Saturday, April 24, 2010

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.

Friday, April 23, 2010

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.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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!

Friday, April 16, 2010

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.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

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!

Sunday, April 04, 2010

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.