Recycled!

Yes my inherent Scottish thriftiness has reared it's ugly  head again and I have eschewed 'store bought' goods for something a lot cheaper, free in fact.
A trawl 'round the internet alerted me to the fact that some folk have been making stamps out of the styrofoam that comes as packaging for many of our foodstuffs these days. What better than to use them to make etegami where the nature of the imperfect line they print suits the genre? The line is almost as wobbly as that made by my increasingly unsteady hand!
Anyway, the weather has turned cold again and this was a great indoor project to distract me from the sound of weeds pushing their heads above the soil in my garden.

 And my ever present obsession with cicadas...

 

My cup runneth over.

A magical weekend!
Our son from Singapore took advantage of a fabulous deal on the new Singapore Airlines budget carrier Scoot! to fly down for the weekend for a visit. As a bonus we are taking care of our three granddaughters for the weekend also and this meant that they were able to spend some rare time getting to know their uncle. As I write this they are out Laser Skirmishing with him and grandfather while I catch up on 'housework'...(read etegami and blogging!)
To keep my hands busy while chatting and catching up I have been using some of the precious pieces of chirimen silk I bought from Japan to copy a little bag in the shape of a cicada that I purchased in Japan six years ago.I have wanted to do this for a long time but was unable to buy just the right kind of fabrics. Even now I have used more colourful fabrics than the beautifully understated Japanese original, however I am pleased with the result.
I also made another set of otedama with the small offcuts and I am enjoying them, they make great 'worry beads'!
To top all this off there is the etegami of the finished little bag which measures only about 10cms.
For the etegami I have used one of the new cards my son ordered from Japan they do not have bleed as such, more a kind of blurr, shall have to work with this to find the best medium to use.

The original Japanese bag (or pouch really).
 My versions.

The otedama