restlessrisa: Japanese birthday party

Showing posts with label Japanese birthday party. Show all posts

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Kokeshi Doll Tutorial

For my daughter's
Japanese Themed Birthday Party,
I knew I wanted each girl to have a kokeshi doll. I searched online, and in local Asian markets for a cute doll at a good price. The cheapest I found before shipping, was $6 per doll. These dolls were small, and not very cute. I knew I could make one. I used the the printables I found for the party as my guide for how I wanted the hair, body, faces, and basic proportions. You can see the printable source by clicking the link above.

This is what I started with:

SUPPLIES:

HEAD - Ball Knobs 1 1/4"; 3/16 hole
(I tried it with the 1 1/4 " dowel caps. This doesn't work, as you need to screw the head to the body. The dowel hole is too big.)
BUNS - 1/4" dowel caps, and 3/8" round balls
BODY - 1 1/4" 5/8" hole candle cups
E600 Craft Glue
Craft Paint
Screws
Floral Foam, Craft Paint, Paint Brushes, Dowels, and Toothpicks

*UPDATE*

It has come to my attention, that some of you may not have be able to find these supplies. So, if you need to order them online, I have tried to make it easy for you, and here is the link. You can just click on each one to take you to the item on their website:

Heads:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158112

Bodies:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158114

Buns:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158175

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158294

DIRECTIONS:

Place the ball knobs on dowels, and stick the dowels on foam (from the dollar store.)

Paint the faces first. That way if you mess up, you can paint the hair over the messed up face. I did many times! I bought paint pens, thinking that would work, but it didn't. The paint pen ran, and it looked like a mess. My friend Tiffany told me to paint the faces with a toothpick dipped in craft paint. That was a great tip! You can visit Tiffany's etsy shop here. She has darling, darling things, and is very talented!

Paint the Hair. I used the toothpick the make the basic hair lines, and then a paint brush to fill in the rest.

Glue the buns on wherever you want them. I thought it was fun to put them in different places on the head. It added nice variety. You may need to hold them in place as the glue dries. I glued the buns on after painting, to insure that all you see when you look at the doll is black hair, and not unfinished wood under the glue. I didn't know if the glue would be very paintable.

Paint the Buns after the glue is completely dry. I also filled in the empty glue spots with a toothpick full of glue, so the glue would take up the empty space. I even added more glue after painting, then painted again. I just used a brush to paint the buns.

Here are all the doll heads.

I didn't paint mouths. I did a few with mouths to begin with, and I thought it distracted from the overall look and cuteness.

Screw the head and body together. My husband used his vice when he did this for me, but it left little marks on some of the dolls faces even thought he put a towel between the doll and the vice. You know how husbands are :) I think he really was excited about using his vice. I don't think it would be necessary. He was nice to do it for me though.

Here is one with a mouth. The mouth is cute on this one, but wasn't cute on all of them, and I ended up having to paint over it enough, that is wasn't even worth it.

Here are some of the finished dolls:
(Like I said in my Japanese Party Post, I wish I would have sprayed them with spray varnish after the girls painted them, but I got too busy at the party, and didn't remember :(

You can see the eyes are all different, and not perfect. The girls had a great time choosing the doll and hairstyle they liked best.

I loved the metallic paint they painted the bodies with - so cute! The girls were great little painters, and I think... the messier the better.

If you like this post, PLEASE leave a comment!
I love and appreciate comments, and read every one.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!!

Risa

I am linking!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Dessert Sushi Tutorial

Remember the
Japanese Birthday Party
I threw for my daughter?

Well... here is the dessert sushi tutorial.

Dessert Sushi is SUPER EASY to make! Anyone can do it, and you don't have to bake anything!

Nigirizushi

You will need:

Powder donuts (mini)
Juju Fish (They come in a multicolored pack, but I used just orange.)
Fruit Roll-ups

Cut the donuts in half, as to create a half circle.
Set fish on top of donuts.
Cut Fruit Roll-up in 1/2 inch strips with scissors.
Wrap fruit strip around fish and donuts.

Easy Peasy & SUPER cute!!!

CALIFORNIA ROLLS or MAKIZUSHI

You will need:

Ho Hos
Gummy Worms

Cut Ho Hos in 3rds.
Cut gummies in 1 inch sections, then cut each section in 3rds long way.
Stuff gummies in the middle of each Ho Ho.

Dessert Sushi is super easy, fun to do, and is even something you can make with your kids!
The bright colors are sure to please any crowd every time!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Japanese Theme Birthday Party

My husband and I had decided our kids were only going to have birthday parties every other year. Last year, my daughter and twenty of her closest friends rode around in a limo for two hours. They felt like rock stars, and had a ton of fun with the girly music blasting. I thought I wasn't going to do a party for her this year, but it has occurred to me lately, that she is half way done with us (at least living with us)... give her nine more years, and she will be on her way to college. As long as she still wants a party, I am going to do it for her. Kids are only young once - right? We tossed around a few ideas for a theme, and came up with a Japanese theme. I scoured the internet for ideas, and let me tell you, they were few and far between! So, I had to come up with most of this stuff on my own. It turned out super cute!

I went to etsy, and found this shop called Art Cult that has the most darling printables. I decided to go from there.

Let's start with the invitation:

I created them in Piknic by Picasa. It was so easy, and the best part is it was free!

What Japanese party is complete without sushi? I knew the girls wouldn't want to eat raw fish, so I made dessert sushi! The tutorial is here.

This one is made of powder donuts, ju ju fish, and fruit by the foot.

This one is made of ho, ho's cut in thirds, and cut up pastel two tone gummy worms I got from Wal-mart in the specialty candy section.

I love this table, with the gift bags, and pink snow balls.

I am no Amy Atlas, but I gave it a shot. ;)

My mom bought the umbrellas at Hobby Lobby, and I used more printables to decorate the snow balls.

The bags are from the party section at Wal-mart. I punched a large hole in them, attached a tag from etsy, and closed them with tulle.

This fan was the inspiration for the colors. I got it at World Market.

Here is the other food table, complete with cherry blossoms.

Sobe's were on sale for $.50 each so I got each girl one, and replaced the wrapper with one of the cute printables I got from etsy.

Each girl got her own pair of chopsticks. I opted for the prettier ones, and spent a dollar or two more. I got them at an oriental market in Salt Lake City, UT. I put them in my second hand milk glass dish - one of my very favorites! In rice, which was my mom's idea, and very fitting.

After the girls got their chopsticks, we turned on music, and they sat in a circle, and tried to pick up marshmallows with the chopsticks.

As each girl won, she got to pick a necklace I made using the printables from etsy.

The way they won them, is whomever got the most marshmallows. They got better over time, and it was really fun.

Here is a close up:

My friend Lisa has a sister who lived in Japan for years, and she let us use some kimono's for the girls to try on. They loved it! Thank you Lisa! I will be sending a photo of each girl wearing a kimono out with thank you cards.

Next we did the thing I was the most excited about! Each girl got to pick her own kokeshi doll. I painted the heads in advance, and didn't attach the bodies. The girls got to choose the head she wanted, and paint the body however she wanted.

I have a talented friend who paints and sells dolls on etsy. I took some inspiration from her, and she gave me a few helpful tips. Thanks Tiffany! You can visit her etsy shop here.

Here are a couple of the finished dolls. If I have enough interest, I will post a tutorial on how I made the heads, and what I used.

*UPDATE!!! I have just posted the KOKESHI DOLL TUTORIAL Check it out!

After they dried, my husband screwed them together. Cute, right? I really liked the metallic paint. I also had intentions of spray varnishing them after they were put together, but I forgot.

Did I mention each girl had a paper crane that I folded in advance sitting at her place on the table? Ya, that took a while. We also folded fortune tellers out of real orgami paper.