Category Archives: 未分類

Up cycling the Apple products boxes

未分類, , ,

Hi crafters!

My family are big fun of Apple products. iPhone, Mac book, iPads….and I have kept all the Apple products boxes …

Those boxes are so strong and so beautiful to throw away. But never come up the ideas to use them.

today, finally I up remake the one iPhone box into a pen tray.

i grabbed some scrap of clothes from patchwork pile. Glued those clothe with Elmer’s school glue to the box.

it is surprisingly easy to glue the clothes onto the box. This cotton clothe print design is “ forest retreat”.

I tacked the corner like wrapping the gifts.

for inside of the box, I used Japanese masking wide tape( Washi tape wide type) . Washi tape is easy to undo or adjust the placement . Nicely hide the edge of the cloth.

this William morris design Washi tape is available in 100yen shop in Japan.(Currently 70cents value shop)

the size of iPhone SE box lid is perfect for the BIC pen.

now I am very happy to find the usage of the iPhone boxes!

Urban sketching at the Cambridge

Cambridge open studios

Art, 未分類

autumn is good season to walk around the outside.

I love the open studios event. I joins these events in Somerville and Cambridge so far in the past.

This year the Cambridge open studios held in September. I completed the central sq area gallery last time. So this year I wonder around the edge area of the Cambridge.

Day 1 Walking from porter sq .

Urban sketching video
Urban sketching at the Cambridge

I enjoyed so many different styles of art. Also I like to visit the artist cozy home gallery.

all open house art is has super nice organized room with great furniture settings. I hesitate to ask permission to take photos of home of course. So at least outside I sketched on the train back home.

Wrapping paper patchwork

How to Wrapping paper patch work

未分類

Ahhh… every Christmas, birthday, it is hard to see the cute wrapping paper is throwing away.

I tried do origami using the wrapping paper. But hard to make crisp fold.

I made bow ribbon topper out of the used wrapping paper. It is cute but the paper topper also will be throwing away after 1 time use.

I realized the wrapping paper has grid line on the backside.

so I cut along the simple shapes like square and triangle, then use as patchwork materials.

Then glue wrapping paper parts onto the some square paper.

Done!


Now flame it, hang on the wall.

This paper patchworking art is simple, repeatable work. It is too addictive to stop making it.

Happy up cycling!

Styrofoam printing in the kitchen

Styrofoam printing /up cycling art project in the kitchen

未分類

How may styrofoam food tray I am consuming in a week? I collected styrofoam food trays and counted them.

It it scary to see the reality. But this is the styrofoam trash as a 4 person family /week.

I buy vegetables,cheese,ham,etc…many things are on these styrofoam tray wrapped with plastic. I like repurposing the trash.

How to upcycle styrofoam to printing materials.

I washed and cut the edges to make then flat styrofoam .

Then keep in the plastic container which was BBQ meat container.

Let’s start print making❣️

use pencils or ballpoint pen. Draw the image you like on the styrofoam plate.

Then, add ink on the styrofoam.
I used roller for adding ink onto the tray. Ink is acrylic ink this time.

Ink tray is the plastic container lid of BBQ meat😝


Applying the ink on the styrofoam, put the paper on the styrofoam. Rub the back of the paper to attach the ink to paper.(I use my hand to rubbing)

Done!🥳

I like simple black. I added yellow to see the different.


Styrofoam printing was fun. It is safe Art for kids because no knife to make prints.

Can’t stop printing! This is the view of my kitchen floor in the end of the art making day

Now I need to clean these and cook the dinner!

Let’s collages all printed art.

This art is now exhibiting in the art fest at Quincy May13-June 11 . (@ Qarts gallery)

Options/ stamp pad , watercolors

The stamp ink pad works too!( left side was stamp pad ink, right side is watercolor and crayon to add detail color )

I tried the watercolor using brush for colored printing. It works too. Need to adjust the right amount of water is a bit challenging but watercolor printing might be easier to clean the mess.

Let’s use kitchen trash to make art🤩

Happy up cycling 🥰

Is Covid over yet?

未分類

After the long quarantine life, we finally flew to Japan and came back to the USA.

I felt like Covid is getting weaker and the pandemic is ending…

Feeling after the quarantine

But my friends told me the new type is spreading… oh my!

I believe new Covid viruses spread faster but give weaker symptoms, hopefully.

Because that the way virus keep their lives.

My family is used to wearing masks indoors .

I always forget where I put masks. Also glasses. (I even have glasses for searching for my glasses)

One day I noticed how good I am at forgetting when I wanted to go out and look at myself in the mirror.

hey! You already wear enough amount of masks and glasses !

Now I hang this note at the entrance to remind me that I might already have the stuff I am searching for.

Happy new year!

“E-tegami” using Sumi ink and chopsticks

Art, 未分類

Hi, do you like snail mailing?

I like sending letters and cards.

In Japan, we have art post cards with very short messages called ”E-Tegami”.

“E” means picture, tegami means messages and letters.

Usually people draw pictures on the postcard using Fude brush with sumi ink and some water colors. Add some messages to friends as postcords.

I try Sumi ink painting on the blank postcoard.

I use disposable chopsticks instead Fude brush.

Why?

Because I wanted to try unexpected lines from chopsticks with ink.

It is fun!

Now I start urban sketching with chopsticks and Sumi Ink.

Sketching, and painting…and now, I have enough amount of Sumi ink art in my stock.

I will post those Sumi ink paintings at somerville public library during this September!

Now, personal post cards will hang on the library wall!

Play with old books to make a St. Patricks Day art card

未分類

I am a hoarder.

Because I love upcycling old stuff to art… that’s my excuse.

Now here is an old book which I did not read (I’m a bit sorry to the author!)

This book’s pages were easy to draw.

And luckily this book uses great quality paper to paint on.

It is strong enough to hold water color pencil with water .

Now! Let’s try a collage with crayon.

First, I made a messy crayon page.

What do I do now?

Cut a clover shape and look through the shaped cut paper.

Not sure what I can do with this. Maybe cut out the crayoned page to make collages.

And then, attach to a blank card.

Oh I like it! Let’s make more!

Done! For the message part, I used the PENCO embossing tape.

Now sealed and shipped!

Picnic and sketching at Norris Reservation

未分類

Feels like spring is almost here.

So… let’s bring a sketch book and hike!

This is the entrance of Norris Reservation.
On the right side, there is a table and chairs beside a small creak .

We enjoyed sandwiches here along with water flow sounds.

Sandwich and coffee from the cafe.

After the picnic, walking around the reservation took us one hour.

My favorite spot is this old boat house.

This boat house has 2 windows and 1 balcony on the river. The view from these windows looks like a famous painting.

Since my husband just bought an iPad mini with Apple Pencil 2, we did quick sketching on the balcony.

This view turns into this sketch.

This is a map of Norris reservation.

No toilet, small parking lot (maybe 10 cars)

Urban sketchers Boston at the Time Out Market

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Hi! I am a member of Urban Sketchers Boston from 2012. But after I had kids, I became a ghost member. Maybe two times a year I am joining the meetup.

This time the sketching place was Time Out Market at Fenway. It is a big food court that used to a Best Buy.

Everybody was watching the menus filled with black and gray color.

I sketch this view using the iPad “Tayasui sketches” app.

Unfortunately my iPad had only 15% charge left… so I need to sketch super fast.

Here is the outcome printed out on paper.

Lunch during COVID-19 quarantine

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Aghhh… can’t go outside and don’t go outside is so different!

Yes I bought the ingredients that can be preserved for a long time. So I don’t need to go grocery shopping which means I don’t have reason to go outside😫

Lunch and dinner is my exciting time. Today’s lunch

Hey! My son ate one sausage before photo shoot!

Oven baked German sausage, Brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, mushrooms with girlie marinated olive oil😋 celery corn 🌽 soup and toasts, sauerkraut on the side.

Why so much celery? Because last week I went to Haymarket in Boston. 5 bunches of celery for 1$ !🤩