Geometric Designs - CAL - Week 30

This next page really look like anything to me. It made look like a decorative thing on a background but there's no real colours that jump out with this photo. I kind of went for a 70s or 80s wallpaper look. 

This next page is clearly leaves. So I will colour them as such. I think I am going to stick to the main leafy colours: Green, Red, Brown, Orange and Yellow for the whole photo.

Mario Monday! - Angry Sun

September already! We are getting close to the end of this event. For this month we will be release graphs that are kind of the over looked things in Mario. They may not show up often or just not be as popular but they are parts of the game! This week, is the Angry Sun. He is not a huge character but still very recognizable. 

This graph is 25 x 25. This graph requires:                                             

                                             - Yellow

                                             - Orange (Light and Dark) 

                                             - White

                                             - Background Colour (Any Colour you Choose)

Mario Monday! - Hammer Bros

Today we are sharing the Hammer Bros. Graph. Usually you can find them in pairs, throwing hammers at Mario! 

This graph is 20 x 25 

This graph requires: 

                                             - Background

                                             - light orange/ Peach

                                             - Green

                                             - White

Book Club - Chapter 29 (Cinder)

The twenty-ninth Chapter of Cinder is very sad and infuriating. We get to see Adri's temper and exactly how cruel she can be. Clearly, she is grief stricken from the loss of Peony and is taking out all her rage on Cinder. 

This chapter is one that makes you think more of the Original Cinderella story and a little less than the Disney version. The cruelty is very heart breaking.

1) What similarities do you see between Cinder and Cinderella? 

2) Do you think Peony dying was the last straw for Adri?

3) How do you think the chapter will effect Cinder?

4) What is next for Cinder?

Things You Can Mail

This week we are sharing a post from KidsActivitiesBlog! They have a great post about Things You Never Thought You Could Mail! This is a great blog post and it is truly genius! Its a great way to surprise someone with something unique and it is also a great way to teach your kids about the postal services in your country and the process.

Eggs

Today we are sharing another tip. This one is about Eggs! This picture was part of BuzzFeeds cooking tip list once upon a time and it was filled with many different useful advice. 

Tips, Tricks, and Tutorial Thursday - Baby Blanket by The Crochet Crowd

Today we are sharing a video by Mickey from The Crochet Crowd. He (they) make great videos for any skill range when it comes to crochet and this video is a great beginner video. One of the best things about their videos is that you will actually make something. You will have (in this case) a baby blanket at the end to show for your efforts. Enjoy! 

Casablanca

To keep with TheLordJames' tradition we are going to talk about movies on every last Thursday. Today we are talking about a classic romance movie called Casablanca. 

Casablanca was a film from 1942 set in French Morocco in December 1941. The opening scene shares with the audience what life was like around that time due to the War. It says that people from occupied countries in Europe fled to Casablanca in hopes of traveling to the United States (which had remained neutral at that time).

After the intro, we get a small preview of what life is like in Casablanca. Everyone desperate to survive and make their way to safety, while others trying to take advantage off of the suffering. We also get to see Rick's Cafe Americain. It is quite clear that Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is not the traditional nightclub owner. As we meet other interesting characters like Ugarte we learn that Rick may not be as neutral as he seems. 

Almost all at once, Rick's life gets turned upside down. Rick seems to be a friend to all and willing to help anyone, so when Ugarte asks him to hold on to letters of transit obtained by murdering two German couriers. Rick hesitantly agrees. Though when the prefect of police come to take him away, Rick does little to help his friend. Later, we learn that Ugarte "died" in prison. The same night Ugarte is taken away Victor Laszlo and his wife come to Rick's. Victor Laszlo is a renowned fugitive and known for being a Czech Resistance leader. He is determined to leave Casablanca and make his way to America to spread the word of what has been happening in Europe. Casablanca is his last stop, but the German Major Strasser is in Casablanca to make sure Laszlo Fails.

It is the exact worse time for Rick's old love Ilsa to come back into his life. Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is the last person Rick thought would ever walk into his cafe, and on the arm of Victor Laszlo no less. The story of Casablanca is a classic and really shows the true meaning of love. 

Casablanca went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Now it is known as one of the greatest films in history. 

Wednesday Review - Red Heart Scrubby

Read Heart Scrubby has the texture of an S.O.S pad, it is very scrubby and rough and is suppose to work well in clean up. I was very excited to try this yarn and add projects with it to my shop. When I first used it, I hated it. It is so hard to work with and see the stitches in. I was told to use it with cotton that would work better and it did. Eventually, once I got used to it, I could work with the Scrubby alone but it takes practice. Also, keep in mind that even with the cotton it is hard to work with. 

Geometric Designs - CAL - Week 29

This next page threw me for a loop a little. I started with the background. I knew I wanted again two colours that matched and made the foreground stand out. After I started colouring the designs green I regretted it a little. I wish I would have coloured the white area green and the outline in gold or silver. This is why I left it white so I could colour it in a gold or silver colour.

This next page doesn't really look like anything to me. It made look like a decorative thing on a background but there's no real colours that jump out with this photo. Time to be creative! 

Mario Monday! Thwomp

We are getting close to the end of this event. For this month we will be release graphs that are kind of the overlooked things in Mario. They may not show up often or just not be as popular but they are parts of the game! This week, is the Thwomp. This guy is usually found in the castle levels. He is up on the ceiling and then falls down hoping to smash Mario. In the game, the middle is sometimes a bright blue or a grey. In the graph, we made it grey but whichever option you like is fine. 

This graph is 30 x 30. This graph requires:                                             

                                             - White 

                                             - Black 

                                             - Grey (Light and Dark)

                                             - Background Colour (Any Colour you Choose)

Mario Monday! - Shell

Today we are sharing the shell from the Koopas! This you see often once killing a Koopa Troopa! It will slide along the floor and kill most enemies in its path (including Mario!)

This graph is 20 x 20. 

This graph requires: 

                                             - Black

                                             - light orange/ Peach

                                             - Green

                                             - White

Freebie Friday - Sudoku Puzzle

This is the second game of Sudoku we are posting! Hopefully, you have enjoyed the first one and have now figured out how to play Sudoku! If not let us give you a little hand.

It takes 9 boxes of 9 boxes and the objective is to place all numbers 1-9 in each box. Keeping in mind that 1-9 must be placed in each row up and down also. No number can appear in the same row, column, or box more than once. 

We give you numbers to help you solve the whole puzzle. Use this keeping in mind the rules to fill in all the numbers. (Examples would be, if there is a 3 in the first box on the top row, no other 3 can be in the top row.) 

Here is the second Sudoku puzzle, enjoy!

Freebie Fridays - Battleship

This game is called Battleship. It is a single person version of the classic game. There are ten ships in this game. One with four parts, two with three parts, three with two parts and four with one part. This is important to keep in mind when playing. (Each game will have a legend so you can keep track.) Any square with no boat piece in will be water. 

Along two sides of the grid, we give you numbers. This represents the number of boat PIECES that are in that row or column. Keep this in mind, it will also help you fill in the squares. All squares around a ship are water. This means for example: If you place a two-piece ship  < > the two squares above and below are water and the three on each side are water also (creating a box around the ship). 

Here is the second battleship puzzle, enjoy!

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials - Egg Substitues

Today we are sharing a post about eggs and how to substitute them in baking! More and more with vegan baking this is a great chart to have around. It is also great to have if you run out of eggs and need to make a cake! (This photo was found on social media - full credit goes to its creator.) Find more substitutions here!

Thursday's Tutorial - Frosted Tip Afghan (by The Crochet Crowd)

Today we are sharing a tutorial for a beautiful blanket by The Crochet Crowd! This Afghan looks like it would be very complicated to make but the tutorial looks easy to follow and that the blanket would work up quickly also.  

Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials - Making Caramel from Sweeten Condensed Milk

Today we are sharing a tip from Wikihow on how to make Sweeten Condensed Milk into a Caramel. This post shares five ways of how to get delicious Caramel / Dulce de Lechefrom a can! 

The first method they offer is simply boiling the canned milk in water! And amazingly enough that works very well. (SAFETY NOTE: Please follow all instructions and warnings when trying this at home.) The next method they use is a double boiler, on the stove top. Method number three is to place the milk into a baking dish and bake it into the oven until you have golden caramel. Method four is in the pressure cooker and method five in the slow cooker. 

No matter which method you use, you should have perfect caramel every time.

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials - Homemade Salad Dressing

Today we are sharing a video from Goodful. They have this amazing video on how to make not just one Salad Dressing, but NINE! This includes French, Ranch and Italian! And the best part is you can work off their bases and customize these dressing anyway you want! 

Wix.com

Today we are talking about Wix.com! It goes without saying that we fully recommend their services. We built this entire website ourselves in just a few months. It is very easy to use, and you control everything. All your content, can be placed on a Wix site and they offer many apps to help you in whatever field you are in. Also it is free, or you can upgrade, depending on what your needs are! 

Geometric Designs - CAL - Week 28

This next page as I said last week made me think of thunder but not much else so I tried to get two colours that matched for the background. The lightning I loosely coloured because I wanted to leave some white to it also. 

This next page doesn't really look like anything to me. It made look like a decorative thing on a background but there's no real colours that jump out with this photo. Time to be creative! 

Mario Monday! - Lakitu's Cloud

For the month of August we are going to release more graphs to help finish off blankets with a few more 20 x 20 graphs. This week, is the Lakitu Cloud. This cloud can be a tool to help Mario, can be a normal cloud in the sky or is the cloud Lakitu rides on. We tried many times to make Lakitu on the cloud in the Super Mario Bros 3 theme and couldn't. But here is the cloud anyways, with and without the face on it. 

This graph is 20 x 20. Most of the graphs that are just items will be 20 x 20. 

This graph requires:                                             

                                             - White 

                                             - Black 

                                             - Background Colour (Any Colour you Choose)

Mario Monday! - Brick Wall

Today we are sharing sort of an extra graph. This is what a brick wall would look like in the Super Mario Bros. 1 universe. 

This graph is 20 x 20. Most of the graphs that are just items will be 80 x 80. 

This graph requires: 

                                             - Black

                                             - Brown

Book Club - Chapter 27 (Cinder)

The twenty-seventh Chapter of Cinder is a sad chapter. We saw the doctor give what they were told was a cure, to Cinder to save Peony. Cinder races to the quarantine area only to fine Peony in her last moments. 

Peony is too close to death to drink the "cure" and ultimately she passes away before Cinder can save her. Grief stricken, Cinder fights off a med-bot that tries to take Peony's chip from her arm. After leaving the medical center, she is sure that she is going to be arrested for attacking the med-bot, only to find that they are after her for a different reason. 

1) What similarities do you see between Cinder and Cinderella? 

2) Do you think the cure will work?

3) Do you think Cinder will get in trouble?

4) What do you think Adri wants with Cinder?

Design Patterns Online (Blog)

Today we are talking about a blog called Design Patterns Online. They have a blogger blog and share beautiful crochet patterns. The patterns are charts and drawings not written unfortunately, but they are easy to read and make for the most part. They offer free downloads and much more!