felt keychains

Hello everyone!  Sorry about the little break between posts.  I've been busy making prototypes for a new little project for my re-opened etsy shop Noraneko Alley.  (This is the same shop that I used to run before with a group of friends, but this time both my current shop Ura Michi and Noraneko Alley will be run by myself only)

I started making felt donuts like I used to, which you can see by backtracking this blog.  You can see the work-in-progress ones in the photo with all the brown felt pieces.  The brightly colored ones are key chains for screen-cleaning.  One side is felt, while the other side is a lint-free cleaning cloth.  A hint for the decorative appliques is in the middle!

Hopefully it wont take long for me to finish these up and have them uploaded to the shop.

Owls and... more owls.

So the owl-shaped phone cases I was making out of upholstery fabric samples (from my previous post) are finally done and up on Etsy!  They were very fun to make, but like most upholstery fabric, they were also very difficult to hand-sew.  Then again, there were at least 4 layers of fabric sewn together at once on each of these.


In other news, there seems to be a bad thunderstorm coming soon here.  It seems hard to believe with the extremely hot and sunny sky I can see out my window right now, but I guess all of us in the Midwestern U.S.  area should keep an eye out anyways.  As long as the rain doesn't stick around till the farmers' market I guess I don't mind.  The fridge is running out of vegetables fast thanks to my roommates...

Guess Who?

 Maybe the title should have been Guess 'Hoot' instead.

Starting on new projects based on some old ideas is more refreshing than you would expect.

It's been a while since I went back to making my patchwork owl phone cases, or at least that's what I think.  The last time I made them was all the way back in March. (I should really stop abandoning past designs.)

But giving it some time does have its benefits in the way you have a bit more knowledge and skill by the time you come back to the project, to really achieve your original idea.  Looking at the work for a while also makes your eyes glaze over any imperfections, so it's good to let your eyes refresh and come back to it later.  By the way, this is also a good method for a lot of other work like writing essays.  I promise you will notice typos much quicker if you take a break and come back to it later.

Does anyone else have similar ways of procrastinating working as well? 

Coming back...?

Now this is embarrassing.  I haven't posted very often, have I?  Hopefully this will be changed with the craft-filled summer that is about to begin.

For those unaware, I was mostly busy with working on my senior thesis and BFA exhibition... as well as graduation!  Now, not that I'm trying to confuse you, but I technically haven't graduated yet even though I've walked.  I will be student teaching in the fall, and THEN I get my degrees.  Yeah, confusing right?

Here's just a few images from the projects I've been working on for my Bachelors in Fine Arts degree...

 As part of an experiment I participated at the Hatch Art Festival in Champaign, IL and sold these owl phone cases made with upcycled upholstery fabric samples.

 More birds!  Most of my exhibition consisted of these art dolls interacting with found vintage objects.

...and to top it all off, a giant centipede plush.  I still consider it an art doll though.

This summer will consist of updating my Etsy shop, and possibly re-opening my older account filled with super brightly colored pop accessories.  I may also update with costume making for Anime Central next year.  (I'm making maybe 5 costumes for various people) Let's see how this will work out!  Wish me luck!

Japanese Embroidery

I've been going back to the embroidery I learned from my mom lately, thanks to a recent school project. I tried making a simple video for that project of me stitching a sample card of a semamori charm. A real semamori is stitched to your clothes though, this one was just made as a reference, and the video made an interesting intro for my presentation. :)

Untitled from Mikako Takai on Vimeo.

I've tried making some brooches/pins with this method too. I'll be uploading them soon!

felt sweets

I've been having issues with my laptop overheating too easily lately, so I've been doing more crafting than anything else. I've been on a donut craze recently and I've made a bunch of big donuts for purse charms and keychains as well as mini donuts for cellphones. The donuts themselves are brown fleece (personally I think they are stronger this way) with felt frosting and seed bead sprinkles. The mini donuts are the same size as those tiny powdered donuts like Hostess Donettes, and they really remind me of my childhood when I would save my lunch money to buy them in the cafeteria at school.

I think I'll attempt to make life-size macarons next! And maybe cakes too, but not too complicated ones.

heart lockets

I found these adorable and super tiny heart-shaped lockets that were left over from when I bought them to make heart earrings for a friend's request, and I decided to make bracelets with them. Here is the result! A bangle bracelet with glass beads, hematite rounds, czech seed beads, and some silver-tone findings (I think they were pewter, I can't say for sure) They wrap around twice and are loose so they virtually will fit any wrist size.

I love the heart locket! It's so tiny and cute, especially the little engravings. Although I'm not sure about putting a photo in there, its so small you wouldn't be able to tell who is in the photo...

友達に頼まれてハートのイアリングを作った事があるんですけど、そのときのハートのロケットの残りを最近発見。

ちょっとブレスレットにしてみようかと。。。

小さなハートのロケットの甘辛なバングル出来上がり！

ガラス、ヘマタイトとピューター（だったような気がする。。。本当にピューターなのかな？）のビーズを使いました。

ヘマタイトってパワーストーンとしても有名ですよね？

私は単に色が好きなだけですけど。笑

それにあのずっしりとした重みがいいですね、私もよくヘマタイトのブレスレットを使ってます。

ちなみにこのブレスレット、中はワイヤーで大体どんなリストサイズでもOK！

自分以外の人のために作るときは手首の大きさを測るのが面倒だけどコレだと楽だな〜。

Thrift shop finds and cat naps

Last week was very busy with work, there were some visiting stores at the supermarket I work at with delicious Japanese treats! Some people from Rapopo (not sure about the spelling) and Kukuru came from Japan to make sweet potato desserts and takoyaki. I must say, it was very yummy! But it was a very busy week at work which kept me away from my laptop for a while. I'm still trying to recover and can't help myself from taking little cat-naps with my sweetie Panther during the recent rainy days.

先週はバイトで大忙しでした〜！パソコン使うのが久しぶり（笑）

日本から「らぽっぽ」と「くくる」の方がイベント来て、お手伝いをさせていただきました。

アメリカで焼きたての「くくる」のたこ焼きが食べれるなんて、何か贅沢☆

「らぽっぽ」のスティックポテトも美味でした♥♥

でも先週の疲れの性か最近パンサー君といっしょに昼寝してばっかり。

寝顔がラブリ〜。パンちゃんなんでこんなにカワイイんだ！！！

A little before the week my job got busy, I went around some thrift shops with my mom to see if we could find any neat things to use at the upcoming craft show/goodbye party for a friend. I just happened to find this adorable little picture frame for $2.

バイトが忙しくなる前に実はちょっとお買い物をしてました。

近くのアンティーク屋さんで超カワイイ写真のフレームを発見！ちなみにお値段は＄２（日本では２００円くらい？）淡いピンクのバラがお気に入り！

中のガラスがボロボロだったので、新しい布と網戸用のアクリルメッシュを入れてみた。

ジャジャ〜ン！イアリングホルダーの出来上がり！

メッシュの穴にイアリングフックを引っ掛けるだけ。

メッシュと布の間にはゴムを入れてあるのでフックが入る隙間はたっぷり。

意外とたくさんイアリングを付けられるし、一目で全部見えるので急いでるときにアクセを選ぶのには結構便利。

簡単に作れて机の上も可愛く♥　今度クラフトセールで手作りアクセのディスプレイに使う事にしました。

自分用にはもうちょっとクールなシルバーのフレームで作って。。。

It's a little too 'sweet-lolita' for me but I still find it attractive. I took out the old glass and added some fabric and a plastic mesh used in windows. There's some rubber strips in-between the mesh and fabric. Why do all this? To make a display for earrings of course! Since there's space between the mesh and fabric, you can stick earring hooks in the holes and display your earrings while organizing them at the same time. It's easy to make and I have a larger one I made with a vintage pewter frame for my own earrings. It's better if there was nothing behind the mesh, that way you can put studs on there too, but small picture frames don't work that way. :( But who cares! I find these very helpful since I can choose and grab earrings quickly and the frame itself is a great accessory for your desk.

It really isn't hard to make, I suggest you try it out! :) Now I'm off to make more crafts and finish drawings that I owe some people.

chouchou mishap?

うぅ〜ん。。。シュシュを作ってみたのは良いけど何かイメージとちょっと違ったな。

毛糸が太すぎたみたいだ。編み目が硬過ぎて結びにくい。（＞д＜；）

と言う訳で残った毛糸でポーチを作ってみました！

お花の形、どうですかね？

Remember when I said I will make some chouchou's with a cute pink yarn I had left over from a different project? Apparently it didn't go as well as I planned. I guess I need some thinner yarn, this was way too thick and the scrunchie is hard to tie... So I decided to put the yarn to better use.

Ta-da! A little(?) flower coin purse/mini make-up bag! It's a tad bigger than expected but it still works pretty well. Considering I made-up the pattern as I went I like it a lot. I think I'll try it out in different yarns too.

一様小銭入れにもなります。ちょうど丸いコンパクトが入るくらいの大きさ。

Here's a side-view showing the zipper and pouch behind the flower. :)

横から見たらこんな感じ♥

friends

Some co-workers of mine came over today and we took a few photos. I gave them a blue Totoro keychain that I made with felt. I don't think I would be allowed to sell those at the craft fair anyways lol.

I gave her a hat I knit for her birthday. :)

バイト仲間の誕生日にハンドメイドのニット帽をあげました。　気に入ってくれたかな〜？　同じデザインの帽子をこんどクラフトフェアーに持って行くつもりです。

fuzzy and red

A new scarf! It looks very full but is actually lacy if you look at it up close. But I still want a fuzzier look... I'll have to experiment more lol. That's me in the photo by the way. I'm terrible at taking photos of myself. I can't wait till I can grab some friends to model for me instead.

やっと新しいマフラーが出来ました！　動物好きな私にとっては本物のファーはあまり好きではありません...　写真のジャンパーも、もちろんフェイク。　代わりにちょっとファーっぽいニットを研究中です！　う～ん...まだフワフワが足りない！！！　（ファーとゆうより毛虫っぽいかも）


あ"～...やっぱり自分の写真を取るのは苦手です。　今度、友達に無理やりモデルをやってもらうつもりです！笑

felt sweets!

I'll be updating with felt items today! Here's just a few little things I whipped up.
今日はフェルトのクラフトを紹介しま～す！　簡単で短い時間にできるので皆さんも試してみてはどうですか？

A pink donut cellphone strap! It's hard to tell in the photo but the bead sprinkles are red and gold colored.
ドーナツのケータイストラップ！　

A simple strawberry mousse cake magnet. The sheet magnet used on the back is stronger than I expected! I threw it at my refrigerator and it stuck to the door pretty well. It didn't fall off either. I think this magnet brand is a keeper lol.
イチゴのケーキのマグネットです。　表はフェルト、裏はマグネットのシールを貼っただけ。
でもそのわりにはけっこう強いマグネットです。　遠くから冷蔵庫に投げつけてみたらちゃんとくっつきました（笑）Here's a blueberry mousse version of the cake magnet. :)
ケーキマグネットのブルーベリーバージョン。

Earrings!!!

So, I've changed the title of this blog to fit it better with my etsy site called Noraneko Alley, which basically sums up the relationship of me and my friends who co-own the shop lol. Noraneko means alley cat in Japanese (my primary language), and we are really like alley cats. We all go at a different pace and like different things... but we sometimes hang out in the same "alley" and just chill. Sometimes we're friendly to each other and sometimes we're not, just like cats.

Anyways, lets get to the main subject of today's post: earrings! I love wearing earrings as well as making them. They are very simple and easy projects that are very forgiving when you want to be experimental. Here's just a few I've made recently for the upcoming craft show. I won't be selling these on etsy because I really need to save enough individual pieces of merchandise for that weekend and I've been slacking on crafting because of midterms. These are little cheap earrings for everyday wear, maybe $2 or $3 each?


ガラス、貝殻とワイヤーで作ったシンプルなイアリングでーす。　ちょっとシンプルすぎたかな...？