This adorable needle felted baby penguin was made for a Christmas decoration. It’s so adorable with its present and its knitted red hat. I also made the penguin so that it can have a string attached to its head so that it can be made into a Christmas tree ornament.
I made a needle felted baby snow monkey for a Christmas ornament. It is a perfect ornament for a Christmas tree with a string. This baby monkey wears a green scarf and plays in the snow. He made a snowball and I put an “M” on the snowball because “M” is for Monkey! https://www.etsy.com/shop/kokobiyori
Hello!
If you have visited my blog before, then you know that crafting is not just a hobby, but a huge passion of mine. For a while now I have wanted to open a shop on Etsy, which is an online marketplace for artists to sell their work. After much researching and planning, I have decided to open and to hopefully physically share my crafts with people around the States, and later with the world. I am starting out my shop, called Kokobiyori with only needle felted crafts, but hope to add some of my other crafts later on as well. I will link my shop in this post, so if you have a little time, please check it out!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kokobiyori
Here are some of the products that I am selling.
Last Saturday was the last day of my Japanese language school for the 2014/15 school year. It has been 8 years since I started teaching Japanese to children. Every year the students in my class are different and each class is unique. Over the year I get to know my class by communicating, studying together, playing games, and doing activities, and by the end we have formed a bond. On the last day I had mixed feelings, because I was happy to finish another year and to send the students off to the next level class but I was sad to say good bye and not see them in my class anymore. But I know that the next year holds new students and a different teaching adventure.
Each year students have given me very special gifts; handmade thank you cards, paper cranes, animals made with origami paper, drawings, handmade stuffed animals, etc. I love to see their short, handwritten messages in the Japanese I taught. I love to see pretty drawings with their names in Japanese characters. Those are very special gifts from my students that I keep in a box. But most of all, I love to hear how much they enjoyed my class and that they look forward to coming back to school next year. I am fortunate to be able to receive these priceless gifts from my students.
This is another tote bag I made, which is similar to the bag I posted in Spring Tote Bag. This time, I used a fabric with a plant pattern and purple fabric. This bag has also two small pockets and a magnet clasp inside.
Spring has come, at least in the Pacific Northwest! For my next project I searched for brightly colored, elaborately patterned fabrics to mix and match. I found two blue patterned fabrics and made a tote bag. The bag is big enough to carry a purse, a phone, as well as many other things. In Seattle, we need to bring our own bag for shopping, so I can carry this bag to go to the grocery store, farmer’s market, or boutique. There are two small pockets and a magnet clasp inside.
For my next crafting project, I made pillow cases which have fabric pattern on one side and crochet on the other side. I learned how to knit before crochet, but I always thought that crochet was very pretty. I started making simple scarfs and small bags with crochet. For the crocheted side, I matched a white yarn with pink, blue, or yellow yarn. I made 25 motifs and stitched them together. For the fabric side, I picked a patterned fabric that matched the crochet color. I also attached a zipper so that I can remove and wash the pillow case.
Yellow crochet and pig patterned fabric
Pink crochet and pig patterned fabric
Blue crochet and patterned fabric
Spring is just around the corner and March 3rd is Hinamatsuri – Girl’s day in which people celebrate and pray for young girl’s growth and happiness in Japan. When a baby girl is born, her family buys Hina dolls which are displayed with five or seven tiers where on the top step are the Emperor and Empress. The dolls in the pictures were given to me by my aunt. When I was a child, most of my friends had a big set of dolls which even reached six feet tall, and I remember I wanted a bigger one like my friend’s. Mine is a miniature set of dolls that can be placed on a table. However, as I got older, I thought the intricate details of the dolls and accessories like the pink cheeks, lanterns, and musical instruments were unique and special and I came to like my Hina dolls very much.
When my daughter was born, I passed my Hina Dolls on to her. As March 3rd approaches, I display these dolls with spring flowers to symbolize good health and happiness for my daughter.
This year, I also made Hina dolls with origami paper, with design instructions that I found on the internet. The dolls are very beautiful and simplistic, but were actually very difficult to fold.
I hope that girls around the world enjoy good health and happiness.
These crochet mini bags are the perfect size for daily handheld things, like snacks, lunches, phones, or cosmetics. I bought 3 different kinds of yarn; green, orange, and ivory of 100% Peruvian Highland Wool to make bags in each colour. As I was making the crochet bag, I realized I did not have enough yarn, so I decided to combine the colours.
This is a star shaped crochet stitch, so a star shaped pattern can be seen in the bag.
The insides of the bags are lined with similarly coloured fabric and Kokobiyori’s logo.
Besides the crochet mini bags, I made a crochet doughnut shaped pillow for Haru, which she loves! As I was making the mini bags, she was lying on the pillow keeping me company.
