The Flickr Pool has been fillng up this month with your wonderful, creative shots. It’s been fantastic looking through them all and seeing just how beautiful they all are.

It’s been a very tough decision but there can only be one winner this month, and the Momiji goodies go to meecat0901! We love this picture of Piou-chou and the focussing makes for a really interesting shot.

If you didn’t win this month, don’t be downhearted, there will be a new winner picked every month, so get your cameras out and get snapping. Upload your best shots to the Flickr Pool, but please don't upload the same image twice, it won't be counted and will probably be taken down.

Cameron and Emma recently took a trip to Canada to meet up with some of the lovely people who take care of Momiji over there.

Even though they were there for a flying visit, they had a great time and even made some new fluffy friends. These heart-meltingly adorable little ducks hatched out of a nest right by the office. It wasn’t long before they were up and off to explore the big wide world. Emma got a few pictures before they left and if you like fluffy little baby ducks, just take a look at these little sweeties.

What colour underwear are you wearing today? Seems like a simple (and rather nosy) question, right? We take things like underwear for granted and it’s difficult to think of anyone having to live without basic things like knickers and bras. For many people, underwear is a luxury. We’ve decided to do our bit to help and make a difference to someone’s life by donating Momiji pants to Knickers 4 Africa. They're a charity whose sole purpose is to donate underwear to people in Africa.

The Momiji Pants Party has been going strong on Twitter now for a couple of weeks and if you haven’t passed on the message, why not do it now? We’ve had so many tweets from you that we’ve already donated over 100 pairs of Momiji pants to Africa.

Big thanks to everyone who has helped us to make a difference so far. If you haven’t joined in the Momiji Pants Party yet, simply tweet the following message or find out more here.

has just thrown Pants at you! (and donated some to Africa) #MomijiPantsParty http://ow.ly/1MrAx

Joanna Zhou has been making us jealous with her holiday snaps. This one from the Apple Store on 5th Avenue was our favourite, putting that shiny new iPad to good use!

Momiji HQ had a visitor today; lovely Linnea Borjesson came up from London to talk about a new Momiji project we’re working on together (which, btw you’re going to LOVE.)
We had a morning getting to know Linnea and then headed down the road to the world famous Henley Ice Cream shop for ‘lunch’ (delicious and nutritious.) Just so you know Kat had humbug flavour which Gemma is holding, Debbie had apple & cinnamon, Claire had berry sorbet (with a chocolate dipped cone) and Linnea opted for mango swirl. Just keeping you in the loop...

Everybody say “Cheese” it’s time for your Momiji’s close-up!

Do you dream of sunny days with your camera, taking snaps of all the pretty things in the world? There are so many beautiful photographs in our Flickr pool that we’ve been inspired to launch the Momiji Flickr Contest! If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning a Momiji goodie bag and having your photo showcased around the world, read on…

Firstly get your favourite Momiji or piece of Zakka and take a picture. Bear in mind that we like to see creativity so the more creative your shot, the better!

Once you’re happy with your photograph, upload it to our Flickr pool.

We’ll be picking our favourite on the first Monday of every month so make sure it’s in before midnight on the previous Sunday. There will be one winner chosen every month but don’t worry if your picture isn’t chosen first time as you can upload as many images as you like. Just don’t upload the same picture again.

The lucky winner will be showcased on our blog and across the world on our E-Shots, Facebook page & Twitter feed and if global fame isn’t enough for you, we’ll be sending them a Momiji goodie bag too.

Launching the contest, and the first winner of the Momiji goodie bag is Archbaker who uploaded this gorgeous photo of Coco on her travels in Paris. Ooh la la!

Go get that camera and start taking pictures, it could be you next!

Tips on Entering:

- Make the shot as interesting, beautiful or creative as you can.
- Take as many pictures as you like, but don’t upload them at the same time as once you’ve uploaded an image you can’t re-upload it.
- Keep an eye on your Flickr messages as we’ll be contacting the winner through Flickr
- Take a look at our Terms & Conditions here.

(If you’re seeking inspiration then check out these photos of our notebooks and stickers which were taken by the lovely guys & girls at Studio Pounce. They’ve taken some fabulous images for us. Big thanks to Fiona and Kalli for being such beauuutiful models.)

Good Luck.

Your keys deserve more respect. Without them you’d be locked out of your home, your car, your secret diary and that big chest of treasure you’ve been hiding.
Show them some love with a new Momiji key ring. You can find them right here. Which one will you choose?

We’ve been busy little bees here at Momiji HQ this week, and we’ve got some brand new Momiji goodies to show you.

Giggles, Soul, Happy Happy Happy and Pixie have had a makeover and they’re looking fab-u-lous! They’re the brand new ‘Generation 7’ randoms dolls!

They’ve been enjoying an exclusive stint in one of our favourite places; Kinokuniya bookstore in the States. But now, it’s time to release them to the rest of the world!

If you’re lucky enough to live in Europe, you can get them now from the lovemomiji shop. If you’re one of our Stateside friends, then get yourself down to Kinokuniya! Generation 7 will be released to the rest of the Americas at the end of June.

They’re here. 6 new Momiji to celebrate the Heroes in your life. Allow us to introduce Snuggle, Yee-ha!, Peace, Thank you, Happy Birthday and BFF! Although stocks on these new dolls are very limited right now we are doing everything we can to make more available; we’ll keep you posted! (We’re sorry to say that the Heroes dolls aren’t available in the USA just yet, it shouldn’t be long and as soon as they are we’ll let you know.)

Your Heroes doll will arrive in style, tucked up in a stripy inflated bag complete with a tiny badge. We hope you’ll love them as much as we do. Do forgive us but we couldn’t let an occasion like this go by without pausing to enjoy our favourite Hero-themed anthem. Bonnie, it’s over to you...

If you can’t stomach another mouthful of Easter egg may we suggest adding a little variety to your diet and squeezing in a few cupcakes? Our lovely Joanna Zhou has been using her Momiji cupcake cases and whipping up a storm in the kitchen. She sent us a few photographs along with her secret recipe for the perfect cupcake frosting. It sounds a bit strange to us, but she swears it’s magic. Let us know your verdict if you give it a go. You can pick up your set of cupcake cases right here. Take it away, Joanna...

Momiji Buttercream Frosting for 12 cupcakes

This recipe creates an extremely fluffy icing that also holds its shape well. The 'secret' is adding roux, better known as the base for a bechamel sauce to regular buttercream. Sounds strange but it works...just try it!!

Roux:
50g butter
2 tbs flour
250ml milk

Buttercream:
175g butter
150g white sugar
Vanilla essence
Food colouring (optional)

1) Melt the butter over a low heat and stir in the flour to create a roux. Use roughly equal amounts of both to get a soft paste. Cook very gently for 5 mins, stirring all the time to prevent the mixture from burning.
2) Pour in the milk and increase the heat slightly. As the mixture warms up it will start to thicken. This might take a few minutes so keep stirring to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pan and burning.
3) You might know this process from making bechamel (white) sauce for lasagne. For this recipe, keep heating the sauce until it becomes very thick, almost like wallpaper paste. This might take 5-10mins. Take off the heat and cool down to room temperature.
4) In a bowl, beat together the remaining butter with sugar until fluffy. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to taste.
5) Once the roux has cooled down, beat it into your frosting spoonful by spoonful until you like the texture. It should be like very thick whipped cream, and be able to hold small peaks. You may only need 3/4 of the roux mixture.
6) If you want, add a few drops of food colouring to make a nice pink or pastel green!
7) Place the frosting in the fridge for about an hour to firm up.
8) Spoon into a piping bag and swirl it over your cupcakes! Try to squeeze the bag with one hand and guide it in an inwards spiral with the other.
9) Finish your cakes with sprinkles, sugar flowers or grated chocolate.