Sunday, May 09, 2010

happy mother's day, and tiger babies

my mom is for sure a big reason why i love crafts. when my brother and i were little she always made sure that there were art supplies available to us all the time, and made us homemade playdoh and potato stamps. i learned many crafts from her directly, like sewing and knitting. my mom is the kind of crafter (and compulsive teacher) who is interested in almost any craft activity and wants to try it herself. from her, i picked up the idea i could replicate (almost any) crafty project i see, and that of course handmade gifts are best!
so when several of my friends became mothers for the 1st time this spring, of course i wanted to make handmade presents for their babies. i used japanese kimono tops (so soft, and so practical and easy to tie), and did a little handmade stamping. since these babies were all both in the year of the tiger (2010) i reused my tiger cub stamp from my new years cards, and added some bamboo.
the bamboo stamp was really fun to do, making different combinations of the leaves and stalks. of course i used the wonderful stamp carving material available here in japan, which i also have in my shop.
here's what the stamps looked like.

come to think of it, my mom was also a champion card maker with lino prints from back in the day. i bet she would enjoy rubber stamp carving.

what about you? what crafts did you learn from your mom or enjoy together?

happy mothers day!

5 comments:

claireth said...

My mom is not a crafter at all, i have no memory of crafting moments together ever, but what i learned from her is that you only need to want to try to be able to make anything. There is no such thing as "i don't know how to draw (or sew/carve/knit/etc)", there are only people who do not like their own style.

Lee Roberts said...

We love our top - it's beautiful and reminds us so much of you and of Japan.

We're looking forward to sending you a picture of Owen wearing his!

Lee Roberts said...

Oh, and I forgot to answer your question. My mom was (and is) a great artist, and experiments with a lot of media. I remember doing lino-light projects with her, pressing pictures into styrofoam trays and using them to print pictures to go along with stories we wrote...

Studio Paars said...

Oooh I love your baby top! What a very sweet and lovely handmade present.
As for my mum, from her I picked up sewing and knitting mostly. Nowadays she tries every craft she finds, but that has only started after all the kids moved out.

ezeldabeth said...

wow! that is so adorable! ... my mom AND my grandma (her mom)..were both crafters and encouraged me so much... from them i learned crochet, sewing, cross stitch...my mom and i have the best time crafting...i remember one year we made angels for christmas and we laughed and laughed...and i rope my mom into last minute crafts for my son's class...we have a great time together no matter what we are making!