Ok prepare to be seriously jealous, because I received my wonderful swap package from mmmfruit today!!! She was supposed to make me 2 things, but I opened the package only to find that the sneaky mmmfruit had included much more, and I love ALL of it!  She included TWO lovely hand-crocheted hats, and an adorable set of 6 hand-crocheted sushi magnets (that I have currently displayed on my fridge with pride, and I'll always have to remind me of Japan when I leave), a wonderful crocheted necklace with a white pendant, a pair of pretty dangly earrings from the Phillippines, and a coveted bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (we can't get them here in Japan!)  Here are the pics of the loot for you to envy:

Group shot of everything:




Closeup of the sushi magnets, the necklace, and the earrings:




Action shot of me with the two wonderful cranberry hats, and the necklace:




Imagine the hours spent crocheting!  Could I be more spoiled?  I will treasure everything (except the Reeses, which I will treasure for about one hour until I finish them all)    Thanks SO much mmmfruit!!!

Hi everyone! This is my first challenge, and although I am sooooo intimidated by the amazing entries in this challenge so far, I was so excited I stayed up until 5 am working on my art just to get it posted before I went to bed.  So, a couple weeks ago, I was sifting through the decaying works of art in the back of a used furniture shop here in Japan, and I found this:



It was in a frame, but I removed it for the photo, whoops.  Also, terrible image quality...but no worries, because I saved the good photos for the final product:

 

I repainted the background a bright blue, added pink fabric flowers from kimono fabric, washed the glass and painted a sort of design overlay on top of it, featuring more lilypads and pink flowers. I left empty spaces in the design on the glass to showcase parts of the original artwork.  (That's a little turtle biting the nymph's tale by the way, framed by the big pink flower). For the Kokeshi dragonflies, I cut and folded origami paper into little kimonos, and added tiny painted heads and black hair, backed by green paper wings to match the lilypads. I attached two of the dragonflies to the original art, and the littlest one to the glass itself, because I like the kind of 3Dish foreground/background effect.

Here are a couple more detail shots, of a Kokeshi dragonfly and a kimono fabric flower:

 

Thanks so much for looking!
~Katie

Ok, here's a really image-heavy gallery of SOME of what the 100 yen shops have to offer...Bento box sets, art stuff, mini furniture, quirky signs..and there is much more. I can also get you guys cool Japanese fabric from other stores that sell fabric by the yard.  BTW, I already got a bunch of stuff to surprise you guys with, and please let me know if you want anything specific, or something you see in the pics (I may have already bought it ) The stationary/notepad stuff is killer cute/funny and I didn't post any close-up pics of it because I want it to be a surprise. Here goes, it's like you're virtual-shopping in the Hyaku yen stores! These pics were taken in Daiso and Can Do.

Oooh, I would love the pink one or one of the teardrop ones or the purple hoop, any of them really!  From the pictures she sent me it looks like she crocheted around metal for most of them, and for a couple others she used a wood material.  Honestly, your own artistic discretion regarding the structure would probably suit me just fine.  Here's a pic of one of the more elaborate wooden ones, but to me, the most important part is the crochet with the thin-type yarn...it's something I'm just totally incapable of (the only thing I've ever crocheted was a potholder.)



If you think you could make me a crochet pendant using a metal frame (or any kind of frame), I'm so excited: send me a PM with a list of the things you want from Japan.  In addition to all the stuff I mentioned, there are also cute bento box sets, party favors, magic tricks/kids games, cute figurines/vending machine toys/oddities, and probably everything else you can think of.  Let me know!   

Hi,

I really want to do a craft swap with someone.  I live in Japan and unfortunately, although the crafty resources available to me in this country are beyond enumerating, I have very little time and space to make use of them, thus my plea to you.

What I can offer is this: so many wonderful Japanese crafty things unavailable to all you US/UK/Canada craftsters.  The Hyaku (100) yen shops here are chock-full of potential...wonderf ully abound with strange/funny "English" phrases, mod-looking accessories, kitschy housewares, cute stationary, stickers, tons of fabrics/yarns, and just great stuff all around, stuff you never see in US dollar stores.  I've seen so many talented craftsters on here who are obsessed with anything Japanese.  I really want to share this stuff with people who will make good use of it.  I sent a boat-load of stuff to my best friend and I could send anyone else whatever they want and more.

In return I'd really like to find someone who can sew...or crochet.  I would love it if someone could sew me a really simple, lightweight fabric dress that I could wear all during my upcoming travels through Southeast Asia.  I can't seem to find one that's a suitable size or price range here in Japan.  Maybe like this, but of course with cheaper fabric, and probably not orange:

http://www.anthropologie.com/jump.jsp?itemID=10749&itemType=PRODUCT&iSubCat=298&iMainCat=17

...OR I would love a delicate crocheted necklace/crocheted pendant. If it could be anything like these, oh my:

In the meantime, I'll look for an appropriate ongoing swap that I can contribute to.  But in case you guys want Japanese stuff and you can make me something like one of the above items, please let me know!