The simplicity of their design, the high quality of their products and the love with which they are made speaks straight to your heart.

I will talk some more about this company soon, but for now, let me show you some photos I took in their special exhibition event in Tokyo, at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku, from April 3rd to 5th.

If you had missed their exhibition in Harajuku, you can still be able to go to their event at Kitamura Photo shop Daikanyama Tsutaya during this week. They have several camera bags and straps, plus other goods that you can buy on the spot. Also, don’t miss their film photo exhibition “All you need is love”, with the collaboration of the members of the Hachigahana Photograph Club. Enjoy!!!

I hope you liked this post, I will keep talking about this company soon again, as it became one of my favourites. Don’t miss their exhibition if you are in Tokyo until April 15th!

Have a nice day!

It took me a lot of effort, but I read that whole story while my mum was washing the dishes… I felt sooooo happy that I didn’t want to stop reading. But guess what… I didn’t run to read another book, I run to get my notebooks and try to read what I wrote before. The thing is that I learn to write before I learn to read. I knew the alphabet and I could copy the letters. So, if my mum spelled a word to me, I could write it. That way I wrote lots of notes to myself, knowing I will be able to read them in the future. It was so fun to read my own messages from the past, things like “Someday I will grow up and do anything I want” or “I want to go to Japan” or “I wish to have a brazalete with water, glitter and plastic fishes inside”. My point is, that was the time, when I was only 4 years old, when I discover the magic of journaling.

I am keeping a diary (even I did not wrote everyday) since I was 6 years old. The first diary I had was so cute, made in Taiwan, with a really beautiful illustration of a girl with a hat and a pretty dress, talking on the phone in a red telephone box. When I moved to Japan 12 years ago I destroyed all my diaries, as I was too afraid they get lost and everybody discovers my secrets XD but I kept journaling a little bit on my schedule books. Many times it was just a sentence, sometimes I also draw something. Other times I glued there some tickets, photos or labels as a memento…

But as life sometimes is not that easy and you have days you really could use some selfconfidence, I decided to do the same as I used to do when I was little: write messages to myself to read in the future. I also wanted to improve drawing and wanted to draw something everyday. So, I started to look for a planner that could help me to do all of that, with enought space to write all my work and ToDo list. This is how I decided to start using the amazing planner called Hobonichi Techo.

I am a Hobonichi Techo user since 2015. It is an amazing Japanese planner. It is made with Tomoe River paper, one of my 2 favourite types of paper, that is very thin and light, but perfect for fountain pens and even watercolours!!! To write on that paper feels so good you don’t want to stop.

Hobonichi has several sizes and planner types. So far I used the original size (A6) and the Cousin (A5). I am currently using again A6. It also has a crazy amount of covers. There is always a cover perfect for everyone.

My Hobonichi original size

What I like the best about Hobonichi, besides the type of paper, is that the paper has a grid (yeaaaah!!!) and also you have a page for everyday. You have a year view, a monthly view, a weekly view and a page for everyday!!! That way you have plenty of space for your ToDo list, plans, work ideas, remembers, journaling and drawing. It is perfect for everything related to my work and personal appointments. My work doesn’t follow a regular schedule and I work in many different locations every week, so I am extremly careful about not making mistakes. I need to have everything very tied and organized. My Hobonichi helps me with that. I don’t know a better planner that this one for my personal needs.

And, thanks to Hobonichi, I met my best friend, April Wu. It is a crazy story of trust and true friendship that started on the internet. We had met in person first time 2 years ago, and since then so many other times, in Japan and Taiwan. April is an amazing and responsible person, so talented artist and very, very warm. If you check her blog or her Instagram account @penguinscreative you will fall in love with her journaling style and her gorgeous watercolours paintings.

Our friendship story was something Hobonichi company didn’t want to miss, and they interview us last January, while April was visiting Japan. Hobonichi headquarters in Tokyo are AMAZING. The office has a very warm atmosphere that really invites you to work with a very good attitude. We both liked it very much, like we didn’t want to leave the place, ha, ha, ha!!!

We both felt so honored to be interviewed for such an important company, with fans all around the world. The staff that works there are very nice and awesome people. It was, for sure, an experience we both will remember our whole life…

Don’t miss our interview titled “We made friends all around the world thanks to the Hobonichi Techo”, where we talk about our passion for Hobonichi and how we met each other…

Next April 27th Traveler’s Company will open their 3rd shop in Japan. Yeaaah!!! This one it will be at Tokyo station and the name of the shop is “Traveler’s Factory Station“.

Shop name : TRAVELER’S FACTORY STATION
Place : GRANSTA MARUNOUCHI in Tokyo Station
JR TOKYO STATION underground first floor, 1-9-1 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
From Monday to Saturday: 10:00～20:00h
Sundays and Public days: 10:00～21:00h

Besides the Traveler’s Factory regular products, you can find some exclusive products for this shop, including a brown/camel (can we call it caramel?) leather cover with the golden image of the Traveler’s train. The refills inserts have a gorgeous illustration of the Tokyo Station building. Other stationery goods are a set of letterpress stickers, washi tape, charms, cottong bags…

I am extremely happy as I had being invited to the pre-opening party today. The shop is very cool. So beautiful, full of small details in every corner. It has a very special charming atmosphere, like other Traveler’s Company shops. But this one has a very special personality…

Don’t miss the tour I had filmed showing products and details from the shop:

One of the most amazing parts: the wagon containers!!!

Again, thank you so much to Traveler’s Company team for all your work making us very, very happy!!! Thank you very much for letting me share this super special moment with all your team and bring it to all TN fans (^________^)

I hope you enjoy this post and stay tuned for more videos on the opening day on April 27th!!! ^________^

This post is about the Traveler’s Notebook Olive Edition. It is a limited edition and it is sold out at the moment, but Traveler’s Company said some more and on their way ^_________^

Green is my favourite colour, and olive green is the colour of adventure… I have been wishing (and asking XD) so long that Traveler’s Notebook makes some green covers. Here you are!!! It can not be more perfect!

Some people was expecting something more green, others expected something more dark… but the truth is that the shade of olive changes completely depending on the light. As my best friend April says, it has “50 shades of green”. She made a perfect review of the olive edition, so there is no point for me to write anything else. Please, check out her amazing review and photos on her blog here.

Personally, I am totally in love with this edition. I really enjoy all the different shades of the cover and the touch of the leather. I plan to use it when I go hiking, while my Blue edition will be more for city use. There is nothing more pleasant for me than sit down on the mountains (or in a mountain hut if it’s raining) and write or draw on a notebook… forget about your phone for a while and get lost on the pages… feel the kiss of the pen on the paper and transform your heart into words…

In case you missed my live videos on Facebook, I want to share them with all of you. I hope you enjoy them!

1. Arriving at Traveler’s Factory in Nakameguro

2. Waiting for the store to open

3. 20 minuts to open!!!

4. Buying the first Olive Edition sold at TFA

5. Shop atmosphere

6. And, finally, unboxing!!! (Sorry for the wrong position of the video, I have no idea how to fix it…)

Traveler’s Company makes the Traveler’s Notebook and other stationery items like brass products, kraft envelopes, spiral ring notebooks… it is a brand from the Japanese company Designphil.

The Traveler’s Notebook consists in two parts: the leather cover and the refill inserts. The leather cover is made in Thailand. It is available in black, brown and camel as a regular product. There were/are some limited editions in blue and olive green.

You can find the notebooks in 2 sizes: regular (H220×W120×D10mm) and passport (H134×W98×D10mm)

The regular size is my favourite, as it is 1/3 of an A4 and it is perfect for traveling pamphlets, airplane tickets, etc… It is a size that really invites you to write without intimidating. With that unsual shape you can archieve really interesting and practical layouts. Also, it is very comfortable to carry it with you everywhere.

The inserts are made in Japan with one of the two best papers in the whole world (well, at least, that is what I feel XD). It is a paper called MD, made by Midori company (also another brand from Designphil). Why do I assure it is one of the best papers in the world? Because its performance. You can write VERY smoothly with a fountain pen and the ink doesn’t bleed through. You can event paint sketches with watercolours and the paint doesn’t bleed through either!!!. The paper is strong and light at the same time. When you hear and touch the paper it feels like heaven.

And, wait to know about this: the inserts are replaceable. You can keep reusing the covers. They will become your sidekick and share many trips and memories with you. Forever!!! They will age beautifuly because of the high quality leather, while the inserts can be replaced any time you want. It is the simplest and quickest system in the world: using an elastic. That way you can carry several inserts with you all the time, replace them, remove them, add them and do anything you want.

As a stationery lover (I belong to a stationeryholics group XD) I had always the problem of finding notebooks with lovely covers but I didn’t like the inner pages. I am not just talking about the quality of the paper, it was also about blank paper, ruled paper (that I don’t use because I don’t like it, it cuts all my creativity flow), grid paper (my favourite)… everybody has different preferences. And it is very difficult to find a notebook that has a cover you love with the right type of paper inside. It never happend to me, as, for example, Moleskine has a very cool design but the regular editions have a poor performance with watercolours. Then, researching and researching, I started to use Traveler’s Notebook and all my problems were solved. I can do my journaling with a fountain pen in grid paper, allowing me to use watercolours without bleeding. FANTASTIC!

There are many, many, many types of inserts. There is also a blank insert with the other best paper in the whole world: Tomoe River. It is extremely thin paper, know also as Bible paper. It performs majestically with fountain pens and watercolours. Wonderful, thin and strong. There are inserts in several colour papers, kraft brown paper, black paper, sketch paper (be carefull, this one is not good for watercolours but perfect for pencil, colour pencils, markers, copics…), wax paper…

There are also available several types of diary inserts. With dates, free dates, montly, weekly…

Can a notebook be more awesome?

The design of the notebook can be customize. You can add charms, stickers, stamps, masking tape, folders… it is a non ending list of items from Traveler’s Notebooks. All of them with the traveling theme and a retro design that had touch the heart of many of us around the world in these 10 years that the company is making us to fly high and dream.

Thank you so much for your amazing work, Traveler’s Company…

I can’t wait to share with all of you my DIY tiny, cheap and high quality watercolours set that I made. I was looking for something very small, to be able to carry it everywhere, everyday. I found some sets, super tiny, but quite expensive. So, I decided to give it a thought and I came out with an idea that I hope it can help many of you. So, let’s get started! (^______^) Yeaaah!

1. First, I look for a container the size I wanted. I though that a box of mints or something like that will have the perfect size. In Japan, candy packaging has a style that did not help me this time, so I went to the 100 yen store and I bought this tin.

2. I needed containers for each color. I love tube watercolours and I already had them at home, so I looked for a type of container that could hold them. I found that the top part of the “buttons for cover” were perfect. They sell them in several sizes, so I got the most convenient for me.

3. I glued the tops of the buttons to the tin. I recommend to use SuperGlue.

4. I wait for the glue to dry and then I filled the little containers with tube watercolours. I love Holbein watercolours ^___^

5. I got a waterbrush from Kuretake. It is a brush that contains water on it’s body, so you can carry water with you easily. There are different brands and types. I found this wonderful post about waterbrushes that can help you decide which is better for you.

And that’s all, once the watercolours are completely dried, you are ready to go and have fun with your portable set everywhere, anytime!!! ^_____^

I hope this idea will be helpful. Please, feel free to ask me anything ^________^. See you soon!!!

Hugs,

Esther

If you have been looking for LoveFighters.com website during last months you probably found the website underconstruction.

Even it has been running from december, today I delight to introduce to all of you my new website:

www.esthermolina.net

It took me a while to build this new website together with my webmaster, photographer, adviser and wonderful friend Jessica Soto.

It was painful, very painful, to change the name of my website. But after talking and taking advice from several professional illustratrors and graphic designers, I follow their advice to use my name instead of a brand name.

It felt sad and it was difficult to change it because what the name Love Fighters means to me. I was at despair and in a very difficult situation, surrounded by problems in all the areas in my life when I decided, raising from the ashes of my soul, to turn the ying yang upside down. I got all that unbearable pain running through my veins and turn it into art. Art and love are the only things that can save our life. It help me a lot at that time. It gave strength, hope and meaning to my life. It resurrected me.

But now, luckily, I am in a veeery different situation. I made a path of decisions and actions that made my life truly happy. Things are wonderful and I enjoy every single day, every single moment. So, I had to let go the brand name, for good.

So, new name means new logo. It took me 5 months to create a perfect logo. Hundreds of papers with sketches and tests. Many logo ideas and designs. Crazy ones, lovely ones, funny ones… The last one I made was the perfect one. It turns to be a different version of the first one XD

I hope you guys like my new website. World, here I am!!! \(^o^)/

Recently these super cute felt animals, figures or accesories are everywhere and the ones for sale are not exactly cheap. So, I decided to squish my schedule and start to make them ^____^

Finally, I joined a needle felting class, which meets once a month, in Yokohama. The teacher is really good and she is a lovely person. She loves to make rabbits and cats, but she can make any animal we request. There are 3 ladies who are regular members of the class. One of them was making the last of a 3 owl family. Another was making a black cat and the other one started the body of a really cute standing brown bunny that looks like Peter Rabbit. It was very enjoyable to meet them.

Because it was my first attempt at felting I had to make a chicken. I am not especially a fan of chickens but for beginners it is a very good start. The teacher recommended that I cut the materials in half and make 2 chicks instead of a life size one. That way I could finish one during class time and practice at home making one more.

I started to follow the teacher’s instructions. I found them very easy, so I was thinking that the difficult part would start soon. But it didn’t!. I made the chicken very easily in a lot less time than I expected!. I was very surprised to find a super cute chicken in my hands after less than 2 hours of felting. I have to say that my teacher is a really good one, but also I found that felting is not difficult at all.

I pricked my finger once and it bled (and bled and bled XD…). It was a little bit painful, so I recommend that if you want to start needle felting, be careful with the needles. They are very sharp and also fragile. Use them carefully. I also think that is not a safe craft for young children. But I assure that felting is really satisfying and therapeutic (^___^)

I began my homework just after seeing a baby ducks picture on tumblr. It totally inspired me and made me create a baby duck instead of a chick.

I had some given merino wool roving at home (for needle felting we normally use merino wool). So I had the perfect colours to make a cute and fluffy duck. And I finished it in an hour or so. I was very very happy!!!

I am really excited to continue felting. I want to make realistic cats, dwarf hamsters, fliying squirrels… Keep online to see my progress!

I hope you will like my little friends and the postcard sets I am going to do with the pictures I take.

See you soon!,

Love,

Esther

The final result is really beautiful. Personally I love that material because I think it’s very intimate. When using a notebook it seems that we are creating illustrations just for ourselves, without any pressure or worries. In my case, sometimes it’s still a little difficult to give full freedom to my pencil without any rational instruction from my brain. This is why I thought that a Moleskine will help me to lose the fear of drawing.

So, I decided to buy a Moleskine to see what was truly inside me. The results were better than I expected. The fact that the notebook feels very special make it appealing to use and carrying it everywhere you go, regardless of it’s weight.

The weight of the paper and it’s quality helps to run the pencil over the page easily. I recommend drawing in a Moleskine to everyone, especially if you are suffering from a creativity block.

In my case, I bought a Sketch type Moleskine. The first drawing I made I painted it with very concentrated watercolors. It didn’t show through the page, so I drew something else on the back and I started to paint it also with watercolors. But in this case, the more diluted watercolor began to go through to my first drawing. I stopped immediately and I found myself forced to change to watercolor pencils. However, I had the same problem.

So, I have to say that watercolors are not a good choice for a Sketch Moleskine because they go through the paper if they are diluted normally.

Other things I notice that some artists may not like is that sometimes, when erasing the pencil strongly, the cream color of the pages fades away a little. And the most noticeable issue can be that when drawing across two pages you will always have a crease in the middle. But for me that is part of the beauty of drawing in a notebook.

Even with that problems, I am still like Moleskine so much.

I know that there are special Moleskine for watercolors, but I don’t like the size & format of these as much as the Sketch ones.

There are other companies that make the same type of notebooks with thicker paper that can support watercolors and inks. So, next time I’m going to try one of these. If somebody has any suggestions, please, let me know! ^__^ leave me a comment!

Love,

Esther

Can you imagine an awesome coloring book made up of wonderful doodle artists from all over the world? That is exactly what the Coloring Book Vol. 2 from Doodlers Anonymous is.

A compilation of doodles from 60 different artists from all four corners of the world. This coloring book can be enjoyed by people of all ages, it is not just for kids.

I still can’t believe my drawing was selected for this project! Is a real honor for me and a big dream come true. ^___^

I feel more than happy to see that somebody outside my circle of family and friends considered my drawing good enough to include it in this smart, cute, funny, original and unbelievable creative coloring book.

I can not say anything but thank you with tears of happiness in my eyes.

Love,

Esther

P.S. If you want one of these coloring books they send them worldwide. It can be paid with credit card or PayPal. Just click here!