crafty adventures | kimberly ah

Mar 11 2014

crafty adventures, Office Supplies, vintage

Family Calligraphy Tools

The first time we went to Japan together, Naoto told his mom that I’d taken an art class and was introduced to sumi-e painting. Sumi-e is “ink wash painting” using only black ink and simple brush strokes. The goal is to interpret an object with the fewest strokes possible. For example, you wouldn’t draw a cat and include all of its fur and whiskers and stripes and claws. You would convey the feeling of the cat, maybe its shape and its curiosity (perked ears for example). When I first learned about sumi-e, I was really excited. I am terrible at drawing, so I thought it would be easy to do these simple line paintings of things… Oh no…not easy at all. “Capturing the essence” is majorly difficult and controlling the brush to get variations in the depth color in the black ink is frustratingly challenging. But it’s fun to try…

Back to my mother-in-law…when Naoto told her about my sumi-e painting, she went into her closet and brought out the supplies pictured above. Her sister had been a calligraphy teacher and she left all of her calligraphy tools in her care. Sumi-e and calligraphy use similar tools and so Naoto’s mom gave them to me. I feel honored and humbled to have these tools in my possession…I know I will never be able to use them to their potential, but again, I can try…

The basic calligraphy tools are known as the “four treasures” (paper, inkstone, ink and brush). For the rest of the week, I will be sharing more about these tools and what makes them so special.

Tagged crafts, I *heart* Japan, Japan, office supplies, vintage

Mar 10 2014

5 Comments

crafty adventures, Office Supplies

Japanese Calligraphy Lessons

I’ve had a phrase stuck in my head for awhile now that I’ve been wanting to write in Japanese calligraphy. The trouble is, I don’t know how to write Japanese characters and Naoto–my live-in teacher–works all the time. So when he came home from work unexpectedly early last Thursday afternoon, I jumped at the chance to break out my calligraphy supplies. Naoto was really excited. (Not really, but he was a good sport…and in the end, I think he had a good time, too.) Naoto gave me tips on making my characters look better and left me with a good reference to work from. Over the weekend, I put away the brushes and inks and instead practiced with markers. I need to focus on confidently forming the characters so that eventually I will be able to focus on controlling the brush strokes. It’s a lot harder than it looks! Naoto makes it look so easy–it’s not!! Even though my characters were far from perfect, Naoto wrote encouraging messages on my work and we have another lesson planned soon.

Tomorrow, I’ll share a little bit about our calligraphy supplies. Most of them are handed down from Naoto’s mom whose sister was a calligraphy teacher.

Tagged crafts, I *heart* Japan, Japan, office supplies

Mar 01 2014

2 Comments

crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail, washi weekend

The End of Another Letter Month

Yesterday marked the end of Letter Month. Last year, I felt a little bit burnt out at the end. This year, I feel re-energized about letter writing. I don’t really think it’s due to Letter Month though. I think it’s mostly due to meeting so many of my letter writing friends and feeling inspired by the mail people I met at Ex Postal Facto.

In total, I sent forty-three pieces of mail–two more than I sent last year. While I did write a letter every single day, there were some days that I didn’t make it to the mail box (which is sad because we have one in our building!) because of forgetfulness (or hibernation). But the act of writing happened every day and I hope to continue that to some extent beyond Letter Month. I did spend out some stationery I’ve kind of been hoarding, but I did not expand my mail art skills at all…mainly sticking with the usual washi tape and rubber stamps… There’s always room for improvement next year!

Thanks to everyone who filled my mailbox this month!

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 23 2014

2 Comments

crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

Letter Month, Round Up 4

We are heading into the home stretch of Letter Month! I feel–similar to last year–that I’m slacking lately. I’m sometimes barely making it by midnight, and not every letter is getting dropped in the blue box on the day it was written…but I’m staying on top of writing someone every day and returning letters within a week so I’m feeling pretty good about finishing this week strong! I have a few letters to return and I’m going to try to write a few of the people I met during Ex Postal Facto.

Are you still participating? One more week to go!

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 18 2014

Letter Month, Round Up 3

I’m back from ExPostal Facto, but I spent yesterday recovering from a red-eye flight home and a very…eventful ending to my trip…hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a recap of what was an amazing weekend of mail goodness. I need to download about a thousand pictures and call my mother today.

In the meantime, please enjoy Letter Month Round Up 3. My Valentines are all sent out and I got a healthy amount of postcards written during my trip. Sadly, all of those postcards are still in my bag. I accidentally brought them home with me. (You will understand why later…) So I’m mailing them back to a postal saint in SanFrancisco just so they have that authentic postmark.

How are your Letter Months going? We are in the home stretch, and even though I haven’t thought about what I’m mailing out today, I’m feeling pretty good about a strong finish around here!

Feb 17 2014

1 Comment

crafty adventures, holidays, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

A Presidential Valentine

In the US, we are celebrating Presidents Day today, which means banks, schools and post offices are closed and some lucky people have the day off. Sigh…I love a good pun.

I made an Abe themed Valentine for my dad this year. I started with another Paper Source 4-bar heart (the base for all easy homemade Valentines) and added the words with my vintage DYMO label maker. I love punching those letters…I don’t use that thing nearly enough. I decided to make a pun based on Honest Abe. If this Valentine was for Naoto, I would have gone the b(Abe) route…but it would be weird to call my dad a babe.

I topped off the Valentine with my inspiration for the Valentine–this button from La Familia Green. (They make the cutest buttons–I have my eye on the coffee and donut one for perhaps a future Valentine.) I taped it on with a little piece of washi tape. Simple and sweet.

From my land to yours…Happy Presidents Day!

Tagged crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, parents, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 14 2014

1 Comment

crafty adventures, holidays, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

2014 “Cat Lady” Valentines

Even though I gave up making my own Christmas cards last year, I’m still going strong in the Valentine-making department. Last year, I did mostly store-bought cards with handmade garlands but this year, I made my cards again.

I love a good pun, and I wanted to use my cat template, so I came up with these cat-themed cards for my cat-fan friends. Each one ended up being a little bit different because I was spending out some Valentine papers from yesteryear. I started with a good pun–You’re the cat’s meow!–and typed it up on Paper Source 4-bar heart cards. Then I stamped on a cat and a heart. I had tiny hearts punched out of leftover paper that I glued on, along with vintage red sequins (using my favorite glue pen). Each card ended up being a little bit different (and each card had varying amounts of Presley fur and coffee spills.)

The non-cat people got the same heart cards stamped with something tea or coffee related…slightly less exciting than cat puns.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope your day is filled with love and pink mail!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, holidays, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 10 2014

2 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, Olympics, what's for dinner

Mini Olympics Party

On Friday night, I hosted a mini party for the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Even though it was a small party, I felt compelled to decorate just a little bit. (I find the decorations distract guests from my messy desk.) I searched Pinterest for some ideas and found this fun flag print-out. I trimmed out the flags of participating countries (they all weren’t represented, sadly) and pasted them around some baker’s twine. (Presley helped. She’s on Team USA.) I made two separate garlands and hung them up over the TV–front and center with the Olympic action–and right next to the official Adami Hasegawa Medal Count board. Naoto and I have a medal count competition–USA v Japan. For snacks, I made these cheese crackers and these salami crisps. The cheese crackers were delicious and couldn’t have been simpler. I made the dough early in the afternoon, rolled it into the log and kept it in the fridge. Then, right before the guests came, I sliced the crackers and popped them in the oven. My house smelled delicious and the crackers were amazing right out of the oven.

The sausage crisps were easy too. I used thinly sliced Trader Joe’s Chianti sausage and instead of Giada’s recommended basil, I used dill for topping…I love dill, and I felt like it was more “Russian”.

It was a fun way to welcome back the games and to gear up for two weeks of snow and ice (both on TV and outside…I don’t think our snow is going to melt until April.)

P.S. I really wanted to make these Olympic torch snacks.

P.P.S. For another Olympic party, go here.

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, food, Olympics

Feb 09 2014

2 Comments

crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

Letter Month, Round-Up 2

Welcome to the second installment of Letter Month mailings (Monday-Saturday). Even though I’ve sent out a total of fifteen pieces, I’m a little behind on sending out all of my Valentines. I’m hoping to get them all finished today so they have a chance of getting to their destinations before the fourteenth. And because a Letter Month post wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from Presley, here she is crushing some Valentines. Between Naoto spilling coffee on my cards and Presley crushing them, working at the dining room table has turned out to be a big mistake. Apologies in advance to Cath and Melissa for the kitty imprints on your letters.

How’s Letter Month going in your mailbox?

To see last week’s round-up, go here.

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 05 2014

12 Comments

adventures, crafty adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Calling Cards for ExPostalFacto

Next week I’m heading to San Francisco for Ex Postal Facto, a mail art show and conference. I am super-excited about the trip, mainly because I get to meet–in person–many of the ladies I’ve been corresponding with through the mail.

I decided, since I will be meeting new people, too, that I needed some simple calling cards. I was going to order some from MOO (I’ve used them before–they’re great!) but I’m a huge fan of creative and complicated calling cards (I have a Pinterest board dedicated to them!), so I decided I should raise the bar and try something fun.

I bought some plain business cards from Paper Source and played around with a few ideas. My original plan was to type directly on the cards, but I had mixed results due to the tiny card not staying securely in the typewriter. I was disappointed to have to resort to labels, but then I had the idea to turn the calling card into a mini “envelope”. Anne sent me a big bag of used flag postage with my Christmas card so I decided to put them to good use on the calling cards. (Thanks, Anne!) And, since an envelope isn’t an envelope without a little washi tape, I added a strip of skinny airmail washi at the top.

As far as the labels, I used my Royal Safari typewriter to type out the information, toggling between red and black ink (just for fun…or to complicate things.) After going back and forth about it, I decided not to include my address on the cards. It feels weird not to include it, since it is a mail conference, but it’s better to be safe than to have some stalker climbing on your balcony, right? Instead, I included my name, web address, Twitter & Instagram handle and phone number (the blurred part).

So far, assembly is slow, but I have a week–I can do this!

Have you seen any interesting calling cards lately?