My New Phone Cover

I've just got tired of my few months old phone cover. It has been used too long. I usually don't use hand made things too long, I love to make new ones very often, don't like monotony. So, here came the new one.

I didn’t' have some particular idea of what it would look like. Just took some cotton yarn scratches, started a beginning chain and here it came... First line in double crochet, all others in single rib crochet. I like red, it is my favorite color. Surprisingly, I didn't have any phone cover in red... This one had to be! 

To break the monotony just a bit, I added some pastel tones, apricot and pink. And finished in red.

I finished it and I didn't like it totally... Something was missing, I couldn't find out what. And then my magic box came on the stage. Beads, pendants, appliques, flowers, hearts, wooden buttons... I was digging and digging, putting one after another on the phone cover to try what it would look like... And couldn't decide.

Finally, I took the photos of every single combination I tried, then made a collage of them and choose one. I found it looking really pretty this way.

My phone now has a winter coat :) In the middle of the summer...

We'll see... If it gets too warm, I am going to make him some summer clothes :)

Amigurumi Keychains

Yes, I became obsessed with amigurumi :) Who wouldn't, they are so cute. Pretty little things made by your own hands, just the way you want them to look. I really can't choose what to make first. Is it going to be a toy, a cute little animal, some cartoon character, educational toy, maybe even a pillow...
I am absolutely going to make many of them. But for the beginning, I chose small ones... For keychains.

My first project was a heart, made after pattern Pepika put on her site Crochet 3D Heart. It is really easy to follow, and hearts are perfect shape and size. First one I made from some cotton yarn, but after that I wanted to see what would they look like if I made them of glitter yarn. I fell in love with them immediately. They are so pretty, I had to make one of every piece of glitter yarn I had.

The other irresistible piece is cute little bee. I made it following this pattern: Fuzzy Little Friends. It was terrific gift for some girls, my kids' friends. They totally adored it.

Pretty little banana was made as a keychain for my son. It is very easy to make, using cotton yarn, just in two colors. 

He didn't want me to make a face of the banana-guy (or girl?) and I made it just the way he wanted. Although in the pattern I used it is very pretty with cute little mouth and eyes :) I found the pattern on Ravelry, here it is: Amigurumi Banana. 

I have so many patterns waiting to be tried... But it is so hard to decide what to do first. Maybe I will set some order and make them all - one by another :)

The Art of Amigurumi

I ran over amigurumi toys one day while I was looking for something totally different... But when I saw them, I totally fell in love. It is amazing that so fantastic little things can be made of yarn, just using one simple stitch over and over... So many original toys, animals, dolls, educational staff... I am not so experienced in making amigurumi to create my own, but for now I am fascinated with pieces that I made using patterns available online.

There are so many incredible patterns to use, it is so hard to choose one. So, I left the choice to my sons. They love those things I make, unbelievable for boys. Well, this time they chose a character from their favorite animated series, Family Guy - little Stewie Griffin.

I found several patterns online, and chose one of them. Thanks to Erin, I used her pattern: Stewie Griffin A Crochet Pattern by Erin Scull. And I am very happy to say that my Stewie came out just the same as in the TV series.

My son adores his new little friend. They study together, Stewie has his own place among my son's books. I wonder if he learnt something :) He has his own place in my son's bed, his own blanket. When my son leaves the apartment, Stewie is waiting for me on the coffee table, holding a note that my son left to me. I wonder if I should get him some small plates, maybe he should eat with us on the kitchen table?
The next one I plan to make is Brian, and maybe someone else from the Family Guy. We'll see.

Decoupage Easter Eggs

Every year I choose some new technique to dye Easter eggs. There were eggs dyed in food colour, naturally coloured in onion peels, spinach or red cabbage, drawn with wax and melted crayons... Or just dyed and decorated with some stickers.

 

This year I wanted to make some decoupage eggs. I could find many pretty napkins with Easter ornaments, flowers and other pretty little pictures. That's easy, but I wanted some graphic ornaments to make some unique eggs. No, there aren't napkins with such ornaments. I just found them browsing pictures on the net and decided to print them. And make my own unique decoupage napkins.

To do that, I needed the usual printing paper and double-layered paper towels. One piece of paper towel I just glued with the paper glue to the printing paper. This paper I used to print the ornament I chose. It looked like this:

 

 

When the ornament is printed, I could peel off the first, printed layer of the paper towel. This thin piece of printed paper I used for my decoupaged eggs. I tried to do this on dyed eggs (in light red colour) and on natural eggs. Both of them seems amazing to me.

Decoupage for Easter eggs is not made in usual way for decoupage, for this has to be edible. We use an egg white as a natural glue. Just scramble it with the fork and spread it on the egg with the small brush. Now you can put the picture on the egg. Just wrap it around and cut the parts you don't need and overlapping parts. Gently press it on the egg with a kitchen sponge and let it dry.

Here are my decoupaged eggs, I am absolutely going to make some more, I enjoyed decorating them :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crochet Cell Phone Cover

I don't like industrial products. If I can create and make something by myself, I do it. And that is... Well, almost everything. Cute little things are special challenge for me, because they are made so quickly. Just for the time someone needs to go to the shop and find the thing he likes, I am going to make the same thing for myself, unique and with personal note.

Cell phone cover is so easy to make. You just need to choose the technique you are going to use. For me, it always depends on materials I have on hand that particular moment. Today the first thing I saw when I opened my craft-closet was glittering yarn. So, my new cover is going to be made of it.

Crocheting a cell phone cover is in the category Easy to make. The whole process is really simple. You just need yarn - as many colors you like, and an adequate crochet hook. I used glittering yarn and a hook No 2.5.

To start your work, you just need to crochet a simple chain as long as your phone is wide.

Now you star from the third loop from the hook, with a single crochet.

Work all around  (both sides of the chain) with single crochet.

Go to work along all in single crochet just untill your work is high enough for your phone.

Next round you start with ch2, then double crochet all around.

Finish this round with slipstich in the top of the first double chain.

The last round you will work all in slipstich. Finish your work.

You can pull some nice ribbon zig-zag through the last round (worked in double chain) and add some interesting pearl to the end of the ribbon.

That's it. Simple, but just the one you made by yourself. Those are some of the covers I made earlier:

Six-hands Cheese Crescents

Two kids and me in the kitchen... The plan is to make something for breakfast, I hope it is going to be edible :)

What are the benefits of making food with kids? Flour everywhere over the kitchen, white faces and hands not visible under the dough, some undefined forms of dough spread all over the kitchen table... And it won't be over very fast, they enjoy the game :)

But this game can always be educational. You can turn it into math class, learn colors, fact about some groceries...

This was our game (children of 3 and 6):

- How many eggs do we have in the box?

- When we use 2 eggs, how many remain?

- Where does this milk come from?

- What animal gives us the milk?

- How do we get flour?

- Where does it come from?

- What is the egg consisted of?

- What color is which part of an egg?

- What shape is this?

- Can you make a triangle?

And so on, and so on... Depending on groceries you use to make what you intend to.

Today we made cheese crescents. Very quick and easy to make. Children can make them, too. They are so sweet with their little tools (stolen from play-dough) and enormously large aprons, that goes all to their toes. But it is useful, when you think of all the spilled flour...

That's what we needed for our crescents:

For dough:

- 2 cups of white flour

- 4 oz cottage cheese

- 1/4 cup milk

- 1/4 cup oil

- 1 egg white

- 3 tsp backing soda

- 1 Tsp salt

For spread:

- 1 egg yolk

- 1 Tsp milk

- sprinkle of salt

- sprinkle of pepper

I poured everything we needed into the cups, kids poured it into the bowl. Counting all the time. Then we mixed everything thoroughly - kids for the beginning, then I finished the dough. I divided it into three equal parts and spread two of them into the rounds. Then we used knives from play-dough to cut them into eights (elder child did it perfectly). I made the first crescent to show kids how to roll them, and with a little help they finished the rest of the rolls. The third part of the dough was left for freeform shaping. It came into some weird forms, pretended to be crescents... Small tiny crescents, more like fingers, but very cute. The prettiest, absolutely. Made by sweet little hands.

Final step was to coat them with spread and they were ready to get into oven, for about 30 minutes.

At last we could sit and wait for our breakfast. It was so yummy!

Made by pretty little hands. The best breakfast ever.

I send hundreds of kisses to my dear friend who gave me this recipe, it is really fantastic. We had a great time, and a great meal.

Sring Spirit All Over Me

Sunny days, cozy evenings... Ideal for long pleasant walks along the nearby riverside. This is the perfect time to increase our physical activity and wake up from winter laziness. I choose power walking - it increases my heart rate, makes me feel better and I climb the stairs without noticing it... Don't have to take a half an hour pause to get breathing to normal anymore.

I enjoy my power walks very much, regardless I sweat so much. When I come home wet from head to toes, the nice shower waits for me. That's another place where I brought spring spirit. I am going to have a total remedy of myself.

I start from my hair. Washing it every day after walking and sweating makes it dry and tired-looking. Store bought conditioners and masks never gave me expected effects. So, now I use only natural ingredients to put onto my hair. Instead of any industrial hair mask, I cover my hair with olive oil and spread it over well with my comb. Now hair goes under the plastic cap and wrap with the hot towel, that increases effect of oil. After half an hour (or more, if you like) hair can be washed the usual way. It will be shiny, silky and amazingly moisturized.

Next stop is my body. After constant use of soaps that dry a skin, it needs a good scrubbing. The best of all scrubs is made also in my kitchen. I mix equal parts of sugar, coffee grounds and olive oil. This mix I add to my skin and gently scrub whole body, then wash in usual way. Skin is soft and silky, and doesn't need any body cream at all, as olive oil moisturizes it just enough.

Then I get out of the shower and skip to my face. The same scrub can be used on face, too. After washing it gently using mild soap, I don't wipe it with towel, but on the wet skin put some olive oil with my hands, gently massaging it. If skin is too oily after that, it just needs to be slightly washed with lukewarm water and without using a towel left to dry itself. This is the best way to moisturize your skin.

Whole body remedy using supplies from my kitchen. Nature all over me.

Now I am ready to have my special spring meal, with plenty of green vegetables... Afterwards, instead of coffee I used to make before diving into my favorite book, now I make energy juice mix. All made by myself, following mom's recipe. It recovered me after many child sickness periods, so it does now.

I just love spring, it makes me so fresh and new.

Spring Came Into my Kitchen

Ok, winter's finally over. No more clouds, no more wind, snow, rain and fogs. Sunny days are waking up the nature. Sun is peeking through the windows into my home. And showing me everything that I have to do - immediately!

Well, I started with gathering supplies for all-day-long action.

- Microfiber cloth, several of them

- Abrasive sponge, for persistent stains

- Paper towels

- Baking soda

- My magic cleaner

You wonder what is Magic cleaner? That is my homemade cleaner made of natural ingredients, found in my kitchen, non toxic and safe for my hands. And the most important, it cleans really magically, just as not any chemical, store bought cleaner does. To make it I need:

- one spray bottle

- 1 Tsp white vinegar

- 1 Tsp dish washing liquid

- water to fill the rest of the bottle

There is no stain in the kitchen that can resist this cleaner. Just spray it on the surface, wait for several minutes and clean with microfiber cloth. That's all. Your kitchen is going to shine. I use it for kitchen appliances, tiles, cabinet doors. I also use it for microwave and for the oven. If your oven needs a tougher cleaning, you just sprinkle it with baking soda and spray the cleaner over it, then leave it for half an hour. After that, you may need to use an abrasive sponge to clean it thoroughly and wipe with paper towels. Now you can wipe your oven with clean  microfiber cloth, and if needed spray some more times with cleaner just to clean it perfectly.

When I used this cleaner for the first time, I really didn't believe that it is so efficient. But it is really amazing. No more rubber gloves, no more tough scratching, poisoning smell of chemical cleaners, pain in my hands... Now I clean the kitchen and don't get tired at all. It is just unbelievable.

The same spray I am going to make for next week, when I plan to clean my windows. Just add some rubbing alcohol into the mix, and my windows are going to shine on the spring sun.

Now I enjoy spring cleaning - never believed that this is going to happen some day!

Mom's Recipe Collection

Smells from the mom's kitchen are something that all of us surely consider as the most precious memory to our childhood. No one ever knew to make such a delicates from nothing as mom did. There wasn't a moment or a day that there wasn't a delightful plate full of smelly sweet things placed on our kitchen table. Although, every Sunday a delightful smell of fresh rolls or some kind of pie discretely ran under the door of my room and sneaked into my bed. Who could resist it and don't get up immediately?

I am living far away from my birthplace for a while, but every time when I go to visit my parents' home, I have to dig into mom's recipes and make something from her collection. She isn't among us for several years, but every well known scent from the kitchen brings her back into the house. As smells spread around the house, I expect that every moment I am going to see the dearest face calling us to come to the table. Although the recipe I use is the same that she did use, it never tastes and smells the same. Only one person could make it that particular way. But I am never going to change some recipes and the way of making some food. This is one of the most precious things I inherited from her. And with every meal made from her collection, her spirit is there with me. My dearest company.

A few months ago I were in one of those visits to my hometown. When I opened the kitchen closet and digged through handwritten notebooks and a pile of papers with recipes, it came to my mind to gather all that in some electronic form. At first I meant to retype all of them into one file and keep it on some safe place, upload it to some internet storage place... But I wil loose one of the great memories, lines that are written with her own hand, stains that we made making that cake or pie and that bring all those memories back. Therefore, I decided to scan the whole collection and turn it into one PDF file. Memories to keep and to pass to new generations.

There is one more thing that I decided: at the same time, I am going to share those recipes here. From time to time, every single recipe I choose for that particular day. I want to share my memories with someone else and I hope that I will make pleasure to some other family for their family meal. 

Serbian National Cuisine

Serbian cuisine is the mix up of influences of many conquerors, but also has a great variety of characteristic food.

Preparing meals is a special ritual in Serbian home and that makes kitchen the central place in the house. There are three main meals for a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch is the most plentiful and most important meal, so if it is possible the whole family is gathering around the table. Plenty of bread is must have for every meal, especially home made which is consumed with almost every kind of food.

Vegetable or meat soups and broths are always on the table so Serbian women usually make them once in the week in very large amounts, cook them for several hours and later add pasta or noodles to daily use and make the different meal every day. Main meal usually consists of some vegetables and meat mixed in famous mousaka, sarma or stuffed peppers. Something that makes Serbian cuisine famous abroad is rostilj, especially pljeskavica (grilled minced meat made like a beef steak), cevapi (small rolls of mixed minced meat) and Karadjordjeva snicla. To make material for rostilj, masters of that job mix several kinds of minced meat, add lot of spices including red pepper and garlic, but exact formula they use is secret and that makes Serbian rostilj unique.

Salads in Serbian cuisine are also made in specific way. One of them is tursija, pickled mixture of green and red peppers, green tomatoes, small cucumbers, cauliflower and carrots. Furthermore, there is pickled cabbage, that is unforgettable for all Serbs who leave their own country and make it wherever they live all around the world. Another salad special for Serbian cuisine is ajvar, known as the "Serbian vegetable caviar".

To make ajvar you have to roast red peppers and then leave them in closed dishes for some time to rest. Next you need to remove skin and seeds off the peppers and then ground them. At this point grounded peppers are then mixing with oil, salt and garlic and cooking for several hours to reduce water.

Finally, prepared ajvar is putting into glass jars and closing with a tight lid. Some other specialties that are always on the table when a large company is gathering are kajmak, kacamak and gibanica, a kind of pie.

Many meals known as Serbian national specialties are not even in the vocabulary of other nations, so their names are hard to translate. So if anyone wants to uncover the secrets of Serbian food, he should let the experienced chefs lead him through that fantastic journey.

Living In The City

Great number of people in one period of their lives have to decide to move to the big city, because in their hometowns they don’t have an opportunity to study or to work. Some of them stay there for the rest of their lives, though they are suffocating in the speed of life, overcrowded traffic, great expenses of everyday life… But business people, who are looking for the chance to get on with their careers, find great advantages for that, just like the students who don’t have proper university in their hometown.

Often the most important sports or cultural events are organized in big cities, since most of the appropriate objects are built there.  All these activities just hypnotize all their lovers, who decide to stay and live in the big city, where they are able to have an absolutely fulfilled cultural life.

On the other side, living in big cities, the places full of noise, air pollution and congestion, can be quite harmful for sensitive persons. People who are accustomed to noise and crowd, spending their days in the cars and crowded buildings, chasing the time, often have some psychological problems. To get to the job, they often spend an hour or two, which can be very frustrating. Exhausted by the long busy day, they fall asleep immediately when they come home. They don’t have time for fun and friends.

Children who are growing up in closed space have more allergies and some other immune problems, than children who are living in the country. Playing in the grass, mud and generally in nature, let children who live in the country to come in touch with many bacteria and get immune to them. City kids often live in sterile space and that causes an underdeveloped immune system. To be healthier, just a 20 minute walk in fresh air can be helpful. Trying to spend more time in fresh air, they have to get away from the cities for the holidays and spent them on mountains or somewhere else in pure nature.

Although majority of people see the disadvantages of living in big city, they have to accept that kind of life when it is their only chance to get a job or wanted education.

Influence Of Colors In Our Lives

Color has a very important role in our lives because it directly impacts our feelings and our mood. We all have our favorite color that makes us feel good, but also the ones that we don’t like, that make us depressed or sad. For that reason, colors from nature strongly affect our lives and our feelings. The way we feel them depends on many things: brightness of color, type of light, our mood and many other components. But overall influence of them on our lives is very impressive.

Basics of psychological influence of color on people lies in the interaction of visual and other kinds of senses. Every color triggers the different mood. We feel the bright, warm red, orange or yellow very differently than the cold blue, green or dark black. As the light is the essence of life, the bright colors make us feel pleasant. On the other side, dark is suffocating life, so the dark ones have negative effects on our mood.

The way we feel colors is strongly connected to acoustic feelings and sense of warmth. It is proven that people who spend time in the space colored in calm green or blue are especially sensible, therefore if being in the spaces that are in brightly colored, such as red or orange, they become less sensible. For that reason rooms with lot of noise should be in green or blue. Our senses also help us to differ warm from calm colors in the nature, where the yellow sun is hot, flame is red, but cold water and ice are light blue and green. Because we feel the same way in closed space just like we feel in nature, in the blue or green room we feel some lower temperature than in orange painted room, nevertheless the temperature is the same in both of them. Explanation for this is that our eye catches a color and converts it into another form of energy. But it is not felt only by eyes, it is felt also with other receptors, skin for example. This is the reason that even people who are not able to see or to recognize colors can feel their effects.

There are many researches about influence of color on human brain. In one of them you should imagine the especially colorful room: walls in many various colors, yellow and orange furniture, blue carpet, and a green plant in the corner. Than imagine the other room, all in black, gray and white. In which one would you prefer to spend a day? Probably, as a majority of people, you would choose the first one.

It is proven that different colors cause different emotions, reactions and moods.

Red stimulates brain activity, excites and warms the body, increases the heart rate and blood pressure. Because of that, students choose red painted rooms for studying, and mothers stimulate activity of their babies by red balloons and toys.

Orange stimulates appetite and it is often used in kitchens and dining rooms, but it is recommended to persons on diet to avoid it.

Yellow stimulates memory and increases brain activity a bit less then red and it is recommended for living rooms.

Green recalls spring in our mind, calmness and beginning of life in nature. It acts calming and relaxing.

Blue has the same effects as green does. It lowers heart pressure and decreases heart beats.

Therefore, it is important what color you will use in a particular situation. For example, because red is initiating action we are going to use it in Web sites that sell products online and it can lead users to positive decisions about buying things. For web site that sells natural products it is logical to use green color, a direct association to plants, health and nature.

There is an area of psychotherapy that uses healing by colors, called chromo therapy. That method is known from ancient times and it is very much used nowadays. Some of those methods we use in everyday life.

We wear clothes in bright colors when we are depressed.

We enjoy watching warm yellow and orange sky transforming to blue and purple in the twilight.

Some pleasant colors make us feel comfortable, safe, calm and happy.

On the other side, lack of color makes us pale, depressed, unhappy.

Having all this on mind, we should consider the way we are using colors in our everyday life. It is extremely important to do it carefully in our home, working space, even on ourselves. We should use adequate colors, corresponding to our needs and our personality.

Remember: it is your character that chooses a color, not you.