The Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of our favourite places along the coast. There are two things I would definitely recommend to do if you are there. First, try to capture a masterpiece at the jelly fish exhibit at the outer bay. You'll find a lovely crowd trying to do the same. =)Second, enjoy an oceanview lunch at the cafe. They offer a variety of choices and great food at reasonable prices.
my creamy clam chowder and cheese plate
Have a wonderful week!

Feature of the Week

Red, Red, Red!! This week we are featuring two new creations coordinated with the beautiful red. First up is the little red stripes baby doll dress. The lovely desaturated red and cream colour give this little dress a very vintage look.The next one is this delicate red pin dot princess sleeves shirt. I love the princess sleeves and the round collar. They are just totally adorable and so vintage.Happy Thursday! =)

At the Broadwalk

I've always wanted to take some doll photos at the fair but it has been always difficult to choose between the doll and the rides as you don't want to carry too much stuff if you plan to go on the rides. I'm glad I chose the doll this time. Here're my two favourite shots.

a few more on my flickr

Happy Wednesday! =)

Marshall

It is always nice to take a little break to just play and eat everyday. Here, we are at Marshall, a little town about 40 minutes drive along the country road from Petaluma, California.
The thought about eating whatever you want, as much as you want, is one of the best thing when traveling. At Marshall, oyster is the one. We first stopped at the Nick's Cove. It is semi-causal fine dining restaurant. They have quite a selection of raw and grilled oysters. When it comes to raw oysters, the smaller are always the better. These baby ones are as small as half a lemon wedge.We also tried the grilled ones and the mussels. It was great but if I've known about The Marshall Store, I might have skipped the restaurant. It is a little shack by the bay. They have a very small menu of a few seafood items. It is definitely a very casual self-serve place. We ordered the grilled oysters and found ourselves comfortably on the deck. The delicious oysters we enjoyed. The bread was good too!
Happy Tuesday! =)

New Petites

I'm so excited to hear that Hasbro is launching a petite Blythe collection. They come with the Littlest Pet Shop collection and many adorable accessories. You have to see those little glasses! Some of them resemble some older Takara petite Blythe which is great. The Cold Weather Cute is kind of like an American version of Skate Date. The little red coat and the polka dot stockings are just totally adorable.The only thing holding me back is that some of them don't seem to be quite Blythe like. Especially the photo card, it doesn't quite resemble the Blythe that I'm used to. I guess I need to go check them out in person and see. =)
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! =)

Say Cheese

Growing up with a lot of Kraft slices and Laughing Cow, cheese has always been one of my favourite food. Among all, the Laughing Cow cubes are still the best. There are so many flavours, mushroom, onion, peppercorn, blue cheese, and my favourite tomato. It is so much fun even just unwrapping the little cube.

On our last grocery shopping, we came across the selection from Yancey's Fancy. Their story traces back from the 20's when one of the founders moved to New York from Germany. They make a huge variety of flavored cheese, like buffalo wing, horseradish, jalapeno, strawberry chardonnay, so many to choose from. Maybe this can be my new favourite since the cubes are not sold around here.
The first one I tried was the buffalo wing cheddar. It had a very intense flavour, smooth texture and quite spicy and salty. It was kind of like hot nacho cheese in a very rich way. It will make a great snack with crackers. I think I'd love to try the fire roasted tomato cheddar next. =)
Happy September!

Preview of the week

The whole time I thought those little patterns were doll faces until recently I found out it should be read the other way around and those were little flower buds instead. Silly me! =P Oh well, it is not the first time to see things in a different way, like the cranky face of an electrical outlet and the creatures in clouds. All you need is just some imagination I guess. =)

Little Doll Dress Happy Tuesday!

Feature of the Week

It's baby doll dress time again! This little one features the lovely chocolate pin dot fabric mixed with toddler's treasure print fabric. A matching fabric ribbon is added to the bottom to make it even more adorable. =)

Happy Thursday!

Hi from Puchi

It's me again. Time flies. It has been almost a year since my last post. I'm a year and eight months old now. In the past year, I've grown quite a bit, taller and chubbier and weigh a bit over five pounds. Here's my little update and a few more things about me.

1. I've learned more new words. My favourite word is 'steak' and my least favourite words are 'not for you'.
2. I've learned how to dance and play dead.
3. My new favourite snacks are dried sweet potato and chicken breast.
4. I love playing hide and seek.
5. In a hot summer day, I like to take a nap on the cool wood floor.
6. I love sniffing beautiful flowers.
7. I like to sleep with my head upside down.
8. I like fresh socks(from your feet) but I will take the clean ones for substitute.
9. I do a little stretch routine in the morning, front stretch, back stretch, side stretch.
10. I take bits of whatever food on the coffee table when no one is watching. shhh... that's my little secret.

Here's a snap shot of my adorable back and little leg.I hope you are having a lovely summer and wish you enjoy the rest of it. See you around. Ciao!

Feature of the Week

I'm so happy that my favourite round collar is back! Many thanks to the Coordinate Recipe 8! =) The little book has really saved me out from the frustration on the round collar.
So, may I present you the adorable vintage princess shirt.It features the lovely round collar, vintage beads deco and princess sleeves. It is crafted of cotton navy pin dot fabric and it has the classic mushroom fit, darts in the front and back. There are only beads on the chest so that it will fit well underneath dresses.

And the little coffee stripes baby doll dress is totally cute. Tips: wearing a pair of bloomers underneath the baby doll dress will make it look puffier.

Happy Thursday! =)

A Few Things to Share

Hooray!! Our first ever beautiful juicy tomato is finally ready to harvest. =)We've started growing different things for quite a while and it hasn't been easy. Most of the plants didn't survive for a bunch of reasons, too little sun, too much water, the dry climate, etc. These tomatoes we've been growing since February and they are right from the seeds. It has been a long happy journey to see them grow.As I mentioned earlier, we are slowly putting up our treasures in the showcase. This little lovely one is from a pretty exclusive collection called the Wee Forest Folk which we don't see much around, at least in California. Each delicate piece is cast from an original piece sculpted by the members of the Petersen family and hand painted carefully.This delicious Three Cheese Semolina Loaf is from La Brea Bakery. The three cheeses are Asiago, Parmesan and Romano. It would be nicer if they put some melted cheese crumbs inside.  Be sure to heat it up before enjoying it.  It will make a world difference!Have you seen the Nanapus, banana X octopus, before? It's an old commercial a friend shared with us last week. It is so silly. =)
Happy Tuesday!

Mini Outing

We went on a mini date to Santa Monica over the weekend. It is always nice to head out but we have been pretty much discouraged by the traffic nowadays. Fortunately, the traffic was pretty good and we made it to our brunch stop before noon. California Chicken Cafe has always been one of our favourites. It's fresh, delicious and healthy, only if we could resist to not over order. =)

This was our little brunch for two.We then headed to Wertz Brothers Antique Mart. It had quite a decent collection of fishing and hunting stuff, seaside cottage furnture. I've found this little moody guy sitting in the showcase. It seemed like he had been trying hard to get out and finally gave up. Poor little guy! =]
Happy Tuesday! =)

Something Familiar

I've been thinking of re-making two of my favourite pieces for a while but somehow it has been pushed and pushed. It is definitely nice to stay one of a kind but it will be wonderful if I can share these lovely ones with a few more of you. =) Here we are, the adorable yellow cupcake dress and the delicious strawberry ruffle shirt.

They will be available at the little shoppe tomorrow.
Happy Wednesday! =)

The Cute Little One

Sometimes I wonder if Puchi knows that she is the cutest little one ever, at least to us. She is always very good for the most part but sometimes this little one can have some attitude too, in a cute way though. =)
The other day she was trying to ignore the camera.Still ignoring it even when it got closer.Even this close, she had pretty good acting there, huh? =)And finally, she rolled around and showed me her cute pose meaning that I was just playing with you, you can take my picture now.Have a lovely week! =)

Thank You

I'm so grateful to hear a nice compliment on the little baby doll dress from my friend. And of course, I'm always so thankful for the wonderful words from my lovely fans. Every word counts, especially when recently I've been bully by the same doll dressmaker again, pounding on my sewing and even on my paintings. That's totally unfair. It was hard to believe that such hurtful words could come from the person once I admired.

But the most important thing is, I want to tell whoever got bully before out there, keep on doing what you love. That is the advice from my dear friend. Thank you so much again. =)
Back to the feature, this week is the little green vintage style plaid baby doll.

Happy Thursday! =)

The Habit

Instead of In-N-Out, we went to this recently open burger place called The Habit. It was a present clean little place with an atmosphere between a fast food place and a diner. There were quite a few choices on the menu and prices were reasonable. It was our first time, of course we needed to try out their Charburgers. We couldn't resist and ordered a milk shake and onion rings too.

The basic Charburger comes with a juicy charbroiled patty with mayo, pickle, tomato, shredded lettuce, caramelized onions on a fat toasted bun. I added cheese on mine and it was gooood!! The fries and onion rings are so crispy and delicious. I love it when they are golden (not a big fan of the 'dark fries' when the fries are made with old reuse oil). The milk shake was good too, very creamy and not too sweet.
I would definitely recommend this place whenever you come to California.
Happy Tuesday! =)

Feature of the Week

It's baby doll dress again. I hope you're not tired of it yet. There are so many wonderful possibilities in it. The lovely design just makes every piece simply adorable! =)

the little red diamond dressBy the way, have you seen the lovely Barbie and Her Wig Wardrobe yet? It has been out for a little while. The three beautiful little wigs will definitely make the perfect match with any hairdo lovers. Love those vintage cuts!Happy Thursday!

Feature of the Week

I've been having so much fun making the little baby doll dresses. They are truly the happy dress. This week's feature is a special dress resembles my favourite childhood dress. It was the softest dress I had as I remember. I loved its elastic smocking bodice because I could slip right into it, when button up and tying lace wasn't my favourite things at that time.It is too bad that I haven't learned smocking yet, so I replaced the little bodice with fine muslin and vintage beads. It is still a very special dress. =)

Happy Thursday!

Learning to Pose

It has been while since I wanted to get a Momoko Doll. And finally, it comes to the day to open the Kana Momoko. She has gorgeous curly hair and natural makeup. Her stylish punk outfits are awesome and perfectly made. Those high-heel Mary Janes are my favourites. Here is a photo in her stock outfits.
As she is so posable, I'm still learning to pose her, especially her arms and legs.
Close ups are always nice.Happy Wednesday! =)

Pattern Obesession

It's a closeup of our armchair. Somehow I've always been attracted to pattern since I was small, especially checker and plaid. So it wouldn't be surprise to see it everywhere at our home.

Check place mat and washcloth is almost a must.You can count on me for those checker shirts, bags and the classic Scottish plaid skirts. I love these Converse, even though they are pretty much retired.Of course, Puchi's bed too.And now, it is extending to my doll clothes.
Happy Thursday!