi fortune cookies! these feature cute little white cranes in flight. cranes are a staple of japanese weddings.

these are now listed in my shop :). to read more about them, go here.

i needed to actually make some so i could take pictures for the listing, so i went ahead and made the 20 of these i needed, but with my wedding 'thank you' fortune inside. now that i'm done taking the pictures for the listing, i can mix these in with the sakura ones i made for my other washi fortune cookie listing! if i hadn't done this, these cookies would have just gone to waste, because i make these custom-ly per customer. how effecient of me, yes?

also, don't forget to stop by my shop and check out my $4 tile pendant necklace sale! i've got to clear them out of my inventory so i can replace them with aanraku bail versions :).

♥,
melissa

a survey!

i used to do these all the time on my myspace account, but got tired of them after a while. my friend lea, however, had this one posted on her blog, so i thought i'd fill it out, too, for old times' sake :).

1. what were you doing 10 years ago? the year was 1998, and i was in 8th grade. i managed to miss an impressive 51 days of school due to being sick, faking being sick, breaking my index finger (in a tragic basketball accident in gym class), slicing my thumb to the bone (7 weeks before the finger breaking; this was caused by my gym locker, which opened up instead of to the side. the door dropped on my hand, which was holding it open, while i was trying to stuff my backpack in the locker just before gym class began), having the honour of reading a bajillion of names in french at the state capitol for that year's holocaust rememberance day (the names were those belonging to french jews who were killed), and going on a school trip with 14 other kids from my school to big bend national park (5 of the best days of my life). anyway, yes, i missed a lot of school. luckily, i was mostly an 'a' student, although that year i did manage to get my first 'c'.
2. things that i would do if i were a billionaire: pay off all my student loans, finish paying off my car, pay off my credit card, buy a really nice house in north austin with a big swimming pool, pay to fix my parents' house, put brandon through art school and buy him lots of cool stuff, travel to japan, donate a bunch to the international campaign for tibet.
3. places i've lived: just outside cleveland, ohio (parma) for 3 1/2 years. round rock, texas for 4 1/2 years. cedar park, texas for 14 years. cottonwood shores, texas for 2 years so far.
4. random musing #1: i have always wanted to be a singer. i really REALLY like to sing. i don't know if i'm any good, but i know i love it :p.
5. random musing #2: i'm afraid of kiwi. the fruit, not the cute little australian/new zealand bird. come on, it's green and looks like an eyeball when you slice it open! no one else sees it? oh well :(. but seriously, i am also afraid of its hairy outside (but i'm not afraid of other hairy fruits). my cousin justin (who introduced me to brandon, and who used to live with me) used to chase me around the grocery store with a kiwi until i screamed. i'm not sure what it is about kiwi, i just know i don't like it one bit, and that's that!
6. random musing #3: if i could sit down and have a long talk with anyone in the world, i would choose my great grandma baldwin, my mom's mom's mom. she was a really fun and unique woman. she died i guess about 10 years ago, and i still think about her all the time. my great grandma used to swear up and down that our family had japanese in us (probably not true, but i wish!), and she collected all kinds of japanese things, most of which went to me when she died. it's because of her that i fell in love with all things japanese, and due to this, i probably wouldn't be running my shop of washi paper jewelry and accessories if i had never known her. i was only a young teenager when she died, so i never got to discuss these things with her. great grandma baldwin wasn't just cool because of her japanese flair: she could tell a great ghost story! one in particular, which she swore was true, involves her grandmother and mother being terrorized by the ghosts of native americans in the woods of ohio (which she called 'the denmark woods'). i don't know if the story was actually true, but i still remember it, and it still gives me goosebumps. i'll always miss my great grandma and wonder what things would have been like had i not moved to texas with my mom when i was 3 1/2.

now it's your turn to share! if you want to do this survey, post your answers on your blog, and i'll read 'em :).

strawberries, meatloaf, and a shopping spree

i have a lot of things to share with you today, the internet!:

• my honey-pie brandon did a super-sweet thing for me a few days ago. while i was in my history class all day, he went to the store and bought me flowers, strawberries, whipped cream, and a cute card for a nice romantic surprise! this is a rare indulgence, as brandon doesn't usually do this sort of thing. the flowers are alstros, one of my favourite kinds of flower because they're so delicate, colourful, and (best of all) inexpensive! last night, i chopped up some of the strawberries and served up this tasty treat for us:

i stuck a raspberry-flavoured chocolate ball in the middle of his whipped cream, and an orange-flavoured one in mine. can you tell i like to create cute food presentations? haha. anyway, that was really sweet of him to do.

• my friend wren posted this piechart in her blog yesterday, and i almost died laughing:
  

meatloaf: he'll do anything for love, but he won't do "that". i wonder what "that" is? hmm.

• following my etsy friend tizzalicious' lead, i went on a crazy shopping spree! i mainly bought things for my best friend, sarah, who is my maid-of-honour. i came up with a really cool idea for a "thank you" gift for her, so i went on the prowl around some awesome etsy shops (and some non-etsy shops, too) to gather the goods. unfortunately, i can't share what i bought just yet, because she might read this blog and then the surprise would be ruined, but once i give it to her (in october), i'll share a picture of the completed gift with you!
  

of course, i didn't just buy things for sarah... i got some goodies for myself, too :D. here's what i got:

^this is from 'curious by design'. they have all different kinds of collages, and they're all really cool. i also liked the gypsy ones a lot. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with this yet, but i'm excited to find out!


^ these cutecutecute stickers are from my etsy friend fromjapanwithlove. i like to check her shop every few days to see what new kawaii things she listed :).

and finally,



^ i bought this as my wedding day purse. goldish-yellow isn't one of my wedding colours, but this tote just screamed "wedding!" at me, so i got it :). i love the little dragonflies that are on it; perfect for a japanese-esque bride!

so yes, i was naughty. but what else could i do when there are so many great sellers on etsy?! :D

<3, melissa

an honourary asian

can someone make me an honourary asian, please? ;p

<3,
melissa