Japantown, San Francisco

Over the weekend I visited one of my favorite places in San Francisco, Japantown. It's less touristy than Chinatown and offers some unique dining and shopping options. Here's how I spent the day there.

On my to-do list was to check out Yakini Q, a Korean BBQ restaurant/cafe. I actually wasn't there for the food but for the drinks. I heard a lot about their sweet potato lattes and had to try one. We got one iced with soy milk and one traditionally made hot with milk. Both were delicious but I think I liked the hot latte best. It was like drinking a warm sweet potato pie. . . .mmm.

My second stop was at the Kinokuniya bookstore. I managed to leave the store with just one Japanese craft book. The book is all about making tassels with embroidery thread and wooden beads.

I stopped at Ichiban Kan, it's kind of like a Japanese dollar store and very similar to Daiso. I picked up these cute pencils for some favors for a birthday party. I love that they have dangling heart charms and bows attached to them (so girly).

I also picked up a little something for a giveaway. I'm hoping to have that post up later this week so stay tuned.

Craft: Mummy Lollipops

Today I'm crafting with one of my all time favorite supplies, Japanese masking tape. I realized the layering of the tape is perfect for emulating mummy wrapping. So after a little brainstorming, I decided to make some mummy lollipops. These are extremely easy to make, even kids can make them. The lollipops would be great to give out for Halloween treats or use for a party.

Supplies:
Japanese masking tape - light grey
Flat packaged lollipops
Googly eyes
Glue dots - I used Elmer's glue spots
Scissors

1. Apply googly eyes with glue dots.

2. Start applying tape. I cut the tape in half for thinner strips.

3. Cover the entire front side of lollipop with tape. Slightly cover the googly eyes with tape for a more realistic effect. Make sure to press tape down well. You don't want your mummies unraveling.

4. Cut corners to make a rounded mummy shaped head. Make sure not to break the package seal when cutting around the corners.



Do you celebrate Halloween? What are you crafting for the holiday? Costumes?

Supporting Handmade Artists

1.T-shirt from Freelance Ain't Free, 2.Gold Metal Lace Cuff from Inbar Shahak, 3.Beekeeper's Quilt pattern from Tiny Owl Knits 4.Necklace from Bare Metal Designs (I actually purchased a pair of earrings but it's for a gift so I didn't want show the actual piece)

Lately I've been thinking about how I can support handmade artists whether they're selling a product or giving away a craft tutorial for free. First there's the obvious, I can buy handmade. Above are a few things I've purchased from artists in the past few months. But then there's the question of how to support artists who don't sell a product? This has been a question I've been thinking about a lot recently.

Sister Diane, author of Crafty Pod has been publishing a unique series called "How I supported some free". She shares how she's personally supporting artists who give away their patterns and knowledge for free. A few examples of how she supports free are, donating money to a site, buying ad space, or clicking on Flattr buttons. I highly recommend visiting her site to read more about why and how she supports free.

Besides supporting artists financially, we can support them with our comments, stumbles, FB likes, tweets, etc. So my question to you is how do you want to be supported? What do you appreciate the most? Is it a comment? Is it your project being re-tweeted? Maybe it's something none of us have ever even thought of before. Please share.

The Big Ezine Roundup

A couple weeks back I had a conversation with Becky Neafus about Ezines. We were talking about all the great ezines that are out there. One of the topics that came up from the conversation was that it's hard to keep track of them all. That got me thinking it would be nice to compile a link list of inspiring ezines. I'm not sure if it's really a BIG list but I hope it will grow into one. If you know of a great ezine that fits into these categories/style, please share in the comments.

*The magazines labeled free, are free to view online only. Some of the magazines offer a print version for a fee.

Child Lifestyle
Babiekins (free)
Kireei Magazine (free) *Spanish
La Petite Magazine (free)
Modern Handmade Child (free)
Small Magazine (free)

Crafts
Craft Sanity
Inspired Ideas
Nuno Magazine

DIY, Entertaining
Styled (free)
Sweet Paul (free)
The Party Dress (free)

Fashion
Matchbook (free)

Interior Design
Covet Garden (free)
Lonny (free)

Craft: Dreamcatcher Card

This craft came about from a memory. Back when I was in highschool, I was working on a presentation with a classmate. I went over to her house to work on the project and in her room hung a dreamcatcher. I was intrigued and asked her where she got it. She replied that she made it. As soon as she told me that, I asked her to show me how to make one. It's funny, I've always been like this, asking others to show me how to make something. I can still remember asking Molly Meyn to teach me how to fold a paper ball in the fourth grade. I was fearless when it came to crafts. . . kickball, not so much.

Well, something about this memory gave me the idea to incorporate the dreamcatcher into a card. It may look complicated but it's really easy to make. It took me about a half hour to create. If you've never made a dreamcatcher before, it might take a little longer.

Supplies:
Card stock - any color
Pencil
Black Pen - I used a Micron 05
Color pens
X-Acto knife
Small hole punch
Embroider thread - cut to 5 feet in length
Sewing needle

Draw a picture of a dream catcher on card. I used a wine glass to trace the circle. Cut out the center of the circle with an x-acto knife. Punch holes where you see the yellow dots. Try not to get the holes to close to the edge of the inner circle or the paper might rip when making the dreamcatcher.

Insert needle up through the center bottom hole of the dreamcatcher. Have knot catch on backside of paper. Wrap embroidery thread around dreamcatcher in pictures below.


Wrap thread just like in the picture above until you have a small center. Knot and trim thread.

When you're done, your dreamcatcher should look something like the picture above. If you want, add beads to thread to make the center of the dreamcatcher more ornate. You could also incorporate real feathers if you wanted to.