Sunday, April 29, 2012

April Recap

Recap:

Read:
1. Prairie Courtship by Dorothy Clark
2. A Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
3. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
4. The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters
5. Bride's Story volume 3 by Kaoru Mori
6. Young Miss Holmes by Kaoru Shintani
7. Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward
8. The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
9. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
10. Collected Works of Frances Hodgson Burnett, Volume 2 published by Bibliobazaar

Crafts:
1. Bunny and bear bobby pins
2. French back caged pearl earrings
3. Milk feltie
4. Chocolate swirl roll feltie
5. I love K-pop and J-pop keychains
6. Puppy feltie
7. Strawberry cake felt tissue box cover
8. Star tree tote bag

Next month we are on the home stretch for making crafts for the convention in the middle of the month. Let's just say that I am quite nervous. What if nothing sells? (Sigh) I guess it's the fear and dilemma of any crafter.

In other news, I'm learning how to crochet from my mom and videos online with hints and advice from my aunt. I'm hoping if I can get better at it I can start making amigurumi plushies......LOL it might be a while.

Does anyone like the new blogger interface? I tried to use it a moment ago and it reformatted this post into a single paragraph despite the fact that I hit the 'enter' button between paragraphs, etc. Go figure. So I switched back to the old blogger interface on the sidebar.

Until next time ^____^

Monday, April 23, 2012

Star Tree



My project for the day, a hot pink tote bag embellished with a die-cut tree iron-on transfer! Too cute!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Strawberry cake!

Hi, everyone! This was my project over the weekend.



A strawberry cake tissue box cover. It was a fun project, but I will say that it took quite a while to cut and stitch up all the strawberries! I found the idea on a blog that luckily had a tutorial on this finish ;)

Until next time ^____^

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Bunny Cuteness!

This morning I came home from shopping for a friend's birthday to find a package at my door. My friend Amanda had sent me a package of keychains that I had her order for me and some cup cozies she had made for the convention. She also included a lovely cup cozy of red yarn with my Hunger Games cross stitch design on top. The cup cozy was a birthday gift for my sister ;)

Inside the package was a surprise!

Introducing Lady Fluffington!





She has found a home on one of my bookshelves ;) I think all the items on my shelf are from my friend over the years except for the tiny bunny and the origami jackalope.

Thank you darling! I love the surprise. I truly wasn't expecting anything in this package for me. You spoil me with your amazing crafting skills!

Until next time ^___^

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Musical hearts



I stitched up two new hearts this evening. I love Japanese and Korean pop music and thought this would be a cute idea for hearts. I used backstitching on the lettering ;)

I hope you are enjoying your day!

Until next time ^____^

Saturday, April 14, 2012

A little bit of sweetness





Good afternoon! I stitched up this little cake roll a few moments ago while watching episodes of DS. What do you think? I got the idea of using a strawberry on the sides of the roll by the creme swirl from Tammy's tutorial online, but the template comes from another website tutorial.

I think it is a cutie, but I need to work on the creme swirl. It is suppose to be longer, but I got a little bit carried away with the scissors O_o"

In other news, today is my sister's birthday. She had fun going through her presents from our mom and me. She received a Blu-Ray set of The Pacific and Band of Brothers, a Labyrinth t-shirt with the Fiery Gang on it, a Momo plushie (from Avatar), a raccoon tote bag, an iTunes gift card, Starbucks gift card, and an awesome pair of hot pink Converse shoes with blue laces ;)

Last night, she and I celebrated her birthday by going to the Hard Rock casino in Biloxi. We didn't win any money, but we had fun playing a lot of different slots. Our favorite I think was the Ghostbusters one! The seats rattle and the screens are 3-D. Perfect for the appearances of Slimer!

By the end of the night, we stopped by Ben & Jerry's in the casino to get ice cream. We were in line debating between all their different flavors and ways to eat it when a lady in front of us told the cashier that she was picking up our ice creams!

O_o"

Of course, we protested, but to no avail. She leaned over to my sister and said, "Sometimes you just have to pay it forward."

Wow! How incredibly nice of that lady. She didn't have to buy ice cream for complete strangers, but she did. It was so incredible that we were talking about for at least half of the ride home! My sister and I both agreed that the next time we come by the casino we would do the same ;)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Be safe in those areas of the US with bad storms!

Until next time ^____^

Friday, April 13, 2012

~ *Squeal* ~

Good morning everyone! That bit of geekiness, roughly translated into human speech, means "AWESOME!"

That was my reaction last night when I was reading on Yen Press' website that they were going to publish a series of Kaoru Mori's short stories in a hardcover edition!

Here's the blurb from their site:
"Anything and Something, a standalone collection of short stories and art by Kaoru Mori, author of the critically-acclaimed A Bride’s Story and Emma. Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something will be released as an oversized hardcover to match A Bride’s Story."


I love this sketch that Mori drew of herself.

As all of you know, I love Mori's works and am grateful that CMX and Yen Press have published so many of her stories. I mean look at my blog title banner, that should tell you all you need to know about my love of Kaoru Mori ;)

I can't wait to see when they decide to publish this book!

Ok, that's enough geekiness for the day! I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Until next time ^____^

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I Love Milk!



This was my experiment for the night. My friend Amanda had sent me a cute milk carton plushie cell charm (on left) recently and I thought I'd try to replicate it (on right).

LOL Her oversew stitching is so much better than mine and not to mention that her milk carton template was better. I ended up tracing around her plushie to get the correct shapes for my plushie. I need to ask her for her template! O_o"

I backstitched the lettering at the top and added a cute heart button that I had in my stash. I also used some blush under the eyes.....with disastrous results. Never use your finger to apply it to the felt or you will get a big mess! I should have used a Q-tip!

Otherwise it was quite fun stitching this experiment. I'll have to work on my oversew stitching ;) Since this little cutie isn't my best attempt, it will go to live on my bookshelf!

Until next time ^____^

Sunday, April 8, 2012

A week in crafts



Earlier in the week I made another kitty plushie and this afternoon I made a heart feltie, but instead of using a ribbon loop, I dug out my grommets from my cross stitch finishing supplies. Now the heart is keychain finish instead of the usual cell charm lanyard.



I received my package of bow and stars beads in the mail this week so I finished the SM charms as cell phone charms ;) For the smaller SM group, I used a keychain.



I used the wing beads I got in the mail for finished the SM symbols into cell phone charms! Cute! I need some black cell lanyards for the red and orange charms on the right.



The seller on eBay who I bought all my beads sent me a freebie in the package, a cute polymer clay ice cream charm! I made that into a cell phone charm along with a leftover tiny paper stars charm that I had in my stash from last year. I also made one of the scallop edged Alice in Wonderland charms into a cell phone charm using a light blue bow since it reminded me of her dress ;)



Last night I made these caged pearl charms into French back earrings. I found the charms at HB a while ago and was debating on how to use them in my crafting. I thought of using them in an earring finish yesterday morning when I was at HB.



We have been enjoying some gorgeous weather this weekend. This morning I got up in order to do some hair accessory finishes. I used the bunny and bear flat back beads on bobby pins. With this finish I used E6000 glue, which is best used outside due to its odor.

I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend with family and friends ;)

Until next time ^____^

Saturday, April 7, 2012

A Spring Panda Package! Woot!

Hi, everyone! This afternoon after a morning of running errands I came home to a very large package.....possibly XXL in size! My friend Amanda said she would be sending me a package that was large, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so big!

Inside the box was a white basket wrapped in purple cellophane, two Chia Te bags, and a Wal-greens bag. Look what they contained:


All the gifts together!


Gifts in basket ;)


Pineapple cakes!

I received two boxes of pineapple cakes. They expire soon so I'll have to share them with family, friends, and co-workers to eat them all up!

I think one of things I miss from CA in terms of yummy food is Chinese baked goods. I fell in love with pineapple cakes on my first trip to see Amanda in CA back in 2001. Wow, that's quite a long time ago! At the time she was living in an apartment complex in Walnut, CA and there was a small Chinese bakery nearby. They have all sorts of yummy things to eat. You could spend alot of money trying to buy one of everything to try it all ;) Last year when I was in CA, we were able to make a trip to that bakery. I'm so glad that it's still there >__<


A container full of candy!~

I have a notorious sweet tooth so this was more than welcome. The container had Skylar bars, cookies, and candy in it. In another part of the package, she sent me some chocolate candies! Yum!!!



Crafty goodies for me!! Mwahahahaha! A milk carton cell charm, a steampunk donut cell charm, and an egg tart amigurumi plushie! I've seen the first two items on her blog and I thought maybe she was making them for herself or for sale at the convention, but nope, they are mine! Woot! I hadn't seen the egg tart, he is a surprise ;)

I love egg tarts! The last time we were in CA, we stopped by a dim sum restaurant for a traditional Chinese breakfast. I don't think I ate that much.....I'm picky when it comes to strange foods, but I did partake in an egg tart...sweet and so yummy >___<


My Alice bracelet and a surprise for a friend of mine!



I had sent my bracelet to Amanda to fix for me. I was using jump rings that were too large and made the bracelet pop up from my wrist. She used small jump rings linked with a small oval ring. It fits nicely now ;)



A bookmark, Target gift card, and cute bunny gift clip ;)



LOL A funny chocolate bunny and a lantern bunny craft kit!



Another funny bunny that 'poops' candy! And a sock coin purse with a surprise!



A small jade bunny! Isn't it cute? I'm thinking about making a cell charm with this little cutie ;) I just need to find a black cell lanyard.



Letter sets! Sugarbunnies and assorted magical themed one with kitties, unicorns, etc.



Now this threw me for a loop. Is this even sanitary? A box full of pork?



Luckily it contained her amigurumi crafts for our booth! My sister has named the octopi >___<



Introducing Sir Sassafras



And Miss Petunia



A cup cozy! Don't you love it? Super cute and easy to care since it is made from acrylic yarn ;)



Assorted colors of amigurumi fortune cookie keychains ;) They are so tiny and adorable!



Lastly, she sent me an assortment of reusable bags! We were talking about that in an email recently so she sent me several ;) I love the bunny bag the best (you know me!) and I plan to use it as a library bag! My old one that I bought from the local library has seen alot of use and it started to get a hole at the bottom O_o"

Thank you darling for the awesome package of goodies!

Until next time ^____^

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Spring package

Good morning! My friend Amanda received the package I sent her over the weekend yesterday. Talk about fast delivery! You've gotta love the postal service.



I found the perfect wrapping paper at Target! Isn't it lovely? I think next to my love of toile patterns, I love filigree patterns too. I thought this paper was perfect for a spring package.



After Valentine's Day, Target had a lot of their merchandise on sale. I saw these heart shaped popsicles and knew they would be perfect for my friend. She is determined to eat healthier and exercise and I thought these would be a great way to make your own popsicles. They were only $3....you can't beat that.



With her love of beading and amigurumi, I picked up these items at the bookstore. The book has some adorable patterns. Some are quite elaborate such as a tree with leaves ;)



Crafting goodies and a pack of Angry Bird gummies. My friend has had her eyes on that panda kit for a while and I happened to run across it while scouring eBay for some bead kits for her package. I couldn't pass up the tart kit either!

As part of our craft exchange, I sent her some safety eyes for her amigurumi plushies. I couldn't find the exact size she was looking for, but at least it's something! I also bought her two skeins of Caron yarn in Celestial and Autumn Red.



Of course, no spring-themed package would be complete without some sort of Easter candy. Since she is trying to be healthy I wasn't about to ruin it with tons of candy, but I couldn't resist this:



I found this little cutie at Walmart. I normally do not shop there at all, but every once in a while I have to brave the crowds there in order to buy detergent, etc. in the event that Target doesn't have what I'm looking for. Well, thank goodness that I stopped by there last month! I couldn't help myself while I was in the store, I had to reach out and squeeze this bunny's tummy. He makes the chicken cluck noises like in the Cadbury commercials ;)

In this package, I also included my Mockingjay design. It was a quick stitch last month while watching episodes of DS.

I'm glad you enjoy all your gifts! Happy crafting darling!

Until next time ^___^