It's Kit-Cat Sunday! And I bring you ..... Japanese art! :)

Hello beautiful blogger friends!  I hope you're having a blessed SONday!  This will be long, and there is a lot of wonderful information about each part of the kit, so I hope you get the chance to read it all and be as inspired as I was to put this kit together! I added all the technical stuff to the kit for the kittens to read, and my daughter's words were "Mom ... seriously .... is this a term paper?"  LOL!!

This month the Kit-Cat Club's hostess was .... ME! ;)  I knew instantly that I wanted to challenge (myself!) the girls to try something a little different and reached for my absolutely breathtaking Kodomo Japanese stamp that I've had for a year and a half!  Honestly, I was scared to ink it up and give it a try.  Silly, I know!  In Japanese, Kodomo literally means "kodomo no koa" which translates to "the look on a young person's face when they are absorbed in play."  That alone made me smile all over, because that's so much what crafting is to me!  So with the help of the kittens, I just stamped it out and off we went - paw in paw! ;)  And I'm really sad I waited - it's fantastic!   I decided to go with a unique fold to match such a unique and exquisite stamp and lucious Japense papers.   I searched the web until I found THE PAPERS that I wanted to buy & use and found a company that imports Washi paper from Japan.  Washi paper isn't made the way paper is made here in the US ~ it's made from the Gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub or paper mulberry.   Literally, Washi translated means WA (Japanese) and shi (paper)!   Making Washi paper involved a long, laborous process including using no chemicals and takes place in the very cold winter so they can use the pure, cold running water from the mountains.  

To complete the kit, I sent along some Mizuhiki paper cords which resemble long thread or twine, but it's actually tightly rolled paper.  You'll also see a small charm that reads "Good luck" in Japenese.  Lastly, I sent each of the kittens a box of lucious "Belle Fluer" flowers (from the US *smile*), each receiving a different color box and (hopefully!) coordinating papers to use on their creations. 

And now for the card!  {Tee hee!}   I went with a folding card, added a clip art with Japanese symbols  to the front which reads "Friendship".   That was a very last second addition as the front seemed to be missing something.   As it opens, you'll see the Kodomo stamped image, colored with my prismacolors markers and some water color crayons and painted with my aqua painter.  It's hard to see, but I propped up the image and scalloped (Floral) the side for added dimension.  As it folds, the bottom folds inward to reveal this "surprise inside" element, and I'm so very excited that I was finally able to use my beautiful Kodomo stamp and create this Japanese beauty :)

Front view, tied closed with gold ribbon...

Close up .....

Middle fold ...

Side view ....

Stamped Kodomo image, insert ...

And the beautiful stamp that inspired it all :)

I so hope you've enjoyed this (long!) post today and hope you have a moment to stop by and check out the other kittens!     

 Jeanette

Catherine 

  Lorie  

 Michelle  

 Susan

And make sure you stop back by tomorrow - I will be listing my Birthday Blog Candy!  Woohooo!

xoxoxo

~Kelly