This Saturday is Children's Day, kodomo no hi, a holiday in Japan (or Boy's Day, if you're old school about it). We're doing a big party at our house, in parts because (1) parties are fun, (2) I'm half Japanese and I want Max to learn something about other cultures, (3) it's about Max's 6-month mark between birthdays, and (4) my birthday is the next day, and it's nice to have a party but I'm not all that fond of specifically-targeted birthday parties once I passed 30 or so.
I'm planning several crafts projects for the kids, but haven't had time to get one of them off the ground. Unfortunately, it's my favorite of the three I've planned. But now I have a reprieve of sorts, although not a welcome one. We've just decided to postpone the party until next weekend because Max has a cold. Nothing major, just sniffles, a low grade fever, and general lethargy. I'm afraid I may be getting it too, so I'm heavy into rest and vitamins right now.
The picture above is one of the party crafts, freezer paper stencils for the kids to paint onto t-shirts. I sketched a stylized koi nobori (koi streamer or windsock), stencil-ized it, coaxed my ancient inkjet to print a dozen of them, and am now cutting out the relevant pieces. And pieces of my fingers occasionally too. When my fingers and sharp implements get close together, there's often blood. It's pretty sad, I need to figure out how not to cut off my digits.
Since I have more time now, I'm going to stop cutting the stencils and test one of these out on an actual t-shirt. I hope to have pictures of that sometime this weekend.
In the meantime, happy Children's Day! May your children be happy and grow strong and healthy!
All great reasons to have a party! Happy birthday in advance (we're leaving for Mexico tomorrow morning)--I'll check in as soon as we get back, and can't wait to hear all about the party, and see the great projects. Look at those carp stencils!
Posted by: Anamaria | Friday, 04 May 2007 at 05:31 PM
you must...i mean MUST post pics of those tees when they are done! can't wait to hear about the party, and happy birthday by the way!
Posted by: heidi | Saturday, 05 May 2007 at 12:10 PM
hope you and max feel better soon - hope you have a nice birthday too tomorrow!
Posted by: debbie | Saturday, 05 May 2007 at 02:03 PM
Well, Happy Birthday!! And, hope you and Max are both feeling better!
Hey, I think I may have fixed my website :) Yay, me! Thanks for the comment!! Let me know if it looks better :)
Posted by: Sharly | Sunday, 06 May 2007 at 02:00 PM
Happy Birthday Amanda!! Hope you are both feeling better and are celebrating sans tissues and medicine. I love the stencil t-shirt idea!
PS. Have you ever tried cutting the stencils with manicure or embroidery scissors? I'm terrible with an exacto and would definitely cut a finger off. I find that with the manicure scissors I can get into all the tight areas with much safer results.
Posted by: myra | Sunday, 06 May 2007 at 03:56 PM
I hope everyone is feeling better! I love the shirt stencil. Thank you for sharing it! Hugs!
Posted by: Bettsi | Wednesday, 09 May 2007 at 04:54 PM