Needle Felted Camera Keychain Reworked

Hey everyone, just a quick needle felting post! So I've launched my Etsy store, but no sales yet.  I've been checking my stats lately and I've noticed people seem to look at my other camera charm a lot.  This made me decide to mod the existing one into a key chain! What do you guys think?  I'm going to put this one up on my store tomorrow. 

Thanks for the encouragement (esp to Mr C, JessMadeThis, Paperandflair).  I'll work hard to come up with new creations once I get over this nasty flu... yuck. 

Take care,

Janet

Weekend in Seattle

Hey everyone!

 Hope you all had an awesome weekend.  We had a wonderful Sunday in downtown Seattle.  We went to the Seattle Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival at the Seattle Centre.  We saw some awesome Taiko drumming, hands on arts and crafts and ate some good food.  The drums were so loud we could hear them at Alki beach which is across a body of water from the Seattle Center. 

 

We had the chance to try hot dogs with Japanese flavors.  I think the famous one (Japadog) is originally from Vancouver... oh well... close enough lol.  Mine was pretty good with lots of bonito flakes nom nom nom :P. 

We also had to try my favorite, Takoyaki!  These are my favorite and I love them so much.  It's basically a wheat-flour based batter that is poured over a metal pan shaped as balls.  In the center there is usually a piece of octopus.  The top is usually sprinkled with seaweed, bonito flakes and takoyaki sauce. 

How did you spend the weekend? :)
 Janet

Etsy Store Grand opening & needle felting scene

 

Hey everyone! Happy Sunday, it's the weekend and I finally launched my etsy store.  Thanks for the support and please check it out and let me know what you think :)  Just click on the side link .

Take care and have an amazing weekend ^-^

Janet

Craft Project + what's for dinner?

Hey everyone,

Wow, can't believe the week is almost over.  Just 1 more day and we hit the weekend running... woo hoo. Since it wasn't raining today, I decided to make a trip to downtown Seattle.  Headed straight to the Daiso and found some awesome stuff.  I bought some craft items (double sided tape, craft puncher and an exacto knife).  I also found these piggy socks... they felt so soft and were so cute.  Haha, ok, I must admit, these were impulse buys... but you guys knew that already right? lol

Anyways, back to the post.  Mr C bought me some Japanese Washi paper for my birthday, and I didn't really know what to do with them until today! I decided to make some Washi tape as well as some heart Washi stickers! Pretty simple to make...you just need a ruler, double sided sticky tape and also a craft punch.  This was actually inspired by one of my friends, since we constantly chat about craft stuff.  Thank you A.F.

Basically you need to cut your paper into the width of your sticky tape.   I used an exacto knife, but scissors will work too. 

 

 

 Once cut, you can start to lay your paper strips onto the sticky side of your tape.   If you look at the picture below, it's easier to stick the paper from the top down, rather than side to side.  When I tried to do it side to side (going left to right), my paper strip didn't line up with the tape anymore. Urgh D: 

  

If you want heart stickers, just use a craft punch, and punch away! :) Make sure you make a clean punch or else your hearts will look like you chewed on them.  I also used a pair of small scissors to pluck the sticker away before releasing the punch.  

 There you have it! :) Washi tape, and washi hearts.

 

You can use them to seal up envelopes and on your notebooks :)

 So pretty ^-^  Now you have an excuse to buy more pretty paper! Scoreeeee :D

Before I forget, this was tonight's dinner.  Pork and eggplant.  Yummy! :D  I followed this recipe with minor changes (http://cookandbemerry.com/chinese-pork-and-eggplant-chow/) and I must admit it was really REALLY good.  The sauce was AMAZING. 

Take care everyone! 

Janet

Healthy Pad Thai & Needle Felted Hearts

Hey everyone,

Yeah it's finally Wednesday! A few more days until the weekend :)

It's time for an overdue food post!  A couple of people have asked me where my food posts were recently, and honestly I haven't made anything worthy of a post... until now!  Lately, I've been craving pad Thai! It's so delicious and hands down my favorite dish!  The downside is that it is kind of greasy in restaurants.  I love the flavor of the dish, but I'm not a fan of having to run it off after! :P

Anyways, I remember making pad thai a few years ago, and the noodles just stuck together into a ball.  Something I recently discovered was that if you pre-soak the noodles in water for around 15 minutes they hardly stick together when you cook them.  :) Yay.  I think my pad Thai came out pretty well.  Mr C said it was delicious :P  I used about 1.5 tablespoons of oil, which is a small amount compared to the restaurants.   If you want the dish to be more moist I'd probably suggest 3-4 tablespoons. (my dish was kind of dry)  On medium heat, I fried up some tofu, green onions and dried shrimp.  It's amazing how much flavor green onions and shrimp pack (yummy).  When the tofu becomes golden, add the noodles and add 1/4 cup of water to steam the noodles.  Try to stir the tofu into the noodles.  Next, add 6 tablespoon of the pad Thai sauce.  I kind of cheated and bought this at the local supermarket.  It contains tamarind paste, sugar and vinegar.  It helped make make the dish more authentic and SO tasty.  Mix the noodles well (you want everything to be coated with the sauce).  Next add 2 eggs and cook until the eggs are done! Such a quick and easy dish. :)  Just add some green onions and peanuts and serve.  

I also had some time to make watercress and pork soup, a traditional Asian soup.  Watercress is so yummy and healthy.  The most annoying part is washing the veggies though.  Try substituting the pork with chicken or veggie stock if you're not a fan of pork.  I love putting a few dumplings and edamame beans in the soup too. 

 

Lastly, I spent the afternoon working on a new needle felting project.  I've been fascinated with bows and hearts recently, so I decided to make this heart charm.

 

It's hanging on a drawstring by the window right now :) I think I might try to make larger hearts so I can decorate our room.   What do you guys think?

 

Lastly, I thought I'd post a picture of my latest craft purchase.  The Martha Stewart paper tape! :) So pretty and festive :D  Can't wait to use them

 

 Take care everyone! 

Japanese Needle Felting Book (ISBN : 9784529049719)

Hey everyone,

Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a smooth week so far.  The weather is incredible today.  Perfectly sunny.  The hallways in our building is cooler than outside.

Anyways, I spent the afternoon walking around Jo-anns (a craftstore).  They have an incredible selection of fabrics and scrapbook items.  I love browsing their fabrics and scrapbook material.  I've recently been fascinated with Washi tape, so I ended up buying some Martha Stewart ones.  Can't wait to use them soon.  I'm also really curious about making my own Washi tape.  Has anyone tried this yet? :P

Over the weekend, Mr C and I headed down to the International District in Seattle and we went to one of my favorite stores.  It's a Japanese bookstore called Kinokuriya  Not only does it sell books, but it sells Japanese stationary and cute stuffed animals.  I spent my time looking at all their craft books.  Honestly I wanted to buy every book because each and everyone is so well put together.  Their pictures are amazing.  I don't know any Japanese, but the diagrams are so nicely done that you don't need the text.  

I ended up purchasing a book which I think is pretty amazing.  It's called "ステップ式！羊毛フェルトの基礎ＢＯＯＫ" ISBN : 9784529049719 (http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/index.php/fbs003?common_param=9784529049719).  I haven't made any projects yet, but so far I think it's a great book for beginners and people with some experience.  The majority of the book is filled with colored diagrams, which I love!  It also teaches you how to make basic shapes (squares, hearts, stars) which took me awhile to figure out. I can't wait to make something!!!  In the meantime please take a look at all the interesting projects in the book.  They are incredibly cute!!!!! :3

Have any of you read any interesting books lately? I'd love to hear from you!

Take care, and have a great week!
Janet
 

Etsy store: Handmade needle felting charms and decorations

Hey everyone,

Happy Monday to all those in the West coast, and Happy Tuesday for those reading tomorrow :) Hope everything is going well.  I've been on and off blogger recently because I'm working on some exciting things.  As you all know, I've been looking into starting an Etsy store for awhile and I have some fun news! I'm going to launch my Etsy store this Saturday.  So far I have eight items ready on etsy, but I hope I can get more stuff on there soon.  

Here's a preview.  I hope you will all check it out this Saturday, and I'll be sure to post more throughout the week :)

If you guys have an etsy account, please follow me too! I'd love to make more friends. 

Here's my store's link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/janetspurpleumbrella
The shop isn't activated yet but you can surely follow me.  

Here's a sneak peak at some of the items I'll be selling! Let me know what you think :)

Needle Felted Camera Revisited

Hey everyone,

Just a quick post about a project that has been revisited.  I love modifying previous projects because it's a lot of fun finding new ways to make something really shine.  I love it when my friends re-finish different furniture pieces because they look amazing afterwards.  I'm hoping one day I'll have the space to do something big like that :) In the meantime, I'm content with re-finishing this little camera project.  I added strung a piece of nylon string and then some needle felted balls to my little camera.  What do you guys think? This is something I wish to put it in my Etsy store (once I get that up and going).  I really need your advice on the bottom piece of string though... the ones at the bottom of the camera.  Should I cut them?  Please let me know what you think :) I'd love to hear from you readers :) Please? :) <3

 

Also yesterday we had a wicked rainstorm with lighting, thunder and hail! Take a look at the window =p isn't that crazy?... Middle of April too!  Is your country experiencing crazy weather?

Needle felting Scene

Hey all,

Yay for Thursdayyyyy.  Almost the weekend :D.  Anyways, I've been playing around with my felted animals and it's been pretty fun posing them around to make cute little scenes. 

Last night after dinner, I decided that I'll focus on making more to try to improve my photography/Photoshop skills.  It will be a daily picture for you all.  I figure we all need a little injection of cuteness in our lives.  What better way to do this than representing our lives with cute animals? Right right?!?! What do you guys think? 

I'll start you guys off with this little scene.  This is a tribute to all my MLT friends back home. 

Enjoy :)

Needle felting

Hey everyone,

I've been trying to keep up with everything but sometimes you can get soooo lost in the creative process that nothing really gets done =p whoops.  I've been busy needle felting, drawing and photographing stuff.  I have to say I loveeeee taking pictures now.  I really want a macro lense eeeeek :D.

With needle felting, I've been attempting some wet needle felting.  I purchased a Japanese craft book sometime in March and it just arrived all the way from Japan! It's all about wet needle felting and I'm so excited to actually try some projects.  I haven't done anything really big yet, mainly because it's kind of messy and also.... the book is in Japanese.  I'm using Google translator, but it's been a slow process. I will definitely blog about it next time, so please be patient with me :)  If you know Japanese and can help with translations let me know! :P

I've also gotten back to sketching/drawing.  I used to love doing this when I was younger, but kind of forgot that I could draw.  The feeling of wanting to draw again actually came about when I saw a friend's sketches at work.  I remember seeing her sketches of people and I was blown away at her talent.  I loved looking at her drawings because I could feel the warmth radiating from her sketches.  They were so so life like.  I don't know if that makes any sense :P or if that sounds kind of creepy.  Probably more creepy hahaha.  Anyways, I've been practicing drawing Mr C and it's been really fun :D and sometimes kind of horrifying D: ......Horrifying because a human drawing can so easily become a monster hahahaha D:

Onto other news, I've been trying hard to work on my Etsy store! That is coming along rather slowly... I guess I'm a slow person... like a turtle.  I've been experimenting with lots of random things that might be an interest to Etsy buyers.  My mother in law actually suggested to photograph my felted animals in little cute scenes. I'm hoping I can do more of this and make little greeting cards.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

That's all for now.  Gotta make dinner soon :D  I'll leave you guys with some cute pictures :)

Take care guys,

Janet

First date

Forced Family Portrait

Part-ay Time!

Yummo- Hording all the goodies :D

Needle Felting: Mini Camera

 A BIG hello to everyone :D

Hope everyone is doing well.  I can't believe Spring is here already.  The days seem to go by too quickly these days.

Anyways, I just wanted to post about my newest needle felting project.. daaa da da... a camera.  I've been wanting to make a wool camera for awhile now, but just haven't gotten the chance.  Mr C is a camera enthusiast so I thought it would be fun way to surprise him after a long day of work. I finally did it :) Came out pretty well too, so I'm really happy.  I want to make it into a key chain, so I'll keep you guys posted on when I do.  Not entirely sure how to go about doing that though :P.... any ideas? I've tried ribbon before, but I do want it to last against keys etc.

What do you guys think of my newest creation? Any suggestions on what I should make next?  Next up on my list is a happy donut, just for Maganda. 

Wish me luck!

Take care!

<3 Janet

Zulily Purchase Review + Weekend Randomness

Hey everyone,

Just a random post today about my recent online purchase and the weekend. 

On the weekend, the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  It was basically t-shirt weather, blue skies and sunshine.  It was wonderful.  On Saturday, we went clam digging in this wonderful weather! I'm so happy I had my sunglasses as it was pretty bright on the open beach.  We didn't get the "haul" I was hoping for (the full 15 clams).  We only got 8 clams this time around... we were kind of bummed, but overall we had a fun time exploring the beach and staying active.  What happened you ask? I think it's because we tried a new location.  The new area had too many rocks and I guess the razor clams don't really live in this terrain?  I know a lot of people were very successful with catching their limit (lucky :P).  After a long walk we finally arrived at the populated area, but by then most of the clams were already caught (the ones closer to the surface) and it was very hard for us to spot any breathing holes on the surface.  We were lucky to get a few, but by then it was already 12 noon, and the sherif told us no more digging was allowed.  Booo.  Oh well, I had fun and I enjoyed that we got to hang out at the beach.  When we got home, I helped in cleaning the razor clams.  It's actually pretty gross, and every time I cut the little critters, I thought they were moving and twitching from the pain (I'm sorry!). 

Onto the next story.  I finally got my Zulily purchase this weekend (yayyy!).  I thought I'd do a review for those of you who are interested or thinking of making a purchase.  What's Zulily you ask? It's an online store that offers daily deals on things such as clothes, shoes, furniture and a lot more.  The interesting thing about it is that they have new items everyday, but they are only available for a limited time.  They also don't have a warehouse, so you'll need to wait until the sale ends as the item gets shipped from the company back to Zulily. 

A friend from work actually got me interested, and every since I've been "stalking" their site for great deals.  I think they have awesome deals, and so many styles/brands.  I've been tempted a couple of times to purchase something, but decided against it because I like to try on my clothing before purchasing.  Then they had a Kangol hat sale!  I've always wanted a Kangol hat, so I couldn't pass up this chance. lol.  I figured I needed a hat too since we'll probably be doing a lot of outdoor stuff.  The check out process was very easy and I liked how they have a Paypal option.  Basically they have 3 categories for "Active orders".  First the order is confirmed, and then I'm guessing after the sale, the items get shipped from Kangol to Zulily, and then lastly from Zulily to your house.  I purchased my hat on March 9th, and finally got it on the 30th.  Not too bad, as I was given a time frame of when I'd get my purchase.  My order was exactly as described and I was happy with it.  The one thing I'd prefer would be more pictures.  For example, a picture of the back of the hat might have been useful, as I was kind of surprised when I got my hat (there was an unexpected gray panel.. lol?). 

Overall, I think Zulily is great and I'd probably make some more future purchases.  I think if they offered free shipping that would be amazinnnnng.  I love a good deal, and I think they have a lot of interesting things to offer.  I wouldn't recommend it if you need the item right away though as it does take some time.  I also believe they are a Seattle based company, so I'm happy I can support a local business. 

Check Zulily out with this link and see see anything interests you :)
http://www.zulily.com/invite/janetpurpleumbrella

Take care,

Janet