The Secret Den Command Centre

Remember Ebi-kuns den? Well, he decided he needed a command centre, the den is the headquarters for the local spy ring apparently - of course, you will have to forget that I told you that!

So he got out the recycling basket - we save anything that might be handy for crafts, and set to it. I can't remember why we had a big sheet of hologram sticky backed paper but it came in very handy. I also have a box full of pictures cut out of magazines, that is where he found the men in the hazmat suits. You can't really tell from the photos but he placed a piece of wavy plastic over the top to give it a proper TV feel to it.

He added various other bits and bobs, I'm sure they all have a function, I have no idea what they do - I'm not a member of the spy ring! But there are lots of buttons, dials and levers.

I did say he needed a Big Red Button - because, well there is always a big red button, that is what is inside the black box, to prevent accidental firings of missiles, we wouldn't want that would we!

As a kid, I would spend hours making things from the recycling (well back in the day it wasn't recycling, basically stuff saved from going in the bin!) and it makes me happy that Ebi-kun is happy to do the same. A load of junk + a vivid imagination and some decent glue/tape!

Easy Wreath Idea

When we got the decorations out I decided that out old wreath was looking rather shabby, time to make a new one! I managed to find the wooden wreath base at Yuzawaya then I had planned to pick up some more decorations but then I spotted a couple of meters of tinsel that I hadn't used when decorating the house.

So... four meters of tinsel wrapped around the wreath base, 10 minutes and taa-daa....

This would be a fun craft to do with the kids too.

What you need:

• A pre-made wreath or ring of some kind. I had a woven branch wreath.
• 4m or so of tinsel
• Something to make a hook with if your wreath doesn't have one.

If you are doing it with kids, it'll be easier if you start it off for them. Tie the end, then just wrap around the wreath middle, keep it tight so that the branch wreath can't be seen through. We could have got away with 3 m of tinsel but 4 made it super fluffy.

Very basic and simple but it looks lovely!

And a quick update - this post was written in 2014, we are still using the same wreath, it'll be on the door in 2026!

Pet Bottle Helicopter...

I spotted these on my way home from the supermarket the other day - There was this rather neat chopper, which is what caught my eye initially....

But then I noticed there were some planes in the garden too....

How to make your own erasers...

We had a full on day on Saturday, started with another trip to the doc, Ebi-kun had blisters appear on his elbows and chin, Doc confirmed it was Hand, Foot and Mouth disease he still has a sore throat but basically they can't do anything to help it.

Because we had been stuck in all week, we went over to the local prefecture pool, not to swim (not a good idea since HFM is contagious) instead we played ping-pong. Lots of fun, lots of giggling and just what we needed. Then we went to the mall for lunch and Daddy-ebi wanted to go to Uniqlo, I also picked up a new top and Ebi-kun got a bargain t-shirt and an eraser making kit. We knew there was a typhoon on the way so we stopped off at the Ice-cream farm for a medicinal ice-cream before doing the weekly shop. We got in just before the rain arrived. 

Yesterday, Ebi-kun decided to crack open his eraser making kit, I really wanted to play too but was reduced to the official photographer!

This is the set, they do doughnuts, fast foot, candy and cakes too. It was ¥525 and you get the moulds, clay and a box for cooking.

First spray the mould with water to stop the clay from sticking.

For some of the sushi parts you have to mix the colours yourself, this is egg so he just used the yellow provided. You need to knead the clay to soften it up so you can work with it.

Push the clay into the deeper side of the mould and squeeze the top on. When you open it up the excess will have squeezed out, just remove it with a toothpick.

Just do one piece at a time, this is the egg...

And this is the rice... For erasers with more than one colour you need to stick the parts together, dry the pieces first or they won't stick.

Using the box provided, put one piece of clay inside then cover with 1.5cm of water.

Zap in the microwave at 600w for 2 minutes, take it out tip the hot water out, refill with cool water for 3 minutes or so. (probably best if an adult does this)

Taa-daa - sushi erasers! This kept Ebi-kun busy for over an hour and we will use the moulds again with playdoh. 

*NOTE* Make she there is good ventilation when you are cooking the eraser and wash your hands well after using the clay, the chemical residue can have an effect on various surfaces if you don't.

Japanese gadget books

Ebi-kun gets a shed load of homework to do over the holidays, I know, insane right? He has to keep a diary, do 2 drawings of the tomato plant his has grown, before and after pictures, he gets a book full of Japanese and kanji and another of maths and he has to make or do some kind of project.

Luckily, we are a crafty kind of family plus the Japanese book companies have caught on and you can buy some great books for making crafts. We spotted some this year that come with a box of pieces to make all the crafts in the book.

Ebi-kun got it out the other day, I had some work to do so I basically left him to it. It was so funny, he totally did what I would have done. He looked through the book and decided he wanted to make something with a propeller but he didn't want to make the exact project they had in the book, he had his own ideas of what he wanted to make. He is definitely a chip off the old block, that is just what I do with almost any sewing/crafting/recipe book!

He did struggle a bit at first but I told him to figure out and he did! Here is his testing car, he said he wanted to make sure it worked then he will make it fancy - good thinking. I'm not sure if this will be the final project or not. There are about 15 in the book and he also got a build your own contraption kit for his birthday, we will see what happens next...

Inspiration Sunday with Ursula Markgraf

Hands up if you love buttons, what, you haven't got your hand up? What have you got against buttons eh? Well, for all the button lovers out there I have a special button lady on the blog today! One of the cool things about having a net based business is getting to meet amazing people from all over the world, today is no exception...

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.... 

My name is Ursula and I live in Germany. I love everything creative and my brain just won't stop creating new ideas! By now my husband gets scared as soon as I utter “I have an idea”. ;-) 

We have two wonderful kids and a dog. And when I do not spend time with my family or on the internet I am most likely making something – sewing, painting, drawing, knitting, crocheting, … and making buttons of course for my little handmade button online-shop. 

I love love love tea. Black tea with sugar and a little milk! HEAVEN on earth! Seriously! 

What I hate is that many people think being creative is something you are either born with or you will never be. I deeply believe that everyone is creative.

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

2. Where do you get your inspiration from? 

To be honest, often I am not even sure myself what inspired something. I get inspired by the “usual suspects” like nature, my kids, books, art ... but also by things like talking to people … Sometimes it is just seeing a pattern somewhere - on a cup, a wall, a shirt - and I know I have to create something with it. Sometimes I have no idea where my ideas actually started! They just pop up and annoy me until I let them come alive. ;-)

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

3. Tell us about your business...

I want to make the world more creative – and started by making gorgeous one-of-a-kind buttons by hand. I sell these with the hope they inspire others in turn to be creative and unique. In the future I plan to add other creativity-centered products to inspire others to live creatively – their way.

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

4. What led you to start your business.... 

Me wanting to live my life MY WAY and according to my priorities! 

I was sick of having to put my (old) job first – above my small kids, my family, anything really. Don't get me wrong, my job is important to me! But my kids are far more important than any job will ever be. 

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

5. What does an average day look like for you?

Building a small business while raising two kids somehow does not add up to average days for me. :-) 

To be honest this used to frustrate me a lot until I embraced it and just started to work with it. Now I do not have a set schedule but rather a flexible system which I change and adapt according to what I need this very day. 

There are however some common things that appear again and again in my days. They include 

-at least two cups of tea – otherwise I can not function! ;-) 

-working on my computer when the kids are busy playing or hubby is home 

-”making” something – this can be a sewn coat, a batch of buttons, a row of knitting or just a doodle 

-cuddles and giggles with my kids 

-scribbling into my notebooks 

-staying up too late working on my website or answering emails 

There is still a lot to improve about how I handle business and family – but I could not be happier! :-)

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

6. What is the one thing about your job that makes your heart sing? 

Freedom! And making things! 

(I know. Those are two things. But come on – if you have the most awesome job you can imagine it is really hard to even narrow it down to two!)

7. Share a secret with us that has never been shared online before 

Confession: I LOVE doing laundry. 

Okay, now it is out. Please don't judge me. I do hate ironing, though, if that makes it any better.

About Ursula:

Ursula is a creative, free-spirited, yet structure-loving artist who creates beautiful unique handmade buttons. They are meant to inspire women to be creative and unique and live their life their way. I just opened my online-store and am in the process of filling up my shop with lots of handmade button goodness. So come on over and have a peek – and feel free to jump on my list to stay informed. You also get a fun set of printable mini-posters/ postcards when you sign up.

Image Credit: Ursula Markgraf

Find Ursula....

Website : http://www.ursulamarkgraf.com/

How your kids can make their own Alien T-shirt

 This was a fun and easy project. For some reason, Ebi-kun decided he wanted an Alien T-shirt. So I sent him off to find a plain t-shirt as I dug out what we needed:

a plain t-shirt
freezer paper*
pencil
scissors
fabric paint
paintbrush
iron
scrap of cloth

First I cut a piece of freezer paper to size, then Ebi-kun drew the alien face.

He cut out the face and the eyes and mouth, then ironed the outline of the face to the front of the t-shirt.

Then he added the eyes and mouth and ironed them in place too

He placed a work mat inside the t-shirt just in case the paint soaked through and got to work painting the green face. He left it to dry, once dry you can peel off the freezer paper. I forgot to take a photo but he finished it off by painting the eyes and mouth black. We left it to dry over night then fixed the paint by ironing it again, this time with a cloth over the alien, the heat should fix the paint but check the instructions on the paint jar.

Then go and model the t-shirt with Captain Santa in Tokyo! 

*freezer paper - a friend sent me two rolls form the US. You can buy it in the crafts stores here, it is usually near the quilting paper stuff. It has a coating on one side which sticks to fabric when you iron it but doesn't damage the fabric at all and just peels off, leaving no residue. 

I bought the fabric paint from the crafts store, it was about ¥600 for a jar.

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Rhythm Of The Home - spring

The Spring Edition of Rhythm Of The Home is out and a regular contributor, I always enjoy having a good read through each edition, some other great contributors in there this edition too. Hop over and see what we have been up to... this will give you a clue....

Shrinky Dink Fun

At the weekend I decided to clear out a couple of my crafty drawers and in doing so I found some shrinky dink plastic. Ebi-kun and I decided to have a play with it, I'm not sure what he did with his so I haven't been able to take any photos - he used a Lego book to trace his pictures. I used a Japanese drawing book, I'm not so good at drawing people.

Before

When I made them I didn't have a clear plan on what to do with them but then I remembered I had this little pin thing. It is good to be crafty again.

 After

What have you been making recently?

Taking advantage of the Americans...

OK, not all Americans but as you probably know, this week is Thanksgiving then Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Until a few years ago, I had never heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a pretty new thing in itself. Anyway, this means that a lot of places have sales on over the weekend and I have just had an email through to say that all the Crafsty Classes are being offered at $19.99 or less. Whoo-hooo.

When I was asked to review one of their classes I had a really tough time choosing, I think I might go and pick up another one as an early birthday present to me! If you missed my review, I posted about it HERE.

So from the 23rd - 26th you can get a Craftsy class at a discount. The classes would make a great gift too, especially for people who 'dabble' and need help taking their hobby to the next level. If you do sign up for a class, let me know, we might even end up in the same one!

That'd not all folks... you know I am a Blurb fan, well you can get yourself a 25% discount using the code HOLIDAYTHANKS over the holiday weekend, great time to get some photo books made for Christmas presents. If you are short of time, use the Blurb bookify software and it basically does it all for you.

These are affiliate links which means it is a win-win situation for both of us, you get a bargain and I get cider money for England. Cheers to that :)

Surprise! - a day off school!

So, the day before yesterday I find out Ebi-kun was to have the day off school yesterday! Apparently it was 'Saitama Day' and it appears I was the only one clueless about this. I had to reschedule a couple of meetings and re-juggle the other things I had planned for the day. Ebi-kun kept himself busy for the first couple of hours so that I could get through my emails, sort out orders and do some coding to fix an issue on my website.

Then it was the laundry, changing the bed sheets and dusting then, off to the supermarket. The route I take to the supermarket means cutting through the park so we decided to stop and go acorn hunting. We picked up a bag of acorns and leaves and continued on our shopping mission. Got home, had lunch, watched Puss In Boots which was great and then we got out all the craft supplies for a big session.

We started with leaf rubbings and then went onto doodling and sticking. I was inspired for leaf doodling by The Artful Parents Autumn Crafts e-book.

We didn't have any metallic markers (they are now on my shopping list) so we just tried the different pens that we had to see what would work.

Ebi-kun designed Mr Leaf, a salaryman leaf and then he went on to make...

The Autumn Man, he used white glue to stick the acorns on and I was surprised that they were still there in the morning.

But my favourite it his rock band 'The Acorn Blues' There is a punk with a green mohican playing lead guitar, a lead singer, drummer and two backing singers/banner wavers. I love how he put this together, he used the glue gun to stick it all together. What fun! He announced when he was finished that when he grows up he is going to be an acorn rock band designer and have a shop selling acorn rock bands!

I love how a bunch of free leaves and acorns could fill a good 3 hours of creative fun.

How To Make Halloween Scratch Cards

I posted the tutorial for these over on My Organized Chaos, it is easier for me to post anything that involves downloads over there :o)

Halloween Fun - Inflatable Bin Bag Ghosts...

We have our Halloween party at the weekend and I wanted to test this out beforehand, so I made one for the boys to try out yesterday. 

This is really simple to make. Lay two bin bags out flat on the floor, tuck the opening of one bag into the other. Tape the edges using gaffer/duck tape, make sure all the edges are sealed so the air can't escape.

Draw on your spooky face using permanent marker. 

Cut a small hole at the bottom end of the ghost, it needs to be big enough to put the mouth of your hair-dryer in. Turn the hair-dryer on (use the cool setting) and fill up the bag. Once it is fully inflated, remove the hair-dryer and twist the corner, secure with a bit more tape. Done.

Take it outside and listen for the squeals of delight from the crazy kids in the street! I am hoping to set up some kind of course that the kids have to take their ghost through or have some kind of team race for the party.

The boys did eventually burst poor ghosty! But it was a quick and cheap way to entertain them for a while and of course it helps me retain my reputation as the crazy gaijin on the street! I'm sure with different coloured bags you could make no end of cute inflatables.

If you liked this post please pin it or share it or even both, thank you.

I have put together my favourite Fun & Fast Ghoulish Halloween Treats into an ebook so you can whip them up at anytime (why just serve ghoulish food at Halloween?)

17 absolutely disgustingly delicious treat ideas... 

All fast and fun to make

All pretty healthy, made from kitchen basics

Most of them suitable to make with the kids too

PLUS a bonus labels pack too!

Olympic Hoopla

This was a quick and easy craft to do. First we took 5 paper plates, I cut out the middles then Ebi-kun painted them the colour of the the Olympic rings. Whilst they were drying we found 3 empty PET bottles and filled them with water and paint, they were supposed to be bronze, silver and gold!

Once they were dry it was time for the newest Olympic sport, hoopla......

How to use bathroom supplies to entertain the kids

I really have to thank the commenter who left a link for making these, I can't find the comment now! If it was you please shout up!

The video we watched made a more complicated version using battery packs and soldering, this is my simplified version of it.

What you need:

A nail brush

Cheap electric toothbrush

tape

pliers/scissors

optional- pens and paper

First take the head off the toothbrush.

Next, use the pliers to pull the bristles out of the top of the nail brush, we tried cutting them first then realised that they would pull out. It is quite hard so you might end up doing it rather than your child.

Next is where your experimentation starts, I would explain to the kids that they need to try placing the toothbrush on differ parts of the brush because depending on where it sits will effect it's performance. We used masking tape to hold it in place until we found the 'sweet spot' and then we secured it better with duct tape.

So have fun playing around with the placement, we found that sometimes it would just go round in circles and other times it was really slow and the we found the position to make it go faster. There are a couple of little video clips below since photos don't really explain it well. We also tried taping  a pen to the brush and later in the day Ebi-kun made a maze with his books, this kept him quiet for ages! As the whizzer hits the book, most of the time it changes direction, occasionally it did get stuck.

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