I handed my kids some floral clay today and they made these bead sculptures. This stuff doesn’t dry, so these can be taken apart and the clay can be reused. I think the one in the photo above looks like the everlasting gobstopper in the Willy Wonka movie.
The girls have been very interested in fairies this summer since we’ve been reading one of these fairy books. So we made some fairy wings today from this Halloween video tutorial at threadbanger. I clipped the hangers a bit to make them smaller and we could have used knee-high pantyhose since the wings were so small. Oh, and I used masking tape instead of twine to make sure there wouldn’t be any wires poking the kids. We also added a flower to the back of each set of wings and used another flower for a wand. The girls added the glitter and glue (lots of it).
I have discovered that the key to making crafts with kids is proper preparation. That didn’t work out so well on this project. The girls were sitting around while I did the wire bending and then they got out the pantyhose and pulled a hole in one (very difficult to sew pantyhose). But they’ve been enjoying their new wings all afternoon.
Pictured above: sticker sheet from little apple crafts, $4.75. Animal Mascot book, $35 from Purl.
If you read craft blogs all the time like I do, you are no doubt familiar with the term kawaii. It refers to the cuteness that seems to be embedded in Japanese pop culture. Think Hello Kitty and all things adorable. Now the term zakka confuses me a bit because it seems to encompass many things, but this definition from wikipedia captures some sense of it. As I understand it, zakka is a simple style of handmade functional objects that bring beauty to your life and home.
Japanese culture is somewhat of an enigma to me. My husband is always pointing out music that is oddly popular in Japan. For example, musical relic Boz Scaggs is big in Japan (this link is to a Japanese man singing a karaoke Boz Scaggs song because I thought it was funny). Another strange phenomenon is that Japanese tourists have stopped our family on several occasions to look at our children and/or take pictures with them. We can’t quite figure it out, but we need to take the girls to visit Japan so they can feel like rock stars.
I digress. Here are some great places to look for cute Japanese stuff (kawaii). And these coveted Japanese craft books are so beautiful — who cares if you can’t read them?
From Japan with Love: Etsy shop with a huge selection of stickers, stamps, fabric and notions.
good-ness: Etsy shop featuring books, fabric, stamps, gocco supplies, etc.
kitty-craft: books, fabric, supplies.
superbuzzy: fabric, notions, supplies, etc.
nuno plus: fabric, bags, craft supplies.
Karaku: Etsy fabric shop.
little apple crafts: Etsy shop featuring stickers and craft supplies.
Just trying to keep the troops entertained around here. Perhaps this was a bad parenting decision, but we’ve been letting the girls watch Star Wars. I feel sorry for my husband being surrounding by females (even the cat). I do worry about the violence in the movie, but I think it’s one of those “I did it when I was a kid and turned out fine” things. Of course, we also rode in the back of station wagons with no seat belts. Whatever. So today we made a “Princess Leia Necklace” with tin foil, string and glue. See, like this one:
Let me count the ways. This little contraption is pretty amazing. I’m helping with a wedding party this weekend, so I got out the Gocco and printed some paper napkins….
and a hand towel….
and etched these wine glasses.
