eat your local veggies

i just discovered the amazing work of illustrator claudia pearson via design sponge.
claudia has an etsy shop full of wonderful goodies, including this buy local design above, and a coloring book version.
she also has done more food and veggie inspired work, like this print. i recommend you visit her website and shop and blog, it's all great.

these are part of a lovely series of bowls molded on vegetables by mischer'traxler, via craft.
the matching color is an great added touch!

and, if you are growing your own vegetables, susan at west coast crafty is giving away a copy of the sunset western garden book of edibles, and a copy of
growing vegetables west of the cascades. (this book is one of my absolute favorites, and a must have for any gardener in the pacific northwest, in my humble opinion). susan also did a review of these books for craft.

organic fabric givaway

here is another fantastic givaway in honor of earth day--organic fabric from 12 different designers.
details on whipup, or on daisyjanie.

happy earth day

in honor of earth day, mayamade is giving away a few lovely items. go leave a comment for a change to win!

abundance by mizu designs

i've been a fan of mizu designs for a while, and i am loving her new mixed media work with sumi ink drawings and japanese washi paper.
here's a detail of the same piece, entitled abundance. the theme definitely resonates with how i've been feeling recently, like my life is so very full there's no time for even blogging!

but mainly i love the materials. i've been playing with some washi paper i bought last week, designing some light fixtures. and also i've been learning a little tiny bit of japanese calligraphy, using sumi ink.
you can get a peek into kylie's studio on her blog. and her mixed media work as well as other prints are for sale at http://mizudesigns.etsy.com.

sakura

springtime in japan means cherry blossoms!
i haven't had time to post about all the crafty things i would like to recently, so for now here's a cherry tree in bloom. and i promise i will be back soon; i have lots more to share with you!

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.

lego and paper sets are back

after a few months, the wonderful lego and paper sets from muji are back in my shop. shown here: the lego punch; the fairy tale set (little red riding hood); the original set (dragon); and the bright colors set. i've posted before about the bright colors set; the lego paper punch; and the orginal and christmas sets.

and for lego enthusiasts, i've also stocked this fun lego theme fabric.

bright and green

i've been drawn to this fabric every time i see it, and now it's finally in the shop! i love the feeling of the print, somehow it reminds me of scandinavian textiles, and i love how the animals are abstracted. i think another reason why i like it so much is also the bright colors, especially all the green.
it's hard to be patient when it seems like spring is just around the corner...but hiding. and this year i'm so excited about my little garden which makes it that much harder to wait. but remember the mini sunflower kit i bought? they came up! actually now the leaves are fully open, but this picture is from last week. and it still kind of feels like magic, that moment when the first green appears from the ground.
since my strategy for my first garden in kyoto is simply to buy the starts when they are for sale, it's a surprise every time i go to the garden store. last weekend was eggplants and tomatoes already. the good thing is that everywhere here delivers, including big bags of potting soil and planters. the bad news is that i have to wait until friday...i hope these little guys can hang on for a few more days in their tiny pots. and today it even snowed while i left them outside on the balcony!
this strawberry (and the honey in the jar) came from the handmade market at kamigamo jinja on sunday.

ok spring, you can come out now!

far far away

i've added this wonderful fabric to the shop. it's from the far far away line designed by heather ross for kokka. the fabric is a cotton double gauze, which is super soft, and the images are so lovely. (i have a thing for fairy tales). thankfully, athough i may not always get quite as much sleep as i would like, unlike this princess, there is nothing under my futon that keeps me awake.
there are unicorns too! who doesn't like unicorns?
and frog(princes). cotton double gauze is great for summer, and i've also been thinking about using a little bit of this fabric for baby bib...maybe the frogs?

higashiyama in kyoto

earlier this week i walked around the back streets of higashiyama. plum trees were blooming.
the area between gion and higashiyama is one areas where you can see maiko in traditional clothes and makeup.

march handmade market at chionji

these little guys are made of felt, and are sooo cute!
the same artist needle felted these animals on to fabric items.
they actually sell their works in a combination zakka/cafe/bonsai shop, it sounds awesome, i think i need to check it out.
and i love these pins made from reusing fabric with japanese traditional family crests, or komon.

little envelopes

last weekend i made these little envelopes using origami paper, and this mini envelope template from muji, which i've also listed in my shop.
it was so gratifying just to make something, a quick project using my hands.
i still love brown kraft paper too, especially for using with cute japanese washi masking tape.
also, i tried printing with white ink on some brown waxed paper envelopes i picked up last week,
which i also really love combined with masking tape. they are not in the shop yet, but may make it there soon...

gardens and caterpillers

i have plants on my balcony! parsly and oregano,

lettuce,
and rosemary! this weekend was warm and sunny, and the perfect time to start my balcony garden, which i've been day dreaming about for the last week or so.
i found this adorable mini-sunflower growing kit at a 100 yen shop last week,
and i love the look of these veggie growing containers from muji, just burlap covered plastic.

and here are the caterpillers! the very hungry caterpiller, that is. available on blue, in my shop.if you want to start your own plants from seed, there was feature by ashley on design sponge last week. having grown up in the country, with a whole room in our house that was full of seed starting trays for several months every spring, i've never been that careful with calculating or planning. and once i moved away to college, and started several new gardens at several new houses, i also learned to appreciate the easiness of working from starts. but now that i am starting a new container gargen in kyoto, i realize that i don't know the growning season here, or the microclimate on my south facing balcony. my strategy is pretty basic: 1) i'm going to quiz everyone i know who gardens, and 2) i'm going to just buy plants when the starts are sold, which is a pretty good indication that it's the right time to set them out. there is also a lot of container gardening here, and i'm excited to try out some local varieties and see what happens!

new washi masking tape patterns

new washi paper masking patterns, just added to my shop.
i don't know which one is my favorite...although i am leaning towards the argyle.

february kamigamo jinja handmade market-part 2 felt and textiles

the work of very talented feltmaker, from scarves to tiny leave sprouts.
and a different feltmaker who specialized in life-sized cats!! not really my style, but i have to her points for dedication to an idea. also, i saw someone carrying one of these cats when i was waiting for the bus, so...maybe it's successful?woven, sewn, spun and dyed. yay for multiple fiber arts!
cute bags with detail appliques; so japanese.
steel furniture upholstered with upcycled textiles, nice.

by the way, all my market photos are on flickr.