Page 225 – the long thread

July 24, 2008July 24, 2008

Kawaii

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.

July 21, 2008

Terrarium

We’ve been meaning to make a terrarium for a while now, but when I found this glass dome in the attic, it seemed like a good time to try. I couldn’t quite find the right container, but we used a pot that we had around the house. I just filled it with these water-absorbing rocks from a pet store, then a layer of dirt, then the plants and some rocks and moss. These instructions were helpful. There’s also a little three-legged ceramic dog in there too. He was an attic find as well. I made sure that I used all tropicals since the closed dome will trap the humidity. I’d love to make an open terrarium with succulents next.

July 19, 2008July 19, 2008

Etsy Finds Friday

So it’s a day late. Spending FIVE AND A HALF HOURS at the city building permit office kind of threw off my schedule yesterday.

Here are the Etsy finds for this week:

Apricot Top, $120 from larime loom: handwoven italian treats.

The Market Bag in Rosewood Cord, $93 from moop.

Eco-Friendly Ginkgo Wedding Invitation, sample set $3.80 from vreeland design.

4 Prints to Motivate, set of four 8″x10″ prints from Orange Beautiful, $40.

Peace in the Garden archival print, 7.5″ x 10″, $20 from Betsy Thompson.

One-Inch Gold Hoops,$22 from Classic Designs.

Shake Me Flower Eco Baby Rattle from EcoLeeko, $16.

Pyrex bowl set from White Elephant Vintage, $65 for set of 4.

Vintage Flower Power Suitcase, $17 from DomestiKate.

July 17, 2008July 17, 2008

Princess Leia Necklace

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:

July 16, 2008

Fabric Calling

This fabric is calling to me, but I’m in the process of moving my sewing room and cleaning out the house so it will have to wait. I plan to make some new pillows to brighten up our den. This fabric is from the Drawing Room collection by Anna Maria Horner (loving that new line that’s coming out soon, by the way). I bought this fabric from Contemporary Cloth.