Crafty Tokyo Mama Thank You

Way back in March, I received some early birthday gifts from my dear friend in Kyoto. She knows my fondness for airplanes and fabric and regularly indulges me.

How perfect is this biplane postcard? We never see such cuteness here in the states.

Except - after I put it together and was getting ready to toss the punchout, I noticed it was made by HALLMARK! In China. We have Hallmarks here. I think Hallmark originated here in the states. Do we have awesome biplane postcards? No.

 And she sent me a second biplane - from the DAISO store!
Daiso helps make some  sweet packaging. Everything Janine sends me is perfectly wrapped in kawaii cuteness.. Stitckers, patterned bags, you name it. I need a Daiso store of my own!
{I save all her packaging to re-use}

Even her postal stamps she chooses are perfect. 

Airplanes, japanese geishas, Mail boxes (Red cylinder at bottom left)

She covered a journal book in awesome airplane fabric and then gifted me with the same airplane timetables fabric to play with.  :-)

Look at that Kawaii airplane ribbon.

She always picks out items with birds in them too.
Her parakeet, Trixie, just passed away. Trixie was one extraordinary pet.


When I am putting together a gift to send to her, I keep a lookout for bird fabrics and western/patriotic items. TV series and movies.

 She sent me some socks, a tiny coin purse she sewed for me and two doilies she crocheted for me - such beautiful colors.

My gifts all comes with origami notes, cute notepaper that can fold into shapes. I think she sent me eight different happy mail items. I feel well loved by her thoughtfulness.

This is where we are not similar - I usually am cramming as much as I can into a flat rate package to send to Japan. I'm still learning to put washi tape on my etsy orders...

 She also sent me some Japanese patterns which are read right to left from the top to the bottom and then over to the left. You follow the pictures in numerical order.
This one was for the four pocket card case.

 This one is for a tissue holder.
 
In Japan, you must carry your own tissues and a cloth for wiping your hands for when You are out and about and need to use the restroom. Toilet paper and towels are a rarity in public bathrooms. Of course, you need cute tissue holder accessories.

Again, she sent me the extra fabric - you obviously notice the airplanes?

 

See the Hallmark logo in the bottom right?

 Janine and I met online via the SewMamaSew Giveaway Day. Several years ago now.

I read her blog, She read mine. We both sew. We both like old things. She grew up just south of where I live. Her family is all in Oregon. We had many similar ideas and dreams.

We managed to meet up here in Oregon a couple of times.

I visited her in Japan a year ago and got to see her for an extended time. You can view many of my blog posts about Japan during the last two weeks of March 2015 by looking in my blog archives (sidebar). Her time in Oregon is packed with family events so it was real delight to spend more time with her when I visited Kyoto. I feel like I've know her all my life.

My niece has recently moved to Singapore. To get there, most flights go through Tokyo. I am making plans for returning to Tokyo. {My niece has a Daiso store in Singapore}.