Butterflies Flutter at Studio 904!

I went to Phoenix Arizona over a long weekend and had a wonderful time with my two friends, Sharon Cox from San Francisco and Muriel Hart who lives in Arizona. Muriel hosted us at her house and fed us her wonderful home cooked meals! During our time together, Muriel took us to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix and I was awed by the whimsical beauty of the South West Cactuses and other desert plants! While there, we visited the Butterfly Pavilion and it was truly an experience to see so many different species of butterflies of many beautiful colors and markings…so close up. They were so people friendly that some came flying to perch on the our head, shoulders and arms!


Those butterflies inspired me so much that after returning home to Seattle, I got busy making butterflies to decorate Studio 904. I made almost one hundred butterflies and attached them to long strips of sheer organdy ribbons. As you can see in the photos, I made these whimsical butterflies out of vellum and printed papers. I decorated each butterfly using varieties of decorative embellishments such as rhinestones, lace, artificial flowers and buttons. My goal was to keep them looking light, fluttery and delicate just as the butterflies I saw in Phoenix. I love to see our clients notice these beautiful hand made butterflies as they flutter about mid-air in our salon! I invite you to visit Studio 904 (our Mercer Island location) and look at the butterflies and the birds which I’ve created.

Hello World!

Welcome to my blog site. Here, I would like to share with you about the valuable lessons I learned from running a small business for the past 32 years. My business, Studio 904 hair salon uses the Kaizen philosophy as the core in how we act and make decisions every day. Kaizen is a Japanese word for “Life-long learning in small incremental steps. During these past years I have learned so much about how to operate a sustainable business which creates a win for our employees and the community.
Have you heard the saying, it is the business which makes you who you are? This is so true… I have discovered my own unique gifts which I can use to create a better world. My gifts which I would like to share with you are hair, dogs and cards, and how I have learned to use these personal gifts as a vehicle in serving our community…… giving a helping hand to those who are vulnerable and in need, building community connections and developing positive relationships.

Hair

I ‘ve owned and managed two successful hair salons for the past thirty two years. My main role in my business is training our stylists to listen to our customers and to execute a cut, color and style which is suitable to every client who is sitting in our chairs. Customizing a design which is suitable to the head shape and features of a client can make her/his daily care becomes a breeze. If the design was not cut to flatter your head shape, face shape and features, you will struggle with “having bad hair days” until the cut is corrected. The most important aspect of getting what you like when you visit your hair salon is to make sure that you receive a good consultation from your stylist. This is the reason why I train every stylist we hire at Studio 904 to listen to our customers, using our consultation procedure, LSPA which stands for Listen, Share, Permission, Action. I will be writing more about LSPA in my future postings. Stay tuned, more to come….

Dogs

I was born an only child and learned to establish relationships with animals at an early age. I especially love dogs because they have noble characteristics which humans will not be able to live up to. I will always remember my closest pet named Yumi. She was a white Jack Russell Terrier with one black ear. Yumi and I went for a walk every day of her life for four years. She was always generous in opening up my mind to see the bigger picture but at the same time taught me to enjoy the MOMENT and to appreciate the simple things in life. We always gave lots of thought during our walks to other dogs in this world who were not as fortunate and lucky as Yumi. We wondered how can we help to create a world where animal abuse by humans can be rescued and that every domesticated animal would be able to live in a loving home. We also thought about how we can inspire every pet owner to appreciate their pets for the unique gifts which they give us with expecting nothing in return. After Yumi died, I heard her calling loud and clear. In my future postings I will write about how Yumi guided me in helping abused animals.

Cards

My dog Yumi was instrumental in igniting my passion back to creating art using beautiful papers. I used to love creating art forms and designs as a child, using all types of materials such as paper, fabric and yarn. I also loved oil and water color painting in my growing years. About five years ago, I stopped by a rubber stamp store in Pioneer Square, near my Studio 904 salon. An old man with a white beard owned the store and showed me how to make a Christmas card with a single snowman on it. I was enthralled with how he heat activated the ink to produce a glossy finish on the snowman. I asked him, where can I go to take a class on how to make cards using rubber stamps and ink pads. He replied to me by saying, “I just gave you a class…. What are you waiting for?” I remember spending close to $100. in his store to purchase a starter kit. Well, I was way too busy running a business to bother with making cards so I shoved my starter kit to the back of my closet and there it sat for the next year and a half. I got my start in making cards after Yumi passed away . I wanted to make special memorial cards with her photo on it to send to all of our doggie friends who showered me with kind words, cards and flowers after Yumi passed away. Well, it’s been three years and I’ve never stopped. More to come about my passion for making paper art and how I’ve used these cards and Yumi’s Life Lessons to raise money for animal causes.