Thompson Family-Life

geocaching treasures, kawaii-style

I bought a bunch of cute kawaii stationery items for the boys for Valentine's day from an amaaazing shop, Yozo Craft, a while back, but I underestimated how loooong the package would take to get here (it shipped from Tokyo I think). So they got here after Valentine's but oh my goodness, it was worth the wait!

I bought a bunch of stuff that I'll have to share with you one day. I'm a sucker for anything Kawaii. When we do make it over to Japan, I'm not sure I'm going to make it out of there alive being weighed down by all of the cute stuff I won't be able to resist buying.

These little mailable tear sheet / note pads ended up being *perfect* for geocaching! They fold up into tiny little letters so they fit in the geocache containers perfectly.

The boys wrote these little letters and decorated them with stickers for their first geocache adventure. They found their first one on a drive to Chattanooga for the day with their Dad. I'm not sure who had more fun, Ethan or the boys. ; ) He's totally into it! He got one of these and they've since been on even more geocaching adventures. I'm going on the next one and I'll take photos. We also went to Party City and stocked up on some little treasures to leave behind for fellow explorers.

See more Kawaii Corner posts here.

Kawaii Corner: cutie gifts

Everything in these photos were gifted to me by online friends and blog readers over the past couple weeks! I received two of the packages on the same day last week and wow, did it feel like Christmas all over again. : ) Totally out of the blue. These ladies are the sweetest. Olivia (photographer extraordinaire) sent these things to me after she saw my first Kawaii Corner post.. how sweet is that! A lot of it was candy, and as you can see, all of the packages are empty of said candy (guilty as charged.. although the boys helped me out!). But the best part about Japanese candy, is the packaging! Totally Kawaii. Totally adorable. (thank-you Olivia!)

The little "sweets" above (right) are actually erasers. They look totally yummy.

And more yummy-looking erasers (bottom left). 

Katrina, my Pugly Pixel Pal, sent me a box full of goodies as well. Some of the photos that I took came out blurry (sad face) but here's a little taste. I think I just love the look of Japanese writing on packaging. It just looks so lovely. I don't use mechanical pencils, but you bet your bottom dollar I'm running out to get some now that I have cute fruit-adorned lead cases like these! And also, the decorative tape? Cuteness. I've never seen any this tiny before. Can't wait to use it! (thank-you Katrina!)

Be sure to check out Katrina's newest venture, Powered by Pastries. Been wanting to give your blog a makeover and know the "look" you're going for, but don't know how to implement it? Katrina is brilliant at designing blogs and websites. She has such a talent for making things "work" technically, but also making them beautiful. 

The pretty 70's patterns you see in the background of the photos above are actually from a gorgeous scalloped vintage tree skirt that my friend Kari found at an estate sale and sweetly sent to me! I can't get over how thoughtful and nice this was. I LOVE it. 

For now it's hanging over the fabric canvas covering the fireplace. I haven't had a chance to change the blue fabric out yet for the new Valentine's theme (yeh, I better get on that), so the tree skirt is diverting my attention from that obligation.

Although, not completely "Kawaii" themed, I wanted to mention this sweet gift. Also, I normally wouldn't let a photo like the above reach the light of day, but just so you know for certain, this is normally what my house looks like. (i.e. a MESS.)

Kari has some of the BEST luck I've seen with estate sales and she so generously shares some of it with us in her Etsy shop full of vintage eye candy! (run, don't walk!)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

New Blog Feature: Kawaii Corner

If you've been visiting my blog for any certain amount of time, you know I love anything "Kawaii", which is Japanese for "cute".. or adorable, precious, lovable, innocent (via Wikipedia). : ) So, I decided to make "Kawaii Corner" a regular blog feature, because I can never get enough of anything Kawaii.

My first personal contribution is a little weaksauce (as my husband would say), but I thought these were too cute not to share. I saw these cookies at a new-to-me restaurant I discovered this weekend (thanks to my in-laws!) that serves AMAZING breakfast and has a stellar bakery. I don't think these were actually baked in their bakery (they were shrink-wrapped), but they were too cute to pass up.

Can you believe that Lucy one? so funny.

And here's a little rainbow treat that I thought would be fun to photograph (ok, and eat, too)...

I love the background tissue paper pattern.. I got that at a Kawaii store online that I'm failing to recall...

And here's some great Kawaii around the web...

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

I love the last photo of Viviana's Blythe wearing one of my feathered headbands.. SO cute. I love the little forest background she set up to give a sense of context for her feathered lady. If you purchased one of these headbands (thank-you!), please share your photos in the Tiny Bazaar Doll Accessories Flickr group, I'd love to see!

If you missed my new crochet project Work-In-Progress yesterday (weekend blogging!), see that here. I might have more than one post a day this week... crossing fingers! Including more guest posts. yay!