Crafting | Perpetual Tea Party

Happy No-Turkey-Day and Rainbow Friday

26 November 2011 Written by Kyoko 0 Comments

Wishing you are having a happy holiday weekend! Todd and I call this holiday the “No-Turkey-Day”. Because neither of us really like turkey and make a point not to consume turkey in any form. Seriously we can think of million other things we would rather eat. I mean we’ve watched most of Anthony Bourdain’s shows on netflix lately, and…well, turkey remains unmentioned, for a good reason I’m sure. We figured out how to make pot roast, it turned out pretty good! I think that many of our friends call this holiday the “Turkey Day” anyhow — as in the day in which family get together and have a feast (which is a wonderful thing to do), as opposed to “Thanksgiving” — the core of which is historical denial.

And while at it, we’ve also renamed “Black Friday” (which have been, for the past 5 years, the day we stay in and NOT shop) a “Rainbow Friday” (we believe in therapeutic benefits of silliness!) and spend the day making things. This is what I made. Bracelet in which I’ve revisited the hemp jewelry technique.

Pumpkins and the Princess

31 October 2011 Written by Kyoko 0 Comments

Monday is such a silly day for Halloween so we celebrated it on Saturday. Serendipitously, we were blessed with beautiful weather! We had no real plans for the day, but since we got up and about too late to go to the market, we headed out to Sauvie Island to seek out a pumpkin patch. There are many pumpkin patches here, we drove passed by two really big ones when we found this most beautiful one ever.

Immi loves pumpkins, I have no idea why, but she really does. I didn’t make her princess dress, but I did whip up her tiara to match the wand I made for Immi some time ago. I almost contemplated buying a mass produced made in china plastic and probably toxic crap of a toy tiara but made this instead. My goal (aside from refusing to pay for worthless item, keeping one more item out of landfill etc. etc.) was for durability and comfort. I doodled the design, glittered a fabric using non-toxic water resistant glue, stitched it onto wool felt, added elastic band and attached a salvaged heart-shaped red rhinestone.

Crafty Images

17 October 2011 Written by Kyoko 0 Comments

Some everyday crafting moments captured with iPhone.

Hazy Purple Cuff with Lace and Coin

07 October 2011 Written by Kyoko 0 Comments

I’m working on a wrist cuff by the large window overlooking the ocean. I wish my studio desk had more natural light! (Our office/studio stains nice and cool during summer but it doesn’t get much light.)

Ambiguous weather at the beach is blessing us with frequent rainbows!

Vintage Threads and Tiny Crochet Hooks

12 September 2011 Written by Kyoko 0 Comments

I totally adore vintage threads of all sorts. This one in amazing color is crochet/tatting thread.

Because I have been crochetting tiny things using regular sewing thread lately, I was hoping to find crochet hooks that are smaller than the ones I can find at regular craft super stores — I have seen very delicate vintage crochet lace so I figured crochet hooks must have come in smaller sizes long time ago. …And I was totally right! I found a whole bunch of really small crochet hooks at Knittn’ Kitten. I’ve added the pin in the photo for scale.

The threads designed for these hooks are very delicate, completely beautiful and come in variety of colors. Look at the price on these things — 15¢ and 30¢ !