I am feeling so organised....

I went to Costco with a friend on Friday, it is the first time I have been and I was hoping to get a light tent (she bought one for her hubby there) and some Christmas goodies. I failed with both so now the light tent is on my birthday list and I went into town yesterday to get everything else. Now, you might think I am mad buying my Christmas pud and ordering a a turkey when it is not even December yet, but I KNOW if I don't, I run the risk of not being able to get hold of them, it's not like I can nip down to the local supermarket to buy either.

I would love to make my own xmas puds but the cost of dried fruit is ridiculous here and it would cost a small fortune to make one pud, so it is Walkers puds for us.

The turkey, I order from The Meat Guy, I have used him for the last few years and always had excellent service. I don't have a very big freezer, it is a push to get a 1kg chicken in there, I have no hope of getting a turkey in, so I specify the delivery date and time so it will have time to thaw. I also have to cook the turkey on the 24th because I can't get the turkey and veg in the oven at the same time!

So, dinner is sorted, most of my cards are made and written, I have two presents that need sending to make, but I am waiting for a felt delivery the rest are done just need wrapping. Phew.

I can see we will have a big trip to the post office next weekend, my aim is to get it all sent off on Saturday so I can concentrate on gifts for those closer to home :o)

Come On Or-Ange

Yes, last night, I fell to sleep with Omiya FC chants going on in my head! At the start of the month it was hubby's birthday and all he asked for was a family day to the football (I don't usually go). Yesterday was the first match we were able to make it to and was the last home match of the season. Hubby bought non-reserved seats which meant we had to get there at 2pm to get a seat, kick off wasn't until 5pm!

It was all good fun, here are my boys turned into footie zombies, I am not much of a footie fan and was having just as much fun people watching :o)

Finally score 1-1 which means we don't drop down to the next division, phew!

It was a nice end to the week since we have all been sick, the doctor gave me tablets for my cough, which didn't like me and resulted in me getting to know the toilet much better if you catch my drift.

I have almost finished my continent swap goodies which means I can get cracking on my traditions swap! and it is getting to that time of year when I have to empty the pantry so I can get at all the Christmas stuff that is stored at the back. I am off on a mission to get the requirements for this top secret project and the little knight is staying home with daddy :o)

Black Friday Sale

Black Friday - Cyber Monday

Everything in the shop has 10%* off.

Including all the fabric.

not inc. shipping

Who needs expensive toys?

Add together a tissue box, cardboard tube, some elastic and half a roll or packing tape, throw in a small child and some loud punk rock music and you have...

a whole afternoon....

if not more.....

of entertainment :o)

Happy Bear

I found this happy chappie hiding in the cupboard, would you like him to come and live with you? He is available here.

Brooch Kits Now Available as PDFs

A about a year ago a friend of mine asked me to do a brooch making workshop and I got and bit carried away and came up with about 10 different designs. As well as the workshop I also made up a pile of kits to sell in her shop, as much as I like making new patterns, I don't enjoy making up the kits, so after the first couple of batches I didn't bother making anymore, I have a few left and they are in the shop.

Then, a couple of days ago, a reader contacted me and asked if I would consider selling her just the Snowchild pattern as a PDF, I had a look at the files and realised it wouldn't take me too long to convert them to PDF's.

So, now I have a range of PDF brooch/decoration patterns available on my website, you can buy them here.

Some of them are also bilingual English/Japanese - added bonus :o)

Cosy Slippers Tutorial

My slippers died, they were so warm and cosy and I couldn't find another pair like them, so I made some! They were super easy to do, although working with that fluffy stuff was a bit of a pain, I recommend polar fleece instead and I used felt for the outer of the slipper but you could use fleece there too.

For a pair of slippers, download the body here and the sole here.

The pattern is for a UK4/ Euro 37/ Jp 23 and includes seam allowances. I haven't figured out how to scale pattern sizes yet sorry! As they are slippers they should be OK for those a size bigger or smaller that a UK4. If anyone knows how to scale patterns properly, I would love to learn how!

You need to cut

felt outer main body: 2 pieces then flip the pattern over and cut 2 more

fleece inner main body: 2 pieces then flip the pattern over and cut 2 more

fleece inner sole: 2

Felt (2mm thick) sole: 2

You also need co-odinating thread, pins and fabric glue.

These are all the pieces you need for one slipper, so you should have 2 sets like this.

1. Place the top felt pieces right sides together and stitch along the straight edge. repeat with the fleece inner. When they are opened up they should look like this.
2. With right sides together, place the fleece inner on top of the felt outer and pin together. Sew along the inside arch from A to B.

3. Open up the slipper and lay it flat like the image below, now stitch the heel from A to B.
4. Now you need to attach the sole. Start with the inner sole, right sides together and align the sole toe with the body toe, pin the sole in place, moving towards the heel, when you reach the heel pin the other side of the sole, starting at the toe again. Stitch all the way round.
5. Repeat step 4 but using the felt sole and the outer body of the slipper. IMPORTANT, you need to leave a 2-3" gap so that you can turn the slipper the right side out.
6. Turn the slipper right side out, you might need to use a blunt end of a chopstick to push it all through. Sew up the hole with invisible ladder stitch, if you don't know how to do it, there is a great tutorial here.

Finally paint some fancy pattern on the bottom of your slippers with fabric glue to make them less slippy.

Wait until they are dry then go and strut around the house!

Or rustle a few pairs up for Christmas gifts. Make as many pairs as you like for friends and family but do not sell items made from this pattern or re-distribute the pattern before asking permission first.

If you do make some, let me know, I would love to see them!

Gifts to encourage creativity

I have been asked a couple of times about the stamps for my nephew, I did indeed carve them myself and I love the idea that he can then go ahead and create his own thing from them. If are into making your own stamps then you should check out twiggi's personalised stamps, you can choose the style of the face and add your own name plus they come in a cute little bag and a choice of ink.
Twiggi also has a lot of cute things for birthday parties, pop over and take a look.

Santa Fukurosu Ho Ho Ho

Santa Fukurosu Ho Ho Ho, only works if you understand Japanese, my hubby came up with it, fukurosu is owl and Japanese owls say Ho Ho Ho not tweet-a-whoo! So in Japanese it is quite a cute name for them :o)

I have made 5 of these cuties

They are about 3" high, without their hats.

and are available in the shop now! If you join my FB page, you can get 10% off!

Just a side note - many animals make different noises in Japan, this was always a fun lesson when I was teaching, so in Japanese.... (I am not sure about the spellings)

cats say 'neeya neeya'

dogs say 'wan wan'

frogs say 'geko geko'

elephants say 'baiyonnnn'

and of course my mind has gone blank and I hand think of anymore!

Flat Stanley

We had a Flat Stanley come and stay with us for the weekend. we already had plans so we couldn't do anything special, so Flat Stanley came to the supermarket to do the grocery shopping...

and went to football practice* with Ebi-kun....

and then, Sunday we all went to Kawasaki to see a friend...

and today Flat Stanley will be flying back to The States, a short but sweet visit.

Ebi-kun got his new bag at last, I sold some of this Lego fabric the other day and he saw me packaging it up and was distraught, he thought it haw 'his' piece! And you thought I was the one with the stash problem :o) Anyway, when he was a footie practice I had a pile of sewing to do, I finished up quicker than expected so I made him a new little bag, the inside has this fabric and so it is reversible, he loves it *phew*.

*If you happen to be in the Saitama area and want to join the football club, it is held on a Saturday afternoon at Yonohonmatchi, Dave is a fully qualified coach and it is all done in English. Drop me a line if you are interested in joining.

Stamps

I made these for my nephew, I have got him fabric ink to go with it but haven't managed to hunt down a plain T-shirt yet. I decided that this year, gifts don't have to be 100% handmade and gifts that encourage making your own thing are good too.

Sorry the posts have been a bit thin on the ground, bit busy at the moment. I made myself a new pair of slippers yesterday and they are FAB even if I do say so myself. They were quite easy and I photographed the process, I just need to get the scraps of paper pattern onto the computer.

My guest blogger was very happy to receive comments and has replied if you want to check back :o). It did take him quite a while to type it up but he did it all himself, the main parts was he couldn't find the letters on the keyboard, he kept saying that the letters are not in order. LOL.

A Guest Blogger Today...

I am ebi-kun.

I playid with lego today.

I am going to be a knight when I get biggr.

see you nect week.

Ponyo

Yesterday, after the expedition to the shops we came home shattered and so a bit of quiet time was in order. I put on Ponyo, it is the first time we have seen it and it is lovely. It is from Studio Ghibli and a Hayao Miyazaki anime, the same creator as Totoro, another of my favourites.

Ponyo is a little fish who is washed ashore and rescued by Sosuke, a five year old boy. Ponyo wishes to become a little girl and uses her magic to do so, the only problem is that by using her magic she as disrupted the balance of nature, the only way for her to remain as a human and the world to be saved is if Sosuke loves Ponyo for who she is, no matter of the form she takes. Of course, he does, the world is saved and they all live happily ever after!

Ebi-kun has fallen for Ponyo, he wants her to be his friend too, ahhhh.

When I was at university, part of my thesis was to write and film a kids TV program and have suitable research for backing up my choices. Back then, you know in the olden days, the internet wasn't what it is today but there was a lot of interesting papers coming out about the influence of TV on children. I think a major influx of these papers were due to the James Bulger case, where the two boys were apparently allowed to watch 18 rated horror films. There are a lot of programs aimed at kids that I feel incite violence, they use the idea that it is good vs evil but the only way to overcome evil is through violence and the kids re-enact the scenes in the playground or park.

We were at the park a while back, Ebi-kun was playing with another boy of the same age, the boy started playing out one of these scenes and hit Ebi-kun with a stick, his mother apologised to me, saying that it was from the TV program he watches! Unbelievable.

Sorry, I seem to have gone off on a tangent, if you are like me, and fussy about what your child watches, I can highly recommend Ponyo and if you haven't seen Totoro yet, then what you waiting for?

I am interested to hear what you think is suitable viewing for little ones or your opinions about little ones and TV.

I am still here...

We have been busy, but a secret, can't show you because they are Christmas presents type of busy! We have been doing some work too, Ebi-kun is reading everything in can lay his hands on and yesterday started making up a story with these magnets. That was, until he ran out of words to make proper sentences with!

We have also been working on our continent swap goodies, I have tried to include Ebi-kun as much as possible in the process, he took some of the photos we are using and helped make the 'festival' poster. It was a bit of a production line kind of job since we have 6 sets to make. He has also helped with picking a recipe and picking which photos to use for other parts of the swap.

I didn't have time to write this morning since we left early for a coffee/lunch/shopping date. I don't know why I thought it would be a nice relaxing day out with 3 kids in tow, I am sure Mel was as shattered as I was by the time she got home. I had made a treasure hunt card for the two older kids to do together, they had a list of things to 'spot' whilst we were shopping, didn't work so well with the two of them, they spent most of the time racing around the shop. Once Ebi-kun was on his own and had no one to chase, he got right into it, so much so, that he refused to leave the mall until we had found everything on the list!

Right, bath time for a certain little one, who is going through a spate of nose bleeds at the moment, so he is off to bed early, I don't think we have made it through the night for about a week and i maybe following him, after I have got through this massive pile of cutting out first....

What a great idea

My mom was telling me about a family friend, Shirley. She has two grown up daughters who have decided that for Christmas they are only allowed to spend ten pounds per person, that is already a great idea BUT they also added the condition that they are only allowed to spend the money at charity shops! Apparently Shirley's grand daughters have already had some great finds, it would be interesting to se what they found. Sadly, we can't do this in Japan, as there are no charity shops!

Talking of shops, we had to go into town yesterday to pick up some bits and bobs. I don't like shopping with Ebi-kun in tow, it takes me three times longer to get it done but I do like having lunch with him. Ebi-kun LOVES trying new cafes and new food. I admit, I usually only pick places where I can read the menu - so if it is a kanji heavy menu, I give it a miss, I don't eat fish and even if you tell the waiting staff this, they don't class shrimp, clams, anchovies etc. as fish! Anyway, yesterday we spotted a new place, the menu was in French and Japanese so we decided to give it a go - I should note here that I don't speak French either but I reckoned I could make an educated guess.

We had a lovely lunch with French toast in a big salad which came with 4 fancy dressings, Ebi-kun couldn't decide which one so, I put a bit of each and he dip-dipped his salad in them and we had a side dish of gorgonzola potatoes. They were quite strong so I wasn't sure if he would like them, but he wolfed them down. When we had finished he thanked the chef and told him it was delicious. I just love the fact that we can eat out properly and not have to resort to the likes of Mcdonalds.

The lovely Jackie AKA Mee A Bee has given me a Kreative Blogger award, Thank you. I am also keeping the promise I made to myself last time, so thank you again and let's leave it at that!

making, making, making and not cleaning!

and the answer to yesterdays question is... dinosaur hats! As I was making the bags a little hand kept coming and pinching the scraps, when I went to see what he was up to, this is what I found.

I have made 4 of these little bags for Christmas presents, they are for 2-3 year olds so they really are quite small but they are also reversible. I made each one in different fabrics, I think this one is my favourite though, sorry about the pictures, the weather is awful and hence the bad lighting.

side one, with gardening girls fabric

the other side with this cute walk the dog fabric, I have used this in a big bag before, but not a kiddies one

Ebi-kun has also been busy, apart from dino hats, he kitted himself out with an archers outfit, protective bucket helmet (we used this at Halloween for a bean bag game), a bow made from a coat hanger and elastic bands, a quiver that I made from a piece of felt, arrows from cardboard - although my mom did suggest to Ebi-kun that he used garden canes or possibly felt tip pens as arrows, ohhh she is so brave when she is the other side of the world!
He also decorated his own slippers, I couldn't find any shoe style slippers for kids, only the slip on kind, which would be an accident waiting to happen the way he charges around the house so in the end I bought a pair of the yochien pumps, they were a bit, well, white for my liking so I gave Ebi-kun my fabric marker and fabric crayons and left him too it, stylish!
We also had a full day of painting, I can't show you the results yet because they are going to be Christmas presents. Wednesday I invited my neighbour over to teach her how to carve stamps, so we had fun stamping, Ebi-kun decorated two shirts but I forgot to take photos.

I also had a couple of custom orders to finish off, which wasn't easy since I sliced my thumb open last night on the parmasan shaker, how is anyone's guess. So there we have it, lots of creating and very little cleaning - that is life!

making bags....

that is what I am up to.

Have you ever wondered what to to do with those little triangular bits that you cut off when you are making a square bottomed bag? Want to know what we do with them? Pop back tomorrow to find out!

A lesson on marketing

When Ebi-kun brushed his teeth I noticed that he needed a new toothbrush, I mentioned to him that we would get one when we went to the drug store. ' I want a character one' he said, I asked him why but he couldn't come up with an answer, so before we went shopping we did a little lesson, it was very impromptu and I just used what we had on hand.

I set out my shop with 3 types of Lego*, some were on a card with Anpanman, it was ¥30 a piece, some on a card with a cute helicopter at ¥20 yen and the others were on a plain card at ¥10, these represented the different 'branded' goods. Anpanman is big business here (although I think Pooh-san AKA Winne The Pooh was the biggest selling character last year).

I then gave Ebi-kun some money and a list of the Lego he needed to do a new project, all he had to do was buy all the pieces he needed. I did fix it somewhat by only giving him just enough money to buy all the pieces only if he bought non branded Lego.

It did backfire a bit because he didn't want Anpanman, he doesn't like him, he did want the helicopter Lego, he bought as many pieces as possible but realised he couldn't afford to buy all that he needed. he pondered the situation for a while then asked if he could get some more money out of his money box! After telling him that he could only use the money in hand, he decided to sell the helicopter Lego back to me so he could buy the non branded.

We talked about the lego and the fact that is was, in fact, all the same, just that some had a picture on it which made it more expensive and how companies splash pictures of kids favourite characters on it to encourage people to buy it. We also touched on things being more expensive because they are better quality but I didn't want to get too bogged down with that, we can save that for another day.

Later when we went to the drug store we compared the prices of character goods again the store brand and in most cases they were more expensive. Only time will tell if the lesson sunk in.

*yes, I know it is somewhat ironic to be using Lego for this!

On a completely different note, we did lots of painting yesterday, got 4 Christmas presents done, well they need a lick of varnish but mostly done. I also made a cute little bag and cut out 3 others, we have 4 little friends/relatives that were born within a couple of months of each other so I always make them gifts on a theme, this time, little bags. Photos to follow....

Would you do me a favour?

I am working on branding and marketing and would like your input. Would you mind popping over to my website jojoebi designs then come back and leave a comment with three words you would use to describe my 'style'?

Thank you!

Now help yourself to a cupcake.....

photo credit AllAboutCake

Discoveries

The last couple of weeks I have made some new discoveries which I would like to share. Firstly I discovered Sister Diane at Crafty Pod, not only is the blog full with crafty goodness she also has a crafty podcast, I have been listening to the back catalogue eve since I discovered it, LOVE IT. This week was with Rachel Klien, the face behind the wonderful One Pretty Thing. I have found listing to these podcasts is a great when I am home alone and crafting.

This week I had an A-HA moment when I read Melly and Me's blog post, she is starting a new section on tricks and tips, this is about turning small parts for softies/dolls, want to know how to do it, in a painless, no using foul language kind of way? Pop over here and have a read.

Another top bit of info for those who hand sew, this is quoted from Don't Look Now. I totally love her quilting style and I never knew this was the reason for knotted threads.

Do you sometimes have problems with your thread knotting up and becoming tangled while you are stitching? It may just be because you have threaded your needle with the wrong end of your thread!!! If you are left handed, like I am, you should thread your needle using the end that you cut ...not the end that comes off your cotton reel! If you are right handed you should thread your needle with the end that comes directly off your cotton reel.

I have also joined Skout Trade Fair and met some lovely peeps over there. Like many of the Scout members I plan to do all my Christmas shopping on line, for the things I am not making myself. Another point I read this week (sorry, I don't remember where) is that for a green Christmas we should also think about the kind of gift we are giving, giving something practical, that will get used is much better than something that will get shoved in a draw and eventually thrown out. Top tip to bear in mind when you are shopping :o)

I started on my list last night and made family calendars, since Ebi-kun was born I have made a yearly calendar for relatives but last year I didn't get round to it, as it got close to Christmas I started to get people asking for one! So I ended up doing a rush job, this year, they are already sent to print. (pats self on the back)

Today I plan to cut out a couple of little bags for a couple of little boys I know and if I have time I would like to get them sewn up too but I have a custom order to finish too so it might be pushing it.

Talking of custom orders, I sent this one off last week, it was for two large pouches and two smaller ones using fabric from my shop. They came out really well, there were some scraps left over so I whipped up some tissue holders too. The picture was taken in a light tent that I have borrowed from friend, I think I will have to invest in one.

My brain isn't working

Ebi-kun had me up in the night, at 2am I hear the patter of feet, he usually comes into our room but instead I hear him charging down the stairs, well the first few and then thump.... thump......thud........ aggggghhhhhh.

He was OK, I don't think he was properly awake, he said he wanted some water, so we sorted him out, gave the necessary cuddles and all went back to bed, not long after, I was just dozing off when I hear the familiar patter of feet again and him charging down the stairs again, both me and hubby shouted him to stop and daddy shot out of the door to grab him.

This time he was in a right tiz saying that the aliens were scaring him. So he came in bed with us, and I kissed the rest of the night goodbye, trying to sleep with Ebi-kun is like trying to sleep with an octopus wearing hob-nailed boots.

Last week Daddy-ebi was off Monday and Tuesday, which was great but it tends to throw a spanner into the works with my schedule but we did manage to get some things squeezed in. We tried the colour mixing idea that I saw on Itty Bitty love. She had laminated the sheets but since they were only likely to get used once I just placed mine in a plastic sleeve and wiped it clean after each experiment. We have done colour mixing before but this was a good way to show gradients of colour. I think we will do the colour wheel next time.

There has also been a lot reading going on, Ebi-kun often picks up two books, one English and one Japanese then goes and finds a spot that he likes, I can here him reading to himself, so sweet. This book he is reading has the outlines of the pictures raised so you can close your eyes and trace the shapes with your fingers.

We don't watch much TV, in fact during the day it doesn't get turned on but sometimes we rent a film as a treat. This time we watched Narnia, I had to pre warn him that Aslan would die but he wasn't really dead, it was a trick. If I hadn't he would have been sobbing and missed the rest of the film. He did enjoy it and drew a picture of Aslan afterwards.
We also got started on the continent swap, I hope to get on with it properly this week and I also introduced addition and carrying a number over. I think he will have to try it a couple more time before he truly 'gets' it, it is fun seeing his little mind tick over :o)

Well, I am off to brew another strong coffee, I think we might both be needing a nap by this afternoon.

waffle-snorts

There are a possie of waffle-snorts in the shop, I only have one of each made up but if you prefer a different colour combo left me know and I will make one up for you. Or if you are after twins, I can do that for you too!

Or, if you prefer to make your own, you can buy the pattern, it is easy to follow and suitable for beginners.

I have just received the next batch of space cadet dolls so if you would like a sew-it-yourself doll, I have plenty in stock just now.

And finally, Serenity The Mermaid has made it as a printed pattern, up until now it has only been available as a PDF.

If, you happen to own a shop and are looking for new stock, I am looking for wholesale outlets, please drop me a line jojoebi.designs at gmail dot com.

Winter is on it's way

So, I got on Etsy to find something warm to wear. I came across ideatolifestyle's shop, the clothes are all unique and I fell for this cape/wrap.

I had quite a few convo's with Gerald about sizing, I sent my measured measurements and my UK clothes size but they didn't match so in the end I decided to go with the UK clothing size and hope for the best! The package arrived yesterday and I was a bit worried that it would either be too small or way too big, I shouldn't have worried, it fits perfectly! And it is cashmere/wool blend which makes it oohhh so soft. I LOVE it. I almost made Ebi-kun get out of the bath last night so we could go for a walk to try it out :o) I will definitely be using Gerald's services again and there are some lovely designs in the store, go and have a look.

One of the things I hate about living in Japan is buying clothes. I do not have an Asian shaped body and the cut of the clothes is very different. Even if you are petite, it is difficult to find things that fit properly and many of the clothes for larger Japanese ladies just look like sacks and use the most awful prints! So, I spend my life in joggy pants and loosely fitting top. I try to stock up when I go home but I end up buying things I don't really like, just because they fit and I only have a couple of hours to do a years worth of shopping. Therefore, I have decided to learn how to make my own clothes, my theory is, if I can find a couple of basic styles that I can make and they fit well, I should be able to adapt them or jazz them up and make them more 'me'. I am starting with Meg's School House Tunic, I have the fabric all washed and ready to go, just have to muster up my courage to do the cutting out. I also have my eye on this book: Design-it-yourself Clothes, maybe Santa will get it for me :o)

Look at the time! I have 5 waffle-snorts to stuff and photograph. What on earth is a waffle-snort you ask. Well if you sign up to my facebook page you will already know (link is on the top left) otherwise you will have to wait a wee bit longer.....

Snowballs

are in the shop, I only have one set left, grab them before they melt....

Culture Day

Monday we went to the yochien to sign Ebi-kun up, we got there at 9am, no queues, just handed the paperwork and the money over and that was it. We expected to be there for quite a while and Daddy-ebi had taken the day off work. Oh Well. It was his birthday, we decided to go over to Kodomo No Shiro, I have talked about this place before, it is fantastic. It is a massive kids play centre and it is all free, we spent all morning there. In one of the rooms they alternate the toys, I don't know the schedule but it is something like Lego on a Monday, play food on Tuesday etc. It was Lego day when we were then, not only do they have big tubs of Lego they also have these giant Lego blocks. Each brick is about the size of a normal house brick. Daddy-ebi and I had great fun building a castle :0)

Tuesday was a national holiday, Culture Day, we hadn't planned to do anything, daddy-ebi got on the internet and discovered there was a festival of sorts at the super arena. It was an education expo and was actually must better than I expected. There were lots of stalls set up with hands on things for the kids to do. Ebi-kun got to make a fish hat, a key chain, play some games, try on an astronauts suit...
and he met Asimo, Honda's cool robot. What more could a 4 year old boy ask for?