pop pop pop

So anyway, I haven't posted in so long =( one reason was because I was making cards just for the blog, i.e., I hadn't had anyone in mind when I made the cards, it was a Disney Princess series. There are ten official Disney princesses and although I outlined plans for each one I ended up finalising the designs for 5 cards:

• Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
• Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
• Mulan (Mulan)
• Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

but ended up only finishing cards for Belle, Ariel and Snow White. But that can wait till next time!

In other news, during Sydney Design I attended a paper pop-up workshop at the Powerhouse Museum held by Benja Harney who is a Paper Engineer (what a cool job =D) and most recently has created a gorgeous looking pop-up book which was presented to Kylie Minogue. It was a small class with 6 participants and ran for around three hours.

We started off browsing some of the pop-up books he owned and had a chat to him about his projects. He showed us how to make paper cranes and the paper decision makers (which I had done before but he had really pretty paper and I can't resist folding some origami!)

The next step was to try some basic cuts and see how they turned out on the folded card, he had some neon pink (80s style) cardboard he found lying around and that's what we practised on.

This one was actually his, which is why it looks so good!

Great effect from the lights!

One of the samples I made with the paper crane

He then asked us to create something of our own with some coloured paper, such as a cityscape or something. I decided to try something new and my pop-up actually runs sideways with an under-the-sea theme (not, this isn't my Ariel card -_-).

We also made a doggy face and this uber cool pop-up house which we decorated with some nice paper that had holes punched into it (fitting in with this year's lace theme).

I also recommend the Love Lace exhibiton held at the Powerhouse till April next year.

And if it's still online, there is some information on the workshop I attended. There are also some great behind-the-scenes photos of the SD facebook page of his exhibition at the Object Gallery as well as the other great pieces for the event. His exhibition at the Gallery is on display until 25th September 2011.

Benja Harney's blog: Paperform

On another note, Spring is here! ^^ (Something which Thief of Sleep isn't too excited about!)

Pencil case from my old jeans XD !!!

Ahh, it's been almost a month since the previous post, my bad >.< been concentrating on Curious Chopstix but while I'm waiting for Penguin to return I can do a bit of crafting ^^ And I also figured out how to use this watermarking software XD

I've actually made a few things and gone to two card workshops since the last post, but something I just made a few days ago was this pencil case XD I thought about making a pencil case when I started going to Chinese school again because just FYI, a plastic bag is not a pencil case!!

To save sewing some stitches and to recycle...

R-E-C-Y-C-L-E recycle!!!

Very catchy song =D!!!

...I used an old pair of jeans. It meant I couldn't have the lace horizontal which was a shame but I figured something else out :)

This side is white lace and an onigiri made from felt. I also found some random iron-on swirls which I think spell out an 'H', but I somehow ironed it on a bit crooked and stitched the flower in... I actually lost the flower while moving the pencil case around but found it on my bedroom floor, as I was handsewing part of my pencil case in my room :P.

The other side is pink lace and buttons + flowers. This time I stitched it all in, which I didn't do for the diary. It makes it more stable and you don't get glue-y bits showing, but you need to space it carefully as two of my buttons are too close to one another >.<

I also gave the lace and H some extra stitching, originally the lace was only stitched at the ends!!

I added a zipper and then added a loose inner lining afterwards (I know, I know, I'm making it all backwards here!) to protect the stitching for the embellishments. Originally I was going to make the opening with velcro or buttoned... or tied with string but thought I'd better practise with zippers :).

On another note, I've finally attended an anime convention =D surprising since I was such an anime fan back then, still am in a way :) although I do have this k-drama addiction -_- And here are some of the goodies ^^

P.S. The pink and black head dress was handmade by my friend Frejya! ^^

And the Harry Potter exhibition is going to be at the Powerhouse Museum in November, so exciting!!! :) I did get to see Matthew Lewis who plays Neville Longbottom as well some objects that will be on display which will do till November :)

birthday wishes

Some cards my sister made after the workshop we went to since it inspired further craftiness from her :)

She dropped that orange piece under the table and I had to go retrieve it! >.<

I also picked this up around two weeks ago at Regent Place, it's one of those free publications you can get but this edition was really cool because it was about chocolate e.g. places to go to; chocolate and fashion; recipes; spa treatments; interesting facts and other non-chocolate stuff. On the front was a chocolate scratch-n-sniff panel, lol!!It's in both English and Chinese.

 

P.S. Please don't scratch your screen ;)

a. oryzae (Moyashimon)

image from wiki

 A friend of mine who was in her university's anime club really likes an anime called Moyashimon. I've watched the live Japanese drama version and it's quite cute. The first few episodes I found hilarious and it kept me watching, but by the end you could tell you really need to read the manga to get the full story and the drama was just made for the fans. The episodes themselves were only around 25 minutes long, similar to an anime episode.

The basic story is about a guy (Sawaki Tadayasu) entering an agricultural university and he has the ability to see and communicate with microbes. Always hanging around him are the cute a. oryzae who are yeast microbes fermented in his parent's yeast shop. He works in the lab of his grandfather's friend and meets some of the other characters through that lecture.

Caught by the professor!
This is how the world looks to Sawaki.

Sawaki's kouji

 The show is pretty educational too!

Sawaki interacting with microbes

My drawing of the a. oryzae

 I first drew the image with pencil and outlined it with a pen for stamps. The problem with this is that the rubber will cause the ink to streak. Not thinking properly, I also applied a water based spray to the image and ruined it as the ink began to run T_T.

Paper: Yellow is Bouquet Flowers Decor and Pink is Bouquest Words from heidi grace. The orginal Moyashimon uses paper from the grace taylor (contempo collection). Mouth is made from glimmery paper.
White rub-ons and pink rhinestones and pearls
Paper punches

The original drawing I used  the a. oryaze picture from the character list at bleachwiki. I drew it myself instead of tracing it (which is what I usually do), though it was quite an easy design XD.

Moyashimon Official Site
Moyashimon Anime is subbed by: BSSubs.net
Moyashimon Drama is subbed by: Horrible Subs

he's right at home with the miso!!! ^^

lemon meringue tarts and cinnamon cookies ^^

Did some cooking over the weekend!

First I tried to make lemon meringue tarts, I cheated a bit here and used pastry tart cases I already bought. They were popped into the oven for about 10 minutes and then I filled them with a lemon curd. I whipped up a meringue to put on top.

This is the lemon curd I received from the preserves cooking class I attended. It should be used within a month or so!

The meringue was two egg whites and almost 100g caster sugar. I had a meringue recipe which was 2 egg whites and 100g sugar and then a lemon meringue recipe which was two egg whites and 1 teaspoon of sugar, but since I measured it out already I ended up using more sugar. hough I've been informed that the higher sugar content would be for the hard meringues, besides, the lemon would probably give off some flavour anyway!

meringue in the used tart cases

When I baked the meringue by itself, they expanded like a souffle but lost their air quite quickly.

Lemon curd recipe from Taste.com.au

~~~

I also made some soft biscuits called Snickerdoodles, which according to my book Cookies Galore (Bellefontaine, J.) are "a soft traditional cookie, with a funny name, originating from 19th-century New England."

before being baked

I ended up using the recipe from BBC (Australian) Good Food (August 2010 issue) instead because it used 100g of butter which was easier to separate from the block!

Snickerdoodles:

100 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cups (150g)  caster sugar 

1 egg

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Coating:

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven: 200 degrees celcius or 180 degrees celcius fan

1. Beat the flour and sugar together till light and fluffy
2. Beat in the egg
3. Sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and mix well
4. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and coat in the cinnamon/sugar mix, also flatten them slightly
5. Bake 8-10 minutes till firm, cool for 5 minutes on the tray

Might have rolled them a bit too big, as it said 'walnut-sized' but they still taste nice! It's suppposed to make around 30 though I probably made around 20!

please do not eat the cupcake!

A friend of mine just flew back home to have a break and as she would be away during her birthday I thought I'd better get a present organised before she left!

As we're both getting into the baking scene, I made her a cupcake card. This card was actually inspired by another card I made at a Stampin' Up demonstration where it was a flowerpot full of flowers.

First I made the pot by tracing it on cardboard, glued that together and used it as a template to trace the cupcake (remembering to add a little tab at the top to support the cherry button). The first cupcake didn't seem to fit right, so I cut it down and it looked worse so I remade the cupcake part! I think the problem, was that the cupcake case wasn't even on both sides and I must have slipped it in the wrong way! I ended up covering both sides of the case so I put my 'handmade by...' stamp on the back of the cupcake and squeezed in a message on the front XD

This was a pretty fun card to make so I think I'll make it again, even though I normally like to make new styles but there can be a lot of versatility with the patterns chosen!

Items:

• Scrapbooking paper
• Button - I bought this in a button pack from Aldi's though I've seen similar ones in Lincraft
• Stamps - Flower stamp (no brand)

And here's some more cupcake goodness ^_^

wrapping paper from Hot Dollar

gift bag from Big W (around $2)

 I also received some books I ordered recently which is exciting ^^

Origami Jewelry

Ayako Brodek

I've wanted to get this book for a while, just because the idea of origami jewellry sounds fun XD. I have attempted paper cranes in the past with nice washi paper but didn't get to the conversion into an earring part!! The front of the book talks about how to keep the piece together, using a varnish/coat on top and also basic origami folds to get you started. Some designs inside don't look like something I'd wear like the crab and sunburst brooch but many of them are very cute and colour-coordinated pieces which I'd like to try out. A lot of them are made into a brooch and earrings. And another thing to remember is that it is usually hard to imitate books exactly without the original paper used by the author, but with so many pretty designs on the market, it's really up to you to creae your own unique twist!

Korean Cuisine

Young Sook Choi

I wanted to buy a Korean cookbook and this was the one which I decided on after going through many of the Amazon reviews, although I'm planning to get another one at a later date. After purchasing it I realised it's a few years old, printed in 2001 and you can sort of tell by the layout. I haven't made anything from it yet but there seems to be a good amount of recipes. The beginning goes through basic ingredients and sauces used in Korean cooking, my sister was browsing through it and seems like one of the sauce ingredients was a few spoons of Coca Cola, I'll have to check up on that XD. There is also a nice (yummy-looking) section on Korean BBQ! The book is actually in both English and Traditional Chinese which is pretty cool, though not sure why the Chinese is there...

~~~

I also went to see the trains for the Sydney Steam Weekend on Queen's Birthday. I didn't ride the steam train which is a shame but it was impressive to see the display train belting out steam and then chugging away back to its home in Thirlmere.

The steam train on display is maintained by the Powerhouse Museum and there were chances to visit the different carriages as well as try your hand at shovelling coal.The steam train ride is around an hour and is a round trip from Central to Clyde. I was around when the last trip of the day left and the tickets were probably sold out by half an hour beforehand from my guess.