Book Love & DIY Project: Mes petites Kokeshi

Have you laid eyes upon the book, Mes petites Kokeshi by talented Parisian shop owner Adeline Klam? I first saw it at the Frankfurter Buch Messe in 2011 and fell in total love, I had to buy a copy despite how little French I know (though now it's been translated into German, available here). In this book, photos truly do speak a thousand words whether you speak French or German (or not). Adeline's projects are so cute and are all themed around the Japanese Kokeshi wooden dolls. Here is a glimpse from the book taken by my friend Emilie Guelpa from Griottes who worked on the project with her as the photographer.

Recently, Emilie felt very inspired from working on this book for Adeline and decided to make her own version of kokeshi dolls at home. She wrote about how she did it on her blog (click here) but here are the items she transformed into little people laid out below. This is such a beautiful and inspiring craft project to work on, especially this time of year with your children. All you need are some wooden shapes, paint, fine tip brushes and maybe some glue if you want to accessorize your little people. You can add angel wings, glitter, feet, hats - whatever you'd like!

I feel so inspired by this project that I'm going to look around in the local craft store for wood pieces while I'm on vacation (I'm taking off December 15 - Jan 7) to see if I can make a few kokeshi of my own. You can even glue ribbon to them and create ornaments!

(images: emilie guelpa)