Our creative friends have been snapping away this month and filling our Flickr pool with lovely Momiji photographs.

There were so many great entries this month; it was a little difficult to choose just one. But –Astrid1979- and her Happy, Happy, Happy photo has taken the prize.

The colour and texture in this photo really reflect the happy Momiji personality.

A selection of Momiji goodies are winging their way to you now, Astrid.

If you’d like to have a go, click here to find out more.

We caught up with our number 1 fan, Melissa this week, and asked her a couple of questions about her tattoo…

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

“As far as some info about me, I am a radiologic technologist at a hospital here in Milwaukee, WI and I love my job. When I get free time from work I like to bake and cook. I have been vegan for 5 years, which I believe has been my inspiration to get involved so heavily with cooking and baking. I love to bake delicious desserts, especially cupcakes. I love everything about them. I also enjoy riding my bike around the city and reading. “

We love your tattoo here at Momiji HQ, You must be very brave! How long did it take to get done?

“I'm glad you love the tattoo, thank you! It took about an hour and a half to get done.”

What ‘drew’ you to Bakey-C? (excuse the awful pun)

“One of my best friends, Brandy, is actually the one that found Bakey-C. She knows my infatuation with cupcakes and as soon as she showed it to me, I knew I wanted to put it on my body. It is such an amazing piece of art. I love the style of all the Momiji dolls, but the 3 tea time inspired dolls are unlike all the others. I love that Bakey-C is so unique and rare. She is exactly my style and captures so many things that I love. I'm excited that I am able to display her on my body every day.“

What’s your favourite Momiji item?

“We don't have too many places to buy Momiji products here in Milwaukee, but while I was in Portland, OR I stocked up on some things. My favorite purchase was a pack of stickers I got from the Japanese Gardens. I didn't really know what to do with the stickers, so I decided to decorate my boring white laptop with some of my favorite ones. Now I love the way it looks!”

Do you have any more tattoos in the pipeline?

“I have plans for more tattoos, but I haven't decided if I'm getting another Momiji inspired tattoo or not. I'm sure if something catches my eye as Bakey-C did I would definitely get it. I get a lot of comments on my tattoo. People love it. 99% of people have no idea what it is, so I'm constantly explaining what a Momiji doll is. It's like I'm a walking advertisement for Momiji! Every time a friend of mine hears something about a Momiji doll or sees one they tell me about it. It's kind of neat. It makes me feel good to know that people love my tattoo as much as I do.“

Thanks, Melissa.

She’s definitely spreading the Momiji love around Milwaukee and we’d love to meet her again for some tea and cakes.

“You know you’re famous when people start getting tattoos” or so they say. And If that statement is true then we’ve made it to the big time as our new best friend, Melissa, has proved. (Pics by Brandy Boyd from Hot*Pop)

She’s been inked with a picture of Bakey-C and it looks absolutely amazing!

I’ve asked her if she’ll answer a couple of questions for me about her tat, and I’ll post the interview here when I have it.

We might not be brave enough to go through with it here, but what do you think about Melissa’s tattoo?

We’re starting to lose track of Gem’s whereabouts; every time we speak to her she’s in a different city. She’s doing a good job of sending us photos from her travels though (and making us all jealous). First up a few pictures of her first Lobster boil, in San Francisco. Loving the Obama apron!

Next stop was Chicago. Here’s a picture of Richard with Tulip in the showroom, followed by cocktails on the terrace at Trump Towers (another tough day at the office huh Gem?)

Seattle next...Gem met up with Tim and Nicole (who you can just see hiding in the picture below) and they headed over to an amazing store named Retrofit which is a great place to get your Momiji fix. Finally Gem finished off her time in the city eating chocolate éclairs by the river with Carrie and mooching round the market which looks pretty spectacular. More news from our globe trotter soon...she’s in Atlanta this week...we think.

This week Gem’s been in New York and Texas. We’re loving her tiny East Village apartment – too cute! Although perhaps not as cute as the 10 week old puppies she met in Texas; we should totally get some for our office.

And finally Texas wouldn’t be Texas without a few cowboy hats, so here’s a shot from a night out on the town. Yee-ha.

Gemma's been having a great time in San Francisco this week. She's been attending trade shows, getting to know some of our American retailers a little better and eating loads of noodles in Japantown.

She’s sent us a couple of pictures from her travels in San Francisco. She met up with Tiffany from Canton Bizarre as well as Ryoji, the buyer for Kinokuniya.

She’ll be leaving San Francisco soon and heading for the next show. We’ll keep you posted.

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.

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...

Those of you following us on Twitter will know that Gem & Cameron are just back from a trip to the USA.

While most of their tweets did seem to be about what they were eating, they were in fact up to some pretty exciting stuff which should mean that if you live in the states there will be lots more places for you to find Momiji in the very near future.

Up at the top is a photo of Gemma at Royal/T in LA, stepping out of a Porta-Party; we’re totally getting one for the office. [You have to check out Royal/T right now. – more news about cool stuff we’re doing with them coming very soon.]

And now back to the food. Here’s Gemma with a dainty slice of cake.

This is Debbie, our lovely new Customer Services Manager.

Deb joined us last week and is doing a mighty fine job of getting to grips with life at Momiji HQ.

Essential Debbie Facts:

*She has a dog named Tallulah.

*Her cheese-on-toast is legendary (we’re yet to taste it so we’ll take her word for it.)

*She’s super-green fingered and is currently growing lettuces, chillies, carrots, aubergines and loads of herbs in her garden.

*Last but not least, the most embarrassing song on her iPod is Think Twice by Celine Dion. Probably should have kept that to herself.

Welcome, Debbie!

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