Snow snow snow & SnowBall Cookies!

Snowball Cookies

(makes about 2 dozen cookies)

2 cups (4.7 dl) flour, sifted

1/2 cup (1.2 dl) butter, softened

1/2 cup (1.2 dl) granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup (1.80 dl) chopped pecans

1 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 F/160 C. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Add flour and salt. Mix until partially incorporated and then add nuts. Mix until a thick, uniform dough forms. (I had to add a little bit of butter in my dough because when I tried to make those little balls the dough just crumbled in my hands)

Roll cookies into 1" (2,5 cm) balls and place them on a parchment lined cooking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until cookies are slightly golden and fragrant. Allow the cookies cool completely on the pan before trying to remove from the cooking sheet.

Coat cookies with a generous amount of powdered sugar. Pour the powdered sugar in a small bowl and just twiddle each cookie in the sugar.

I stumbled across this sweet recipe from Sprinkle Bakes and I just had to try it out :) and yes they were yummy! Can't wait to try out the Icicle Candy from Sprinkle Bakes :)

I also got these extremely handy cup and tsp&tbsp measures from my hubby as a present :) It's sometimes very confusing when converting cup to dl and trying to figure out how much exactly is 1/4 tsp with a regular tsp..But no more! Now I can go totally berserk while baking ;D

   Toodles ;)

LadyBugs, BumbleBees...

All Kitties are now ready! Woke up really early this morning and decided that it's now or never ;) And I even got pics! It's really cloudy here but I think they turned out quite nice.
Here is the newcomer LadyBugKitty

It took me some time to figure out how to make the red "flappy" things (I also made pair of little blue bug wings underneath the red thingies.)

The BumbleBeeKitty is always fun to make (it was my very first "bug type" kitty and I just looove those feelers :D) 

Other Kitties that I made were AppleKitty, BunnyKitty and BearKitty. I hope they will bring a sprinkling of cuteness to their new owners ♥

★ Winter UpDate ★

At last I got some time to update my blog to a winter theme :) I've been busy at work and with my studies and making those kitties for Christmas. Kitties are almost done (only one more to go) but I haven't been able to get nice pics -> it's already dark when I get home from work and the light just isn't that good..but perhaps tomorrow if the sun decides to shine I will get new pics :)

There's soo much snow here! It might be fun to have a little photo shoot outside if it's not too cold :P

★

B-day celebration :)

I have been soo busy these past few weeks! Soz for not posting!!!! Soo many things to do and never enough time :P seems to be my theme at the moment. I've been doing the wedding project like mad (I will reveal it when the time is right...) then I've also been working on an order of kitty amis which I'm supposed to have ready well before Christmas so all those little kitties get to their new homes in time :) I have some new ideas for the kitty costumes and I will post pics when they are ready!

My B-day was the 29th :) I gosh how yet again one year has gone soooo fast!! I got some über nice pressies!!

I got.. 

..a prettyyyy necklace and earrings

..a flower called Flaming Katy (Kalanchoë blossfeldiana)

.. a Sunny Tote Bag

Christmas calendar (that has chocolate in it!!) and a cuuuute "Summer: Thursday" print of ickle and Lardee which my sweet hubby had secretly ordered from My Milk Toof. I took it straight away to the framer and it will be ready on the 4th of November! It is going to be sooo cool! :D

Here is a pic of the ghostly cake :D

Diamonds and Pearls and Satin Bows, That's what little cute Bears are made of

Here's a little CutiePie I've been working on in between different projects....Drumroll please ^___^

"Uhm...Pssst you're facing the wrong way.."

♥CutiePie♥

CutiePie is made of Drops Symphony and Schachenmayr Catania yarns and It was my very first experiment with this kind of special yarn..and maybe after a looong break I will do something like this again..'cos even though it was very rewarding in the end - words "nerve wracking" would have described my feelings when I was putting this little furball together >__< Well it wasn't all blood sweat and tears. I had extra fun making the satin bows with little pearls and hearts ♥♥ 

Bears and Bunnies Welcome You ♥

Autumn! What a lovely time of the year!! It is so pretty! All the different colors (I think maple trees are the most beautiful trees during autumn) and the dark nights -during summer the nights are well...nightless nights..so there's no use putting lanterns etc. outside because it doesn't get dark and I looove lanterns- Also my B-day is coming up which means PRESENTS! :D Gotta luv autumn!

In celebration of autumn I decided to decorate our wreath according to the theme :) I also made a FunnyBunny and SeriouzBear pattern to Etsy and in the process FunnyBunny-Carrot and SeriouzBear-Marshmallow were created. Now they are keeping guard at our front door so as a tiny hint *it's good to have cookies with you if you are planning to stop by*

♥ Inspiring Autumn for Everyone ♥

★ Magic Ring ★ Tutorial ★

One way to start your amigurumi is to make the basic "make 2ch and then do the required amount of sc in the 1st chain." Then there is the ★Magic Ring/Circle★ which in my opinion gives a much nicer result. I remember when I started making little amis and I had no idea what Magic Ring was AND in the first pattern that I tried to make there were no instructions on how to begin...no "2ch etc." or Magic Ring...just "R1-make 7 sc" and believe me it's quite hard to find the information that you need when you don't really know what you are looking for ^___^'


But I'm here to reveal the secrets of the Magic Ring and here is a little tutorial I made (click on the pics to make them bigger)

I hope this helps the ones who are wondering the mysteries of the Magic Ring :] There are also few good tutorials in YouTube that might be handy for example Magic Circle1 and Magic Circle2 and many more.

♥

Knitting, crocheting and reading

I usually don't have time to do any leisure reading (I only tend to read books that are related to my studies...bit boring..I know...) I think it's because I like "multitasking." Like knitting/crocheting while watching TV. I have not mastered the art of reading and doing handcrafts at the same time..I probably never will :P Is it even possible?! I might start reading a book with superduper enthusiasm but then the unavoidable happens and I start to think all the other things I could be doing. In most cases the book ends up buried under multiple balls of yarn (and when I receive a notice from the library the epic quest in finding the looong overdue book begins.) Maybe I have just been reading the wrong kind of books! This is the conclusion I came up with the other day when I noticed that I had stumbled upon a book that makes me want to read it here and now and also makes me want to crochet and knit like never before! All thanks goes to my mum ♥Love her to bits♥ who brought me this book and said "I think you might like this one." She was sooo right!


The book is called "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs.

I have now reached chapter 9 (out of 36!! Still soo many pages to explore♥) And today I also found out that there is a sequel called "Knit Two" AMG I think I'm in heaven :D

Oh Goodies :)

As I told in my previous post I had ordered some sweet sweet things (eyes, noses, keychains etc.) Well all the things arrived on time (...some time ago..sorry for being this slow at posting!!) I got the eyes and noses which I ordered from 6060 's Etsy shop ♥

Starting from front 4.5mm animal eyes, 6mm albino eyes and 6mm triangle noses

All the eyes are safety eyes with washers (noses too) and there is a really handy safety eye/nose installation guide here. Hehe I think the albino eyes are pretty cool and now that it's autumn I'm starting to get all these ideas about creepy little critters with spooky eyes o_O!

I also ordered some keychains, rings, bells etc. from the following online stores Charlotta, Sinelli and Slöjd-Detaljer.

20mm rings, 24mm rings, tiny bells and keychains

I have also done some crocheting (not just shopping :P) I made few FunnyBunnies and SeriouzBears ♥ (I think I'm addicted to these little fellows)

I've even opened a little LiLoPe Etsy Shop as some of you may have noticed the "Mini Etsy." I only have few items there at the moment (it took me quite a while to figure out how to get started with Etsy...still quite a lot left to figure out I guess)


I'm also working on a secret project ♥ my sister is getting married ♥ and I'm making something cute for the special occasion..but it's all hush hush for now :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

My Kingdom in a Corner ^___^

You know how the stores where they sell yarn and all the other lovely stuff have those colorful shelfs full of balls of wool..well well...Now I haz a little colorful paradise of my own :) I bought two shelfs -which were originally meant for CDs but who cares if they look good- stuck them on the wall and Voilà!

 I think it looks pretty nice :)

I also bought this little basket <3 filled with Schachenmayr Catania yarn (my fav when it comes to making little amis ^___^)

Hmmm I've also ordered some eyes and noses for my amigurumi from Etsy from 6060 :) ooo I can't wait for them to arrive! Got so many ideas already! 

This post should have been named "The Big Spender" :P

All Gone Khitties!

We flew to Belgium last month to this festival called RockWerchter and at the airport I finally found shades that suit meh! *Happyyyy* For years and years I've been looking for the perfect shades and now I haz them! No more boiling my eyes in the sun! Also driving to work is soo much easier without having to be an acrobat while trying to avoid the sun rays from blinding me and keeping the car on the road at the same time. Not only are they very useful they also have extremely high cuteness factor because they are Hello Kitty Shades ;) Loove<3

I've been a Hello Kitty fan since I was a little girl and my family lived in Japan for 3 years and I guess one day I'll be the granny with the über cool Kitty shades feeding pigeons in the park :D hehe...I also made a little discovery from our local store :) They had some theme related postcards for sale..

What can I say I couldn't just leave them there :P I also got one notebook in which I'm gonna write my amigurumi patterns (at the moment I have my patterns written on some random pieces of paper so it will be much more organized this way)

Here are some pics of Kitties that I have made during this spring and summer.

These TeddyKitties are going to a new home soon :3

KittyTeam from left to right GardenKitty, BunnyKitty, LilaTeddyKitty, AppleKitty, PinkTeddyKitty and BumblebeeKitty

There's always room for Cookiez!

I have this recipe for "Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies" that I found from the Internets few years back :) These cookies are like Über Yummy and sooo easy to make and most importantly they include chocolate....lots and lots of chocolate..nomnom...I've made these many many many times and I have failed only once and the reason was that I used basic butter instead of the runny margarine I usually use. It wasn't like a major fail :P the cookies were still edible but not as soft. They had become "Crispy Chocolate Chunk Cookies." Still by the end of the day the cookies were gone :)


Here is the recipe:
(makes about 30 cookies)


2 & 1/4 cups (5,3 dl) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2,35 dl) runny margarine
3/4 cup (1,70 dl) brown sugar
1/4 cup (0,55 dl) white sugar
1 package about 3,4 ounces (85 g) instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 & 1/2 cups (6 dl) chocolate chunks


1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F.) In a separate bowl mix together the flour and the baking soda, set aside.
2. Take a large bowl and cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla extract. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
3. Use two tablespoons to drop dough on bakery paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven.
5. Let the cookies cool of on a rack.


I tend to use dark chocolate but you can use what ever you like :) The other day I made these cookies and I used instant chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla and I put M&M's in one part of the dough..

...and dark and white chocolate in the other part

Sooo goood...droool :)

Blog iz now OPEN! Hurray!

Hello Everyone out there and welcome to my blog! I really like doing different kinds of handicrafts knitting, sewing, crocheting (especially amugurumis <3) and all sorts of other stuff. I also looove baking (cookies, cakes etc...nomnom..) It has been like this since I was little and I think it has only gotten worse during the years (in a good way though..hehe..)


As you might have noticed there are some cookie lovin' FunnyBunnies running around. Here is a pic of a pile of these little fellows (there's also one SeriouzBear and a LopEar FunnyBunny in the mix...can you spot them?)

Please come again and have some cookies :3