Clay Food - French Macarons

What are French Macarons? According to Wikipedia, they are a delicious pastry made of "egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar." They come in all sorts of colors too, so when you have a dozen of them, they look very pretty. I saw these at the Bastille Day Festival in NYC this summer and I decided to try and make my own! (Not to eat, of course. These are used only for decoration and charms!)

These were taken with my phone camera, which does not have flash. Sorry!



Here is my Clay Food workshop. As you can see I am using regular products, not fancy schmancy tools to make these items. For example, the pen is used as a rolling pin; the paper clip is used to give the macarons its rugged edges; the cap of the toothpaste is used to get the circular shape for the macarons. All you need are your hands to sculpt, clay for materials, and a plastic surface, otherwise everything will stick to your desk!

October Updates on Crafts

Hello Crafty and All That readers!

I am busy working on a craft- it's a rather complex project, with several pieces, to make a toy. I can't reveal what it is exactly but I can say that it will have three donut shaped items and is extremely adorable and suitable for babies! :)

Will update with some pictures soon.

Amigurumi Carrots for Yes to Carrots

Yes, I made all of these carrots and even more! Inspired by cute and crafty things I have found on the internet, I decided I would make these as treats for my Yes to Carrots House Party.

Enjoy!

I apologize for not being so crafty lately. I promise I will have a good holiday craft ready.. or maybe even one for Halloween/Thanksgiving, if I have time.

In the meantime, I have a ton of products I am excited to try and review for my Beauty and All That blog!

Stay tuned!

Amigirumi Project #3: Donuts

So my third project amigirumi project is to create donuts. Again, I found the pattern from Joann.com, and it was very simple to make. (I believe my crochet skills are vastly improving.) I am, of course, crocheting more carrots in between starting new projects. My first donut is this blue one. I have since, made a couple more yellow ones. You can see what it looks like without the stuffing. The shape of a donut is similar to the bowl-shape of the carrot tops and the pig's body.

I am still working on the "frosting."


My first blue donut.


The yellow donut shell


The yellow donut shell (again)


The materials used to stuff the donut- cotton balls and a plastic needle thread to sew the inside.



My completed yellow donut! Enjoy!

Next project: More clay foods..

Amigurumi Project #2: Carrots

In order to prepare for an upcoming surprise for my other blog, Beauty and All That, I am making amigirumi carrots! They are adorable mini sized carrots (found the Lion Brand pattern on Joann.com) and my goal is to make as many as possible.

Why do I need so many? Here's a hint, it has something to do with Yes To Carrots! That is all I can say for now... but I just wanted to share my progress!

Here are some pictures..






This is the first completed carrot that I have made and given away. Since then, I have actually made 4 more! All of the carrots' sizes vary because I was experimenting with the width and height. Everyone that I have shown this to cannot recognize that it is a carrot. It is also a bit fat.. so I decided to make it a bit smaller. I have to say that my technique with making amigirumi has improved. The last two carrots I have made do not have any holes (yay) and I do not have to flip them inside out. (If you see in the first picture, you can see the tail of the string sticking out)

Next project.. DONUTS!

Amigurumi Project #1- Pig

For my first attempt to make an Amigurumi doll, I will be making an adorable piggy. I did some research on patterns, ie: learning how to read the abbreviations, and also learning how to do the standard stitches. Luckily, for these types of dolls, you only need to know the basic "single crochet" stitch.

Things I used to help me with my doll:
1) The Pattern. I was looking for a very easy, simple pattern and I found a nice repository on joann.com. You can make dogs, cats, turkeys, even fruit dolls with the patterns listed on their site. They sell yarn, crochet needles, and many other craft items for other things including jewelry beads and fabric for sewing. Check out their projects section to find Amigurumi patterns.

2) YouTube. Without YouTube, I wouldn't have found a great tutorial on how to start a basic crochet doll. It teaches you how to crochet in "rounds" which is the circular part of the doll's head or body. Do a quick search on "How to crochet amigurumi."

3) Yarn and crochet needle. (Obviously!) Without these two, you won't be able to make anything. Depending on the type of yarn you have (is it three/four strands?), you may have to use different needle sizes. For this project, I used a size G needle, and 100% acrylic yarn with 3 strands.

4) Patience is virtue.

Good luck on your own crochet projects!!

My progress:

Half-way done!



The body is completed!

Learning to Crochet

In addition to making Japanese Clay Foods, I am learning to crochet. I already know how to knit (only the basic stitches though) but I was motivated to learn how to crochet to make cute animal dolls. (Think Amigurumi!)

Here are a few pictures of my first crochet pieces and yarn I can practice with:





Here is an upclose picture of my first crochet piece. You can see I am using the increasing/decreasing techniques here. (Note: I didn't even realize I was doing this.) After practicing a few more rows, I realized I was counting the stitches wrong, so I was able to correct it and learn how to "increase" my rows.



I bought three extra balls of yarn at the dollar store, and started to crochet a flower using the yellow yarn.

Next project: an Amigurumi doll! I know- I just can't wait to learn how to make them. I figure I the stitching for the doll is usually the basic stitch so I don't need to learn the advanced ones yet, unless I plan to make sweaters/clothing/etc.