sayonara 2010

new years in japan is a big deal. it's a family holiday, where traditionally everyone returns to their hometown, and gathers with their extended family for 3 days to eat, relax, visit the shrine. there are many customs and traditions, including especially food, but also new years cards, a big house cleaning, and these days bargain sales after new years. it's also 3 days of quiet, although also 3 days where every shrine is crowded! japanese new years is not a part of my own culture, although i am drawn to the idea of starting the new year fresh, which i feel is the basis for much of the japanese traditions. for example, you should clean your entire house from top to bottom to welcome the new year. i started a big cleaning, but am realizing that it's unlikely that i will be able to finish it.

so i am cutting myself some slack. i am not going to feel guilty about things that i can't quite finish when i wanted to. and, i am going to think about the month of january as a whole month of beginnings, for getting organized, accomplishing projects. for example my new years cards, which are also not ready in time for new years day! ahhh, honesty.

in 2010, i made some resolutions that i followed through on: joining a yoga class, a pottery class, and a hiking circle. these are all great, and i want to keep up with them somehow in 2011. and there are lots and lots of other things i want to do! about a million, perhaps. and i want to focus on being positive, and compassionate, and remembering to breath deeply. but as far as resolutions go, i want to start with getting a good night's rest every night. i think that, plus a little yoga, will make a huge impact on 2011.

both the photos in this post are from an amazing little cafe/bar that is part of a new design in a traditional sake brewery on shodoshima island, unfortunatly i can't remember the name!

what about you? any resolutions? or anti-resolutions?

happy new year's eve from snowy kyoto!

make your own cornstarch ornaments

make cornstarch ornaments, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

when i saw these in the flickr stream of jek in the box, they jumped out at me for their clear design and simple message.
after a few days looking at the pretty intense aftermath of a volcano (part of my research at the university), i was feeling ready for something just simple and sweet.
and the bonus is that these are actually made of cornstarch, and you can make your own with the recipe in the link!

creative wrapping

here's a handmade and reusable cloth wrapping project from arounna of bookhou on poppyalk (including a printing how-to).
and hello sandwich has a new zine all about wrapping!

happy swiss independance day

august 1st is swiss independence day. this photo is from flickr user syko and i love it because we had these same wooden cows growing up. we have wonderful swiss family friends, and i am very sure that visiting their house as a child inspired my love of architecture and design. in honor of swiss independence day, here are a few swiss-themed goodies from etsy.


photo from dewberry777


map and zurich airport code inspired art from apfelstrudel


switzerland earrings from love4rocks


keyrings from joosweetie


swiss stamp earrings from ergane


swiss postage stamp necklace by juanitas

happy 4th

Sparklers on the dock, originally uploaded by Emily ♥ Follow The White Rabbit.

for those of you celebrating the 4th of july in the united states, i hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend and some tasty potato salad.

for me, the 4th has always been a pretty mellow holiday, and being in japan i don't miss it so much. in grad school, when i was part of a international summer studio posse, it seemed like we would always wind up in asia for the 4th, taipei or china, and go to pizza hut to 'celebrate.' (sorry, i know pizza hut is gross and corporate, but until you've been a cheese-lover in asia, don't knock it!)

when i lived in seattle, we could see the fireworks from our front yard, which made for a nice yearly bbq party (ohh, i do miss bbq, or 'grilling out' as we say where i'm from).

in college in portland, mostly i think we watched fireworks from roofs of warehouses, or later the roofs of people's apartment buildings.

when i was a kid, we usually stayed home for the 4th, with some small fireworks in the backyard. i always was fascinated by the smoke snakes (cobras? is that what they were called?). and of course we had sparklers, and tried to write our names with the light before they burned out.

i love this photo from emily follow the white rabbit on flickr. when i was a kid, we didn't have time lapse photography, and the image only lasted as a memory of your eye.

but the key is, when someone hands you a sparkler, you have to move! wave it around, make circles, run around barefoot in the grass with the fireflies and crickets in the backround.

children's day and koi nobori

in japan, the 1st week of may is called golden week, because of all the holidays a row. school and business close, and it's a popular time for vacations. may 5th is children's day, and families fly these koi nobori or carp flags. cities also fly them in larger numbers, like the photo above.
and, if you want to make your own tiny koi nobori, craftershock shows you how.

happy easter

i love traditions. as i get older, i realize this more and more. maybe part of the reason is a deep down longing for things to be in order, to progress according to plan (for all my apparent cavalier wandering here and there, i am a tiny bit neurotic). i especially love holiday traditions, the idea of doing a certain thing on a certain day, and of course there should be a craft project involved! in my family, we always dyed eggs using the ukrainian wax resist method, pysanky. the photo above is this traditional style from learn pysanky, where you can also, you guessed it, learn how to make your own.

last month, design sponge featured this technique too with simple directions from the bbb craft sisters.

i am not sure where my mom picked up this craft (perhaps her two crafty aunts who featured prominently in many crafting tales? some local european?) but it was our tradition as long as i can remember, along with hanging the eggs on a pussy willow 'egg tree', and hunting for boiled eggs dyed with paas. and making and wearing bunny ears headbands/crowns.

here is a brilliant project of felted eggs on stitch/craft via whip up. holly's clever idea was to make felted eggs by wrapping wool roving around a plastic egg, which leaves the inside hollow. smart. probably many feltmakers have tried making felt eggs; last year i made them, and tried dying them along with regular eggs. the dye worked fine, but it took forever for them to dry, since they were solid felt balls! holly used roving which was already dyed, but someday i want to try this with white wool, but put a little weight inside the plastic eggs, and then dye the felt eggs.

last year i also created this woven felt basket, with was designed for a flower girl basket but would be perfect for easter. i really enjoyed that project, and not just because it was for my friend's wedding, and an adorable flower girl, but also because it's so fun to work with craft felt.
but these easter baskets are the best ever! sweet things grew her own easter grass right in the baskets. wonderful.

this morning, after sleeping in and waking up late to a beautiful sunny warm sunday, i sat for a moment in the doorway to my balcony. i missed one of my most favorite traditions--lazy sunday mornings, friends gathering for breakfast, sitting on the porch in the sun, sharing sections of the sunday paper, and drinking lots of coffee.

i hope you enjoy the day, whatever big or little traditions you have, or just a lovely sunday.

happy chinese new year

sunday was chinese new year
which i realized when i stepped out of a store in kobe's central shopping area...
and came almost literally face to face with this dragon!

wishing you a healthy and prosperous year of the tiger!

a few crafts in progress

here are a few little crafty projects i've been working on. i copied these reindeer from the muji lego christmas set.
more sashiko--maybe one of these days i will be able to show you this project finished!and some christmas ornaments, made with washi making tape (it's addictive, i can't stop!) and using the pattern from twig and thistle.

more awesome holiday felt inspiration

an amazing felt wreath, by pickles, via whip up.

more beautiful work by littleloveblue, whose felt garland project is featured on the storque this week.
and a lovely collection of scandinavian holiday crafts (some including felt) found by themayberrysparrow.

actually, the danish hearts by pingvina of copenhagen are a craft project that we always did in my family when i was a kid, and one of the projects that i will be sharing with my english students this week!

a little holiday sashiko work in progress

a few designs i've been working on, i'm loving the dark navy linen background for sashiko thread.so far i think i like these trees, that are made up of lines rather than outlines,

and this snowflake turned out ok, maybe next time i'll do it less free form and draw out the the design first.

i have plans to turn these designs into ornaments, i'll show you how they turn out.

december and advent calendars

very clever match box advent calendar from sweet paul, via whip up
from crafty nest

whip up also has a collection of the top 30 advent calendars

and there's a craft crowy round up too.

a few holiday flickr favorites

felt gingerbread ornament from cozy memories,
sweet dove ornaments by whimsy and charm,
and not for sale, but lovely cross stitch by pigeon pair.

thankful

i'm thankful to have this chance to live in japan, and for the many opportunities that i am so very lucky to have.

i'm thankful for my wonderful friends and family, and the ability to keep in touch and feel close to people that i care about, even though i am thousands of miles away.

today it's thanksgiving day in the u.s., and for those of you who celebrate it, i hope you have a lovely time gathered with family or friends to share a special meal.

i had a little mini vacation this week (i'm thankful that i have the freedom to do that too!) filled with local sightseeing, cooking and learning and eating, shopping and maple leaf viewing, and more eating, and even a japanese thanksgiving dinner! and i will tell you all about it soon, i promise, as soon as i get caught up on a few things around here.

independent designer events, seattle and toronto

are you in seattle?

check out design shoppe, the one night only pop up show of JOIN:Design Seattle, which features work by local designers, and benefits join and nest seattle.

or perhaps you are in toronto?
bookhou will be at the one of a kind show which runs from nov. 26th through dec. 6th, along with many many other designers.

tanabata

tanabata is a summer holiday in japan, celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month (traditionally of the lunar calendar). the story of tanabata is of 2 lovers, orihime a weaving princess (the star vega) and hikoboshi a cowherd (the star altair), who are separated by the milky way, and only allowed to meet once a year on this day. complete wikipedia info here.

bamboo trees are hung with paper strips with wishes written on them, the image above is from this site which shows how to make some of the tanabata paper crafts (sorry it's japanese only).

happy 4th

Frustrated Firecracker, originally uploaded by wildolive.

for everyone in the u.s., i hope you are having a nice 4th of july weekend.

you can print out and make your own version of this firecracker decoration by using the instructions at http://wildlolive.blogspot.com. (it's under the july 2008 printables).

i don't really mind missing the 4th of july, but i do miss grilling out (as those of us from my part of the midwest call it), and backyard barbeques, potato salad, and deviled eggs.

muji mustache bags

do you need a cotton drawstring bag with a mustache on it? perhaps if you think about it for a bit, you will realize that you do!

muji (my most favorite store in japan) has them for father's day, and i have them in my store.

corned beef and cabbage

happy st. patrick's day! i had a little early luck o' the irish last weekend, when i happened be in portland for some friends' early st. patrick's day dinner. (a little head's up for vegetarians: there's a pretty meaty image at the bottom of this post). there were 2 kinds of soda bread, plain and the 'american' version with caraway seeds and raisins. both delicious.

by the way, i just saw the soda bread recipe on CRAFT, which i definitely want to try.
cabbage and potatoes, of course!and corned beef!
yum.

girls' day in japan

march 3rd is girls' day in japan, celebrated with special food and doll displays. the photo above, with the full display on 7 stairs, is from ping magazine, which also has a great and in depth explanation about the dolls and the culture of the festival.and this bag was made by the super nice and talented seamstress jacqui of mee a bee. and she's giving it away! check out her blog for the details.