Grelly Bean

Hi!

*singing to self (using the song Lollipop)* Grelly Bean Grelly Bean oh Grelly Grelly Grelly Grelly Bean Grelly Bean buh dum dum dum

I'm proud to post my very first, ever original no copycatting amigurumi EVER! I present to you Grell Sutcliffe from the ever popular Anime and Manga Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler



I'm very proud of him. I'm planning to make a better quality one to sell on etsy. He'll also have a pal. I'm going to make a kitty Sebastien, that's right a Sebastien Michaelis with cute little cat ears ^^

Once again your thoughts?

Kero

Hi AGAIN!

Here's a picture of one of my first amigurumi attempts. The pattern came from cutoutandkeep.net The creator's name is Saa-Chan here's the link:  http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/kerochan_amigurumi

I actually created a Suppi-Chan pattern to match him..sadly I was an idiot and didn't completely write it down, my friend actually has the prototype I gave it to her for her birthday. But I'll try again ^^ Because I know I could have done better.



Let me know what you think!

Sick Tips

So yea I've been sick since saturday, March 19th...bleh. What felt like just a head cold turned out to be a sinus infection trying to turn itself into bronchitis. Sadly missed three days of work...I know it's strange to say sadly over missing work but I like my job so ya it was sad. I did pretty much nothing but hibernate and attempt to do some crochet, ya total fail on the crochet part. But I would like to give people some ideas on how to fix yourself up when you're sick.

One:

Breathe Right strips are awesome in helping you breathe at night when you're all clogged up with mucus.

Two:

Vapor Rub is a God send

Three:

Don't be stupid, rest and sleep as much as you can.

Four:

Drink lots of fluids, although juice and sodas are great and can help make your throat feel better, water is the best way to go. Try keeping like a gallon around you all day, but to keep germs from growing in the bottle I suggest pouring the water into a cup instead of drinking directly from the jug.

Five:

Take your multi-vitamin with an extra vitamin C tablet, gotta help yourself get strong again.

Six:

Chicken soup is cliche but oh so useful, not a chicken fan? Then how about some nice alphabet soup.

Seven:

You're sick but it's no excuse to be dirty. Keep taking your warm (..not scalding hot) showers, it can help lower your temperature and help kill the germs that are on you, hey you know they're there after you blew them all out of your nose or hacked them up, don't fool yourself they're there and you know it.

Eight:

Learn that generic tissues are the same as kleenex or puffs, might as well save a few cents while you're sick right? Although if you like those vicks tissues from puffs get them I've yet to find a generic with that.

Nine:

Try not to pass it on to the other members of the household...granted I always fail at this part, as my dad says "I know you love me but please don't share EVERYTHING"...ya sorry dad ^^;

Ten:

If you have a temperature higher than 100 degrees and are just miserable seriously don't wait it out go to the doctor. Reason is you'll find out what you have, second you'll find out how to treat it, and three it'll also help you catch serious problems quickly. You don't want what seems like the simple flu to turn out to be pneumonia, no one wants hospitalized!

Eleven:

If dealing with sick children it's always safer to get them to the doctor as soon as you can.

I hope this helps some people. I know a lot of people know what to do when they're sick but since I got sick I thought it'd be a good idea to try and share some things : )

Also a few extra tips would be if you have a sore throat I would suggest gargling with warm water and some salt. Warm water and some vinegar is pretty good too, in my family we tend to use red wine vinegar. It helps soothe your throat and kill some of the germs : )

Ok, hope to get a recipe out this week for everyone...does anyone read this thing??
Bye!

Granny Square!

Hi again!

I found a picture of my first granny square where I switched colors. I'm still terrible at it hehe. The pattern came from the crochet magazine: Interweaver Crochet, it was in the 2010 winter edition. I just loved this pattern I had to try it out. My mom is trying to convince me I should make a blanket out of it. I'm not sure yet but i is tempting, maybe after a little extra practice. And yes I know I'm in my pajamas but eh, I was comfy.



Ok so for this pattern it required a size I/9 (5.5mm) crochet hook, I used one that was a bit bigger. I'm afraid to post the pattern due to copyright but I'll see if I can do that in the future. So what do you think?

Chill in the Air a Perfect Time for Soup

Hi!

Fantasma here again.  It's almost spring, I'm so excited! But sadly it's still a bit chilly at night. So lets warm up with a soup recipe ^__^ This is one I tried out the other day, it's actually quite tastey. It's called Zuppa di Ceci, yep that's right an Italian recipe, it translates to chickpea soup. Chickpeas, garbanzo beans whatever you like to call them, these little beans are just packed with fiber approximately six grams a serving (about 1/2 a cup) to be exact and are a good source of protein and zinc.

To make this dish even better is that it's cheap to make too, just gotta love that part.

You'll need:

One pound of chickpeas

One stalk celery, diced

One carrot, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped or use garlic powder 1/8 tsp

One onion, diced

Three cups of chicken broth

Salt and Pepper

Now depending on what kind of preparation you want to use, the measure of chickpeas varies. I tend to buy dry chickpeas in bags and one small bag of chickpeas is a pound and after you soak them overnight it yields approximately 5 cups. After I soak the beans I cook them in the pressure cooker with a bit of oil. My pressure cooker takes about 25 minutes for the chickpeas to cook but cooking time varies on the type you have. I know this can take a bit of time but if you want the extra healthy version it's the way to go, you won't have to deal with all the sodium that comes with the canned chickpeas. So the pressure cooker version is best if you have highblood pressure and you're watching your sodium levels. You can also use canned chickpeas though, they're just as tastey.

Now saute your vegetables and garlic until tender with some olive oil and add the 3 cups of broth. I kind of cheat with the vegetables before I saute them to make sure they're nice and soft, I put them in the microwave for a little bit. Bring the broth and vegetable mixture to a boil then add your chickpeas. Let the soup cook for twenty minutes so the flavors come together. Then let it cool for a bit.

After it's cooled down a bit, I'd say close to room temperature you then blend the soup with a blender, food processor or one of those neat immersion blenders. Then bring the soup back into the pot and bring it to the temperature you want.

This soup goes great with bread. And you can sprinkle some parmesan cheese ontop or if you want to be creative some chopped bacon pieces. Also if you want a bit of texture in your soup you can reserve some of the chickpeas to put in at the end.

I have a nice soup recipe similar to this that has black beans instead of chickpeas but that's for another day ^___^

Hope you like it!

Fantasma

Hi! Welcome to my Blog. I'm FantasmaLua, avid crafter, food lover, and searcher of ways to save a buck. In the future I'll be posting pictures of my work. I'm constantly trying out new craft ideas. My main medium is yarn crafting, knitting and crochet. I do dabble occasonally in fabric painting though. Many of my ideas will
make their way to my shop on http://www.etsy.com/  So far nothing is posted though because  I would like to get a
few items made before I actually start posting. I'd love to get people's oppinions on my stuff, maybe you
could give me ideas on how to improve too.

As a foodie I love trying out recipes from different countries, it's absolutely amazing how the fanciest looking
meals can actually be affordable to make at home. My personal favorites are Brazilian, Italian, French, and
Japanese cooking. What's yours?

I'm pretty young, well at least I think so, I'm not sure what others would call young, but to me a twenty-three
year old is young hehe. Well being out of college for about two years, I've come to terms with the fact that
money saving is key and you have to start early as possible, and lets face facts EVERY penny counts. So I'm
hoping I can help save everyone a few measily pennies with some money saving tips.

All in all that's my plans for this blog, I hope someone out there will actually like it  ^^;