Cookies + Re-made Rainbow Funk Necklace/Pins Set

Sho.... Today I baked some more.... :P Tried a cookie recipe from a cookie-book my mum bought. Here's the recipe :

150g butter
80g icing sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence
180g plain flour
60g almond powder
40g Hoen Kwe flour
½ tsp baking powder

1. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla essence and continue beating.


2. Fold in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to form a dough.


3. Roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters.


4. Bake cookies in a preheated oven (160ºC) for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies are nicely browned and crisp.

Cookies fresh out of the oven will have a soft center. So, they should be left to cool a little before testing their crisp-ness. If the center is still soft, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Don't bake too long, because you wouldn't want a liquorice cookie. :P

Updates on my crafty world. Well, I made a rainbow zipper necklace again yesterday. :P It's just so fun to make. :)

{Rainbow Funk Necklace/Pins Set - 12 squares}

Well, I made the necklace a little shorter than the first one, so it can be worn like a choker. Here's my lil sis modelling it :

{Caught her off-guard in this pic. I like it - she looks more like herself. :P}

{Demure! I like this pic too. But my case of shaking-hands is getting worse I see.}

The necklace is quite an attention-getter. :P Fun and funky, bright and rainbowy - I just L-O-V-E it! Pity I can't wear it - I'm just not suited for that style.

Classic Christmas Cake

Finally, yesterday, I did a spot of baking. Decided to try out the Classic Christmas Cake recipe by Sunbeam, which came in a small booklet attached to the December 2005 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine. There are all sorts of recipes for fruit cakes and puddings in this issue. :) Earlier this year, I tried out the Rum and Raisin Chocolate Pudding. It turned out absolutely fab, but was gone before I could take a photo of it. :P

Most classic christmas cakes and puddings call for a bazillion kinds of dried fruits and nuts. Well, as I really couldn't see the difference between sultanas and raisins, I cut off quite a lot from the jumble.

4 eggs
2 ½ cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
250g butter softened at room temperature
1 ½ cups soft brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla essense
1 Tbsp cinnamon powder
300g pitted prunes, chopped
300g raisins
250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup white wine or any liquer
½ cup apple cider/vinegar

1. Soak prunes and raisins in the wine and apple cider for at least one hour.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essense. Add eggs one by one and beat well.
3. Drain off excess liquid from the soaked fruits and add to the mixture. Add the chocolate too. Mix well.
4. Sift flour together with baking powder.
5. Fold in the flour mixture and cinnamon powder to the fruit mixture.
6. Pour into greased cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven (180ºC) for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a skewer 'cucuk'ed comes out clean.

Gosh...The cake is h-e-a-v-e-n. :P Super moist,rich and sweet and smells so nice! Surprisingly, it smelt like Amos' cookies when baking. :D

One thing I'd like to share. I'm strongly against dried mixed fruits people usually put in fruit cakes. Urgh!

A Kawaii Christmas in A Box

Phew...

The last few days had me going uncertain for some time.... Uncertain of the things I want to accomplish during this hols. Sales on Etsy is really going downhill. I'm truly at lost of planning how to save the situation. I did all promoting I usually did, but it seems that competition has never been this 'sengit'.

Well, sales will come when they do. I won't fret over that anymore... I hope. :P

So in the meantime, I'll just pass my time with crafting using patterns in Japanese craft books.

Yi Jie, here's the template for the meringue blob as promised. :)

Here's a tutorial in Japanese, but the pictures are quite self-explanatory. If still blur, this tutorial in English may clear some things. :) Make sure that the curved sides of the petals are always on the outside. :)

Well, yesterday, I made another set of plushes.... again. :P This is A Kawaii Christmas In A Box.

{Aren't they just keee-yooot?}

The box contains 2 gingergreadmen felt plush pin brooches, 2 teddy bear cookie felt plush pin brooches and a Christmas tree cookies felt plush garland/banner. :D Yummeh~

{Backsides really look delectabuhls...}

And I added a bonus free gift inside :

{Sweet meringue cookies}

Don't the colours remind you of the sweet mini cookies we usually had as a child? :D

I've listed it on Etsy. But I'm not getting my hopes up. T-T View it HERE. I'll love you if you take a look at it. :D Thanks so much for everyone who supported all this time. :) It makes me feel appreciated and happy. :)

Box of Sweet Treats + Usagi

Hah.... Been making some desserts lately. :D With felt that is. I've found the pleasures of making things from felt without decorating them with beads and sequins. It's quite fun actually, and the creations look so natural and real that I'm in love with the technique. :)

Thanks to the craft book I mentioned in my previous post, I wasn't bored with nothing creative to do. :) The doughnut and jam cookie patterns are from the book, but I made different versions with colour variation. The meringue cookie was my idea, but the cream blob pattern was from the book. ;)

Strawberry Jam Doughnut with Milk Chococlate Chips and Cocoa Powder

Milk Chocolate Doughnut with Dark Chocolate Sauce, White Chocolate Roasted Almond Bits

Yoghurt Doughnut with Vanilla Butter Cream and Mixed Chocolate Bits

Oreo Style Jam Cookie

Raspberry Jam Cookie

Mocha Meringue Butter Cookie

Vanilla Meringue Dark Chocolate Cookie

I just love inventing names. :D Though they're not that BOOMbastic. :P All 3 doughnuts have a silver ribbon loop sewn on and a silver key ring on each loop. The 2 jam cookies (flower shaped) are great as baby/toddler plush toys. :D And the 2 meringue cookies each have a silver string loop sewn on - you can attach keyrings, string them on necklaces or just decorate your room with them. :D

{Had fun making Kawaii~neh!'s signature 'expressionless faces'. :D}

{Closeup of the meringues. I'm beginning to have a new addiction again.}

{All of them snugly packed into a box.}

So, this box is actually a wrist watch box (mine). It's all white with a black logo in front. I've decorated it to suit our kawaii theme. ;)

{Pink is the new black. And I don't know what the heck I just said.}

{All packed and ready to deliver. :)}

You can view the listing and buy HERE.

I'm always too enthusiastic about my crafts. I get everything ready, pack them nicely in decorated packages, and wait for someone to buy them. T-T Ah.... It would be such joy to give such a beautiful box of sweets to someone I love. :D

Um.... And I tried out a Japanese bunny mochi dessert pattern. Well... It didn't turn out the way it should - the bottom part is too bulky whence it should be flat. But it looks cute from the top. :D

{Kawaii desu neh.... Usagi!}

Fruit Salad + Fruit Bowl

I didn't think there would come a time when I'd be out of ideas for crafting. T-T It seems that semester 3 had really taken its toll on me. I'm so stressed out during the 4 months that I just plonked gladly into the comforts of home thereafter, savouring the stretch of 24 hours per day to use as I wish. I've become so complacent that my mind is starting to go backwards. T-T

Well, despite that, I really want to make the most of the free time I have now. Hence the motivation to start stocking up on my Etsy shop stock. So, yesterday, I'd yet again made a set of Fruit Salad Plushie Charms which will go on sale in a moment.

Notice that I used the same background for the picture as I did the last time. It brings out the colours and looks good with the fruit. :D Well, I'm not satisfied with the colour contrast of the photo though... It can still be better. But it's quite hard to capture that perfect photo with a BenQ camera. T-T I can't wait till my dad comes back this Saturday with my Canon memory card.

You can guess I'm running out of ideas. When I started out making stuff about two years ago, creativity was not a problem. All things kawaii inspired me to create my own pretties out of scratch. But recently, I just couldn't think of anything new to make. All new ideas that pop up in my head are either in full use by a number of crafters on Etsy, or they're just too normal. T-T

So, I decided to just let my creative side rest for the time being while it recharges itself. I hope I won't be having this dull and down moment too often. T-T

Meanwhile, I went through a Japanese craft book I bought from Kinokuniya a few weeks back. I love this book a lot. :D The pictures are meant to be eaten, not looked at. XD Well, I made a few fruit plushes from the patterns in the book.

{Kiwi + Pineapple + Mandarin slices}

Kiwi is the most fun to make. :) The orange slice looks a bit not like orange because of the colour of the felt = it is too dark, with a neon tinge to it. Hmm... I don't know what to do with them... yet.

Oh... and Threadless is having its $10 sale again!!! I really want to buy some of the shirts they have. Ever since Lynn Xuan told me about Paypal's new cash withdrawal option, I've been planning to save up my balance and withdraw it for my daily expenses. But there are just sooo many things I want to buy online.... T-T What to do....

Happy Poo Friends

Yep.... These are poo. We have Little Scholar Milk Chocolate Poo, Dead-Somber Dark Chocolate Poo and Miss Burnt Treacle Poo. :D

Well, I wasn't really enthusiastic about making them at first. Why? There are just too many crafters who make these things that I feel unoriginal making them. T-T However, these are my own designs, and I'm proud of them. :)

My sis said her favourite is Little Scholar Milk Chocolate Poo. :D His overly large bulging eyes give him a scholarly look - it's as if he has glasses on. :D

Miss Burnt Treacle Poo was made using material recycled from an old unused fake leather bag. It is really sturdy and stiff, perfect for cutting out shapes and appliques.

I've made the other two poos into pin brooches while little Missy gets to be an ornament. Will be listing them on Etsy later. ;)

Little Nature + Gloomy Cloud

Sho... not much happened since my last post.... Except that my friend told me that I won some lucky draw sponsored by Air Asia. @-@ I'm not really sure because we bought our tickets together but she was the one who did the online transactions. So, she got a call from the AirAsia people saying that I got RM50k insurance.

When she told me this, I didn't know whether to believe or not. But then she said they'll be sending an email to clarify, and she'll forward the email to me. Well... I really couldn't care less. :P Insurance nia ma, right? If cash then it's a different matter lo. :D

Talking about insurance, I'm still at lost of understanding why people even bother about it. It's a waste of money, no matter how I look at it. Just keep aside extra cash in a savings account, kan dah cukup? Don't gatal tangan and go korek enough dy la. Say when you kena accident ka apa ka, then you're likely to have enough at hand to cover for the medical expenses. Dah.

Maybe I haven't been exposed to different aspects of this insurance concept, so my opinion about it is just shallow. :P

Aside that, I made these plushies yesterday. :)

Will be listing on Etsy soon. :) Listed on Etsy. Please click on the picture to view the listing and buy.

The Sampler - August 2007

Aiyo..... I only found out yesterday that I have a package from The Sampler waiting in the corner of my room. It was stuffed with AWESOME goodies!

{I hate really crappy pics}

Really sorry for the very blur mia pic. I'm using my bro's BenQ, and it's mighty difficult to manouver the settings and all. But maybe it's just that my hands are mighty shaky. T-T After I uploaded the pics, only then I realised how blur they look. T-T But I couldn't re-take the pics because in my excitement, I've torn open all the packaging. T-T

I got some really interesting stuff. :D Here's a pic of my favs :

{Green velvety monster bookmark, pink mushroom felt patch, set of 2 vintage postcards, 'I Love Yarn' pin button, cherries bottlecap magnet, strand of purple beads bracelet, 2 hair clips with felted wool and recycled rubber, and a chocolate scented soap}

If you want to see who made each of these items, or where you can get them, go here. My absolute favourite is the chocolate soap. It smells heavenly! Like raspberry chocolate. Mmm....

Yo-Yo - A New Discovery

Ok... Been missing in action for a few days... Am getting a bit lazy in updating. T.T

Since arriving home, I've been so relaxed that I did nothing else aside eating, watching TV, onlining and sleeping. T-T Already gained 2kgs in 4 days. *Help meeeee~*

Haih..... Plan la manyak-manyak to make cakes somemore..... Tak kan terjadilah I think... T-T

Ahaha... :P Well... I was hit bya new crafting-craze yesterday - Yo-Yos.

I have bags of thrifted fabric scraps lying about. So I thought hey, why not make something pretty out of them? I googled 'yoyo tutorial' and found this very helpful site on how to make a Yo-Yo.

I've seen people making these pretties all over the net - Flickr, Craftster, Etsy.... Everywhere! They're great for putting scraps to good use a.k.a recycling. They're so fun to make that I made more than 15 yesterday. T-T

However, I don't know what to do with them... apart from turning them into brooches, hair ties and hair clips. And after a search on Etsy, I found that lots of people make and sell Yo-Yo items. That makes selling a rather unprofitable decision because it means price competition. T-T Well it's hardly surprising as these pretties are really easy to make - you can whip up one in less than 10 minutes. :D

Holeeedays!!!

Yahoo!!!

Semester 3 of B1/06 is officially OVER!!! *dances around in a chicken suit*

I'm free to update my Etsy shop, go online 25 hours per day, make all the plush sushi I've been wanting to, craft out all the rainbows I've been meaning to, watch TV until I can't open my eyes, eat all the chocolate I can get my hands on and binge out on cookies and cakes and whatever guarantee-to-make-me-fat stuff I can reach.

My baking goal is : to bake at least 2 cakes per week, make at least 5 types of cookies throughout this time, try out at least 3 recipes from each recipe book I have at home and learn to make crispy swirled puff pastry. :D

Those feats sound a little impossible except for the last one. But I'm hoping to accomplish them anyway because I've been severely deprived of home-baked goodies for the whole 4 months I'm staying in KL. Nyah~

Will be flying back to Sibu tomorrow morning. :D Can't wait to reach home and give my sis a poke. :D

Can I just lie down and die?

This is what I feel now. The baru pass mia 5 days have been a nightmare. Non-stop squeezing of vast amounts of information into my brain, saturating it to more than 100%. I've never studied nor read nor tried to remember so much in such a short time.

I would very much like to say this to those people who had programmed BPharm :

YOU SAIU EH MEH?????

You bukannya tak tau, STPM took one and half years to complete. STPM got only 4 subjects :

Biology

Chemistry (Physical, Organic, Inorganic)

Mathematics

General Paper (Pengajian Am)

IMU Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) degree programme, Semester 3, got 7 subjects to be completed in 3 months :

Natural Products (Alkaloids, Fatty Acids, Steroids, Terpenes, Biosynthesis Pathways, Drugs of Abuse etc etc etc)

Drug Metabolism (Phase I : oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, Phase II : glucuronidation, sulphoconjugation, methylation, acetylation, amino acid and glutathione conjugation, factors affecting drug metab, carcinogenesis, induction/inhibition etc etc etc including all enzymes for each, formation of cofactors, formulas, most likely substituents undergoing each)

Pharmaceutics II (I can mati if describe this subject - aerosols/functions/working principles/contents/components, suppositories, homogenisers, particle size analysis/reduction, powder flow properties/angle of repose, radiopharmaceutics, compression/consolidation)

Renal System (anatomy - everything in the Marieb HAP book, diuretics - everything in the Pharmacology book, acute renal failure, chronic renal failure, all the signs and symptoms, diagnosis, clinical manifestation, pathophysiology, treatment, management)

Respiratory System (same as Renal System, including all the drugs and management steps for asthma, COPD, tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis bla bla bla)

Microbiology (all bacteria, antibacterials, viruses, antiviruses, fungi, antifungi, parasites and antiprotozoals, sterillization, disinfectants, antiseptics, presevatives)

Pharmaceutical Analysis (all forms of chromatography, UV what-what, electrophoresis - I don't even know what this is, etc etc etc)

Can you just see how they are trying to make us into the world's greatest pharmacists, yet they don't realise their BIG mistake? Trying to cram everything into only 3 months and having us suck everything up in just 3 months, whence we also had to do practicals and portfolios and PBLS? Oh, you think your students will be very good mia pharmacists is it? Good in memorising things for exams only. You ask me to tell you what I understand from any of the subjects, I pernah memorise this this this for my exam, but now I forgot already....

You ask me what I've learnt from sem 1 and sem 2, I will not be able to tell you anything at all. Nothing.

Biasanya, people take Microbiology as a course on its own. You now asking me to take it for one sem, with 3 months only to cover everything. You have a problem is it?

And now you want me to sit for your Pharmaceutical Analysis mia paper. I tak pernah have the time to even read the lectures finish through once. Not once.

I vow never to have anything to do with Pharmaceutical Analysis after I graduate. Ever.

I don't understand why I pay the amount I pay to have myself tortured this way.