We just received these photos from the gang at U*tique and we're so tempted to hop on a plane to San Francisco to take a look for ourselves.

U*tique create super-fun autoshops and place them in fabulous locations around the US. Each one is filled with a curated assortment of iconic ‘must haves’. If you live in San Francisco you may have spotted an autoshop jam-packed with Momiji goodness in the Westfield SF Centre. Head over and treat yourself to some luxury robot vending!

Read more about U*tique here

First up, THANK YOU! Thank you to every single one of you who took the time to enter our Momiji Decorate December contest. We asked you to use our festive templates as inspiration for a decoration for your home and we were deeeeelighted by the results. You guys really got your creativity flowing and made some beautiful things.

Thanks also to all of you who voted and left comments :)

So the public vote resulted in 5 finalists and from there our creative team at Momiji selected the top 3 winners. Here goes...

In first place, winning a set of signed Momiji Book Club dolls and Kindle is:

Jingle's Inner Glow by Christina Browning

We adored Christina's innovative approach and the magical stained glass effect!

In second place, winning a voucher code worth £25 (or $40US/$40AUS/30€) to spend on www.lovemomiji.com plus a Book Club doll of her choice is:

On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen...by Nicole Vellar

We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the abundance of glorious glitter.

In third place, winning a voucher code worth £10 (or $15US/$15AUS/12€) to spend on www.lovemomiji.com voucher plus a Book Club doll of your choice is:

Rudie the Reindeer Momiji by Jo O'Connor

Super cute stitching! Thanks Jo this certainly filled us with Christmassy cheer.

Thanks again to all out finalists who worked so hard to drum up votes and support for their wonderful entries. The 5 finalists were: Tim Ansley, Nicole Vellar, Jo O'Connor, Christina Browning and Natalia Tabisaura.

We'd also like to give a special mention to the following entries which we thought were simply fabulous. We'll be sending you guys a little something too.

Special mentions to:

Jingle the Paper Doll by Miriam Bos

Winter Woolly Snowflake by Keeley Page

And finally we promised we'd select a winner at random from everyone who left a comment under a competition entry. And the winner is...Priscilla Uriarte.

We'll contact all winners via email or facebook over the next couple of days.

Thanks, guys! Hope your festivities are FABULOUSO!

Oooh we love a road trip. Over the last couple of weekends we've packed up the car with a heap of paint & sugary treats and met many lovely people at our Momiji painting workshops. We loved chatting with you guys in Norwich and Newcastle; it really means so much to hear how much you care about the brand.

You're a talented bunch too; some of the dolls you created were simply amazing. We'll announce future workshops to the collective and on facebook so make sure you're signed up and following us. Where should we go next? Let us know!

Here are a few shots of our painters, there are more on our facebook page.

Thanks so much to the magnificent folks at Toyz and Gamez in Norwich and Travelling Man in Newcastle for such a warm welcome!

Hurray! A final total for our auction. HUGE thanks to everyone involved. Take a look through our recent blog posts to read all about the project and watch a little video of our trip to LA.

We took a little trip to London last week. If fresh design, genius & creativity tickles your fancy then we'd recommend you put it in your diary as an annual event.

There were many highlights; visiting the lovely Sanrio team to finalise bringing Momiji x Hello Kitty to the USA, as well as walks along the ocean, lazy breakfasts in Manhattan Beach and a spot of shopping, of course. But it kind of goes without saying that the pinnacle of the trip was being involved in Gwen Stefani's party to raise funds for Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund and watching everyone get creative as they painted their Momiji dolls.

Here's what we got up to...

So, we won't try and play it cool; our week in LA has been amazing. When Gwen Stefani and her team asked us to be part of a very special tea party at Royal/T in LA we were super excited to be involved, especially as it was to raise money for children and families affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Gwen personally donated $1 million to Save the Children and the party on Wednesday raised an additional $120,000 for the charity and their relief effort.

On Tuesday, 200 of Gwen's biggest fans lined up in the outside Royal/T before taking their seats at beautifully decorated tables, with a very special Momiji doll at each place setting. We donated a blank Chiyo doll for every guest and Gwen asked everyone to hand decorate them and a write a special message inside. The dolls were then packaged up with a lot of love and will be sent to children in Japan.

Royal/T's fabulous maids served an exquisite high tea of dainty delights on towering cake stands. Gwen's Harajuku Girls chatted with guests and got creative with their Momiji decorating.

The No Doubt guys were also enjoying the party and the great news that the band will be releasing a new album later this year was topped off by an incredible surprise performance.

We had the best day and we can't thank the lovely, lovely guys & girls at Royal/T enough for making us so welcome. And finally big thanks to Gwen and her team for inviting us to be part of such a special event.

More news of our LA trip coming next week.

(Photo credits: Thanks to Royal/T for image marked with their logo. Photos: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 copyright Lauren Hillary)

Dear me, we’ve been busier than the busiest of bees this month so this one is a little late.

Let’s give a massive belated congratulations to the winner of the latest Momiji Flicker contest; Pat Castañeda.

We were blown away by her attention to detail as she made all these Lady Gaga inspired headdresses from scratch especially for her Momiji collection.

The dolls look fab, the background is stunning and we just can’t get enough!

Congratulations, Pat, your Momiji goodies are on the way.

If you’d like to be in with a chance to win this month, click here for all the details.

Wow, the pictures in the Flickr pool keep getting better each month. It’s getting harder and harder to pick a winner.

This month’s grand prize goes to Esmereldes for this magical photograph of Snuggle.

We love the lighting in this photo as well as snuggle's 2 mushroom friends.

Congratulations, Esmereldes, your Momiji goodies are on their way.

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning next month, you'll find all you need to know here.

It's always a pleasure to take a little look at the Momiji Dolls Flickr Pool. We love the level of creativity you all show every month.

So without further ado, it's time to announce the winner of the Momiji Flicker Contest for August 2010.

With this great photo of Party Girl and Poppet enjoying some great Mexican food, our winner this month is Christy Murray.

Congratulations, Christy, your Momiji prize is on it's way.

If you'd like to be the winner next month, then get snapping. Make sure you read all of the guidelines here before you start.

Good luck and happy snapping.