Monday, January 31, 2011

Sushi, if you have ovaries it's 99.9% certain you like it...

I don't know what it is about Sushi that I love so much. Maybe it's the use of foods that I normally wouldn't eat or the fact that anyone who eats it overseas is like super thin so I think it'll make me the same way.... Don't laugh, I'm already short enough.

I decided that paying $20 for some semi-professionally made Sushi was waaaaayyy to expensive and wanted to make my own. So I went to my local oriental store and bought the fixings. This was only around $10 and left me with enough leftovers for five times the servings.

It took me a while to find the correct oriental place, because apparently typing in oriental grocery store in the local restaurant brings up anything from nail salons, Wal-Mart, and nearly any culture of food not American. I decided to write down the few that actually seemed to match my search criteria and go see them. The first one was out of business. The second was Thai. I saved that one in my memory banks for a different set of dishes, but still wasn't the correct. The third one I struck gold. I walked into the store, and I'm not sure if it was because I was giggling at all the candy (I love Japanese candies) or that I was the only one in the store with Irish skin, green eyes and red/blond hair, but the lady asked me if I was wanting to make Sushi and promptly whisked me around the store to get everything that they carried for sushi. She offered me a rolling mat, but I declined. As sure as I am that this mat is well worth it, I am in no state to spend $30 on a mat. She offered me the fresh fish as well, but again I turned it down. As sure as I am that I can make sushi, I'd rather be safe and make it with precooked crabmeats, fresh veggies and cream cheese.

I got home and started in on the rice. That was the easy part. Then I added the veggies and other items to make my sushi. After that I rolled... with wax paper. I only had a little bit of it, so I had to use it sparingly, but it worked as a suitable substitute for making the sushi.
My ending product appeared as such:
I know, professional right?

After some thought and digestion I went looking for further inspiration online for sushi types and recipes that I might be able to make at home with pre-cooked or other sushi approved foods that don’t exactly need cooking.

I didn't find much but one thing caught my eye.
Sushi Crochet......

I'm in heaven.

via http://shellatin.blogspot.com/2010/06/sushi-pattern.html This young lady I was able to make this:
Sushi and crochet, who knew!
I am going to try more. Ah, and I plan on making a tutorial for how to do Sushi, that is, if there's truly an interest.

Oh, and the title of the journal? The Fiancée likes to say that I'm female and therefore I love sushi... surveying my friends, he's probably correct.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My furst Tutorial. The bunny ears!

I'm super excited today. I made my first Tutorial. Now granted this was on another webpage, but I can move it here if requested in the comments enough.

I also made a purse. A blue jean purse that will be sold on etsy, but I'm unsure as to how much I should ask for, because most of it was made from recycled stuff.

Mmmm recycling. That makes me feel a little better about rubbing the thighs out of my jeans.




See Superlong Floppy Rabbit Ears and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Friday, January 21, 2011

Running on Empty

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Okay, maybe not behind..... but now that I have that song stuck in your head I will tell you about my current projects. Then maybe you can tell why I feel like I am running non stop.

The dress:
This is my second dress ever. The first one running without a pattern. I had a few ideas and a couple of paper bags and started from there. I am absolutly in love with making this dress, but I'm unsure as to where it should be finished. or when for that matter.
The beginning of the week:

As of yesterday: Only the skirt hemming left.
 

My other process of project is cats paw fingerless gloves.
I was supposed to make a tiger for a customer... but I forgot the stripes. So I have two just orange gloves. Well one finished one and one in progress.


And two things that I finished that I'm insanely proud of:

Bear ears: they're for a beary good friend:
And then there was the angry birds hat for my fiancee... I'm happy he loves it.

And this has been my week.
Next week, more projects, this weekend, a little rest.

Handmaden Ashley

ps. Coupon code for this weeks etsy sales 5% off at my store: "NEWREADER"

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today Is Grand

I'm an excited woman. I made my first offical Etsy sale today. One of my pink earflap hats, which makes me completly estatic that someone has bought something.

Today has been mostly decoration of the Etsy shop, restocking the shop and brainstorming ideas. My housekeeping has been a bit lax as well, mostly because of the busy schedule I've had lately, so I decided to catch up on that as well.

I found a gold mine of old patterns and older fabrics that would make great things. These were all my mothers, she's given them to me because she rarely uses any of the fabric, and most of it has been in storage for a long time.

I nearly peed myself when I found old carebear patterns. These will be utalized, and I'll keep those projects up to date on this blog. I am estatic that I found these.

My Etsy shop was added to someones favorite shop as well... I think I'm slowly getting up there as a seller. I hope so anyway.

Heres to being creative!

Monday, January 17, 2011

To begin, press here.

Greetings!

Okay, that was kinda hokey.... I'm full of that so please bare with me... or is it bear with me. Either one sounds like more fun than it acutaly is. First lets start with some background!

My name is Ashley, I'm a 25 year old woman who loves to do things with my hands. Crafting specifically. I have learned to sew from my mother, to have an eye for the arts from my many teachers and taught myself to crochet after being inspired by a very happy hooker.

I can safely say that I am happy with how my life is going at this very moment. Dispite being jobless, still in school for my two year degree in Graphic Design, and having fairly few friends. Scratch that. I started school over because I want to finish, I have an etsy store, and while it's not top of the line, it's gone further to make me happy than any other job I've had. And I have friends. I love them dearly. We're all drama infested, as big groups nearly always are, but they're still mine. I have many friends.

I have suffered from a long life of confusion and being socialy awkward and I'm happy to say I've finaly found my lot in life, and the love of my life. He's what I immagined the love of my life to be, supportive, protective, loving, a little silly... in many ways, like my father. Though, my fiancee has half of my fathers vices and a quarter of my fathers income. I think this is a fair trade. We are getting married on the 21st of May this year.

And the blog, I'm making the blog to well. Make myself happy, the same reason why I make my crafts. I hope to be able to share my experiances with everyone and have questions answered when possable as well as answering questions. But for the most part, I'll share and craft, and keep my friends updated. This is for everyone, but mostly... for me.