happy kitchen donut kit

A few posts ago I mentioned that Adrian had bought and made a Happy Kitchen Hamburger Kit. It was my turn this time. We found another Japanese store in a mall near where we live and I chose the Donut making kit. It went a lot better than expected. When we made the hamburgers we watched a tutorial on YouTube since all of the instructions are in Japanese, but this time we decided to just wing it. They're mostly self explanatory anyway.

The box includes containers for mixing and molding, a mini measuring cup for water, a spoon, sprinkles,vanilla donut mix, chocolate donut mix, an icing bag, and icing mix - in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.

First you mix the donut mix with water. The package didn't say how much water to add so I just improvised. I believe I added water 5-6 times with the cup provided. Once the mixture forms a solid ball you press the dough into the two donut forms. They also show you how to make them into animal faces, but I chose to just use the molds. One big difference from the hamburger kit is that you don't need to microwave anything. I thought you'd have to 'cook' the donut dough, but I guess not.

Once you have your four donut forms, mix the icing powder with one scoop of water. Then decorate! I had a lot of fun decorating these and they were really cute. I almost didn't want to eat them. Aside from the odd texture of the dough these actually tasted pretty good. The icing was really delicious. The most exciting part for me was that the rainbow sprinkles were the really crunchy kind. I absolutely love those.

If you want a cool little food experiment I would definitely check these kits out.They're not too pricey for a one, or two, time thing. I paid $7.99 for this kit, but I don't know if it's the same price everywhere. Kids would definitely love them and they're a good way to kill 30 minutes, plus you get a treat after. Bonus!

diy; homemade christmas cards

As part of my 4 Holiday Goals I chose to make my own Christmas cards. I actually finished these at the beginning of December, but I had to wait to share them until I sent them out as my sisters read this blog. It was really hard to keep from posting them to Instagram as soon as they were finished. I'm really proud of myself for waiting. :p

For at least a week I was trying to think of how I wanted to make these cards. I was making it so difficult on myself because I wanted them to be really good, I even thought of sewing cards out of felt. But then I went through my craft stuff and realized that I should go with simple and here is what I came up with.

 Supplies needed: Cardstock in different colors, scissors, adhesive, washi tape/craft tape. 

Not pictured: white paper and a pen or marker for making the design on front.

 First line up your two pieces of card stock side by side, but make sure to leave a small gap so the card can easily fold. Carefully, and evenly, tape together the two sides and firmly press down the tape. Fold over the card and trim the tape edges. So simple!!

 I also added a second piece of tape to the front and back because the tape I was using doesn't stick very well with only one piece. I wanted to make sure these held up when mailing them. After that just draw out whatever design you'd like for the front and cut around it. You can also attach white paper inside to make writing a message easier. I used TomBow permanent adhesive to attach the design on the front and the white paper inside.

I'm so happy with how these turned out and I like that they can be used either vertically or horizontally. I chose colors/designs that I think really fit the people who are going to receive them. Lately I really like to use colors that aren't as traditional for Christmas, like the pastel blue and pink for my sisters. The one with more traditional colors is for my parents. I hope my family likes them!

 What do you guys think?

renegade craft fair; los angeles

On December 14th and 15th the Renegade Craft Fair is coming to Los Angeles, and if everything goes according to plan Adrian and I will be attending. I am so unbelievably excited for it. This will be my first ever craft fair, aside from a local one my mom was in a few years ago.

For those of you who don't know, the Renegade Craft Fair is an independent craft marketplace showcasing and celebrating hand made goods. They have both Summer and Winter markets in Austin, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago, London, and as mentioned above - Los Angeles. They include everything from jewelry, furniture, art, clothing, and so much more. This year will be their 4th year doing a winter market in Los Angeles.

Here is a look at some of my favorite items from their LA Winter Sneak Peeks Pinterest board.

01 // 02 // 03 // 04 // 05 // 06 // 07

The best part is the craft fair is free to attend, so if you're local you should think about attending as well and supporting handmade. I can't wait!

sewing projects;

A couple weeks ago Adrian's mom let me indefinitely borrow a sewing machine of hers. I've been wanting one for ages, so I was stoked when she said she had an extra one. The only thing wrong with it is that the tire that moves the bobbin winder has eroded, so i need to replace it. For the time being I'm just going to buy pre wound bobbins. I'm basically re-learning how to use a sewing machine. When I was, I wanna say 10-13?, I had learned how to use one. I even made a really basic skirt! But I don't think I ever used one again after that, which is sad. My mom used to sew pretty frequently. A lot of our Halloween costumes growing up were handmade.

Which brings me to this post. Here are a few projects I'd like to try now that I have a sewing machine of my own.

Pastel Garland // Reversible Bag // Canvas Craft Buckets // Striped Sweater Bear // Leather Pouches

diy; halloween masks

Adrian and I decided a while ago that this year we wanted to make our own Halloween masks. We love the way paper mache masks look, but neither of us had ever really worked with paper mache before. I'm really excited with how they turned out! We were putting off this project for a while because we didn't know what to use as a base for the masks, until one morning Adrian thought of using a trash bag. We wanted to start right away and didn't have time to go out and get supplies at the time, so we used what we had around the house.

Supplies used: thin pliable paper (we used some wrapping paper we found at Target last year for $1), trash bag, tape, a medium bowl, glue (Elmer's or similar), water, a brush for mixing, computer paper, paint, paintbrushes, a cloth or newspaper to cover your work area, and an x acto knife.

First, mix equal parts water and glue in a bowl. You may need to mess around with the measurements depending on the thickness of your glue. You want it to be thinner than pancake batter, but not too thin and watery. Once mixed, set your bowl aside. Blow up your bag using a pump for an air mattress or something similar (you can also just blow it up yourself, this just saves some time) and tie off the bag. We then shaped our bags into the shape we wanted, mine was a cat and his a Jack O' Lantern. The Jack O' Lantern was definitely easier. I then taped my bag as needed, for the ears etc. Once our bags were in the shapes we wanted we started with our first layer of paper. You want to use the wrapping paper for your first layer and the computer paper for your second. Cut the paper into thin strips, about an inch or so wide and 2-3 inches long. One by one, dip each strip into the glue mixture and place in onto your bag. Make sure to smooth it out. Do this with each strip, overlapping the edges, until your bag us fully covered. Set aside until fully dry, about 3-4 hours.

Once dry do a second layer of paper in the same way as the first, this time with computer paper. If it still feels too thin you may need to do a third layer. Once your second layer is fully dry cut a hole in the bottom large enough for your head to fit through.

Remove the bag and cut any other holes needed, like eye holes with your x acto knife. Adrian also cut a mouth hole for his Jack O' Lantern. You're now ready to paint! Both of our designs are based off of vintage candy buckets which I think are super creepy!

I can't tell you enough how happy I am with how they turned out! These masks are probably one of my favorite things we've ever made. I definitely plan to make more masks in the future. Paper mache is so much fun!!

diy; halloween banner

Happy October 1st, guys! The best month is finally here. :p

This past Wednesday after work, and while the guys obsessively played Grand Theft Auto V, I got started on a Halloween banner to hang in my room. Initially I didn't have much of a plan other than the colors I wanted to use. I cut out all of the triangles and then I decided what I was going to decorate each of them with. 

I wanted to include the stereotypical Halloween designs. Bats, pumpkins, ghosts, candy and a tombstone, plus some simple designed banners. My favorites are the candy and the bats. All in all this project took me about 12 hours. 8 hours on Wednesday and around 4 hours on Thursday. It would have been a lot faster if I wasn't hand stitching every piece, but I actually enjoy hand stitching. It may not look as neat but I think that works with this being Halloween themed. I might try and get a sewing machine before I make another one.

I am so happy and proud of how this turned out! Making your own decorations is so much fun. I'm definitely going to make one of these for Christmas.

pinned; my halloween inspiration

I realized that I don't actually have as many Halloween decorations as I thought I did so I've decided to try and make some this year. My favorite type of decorations are vintage or vintage inspired. I find vintage Halloween decorations and costumes to be much creepier than anything we've come up with these days. There is just something so haunting about those black and white pictures of kids in homemade costumes that really gets to me, in the best way.

Witch Chalkboard Wreath // Veronica Lake Witch // Black Skull Garland // Vintage Inspired Halloween Cats // Halloween Living Room // Vintage Mickey and Minnie Costumes // Vintage Candy Buckets // Pumpkin Terrarium // Vintage Inspired Decorations // Lace Ghost

These are going to be my main inspiration, along with the Disneyland decorations I shared, for whatever I make. I used to use my fireplace mantel as my focal point, so to speak, for my seasonal decorations. Since I no longer have one, in lieu of that I'll be using the three smaller windows on the wall across from my bed as my main decorated spot. I'm thinking of also having little pieces around the room to tie it all together, like my candy bowl on my desk. I can't wait to get to the craft store and to start making things! When I do I'll share them here with you guys.