Love for Japanese Kimono ( furisode 振袖 )

 

Earlier this year I went to Kyoto, an old capital of Japan. It is a beautiful city packed with tourists from all over the world. There is a special thing to do in Kyoto which will make the trip more wonderful - kimono rental. Many kimono shops provide kimono rental services to tourists. The service also includes dressing up and hair styling. The kimonos provide to tourists are mainly "yukata 浴衣" or "komon 小紋". I tried a more sophisticated kind of kimono which called "furisode 振袖", this is a kind of kimono which Japanese wear during their 20th birthday celebration, parties and special occasions.

 

 Furisode has 2 major differences when comparing to komon or yukata, the first one is the long sleeves and the second one is the obi (the belt). The way of arranging the obi is much complicated, it looks more elegant and has more details.

I completely fell in love in wearing kimono after the trip.

Jeweled deer brooches

Newly made needle felted deer brooches.

I give them an elegant look by adding floral ear rings and velvet ribbon brooches.

 

 

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

 

Bushy tail bunny necklaces

Cute needle felted bunny necklaces are now available in my shop.

www.nozomicrafts.etsy.com 

I'm really a big fan of bunnies with big bushy tails

Needle felted seal pub

This seal pub is a custom order for someone. I have received custom orders for seal pubs many times before, seems there are lots of seal pub fans around the world.

 

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.