Origami Kimono Birthday Card

 While in Japan I purchased an origami paper pack that had English instructions for folding a kimono and included a folded sample.  I thought it was pretty simple and I felt confident that I could make the folded kimono.  My first attempt turned out fairly well despite the fact that the paper pack contained slightly smaller papers than the one that was used to make the sample. Since my niece, who is quite adept at the Japanese language will be celebrating a birthday soon, I decided to use the kimono on her card.  A circle die cut from a shimmery, crinkled white paper became the moon backdrop. A Japanese character birthday phrase was stamped on a cherry blossom print rectangle that was layered over gold foil paper.  The final touch was the addition of delicate cherry blossom stickers. The translucent  stickers really give the feel of the cherry blossoms we saw on our trip. (I wish I had purchased another pack of cherry blossom stickers...next time.)

 This inner sentiment really expresses how I feel about my my niece.

 After finishing the card, I set it down on a drop of water which made a boo-boo so I wrote 'oops!' but then I had the idea to cover the mistake with the extra petals. Next time I won't point out the flaw and just cover it up....hahaha!

Here is the origami paper pack (12 6x6 sheets and a sample kimono).

 Hopefully you can blow up these instructions and follow them to make your own origami kimonos.

The wooden sentiment stamp I used was from Hero Arts. The other one with the Japanese characters is from my ancient hoarder collection and I can't even remember where I bought it from about 25 years ago. Some of my rubber stamps will be antiques someday unless my kids put them in the garage sale of the century. LOL! Visit this site again to see what other crafty things I make with the items I purchased in Japan. See you soon!