Blobs of Plush

I totally meant to post last week.

But things.

...And laziness.

I'm here though! To post more pictures and talk about pointless garbage.


So I finished that project I mentioned in the last post. I suppose I was a bit slow about it since I did like four at one time. >.> Which is to say, easy, and not easy at the same time.
The longest, grueling part is always the applique. Any applique just takes the longest time out of your project.

Not that I hate to satin stitch, I love the way it looks. But still, so tedious.

 

This was the first time I tried out the kitty blob pattern. It was fairly easy. Hardest part I had really was the tail. I also had to sew it at an angle in order to bring it closer to body. Wish I could have made it closer but that was the best I could do. I stitched it like three times until I was just like fuck this. Still turned out well though. 

I also changed the face a smidge, just added some blushing cheeks and made the mouth a bit different. There's also a last minute bow made of felt which was a terrible idea. Not that the bow is terrible, just the felt part. Do you have any idea how hard it is to turn felt? My god. The biggest pain.

I really enjoyed how this one turned out. This one was definitely the easiest out of all three patterns. And with this one I changed up the mouth, added cheeks and a simple fabric flower. I think I kind of fucked up the flower but it still turned out alright. 

These two I finished last. Why?

Because that fucking nori applique is the biggest pain in the ass. So I made these two again because I sold the first two I made but I wanted a couple for myself. I was also thinking of adding them as an item to my shop but after today there's no way in hell. Just satin stitching one of those nori bands took a full hour. Not to mention you do this while most of the body is already sewn, so you have this very small hole to work out of. Actually ironing the nori on is rough too. Since they're curved, it's difficult to get them on smoothly. There must be some trick that I'm missing. You couldn't pay me enough to make these on the regular though. 

I think the ones I made the first time turned out way better. But I could just be being to rough on myself.

I did a few things with cookery this past week or so.

First was this recipe called Ground Turkey Noodle Bake.

I shared the recipe in case someone could make this more appetizing. It was so very bland. 

Everyone complained about the blandness, that's how bland this was. I also legitimately follow every recipe to the tee so I'm giving a very honest review here. 

 I also made some mini cakes. My sister and her bf bought me (and the hubby lol) a mini fluted cake maker. 

I was pretty excited when it came in the mail but a little hesitant about the quality. Check out the box it came in.

Look at how fucking beat up this box is.

Like, it came out of the package like that what the fuck. My sister even bought this shit brand new. 

Sidenote:

She also got me this stupid cute lunch box too, since my birthday is in a week. 

Totes love it. 

But yeah, so this cake maker, I pretty much HAD to test this thing out to make sure it works. I wouldn't want my sister to waste her cash on something useless.

So here's the actual item. The product itself looked new, which was relieving lol. 

As much as I hate cake mix, I had to go kind of cheap with what to test this baby out with. We're moving soon, meaning I'll be jobless for a period of time again and I need to save as much as possible. Which meant I made the poor choice of choosing this garbage.

Dude, for the love of God don't buy this. It was SO disgusting. I couldn't believe it was even cake. I ate this shit and it was so bitter and barely sweet. I'm still pretty dumbfounded at how awful this flavor was. 

Thought it'd be nice to show them plain before I put all the stuff on top to try to make this cake edible. I put nutella on some and just sprinkled powdered sugar on the others. But my god, NUTELLA couldn't even make these things edible. NUTELLA! FUCKING NUTELLA GUYS!

But as you can see the cake maker worked like a charm. It actually works too well almost. It bakes these in like 5 to 6 minutes. Any more and they burn so easy. I'll definitely have to try with a better recipe though. I felt so empty inside after I made these. 

Oh, before I forget. I also made pie.

Nothing special  about this one. Just a pot pie with ham and veggies. 

But I had so much leftover pie dough I thought it'd be fun to get a little creative with decorating.

I think it's quite fitting for pie.

Though maybe more fitting if it were an apple pie. ;)

Did you guys know that I love Japan?
If it's not obvious in the blog name then I hope you've spotted my sly weeaboo nature in other mediums.
I have a couple of friends that went about a couple of weeks ago. Literally every morning I would look at my facebook feed just to see all the photos they would upload from the previous days' ventures. I got to live vicariously through them which was nice but I'm sure definitely not as fulfilling as actually being there.

My body is so ready to go. I'm seriously hoping to save enough so we can go next April or May. I'm sure I'll cry if I ever actually go. Like, so happy I'll ugly cry.

Also it's May, meaning I'm aging soon.
But this was on my calendar for the month so it makes the aging hurt less.

Me and the hubby are moving pretty soon. I might be able to do a few more things til we have to pack everything and sell all our furniture again. We'll see though.

I made us breakfast on Sunday. Most likely the last pancakes I'll make in Idaho.
They were good as fuck.


Til next time!

Fading Back Into Reality

Oh dear, it's been a really long time. I literally haven't been back for over a year. Holy crap.

I would say I've been "busy" but I think "lazy" is the more appropriate term for my absence.


But I think I'm going to just go in a different direction with this blog. I'll make it more like a journal I guess but more just chronicling what I've been up to and sharing my thoughts on shit. My sister may hop on here if she wants but she probably forgot all about this.

It's cool.



So let's see, what I have been up to for the past YEAR.

Well last year not too much happened. I got promoted to full time at my job and I was sewing a bunch in my spare time. I even opened an etsy shop. I'll link it later once it's off vacation mode. I was hoping to turn it off but we may be doing a giant move soon and I also didn't want to deal with filling out another stupid sales tax form for next quarter. So I'll wait until we're settled again, wherever we may end up.

One major event would be that I got married.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Finally. This coming august will be 8 years since me and the hubby first started dating. Made sense for us to finally tie the knot.
This is the photo I used for the save the dates.

 

We had a fairly small wedding. Originally our guest list was about 54 but week of I got a handful of cancellations. I will say that was really disappointing for me. I don't have a lot of particularly close friends and it was my addition to the guest list that ended up being no shows. The bride's side of the ceremony was so tiny. 

But because of that I REALLY appreciated everyone who actually did make. Especially for my love, pretty much all of his friends showed up and I think that made of us happy. 

Our wedding was also VERY laid back. Like, everything went by so fast that day and we left the venue around 9. Then I tried to stuff my face with pizza before passing out because I'd barely eaten that whole week. 

All in all though, we had a great time and I'm glad we had a wedding; since I've always viewed weddings as a waste of time and money.

 

 

 

It was also really nice to see my folks again. It had been way too long. I was a little startled and sad to see how much they had aged since I'd been gone. I'll definitely make an effort to come home at the end of the year.


So yeah! That's basically the big things I feel like sharing since I've been gone.
Onto the present!

It's been so long since I've sewn anything. But I plan on diving into some projects tonight. I have all my materials cut and ready to go.

If any of you sew I would HIGHLY recommend any book from Choly Knight.
My etsy shop's stock wouldn't have happened if not for her patterns. I know how to hand sew fairly well but I was able to teach myself how to work a sewing machine and make cute things with the help of her book Sew Kawaii.

 I've made most of the patterns in here already, but I'm still going through and completing some projects from here when I have the time.

This is going to be my next little sewing project. I've actually made the onigiri previously, but I sold them at an anime convention last spring so I'd like to make a couple more for myself to just keep and also to possibly take pictures of for my shop.

These are the ones I made last year. They actually sold really fast, but I'm not surprised. I mean how cute is this shit?

For the bunny and the kitty blobs, I'll be doing the mouths slightly different and probably adding cheek blush but other than that I'll be sticking to the pattern. I'm also debating putting a bow on one of them but I'll see how that goes.

I've been busy in the kitchen as well. Although, that's probably the most enjoyable parts of my weekend. Cooking and baking are just such calming activities. Not to mention tasty af.

Typically, every week I try out a new recipe or two. Then I save them and transfer them to a document to print out. I have a binder with desserts/bread and one for regular meals filled with all the shit I've tested and tried. It's good to have something available like that so you actually know whether a recipe is garbage or not.

This week I made beef stroganoff.
It was pretty good. I totes forgot to add the sour cream towards the end but I don't think I would have really missed it.

And I also made a plain orange cake.
Which is actually quite good. Definitely a keeper recipe for any layer cake I'd like to make in the future that highlights citrus.

OH
Before I forget. Did I mention I have this super awesome bestie who is also a most fabulous artist?

This was her wedding gift to us. She definitely put all of her feels into this one. It's pretty much the perfect picture to describe us and I love it so much.
I can't wait to have it framed and hung.



I'll be back next week with more things!

Getting in touch with my inner Wee-aboo

Evening all you lovely internet dwellers.

It has been a tad too long since my last post and I apologize.
A few great things happened.

My sister and fellow blogger flew out to visit me.
Had a staycation and went on an awesome trip with my lovely friend.
Aaaaannnddd have started to earn some side cash by crafting things.

It's been quite an adventure.

While my sister was here we did some shopping (more her shopping and mine and friend's window watching) and stumbled upon this lovely beauty.
I wish I had known before that such a beautiful place existed.

I won't lie, candy is my kryptonite. So couldn't help but indulge a couple of treats for myself.
If you're a fan of Japan Land and all it's wondrous happenings and things then I'm sure you're aware of these.

I couldn't resist.
It's just too damn cute.

So me and the younger sibling set out on a magical journey of processed sugar snacks that you prepare yourself.

Unfortunately, though....

ALL OF THE DIRECTIONS ARE IN FUCKING JAPANESE.
*screams internally*

But no worries!
There's always a way around this type of obstacle.
What would I have done without the help of youtube?

It was pretty easy to find a video tutorial on how to make this stuff. Now, I'm here to help you do the same if it ever crosses your mind to do so.

So first, everything came wrapped in this little package which I cut up to prepare as like a little box but I gave that up pretty quickly.

Here's the box and it's contents unopened.

And here is all the precious cargo.

It's been a while but I believe it came with like two big bags for the "dough", two little ones for the frosting, one for the chocolate syrup, and two for cookie crumbles and sprinkles.
Also, a little spoon because you may have been fucked without one.

Here's everything all laid out. I already took the pleasure of separating the components of the tray.

So first thing is to make the "vanilla dough" using the giant yellow packet and the oval corner section. You fill the oval with water then add the powder and mix. After a certain point it's best to start mixing the "dough" with your hands.

Then you split your dough into two halves.

Next is the chocolate one using the same method. Mix, then separate.

After both "doughs" have been formed, it's now time to "mold" them. There's one for a flower-y shape and one for your standard doughnut. You have all the creative freedom, but we enjoyed trying to copy the picture on the box.

Yay! All pressed to impress.
Don't hurt me.

Sister made the bear. Which by the way, would be quite a task to actually look as good as what's on the box.

NOW IS TIME FOR FROSTING.
The small blue packet is for "vanilla frosting". You add it to one of these little tubs and add a "cup" of water. Which is this small piece on the corner of the package with a little indent to hold water.

Add the "strawberry" packet to the other side.
Add your "cup" of water and mix!

Then make your chocolate sauce using the same method as the frostings.

All nice and mixed.

Forgot to mention that the kit also comes with a tiny plastic bag to use as a pastry bag for your chocolate sauce. Simply fill the bag, twist into a corner, and snip the end.

NOW DECORATE!
FROST AND SPRINKLE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE THINGS LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.

I gotta say, these came out better than expected. I was quite impressed with our candy making abilities.

As far as taste, it was pretty different from what you would expect candy to taste like.
First off, this kit isn't exactly 'candy'. Japan went out of their way to try and make this as close to the real thing as they could.
They were both pretty accurate and off-putting at the same time. I though the smell was good but the texture was like that of old play-dough. The vanilla doughnut of course, tasted like vanilla and the chocolate was like that cheap tootsie roll flavor.
The chocolate sauce was actually quite good. Probably my favorite part. The other two frostings weren't bad either, but it was also a minor texture thing.


I really had fun with this.
I predicted so much fun that, I actually bought two.
The second was made with lovely friend.

I'm sure you can agree we did a pretty spectacular job.

Happy Hauntings

Forgive the lateness of this post.

I hope everyone had a merry all hallows eve following an even better samhain.
Just remember, not everyone who boils pots of rat's tails and bat's wings with owl toes are witches.
They just have strange tastes and are misunderstood.
No need to burn their evil, soulless bodies in the town square.

The smell is enticing though.


My halloween was actually a tad more eventful than I thought it was going to be. I figured I'd be sad panda at home binge watching episodes of something on Netflix and drinking lots of eggnog.

Most awesome friend's roomie had a party at their establishment. Of course I HAD to go since there were no other social events coming at my general direction as far as I could see.

Had to make cupcakes. Just had to. Can't do anything without a good cupcake in your life.

So I decided to whip up something from this bounded sugary delight.

And it's actually a cookbook 'trilogy'.
I haz all three.

Don't judge me.

The recipe I pulled was from their halloween section (duh) and it looked like a real easy piece.

OF COURSE it has cats. 

What else would you expect of someone suppressing their spinster cat lady urges? 

If I'm ever alone, I'll be the old woman with fifty cats hovering on and around my legs at all times as I shuffle through the house with a hairy cup of luke warm coffee. 

Ah, that's the life.

But anywho. This shall just be another decorating bit. Way too many steps to include everything.
So, the "Hello Cupcake" books are renowned for their use of canned icing and jazzed up cake mix recipes.
Nuh-uh. Not this lady. No way.
Ever since I jumped onto the scratch made and buttercream train I've missed every stop and haven't gotten off. There is NO WAY I'm going back.

The recipe calls for white cake mix and a can of vanilla frosting. *vomits*
Yeeeaaahh, no.

So, I decided (I'm not sure why) to do a devil's food cake with orange cream cheese buttercream.
The buttercream recipe taken from this little dandy here.

Okay, now after baking all of the cupcakes and letting them cool in wire racks I get my decorations going. This part takes a while.
First of all, the cupcake book gives you an outline for your sprinkled chocolate kitties. It was HUGE. Like to actually use the original template I would have to either make jumbo cupcakes or just hope to Nrygoth that the chocolate was solid enough to not break.
Looking at it, I was like, from one to even I can't.

So being the awesomeness that I am, I scanned the template, fiddled around with the color and scaled it down to print out a sheet of kitty outlines.

Tape it down onto a baking sheet or whatever is easiest for you.

Then tape a sheet of parchment paper on top.

Oh, and before I forget, these are the main objects you need for this project.

Here we have black paper liners, parchment paper, two things of black sugar and some chocolate candy melts.

Okay, so once you have your template all prepped and ready, now it's time to melt your chocolate.
Place some candy melts in a ziploc baggie.

Then microwave for about 15-20 seconds at a time. Making sure to mush it in your fingers so it gets all melty in between the microwaving intervals.

Yes, before you say anything, I know how much this looks like I had the squirty dumplings into a sandwich bag.
But believe me, it's really melted chocolate.
;)

Now press all the air out and seal. Then twist everything into one corner like so.

Cut off a very small part of the tip and begin tracing over the template. Working kitty at a time, trace the outline, then fill in, making sure to tap lightly to get rid of any air bubbles, and sprinkle on your black sugar.

Once you've made all the kitties you need, remove each gently and place onto your iced cupcake. Then pipe the little evil hallow's eve kitty eyes.

And if done correctly, you should have something similar to this!

 

I successfuly got these to the party, got super trashed, and had a fun time downtown.

Then celebrated buy buying ALL of the discount halloween candies the day after.

 Because I'm an adult.