Much Love Monday

I have been considering my love of the bento box, but seeing as I am able to take my meals at home, I do not ever prepare any. Still, I would like to make these wonderful bento box magnets by Annelore Parot, who has created many other fun things kawaii. The magnets were my inspiration behind my first draft of a bento box button book. Here is an image of the idea, with hama beads and buttons from minitoko:

I got the idea to make a button book a while back after reading Margaret Ooman's post - inspired in turn by elsita's Little Red Book of Happy Things. I found some buttons that looked like an unlacquered bento box, and then cut out an accordion of hearts, and drew a gold-dot border around each single heart (I really dig unibal's signo gold pen - and all of the signo line, because they are waterproof!). I sketched the bento dishes I wanted to include before drawing them into the hearts.
As I looked online for text to write on the reverse, I found a post called Thinking Outside the Bento Box, which is about how bento box design can inspire a better presentation of ideas on web pages. Because the pictures of my button bento box book are so blurry, I typed the text into the image below, click twice to enlarge. I really ought to get a better digital camera (i.e. stop using the one on my cell phone).
And speaking of bento and ways of visual conceptualisation, apparently John Berger (who penned Ways of Seeing, did you watch the tv series?) has just written a book called Bento's Sketchbook (but not about bento boxes, but about Benedict - or Bento - de Spinoza).
I love the ideas that arose as a result of making my button bento box book, and hope that you have found food for thought in this post. Happy Much Love Monday!

Elements: envelope, scallops and tape: pugly pixel;

magazine images in background: Marie Claire Idees;

ostrich sans font via Lula Louise available at The League of Moveable Type.