Craft:

With our Crafty Travels theme going on this month, I thought we could take a little trip to Japan courtesy of this week's flashback. CRAFT Volume 03 was our Japan Style issue, and it offers a ton of Japan-inspired projects and articles. One of my favorite is the tiny sewn kitties by Aranzi Aronzo that graced the cover of this issue (as remade by our talented intern Lindsay North).

From the profile by Dave Coustan: "Sisters Kinuyo Saito and Yoko Yomura founded Aranzi Aronzo in 1991, as an extension of the imaginative play they've engaged in together since childhood. Their stable of characters comprises dozens of players, including moody and mischievous animals like a terrier (Tetsu), fish (Uo), monkey (Mankey), and Warumono, the "bad guy" who does bad things. The characters are featured on an ever-expanding line of clothing, home goods, stationery, and books."

For years, Aranzi Aronzo's books were only available in Japanese, but some are now available in English. The project we featured is an except from The Cute Book. Find out more about them by visiting their site (yes, it's adorable).

Here is the project as a downloadable PDF just for you.

You can still pick up a back issue of Volume 03 in the Maker Shed for lots more super cute Japanese style.