Monday, March 31, 2008

1st Love Book Class!

We are having our 1st Love Book Class tomorrow at my home! See you soon!

Friday, March 28, 2008

3X3 "Fruity Love Notes" Class!


We had our 3X3 Fruity Love Notes Class. Each of the ladies made eight mini cards with envelopes. We used the new "Summer Picnic" by Stampin'Up! designer series paper from the Occasions mini collection 2008 catalog. I love the new fruit stamps, Tart and Tangy and One Smart Cookie. They all work well together and match with the summer picnic paper perfectly! For our orange cards we used the "Scratch and Sniff" technique. You use 1 part orange cool-aid mix (sugarfree) with 2 parts clear embossing powder. It smells so good when you pull it out of the envelope! You can use apple flavored mix for the apple card, Cherry mix for the cherry card, strawberry mix for the strawberry card.
Supplies:
Whisper White card stock cut to 3x6"
Real Red card stock
Bashful Blue card stock
Pumpkin Pie card stock
Old Olive card stock
Love note envelopes
*New Summer picnic D.S. paper
*New poly-twill ribbon old olive
Grosgrain ribbon Real Red
Scallop punch
1 3/8" punch
1 1/4" punch
1/2" punch
Rhinestone brads
dimensionals
Stamp Sets:
Tart and Tangy
One Smart Cookie

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Our Trip to Kyoto!

Shelby & Keighley dressed as Maiko
(Apprentice Geisha) They had their makeup done and they dressed them up to take profesional photos.


The Imperial Palace grounds



Having Sushi at a restaurant in the Holiday Inn hotel in Kyoto
Famous oysters at Miyajima Island





The line for the oysters



Great breakfast at our hotel!





Ryoanji Temple






The Golden Pavilion

(Kinkakuji)






Having tea (Usucha) in the tea room on the Golden Pavilion grounds.






The sweet that they give you to eat with your tea.
It is made of azuki bean paste and is covered in wasanbon sugar.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Nagashi-Bina Doll Festival & Kagura Performance!

Nagashi-bina doll festival is a Japanese traditional event to wash away the spirit of misfortune and to wish for their children health and happiness by floating Nagashi-bina dolls on the river.Hinamatsuri Song:
Akari o tsukemashou bonbori ni明かりをつけましょう ぼんぼりにOhana o agemashou momo no hanaお花をあげましょう 桃の花Go-nin bayashi no fue taiko五人ばやしの 笛太鼓Kyo wa tanoshii Hinamatsuri今日は楽しいひな祭り

Let's light the lanterns. Let's set peach flowers. Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums. Today is a joyful Dolls' Festival!

Today we were invited, by my friend Eiko, to the Nagashi-bina doll festival. Two other women from the Iwakuni base also came with their children. When we arrived the first thing we did was to make our dolls. We dressed our Nagashi-Bina dolls in beautiful papers, painted their faces and placed them in a raft surrounded by fresh flowers. The one below is mine. We also wrote in hiragana on our boards.
Shelby, Kyoko & Tiffany holding their finished rafts Some of the finished rafts floating on the river. After all the rafts are placed in the water a few men will wade in the river and pull them out with a long bamboo stick with a hook on the end.


This river is right across the street from my friend Eiko's house. The area is so beautiful!
On the festival grounds, they were selling udon noodle and rice ball for lunch. The kids loved the free cotton candy! The large white tent is where everyone crafted their rafts.

Lilly missed the Hina doll festival but she was coming to the Kagura performance so Eiko made her a raft. When she went to dress the dolls for her, there wasn't any more beautiful papers left so she made hers out of an advertisement for different types of sushi! So cute and so creative!


Everyone took turns and knelt down on the pier and gently placed the rafts in the river.


Afterwards, you bow your head and say a prayer. There were a lot of photographers there taking pictures for the local papers. I hope I can get some copies of our pictures they had taken.
It is getting a little warmer the trees are starting to bloom!
Eiko took us out into her neighborhood and some of the families had their Hina doll collections on display for people to view. They would let us come in to their houses to take a look. This picture is of the biggest Hina doll collection I saw today. Very impressive!

We also stopped by the temple. Many steps to the top of where the temple was!
This picture was taken from the temple looking out over Eiko's neighborhood.
Shelby & Kyoko- Sweet Friends!
After the temple we met Lilly and went to the Kagura show at Kono Elementary school.



Kagura is a dance that has been performed on the main island of Japan, since ancient times. Eiko tells me it is a dance to "Thank the Gods for a bountiful harvest." The play is fast, full of singing and dancing, and is very exciting to see! I thought for a moment, as it started, how it looked very similar to American Indian dancing. The costumes were gorgeous and very colorful. Some of the Kagura performers, at one part of the show, ran down into the audience. It was quite surprising! The three musicians made up the core of the live music. The drummer on the right played a drum that is called, 太鼓"Taiko." One of my favorite things here in Japan.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Tutorial for Always Priceless Coupon Book

Main Stamp Sets:
Always
Priceless
Create a coupon
Rough Edges Alphabet
Everyday Flexible Phrases

Secondary Stamp Sets I used:
(You can change any of these depending on what the coupon is for)
It's a girl Thing
Time for Fun
Going out in Style
Pretty Princess
Backyard BBQ

Also would be good:
Paris in the Spring
Haute Couture

Ink:
Real Red
Chocolate Chip
Soft Sky

Markers:
Yoyo Yellow
Real Red
Regal Rose

Supplies:
2 pieces of Acetate cut to 3 1/2" x 5"
4 pieces of Soft Sky card stock cut to 4 3/4" x 3 1/4"
1 piece of Real Red card stock cut to 3 1/4" x 10 1/2"
1 piece of Real Red card stock cut to 3 1/4" x 9 1/2"
3 pieces of Whisper White card stock cut to 3 1/8" x 9"
1" circle punch
Large oval punch
Corner Rounder
Ticket corner punch
Crystal Effects
Dimensional
Soft Sky Ribbon
Fibers
Brads
Star charms
Double sided tape

Perforating tool
"Pink Glass Mix" beads
Stickles
Romantic Red Glitter



Directions coming soon!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Eiko's Class for Kiriko!



Kumie, Takako, and Kiriko

We had our class on our acetate coupon book. Everyone used a little different stamps for each of their coupons in the inside. They came up with some cute ideas to suit the people they were giving them to. Sorry Takako and Kumiko, I didn't get pictures of your books.










Kumie's Book






Toshiko's Book






Kiriko's Book