日本へのお手紙

インターネットが普及した今、全く手紙を書く事がなくなってしまったけれど、手紙を送る相手の事を考えて便せん封筒を選ぶのは楽しいな〜って思います♪

かぎ針編みでかわいいアイディアを発見したので、試してみました。下手くそですが、
よい気晴らしになります＾＾

上手な方のお手本はこちら↓
Margaret Oomen's Little Urchin Crochet Covered Sea Stones

ピオニー

たまたま立ち寄ったVonsでピオニーを発見。５本で＄５なんて安い〜！

前はたまたま立ち寄ったAlbertson'sでラナンキュラスを見かけた事もあるし、
思いもよらずスーパーで可愛いお花を見つけると嬉しくなっちゃいます。

DIYしたChalkboardも入れてパチリ。チョークアートはEat Drink AND BE Merry!のお手本をインターネットで検索して描いてみました♪

描いてすぐ消せるのでまたチャレンジしようと思います。

ちなみにピオニーは、日本語で西洋牡丹と呼ばれるようです。なるほど〜。この大きな花びらと色がとっても美しくてロマンチックと思います。

クラフト Chalkboard パート２ / Upcycling Old Tray!

 

古い銀のトレイを探しにGoodwillに行って来ました。トレイの他にも可愛いデザインの カップとコップを激安でゲットしてハッピ〜♪　この写真の四角いトレイは１．９９セント、それ以外は一つ９９セントでした。

飲用には使えないので、工夫をして他の用途に使おうと思っています。

こちらが今回のクラフト用に探していたトレイ。この面をペインとしていきます。

このマーサ・スチュワート のChalkboardのペイントを使いました。

一度塗りだと下地が見えるので、時間を置いて３度塗りしました。

完成〜♪　これにチョークで字や絵を描いていきます。

まだまだチョークアートの腕はないので、色々リサーチして練習したいと思いま〜す。

Goodwill最高♪

Rustic Wreath / ウエディングギフト

ここ数日、３０度を超える真夏のような日が続いているロサンゼルス。
夜は涼しくて過ごしやすいので嬉しいです♪

週末はUniqueLAに久しぶりに行って来ました。毎回出展数が増えているUniqueLAから、
まだまだ目が離せません。

Uber daysのKaoriさんとAlexさんが新しくベビー用のアパレルブランド、Belly Sesametと、

Tiny Modernismを立ち上げられたので、ブースに遊びに行って来ました。

お二人のセンスが活かされた、モダンなオシャレな商品が光っていて素敵〜☆

次回のベビーのギフトはこちらの商品に決定です＾＾

下の写真ですが、ここ最近の週末はクリエイティブ三昧しています。

幼馴染みが５月末に結婚するので、スピーチを頼まれたのですが、出席出来ないため、ビデオレターを代わりに送って〜と頼まれたので、ビデオの撮影＆編集をしたり、お祝いにカップル二人のイニシャルが入ったリースを作成しました。

つり下げるワイヤーが近くで見るとばればれですが、遠目で見ると見えないので良いとします。彩ちゃんおめでとぉ〜♪　先週送ったので、結婚式前には間に合うと思う〜＾＾；

こちらが参考にしたDIYビデオです↓

How to Make a Rustic Wreath

Welina Candle

I finally finished designing a logo and a business card for Welina. "ECO + LOVE + PEACE" is their brand message and they promise their customers to deliver products that are made with good intention for people, environment, and society. Welina's first product is a line of handmade soy candles (seven colors and scents available). I am using the candles at home and depending on my mood, I choose different scents to enjoy. They all smell very pleaseant but so far "Slice of Fruit" is my favorite. The candles are currently available only through Welina. Contact: sales@welinaoc.com

***** Wedding Dolls *****

I made it in time! After researching about polymer clay and polymer clay dolls online, I was able to put together these two dolls. Big thanks to those polymer clay artists! I baked the dolls for about 10 minutes after the shaping was done. Then I did the decorations using a pre-packaged wedding theme stickers. I followed the advices by those artists to use aluminum foil to form most of the core body parts to save clays so I still have lots of left over clays to make more dolls : ) Hope my cousin and her husband will like the dolls on their special day.

UNIQUE LA at LAB in Costa Mesa on Aug14th&15th, 2010

If you are into design & craft, you should visit the Lab in Costa Mesa this weekend. They are having an event called UNIQUE LA / Independent Design & Gift show.

I have been working on a craft project with my friends and we would like to have a booth for our products at this event soon. I have been to their December show before and it was inspiring. All the things are made locally by local artists. I am going to update more images from the event*

Polymer Clay Wedding Dolls

My little cuisine is getting married this September. Unfortunately I am not able to attend the wedding but I really want to do something nice for her wedding to show my love to her and her husband. She asked me if I can make a "Welcome Board" for their reception party and my answer was "Of course!". She said that her older brother didn't want to do it although he is pretty good at drawing (he is a graphic designer and he designed and made a scull motif motorcycle for his graduation exhibition!)

I don't have two kids like him so decided to make dolls of bride and groom as well as the welcome board. Here is a picture of the progress. You may notice how tanned the groom looks. It is requested by the groom. He said "Please make it Ganguro (Ganguro means tanned face in Japanese.)" He also wants me to make the sideburns 2mm longer : ) What a fun guy he is. I don't have enough experience with the polymer clay so it is taking sometime for me to handle it right but so far so good it seems!? I will post the progress as I move forward.

Continue on the mobile project...

My heart had told me that it was about the time for picking up on my crane mobile project this weekend. Due to the shortage in red origami paper, shiny silver origami paper joined to support this project. Here is a picture of the mobile taken by my iPhone. Something about the look of cranes and threads is appealing to me. I feel like making more cranes on threads.

Red Crane Origami Mobile

Last Sunday was such a nice spring day and I was visiting Glendale where I had lived for 4 years. I kind of miss certain things about the area such as unique local stores and coffee shops. One of the stops I made was at a boutique called The Lake in Silverlake. I didn't buy anything (I couldn't buy anything) but I enjoyed the selection of their products. One thing that caught my eyes at the boutique was a product that was not for sale. It was a mobile with red cranes attached to a string hanging from a ceiling. It was so graceful. Ever since I saw the mobile, I kept on thinking about the beauty of the red cranes and thought of making one for my home. Instead of plain red origami paper, I found a sheet of red gift wrap paper that has white polka dots on it so used it to create 5 cranes (1 big crane, 4 baby cranes.) Awww, I love the color and the structure of the origami crane...next step is to hang them from the ceiling. Maybe next weekend.

Girls Day { HINAMATSURI } Celebration

March 3rd is a special day for girls called Hinamatsuri in Japan.

It's the day to wish girls' good health and happiness by decorating a house

with a set of Japanese dolls. If I remember correctly, setting of the Hina dolls are for Ohina sama (the empress) and Odairi sama (the emperor)'s wedding celebration. So along with 15 dolls, a set of furniture is displayed as well as special food and drink such as three-tier mochi and sweet rice wine for the wedding.

As most grand parents in Japan, my grand parents also bought me a set of Hina dolls with a seven-tier stand to express their joy for the birth of a little girl. I used to help my parents with decorating the dolls. Those are good family memories.

Me and my friend at work felt that we shouldn't live this special day as just any other

day so we decided to set up a set of Hinamatsuri dolls on my desk.

We didn't realize until we actually made the dolls and stage how delightful it is to have these cute little dolls and share our childhood memories of Hinamatsuri. Our spirit were lifted.

Rainy Day Fun Craft Project { PIPEROID }

Publish Post
Saturday was a bit cold and raining in the morning. For some reason

I felt like being productive so decided to make a paper robot called PIPEROID.

All I needed to prepare was scissors, no glue required.

Just cut 6 pipes into pieces, assemble pipes by following the instruction on the back of the packaging.

I spent about 30-40 minutes cutting, folding, and assembling.

It was rather challenging but it was satisfying to look at the result.

PIPEROID
http://www.piperoid.com/