+ I had a little birthday

March 12, 2013 //
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Ever since I was a young girl my Dad has always given me one single rose on my birthday, usually pink or yellow.  One time I was staying in Moncton with my grandparents during march break and he has one delivered to me because he couldn’t physically bring me one.  Yesterday was my birthday, and I have a bad cold so I cancelled my plans with family coming over because I didn’t want them getting sick.  My Dad however showed up at my place around noon with a construction dust mask on his face with the words written ” I <3 you” on it so he wouldn’t catch any germs.  Oh my did I ever start to ball on his shoulder.  I was feeling down because of the grey skies and the fact that I wouldn’t get to see anyone on my special day.  Dad brought me a single yellow rose that I put in one of my favorite little vases from Ikea.

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Here is my loot from the girls and Shaun.  I love the way Riley prints my name!

After Shaun phoned me on his lunch break he could tell that  I was sounding down so he came home early from work to help cheer me up with sushi and chocolate cake.  I got to open these nicely wrapped gifts to find some tea from David’s, my childhood favorite Smarties, and an iPad mini.  There was a mini card inside the raisin box from Riley’s doll Cailin too.

I spent the night drinking tea sitting by the fire while checking out my new iPad.  I’ll see my family when I’m feeling better.  All my friends and family made me feel special with all the birthday wishes and I am truly thankful for them!  I can’t wait to start feeling more like myself though so I can actually see people!

I just hope no one caught anything at Urban Craft on Sunday.  Although I didn’t seem that bad that day.  It was an awesome turn out, we are talking 1200 people awesome turn out!!!  I was able to sell many items too, which is always good!

Here is a little view of our updated dining room, it’s still under works but the girls really like the new table.

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And our new electric fire place.  I love sitting in our tea room even more now, it’s kinda the grown up room with no toys allowed kinda room.  The girls are getting better at respecting that wish too.

So now on to getting ready for St.Patrick’s day this weekend and Skyla’s 2nd birthday on the 20th.

We need to go and register Riley for kindergarten this afternoon too.  I’ve got major mixed feelings, but it’s best for our family right now.

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Categories celebration

+ Upcoming show this Sunday.

March 6, 2013 //
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urban craft

I’m coming out of my little corner with my busy girls to participate in Urban Craft this Sunday March 10th at the Glebe community centre.  I haven’t participated since May of last year.  It seems like it’s been so long ago, especially because I was doing that show every month.  This time at the show people are in for a major treat!  I am giving the gift of  a special, very special sale!  I have never given this special kind of sale before and I am pretty sure this may be the only time too.  It’s a secret until Sunday, so you are going to have to go to this free event!

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Categories jewellery

+ Plum onigiri recipe

March 4, 2013 //
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For this recipe you will need:

1 cup sushi rice

1 cup water

3 tablespoons Plum rice seasoning

as well as a small pot with lid, plastic or bamboo rice ladle (no metal) , a glass or plastic bowl ( no metal) and plastic wrap if desired
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This is the seasoning that we found at T&T, thought it would be fun and the cute packaging sold me!

Now on to the super easy instructions…

In a pot bring sushi rice and water to a boil then cover and let simmer for about 25 minutes until done.

When the rice is done place in bowl and let stand a few minutes to cool a bit.

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Next add the seasoning, one tablespoon at a time depending on your liking.

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Mix until you feel the seasoning has spread through enough.

Now go to your sink and wet your hands so the rice wont stick while forming the balls, in fact make sure your hands are clean.  Now take a small handful of rice and form a ball in your hands by gently pressing together.

If you would rather not handle the rice directly, you may use a piece of plastic wrap.  This method you would place a bit of rice into the wrap and roll it around to form a ball or triangle.

I was able to make 8 balls and 2 triangles with using 1 cup of rice.

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Have fun, the onigiri looks pretty and the taste is salty.  We served this white peach drink with it to balance the sweet and salty ratio.

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And of course we had to use or sake set that Santa brought us at Christmas!

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The girls mostly enjoyed rice cakes with red bean filling and candies for dessert.  But I still had fun making them for the girls.

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Categories food, Japan

+ I have to laugh at myself

March 3, 2013 //
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So it’s girl’s day today and I received an email telling me that someone repinned one of my pins into their girls’s day board on Pinterest.  So naturally I take a peek at what have in their board.  And I notice that the vintage hina doll that I’ve bought for the girls is the Emperor!!!  When I bought it on Etsy the description said it was a girl.  She was also selling the Empress (also just stated as a girl) and I really wish I had bought them both.  So now do I try and search for the matching hina Empress or do I sell my doll for a new set.  I feel kinda foolish for not have done more research before my purchase.

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There (he) is at the back on the left.  Oh well, right.

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Categories Japan

+ My flowers

March 2, 2013 //
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While I read Yoko’s show and tell book to the girls in preparation for Hina Matsuri , we noticed that the Mama in the book refers to her daughter as her little lotus flower.  I loved it!  So I asked the girls if they would like me to give them a  sweet flower name to call them by.  Well they were pretty excited with the idea, so I researched flowers by the month they were born.  Since we are on a major Japan exploration right now, naturally I went with the month flowers for March and June in Japan.

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Skyla is my little Cherry Blossom (Sakura) representing innocence, simplicity and spring.

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And Riley is my Peony girl (Botan) representing wealth, good fortune, honor, daring and masculine bravery.
I’d like to eventually have a tattoo representing their two flowers, but for now I will make a piece of jewellery to wear.

You may want to learn about which flower represents your month of birth here through the cards of hanafuda.

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Categories Japan

+ Thought of the night

March 1, 2013 //
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mer mag

I’ve been following Meg Mag on Pinterest and on her blog.  She is so inspiring and I hope to one day make this as amazing for others as her stuff is to me.

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Categories Uncategorized

+ Hina Matsuri, girls day in Japan

March 1, 2013 //
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This past Christmas we asked Santa to bring gifts from Japan like kimonos, books, sake set and all kinds of goodies.  Since then we’ve still been enjoying learning about the Japanese culture.  Riley and I are really drawn to the beauty.

Since she was born I started looking into different celebrations around the world.  We love looking forward to special days and preparing for them.  Since I stay at home with both the girls it’s nice to have something that we can do that is different and special, plus they get to learn a little on the way.

On March 3rd we will be celebrating the Japanese festival of dolls which is called Hina Matsuri a day to celebrate your daughters.  I bought some fabric like this and this to make some hanging mobiles like the ones pictures above, but so far I’m still looking for a DIY tutorial, I think that they are made with saw dust balls covered in fabric. I’m really running out of time to have them ready for this weekend, but I’m not too worried because I found this cute paper mobile that I’ll put together for the girls.

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As well the girls and I made a cute mobile yesterday where we stamped some red cherry blossoms on paper and cut them out and hung on a long red string.

We’ve read this cute book.

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In the book Yoko’s Nana sends her a hina doll that is to be displayed on a red carpet until March 3rd.  This is the vintage hina doll that I bought the girls, we named her Nishiko which means child of the west.

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I love her, she’s so pretty. Traditionally you would display the emperor and empress but I stuck with how the book goes.  Later today I’ll be heading to T&T Asian supermarket to see if we can get some special sweets like this, this and this and I really hope that we can find some non alcoholic amazake.

And of course on Sunday the girls get to wear their pretty kimonos that Santa brought them.

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Here is a little coloring page too.  As well this mama over here has a lovely blog all about teaching her kids the Japanese culture.

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I also forgot to mention that my husband was lucky to visit the country side in Tokyo on his way home from a business trip in Thailand just the other week.

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Categories Uncategorized

+ Let’s try it this way.

March 1, 2013 //
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I want to write so much, but I don’t know where to start.  I had a few blogs before and let them slip through the cracks and I let go of my previous website because I haven’t been actively making any new jewellery.  Most of my time if not all of my time is focused on my girls.  February and March are especially busy this year for us.  We have been celebrating special holidays and birthdays like crazy, here’s our list:

Chinese new year Feb 10th

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Valentine’s day Feb 14th

Lantern festival Feb 24th

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Friend’s birthday party Mar 2nd

Hinamatsuri (doll’s festival in Japan) Mar 3rd

my 34th birthday Mar 11th

St-Patrick’s day Mar 17th

Skyla turns 2 Mar 20th (spring equinox too)

Skyla’s mini celebration party Mar 23rd

Easter Mar 31st

I will be participating in Urban Craft again on March 10th so I need to find some time to put some new pieces together.  I also felt that I should have a website to correspond to my business cards rather than making new cards that have my etsy shop address on them.  So while the girls are upstairs asleep and my husband is out helping build a bmx ramp I sit here trying to get a hold back into the web.

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