A happy new year!<br /><br /><br />

New Year's energy has been pushing me to make these items. Some wise once said, "try to learn something about everything and everything about someth…

Christmas decoration

Adding a Christmas tree to my dolls' house tops the list of my Christmas decoration every year. This year I set with triangle flags highlighting a family party. You may hear their happy Christmas songs--Jingle Bells Jingle Bells

a curtain valance

I'm most fond of adding a valance over the curtain. It's like having on an elegant hat and then the fashion would be completed. 〓 This old embroidered shelf edging which has seen better days in France now lives a new life as a valance here in my Japanese house.

my lovely curtains

Dividing space with a curtain is fun! It's like making a secret place in the room. I hang ones not only for shading but for hiding places, dividing rooms, and just for the decoration purpose. I enjoy adding a little extra to them, such as antique laces, little bobbles, cute clips, and so on.It's always exciting to imagine what are behind lovely curtains. This curtain with an antique lace s…

an Ivory-soap-box shelf

I use antique Ivory soap boxes for holding my DIY items and haberdasheries. My father made a shelf for them and I painted it to my favorite ja…

a tip for mending antique quilts

Antique quilts are never without wear. This English 'Comfy' quilt is no exception. Its margin was badly damaged so I took a lot of courage and cut out the bad parts. Then I bound the edge with four kinds of Liberty bias bindings.

a half length curtain

I'm partial to my lovely Totoro's garden. For me, it's a kind of 'tsuboniwa'. I created the 'tuboniwa' with half-length curtains. When I made curt…

a fashion plate with Emily

This is an antique fashion plate (a page of antique fashion magazines). When thinking of its decoration, I used a paper doll Emily (left down) whom I met at a fabulous hand-made shop in Jiyugaoka. She is yearning to be one of the ladies on the plate some day while the boy is curious about her.

an idea for the doll decoration

When decorating a room especially with a doll, I imagine a story. There are quite a few sweet stories in my house. I'll show you some of them. This lady is going to be a 'June bride' (maybe next year, as it is already August). Her beautiful wedding dress is ready (on the wall behind) and her wedding party is already booked at the neat restaurant in Yvoire, France (picture on the right). L…

A ready-made shelf turns 'special' with a little idea.

As I promised in my last blog, I introduce my customized ready-made shelf (it's a contradicting word, isn't it?). Adding tiles to the edge of a ready-made shelf is one of the easiest way to make your 'own' ones as I did here. The feature of this shelf is my favorite 'leaf' tiles. I used joint mortar between tiles but you don't need the process if you don't care. It's just easy and looks 'I…

I love narrow shelves.

Narrow shelves are useful to decorate your treasures. You don't need to think of the balance of each item; just lining up everything in a row is good. Thinking of shelf designs is a fun (*^^*) 〓This shelf covered with the same wall paper that I used for the doll house creates a feeling of coherence in the same hallway.

my chair cover

This vintage chair cover is a good fit to my chair (*^^*) Sadly enough, however, every time I wash it, I have to expect wear and tear everywhere. Now I have a simple solution to the problem; just covering them with pieces of lace. In this way it becomes 'my' chair cover gradually. I do enjoy the process of vintage becoming mine (^^)v

a pillow case in the style of 'Dottie Angel'

Totoro's little garden

This is my happy balcony garden.

my latest work --- a lamp shade dress

One of my lamp shades has just changed dresses! I had been hesitating in cutting this beautiful French antique fabric for a long time but feeling it's time, I made this shade cover.