La Befana

It's tradition here in Italy to hang up stockings on the eve of Epiphany (January 6th), much like we do in America in hope that Santa will fill them with treats and presents if we were good.  In the same way, Italian children hope that the Befana will come to fill their stockings.  La Befana, according to legend, is an old woman that flies on her broom and comes to each house to fill stockings with either treats (if the children were good) or coal (if they were bad).  Although this image sounds like our idea of a witch on Halloween, the Befana is simply an old woman that kind of looks like a witch but is not magical or scary according to the story.

I was curious about this tradition so I did some research. Apparently, the name "befana" is coming from "Epiphany" – Epifania, in Italian. The three Wise Men, stopped along the way to visit the infant Jesus, and asked this old lady for directions to Bethlehem.  They asked if she wanted to go with them but she declined, worried about how hard that journey could be. But after the Wise Men left, she regretted her decision and decided to go on her own. But not knowing exactly where Jesus was, she went to all the houses in the area and decided to leave gifts wherever she found a child, to be sure not to miss Him.

I thought today was the perfect day to share a craft done some time ago, but put out right at this time of the year. I started from a template from SVGCuts and adjusted it in order to have a stocking to hang on a door knob. I've seen a lot of treat boxes on door hangers but couldn't find one in a stocking shape. Thought it would be cute if you wanted to give to someone in an office.  It was originally a stocking-shaped box with a lid.   I embellished it with a lace file also from SVGcuts but altered.  The lace was only on one side to be used as a border but I wanted the lace to be on both sides.  I also added slits in the middle so that I could weave a ribbon through.

Happy Epiphany to everyone!

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!