japanese inspiration

Fun fun fun - the last two days the hubs and I have been on a mission - to find journals for his Sunday School class for church. We wanted something affordable, portable (about Bible-sized) and cool. So where did we go? Daiso, of course! The store where you can find anything and everything under the sun. Lots of little things, tons of cutesy things, but loads of treasures to be had! Lucky for us there are two that are nearby, so we hit both to find what we needed. I purchased one beautiful pink textured rice bowl as a catch-all for my nightstand, some gray felt (for a future project), and then exercised restraint! But I was still inspired by quite a few goodies, see some ideas below.

Take a look at those wavy white bowls they'd be great to hold jewelry, serve a lovely dessert (a custard perhaps?), or even as a candle holder. And the two graphic notebooks with screen printed stripes on kraft paper? Awww yeah, talk about happy note taking! Almost couldn't hold myself together on those guys, but I reminded myself that I have more than enough (free real estate) notepads at home. A few other great ideas struck me as I was browsing, so I jotted them down in my notebook:

Lace paper doilies (10 pack) - would be neat at a table setting on individual plates, or used on a canvas with decoupage and paint for a one-of-a-kind art piece

Pearlized wrapping paper in pastel shades - wrapping glam gifts for a wedding or shower or lining clothing drawers

Tiny glass jars with cork stoppers - curio jars filled with collections of buttons, beads, sand, or used to store q-tips or cotton balls for the bathroom, mini terrariums

White gingham patterned cellophane muffin cups (a mouthful!) (4 pack) - serve muffins for a sweet brunch in individual servings, fill with cherries and place in a cello bag for favors (tie with jute string)

Thin canvas board and paints - express yourself and go wild, make yourself an art piece for home on the cheap

And the best part about all this goodness? Most everything mentioned is a mere $1.50! Sweet! You gotta love the Japanese. And yes, we did find some cool journals for the hubba.