Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wedding Wednesday - Silk Bridal Bouquets
I used "silk" flowers from Michaels. I figured I probably couldn't get the blue color I wanted from real flowers! Since they aren't real flowers I was able to make them all myself, months ahead of my wedding date. I was also spared the hassle of dealing with delicate flowers and finding a way to store and transport them. These bouquets could easily be tossed in a plastic bag without suffering.
After placing all of the stems together the way I wanted the bouquet to look, I wrapped them together with masking tape and then hide the tape with green floral tape. Then I cut the stems with a wire cutter (this was the difficult, time-consuming part!).
Once all of the bouquets were made I created silk wraps with pearl buttons to disguise the wire stems.
I love how they turned out! Two anniversaries later, my bouquet still looks gorgeous in a vase in my kitchen!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Cosplay Progress - Final Fantasy XIII-2 Lightning Armour 0.4
Saturday, March 26, 2011
There is such a thing as to much embossing powder
To come, a Tutorial on how to use embossing powder.
On with the story . . .
I wanted to see how CLEAR the clear embossing power really was, so i tried melting it onto one of my glass pendants. This way I could test the clarity of my picture (in my glass pendant) and see if it has become foggy or warped.
Results: Great
Well let's give a shout for Clear embossing powder because it truely is clear, it barely affected the visual appearance of my picture. There are some weird blue lines though, but that's actually from the stamping ink I used to get the powder to initially stick on. I'll need to get a different ink pad for the future. And now my glass is coated in a plastic, you can feel the texture has become different.
Ok here's the word of caution. You CAN use too much embossing powder. As I melted the embossing powder I kept adding more, so I could completely cover the entire surface in a thick coat of this stuff. Well as it kept melting and running down the side and adding more and melting and running down the side. I melted a lot of plastic. I couldn't move it while it was hot, for two reasons 1) too hot, 2) if i used any tools I'll make markings in the plastic that will be left there as it dries (like those kids who put their hand print into fresh concrete, and it's there for 30 years).
Well it cooled and hardened. And I couldn't remove it! The plastic had run onto the wood board I was working on and fused to it. ~sigh~ my tray has a random marble stuck.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Easter Cards

Cards are a great craft project for a crafting party! My friend Karen put the cupcake and chick designs together for her crafting party and then I got to make them and take them home. I love the little chick.

Little chick says "Cheep!"
Monday, March 21, 2011
Non Stick pans are Gyoza's best friend.
So first you start with boiling the dumplings. This just helps them cook throughly. Then you drain and you pan fry them with a ton of oil. Good and bad. Bad is pretty obvious, oil means fat. Oil is good because it helps create this nice sear, without it's basically cooked to burned with a 15 second window. So Oil is a create controller of browning/crisping, what we love about pan frying.
So I start frying. Ok time to flip, but what? It's stuck, no it's REALLY stuck, even though it's completely covered in oil, all lubercated and fatty, it's just stuck. Ok let's bring out the metal spoon and let's see if we can scrap. Oh crap, so I kinda get it off, but not in one piece. The seared pieces are still stuck to the pan, there is a giant rip or hole in all the dumplings. This is not the perfect gyoza. This makes me sad. No this makes me very sad. I'm almost about to cry. Ok so not THAT sad.
But I am really disspointed, and confused. Confused because last time I made them (from the same grocery store freezer pack) of dumplings they came out perfect. Rotated several times to be perfectly seared on three sides. Crispy on all sides that aren't on the bottom of the plate (where condensation softens the crisp texture.
What was the difference? THe Non stick pan? NO way. But then I tried it. I poured in a little oil and started frying. SUprisingly they got brown and crispy (thanks to the oil) and slid around the pan. Turn 2 more times. Aww perfect.
Now I need to get a bigger pan, you can only fry so many at a time in a 6 inch skillet
-smallrinilady
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Fellowship
Monday, March 14, 2011
Vintage-Style Patchwork Quilt
After cutting out the squares, I put them all in a back and randomly picked them out one at a time and arranged them in rows. Then I moved a few around to avoid having two of the same color together and to purposefully spread out the yellow and red squares.
When working on a quilt project it is important to have a space that has lots of natural light (during the day, at least!) and lots of room to spread out your fabric pieces so you can see the end result before you start sewing.
I chain-sewed all of the squares together in two, then sewed the pairs into strips and then sewed the strips together to complete the patchwork.
I chose a soft plaid fabric for the back of the quilt and sandwiched the batting between the layers. Binder clips do a great job at holding the layers together. I also did my best to line up the plaid with the seamlines between the squares. Plaid can be tricky to work with that way. Once the layers were sandwiched in place and secured, I hand-stitched the "ditch" down the center lines.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Cosplay Week #5 - Ciel in a Reconstructed Dress, Ballgown to Lolita
So here I fell in love with this, later to find out it's actually a young boy playing detective and dressing up as a girl in desguise. LOL, but the manga was still pretty good so I continued my pursuit in making this outfit.
So I made this outfit for SakuraCon 2010. This picture was taken at University of Washington when all the Sakura blossoms were in bloom.
Can you see where I'm going? Can you Can you????
Smashing my two thoughts together and this is what we get. Yay for silly thoughts.
So I ripped up my dress.
- I cut off the whole bottom off my dress and reused the ruffles.
- I pulled off the ruffles from my hoop skirt and sewed it onto a new petty skirt.
- Using the material that was cut away from my dress I made a new hat.
- Using the extra ruffles from the dress I made cuffs to wear instead of the black gloves
You might have already seen this picture from my AkiCon post back in Nov. But I'm ready to show it off at SakuraCon this year. I'm still deciding if i want to bring back the black gloves or keep working with the cuffs.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Cosplay Week #4 - Badges
I have gone through many characters in which badges were a part of their being.
1) OS-Tan. Windows Operating System Personas. Being a Microsoft Employee I know what a MS Badge looks like so I was able to duplicate it and create a MS Badge for the OS Characters. Being in the town of Microsoft, many employees recognized the badges as I walked past. Even if they didn't know what character I was, they knew I had something to do with Microsoft.


2) Misato Katsuragi from Evangelion, I create a Nerv Badge for her to use to go in and out of the Command Center. This design was pulled right out of the manga.
3) Harley Quinn in the Batman Arklam Asylum Video Game. She steals the credentials from one of the employees so she can gain access into the Asylum.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Cosplay Week #3 - Ultimate Otaku
I made a flapper dress out of the cards :) Yea I know some of you are probably pointing at me and screaming "that's not cosplay". Let's go back to the definition that had previously defined back in an earlier cosplay post. Cosplay Week #1 - Melissa Seraphy
Old definition of Cosplay: Dressing up as an anime (japanese cartoons), manga (japanese for comic book), or video character from primarily the Japanese culture
New definition of Cosplay: Dressing up as any characters or persona
Thus this is a persona cosplay

So how did I make it? (feel free to yell at me, I deserve it)
- I made a quick bag dress using stretchy material. This served as a frame
- Then a took cards from about 36 different anime and video game series and made a tab off of the trading card using scotch tape (using scotch tape means I could remove them cleanly later
- Then the hot glue (eeep, i did get some on the cards ~sniff sniff~) and glued each card onto the dress, starting from the bottom up.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Cosplay Week #2 - Cosplaying Teddy Bear
Here we have Pelly dressed up as Yuki from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (Haruhi Suzumiya). Just like any other cosplayer he's got the complete outfit including a prop (a wand) and to be ready for photo shoots at anytime so don't forget to practice your poses.

Just becareful that your partner keeps track of his prop or he might easily lose it just like you might walk off after putting down your prop
Poor Pelly lost his wand

Monday, March 7, 2011
Cosplay Week #1 - Mario Maids
This week I will be present works from previous SakuraCons. Instead of focusing on a the accuracy of a character I've decided to be more topical on cosplay enhancements and altered styles.
I may do an additional Cosplay Week after SakuraCon displaying some of my cosplays from this year. Dunno yet, see how I feel at that time. Onto today's subject
I dont remember how me and Belinda (cosplay friend) came up with the idea, but I thought it was freaking hilarious. We dressed up as female version of the Mario Brothers of Mario and Luigi (Belinda because she's taller). Lolita Maid Style!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Anime Amigurumi
Amigurumi: A Japanese craft of crocheting plushies
Her plushies are fan pieces of popular series. Here's a sample of some of her work
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wedding Wednesday - Affordable Custom Flower Baskets
Michaels also had these ivory satin flowers and I found the pearl stems in the floral department. All I had to do was twist them in place! I added a matching ivory satin ribbon to hide the twisty wire as a finishing touch.
Two baskets for two flower girls!
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