Bunnies! 3D Bunnies! Easter!

Hi, I know..... Been too long since I last posted. Been pretty busy and my blog was on the back burner for quite a while.

Yesterday, my youngest daughter and I went to the library to return books and get more books. I wanted to get a book but nothing looked good. I didn't know what I was in the mood for. Then I came across this book:

"Kirigami Menagerie" by Hiroshi Hayakawa. It is about paper folding into animals. There are 38 animals to copy, cut and fold. I decided to do the rabbit one because, naturally, its close to Easter!
 

Inside says: "The written instructions, photographs, designs, patterns, and projects in this volume are intended for the personal use of the reader and may be reproduced for that purpose only. Any other use, especially commerical use, is forbidden under law without written permission of the copyright holder."
 

So, remember, PERSONAL USE ONLY. I don't think I am breaking any rules if I posted the SVG to this bunny pattern...? If you think I am, please let me know as soon as possible.

This SVG, you don't need any tape, glue or anything. Just fold and use your determination how you want it standing. I used tiny little piece of tape to the chest to get it to stand up.

Instructions: The long dashes means "mountain fold" the small dots means "valley fold".
And I recommend using mid-to-heavy cardstock.  I am not very good with embellishments but if you do make those, and add embellishments, I'd love to see it, and even post it here to inspire others!

Have fun! And have a great Easter!

Click here to download 3D Bunny Template

 



Valentine's Day Mantel Bunting

Dermatographism

About four weeks ago, I noticed my skin was getting very sensitive. I thought it was from winter, the dryness... But my skin didn't feel dry at all. Not one flake.  So, maybe I'm getting allergic to laundry soap? So I changed brands. Nope. That didn't work. 

Seems I get bad rash on my forearms, just after my little dog claws at me to pet him. I was hoping that I was NOT allergic to him!!!! That would break my heart!

Something doesn't seem right. Some days I would get a rash on the side of my stomach. Or right at back of my neck where the shirt collar is. Even after driving, I would get rash where the seatbelt was near my neck. 

They sometimes look like red welts. Yes, people ask me if I'm okay. (I am very pale, a true Washingtonian!) so my welts look really bad on a pale person. 

I was determined to find why I kept getting welts that itch. I started googling it up... "Rash, welts, reddish, bump, smooth..." And yikes, the pictures can become really graphic. Ewwwwww.

So I narrowed it down to "rash welts" and saw this word: "Dermatographism"

To test yourself to see if you have signs of  Dermatographism, you draw your arm lightly with a blunt point object (like a knitting needle) and if a "welt" shows up in 10 minutes, you have it. And the "welt" goes away in about an hour. No, it is not painful, just itchy. Here is the link to better information on it.

To treat it, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Antihistamines. So, I think I will get OTC ones and see if it will help. 

Here is my picture of it. I decided to draw a vine with leaves and show you guys. 

Side of stomach? Shirt tag on some shirts. Back of my neck? Another shirt tag. No wonder! I am now aware of my surrounding and hope to minimize the scratching. 

I feel another art project coming up soon....! What would you like to see on my arm? :-) 

At least I can leave reminders on my arm. "get milk! Appointment at 2:00..." :-)

Fire starter rolls from dryer lint and empty paper rolls

I hope you all had a good Christmas and a nice fresh shart (Oh my god! Did I actually type that!?!) AHEM.... and a nice fresh START to the new year?

Anyway, I had been collecting my dryer lint because I knew they were highly flammable and thought it would make a nice fire starter in actual fireplaces. Unfortunately, I do not have a "real burning fireplace" in my home. It is gas and can be turned on by a flip of a switch. B-o-r-i-n-g.

Actually, I think my hubby is the world best fire starter. He would strategically place all the kindling in a perfect tee-pee style with wads of newspaper underneath. And within few minutes, we would have a roaring hot fire. The house would get very hot that we would have to open windows just to cool off. I actually told him that in our next house we move into (years down the road), one of my demands will be having a REAL fireplace. Not just a gas one.

Back to the dryer lint... I've seen something on Pinterest about making firestarters out of dryer lint and empty paper rolls.

Step One: Fill up empty paper rolls with dryer lint. Just fill them up until they're really full.
I have an empty basket on top of my laundry shelf for this purpose. Easy to toss into.

 
















Step Two (optional): print out words "Firestarter" or use some pretty paper to wrap up the filled paper rolls. I used yellow 8.5 x 11 paper and made sure the word is dead center on the page.




Step 3: Roll paper around and stuff in roll or you could use some cotton twine to tie the ends (like a cracker). Place one or two underneath the kindling and light the ends of the paper. Enjoy your fire!

What I have been doing lately...

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. Its my laptop... it is sluggish (again!) and is having some kind of problem... I have a feeling we will have to replace it soon. I will work on saving all my precious photos and SVGs off this laptop! Eeek! This is also the reason why I haven't been creating new SVGs. (pouts!)

 

Anyway, my daughters and I have been hard at work with Christmas crafts. This year, we decided to do the cinnamon ornaments.

Here's the SIMPLE SIMPLE recipe:

 

Cinnamon Ornaments

1 cup cinnamon (Winco have great bulk section and I got two cups worth for only $1.23)

3/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup white glue (like Elmers)

 

Dump cinnamon in a big bowl, slowly add apple sauce and glue, keep mixing (may need to add more apple sauce) until it feels like it will hold like clay/play-doh. Roll out with a rolling pin, you will probably need to sprinkle more cinnamon on the clay and rolling pin to prevent from sticking.

 

Use cookie cutters, or what we did, stamps. The consistency feels like there is a lot of "fiber" but it will cut pretty clean with cookie cutters.

 

Bake at 200 degrees for about 2 hours, or just air dry for few days.

 

We used white iridescent paint (looks light purple though) to add dimension.

 

I cut out pillow boxes with Christmas cardstock on my Cricut and they fit in there beautifully.

Ready to go to my daughter's teachers, and few neighbors!

 

 

 

 

We were at the dollar store the other day and we came across this glass, and it looks like a Coke can!We just had to buy it because #1 it is made in the USA... and #2 my brother-in-law absolutely loves drinking Coke. And #3 my husband's side of the family did work at Coca-Cola plant.

 

 

 

And I have been hard at work, trying to get my Christmas cross-stitch project done BEFORE Christmas. I am about 90% done.... Whew... This will end up being about 12x12, so I will go on a hunt for a 12x12 frame (I'm pretty sure stores will carry those since some of you are avid scrapbooker and put some scrapbook pages in a frame... right? RIGHT!?).... Well, I sure hope so. :-)

 

Advent Calendar Mystery Chocolate Piece

My daughter popped this one out of her Advent Calendar (ya know, those with little itty bitty chocolates), and asked me what the heck the picture is supposed to be?

Any ideas???? It kinda looked like a skull resting in a holly nest? She thinks its a squirrel gone bad... 

I would love to hear your opinion on this! WHAT. Is. This. Picture?

Star Wars Snowflakes from Contact Paper

I cut some out on paper and I instantly realized I could use my white contact paper, so I switched to it and they look great on our wine-red dining room wall.  Totally removable. Love it!

Star Wars Snowflakes SVG

Hi,
My husband is a HUGE Star Wars fan. He would love to have these, so I will start cutting some out tomorrow and putting them on our windows. :-) Original Source is found HERE.

I did ask the original owner for permission to convert those to SVGs. He said I can do it! YaY!

So have fun!!!!

Note: The snowflakes are all in one file, you will want to "ungroup" to select the one you want cut.

Click Here to Download Star Wars Snowflakes SVG

DIY Gift Baskets

I was given a task of making gift baskets for a local deaf club in Olympia. They will raffle those off to earn money for the non-profit club. They said to keep it under budget if possible. I gladly accepted the challenge.

 

First of all, I have to admit, I LOVE DOLLAR STORES! They sure save me time and money on those. And keeping them all under budget. I went to dollar stores and Target, that's all. I scavenged around my house for extra items that I don't need but will make nice additions to the baskets. I included the "shopping" list I used for these baskets.

 

The tags, I made them all using my Cricut Expression, and the font I used on all the tags is called "Creampuff" And they are around 4 inches wide. I included the list of contents on the back of the tags.

 

As for the Movie Time Bow, I used those old 6 inch film negatives. Cool, eh?

 

Baking Time Gift Basket

Bamboo Utensils

Betty Crocker’s Sugar Cookie Mix

Big Bowl

Coasters

Double Spatula

Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters

Herbal Tea Sampler

Mug

Six-Cup Muffin Tin

Terry Dish Cloths

Terry Kitchen Towel

Terry Oven Mitt

Terry Pot Holders

Whisk

 

Car Wash Kit Gift Basket

ArmorAll Multi-Purpose Auto Cleaner

Blue Pail

Blue Shop Towels

Car Washing Soap

Flashlight (with batteries included)

Glass Cleaner

Ice Scraper

Microfiber Auto Cleaning Towel

Super Absorbent Auto Sponge

Two Sham-Wow Towels

Movie Time Gift Basket

Coca-Cola Soda Pop

Junior Mints Candy

Large Popcorn Container

Microwavable Popcorn

Plastic Popcorn Containers

Red Vines Candy

Redbox Movie Rental Codes (5 Rentals)

Skittles Candy

Sno-Caps Candy

 

Pamper Me Gift Basket

Bath & Body Works Sparking Peach Body Cream

Bath & Body Works Sparkling Peach Body Splash

Body Relaxing Jasmine Scented Bath Salt

Creamy Apple Scented Bubble Bath

Flower Soap

Mesh Sponges

Pink Bath Pillow With Suction Cups

Pink Flower Wood & Metal Basket

Pink Massaging Tool

Sweet Pea Moisturizing Hand & Body Lotion

Sweet Pea Soothing Bath Soak

Vanilla Scented Candle

Small Teddy Bear

Cross Stitching Projects

Every few years, I would get bitten by the cross stitching bug. Few weeks ago, I was digging through some of my husband's grandma crafts that she left me when she died. I discovered that she had one unfinished cross stitch project. It was of Santa Claus. She did about 85% of it but stopped. I decided to go ahead and finish it. All I had to do is stitch on the border and his presents. Found a nice frame at Michael's and put it in. I am planning on giving this to my mother-in-law so she'll have a memory of her mom doing this.

 

 

After completing this, I still wanted to do more!!! So I dug through and found this cute snowman cross stitch pattern, and a nice sage colored canvas and went to work. This was only completed in three days (small project, maybe no bigger than 4 x 4)

 

 

Satisifed, I framed it... And I'm still wanting to do more!!! Augghh. So I looked around for inspiration and found this picture online, and ordering this specific pattern will cost me a pretty penny, so I just printed it out, and went to work.

How's my progress looking so far?

Chewy Gingersnap Cookies

For the longest time, I couldn't put up a new post. I had to try fixing the blogger and finally refreshed and restarted my computer. I hope it works! Here I go...

This is one of our favorite cookies. I got the recipe from one of our former neighbors, when we lived in middle of "nowhere."  You see, my husband used to have a house on-site of a fish hatchery in Winlock, WA. It was an hour south of Olympia, and the nearest food store was half an hour drive away. We lived there for few years, and it felt like living in a country. If you're reading this, hi Brenda L.!

I loved and hated living there.

I loved it because it was so quiet and we had lots of land and wildlife. It felt so serene.

I hated it because I was too far from any shopping centers. I LIKE to browse in stores, heck, I could do that everyday, but it was not easy to do if you keep the gas prices in mind. I limited my grocery shopping to once a week or less. But if I forgot one certain item... AUGGGH...that is frustrating.

We decided to move to Olympia because we wanted to start a family. That location isn't ideal place to start a family since schools are so far away. Everything is so far away. I wanted to be able to find day cares or babysitters that are close. So we moved closer to my husband's family. 8 years later, here we are! Two daughters, a nice house in the suburbs, and family all around us. We love it here.

But I still kept this recipe! It's addicting. When I got the recipe, I looked at it and exclaimed, "BLACK GROUND PEPPER?!" But I tried it anyway.... WOWZA... I love it. SO "gingery" and have somewhat spicy flavor to it. Chewy, yummm. Everybody who tried this also wants the recipe.

 

Chewy Gingersnap Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 TBSP. diced crystallized ginger (I usually add a lot more than that!)

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp black ground pepper

1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

3/4 cup salted butter, softened (I have used margarine with no problems)

1 large egg

1/4 cup unsultered molasses

 

Directions:

In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, ground ginger, crystallized ginger, allspice and pepper. Mix well and set aside. In a large bowl, mix sugar and butter with an electric mixer set at medium speed. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg and molasses; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture and mix with a spoon until just combined. Do not over mix. Chill dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into balls; roll in sugar. Place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-11 minutes or until you see cracks forming on top (do not over bake, unless you like crunchy cookies). Take out of oven and leave on cookie sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

 

These cookies freeze well and are especially enjoyable with a cup of good coffee.

 

Any questions?

Give Thanks Bunting

Guess what? I had TIME today... I rarely get time to do some fun crafting. So, I was "thankful" for my free time today. I worked on my Thanksgiving bunting. I created the SVG for it earlier, so you can find it HERE.

 

I raided my embellishment box and found quite few "autumn" embellishments and ribbons. My daughter loved the way I made the "T" look like a tree. I didn't realize that. lol...

 

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Scared Turkey with Blank Sign SVG

Here's a quick SVG, a scared turkey holding a blank sign. You put the words on the sign yourself. "Eat Ham?"...... "Eat Tofu?"
Enjoy!

Click here to download Scared Turkey with Sign SVG

*Original Source

Googly Eyes Picture Frames

It was rainy out and my kids were bored. So I dug out some extra picture frames and craft paint and told them to go for it. They wanted to do a Halloween theme. So, both painted their frames orange and black. They saw that they had many googly eyes so they glued as many as they can on their frames! 

They loved doing this craft project and cannot wait for their halloween costume pictures to go into the frames. 

Finished project. Aren't they super cute?

Bars just like Halloween candy...

If you have a big sweet tooth like my family does... And buying Halloween Candy few weeks before Halloween is always a bad idea, make those bars!

This is RICH, sweet bars. Salty, sweet, chocolate, peanut butter, caramels, this have it all! I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, and my young daughter was able to help me with it. She layered the crackers while I made the caramel. I'd love to share this with you. These three pieces are actually our last pieces.... I will make another batch tomorrow so we will still leave the big 150 piece Halloween Candy bag alone. Yes, these are BAD but so dangerously delicious. 

(this tastes a lot more like Twix instead of Kit Kat... So I don't know why they named it that...)

Here's the recipe!

""Kitty Kat Bars" <---- Click here.