SO crafty! Sundays - 3D beading

I feel like maybe I am just a fan of 3D things. 3D origami, 3D movies, 3D beading...

Super cool Marvel characters from shiny bead.

Today's SO crafty! Sunday features 3D beading--something I have been dying to try since the eighth grade, but never got a chance to. Sadly, I don't have many comments on this particular topic since it is merely something I am interested in and have not yet tried. But, have some tutorials and patterns anyway!

Seahorse.

A PUG. OH MY GOD HOW CUTE.

An anime-esque black cat.

Rabbit.

Dolphin.

Carnation.

Favourite Fridays - ice wine tea

On Tuesday I bought Canada True's ice wine tea from my local Winners. It instantly became a favourite! Here's a picture, but mine doesn't look like this at all (or any of the pictures that I've seen) so maybe it was a reject. It does have "Canada True" on the top, though.



The tea has a very nice and sweet aroma, but I'm not a big fan of the tea itself. To be honest, the tea doesn't taste like much. It is a very watered-down version of what it smells like and is not very sweet at all, unlike it's alcoholic counterpart. This is also, however, why I like it.

Here's a picture, but mine doesn't look like this at all (or any of the pictures that I've seen) so maybe it was a reject. It does have "Canada True" on the top, though.

You see, I really, really like how it smells; and since it basically tastes like water, it's perfect for mixing with other drinks! So, what I've been doing with it is combining it with other teas that have no aroma but a really strong taste. For example, lemon teas that are very sour, but don't smell like lemon.     Or those frozen fruit concentrates that you add water to.

Here's my recipe:

1 teabag of sour lemon tea
2 teabags of ice wine tea
4 cups of water
1 can of peach fruit punch
Frozen fruit of your choosing

Boil the teabags in the four cups of water. Let it cool for about fifteen minutes to half an hour or so so that it is still warm, but not boiling. You should have about 3 1/2 cups of tea. Mix it with your fruit concentrate. Add frozen fruit for extra flavour and to cool it faster. Refrigerate.

Might look something like this?

Tasty Tuesdays - flan (custard pudding)

Who here watches or used to watch anime? Well here's one for you guys!

I was always very fascinated by japanese pudding. Not only does it jiggle, but it's in so much anime and is sometimes depicted as super cute characters. What does it taste like?? Make your own and find out!

On Youtube there is a channel called "Cooking with Dog" in which a Japanese woman makes food with her super cute and well-behaved dog. Here she shows that making flan is, apparently, really easy.

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of variations of flan or custard pudding. If you think about it, creme brûlée and flan are basically the same thing, so there is definitely many other recipes all over the internet. I just like this one the most because the flan that I wanted to make was the one from anime and I trust this Japanese woman to make a basic, traditional Japanese flan. Plus, it's super easy!

SO crafty! sundays - eeveelutions

Who here has never heard of pokemon? Hands up. Well, if you're hand was up, SHAME ON YOU.

Just kidding.

Pokemon was basically my life growing up. I loved cartoons so, so much when I was little (STILL DO, NO SHAME). They basically fuelled my life and also shaped me into what I am now. I'm not saying cartoons are good for kids, I'm just saying they're not all that bad for kids in moderation.

Anyway, I grew up with Hello Kitty, Sailor Moon, Hamtaro, and, of course, Pokemon. My favourite Pokemon? Eevee. Not just eevee, though, eevee and all of the eeveelutions. So this SO crafty! sunday is all about them.

Firstly, amigurumi. Amigurumi is, to briefly explain, the Japanese art of crocheting dolls. You may thinks that's silly, because it's just crochet, but most North American crochet is of scarves, blankets, mittens, or generic toys like The Princess or The Dragon. Amigurumi is usually the crocheting of characters; for example, pikachu from Pokemon, The 11th Doctor from Doctor Who, or Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series.

Let me tell you this, sonny: there is a ton of super cute, super cool, and maybe-not-super-easy-but-not-super-difficult amigurumi patterns of eeveelutions on the web.

aphid777 on deviantArt has a lot of free, super cute eevee and evolutions in her gallery! :) For the basic eevee, visit here. REMEMBER: Everyone has different rules for their tutorials, especially for crochet/knit things that require patterns and, for simpler patterns, very little skill or understanding. For that reason, people who post free patterns, such as aphid777, usually require that you credit them and do not sell the pattern or finished product. Even if you do sell the finished product, please don't do it obnoxiously--for example, selling it online or making a point of "legally I can sell it". If you really need to sell it (someone asked you to make one for them, and you don't want to say, but you don't want to do it for free) then make it very clear that you are charging them for material and time. I'm not sure if that justifies it, but I think it's better than just blindly taking credit for everything. 

Eevee shrink film charms. This is very helpful! I never knew how you made the colour look so nice.

This is a site full of pokemon paper crafts--most importantly, however, is that they have this super adorable paper version of a jolteon (and the rest somewhere, I reckon).

If you didn't know, I'm a huge fan of 3D origami.

Super old picture (2011)

Therefore, 3D origami eeveelutions are heaven. As much as I like this vaporeon, I personally prefer things to be smaller and cuter, so I would probably make a few adjustments--but that's just me! (Note: This is not a tutorial, but if you get the basics of 3D origami, "copying" other people's projects aren't too difficult! For a beginners tutorial, simply search "3D origami for beginners". There are a lot of beginner tutorials--each of them slightly different, so I'm not going to link to a specific tutorial. I had to go through a few myself before finding the one I liked the best.)

Eeveelution perler beads. Super cute and easy to do... but what do you do with the end product...?

Fox Ears headband; simply adjust the colours to your preferred eeveelution!

Favourite Fridays - Collins Key

If you keep up with America's Got Talent, you might have heard of him. I do not keep up with America's Got Talent, so I hadn't heard of him. Basically, though, he is a combination of a few of my favourite things: magic, Youtube, and pretty eyes.

Collins Key was a teenaged contestant on the show whose talent was magic. He was dubbed, I think, the "popstar magician". Something to that effect since he's met a couple of celebrities and many a Youtuber through his performances.

Why do I like him? I love magic. Like, so so much. I love the wonder, the unexplainable, the Disney. As an added bonus, he's around my age! To be completely honest, there are not many North American celebrities that are around my age (i.e.: people around the same age group as me in which I can relate to) that I like. Either I don't like their personality, or I don't like what they do (because there are some people who I really don't think can act/sing very well--personal opinion!).

From his Youtube videos, he just seems like a really likeable guy. I mean, I'm not saying he's an amazing poet or literary expert, but he can connect to his audience really well--like any self-respecting magician should!

Why does it matter that he's a Youtuber? It doesn't. I just love Youtube, especially the people on it. I yearn so much to be a cool blogger or a funny Youtuber--but I'm just not that good with words, written or otherwise. I have my days, but there are very few days. Few and short. So the fact that he's on Youtube, and has met and might be friends with Youtubers I have subscribed to and love just amplifies the amount of appreciation I have for him.

(Seriously though, I think he's super hilarious. And magical because magic, wow.)

Tasty Tuesdays - rubiks cube brownie

Hey there, world! It's Tasty Tuesday!

I can't remember whether or not I have already mentioned this, but I had my birthday party a little while ago in July. It was "nerdy" themed and all we did was eat and watch movies for about... ten hours? Something around that. We watched three musicals--Repoman, Little Shop of Horrors, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show--and nibbled on Lego piñata cookies, blueberry trifle, finger sandwiches, melting "ice creams", and Rubiks cube brownies.

I got the idea for lots of them from Pinterest and Youtube! There are tutorials all over the place.

The easiest to make out of all of these were the Rubiks cube brownies. All you need to do is bake brownies, cut them into cubes, and use frosting to attach the cubes of brownie. Attach three together first, and then attach two more rows of three brownie cubes. Then just decorate the outside to fit the "colour" of a Rubiks cube.

I used sprinkles because I didn't want to make frosting and didn't have enough coloured chocolate. For the full tutorial that I used to make these, go to Rosanna Pansino's Nerdy Nummies. (PS: Her end product looks ten million times better than mine. I need to find a recipe that doesn't make crumbly brownies...)

wrinkles and technicalities

Hey there!

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've changed up the schedule.... No particular reason, though.

During my hiatus, I've been crazy busy with side projects, baking, work, and super exciting things like opening a stall at the farmers' market in my town for the very first time! However, I'm back now--just before 2nd year starts, which should be very interesting--and I hope to keep up this blog as a kind of journal for myself.

So, firstly, it's Sunday! Let's get crafty!

Since it's my first post for the new schedule--and since I haven't had much time to really test out any projects firsthand, I'm going to post a couple of super easy, last minute gift idea projects.

Origami/Duct Tape earrings - Basically making very small things with duct tape or paper and attaching the earring fastenings. For origami earrings, you can fold small cranes, mini paper stars, or even fold mini 3D origami triangles and make little fish or dragonflies! Just be sure to glaze/gloss the paper afterwards, just to reinforce it and protect it from water!

Duct tape notebooks - I really like the notebooks at this particular link (there's no tutorial), but there's tons of tutorials on the internet!

Easy luminary ideas! - any shape, any colour light, any material! Totally up to you!

Make some paper cut outs for whatever it is you need a gift for! Frame it, glue it onto a card or  a box, make a shadow puppet... the ideas are endless!

Place your gifts in boxes that can turn into a desk organizer! :)

Happy making!