Building Shimo-san

Well, it looks like we are deep into the Christmas season now so I thought I would share an ornament that I made.  I love making tree ornaments most, even though they don't serve much purpose but to help decorate an already over decorated tree.  

This one is made from the Sister Stamp image of the snowman (Shimo-san).  I had these plastic ornaments lying around from last year and finally had use for one of them.  I just reduced the image I had already colored and fit it into the globe, but since I wanted to have the characters seen from both sides,  before gluing in place, I had to fix the kimono of the boy to be correct for the reverse (it must be tied the correct way, following the Japanese tradition).  Then I created the "snow" from a cotton pad turned inside out, placed at the bottom of the ball – didn't have a regular cotton ball handy – and added glitter for "bling".  Also put at the top – next to the bow – some flowers that my sister gave me in summer, for the finishing touch.  A simple but fun project! 

Also thought I would share the evolution of the image with you.  The idea came from my sister as we brainstormed Christmas-themed stamps.  I must admit I wasn't too keen on the idea initially and kind of reluctantly worked on the sketch.   I thought it was a little "modern" for what I liked.   But as I continued, I started really enjoying the idea and the challenge of telling the story and keeping a somewhat traditional feel of the scene.  In the end, I sent the image to my sister and told her that it came out just so darn cute!  Good idea!  Well, that showed me!  Now it's one of my favorites.

Here's some of the other opriginal sketches I had done for the other holiday Sister Stamps images of the past.  I kind of like the image of the little girl with the stocking (Yuki) as well.  I thought of when I was young and how Christmas was my very favorite time of the year, and still is.  I believed in everything and the magic was so very real to me.  To wake up in the morning and see my stocking full was the greatest feeling. So that image was to express my sheer joy of Santa's visit.

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season.  Take care and thanks for visiting!

Oops, I forgot another ornament I made using the Shimo-san image. This one is a simple decoupage project on a paper-mache' ornament sold at Michael's. Enjoy!