Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I know that this isn’t a holiday that everyone celebrates – especially seeing as how commercialized its become – but I’ve always been a believer in celebrating for any reason. Lord knows that there’s enough madness in the world to get pulled under by, any reason to feel happy and enjoy yourself is a good enough reason for me.

I’ve always been a big fan of the color red as well, so even in years when I didn’t have an amazing husband to celebrate Valentine’s Day with, I still enjoyed the aesthetic of the holiday; red and white, hearts and flowers. Also, since my birthday is just a few days after Valentine’s Day, I’ve also really enjoyed the post-Valentine’s day candy sales. What’s not to like about that?

Keeping that theme in mind, I wanted to create a happy pink piece for Valentine’s Day. Like the Purple Plum and Chrysanthemum piece from last month, this piece was made from left over fabric from the projects I made for my tsumami-zaiku teaching certification courses.

These classes are available for anyone to take; not just those who want to become a teacher – but anyone who wants to enjoy learning how to craft tsumami zaiku accessories. I highly recommend checking out the International Tsumami-zaiku Association website if you’re interested in giving it a try!

I normally work with starched, thin, and smooth silk habotai fabric, but this particular hair pin is entirely made from thicker, textured chirimen fabric. I feel that this type of fabric gives the piece a much fuller look, and gives the little pin a youthful feel that’s just a touch romantic.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I don’t turn out bigger and better pieces every week; that sometimes I only have a small offering like this to present to my readers. But, the bigger part of me knows that it’s accomplishment enough just to get things done. As we used to say back in art school – finished is better than perfect, because perfect doesn’t exist.

Unless you’re talking about my husband; who might not be perfect for everyone, but he’s pretty much perfect for me. Yes, I am that kind of cheesy, haha.

We’ve been together for almost a decade – more if you count the period when we dated but weren’t yet married. I’m hoping we’ve got several more decades left together, and am so grateful for all his love and support. Without him, this blog and all the projects that I’ve been able to get done wouldn’t be possible – or they would have been a lot more difficult to do, anyway!

Anyhoo, that is all I’ve got for this week.

If you want to see more of my work check back again next week for more craft chill updates – or follow me on Instagram or Youtube, where I post videos that can give you a closer look at my crafting process, gaming adventures, travels, and shopping excursions.