Boo! Halloween is coming up soon

We don't usually make much of an effort for Halloween... But we went to my friend's place last Saturday and I was really impressed by their Halloween decorations. I started stitching some together as soon as we got back from their place. I would like to share my first batch of Halloween work (using very basic stitching skills).

I ordered Halloween lights and I am also making a broomstick and a witch's hat. I am happy that I can continue to expand my Halloween collection for next year!

TOTORO'S FRIEND-CAT BUS

B Mirai's grandparents sent her a package with an adorable cuddly toy, the Cat bus from My Neighbour Totoro. He is really cute. It is hard to see, but there is a small white wood spirit as well as Totoro himself attached to the Cat bus. You can find Totoro toys in Magma in London, but I haven't seen the cat bus in London before. So we are very pleased to have such rare Totoro stuff. :)

P.S B Mirai wanted to display her new toy for this Bellieboo blog.

MR POSTMAN IS COMING SOON

It is still freezing cold in London and I am not quite ready to shop for Spring and Summer yet. However, Bellieboo only imports a limited quantity of childrens products so it can never be too early! This long sleeve bunny top is very cute with a pink ribbon. The bow skirt has a matching long sleeve top too. I cannot wait show you all our new items.

HOLD ON TIGHT!

I found this lovely wooden holder which calls Cowacca strap when I was in Tokyo last time. It looks like a rattle or a big key ring. But it is for children to hold onto. We have lots of these type of rings hanging from the ceiling on public transport in Japan, but children aren't able to reach it because they are too little. So Rina Kono designed it for children to satisfy their desire to do what grown-ups do.

I think it will be handy for when your hands are occupied with shopping bags, so your little one can stay close to you.

BAGPUSS

B Mirai took a picture of her new cuddly toy, Bagpuss at Fortnum & Masons café.

We went to see Bagpuss at Soho theatre last weekend. Thanks to Sarah who came to the Bellieboo pop-up shop in Stoke Newington back in December and my husband who fixed the tickets.

It was a very cute performance, magical even, and B Mirai enjoyed it very much, especially when Emily came down to shake her hand. Bagpuss finishes on 9 January, so there is still a chance to go to see him.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the theatre, but I did it accidentally...

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

We normally go to France, Cornwall or Japan for Christmas, but we decided to stay in London this year and have a lazy holiday. (It is my 2nd Christmas in London in the last 14 years!!)

One of the things on my daughter's wish list was a Gingerbread house kit, which was great because she had something creative to do at home during our lazy holiday. It was fun decorating the house with her. If you are looking for something to do with your kids, I think they are great! And they are on sale at John Lewis as well.

B Mirai created a scene with her Gingerbread house

Mrs Dino came to see the gingerbread house and Pee Wee Herman and Miss Yvonne had too many sweets...

CHRISTMAS SALE IN STOKE NEWINGTON

We had a pop up shop at Abney Hall in Stoke Newington last Saturday. It was very nice to meet people and talk to them about Bellieboo items directly. I also enjoyed exchanging information about children events over the Christmas holiday. I would like to take my daughter to the Bagpuss show at Soho Theatre.

Aki and I totally forgot to take pictures of our stall, so I asked B.Mirai to draw it for us. I think her description is pretty good!

P.S

It was great to meet Courtney from Babyccino too.

POTATO STAMPS

We were not going to send any Christmas cards this year. But after we got so much snow last week, we got bored and started making the cards with potato stamps. You get a nice organic shape and texture in the print, which is lovely.

We also used glitter to decorate them too.

Potato stamps: christmas tree, star, dots and small star

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING AT LIBERTY

Since my daughter B Mirai was 3 years old, we have been going shopping together for Christmas decorations. She is allowed to choose one or two decorations each year. The first year she got a bright red heart and she got two pink birds last year. Her choice this year was a gold reindeer and a sparkly star. I figured out she really loves something very BOLD. I love neutral colours, so I am worried that my decorations will clash with hers. Probably I should get her her own Christmas Tree this year.

Here is my daughter's collection

It was quite amazing that the projection could detect our movement into their image.

She had jolly good fun with that.

MISS THE BOAT

I was so sad to find out that I missed the opportunity to purchase this extra specially special book, The secret garden designed by Lauren Child. It was published to celebrate Puffin's 70th anniversary in September this year. It is so gorgeous!

I wish I had known about this earlier.

Look at the details! I wonder how they produced 1000 copies of this complicated book?

BONFIRE

We went to our friends' place in Epping Forest for Bonfire Night last weekend and it was great fun to see a big fire and lots of fireworks. There were so many yummy dishes, Sushi, Dahl, Apple Crumbles (this is my signature dish) and so on... As soon as Sarah was playing the violin with her son, Ben, we started dancing!

We also had lanterns and it was one of the most magical moments.

It's getting smaller and smaller...

Next morning... we had a little walk in the garden and had a breakfast in front of the bonfire.

CHARLIE BROWN-FIRST EDITION-

My husband bought a hardback first edition of Charlie Brown's All Stars (1966) for our daughter from a second hand bookshop near St Martin's Lane the other day. It was very reasonable, £4.50 (a bargain!!) and in very good condition. And the story was very sweet and warm and so old that we had never even heard of some of the characters. I love the smell of old books, which make me feel a bit nostalgic.

MY NEW ACCESSORY

One of my lovely friends, Mika, sent us this adorable Kasutera cupie doll from Japan, because she knew that we love Kasutera very much

If you would like to get this, then you have to go to Nagasaki! I am afraid that it is a limited edition cupie doll from this prefecture :(

A TREAT FOR BUSY BABY

I love this quirky reversible bib! Okay, a plastic bib might be more practical for cleaning, but it has would have a cold and hard texture. This bib is very soft and you almost want to snuggle with it. In addition, the details are just so lovely. Look at the pom-pom and little pockets on the front. It's so cute.

RD KIDS SCREENING WITH BELLIEBOO

We have been working on a couple of kids screenings with the Raindance Film Festival since June and we finally managed to get an agreement with Studio Ghibli for the screenings of My Neighbour Totoro and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind about two weeks ago. Optimum Releasing is kindly sponsoring the screening. :) (Thank you very much, Helen)

We think it will be a great opportunity for both children and adults to see these classic animated films which were last seen on the big screen in the UK in 1989. I cannot wait to see them with my family.

My Neighbour Totoro

Running time | 86 min Classification |U

Sunday 10th October at 3.45 pm in Apollo, Piccadilly Circus

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Running time | 116 min Classification |PG

Saturday 2nd October at 2pm in Apollo, Piccadilly Circus

WYOMING DEBUT

A good friend of mine, Joanna sent me a lovely picture of Bellieboo bag from Wroming, USA. Bellieboo bag here's used to carry a picnic lunch in the Grand Teton mountain range. According to Joanna, just after this picture was taken a marmot almost ate the contents! I hope they are having lots of fun and making a good film out there.

JUNIOR MAGAZINE DEBUT

This is very exciting for Bellieboo to be featured in Junior Magazine this month. And I would like to thank Matthew who wrote lovely things about us!

The Flower Earmuffs are going to arrive in the UK in two weeks. And some of our Autumn and Winter range is finally ready tomorrow. It has been a nightmare getting our products from Japan this time.......

Here is a close-up pic.

TOOTH FAIRY

My daughter lost four teeth recently and her last one went missing while she was having a burger at our friend's garden party... She was really concerned that the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to come and give her some money... So she wrote a little note for the fairy to make sure that the fairy was going to visit her room.

We do not have a tooth fairy in Japan, so it was a totally new experience for me to be a tooth fairy (in fact my husband is the real tooth fairy). I did a little market research to find out how much a tooth fairy should give. It starts from 50 pence to 2 pounds, so we decided to give a pound. Personally I think 2 pounds is a bit too much!

In Japan, we throw teeth over the top of roof if it is a bottom tooth and we bury it in ground if it is an upper tooth. We believe that doing this encourages the new tooth to grow quickly.

TOMS FANTASTIC ART CLUB 2010

We have been to Tom’s Fantastic Art Club for four years and it is always lots of fun for children to create something. This year's theme was designing a hat to match the costume. There were 18 children, aged from 1 to 13 years old and visitors are from all over the UK and sometimes from abroad too. Emski, from Shropshire, who took this lovely picture was there with her husband, Simon and her little one William.

Tom started his art club by putting some flyers up near his home which is on the edge of Epping Forest. When artist Gee Vaucher, his neighbour, saw his flyer, she was intrigued by it. Soon after that, they started organising his art club.

HIPIRA-KUN: COOL JAPANESE ANIME

Bellieboo is organising a kids screening at Raindance Film Festival in London for this September. And I came across this fantastic Japanese animation, Hipira-kun. They have a lovely 3-D animation style and a cute little vampire character, Hipira.

Hipira kun was written by a well known Japanese animator and film director, Katsuhito Omoto who is a creator of Akira and illustrated by Shinji Kimura. They published the book, Hipira for children originally and it was broadcast on NHK BS3 in Japan. I love this animation very much, because it is so stylish and cutting edge.