Japan Kyoto trip 2015 - Byodo-in Temple in Uji (宇治 平等院)

Another beautiful temple in Kyoto, Byodo-in (平等院) is located in the town of Uji (宇治) which is famous for Japanese green tea.

Byodo-in looks beautiful from every angle.

 Byodo-in is used on the face of the Japanese 10yen coin

Japan Kyoto trip 2015 - Fushimi Inari Shrine 伏見稲荷大社

I had a wonderful trip last month! I went to Kyoto in Japan, stayed there for 1 week. Kyoto is very popular tourist city in Japan, it keeps many old Japanese houses and temples. It is also the city famous for Geisha.

I visited a few shrines/temples. I found Fushimi Inari Shrine the most interesting. 
The Shrine itself is not that interesting, the point of interest is the thousands and thousands of Torii (鳥居）in the surroundings. The rows and rows of Torii extended to the hill above the shrine. It's really a good walk around that area within the tunnel of Torii, those Torii provide shades from the sun.

Along the Torii tunnel you can see lots of mini Torii and fox statues, these should be some kind of sacred objects and offerings. 

There are mini Torii for sale, lots of people write their wishes on their Torii and hang them up in the shrine.

Sparkling glass Christmas tree

This year I have a new decoration item for Christmas - glass bead Christmas tree. It is a new challenge for me. I'm not familiar with this kind of beading so I took me quite a long time to complete this Christmas tree. Luckily the outcome is worth the effort

 

 The materials and the pattern of this tree are bought during my recent trip to Japan. It's a special souvenir.

Hershey birds

These birds are created for my Valentine's Day collection.

I name them Hershey birds because the shape of their heads look like Hershey Kisses chocolates.

They are now available in www.nozomicrafts.etsy.com

 

 

 

A cup of birds

 

 A cup of needle felted bird looks really nice!

These needle felted birds are going to be part of my bird necklaces in my shop.

www.nozomicrafts.etsy.com

Decorations for winter, bird ornaments

 It's nearly the end of October, Winter is coming soon! Now I'm in the mood to create winter items.

Winter always remind me of vintage Christmas cards with robin birds in snow

Robin bird items are now available in www.nozomicrafts.etsy.com

Deer for winter

It's nearly autumn and it's time to start making accessories for winter.

These cute looking deer brooches are perfect for winter outfits.

 

 

Needle felted deer brooches are now available in www.nozomicrafts.etsy.com