Here’s a photo of the real thing – I’ll be sharing other photos from my trip on my Facebook page, including pics from Harajuku, Akihabara, Odaiba, Asakusa and my haul of Japanese flavoured Kitkats…

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You can see more cuteness in the Gallery, and if you’re a Bumblebee Cat fan, he’s available on a summery lime green t-shirt in the online shop….

Follow my Facebook or Twitter for instant notification of all new stuffs!

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MCM at ExCel in London is really huge now, with so many stalls, game demos, stages and comic book artists. It took a long time just to walk from one end of the hall to the other with all the boxes when we were setting up!

It was exciting to see my stall with its new displays and new table banners on the front, featuring a super-colourful montage of loads of Cakes with Faces characters! And my new fairy lights!

Three new t-shirt designs made their debut at the show: Toast Addict (because I love toast!), Say No to Knife Crime and Your Cake or Your Life, which is also available as a ladies’ vest. They’ve just hit the online shop – click the links to order them online (proper photos will be on the way soon!). It was great to be able to tell people that they were the first person in the world to own each of the designs! I took a photo of each of them – you can see them on my Facebook page.

The two joint most popular t-shirts of the show were my new designs: Say No to Knife Crime and Your Cake or Your Life. On a sadder note, the light blue Ice Cream design sold out – possibly forever….

It was so busy that I didn’t get spend very long looking around the show, but there were a lot of tempting anime figures. I bought a Mugi (from K-On!) figure, who comes with her keyboard, so now I just need Ritsu to complete the band.

The Japanese food stalls in the Japanex section were also a good addition to the show. I had a veggie sushi box and some yummy dorayaki – finally trying the red bean flavour, which is nothing like beans as I’ve known them before!

It was lovely to see so many faces I recognised from previous shows, and to meet people who’d seen my ramen recipe in Neo magazine! It’s also great to have got to know so many other lovely stallholders, including Tofu Cute, Artbox, Genki Gear, Nice Ice, Japan Underground, Kelley’s Deli and Kam Creates.

You can see the rest of my photos on my Facebook page…

See you at my next show – MCM Comic Con Manchester and then Hyper Japan the weekend after – it’s going to be a busy July!

www.facebook.com/cakeswithfaces / Twitter: @cakeswithfaces

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It’s actually a phrase from Aristotle – cake philosophy!

For more drawings (including lots more cakes) head over to the gallery….

www.facebook.com/cakeswithfaces / Twitter: @cakeswithfaces

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The range includes hair slides, crocodile clips, charms and double chain charms, handmade with colourful acrylic charms. And they’re all waiting for you in the online shop right now….

The hair slides come in sets of two – there are four designs: fairy cakes, nerd cakes (or just short-sighted cakes) with glasses, battenbergs and sulky ladybird queens on wheels. They’re really small and cute – my favourite are the cakes with glasses!

My favourite type of hair clips to wear are crocodile clips – they’re a little larger than the slides, and come in two designs, both monsters! I’ve been wearing the tentacle monster clip this week – it’s like a mini monster attack in your hair!

The double chain charms feature two charms each, and there are three designs: Vegetable Knife Crime (to match the chopping boards), Toast Addict and Pain au Chocolat (featuring my tough croissant!). Attach them to your bag, keyring, wallet, jacket, jeans… anything you can clip on to!

The single charms are on loops, like phone charms, but they’re pretty versatile so you could attach them anywhere. They look great on bags, or hang them from your pinboard, at your desk… anywhere that needs added cuteness. There’s a fairy cake design and a tiny ice cream (a miniature version of the design on the ice cream t-shirt).

The charms and clips are all in the online shop now! If you’re only ordering charms, they’re super light so the shipping rate for small orders will apply, or combine them with other items at the standard shipping rate. International shipping to any country in the world is by Airmail – just place your order as normal and enter your country at checkout.

Take a look to see all the new designs – I’ll also have them at MCM Expo at the end of May… I’d love to see where the charms go to live, so send me your photos, or share them on my Facebook or Twitter!

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The show’s open Friday 2-7pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. Friday is for weekend ticket holders only, and is always the quietest day. Advance tickets bought online include early entry, and cost more than tickets bought on the day at the door. Sunday is always a lot less crowded than Saturday, when it can get REALLY busy!

I’ll be on block D near the front corner of the expo, near where I was in October:

This will be Cakes with Faces’ 4th time at MCM Expo in London and it’s our biggest show of the year. I’m excited that my new upgraded Stall 2.0 will be making an appearance, with my new displays and banners, and some exciting NEW STUFF! I’ll also have all the t-shirts, prints, badges, babygrows, my sushi comic and chopping boards, with special show prices. Hopefully a new t-shirt design too… watch this space!

Tickets and full details are on the MCM Expo website – come along and say hello! And if you’ve never been before and have any questions about the show, hit me up on Facebook or Twitter!

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As well as stalls, there were activities to take part in, including Japanese drumming (I lost Phil for half an hour while he had a go!), various kinds of martial arts for all adults and children and manga drawing workshops. There was also a really good stage programme including cooking demonstrations, a fashion panel, cosplay competition, artist Q&A, Beckii Cruel and Oishii Ichigo, a j-pop girl group. I watched Beckii Cruel dancing and singing her new single with Sparkles* and Oishii Ichigo, who sang anime songs and their original singles – which made me really wish I could sing and/or dance! Phil watched the cooking demonstration, and was impressed with the teriyaki burger samples and Japanese salad.

There was a great atmosphere at the event, and I liked that there were lots of things going on as well as the stalls. I was next to Artbox, who have a great selection of stickers, notebooks and all kinds of cuteness (I attempted to practice my hiragana reading the packets). We were also near Genki Gear and Nice Ice, whose kakigori (shaved ice) went down well on the sunny weekend. It was also lovely to meet Craftholic, who I’d seen before at Hyper Japan, but  hadn’t realised is a really well-known brand in Japan. Their plushies are extremely soft and huggable. There was also a jewellery stall, anime and manga stalls and a clothing stall with funky dresses, plus a stall with dorayaki and Japanese ice cream – the cinnamon ice cream was delicious!

On the Cakes with Faces stall, the new displays made their debut, and made everything look a lot more organised. Plus a new tablecloth in my favourite colour purple! And some exciting new items that will be hitting the online shop very soon… Not surprisingly for an event about Japan, the most popular t-shirt was All the Best Stuff is from Japan, and the How to Make Sushi sets were also popular. It’s my mission to help sushi addicts make their own sushi at home, and show them that supermarket sushi is nothing like it should be!

There’s a rumour that this first Japanorama may not be the only one, so look out for it again next year. To see my photos, head over my Facebook page – cosplays, Beckii Cruel, Oishii Ichigo, more of my stall and the Space Centre itself!

www.facebook.com/cakeswithfaces    Twitter: @cakeswithfaces

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The blog covers inspiration, layout, what to include, and print options like paper weights and lamination, based on my experience of ordering lots of print for Cakes with Faces, and my other graphic design work. I’m a supporter of DIY (not the B&Q kind) so if you have your own small business, or need to design your own cards for whatever reason, take a look…

This is the third guest blog I’ve been invited to write for Printed.com – the first two were about trade shows for micro-businesses and taking your own product photos.

www.facebook.com/cakeswithfaces    Twitter: @cakeswithfaces

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The recipe is 5 pages long and covers how to make vegetable ramen with tofu, how to make the stock from scratch and cook the noodles and vegetables. The main recipe’s vegetarian, but there are instructions on how to adapt the recipe as you like it, including adding chicken if you’re a meat-eater. Just like the sushi comic, it features lots of cute characters and danger in the kitchen!

Issue 110 of NEO magazine hits the shops today – let me know how you get on with your ramen on Facebook or Twitter!

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