Washington Tokyo Women's Club ~ board appreciation gift

This past year was my first year serving on the Washington Tokyo Women's Club (WTWC) board as Hospitality Chair along with my partner in crime Pam (right) and our Japanese counterpart Akie (center). What a year! It was really fun....after I recovered from the initial learning curve and got oriented with my job.

It was Akie who inspired me to get off my butt (because of how we take luncheon reservations, menu choices & table assignments) to finally learn Microsoft Excel...and as soon as I got a pretty good grip on the program, I bought my new MacBook Pro and have had to relearn everything I hardly knew to work in "Numbers." After about 293 more ONE TO ONE Apple classes this Summer I may have it down pat. Until then, I'm gonna cry every day that Akie left us to go back to Japan :o(

I wanted to share the beautiful (and creative!) gift that our WTWC President, Susan, gave each board member at our last meeting to thank us for serving on her 2011-2012 board.

This year was the centennial celebration of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. In 1912 the Japanese gave us 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo, Japan as a reminder of international friendship and the peace between our countries.

The post office created a special FOREVER stamp commemorating the 100 year celebration. The scene above is actually TWO stamps that create a whole scene.

I went right away to get a few booklets and they were nearly sold out before the cherry blossoms even bloomed!

Susan took the 2-piece stamp and mounted it on a matte.

I believe she used scrapbooking dots (or square foams) so that the stamp is raised.

Here's one stamp ~ The left side

Here's the other stamp ~ the right side

I love the Japanese and American families in the scene

Susan painted the frame with chalkboard paint and then sanded it some to make it look worn.

Before it dried she scratched in "WTWC Board 2011-2012"

And the stamps are dated 2012. I love this idea! 

A memory of the 2012 Centennial Cherry Blossom Festival ~ The Friendship we have with Japan ~ and the year we served on the board.

Susan's a genius! I loved my first year on the board and all of the memories we made and I love my gift! Domo Arigato, Susan xo

Pam & I decided to serve on next year's board as the American Hospitality Team once again. We will miss Akie so much, but we also look forward to working with the new Japanese team and another great year in WTWC!  

I'd better go book another Apple class asap.