New Year New Website

Hello and welcome to the first Hanami Monthly Blog Post of the Year!

In this monthly blog post, I will:

• talk about the new website look!

• introduce you to daruma dolls

• let you know about the epic sale now on

• and do a little new year's tarot reading

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New year, new website... at least, a new look to the website!

In my first blog post, I mentioned the accidental rushed start to Hanami Monthly. I wasn't ready. It wasn't ready... and then I went and launched it anyway. I was kind of ashamed of it, and had no hope from the start, which isn't good for a website that cost so much (oops).

I have had one sale though! Which isn't so bad... considering!

This year, I want to fix it though. I want a website that I can be proud of. One that I can truly direct customers to, and actually enjoy writing for.

So far, I'm really happy with the re-design! I hope others like it too!

I also have new plans for the blog! Before, it was just aimless rambling about things I had done that month. A bit dull and boring tbh. Who is reading this to know I went to Alton Towers?

So, from now on, Hanami Monthly will have columns! Like a newspaper! I'll cycle through different ones each month, so I'm never stuck to one topic and you guys also get to enjoy something a little different.

This month? Well this month you get all this rambling about the website, but also an introduction to daruma dolls, a tarot reading, and I get to advertise my 'Super Big Sale'.

Let's start with the Super Big Sale to get it out the way...

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The Super Big Sale is my New Year's Sale!

Since I was working on the website in January, it is coming a little late... however! Lunar New Year is on February 17th in 2026. Which is why, this still counts as a New Year's Sale!

Running from January 20th to February 20th!

In Japan, New Year's means Fukubukuro! Or 'Lucky Bags'. At shops, these are mystery bags, often loaded with products that didn't sell out in the year before. Some shops also like to include new products too!

Myself? I do a mix of old and new.

With a lucky bag, you are sure to get a good deal! You'll often find the value of the contents to be way higher than the price of the bag.

Which is what I'm offering this year!

The Ita Bag Lucky Bag is available too! Pick your favourite of the three available ita bags, and get a special lucky bag included.

Of course, I've also got some lower prices on other items. Make sure you shop the deals whilst you can!

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In Japan, New Year's isn't just about sales and lucky bags... but also setting new goals!

A tradition in Japan, at the start of the year, is to colour in the eye of one daruma doll when you set a goal. In doing so, he daruma only has one eye!

So, in order to get another, it encourages you to achieve your goal and brings you luck. By the end of the year, the daruma should have both eyes, and you will have succeeded!

There is a temple in Japan that burns last year's daruma dolls during a ritual. Whether you achieved your goals or not, this releases them, allowing you to set a new goal with a new doll.

Some, though, like to keep their achieved daruma. By placing it with your new one, it can be used to bring extra luck and encouragement.

I like to keep my daruma, but I also tend to set goals that take longer than a year to reach.

I was first introduced to daruma when my mum returned for Japan. She had brought one back for me as a souvenir, and I was so drawn in by their adorable angry faces. When planning my own visit to Japan, in 2021, I found a workshop where you could paint your own daruma!

My handpainted daruma use the very same blank daruma, as I ordered them from the same company (shoutout to Happy Daruma). I wanted to make sure that my daruma were made from the same materials, even if I had no plans to burn them (see disclaimer below).

You can also paint your own daruma by buying one of the kits I offer! The blanks are the same as the ones I use, so you know they're authentic. Imported all the way from Japan! What better way to encourage your success than painting your very own daruma?

Disclaimer: if you buy one of my handpainted daruma, please don't burn it! Not just because I put a lot of work into them, or because they are beautiful, but because I used an epoxy lacquer spray to give them a glossy top coat. Preserve your lungs and the environment, by keeping yours on your shelf.

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Now that's out of the way, time for a tarot reading to start off the year!

To introduce my deck, I use the Modern Witch Tarot. I like this deck, because it has a heavy focus on positive introspection! A more encouraging way of reading tarot, it is hard to get a negative card... unless you get the ten of pentacles inverted. Everyone offer condolensces to my uncle, for he has bad luck on the horizon.

As I am only a tarot hobbiest, I will stick to doing a 3 card draw for this new year's draw! For me, I tend to go by past, present, and future.

So, together, let's see what 2026 will bring!

Firstly! I shuffle my cards. Then I ask for the person I am reading for to do the same. After that, I split the deck, and ask them to do the same.

From there, it is the top three cards laid out...

So, what does the past tell us...

For the past, I drew the Queen of Pentacles. In the modern witch tarot, the Queen of Pentacles represents someone who provides a comforting nature. Perhaps in the past, you have always sought to be give others reassurances and bring them kindness.

Or perhaps you have had someone in your life doing this for you.

Moving on the the present...

The Present brings us the Six of Wands inverted. I interpret reversed cards as having some opposite traits to the original meaning. Sometimes it can bring drastic changes, but other times I read only subtle ones.

Originally, the Six of Wands is about victory and success. It is about achieving something and revelling in it. With the card being inverted, I can read it two ways. The first is that you achieved something, but are not feeling the sense of accomplishment you thought you would. The second, is that you have not yet managed to achieve your goal yet.

Whichever way it is read, I would say that the cards are recognising that there is no feeling of success right now, which can be very hard. However, that doesn't mean to give up! The Six of Wands is right there! Keep trying!

The future...

Brings another reversed card!

The Eight of Swords shows someone stuck and trapped, blindfolded so they can't see any hope of escape. Despite this, the ropes that bind them are loose. It would only take a little work to break free.

I interpret the inverted version to suggest that the future will bring something that will feel like a struggle, and that may make you feel trapped. In the end, though, you can see your way out. It's about having the strength to go forth and fight.

So, if your future brings you some difficult moments. Don't let yourself sit back and take it. Perhaps you will see help available, so reach out and ask for it.

Overall, I think this draw tells us that the New Year will bring us struggles, just as the last. Whilst you may have focused on kindness in the past, perhaps now it is time to work on moving forwards in your own life too.

Maybe that's why the 'present' didn't bring that feeling of success. If the 'present' were the turn of the new year, perhaps you didn't feel a sense of accomplishment after 2025. When the clock struch midnight, marking the start of 2026, maybe you struggled to think positively of the previous year.

That being said, the 'future' is telling us that even with so much ahead, with so much weighing us down... this is only the beginning of the new year! So let's keep fighting! And maybe we'll find that success we missed out on in 2025.