April Challenge projects 17 and 18

Ebi-kun has homework this year and so he needs a bag for his homework book, surprise!

I made him a pencil case to go with it too, I'm not sure if he needs one but he has got one anyway.

 I lined it with the stripy fabric, I really like the pencil case done with the jousting print, if you want any of this fabric it is some that I designed and you can buy it here.

a forgotten picture...

Forgot to post this, I got the idea from Chasing Cheerios, we were one egg short for the egg hunt so I boiled one more and Ebi-kun wrote on it using crayons, the crayon melts as you write because the egg is still hot, I will have to remember this one for next year!

I don't do fish....

I hate fish, I don't eat it and I don't cook, in fact, it isn't allowed in the kitchen (unless I am out of the house, awful stinky stuff urgh!) so Ebi-kun was surprised when he asked what was for dinner and I said... 

fish, octopus, crab, and squid!

heehee - from the bottom konbu seaweed, sausage crabs, yellow pepper coral, sugar snap pea seaweed, sausage octopus, croquette potato fish, avocado squid and mini tomato air bubbles! Ebi-kun is back at yochien full time and it has worn him out, he came home shattered and so snuggled on the sofa with giraffe and watched Finding Nemo - hence the fishy inspiration.

2:46

A weekly update of people and organisations working to help the affected in the quake/tsunami areas.

First up...

Kenji's Light Of Hope is raising money for The Igari Music Therapy Research Center (Igari MTRC), supporting their mission to provide music therapy and music education services to individuals with developmental disabilities and the elderly in the quake-stricken area of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. You can keep up to date with what they are doing on FaceBook and see what they are selling in their Etsy store HERE.




The Japanese government are infamous for their love of red tape and rules and it was only a matter of time until Jason from Socks For Japan was going to run into some, in his words 'He said there’s a rule. We need to break the rule' Find out what rule the stubborn gaijin breaks and the story of the charming yellow cottage in his latest report posted here.

photo credit Socks For Japan

The government has sealed a 12 mile area around  the nuclear plants in Fukushima, which is fair enough but what is not fair is the farm animals have also been sealed in, farmers have asked for the animals to be put down humanely but the local government say it is  too dangerous and so they have been left to starve, read more about it here. That just makes me so angry!


If you are in Japan and looking to volunteer over Golden Week the JEN can help you out, take a look here.


This site is Japanese only but you can find out what is needed and where to sent it, updated regularly.


If you are working in some way to help the people of Tohoku, let me know!

A Very Special Bracelet...

Remember after the quake/tsunami I started the quake appeal and Rita from Surfing Silver offered a one of a kind bracelet as one of the raffle prices? Well, the winner has now got her prize and I can tell you the story.....

Wendy and I met at university, she was the crazy goth who lived in the block next to mine, we liked the same music, hung out at the same places and both quaffed large amounts of alcohol. Over the years we have lost touch then found each other again but we haven't actually seen each other since we left uni in the mid nineties. Good ole facebook brought us together again and Wendy - a long term Japan fan, finally managed to get herself over here and planned to come and stay with us for a few days as well as touring the country.

So, Wendy landed at Narita late morning of March 11th and had been in her 11th floor hotel room in Shinjuku for only a couple of hours when the quake hit. Luckily we were both on line and between hugs with Ebi-kun, aftershocks and info from NHK I was able to tell her what was going on. With having a Japanese husband and a good network within Japan I was able to keep her up to speed as new info came out.

As you can imagine, the situation changed Wendy's plans somewhat, she missed a lot of her planed sight seeing as she spent time trying to rearrange hotel bookings and worrying about whether to stay or go, she did end up having to cut her holiday short. Lots of places were closed and she felt guilty being 'on holiday' and useless not knowing how to help. She did get to do some of the things she planned but I am pretty sure it wasn't the holiday she expected and is certainly one she won't forget for quite some time! We did manage to meet up in Osaka for the day, she hit it off with Ebi-kun, they share a love of ninja's!

When it came to draw the winner of the raffle, I secretly wanted everyone to win as I knew almost everyone who had entered but I am glad Wendy won in the end, it would have a special meaning for her. Ebi-kun got to work and drew up the design, then I scanned it and sent it to Rita who worked her magic on it.

It is a portrait of Ninja Wendy, love the pony tail!

the writing on the right reads Wendy and on the left Ninja

So a big thank you to Rita and to everyone who entered and to Wendy... you haven't better wear this in the mosh pit, I know what you're like!

April challenge project 16

This is a design that has been in my sketch book for ages and I have only just got round to making it, I won't tell you exactly what it is for just yet, I'd like to make a pattern for it but need to figure out a better way to do one section of it, it came together out of luck not skill and I probably couldn't pull it off a second time.

April Challenge sneak peaks....

Projects 12, 13, 14 and 15 are finished but for various reasons I can't show you the finished pieces just yet, so here are sneak peaks...

Spring MTD

Spring chick cupcake, cucumber flowers, cheese and pineapple, 

mini tomatoes, apple flower with tomato middle, ham and Ritz crackers.

more muffin tin meals over at the MTM

The making of traditions...

Easter is not celebrated in Japan, it hasn't caught on yet unlike Christmas and Halloween, it is only a matter of time until they realise it includes cute chocolates and then they will be all over it!

 I think it is important that Ebi-kun learns about my culture and traditions as much as it is to learn about the Japanese ones. I never did egg hunting as a kid but we started at the playgroup a few years back and now it is one of the highlights of the year and for the kids in the group it isn't so much about the chocolate (due to the lack of Easter egg availability). For us it is the egg decorating which also gives us a time to discuss the meaning of Easter, we are not a religious family but I do want him to know what it is all about. We always meet at the same park, each child is required to bring 10 decorated (boiled) eggs and a basket for collecting. Last year the big kids raced in and found most of the eggs whilst the little ones only found one or two so we thought we should make it a bit more difficult this time so all the kids had their name or special mark on their eggs and were only allowed to collect the ones with their name on it. 

 It was a little more subdued than last year, there were also quite a few families missing but the kids all enjoyed it.

 After the egg hunt I organised a treasure hunt, the kids are older now and some of them are reading so they got give a clue and they had to figure out the person/character from the clue, for example..

I like to wear green.

I can fly.

My enemy is Captain Hook.

My best friend is Tinkerbell.

When they had figured out the answer they had to go to each adult and ask 'are you Peter Pan?' The adults all had envelopes with a name on the front and a clue in it, if they had the correct name they could hand the clue over to the kids.

 The final clue was a map of the park with the clue 'The big squirrel holds the treasure' so they had to go and find this statue, daddy-ebi was standing guard and said lots were taking photos of it because the squirrel was holding a basket.

 All the kids got a lolly pop and these plastic bubbles (I wanted normal bubbles but none to be found). It comes with a small tube of liquid that you dollop on the end of the straw then blow up. It was the first time many of the kids (and adults) had used it so it was a lot of fun.

 Not everyone was big enough to join the hunt, some were happy just to lie back and look at the pretty trees. - our youngest member, 3 months old.

When you are living as an ex-pat, sometimes you just have to make your own traditions!

What do you do for Easter or if you are not Christian do you celebrate something else around this time of year?

Egg Fail!

We can't buy Easter eggs here and I have no intention of paying inflated prices from one of the ex-pat shops, so I make ours. The last couple of years I have used a mold that actually had tofu in it but the mold has seen better days. So this year I ordered one on line but when it arrived it was much smaller than anticipated. I decided to make a kinder egg with mini eggs inside but as you can see, it failed big time! Should have left it in the mold until I had finished with the melted chocolate.

Luckily I had a back up egg so the day was saved!

And now you know, I am not Martha Stewart's sister!

SALE!

10% off everything in the shop until April 27th. (JST)

Great chance to grab some cute fabrics or sewing patterns and help the Japanese economy :O)

Cracking me up....

I totally stole this idea from Katy. 

Easter morning we do an egg hunt in the house, the last couple of years it has been like a treasure hunt to find the big egg. This year I hid these plastic eggs that Kate sent me and in each one was a really funny joke (think Christmas cracker standard).

 My favourite of them all...

What do you get if you pour hot water down the Easter Bunny's rabbit hole?

A Hot Cross Bunny

whhhaaaaah hahahahaaha 

Cheep Cheep party food

Saturday I had planned to do some fabric shopping but the weather was awful so we ended up staying at home. We had the playgroup Egg hunt and picnic the next day so we got busy making something to take along, it was like a chicken factory in our kitchen, Ebi-kun was in charge of fluff and faces...

 How cute are they? I saw a picture over on Pinterest (yes, I know, I am addicted!) I didn't click through though so I don't know how the others were made. We made cupcakes then I made some yellow butter icing and covered each cupcake with that. Then down the production line Ebi-kun coloured some shredded coconut with yellow food colour (I did the same thing with his football pitch birthday cake). He added some coconut, little choco sweet for the eyes and pieces of gummy candy for the beaks.

 Seriously, these almost turned me vegan!

April Challenge 10 and 11....

I made a couple more pouches, I absolutely LOVE this turtle one, this fabric was a big seller in the shop and I saved some for myself, it is no longer available sadly. The cute starry ribbon is from paper-and-string.

Then, I thought I should make a more manly pouch, Ebi-kun has his eye on this one!

 9 more projects to go, actually 7 because I have two that I am waiting to share, moms birthday package hasn't arrived yet, grumble, grumble...

multiplication the Montessori way...

Ebi-kun came home from yochien a couple of days ago and announced that he wanted to learn multiplication, it was next on my to do list so we got out all the beads and I showed him how to do it. I think Montessori differs from the usual take on teaching maths, for multiplication they dive straight into multiplying thousands! Sounds a bit odd but I think it is great, using the bead material the child can 'see' the amounts and the examples work so much better with big numbers.

The presentation works better with more than one child but I only have the one so we had to do it this way. I gave him a slip of paper with a number on it and asked him to lay the beads out in the correct hierarchy on the mat. Then I gave him another slip of paper (with the same number) and asked him to do it again, placing the beads under the first set. Finally I gave him the third slip of paper, again the same number and he set out the third row of beads. At this point he had already figured out that he needed to add them together. So he pushed each hierarchy together, then starting with the units and added up the numbers, recording each hierarchy with a number card. When he had got the final number he recorded the whole sum on paper. I showed him how we work it out on paper but he doesn't know all his multiplication tables yet so he wouldn't be able to do it without the beads.

He did a few more examples and then showed daddy how to do it the next morning, apparently multiplication is fun!

I had to go to the yochien yesterday, I thought we were all done with the labelling and such like but noooo the boy needs another book bag, one to carry his homework books in! 3 notebooks, labelled in a specific way, 3 pencils must be 4B and an eraser and something else which I have forgotten what it is - bad mommy but no doubt t needs labels on it too!

My first story....

Whilst I was doing computery things Ebi-kun decided to write himself a story...

 He wrote it in the back of his Warwick castle activity book.

Not bad for a first story!

Hot Cross Buns...

I ran out of time Thursday so I made these last night, bit late in the day but it has to be done, it's not like I can pop down to the shops and buy some! They were lovely for breakfast this morning! The recipe, just in case you want to make some late too, is here

I saw this...

on Pinterest and it made me giggle

treasury love...

one made by me.....

freshly hatched

 and one featuring me....

a road trip home

2:46

At 2.46 every Friday, for a long as it is needed, I will post a round up of articles and links related to the quake/tsunami. It may no longer be front page news but there is still so much to do and so many that need help.

A few quake related posts for you, now the initial rush of fund raising has subsided it is time to get involved with long term help, if you are looking for something then here is a great list of volunteer organisations. On that note, I am working on a project to make bags for children at the orphanages in Tohoku, I am still working out the details and need the go-ahead from the organisation but that is where I am at right now. I will keep you posted.

If you are a quilter then you can donate quilts here.

Matsushima relief fund this link will take you to a long beautifully written post detailing the survival story of an American family who were in Matsushima when the quake/tsunami hit. Matsushima is (was?) a beautiful city and I have fond memories of visiting on several occasions, the people were so friendly is really is a lovely place, seeing the places that I have visited in the past now in ruins breaks my heart every time.

Finally, for the artists among you, POSTCARDS TO JAPAN are looking for original pieces of work....

POSTCARDS TO JAPAN
Express your support to the people of north east Japan by sending original A5
art work postcards.

After the major earthquake and tsunami in north east Japan on 11th March 2011
power supplies, land lines, mobile phone networks and internet access went down,
making it extremely hard to contact family and friends to find out if they were
safe.
The post office were quickly up and running again and in many cases the first
news that loved ones were safe was by postcard.
Inspired by the wonderful impact postcards can have, we would like to invite
artists and poets to send tangible messages of support to communities affected
by the devastation by making A5 size original artwork or poetry postcards and
posting them to:

"POSTCARDS TO JAPAN"
Ukishima Net,
Iwate, Iwate, Iwate,
028-4423,
Japan

We will collate all the postcards received into an exhibition to tour venues in
north east Japan.
There is no deadline, but if we have as many cards as possible by the end of May
we can start putting on exhibitions.
We also hope to publish a catalogue of the postcards received.
Any profit made from the sale of catalogues would be donated to recovery
projects in north east Japan.

Please look out for updates on http://www.ukishima.net If you have any

With all very best wishes,
Kate Thomson & Hironori Katagiri

2011 International Postcard Swap

Zoe over at Playing By The Book is having her annual postcard swap, 

if you are interested in joining pop over to her blog and read all about it.

hair and potions....

Firstly, hair... this is how Ebi-kun came home from yochien, with a mad quiff, looked kind of cute cool though, I have no idea how he got it like this, his hair is like mine and has a will of it's own.

We tried to think up a good way to use the left over food colour from dying the eggs, we tried a couple of painting methods but the dye wasn't strong enough so they pretty much failed so Ebi-kun ended up mixing up potions, (like we did here) there is something magical about mixing colours, it keeps kids quiet for ages!

Before dinner he decided to read me some of his book, a new book, Tonight on the Titanic, it is one of the magic tree house books, well he stormed through the first chapter and then the second, and the third. He ended up reading the whole thing, all 10 chapters, all 71 pages! Took him about 45 minutes, when he finished he said 'wow, that was exciting wasn't it?' 

I could do with a book that is a little bit more difficult than the magic tree house books and a bit easier than How to train your dragon, any ideas anyone?

Oh, they will be flying the flags today......

photo credit powfoto

Yes, they always fly the flags on my mom's birthday, she told me so when I was little, apparently it has nothing to do this woman, they do specially for my mom because she is special.

So, happy birthday mom!

Hope you have a super day

xxx

Eggs...

I love how our have turned out this year. We bought white eggs to start with, boiled them and then decorated them with electrical tape, make sure you smooth the tape at the edges. Then we soaked them in food colouring mixed with lemon juice and water. To dry them I stuck some pins into a piece of foam to make rests, then when they were dry we peeled off the tape.

 cute!

This year we won't have as many families at the egg hunt due to the quake but we have decided to make it more difficult to find the eggs by having the kids names written on them and they will only be able to collect their own eggs, the little ones with have their own sticker. Hope the weather stays nice.

There are lots of other egg decorating ideas over at hand on: as we grow

April Challenge number 9....

Ebi-kun needs a new bento bag this year for yochien, this time it needs to have ribbons to tie so that the kids can learn to tie a bow. It is a good idea since in Japan few people wear shoes with laces and those who do tend to leave them tied and just slip their shoes on and off.

 It took me quite some time to figure out the pattern, I think it was because I didn't  have a clear picture of the finished product in my head but it all turned out in the end.

Egg Bunting...

I thought it was about time to get into the Easter swing of things so as the eggs boiled we made bunting. Ebi-kun used the metal inset shape to draw the eggs then decorated them with washi tape, glitter glue and stickers.

 and everyone is different

 then we stapled it to some ribbon.

We will be egg decorating this afternoon!

Book Review

How do you like Miffy's new hat - rather stylish don't you think?

 This is one of Ebi-kuns creations, I picked up this book from the ¥100 store, Paper Cutting For Beginners and it is great. You cut a section of the page then fold it according to the lines on the back of the paper and then cut out the grey sections and it makes all kinds of shapes.

 Ebi-kun cut the Kappa* head the decided he needed a body so I showed him how to use brads and he made himself a Kappa puppet. ¥100 yen well spent!

*Kappa is a mythical Japanese creature, he lives in rice paddies and rivers and likes to eat children, horses and cucumber. He has a dished head that is filled with water. If you should meet him, you should bow, in a polite Japanese way, because he is Japanese he will bow back, the water will spill and he can't survive without water in his dished head so as he refills it you can run away and escape. That little nugget of information might just save your life one day!

Right today's mission is to do my accounts *groan* and sew a new bento bag for yochien, what are your plans for the day?