Corrine (Tales of Symphonia) – Amigurumi #36

At long last!

This is Corrine, Sheena’s first summon spirit from one of my childhood favourite games, Tales of Symphonia.

Corrine as seen in the anime

Although he has only 3 – 4 lines of VO in the English release, Corrine was a crucial part of Sheena’s character, who sacrifices himself to protect her from a an attack by the summon spirit, Volt. It is thanks to his sacrifice that Sheena overcomes her fear of failure and losing her friends, and finally forms the pact with Volt. If you can’t get your hands on a copy of the original game, you can watch the clip from the anime, which did a much better job of expressing the emotion around Corrine’s sacrifice. I highly recommend watching the full animated series, which focused on creating emotional connections to the characters, rather than just generalizing their backstories to suit the overall theme.

Corrine’s body is made using a modified version of Wolfdreamer’s Umbreon plushie. The Umbreon I made from this pattern was confused.

The tails took a lot more fiddling than anticipated. I was originally going to make a long rope, as with the pretzel plushie, and roll them up to look like curly tails. After factoring in the colour changes, I realized this would not look smooth. And so, I tweaked it… and that didn’t work, either. In the end, I went with the “pretzel” method, by making a long rope and coiling each tail into place. The hair was made using the method from a previous blog post, except I just brushed strands until they fluffed.

As you can tell from the photo, Corrine can’t stand up properly, due to the added weight of his tails. It causes him to sit on his haunches. By the time Anime North arrives, Corrine will have his bell accessory.

Today, I took Corrine to the park for a photoshoot. *cough* And to place Pokemon at the gym, now that Valor’s been kicked out *cough* #teamMystic *cough* *sneeze* Hm, I seem to have gotten allergies from the flowers.

Purple Flower

 

Paying respects

Slide

New Friend

 

For those who read the last blog, Anime North is less than 2 days away! And yes, Corrine will be attending. Look for him wandering about Vendor’s Alley, getting inspiration for future posts. If you are attending for the first time, read up my post from a few years ago about preparation, and what to expect. And yes, I will be blogging during the con, so if you have a cool handmade prop or costume, come over and say hello!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my friends, family, and of course the fans who wished me happy birthday! Yes, I moved another year closer to 30, but I don’t feel older at all. Age really does become a number after 22. In fact, I’d like to think my life is only beginning. And I hope that you, dear readers, will continue to follow me on this journey of plushies, puddings, and cuteness.

What are you looking forward to this weekend? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~

How to Make Amigurumi “Fluffy”

Figures: first new blog post, is posted over a month into the new year.

So I’ve finished Yuri!!! On Ice, started Fukigen na Mononokean, (The Morose Mononokean) and finished applications for Seneca, and Durham College. By the time you read this, a new 30 day art challenge will be underway. I guess that means we have time to make a blog post before that! Let’s kick off the new blog year with a how-to style blog. This week’s question: how does one make amigurumi “fluffy?”

You might recall the fluffy tail on Bunny. Today, we’re going to use the same method to make an entire ami fluffy.

You need:

UNASSEMBLED Amigurumi

Metal pet brush (Slicker brush)

 

First, create all the pieces you will need. I’m making a pink bunny. She shall be called Rosie. I made her using Red Heart: Super Saver yarn. Make all the pieces as you normally would. Don’t sew them together yet.

Take your slicker brush and brush all over the pieces in short strokes. I brushed about 10 times in one spot.

Hm… This didn’t working out the way I expected. Bunny’s tail looks super fluffy, like a little cotton ball. Rosie’s body, on the other hand, just looks like an ordinary ami with fuzzy hairs sticking out all over the place. She also looks a lot bigger than Bunny. Perhaps I could argue sexual dimorphism?

Here is the finished product:

“Now all he needs is a drum and sunglasses.” – Father Raichu. #dadjokes

After doing a bit of research, it turns out that the quality of your yarn, can affect the fluffiness of the ami. I used Red Heart: Super Saver for Rosie, and Patons: Astra for Bunny. Astra is a thinner weight yarn, making it more susceptible to stray fibres. It also feels nice and soft to the touch. Super Saver is a value brand yarn, best used for sturdy projects that require a lot of body.

Tips for fluffy amis:

Check the gauge of the yarn.

The gauge on the Astra yarn recommends using a 4mm (size 6/G) crochet hook. I used my trusty H hook (5 mm) which is bigger than the recommended gauge, and therefore provided a strong, yet loose stitch. Super Saver, on the other hand, has a whopping recommended size of 6 mm (size 10/J). This meant that the stitches made with the H hook would be tighter, as if they needed to be tighter.

On that note: for the last time, knitting and crochet are not the same thing.

Just because a label recommends a 5mm knitting needle, doesn’t mean that a 5mm crochet hook will produce the same result. A single knit stitch is made up of one loop, while crochet stitches are made of two loops, with an additional loop on top to secure them together. Did you know that crochet uses up 3 times as much yarn as knitting? This is why!

I may not post tutorials on this blog, but let it be known that I’ve taught my readers something new this year. *puts on professor hat*

What else shall we post in the new year? Are there any other plushies, or themed crafts you want to see? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~

In Response to the 2015 Capsule

Happy New Year, 2017!

Once again, I wrote about things that happened by the end of 2015, and had it posted on the last day of 2016. Now, let’s see what happened in 2016.

Click here to read the capsule from the end of 2014.

Greetings from 2015! Another year has come and gone. With the success of your 2014 time capsule, it’s only right to make one for this year, as well. Although this blog was written on January 3, 2016, it only encompasses the dates between December 31, 2014, and December 31, 2015. Please comment as you see fit!

K.

You can’t remember the first half of 2015 very well, since it was pretty meh. You made the decision to take a semester off school to clear your head, and in the process found a part time job to help earn your keep. Plushies have been put on hold for the most part, in favour of learning to cook new dishes from scratch. Your current signature dish is chicken “stoup,” as dubbed by Shoony this New Year’s Eve.

This is a recurring attitude for me; the year starts off slowly, something terrible occurs, but then it picks up in time to end happily. Kind of like a movie. Dunno if I’d recommend watching it.

Your cooking continues to improve, if I do say so myself! You made chicken stoup again this year, and you just might have figured out how to keep it looking creamy and white, without compromising flavour. You’re getting better at this roux business.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup, with a side of Shoony finger

The semester you spent in school was not a waste, of course! You studied Mandarin Chinese, discovered a new interest in video editing, and made a cutscene for your Demo Reel Development class. The latter is your first step towards completing your game project. That’s good! Next stop, the prototype. Expect to graduate in 2017; better late than never.

I’d like to think that school is never a waste. If you actually learn something useful, then you’ve got your money’s worth. Who wants to spend $40,000 on a piece of paper that you’ll never use? I mean, getting a fancy degree, just to sit behind a desk and fill out spreadsheets? That may be fine for some people, but what about the people who would rather work with their hands, and create things? What about the people who would rather travel abroad, volunteering their time to literally make the world a better place? There are jobs and careers out there besides doctor, lawyer, and accountant. In fact, I’ll leave this here for you, and anyone else who needs to see it. (Source: Facebook)

Sadly, this year was not a good year for your game project. During the first half of the year, you lost sight of this goal. Your passion for game development waned, and suddenly all you ever did was go to class, and work your job. (The latter of which you began to resent, as well) It wasn’t until October, that you regained passion enough to at least redraw your webcomic. Let the cringey old stuff remain lost to the depths of the internet forever.

Your first Anime North was great! You went with your birthday buddy, and you cosplayed Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sadly you didn’t stay long, due to exhaustion, and the fact that your cosplay was derpy at best. Assuming you do return this year, you were considering cosplaying either Sheena from Tales of Symphonia, or Oliver from Ni no Kuni. Hopefully, you’ll run into more people you know.

You didn’t attend Anime North this year. You simply forgot it was happening! XD; Sigh. I don’t think you’ll ever get used to this “adulting” thing. There are plans to attend this year, hopefully with the newlywedded Kitty and Bear. 😀

Tay moved away this year, but you still say hello now and then. You two spent a day together in the summer, and you sent him a Sadaharu plushie after he moved. Thanks to him, you got back into anime, and even found a couple new series to watch. Don’t forget, once he gets his own place, he owes you a sweet snack! Ginger is still as adorable as always, and you continue to pray for his good health. As a matter of fact, you were talking to him moments ago! Conversely, you haven’t spoken to East much since he graduated this year. He’s keeping busy busy, working on everything and stopping for nothing. Whatever that means.

You haven’t spoken to Tay much this year, if at all. He still owes you that snack, of course! And you’ve stayed into anime, thanks to your new friend Cassie. ^_^ As of writing this response, you’ve just watched the first two episodes of Yuri on Ice. It’s pretty good! You could’ve stood to watch a lot more anime this year, but you watched a lot of Doctor Who, which is just as good. 😀

Ginger continues to be adorable, and by the grace of God he is well again. Or at least, as well as he could possibly get. He was there for you during a particularly difficult time, which we will discuss later.

Aburr is doing well, too. Thanks to his suggestion, you can now eat all the creme brulee and real-cream ice cream you want, and not get those horrendous gassy episodes. *pause here to let Shoonie sing her famous song* XD; You got to hang out with him in person twice this year, which is more than you can say for Ginger. ( ; w ; ) Gingy! If you’re reading this, come playyyy!

As far as the blog and crafts go, you entered and won a couple contests on DeviantArt, and you may have earned some fans among Shoony’s friends. You succeeded in making two more giant plushies: Kirby, and a Master Ball. This year was focused on crafts, particularly sewing and decorative desserts. If anything, you’ll make a good housewife, right? Ha! Ha! Ha!

You didn’t enter many plushie contests this year; not many took place that really piqued your interest. You did, however, become more familiar with beading. Your first “profesh” project was a pair of earrings shaped like Muffet from Undertale. You’ve also decided to leave the fancy dessert deco to Shoonie: Just look at the cake she made for Christmas this year! Sigh… can you believe she’s graduating high school in the coming year? Seems only yesterday, that she was a little ball of energy running around. ;w;

*heavy breathing*

As for being a housewife, to quote you at Top Hat’s place earlier this year, “NO HATCHING EGGS YET, NO!!!”

Speaking of which, you met someone very special this year. We’ll call him M. You met him while visiting Top Hat, and your first words to M were, “hi! Do you taste good? :3” He likes Magic: The Gathering, Doctor Who, cheese, and eating pasta raw. His personality can be described as quirky, silly, nerdy, and cute. He’s also quite keen on you learning to play Magic.

You two had your first official date on July 29, first kiss on August 8, and became “official” on September 1. That means as of writing this blog, you’ve been official for 4 months. Not to mention, he’s convinced you to start watching Doctor Who! Kitty and Brandon seem to like him, as well. This Christmas, you rode the VIA rail train for the first time, and had an “actual” Christmas dinner with his family. (The kids’ table is a thing! People really do bake stuffing inside the turkey! You thought these things only happened on TV!) Maybe things can work, maybe you can make it to an anniversary…
I really didn’t want to get my hopes up by asking this, since we know how things can come crashing down at a moment’s notice: are you two still together? It would be really nice if you are. If not, well like I said last year, you’re hottest at 25, so he’s totally missing out.

You and M didn’t last very long in the end. Yet you’ve managed to maintain friendly contact, which I think is a sign of maturity. Besides, you’ve found someone else. Someone who encourages your creative hobbies, and helped you get back into interests you completely forgot about. And who’da thought that person was right there all along…

Now, it’s time for a checklist of goals, and things I’m looking forward to in the coming year:

1. Game: Making a playable prototype.
2. Animation: lots more of it.
3. School: finally passing “that course.”
4. NaNoWriMo: actually complete it this time.
5. Plushies: complete at least one per month, even if it’s just a small thing, or not even my own pattern.
6. M: our first anniversary.
7. Friends: Introducing more of them to M, and attending Kitty’s wedding! =O
8. Anime North: attending for the second time.

Well, 2016 Pika? How’d we do? What do you think of your 2015 self? Comment in your next response!

Sigh. What a depressing list. I’ve only completed…1? Maybe 2 of the things on the list? Let’s see how many plushies we’ve made this year:

Napstablook (March 12, 2016)

Umbreon (September 17, 2016)

Korilakkuma (September 25, 2016)

Strawberries (October 2, 2016)

Bunny (December 18, 2016)

That’s 5/12 plushies. Yeah…um… I’ve completed 1 thing, on the list of 8.

No. I don’t want you to think for a second, that 2016 was a waste.

Recently, you were playing Pokemon: Sun, and you caught a Skarmory at long last. Genius that you are, you didn’t bother plugging in, and your battery ran out before you remembered to save. But when you booted up the game again, you caught a shiny Minior, and you caught a Skarmory much easier. Sure you failed the first time, but that just made you further appreciate the good things that happened in its place.

Sure, you didn’t work on a game prototype or animation, but that just left you with more time to get back into drawing.

Sure, you didn’t finish NaNoWriMo, but you wrote 10,000 words. That’s at least 10,000 more than you wrote last year!

Sure, you didn’t make a plushie a month, but that gave you time to make other cool blog posts. You got back into pixel art, and have since found other uses for it. And the plushies you did make were special:

Napstablook went to Dan, as a spirit animal. You were used to seeing him as a sulky, antisocial guy. So it was a treat to see him swoon over “Blookie~”

Umbreon went with you to your first FanExpo. Here, you met Kitty’s friend Amy, saw Charles Martinet and Alex Kingston in person, chatted with a fellow “kawaii krafter,” and bought your first poster after 10+ years. Not to mention, Umbreon had a grand time finding itself. Literally.

Korilakkuma finally exists! Now Rilakkuma is not lonely, and he doesn’t crash into walls with his eyes closed anymore. The two of them together, symbolizes Kitty and Bear’s wedding, and the other, very special event that occurred that same weekend. :3

And the strawberries! The chocolate covered strawberry might be one of your most popular plushies to date. You made this while your house was the fullest it’s ever been.

Bunny was your latest, and most special ami this year.

And sure, you didn’t last with M. But if you were still with M, you wouldn’t have had a chance with the Mad Hatter. You wouldn’t have noticed that he had blue eyes. You wouldn’t have gotten to meet his wonderful family. And you would never have been able to learn proper beading techniques, travel on your own for more than one night, or become a cat mediator.

Kitty on the right was ripping threads out of my pants. ;w;

So if anything else, the resolution this year is to appreciate the good things that spring from bad things. Just as ripe, fresh vegetables thrive in gardens filled with manure, so too must we endure the bad, if we want to enjoy the good. At least, that’s what I believe.

This year, I’m going to write down, or at least printing out goals. I find it’s easier, and a lot more motivational to have a tangible checklist. Now, on to writing the time capsule for January 1 – December 31, 2016.

Have you stuck to any resolutions from 2016? Have you made resolutions for 2017? Comment below!

Pika, happy new year~

Doctor Who TARDIS Min-Finity Scarf – DIY #6

Now you, too, can time travel in style!

While perusing Facebook, I happened upon patterns for “shoulder cozies.” These are the perfect accessories for Canada’s fall/winter clash. Some days it’s hot, some days it’s cold, some days it’s rainy, other days it’s windy. One thing remains constant: no one knows what to wear each day, and as a result people are getting sick. I’ve already got TARDIS booties to protect my feet, so why not have a cozy to match? I keep this in my work bag, so if we’re beset by a surprise snowfall, I’m prepared.

This cozy turned out a lot bigger than expected. So big, in fact, that I can’t get it all in a single frame. x_x Perhaps I misjudged the necessary gauge and pattern stitches, because the TARDIS motifs are more visible from the back, than they are from the front.

Front

Back

For a while now, I’ve associated myself with Amy Pond, the girl who waited. I’ve spent a lot of time waiting, as well. I waited for M to come home, so we could watch the season 6 finale together. I waited with anticipation on the Megabus, to go to Top Hat’s house. I waited until now, and still haven’t watched the season 7 finales, even though M is “busy.” I think what kept Amy waiting was hope: hope that there was something better in store if she waited. And indeed, there were better things in store. But when the Doctor returned, Amy was older, and really upset with him for making her wait. I don’t think anyone should wait 12 years for something great to happen.Within a year’s time, so much can change. After 12 years, you may not even want that thing you waited so long for. Heck, after 12 months, you can change so much. But I’m sure a little patience never hurt. If you must wait, at least find something fun to do in the mean time.

There was another contest on deviantART this past month, the theme simply being “make a scarf.” This failed shoulder cozy can be both a scarf, hood, shawl, and cozy. It is called a min-finity scarf, because it is shorter than a regular infinity scarf. I personally would have preferred it to be longer, so as to fit more comfortably. Though it didn’t win any place in the contest, the mini-finity scarf did receive quite a few likes, and I now have something cozy to wear. Perhaps the best things in life, are created from accidents and failures?

Three ways to wear. Left to Right: scarf, shawl, hood

And yes, those are the 10th and 11th Doctors on my shirt. The 9th and 12th are hidden by the scarf.

That’s all I have to say about this scarf. Here, have a relevant Family Guy clip. I don’t remember the last time I laughed this hard at one of their jokes. (On my own, anyway ^_^; ) I looked it up and yes, that is David Tennant providing the voice for the Doctor. I guess the TARDIS is smellier on the inside? Don’t worry, this scarf will be aired out. 😀

It’s nice to actually do some needlework this week. I do have another ami ready, but it’s a secret. What could it be? Tune in December 17 to find out!

Are you keeping warm? Which is your favourite Doctor? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~

Getting Back in the Habit: Drawing Challenge Day 1

For the Shoonie and Top Hat who still read this blog, you will know that I turned 25 at the end of May this year. Which means this blog has been active for two years.

Make that a year and 9 months. Yuck! I don’t like being an adult; all you do is go to work, and even on your days off, you struggle to wrangle your friends together for some relief.

I’m not going to make any more excuses as to why there haven’t been any new posts. So instead I will find excuses to make more posts. Let’s go back to the creative roots where it all began: with drawing.

I used to draw all the time… and then I got a laptop. Sigh. Top Hat suggested I try an art challenge to get back in the swing of things. You’ve likely seen 30 day fitness challenges floating around the internet: the end result is to have toned muscles, reduced body fat, and a general improved state of well being by the end of day 30. But why should big butts and toned abs have all the fun? There are all kinds of challenges, from reading and writing, to daily puzzles, and of course exercising. If you miss one day, don’t worry. Just pick up from where you left off, and continue.

I picked this drawing challenge because it had the cutest mascot in the corner. If you’d like to try out the challenge for yourself, here is a link to where I found it.

One way to get things done is to break it up into smaller, more manageable tasks. This drawing challenge is nice, because it encourages you to simply draw one thing per day. And it doesn’t have to be good… but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be good, na’am saying?

For the next few blogs, I’d like to talk about these 30 day challenge drawings. I chose the things for a reason, and hope you will enjoy reading about them.

 

Entry #1 – Yourself

deviantArt: http://pikainabag.deviantart.com/art/30-Day-Art-Challenge-Day-1-Yourself-621115925

So what to say about this self-portrait? How about, “this is the first thing I’ve drawn in ages.” You might recall the derpy little avatar I’ve drawn in other posts, but this time I drew it using pencils and ink, not the tablet. This is due to the fact that my tablet (which still works beautifully, despite being over 6 years old) cannot be installed on my new laptop. And so, I took out the huge box of coloured pencils I bought from Staples (so you know these things are even older than the tablet) and coloured the drawing myself. Sadly, I might not be able to get Photoshop and my tablet installed on this laptop. As one classmate said, “CDs?! What is this, 2010?”

Sigh. It’s a bit disappointing to see my drawing skills haven’t really improved since high school. Then again, that was the last time I truly sat down and drew for fun. I also cropped the feet, because how do I feet? I also tried colouring, but something just always feels wrong about the way I shade. I mean, it doesn’t look right. Perhaps it’s time I looked up Prisma colour tutorials.

This challenge is going a lot slower than expected. But I’d like to think it’s at least breaking out of the rut. Hey, there’s a post this week, isn’t there?

It appears that the knitting and crochet clubs on dA have been quiet, as well. But with recent events, they are back in business and have an appropriate contest going on! Here’s to hoping we can get in an entry!

What do you think should be the contest entry? What do you think day 2 holds? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~

Dango – Dessert Days #7

Dango, dango, dango, dango, dango daikazoku~

That was strange… I was sure I scheduled this blog to post on April 2. Yet when I came to check on the blog, there it was, posted March 26! Let’s all pretend that never happened, shall we?

You probably recognize these little dumplings from various anime shows. These colourful ones are called hanami dango, because they are the same colours as freshly bloomed flowers. (Hana = flower)

I remember an old episode of Pokemon, where they were eating “muskrat meatballs.” Those were actually dango. And by the way, the “donuts” were actually onigiri. (Rice balls) Regardless, I’ve since been partial to meat stuff on sticks. Chicken satay with peanut sauce, GET IN MAH BELLEH. Perhaps one day, I will make a ball-on-stick themed dinner.

We’re going to try making mitarashi dango. That’s just plain dango with sweet soy sauce. I used runnyrunny999’s recipe.

First, let’s make the dough for the dumplings. I’m using glutinous rice flour. It smells and tastes like rice. I added a teaspoon of sugar, since I hear dango is rather tasteless on its own.

Eww, they weren’t kidding when they said “glutinous,” this stuff is sticky like crazy! It’s important to follow Runny’s advice about wetting your hands and surfaces with water. He described the texture as being, “like an earlobe.” Touch your earlobe; your dough should feel exactly like that. My earlobes feels like there are holes in them. Oh wait, there are.

Since this is just a test, we won’t use colouring right away. We’ll just make plain dumplings.

Nine dumplings and one loner

This was a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. The flour is very sticky, and takes a long time to come together. Warning: only start using your hands once you’re 100% sure there isn’t much left stuck to the bowl.

I got lazy and instead of steaming the dough, I formed the balls (made about 10) and dropped them into boiling water. This process was similar to bubble tea tapioca prep: once they float, leave them in for a bit, and then scoop ’em out. Cooked dango will feel denser than uncooked dango, and they will be slimy and squishy to the touch.

At first, I was doubtful that this would work. When I put one (the loner) onto a skewer, it drooped almost immediately, and the texture felt like squishy, sticky pudding. It turns out that if you leave them to cool a little longer, they solidify and keep their shape much better. Also, they became sticky to the touch, so I patted them dry and dusted them with a little more rice flour. The mitarashi sauce was just a matter of tossing everything in a saucepan, so I won’t add pictures here.

Final result:

Not bad, but could’ve been better. I patted them with a little extra rice flour, to keep them from sticking to the plate.

Guess what happened yesterday? SHOONIE’S BIRTHDAY! She is grown up big. :3 Since last weekend was Easter, I made a fresh batch of hanami dango, this time using tofu instead of water.

This dough was a lot easier to work with, and wasn’t as sticky compared to the flour + water dough. And hello, it actually formed a solid dough!

 

Divide your dango into equal thirds. Colour one third pink, and another third green. Most recipes suggest using matcha to colour the green mochi. Runny used carrot and spinach. (Not exactly what I think of when I hear, “sweets.” Except maybe the carrot, because carrot cake is awesome) I’m going to cheat here, and just use food colouring. (0’x’o) You can probably tell that I miscalculated the amounts a little bit. I ended up with a lot of pink dumplings, and not enough white.

Anyway, boil the dumplings as you did before, let them cool, and you’re done! If your colours aren’t uniform, don’t worry: they brighten and even out during cooking.

 

I wasn’t sure if Shoonie would like the mitarashi sauce, so I also packed chocolate sauce for dipping.

Stick ’em onto skewers, and you’re done! Serve dango as dessert, with various other delicacies. They go especially well with green apple jolly rancher jello!

Happy (Belated) Easter!

Final verdict: *squeaky voice* oishiiiiii~ I love the way it squishes and squashes!

Plain dango doesn’t have much flavour. However, the chewy texture reminds me of the mochi ice creams they used to sell at T&T. (Now closed) This gives me a good idea for a summer DIY…

The mitarashi sauce is sweet and salty. It reminds me of the chocolate covered potato chips we bought in PEI. Yummmm~ But I think I added too much sugar. As I’ve said before, if you don’t like the mitarashi sauce, you can also use chocolate sauce. After all, you can’t have Easter without chocolate!

And for a special treat, try eating the dango while it’s still steaming hot! 😀

…

…

April fools. *eeeee* Do not eat dango while it’s still steaming hot! It is very soft at this stage, and needs time to harden. It feels gross, like you’re eating a hot ball of flour. ;w;

Storage verdict: dango will keep in the fridge for a maximum of two days. Reheat in the microwave in 5 second bursts, if necessary.

And this ends the dessert days blog. If you’re reading this, happy belated birthday Shoonington, and may your year be filled with shoons and tasty snackies! ❤ *hug*

What did you eat for Easter? Did you prank anyone yesterday? What do you do for your cousins on their birthday? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~

*DO NOT CLICK OR POST BEFORE DECEMBER 30, 2015*

I’ve decided to make a mini time capsule for this coming year. These are questions for myself, a year from now.

 

Hey, hi, hello, how are ya?

Today is December 30, 2014. This is the year you started blogging and opened your Etsy shop. As a result, you made about $200. That’s twice as much as you would’ve made just selling in person!

For the year 2015, here are our goals:

1. Earn $1000 in total sales.

2. Be at least halfway finished the personal game project.

3. Be ready to graduate in 2016.

2015 is now over. Did we reach our goals?

 

—More Questions—

Are you even still updating this blog? What have you made this year? PICS NAO PLZ

You did pass everything this year, right? If not, well… FML

Do you have an actual job now? Besides plushies, of course.

How’s your personal project coming along? Please tell me you’ve actually started… I want all the details!

Are you still writing stories? If not, KEEP WRITING FOO!

When was the last time you saw/spoke to East? Tay? Ginger? Alburr? Any of your UOIT buddies who have gone before you? If you didn’t have contact within the past 4 months, GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM NOW!

Did you ever talk to Squirt again? How about Tommy? If both answers are no, oh well.

How’s Kitty? Do they have a set date for his wedding to Bear? Don’t tell me they’re already married… ( – w – )

Do you have a guy?  If so, DETAILS!!! If not, don’t freak out. You don’t look your hottest until 25, right?

And that’s all I can think of right now. What other things have happened this year? Comment in your next time capsule!

Pika, happy new year~

Mini Top Hat – Amigurumi #29

Top Hat’s birthday was last week. Since I was going to Oshawa (Peck Peck: “–T!”) that week, I made him this little present: a hat for his sheep.

This hat was quick and easy to make. I had to change up how I usually work the shaping: instead of stitching through both loops, I worked through the bars. This gives the hat its cylindrical shape, rather than a rounded shape.

As the name implies, Top Hat is known for the top hat he always wears. He’s also known for his sheep plushies. (Peck Peck: “Ewww, that sheep’s so creepy looking!”)

Actually, Top Hat introduced me to M. I went to visit him one day, (with Huggie Buddy’s permission, of course) and it just so happened that his cute roommate joined us in the fun. Top Hat made us bacon, and French toast with cinnamon and maple syrup. We played board games, and watched Galaxy Quest. When I was leaving, M looked sad. I gave them both hugs, and stayed an extra 15 minutes chatting with them at the door.

This top hat inspired me to make additional sheepie hats. How about a fez, and matching bowtie?

And best of all, the hats are not just for sheep.

What other hats would you like to see? Have you tried making hats for your plushies? Comment below!

Pika, so happy ~

A Delicious Week

This week hasn’t been very plush. But at least I finished this Deku for Shoonie’s friend:

I think he looks like a pineapple head.

Someone once said, “The key to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” I can confirm that the same holds true for women. Food happened quite a lot this week. Yesterday was “National Cheese Pizza Day” in the US. I’m not American, so this week I celebrated “Crazy and Nommy and Deliciously Awesome Entrées and Treats Day… S.” Or, “CANADA EATS” for short.

Let’s start this celebration party with a recipe: Ponyo ramen noodles. Here is a step-by-step picture guide for making ramen noodles just like Sosuke’s mother made in the movie, Ponyo.

Step 1: Place noodles in a bowl.

Step 2: Pour boiling water over the noodles.

Step 3: Cover with a plate, close your eyes, and set a timer for exactly 3 minutes. No peeking!

Step 4: When time is up, open your eyes, remove the plate, and enjoy!

You can also make this in a mug. Just break the Noodles to fit, and cut smaller sized toppings.

Now let’s talk about simple foods made better.

Homemade bread is great, and even better when it’s rainbow colours! I only used four colours, because colouring the dough is a very messy and time consuming process. M made sandwiches for us using the bread. You know he’s a keeper when he makes YOU a sandwich. XD

I made this rainbow bread using yoyomax12’s recipe. Be sure to check out her channel for more rainbows!

https://youtu.be/Z9XDwTRE1As

The night before, we went downtown to a well-received Italian restaurant. This is where I first tried legit gnocchi. I had no idea that gnocchi was supposed to be so… Soft! Unlike store bought gnocchi that are more like dense, chewy pasta, these were squishy and melted in your mouth. And best of all, I didn’t get a tummy ache from the cheese sauce! It’s such a shame I didn’t have my phone. It was such pretty looking gnocchi.

And that concludes this food blog. Am I a foodie yet? No? Oh well, I still got to eat delicious food.

What’s next on the menu? Comment below!

Pika, so happy ~

Cupcakes For Two? – Dessert Days #3

You might notice I’ve gone ahead and changed the titles of some previous posts. Yes, I have a  section of dessert recipes. This one will simply involve me trying out different recipes from around the web. And they’re mostly sweets. I felt my blog wasn’t cute enough without cute snacks.

It was mi madre’s (my mum’s) birthday this week, so I figured I would try out this recipe. Lately we don’t have enough space to make crazy amounts of cakes. I would put this recipe on my list of go-to “fix” recipes, next to the microwave chocolate cake.

Click the name below to view the original recipe!

One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes

Before starting, the one thing that bothered me about this recipe had to be the egg whites. I’ve been told that the egg whites are the part that contain salmonella, and you must cook them thoroughly before consumption. As one of those habitual food preparation snackers, I didn’t want to get sick. >.< I did notice the ingredient list was very similar to the microwave chocolate cake recipe, except this time we will acutally use baking powder. Perhaps next time, I will add baking powder to the chocolate cake and bake it.

Anyway, I made the batter. So far so good, it looks and tastes like ordinary vanilla cake batter.

Oh wow… I thought this was TWO cupcake recipe, yet I ended up with an even four. I think it’s because I used smaller liners. You can see the extra space between the liners and the actual pan. This is fine; now we can have smaller sizes, and mi madre won’t complain she’s getting fat.

Baking time! It took about 10 minutes before these cupcakes were as baked as Squirt, that one time in Montreal. (hehehe… durg references.)

Fresh cuppies look and smell great as is! But they are still missing something…

I know! Decorations! I made them look like flowers, with centers that matched their respective cupcake liners.

Finished! So what is the final verdict?

These cupcakes were tasty and moist, and they are an excellent recipe to make as a birthday present! Still, I feel like the baking powder didn’t mix correctly since the cakes felt a bit heavy and didn’t rise as much. Are cupcakes supposed to rise more? Or am I thinking of muffins?

Either way, these were great. Maybe next time, I’ll use bigger wrappers to get them closer to their intended cupcakes for 2. I’m certainly inspired to look up more small-portion recipes for future use!

Would you/have you tried making cupcakes for 2? What other small-sized recipes have you tried? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~