Hamanaka Wool: Candy Nep, Irodori Yasai and Crayon

Here's another haul!

Candy Nep

Crayon (I only got 2 colours)

Photo credit: 1127handcrafter from Etsy

Vegetable Dye Series: Irodoi Yasai

TOP: Pumpkin, Basil

BOTTOM: Spinach, Tomato, Carrot

Photo credit: 1127handcrafter Etsy

Needle Felted Hamanaka Kit Welsh Corgi and Hamanaka Wool Candy Haul!

I made a needle felted Corgi. It took 6 hours. 6 HOURS!! It was worth it even if it didn't look like the one on the packaging.

I learned about Hamanaka Wool Candy and the Hamanaka Kits from Maqaroon's Youtube videos.

For the needle felted Welsh Corgi, I use the Hamanaka Kit from etsy shop Hallowinko. I am too embarrassed to show more photos of it!

As shown below are felting wool haul that I got from 2 etsy shops: hallowinko and 1127handcrafter. Both sellers are from Hong Kong. (Please ignore the price tags as they are in HK$)

The next 2 photos are Hamanaka Felket Needle Felting Wool. Not really worth it in my opinion BUT it helps make needle felting faster. I didn't know until I've received it (small price difference, Felket is a bit more expensive)

 

Felket is a piece of wool for needle felting. I vaguely remember one piece is only 15cm x 22cm.

More Hamanaka Wool Candy-liciousness!

Hamanaka Wool Candy Twinkle Series

Hamanaka Colored Wool Series

Shetland & Organic Wool (so soft!) 

The wool below is 1127handcrafter's own brand of short fibre wool.

The seller is nice enough to send me a sample to try and I absolutely love it! It is so much easier and a lot faster to neede felt with! I don't have to cut or pull a long sliver if I need a small amount.

Hope this post is kind of informative! :D

Needle felted kawaii kitten inspired by Hamanaka kitten kit

Here is my version of the kawaii kitten! All details are needle felted, including the eyes, mouth and whiskers!

I followed Maqaroon's instructions via her video tutorial for "Make Adorable Kittens Using a DIY Needle Felt Kit". I LOVE HER VIDEOS especially the sound of her showing and opening the packages of the Hamanaka Wool Candy and the DIY kits!! :D

Without further ado, here is my version of the kitteh!
 

 

Kawaii kitten hanging out with one of my boys! :)

Needle felted sushi and strawberries!

Needle felted sushi and strawberries!

I used Core wool for all my needle felting projects instead of cutting a styrofoam base and needle felt wool over it.

As shown below are my needle felted projects!

Sushi selection

Strawberries

 Cupcake (with REAL strawberries!)

Mini Ice Cream

My Tribest Personal Blender PB350 with Mason Jars! Pic heavy of the PB350 goodies! :o)

30th post for my 30th Birthday (last Friday)! :D

A few people told me that once I get to 30, it's downhill from there. It has already happened! I got really bad coughs from post nasal drips especially during night time and nosebleeds from severe hayfever. So I was home and watching the Nutribullet infomercial, I want one of those!! After extensive research online, I landed on the Whirlpool forum and someone suggested the Tribest personal blender. After some more extensive research, I bought myself a Tribest PB350 (because the PB350XL is sold out! Boohoo!). I purchased my Tribest PB350 from Raw Pleasure. They also sell extra cups and accessories!

It arrived today. YAY!!! :D

I have taken some photos of the products if anyone is interested in seeing kinda up-close pics of the products. I am the kind of person who likes to see pics of products that I cannot physically see at a shop. So here are the pics!

The full set of Tribest Personal Blender PB350 model with mason jars.

What you get:

• 200 watt blender base
• 1x 425ml (12oz) BPA free plastic cup
• 1x 250ml (8oz) BPA free plastic cup
• 1x 360ml Drinking mug with lid
• 1x 75ml (4oz) Mason jar with lid
• 1x 175ml (8oz) Mason jar with lid
• 1x 300ml (12oz) Mason jar with lid
• 1x Mason jar attachment
• 2x BPA free plastic cover lids
• 1x BPA free sippy cut lid
• 1x Blender attachment
• 1x Grinder attachment
• 1x Manual (with recipes!)

Here are the 2 BPA free plastic cups in sizes 250ml (80z) and 425ml (12oz). There are measurement markings on the cups. Visible when picture is enlarged.

Feels like thick durable plastic. Not flimsy at all!

Here are the 4 glass jars. The drinking mug comes with a BPA free plastic lid (360ml). 

The 3 mason jars with lids (Quilted mason jars - You can purchase them separately on eBay by searching for "quilted jars") come in sizes ~75ml (4oz), ~175ml (8oz) and ~300ml (12oz). 






To the left is the glass jars and drinking mug attachment for the blender and grinder attachment.

Then there are 2 BPA free cover lids and sippy cup cover.

The one on the left is the grinder attachment and the one on the right is the blender attachment.

Close up of blender attachment.

Close up of grinder attachment.

The backside of the blender and grinder attachments. It is made of durable rubber instead of plastic.

BPA free plastic cup attached to the grinder attachment and then placed on the blender.

Unlock: Good for pulsing

Lock: Running/Ongoing of grinding/blending

The blender! There's a little button to the right for activating the blender.











The mason jars and drinking jug attachment in action!

The grinder/blender attachment screwed onto the glass jars attachment that's screwed onto the glass jar. hehe

The grinder/blender attachment screwed onto the glass jars attachment that's screwed onto the glass jug. :D

Aaand another pic of the glass jar attachment with the blender/grinder attachment screwed onto the drinking jug.











Lastly, the manual. It also contains recipes! Yay! :D

Someone managed to poke holes through 2 boxes while on transit to me! :/

Hope these photos have helped in anyway! I have not made any drinks yet as it's 2.08am now... Don't think my husband would appreciate the noise! haha

I will try to post more photos and maybe a video of the Tribest personal blender in action very soon! :D

ENJOY!!

Insect repellent with essential oils

So summer is here in Australia. I absolutely hate spring and summer due to severe hayfever, anhidrosis and nose bleeds.

BUT that's not the reason for this post! Summer means mosquitoes, flies, and winged, unfriendly foes!

I did my research and came up with my simple mix of insect repellent with essential oils. According to the dosing instructions, 5 drops of EO to 10ml carrier (I used water):

• Rosemary essential oil
• Tea Tree essential oil
• Lavender essential oil
• Water

If you'd like to apply topically onto skin for bites, switch the water to an oil-based carrier such as jojoba (not oil-based but great for skin!) or olive oil or sweet almond oil. 

If you are confused between Essential Oils and Extracts, BUBBLE AND BEE's page have a really good explanation of both. Essential oils in my opinion are pure and more beneficial especially for the skin.

I would NOT recommend any Citrus essential oils (Orange, Lemon, Tangerine, Mandarin, Bergamot, Lime, Grapefruit, any citrusy essential oils!) to use on skin as they are phototoxic unless you are not planning to see the sun for at least 24-48 hours. There are some Citrus essential oils that some websites stated that it's safe but I do not use it altogether because I don't want to risk my skin! 

Anyway, I am sharing my super easy recipe for making a non-chemical laced insect repellent. Enjoy! :D

Photo image transfers onto canvas tutorial with Gel Medium (with pictures!)

Dear passer-by reader,

Thanks for stopping by my unfortunate, inconsistently updated blog BUT I do try!!!

For those who stops by occasionally to see what I've made, thank you! :o)

I've started playing with image transfers onto canvas and it can be quite fun despite the "finger fatigue", splits from rubbing off paper fibres and the waiting time for the gel medium to dry!

Here are a few of the canvases that I have done for my friends: 

For a friend/colleague/photographer who took this macro shot

 For a friend's/colleague's first granddaughter

 For my best friend's wall, a picture of Venice that I have forgotten to print as mirror image

As you can see, there are some bits that rubbed off due to: certain spots being rubbed to hard OR have not dried properly OR no gel medium contact OR bubbles.

Here's the brief!

Goodies that I used:

• LASER toner printed mirror-image on photocopy paper (don't waste your money on the good quality papers!) NOT INKJET
• Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium (Purchased from SeniorArt.com.au)
• Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish (Purchased from SeniorArt.com.au)
• Sponge brush/applicator (poly brush they call it)
• Canvas (Sizes entirely up to you! I use primed canvases only)
• Card (Credit card size) or bone folder (Not pictured)
• Spray bottle with clean water 
• A clean, covered work surface OR craft mat (I use the Ranger Craft Mat)
• Hands (Not pictured)
• Lots of patience! (Spiritually in the pictures! haha)

Instructions:

• Print your selected image (colour or blank&white) onto CHEAP-O-SKATE photocopy paper. Make sure it is a mirror image, especially when there are words/letters. My husband has been bugging me for weeks for a picture of our two furry children so I decided to make him one to take to work. He's a manly man but a big softie when it comes to our furry kids!
• Prep the printed image and canvas with the gel medium. I used the sponge brush to apply the gel medium onto the canvas and the medium instead of just one or the other. 

• The paper (picture below) is warped because of the moisture from the Gel Medium. Not too sure if you could see the sheen on the canvas... I applied enough to make the picture look translucent.

• Slap (not literally) the printed image side down onto the canvas

• Smooth out the paper with the credit card or the bone folder OR your fingers (I use my fingers on the paper side and credit card on the back canvas).
• Do NOT press too hard when smoothing out the paper because it will rip due to the gel medium softening the paper. Trust me. IT WILL RIP!!! Do NOT press too hard when smoothing out on the canvas backside because that will move most of the gel medium to the sides making it all lumpy and raised (if the sides have kinda dried a little bit). IT WILL BE LUMPY AND RAISED!!! 
• Gently smooth out the bubbles from centre to side with your fingers on the photocopy paper then apply a wee bit of pressure with the card/bone folder when smoothing from the backside of the canvas.
• ***DO THIS STEP AT YOUR OWN RISK!*** I learned this from the Golden brand on Youtube (may not be a great idea but I did it anyway because I'm impatient!!!) that I can leave the canvas to dry for a couple of minutes then SLOWLY peel off one corner to reveal whether the image have latched onto the canvas. If the image has been "transferred" or stuck onto the canvas, you can slowly peel back the paper DIAGONALLY. It will peel off a layer of the paper and leave another layer that's attached to the gel medium. Less paper to rub off later! ;o) 

**If the image is still on the paper, it is not ready. If you pulled part of the paper where the image is still on the peeled paper, apply a tiny dab of gel medium onto the image then slap it down onto the canvas.... then try to peel from another corner to avoid peeling the image off the canvas**

 See the layer difference after you peel off the paper from the canvas?

• THEN LEAVE IT TO DRY! I gave it a few hours to dry. I can't wait 24 hours!!! There's my patience!
• Now's the fun part but you have to be patient as well. Spray the remaining layer of paper on canvas with water. Enough to dampen until image is translucent then start rubbing the paper off. You have to repeat this process a few times because when it dries, there will still be paper fibres on there. So be patient and slowly rub them off! **Some crafters use soft sponge or rag but I prefer my fingers so I can "feel" when I have rubbed most of the fibres off**

 This was the first rub off.. May have to do this a few times to get rid of most paper fibres!

• Once you reckon that most of the fibres are off the image, let it dry then apply the Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish with the poly brush. Let it dry and apply another layer of the Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish as the final coat of protectionnnnnn.

***You may still see some paper fibres on the canvas when it dries. I tend to rub LIGHTLY (after a few wet, rub and dry sessions) until I could actually feel that no fibres will come off the picture, even if it dried with paper fibres still on it. Then I test a small area with the varnish to see if the image will come up clear. If it does, OH EXCITEMENT TO VARNISH THE WHOLE CANVAS!!!***

Done Done Done DOOOOOOONNNNNEEEEE! :o) Enjoy your proud handmade product! :o)