Thank you Ojiichan and Obaachan! (Fall dresses)

Tomorrow I'll be posting a fun craft we did over the weekend with the princess (involving pumpkins, yay!)

But today I wanted to take the time to say thank you to Naomi's wonderful grandparents in Japan: Obaachan and Ojiichan. They always think of her (and now Nina too) and send her lots of goodies from over there.

She loves to get packages from them, and this time she decided to model the dresses that came in. She was so excited. I wish they could see how happy she was.

Crochet dreams

Help! I need a translator for an urgent matter!

Well, ok, it's not urgent, but right about now I'm seriously wishing I had continued studying Japanese.

My husband went to Osaka and just got back this past weekend. And he came bringing oodles of goodies for both N. and myself (poor little bun in the oven got left out though). It was like Christmas in May... and have you ever noticed how the Japanese seem to have perfected the art of cute? Their fashion is pretty awesome too.

In any case, one of the goodies I got was this crochet magazine.

I love the outfits they have in there, and the accessories... *drool*

Problem is... all the patterns are in Japanese! And although I can read hiragana and katakana, my knowledge of kanji is just not enough to follow the patterns (fyi: these three systems mentioned make up the Japanese writing system, along with some use of the Latin alphabet we use). Japanese patterns usually include lots of pictures and illustrations to help you follow along, and I have used some in the past to sew for N. But I can't read these crochet ones and it's killing me.

I'm wondering if it's possible to read them if I get someone with more experience in crochet... Any takers?

Oh the possibilities! (aka new fabric)

When I got home from a meeting today, there was a package waiting for me at the door... from Japan!

It was from my mother in law, and look what she sent me:

Lovely fabric (and a lot of it too) that I can't wait to turn into something cute. I really love Japanese fabric and had mentioned it and asked her to keep an eye out for pretty patterns. I had no idea she'd send me so much so soon.

Did I mention that I have the best mother in law ever?

Zouri sandals

I made it!

I had some serious doubts for a while, but here I am, on letter Z of the challenge. Phew.

I have to say, sticking with it did me some good. It forced me to stretch my creativity (and my time management skills) and make more of an effort to keep up with the blog, as well as with the other bloggers.

That actually has been my favorite part of this challenge. Getting visits from and visiting other bloggers out there, making new and wonderful connections, and strengthening others. So, before I get to my craft today, here's a shout out to some of my favorite bloggers and blogs who participated in this challenge. You guys rock:

Blue, Purple, and Scarlett
My Child is Very Advanced
Pocketful of Playdough
Catherine Denton
Fur Will Fly
the Writing Nut
Angela Felsted

Back to crafting. In today's schedule - traditional Japanese zouri sandals (but in this case, made of fleece).

These look more complicated than they are. I've been wanting to try them out for a while, and since they started with Z... Ta-da!

Well the beginning of one anyway. They are going to take some time to finish because of the never ending finals. I actually found the tutorial from the Etsy blog - they share all kinds of wonderful things over there. You can make these sandals with scrap materials you can find around the house, like old t-shirts, bedsheets, etc. They make a nice pair of slippers, very different from ones you might find around these parts and super soft depending on the materials you choose. I say, give it a try!

For all my fellow A-Zers, this has been a fun trip. Thank you all for stopping by!

Ending the raffle and the beginning of Spring (maybe?)

So the raffle ended today and the winner of the painting is: #3 Ren! The random number generator picked comment #2, but since that was not an actual entry on the raffle, I went down to the next pick on the list. I will be contacting you shortly to set up delivery.

Thank you everyone who participated in the raffle here and in all the other blogs that participated. It's going to take a lot to help Japan rebuild, and every little bit helps.

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So is Spring coming? Well, there's still snow on the ground, but the sun is beginning to peek out of the clouds once in a while! There's sunshine!

I went for a walk in a nearby park to get some fresh air and register the first days of sunshine since the winter begin.

And here's the same photo, but with a more dramatic processing:

And Easter is coming soon. We're going to an egg hunt in the botanical gardens here, so I want N to have a cute outfit. I made this tutu to go over her pants, and I'm working on a shirt that I will share once finished.

And look who stopped by to say hello - coffee filter butterflies! These little guys are so easy to make and take all of 5 minutes. Plus, N. loved helping with them, so for those of you with toddlers, this would be a cute, fun, and no-mess project.

What we used:

clothes pin
markers, glitter glue, crayons
coffee filters
construction paper
scissors
glue

What we did:

1. I let N. doodle on the coffee filters (but I did ask her to use only one color on each filter; total personal taste, they would look great multicolored) with the markers. Then I made a border to match the color.
2. She colored the whole filter with crayons matching the original color
3. We put some glitter glue on each and she spread it around
4. I bunched up the middle of the filters, securing it with the clothes pins
5. I cut small strips of construction paper and made antennas then glued them on the pins.

They're pretty resistant too. The pink one? Has been dropped in milk, had butter spread on it, and the pin taken apart three times... And it still comes back together very nicely.

What are you doing to celebrate early Spring?

Raffle for Japan

So this is my attempt to contribute to the relief efforts for the affected areas of Japan.

I'm raffling off a recent painting I posted here on the blog and a brand new, made especially for this raffle, iPad cover. You can see pictures and details below.

Here's how it works.

I will ship anywhere in the world where the post office delivers.

Each entry/comment will equal one raffle "ticket" for one of the two handmade items below. It's your choice which one you'd like to enter to win, just let me know in the comment. 

The 8x8 painting based on a loose interpretation of "Snow White" is acrylic on wood.

The iPad case was sewn by me especially for this raffle. As you can see, it's based on the Japanese flag, with a closing flap and a small back pocket for holding a cleaning cloth (for the iPad screen). It's made of 100% recycled fiber felt and it's washable. I used the iPad 1 dimensions, but since the iPad 2 is smaller, it would also fit.


Bids are to be made in US$
Each raffle entry must be a donation of $5 (International Medical Corps) or $10 (Global Giving).

To enter, go to International Medical Corps and make a donation of $5 or go to Global Giving and make a $10 donation for the Japan relief fund, when you have done it come back to this post and leave a comment with your reciept number and you must also leave a valid email address (you can write the address in the format of mymailname ‘at’ hotmail ‘dot’ com)

You may enter as many times as you like but each time you need a new receipt number. 


For help with the donation you can refer to this post http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-donation.html


Raffle closes at 12.00pm JST 26th March


If you make a mistake or forget to add you email address please delete the first post and re-write it.


Winner will be drawn by random (random.org).

The giveaway / raffle / auction is being held on this blog, in cooperation with a Bit of This and a Bit of That. We are in no way affiliated with global giving, that's just our chosen method of getting funds safely to the affected area.


If you are not interested in the two items listed above, do check out the other blogs and items being auctioned/raffled off at a Bit of This and a Bit of That. And thank you for your help.

More Japan and Changing the blog

First of all, thank you. Thank you for your words of support in my last post. I keep thinking of how I can help people in Japan. I don't want just to talk about it, I want to do something about it. Until I can think of something better, I'll keep linking to places and organizations that are helping out. 

So, if you are looking for handmade goods, supplies, or art related products, here are a few places you might want to check out who are donating part or all of their proceeds to helping Japan:

This and That From Japan (etsy shop with lots of cute things)

Pikaland (art/illustration blog and shop)

A Bit o This and That (blog from a British mom living in Japan - she's having an auction)

As for this blog, well... I've been trying different things when it comes to its look and the content. 

• Tutorials page added - it's still a work-in-progress. It'll look better soon, I hope.
• New background and header - designed by yours truly, as I am trying to get better at creating all my own elements.
• Upcoming bookshelf page - I'll be adding a page where I list books related to art, crafting, crafting with kids, and others that I find helpful

Speaking of tutorials, I'll share what I did for my background. You are welcome to download and use/modify this pattern if you want. If you're not a big fan of the colors, flowers, or anything really, you can use the tutorial as a basis to make your own.

Here's what I did:

1. Using red ink and watercolor paper, I inked the tip of my little finger as a "petal" stamp and made several flowers around the paper.
2. Using a sharpie, I made small centers for each flower. 
3. Scanned the picture and opened it in Photoshop Elements
4. Adjusted the levels and color curves until the flowers had the shading I wanted
5. Added a layer with some scratchy texture that I got TTV. If you're not familiar with TTV textures, or don't like them, you can always do a search for a free texture online or not use a texture at all.
6. Adjusted the opacity of the texture layer to about 20% for a subtle effect.
7. Saved as a jpg paying attention to the size of the file, since Blogger only accepts up to 300K.
8. Uploaded it as my background.

There are many, many ways to do something like this. You can make just a few flowers and clone them through the picture, or create a brush with the pattern. Also, depending on the pattern, you need to pay attention to the size of your canvas, otherwise it might come out weird looking when Blogger repeats the background. 

I also made the header using the magic wand tool and I'll have a tutorial on that later.

Is anyone interested in PS Element tutorials using pictures and step-by-step instructions? Would you like me to continue or stop with PS Element tutorials?

Japan

My husband is from Japan.

His family is fine, they don't live near the affected areas. Our friends in Tokyo are also ok and we've talked to them online.

Still...

We pray for all the families who have lost someone, for all the families who have been displaced, for all those who are suffering.

We pray that relief efforts can continue and those missing can be found soon. We pray that the nuclear power plants can be taken care of safely. We pray that all the effort and organization that Japan has always put into preparing for disasters pays off now.

Our hearts are with you.

If you'd like to help, here are some organizations that are working with relief efforts.

The Red Cross
Save the Children
International Medical Corps
Global Giving
Doctors Without Borders
MercyCorps

(N. wearing a yukata - a summer kimono - her grandparents gave her during our visit in 2009)