opulence: noun

wealth, riches, or affluence
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When is an envelope not an envelope? When it's a gift wrapping! Or something like that ;)

I went to a party last night at Barbara's which she had to introduce us to 2 of her Japanese friends that were visiting the states.

Kanta and Mari.

So I went bearing a gift, ( pun intended, you'll see why ).

"The Japanese love to give gifts. This habit is not practiced only on special occasions, but it's widely accepted as giri - a social duty and obligation." 

Now I am acquainted with the art of Japanese gift giving, if you are not then please this visit this web site to learn more about it. My friend Barbara, after many years of living in Japan, practices the art of  Furoshiki down to a tee and amazes of us at all functions where we bring things wrapped up on paper plates with cellaphane, aluminumin foil or tupperware containers, her's are tied up in cloths.

This is my gift for Kanto and Mari, a bear magnet.

 It is suppose to represent the North Carolina mountains that they visited. The size of the gift is important, it is suppose to be small, not to suggest opulence in any way: read above website, but the wrapping and thought behind it are monumental! I actually enjoy the whole thought process that is involved here.

 I used my Cricut to cut out the envelope using the stitched setting on the Don Juan cartridge. I used jute to sew through the holes leaving a loop to slide over the tree branch for closure.

I applied a rub-on of a local bird from our area, the American Goldfinch. I signed and dated the magnet and it fits perfectly into this little envelope, which happens to be a Japanese paper that Barbara gave me when we first met. The colors are muted, and I used natural elements. So my wrapping theme goes hand in hand with my gift, nature.

Since this includes sewing, as an "off the page project", I am entering it into

Frosted Designs, Fabulous Friday challenge - stitching

and a gift for the hostess :)

I removed the flowers from their plastic pot and wrapping. Punched a hole in the bottom of a tin can
( recycling ! ) Added a cup of soil to the bottom of the can, and then put the flowers in. Wrapped the burlap around the can and secured with a hot glue gun. The frog was one of the book marks I had made that got published in the Cricut magazine; so I cut off the long flap and it fit beautifully over the edge of the tin. Added 3 strips of ribbon and finished it off with buttons that matched the color of the frog.

I'm entering this project in Unique Crafters Challenge #4 Buttons

Kanta does story telling, or a Rakugo, which is like a a sitcom with one person playing all the parts! He told us very funny stories using only a fan and a cloth for props!  He was very good! This is part of his Samari story, who are not being allowed saki in the castle.

He also did these skits called his 'magic carpet", now this one is a North Carolina 'ha ha', lol You may not understand why we are laughing but it a short video of part of his entertainment  and it's still fun to watch:)

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/sandee.setliff

Mari made us Sakuramochi, which was delicious. I admit I am the first person to eye suspiciously anything wrapped up in leaves but I tried it and it great! Barbara also served us green tea.

Kanta and Mari also had lots of little gifts for us!

Barbara in her "summer" kimono, doesn't she look great?

Lots of fun, thanks Barbara, Kanta, and Mari for an enjoyable evening!

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and don't forget to link up your Project Pinterest Project here, you have a whole month to play along with us ;)