shopping | kimberly ah

Sep 16 2014

Renegade Craft Fair 2014

Last year, we were in Japan during the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair and I really missed it as part of my “end of summer” routine. I love going to Renegade, so when it rolled around again this summer I knew to keep the weekend open.

I didn’t buy very much and as usual I had “non-buyers remorse”. I wish I had researched better before we went. I usually comb through all of the sellers’ sites and make a wishlist of things to look for, but I didn’t do as much investigative work this year and I missed out on a couple of things that I wish I’d seen. We got about two-thirds of the way through the fair and the crowds were picking up and we were hungry!! So, we skimmed through part of the fair, which was fine by me because tacos were waiting for us at Naoto’s office. Plus, there’s always the internet…I picked up a lot of business cards and can purchase from the comfort of my pajamas!

So, what did I buy? I have been eying this Peg & Awl bag for almost a year now. (Mine is a slightly larger version of this one.) I love its polished rustic feel–it’s neat and tidy and not too bulky, but also has a worn, casual feel. I love the waxed canvas and the antique deadstock red gingham fabric trim. When I read that the straps were made from antique WWII gun slings, well that sealed the deal. So far, I’m loving this bag…it’s the perfect size for my planner and my wallet and a few other necessities and the front pocket is perfect for my phone and a lip balm (the real necessities!)I should also note that the bag makes an excellent cat nap mat, according to Presley. (Thanks for leaving your fur behind, cat!) The Into the Night postcard set from New Academy Press is so good that I came home and ordered two extra sets (because I couldn’t imagine parting with this one.) The set comes in a screen printed folder with a screen printed band. I’m thinking I will be able to turn it into a tiny staple-bound notebook when I’m all done with the cards. It’s just too fancy to throw away! The postcards are gorgeous screen prints that create a scene together and also work really well as a single card.We are going to frame this set for our bedroom wall. (The bedroom is lacking in wall art, style and creative direction.)

I also bought a paper tape (which is less than exciting) and a small gift (which I will share after Christmas). All in all it was a great Renegade. The weather was perfect–cool and sunny–and the company was wonderful. It’s always fun to meet the creative people behind the wares.

If you’d like to read more from Renegade Chicago, Rebecca from Hugs are Fun has a great post on Renegade with detailed shots of some of the booths and Robyn from Robayre has a lot of great stuff to share too.

OH, and if you missed Renegade, Show of Hands is coming up on November 22 and 23. Karen and I went last year and it was as great as Renegade, only smaller. I highly recommend is as a kick-off to your holiday shopping!

(My 2012 Renegade post is here.)

Tagged adventures, crafts, diy, mail art, Renegade Chicago, shopping, snail mail, summer

Aug 08 2014

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crafty adventures, home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, Office Supplies

A Place For Everything & Everything In Its Place

It’s been a little quiet over here on the blog these past couple of weeks. I’ve been trying to focus on cleaning up around here, spending time outside and drinking in this wonderful summer.

One of the most exciting things about cleaning up around here is that we added another, final piece to our desk set-up in the living room. (You can see the beginnings of the office area here and here.) The two desks kind of looked lonely so we added a third piece from the Martha Stewart Craft Collection at Home Decorators. It’s a flat file and I am thrilled to be able to have more space for some of my mail art and craft supplies.

The most exciting part is that two of the drawers are large enough to hold my huge collection of handmade papers. Some of them have been rolled up for years in my trunk and in a drawer and in a spare trash can in the guest room, so it’s amazing to have them all in one place, lying flat and ready to use. The other exciting part is that the other giant drawers have these little dividers, creating ready-made cubbies for all my stationery things. I’m currently picking patterned papers to line each section. Lining drawers is serious business around here.

We are still waiting for the parts to finish the last drawer in the cabinet. There were a couple of pieces that cracked during shipping, but thankfully we were able to get the whole thing together minus one drawer and that last drawer will be a piece of cake to finish once we get those parts. (Edit: we=Naoto…he did 99% of the work building this.) The furniture is all in place and I’m filling it up quickly. I hope to be able to show you another in-progress shot next week. There is still quite a lot of work to do–I will have to move the artwork and patch some holes in the wall and repaint the wall–before I can call the living room “complete.”

I will be back next week with an update, hopefully, and some more regularly scheduled programming. Have a great weekend!

Tagged crafts, decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking, office supplies, shopping

Aug 07 2014

4 Comments

Japan Does It Better, Office Supplies

Japan Does It Better 17: Calendar Decals

If you visit any stationery store in Tokyo you will find aisles upon aisles devoted to calendar keeping. Not only are there tons of options for calendars and datebooks but there are tons of styles of these tiny stickers to help keep your appointments, duties, birthdays and other special events organized. I am a big fan of using my paper datebook and I couldn’t resist picking up a new set of calendar stickers at each stationery store I visited.I bought some basic green washi dots to mark my work schedule and some basic see through colored squares for random appointments like board meetings and book group. Most of the stickers I purchased are cat-themed. I use the cats and some other stickers I have in my stash to mark parties, coffee dates, birthdays and anniversaries. These stickers are the most literal calendar stickers. I just started using them to mark doctor’s appointments, car repair appointments and classes. I love looking at my month-at-a-glance page and seeing the cats, washi tapes and other stickers highlighting the fun activities each month. Leave it to Japan to make something cute and practical! When it comes to kawaii calendar organization, Japan Does It Better!

To see the other JDIB posts, go here.

Tagged I *heart* Japan, Japan, office supplies, shopping, washi tape

Jul 24 2014

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adventures

Day Off At Mitsuwa

On Tuesday Naoto took a rare weekday off. And miraculously, it coincided with my own day off. (That never happens.) We decided to head out to Mitsuwa because we hadn’t been there since February and we were out of our usual Japanese staples like Calpico, somen noodles and wasabi. Naoto treats Mitsuwa shopping trips like Christmas, so it seemed like the right way to pass the time on his day off. It’s lovely being married to someone who gets joy out of the simple parts of life, even if that means you might have to wait for him to read the labels of alllllll the soy sauce bottles in the aisle.

Our first stop is always the Kinokuniya Bookstore. Kinokuniya has a huge selection of Japanese pens and other stationery items. The selection on the stationery changes pretty often, but the pen selection is pretty stable. If you like pens with finer points (0.5, 0.4, 0.38) this is THE place to go in Chicagoland. They also have every color of ink in the rainbow and a large selection of mechanical pencils as well. There is also a small section with craft supplies like sumie brushes, origami papers, rubber stamps and ink pads. Remember when I talked about furu pote? Well, Rebecca from Hugs are Fun mentioned that Gabutto Burger in the Mitsuwa food court offered seasonings for their fries. Sure enough…there they were! We ordered a small fry and kind of went crazy with the seasonings. This is wasabi, nacho cheese and garlic butter. We liked the garlic butter the best. The wasabi was a little disappointing because it wasn’t very strong. We also added ranch dressing to the mix as we ate more. The other choices were original spice, corn soup, sour cream & onion and curry & cheese flavors. It was fun to enjoy furu pote here in the US and I think this might be my new second stop every Mitsuwa trip from now on. (It might be a toss up between furu pote and green tea soft serve from ReLeaf Cafe.)

After the fries, we filled our shopping cart with all of our usuals. Naoto gets natto (fermented soybeans) and other perishables. I mainly get snacks, beverages and bread from the Hippo Bread store. (It’s just plain white bread but the texture is lighter and better than American white bread.) This time we found fresh lychees and I wanted to try a sparkling sake from the refrigerated section. Luckily we came prepared with our cooler. We always bring our little cooler to Mitsuwa. In the fish section, you can fill a bag or two of ice to keep your perishables cold during the drive home. We always run a few errands and go out to lunch or dinner while we are out by Mitsuwa so this extra convenience allows us to buy cold things without worrying about them going bad.

After Mitsuwa, we went out to lunch at Ramen Misoya. Stay tuned for a post about that on Friday!

Mitsuwa is located at 100 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights, IL.

Tagged adventures, food, Japan, shopping

Jul 18 2014

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adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Greer Goods

I was really excited to learn that the Midwest Buddhist Temple was in the same neighborhood as everyone’s favorite stationery shop, Greer. I’ve been trying not to buy stationery, especially since I still have a ton of stuff to use up from my last trip to Japan, but a trip to Greer is always good for the soul. And, after being sick and shut in for a week, my soul needed some stationery. (How’s that for excuses?)The City of Industry envelope pin was a must-have. I’ve worn it almost every day since Saturday, sporting my stationery love on my sweater. (I’m on my way to having my own “letter sweater“!) The Secret Garden postcard book was too good to pass up! The postcard book is a companion to the Secret Garden coloring book by Johanna Basford. The coloring book and the postcard book are filled with detailed drawings of gardens and flowers and birds and butterflies just waiting to be colored in. (That link is from the artist’s blog and includes so many great pictures of the coloring book.) I think I might color in some postcards and send others blank so my friends can decorate a card for themselves. And finally, a YAY! ring. Made by Plastique and Paper Trail, the ring is a rubber stamp…because you never know when you need to stamp a little YAY on something. Greer has several of these stamps to choose from, including their own exclusive “THX” stamp. I tend to overuse YAY! so it just seemed like the right purchase for me.

Those were my purchases…chosen with restraint. I will be going back for some new paper-y goodness at Greer. But for now, I just need to get back into letter writing so I can use up some of my stationery hoard.

Tagged adventures, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping

Jul 15 2014

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Office Supplies, snail mail

Sakura Decorese Pens

Last time we were in Japan, I tried one of these Sakura Decorese pens. I didn’t know anything about the pen, just that it looked a little fancy and that the ink was a little bit glittery. It wrote beautifully, leaving a thick layer of ink behind that was vibrant and a bit glittery. Fun! I bought the red one thinking it would be perfect for addressing holiday cards or Valentines. (I tend to enjoy glitter at the holidays.) Naoto picked up a few more colors for me when he was in Japan last month. I did some research about the pens and learned that they are really made for writing on metal, glass and plastic. Of course they work on paper as well, and I feel like on paper you can appreciate the shimmery ink a little bit more, but it’s always fun to have a writing tool that works on multiple surfaces. I used one to label my simple syrup jar. The ink is not so permanent that it will stay on the lid forever, but it will survive a light hand washing. I do find the “make-up design” of the pens a little bit odd…they kind of look like they belong in a cosmetic bag instead of a pencil pouch because of their odd shape and their flowery barrel. In fact, one Ebay store is selling the pens as nail art pens. Meh, I will stick to using them on paper and other non-human surfaces…

Tagged crafts, Japan, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail

Jun 23 2014

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Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

June Paper Parcel

June’s Paper Parcel was another stunner–the theme was “Farmers’ Market” and every little bit was better than the last. I am really excited that Naoto renewed my subscription for the rest of the year because it has been such a treat to get these in the mail every month. This is how it arrived…sweetly packaged in brown paper with a fruit label and sweet gingham fabric ribbon. (Sorry for the weird foot picture. I tore open the package before taking a proper picture.) These are some of my favorite bits: milk and juice caps, milk tickets, stamps, a Dennison orange seal and tiny Dennison labels. And I love these red fruit and vegetable labels. The “big pieces” this month consist of ledgers, cookbook pages, gardening book pages, fruit & vegetable delivery receipts and dairy receipts. A Florida orange grove postcard, a recipe card and two seed packets were other vintage treats. There were lots of little price tags and fruit and vegetable crate labels. I love the graphics on those labels and the “Fruit Cup” one is making me crave a can of fruit cocktail. I’m going to use the pea label in our garden journal. And as always, Xenia can find a playing card for every theme. The rooster and the pear are wonderful, but the soybean and oat cards (both from different Pit games) are so unique and have the best graphics. And of course the Florida orange round card takes the cake…round cards for the win every time!

To see more Paper Parcels from my subscription, go here and for more information on Saturday Morning Vintage’s Paper Parcel Subscription, go here.

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, shopping, summer, vintage

Jun 13 2014

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adventures, thrifted, vintage

Thrifted Treasures

A few weeks ago, I met my parents in Peru, Illinois (almost the halfway point between our houses) for some shopping. We always go to the thrift stores around there to see what we can find and I had a jackpot day at Lily Pads. The Story of a Cigarette coloring book was my favorite find…actually my mom found it and thought it was funny. I was slightly disappointed (but also relieved) that it wasn’t a promotional coloring book put out by the tobacco industry. Instead, it is an anti-smoking campaign put out by the American Cancer Society. It is in really good shape, just a little discoloration on a few of the pages and some staple rust in the center…not bad for a dollar, right? And another purchase that might seem weird to some, but feels perfect to me, I got these Hank’s Bar coasters for twenty cents. I bought them mainly for inspiration since I really do want to create some Hasegawa Happy Hour coasters for us. I’m going to add one to my coaster collection for now and keep working on ideas for my own.

Have you found anything good at the thrift stores lately? What constitutes a “jackpot day” for you?

Tagged adventures, shopping, thrifting, vintage

May 19 2014

6 Comments

Office Supplies, snail mail

LWA Address Stamp

My friend Karen gave me the most thoughtful birthday gift–a custom Letter Writers Alliance member address stamp. I’ve been wanting one for a long time, but never bought one because Naoto and I have two address stamps already so it didn’t feel practical to buy another. But those two stamp have our shared name, Hasegawa. I really wanted one with MY name, since really, most of the mail that goes out of our door is from me to my pen pals and not from us as a family.

That’s why the address stamp was such a perfect gift–it’s not something I would have bought for myself but it was something I really wanted.And because address stamps can be very personal, Karen set everything up with Kathy and Donovan and they whipped up a gift certificate for the stamp. That way, I could pick out how my name would look.

The stamp is teeny–“about the size of a postage stamp” (according to the LWA site) and it is perfect for postcards and mail art because it does the job without taking up so much space. Honestly, I’ve rarely used my other address stamps since getting this one. It stamps crisply and clearly and–the best part–it includes my member number!

Thank you, Karen!

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping, snail mail

Feb 26 2014

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adventures, adventures at the library, cocktails, snail mail

San Francisco Favorites

I have quite a stash of paper bits that I picked up along the way in San Francisco. I am hoping to get them all stashed into a mini book with some pictures from the trip soon. (Of course, the fact that I still haven’t finished my book of our trip to Japan hangs over my head as I type this.) Hopefully, I’ll be back before I leave for Japan with a completed mini book…

As a final post about San Francisco and Ex Postal Facto, I thought I’d share a few favorites from my trip. I stayed at the Hotel Abri near Union Square. Naoto and I chose it blindly because it was super close to the BART and within a short walking distance of two of the three Ex Postal Facto event locations. We got a really good rate, which made me nervous…inexpensive hotels in expensive cities can be scary places. Thankfully, the Abri was fantastic…the staff were all kind and helpful, the room was clean and modern (there was a super-large TV on the wall, perfect for middle-of-the-night viewings of the Olympics!) and they served little juice shots in the lobby every afternoon. When I checked in, they offered me the choice between an interior room or an exterior room. Of course, I wanted the street-side! (I’m no stranger to noise!) It turns out, the nightclub across from the hotel was JUST below my window (pictured above, velvet ropes and all). On Friday night when I got home, I had to laugh at all of the commotion, but it didn’t really bother me…the club music became white noise and I was up watching the Olympics anyway.

On Friday, I came back to the hotel to find a surprise from Naoto. When I used to travel for work, he would send me something on every trip–a fruit basket, chocolate covered strawberries, a fruit bouquet, a cheese plate… It was fun to get a treat again. This time it was Ghiradelli chocolate-themed and it made me smile. Riding iconic streetcars was the best way to travel! (Read more about car No. 1073 here.) We had drinks at Tradition on Saturday night. They have a large book of handcrafted cocktails organized by style/era (Speakeasy, Dive-Bar, Tiki, New Orleans, pub…) and you can sit and enjoy those drinks in “snugs” to match. I had an Old Fashioned and a Colony and maybe it was just the company I was with, but man, those cocktails were tasty and I really liked this place. (We have a lot of bars in our neighborhood here in Forest Park, but sadly none of them are good craft cocktail bars…sigh.)On Sunday, Bob, Ana and I had breakfast at Craftsman and Wolves. Pictured above is The Rebel Within, a tasty asiago, sausage and onion muffin with a soft boiled egg baked inside (!!!), chocolate sourdough bread and the best cup of coffee I had all weekend. (I brought some beans home for Naoto…coffee makes the best souvenir.) I played around with a real life card catalog at the San Francisco Public Library while Ana perused their calligraphy collection. Japan Town was loads of fun…I think I would have appreciated it more if my trip to Japan weren’t so close. As a matter of fact, I’m super jealous that San Franciscans have such a huge portal to Japan!My trip ended (well, before that other ending) at La Boulange where I met up with a group of friends from letter writing and xPF. I didn’t eat or drink anything here, but I did covet the giant bowl of hot chocolate that everyone seemed to be enjoying! (Pictured above is Melissa of Craftgasm.)

All of my food and drink stories made Naoto wish he had joined me. I think if Ex Postal Facto become a recurring thing, he won’t be staying home for the next trip!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, coffee, food, mail art, shopping, snail mail