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!

cute stamps, animals and letters

i was inspired by the stamps my friends got excited about (see the earlier post) to finally add alphabet and number stamps to my shop! can't believe it took me so long.
i love love love these cursive stamps.
and new baby animals

and new totoros!

happy mother's day, and tiger babies

my mom is for sure a big reason why i love crafts. when my brother and i were little she always made sure that there were art supplies available to us all the time, and made us homemade playdoh and potato stamps. i learned many crafts from her directly, like sewing and knitting. my mom is the kind of crafter (and compulsive teacher) who is interested in almost any craft activity and wants to try it herself. from her, i picked up the idea i could replicate (almost any) crafty project i see, and that of course handmade gifts are best!
so when several of my friends became mothers for the 1st time this spring, of course i wanted to make handmade presents for their babies. i used japanese kimono tops (so soft, and so practical and easy to tie), and did a little handmade stamping. since these babies were all both in the year of the tiger (2010) i reused my tiger cub stamp from my new years cards, and added some bamboo.
the bamboo stamp was really fun to do, making different combinations of the leaves and stalks. of course i used the wonderful stamp carving material available here in japan, which i also have in my shop.
here's what the stamps looked like.

come to think of it, my mom was also a champion card maker with lino prints from back in the day. i bet she would enjoy rubber stamp carving.

what about you? what crafts did you learn from your mom or enjoy together?

happy mothers day!

stamps shop update

these are the newest addition to the rubber stamp section in my shop, they come in a little tin,
and several different sets,
although all 3 have a delicate french feeling.
also there are christmas stamps!
and snowflakes,
and doves, which are duet stamps, which means that they are a set with one stamp making the outline, and another stamp to fill in the color within the outline.

i also love these little cooking theme stamps,

and ok, the baby animals are maybe the cutest!
these set of lace patterns are the ones i've been using to print on the cards i send out with my orders, i've been printing them with white ink on brown kraft paper.
there's also a lace stamp in the anique set of the matchbox set series.
and these hobby stamps are back in stock,
along with the popular park set,
and the downtown victorian houses! they are all in the shop for now.

mini craft books

recently, i have been loving little japanese craft books, almost more like booklets. as you can guess they are smaller than regular craft books, but can have some adorable and useful projects in them, nonetheless! this one is about making felt flowers using needle felting.
it has simple instructions (with photos, patterns, and diagrams of course) showing how to make the petal shapes for different flowers, and how to then put the flowers together. flickr set here.

this little book is full of patterns for hand carved stamps, which are quite a popular craft in japan.the designs are all simple, but they are very cute. flickr set here.
and this little book is a glossary of crochet stitches (don't be fooled by the english word knitting on the cover), including symbols, photos, and how-to diagrams for 60 stitches. so useful when i was trying to learn beginning crochet and japanese charting at the same time! flickr set here.

i just added these 3 little books to my shop. although the stamp design one has sold out, more copies will be on their way, and as always i can reserve one just for you.

totoros part I

look! cute little totoro stamps! this set of 4 come with their own stamp pad, in a little case.
and this one has 2 totoros with dandelion seeds. these stamps are all in my etsy shop, and there is more totoro cuteness on the way for tomorrow...

stamps, lovely stamps

i found these stamps last week, and brought them home with me. this is the park set, 13 stamps on wooden blocks. i put them in my shop, but many of them have sold before i could tell you about them here!
victorian building 'downtown' set of 13 wooden stamps. but never fear, i will have them back in stock in no time. and of course, you can contact me directly if you want to reserve a set.
these little matchbox sets of 2 are also so sweet. matryoshka.
sewing.
and sweden, that's a dalahast horse and 'tack' which is swedish for thanks.