Tag: fun

Picrew.Me Kimono Avatar Creators part 2

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I know things have been rather quiet here, and I do apologise. I’ve been doing a lot of back-end work, stuff that keeps the site running efficiently, but I realise that while it’s necessary it’s also not very interesting for you guys!

One of the things I did was update last summer’s Picrew Kimono Avatars post so it was responsive and worked on mobile devices. While doing that, I realised it’s one of my most popular and most frequently revisited posts, so I thought maybe it was time to do another one! I promise, there are actual kimono coordinations and some book reviews coming up, but in the meantime I hope you have fun with this. If you’re new to Picrew.me and aren’t sure how the interface works since it’s all in Japanese, there’s an explanation and tutorial in the previous post.

Female Avatars

[wptb id=11262]

Male Avatars

[wptb id=11276]

I hope that this table setup works better on mobile devices for you, and that you have lots of fun playing with these avatars while we’re all stuck inside our homes!

B is for Bento

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Bento (弁当), organised packed lunch, typically with rice

It seems a bit silly to pack a boxed lunch at a time when nobody’s supposed to be leaving the house! But nothing’s stopping me from eating it here at home.

I’ve never assembled a proper bento before, it always seemed too daunting and I’m usually in a rush on work days and rarely have the foresight to prepare it the night before. But now that I’ve got all the free time in the world, it seemed like a good opportunity to use this cute bento box that Kansai Gal sent me a while back. And yes, those are indeed Darth Vader Lightsaber chopsticks, because why not?

One container has rice, furikake, and poached chicken. The other has a nice selection of fresh veggies; tomatoes, carrots, radishes, and baby spinach underneath it all. I tried to cut the radishes into roses and the carrots into sakura, but I’m not sure how well I succeeded. The awkward vegetable cutting aside, it was way easier and more fun to assemble than I’d expected, if I’m being honest.

Would I do this again, once I’m back at work when all this craziness is over? Definitely. Will I bother trying to be cutesy and cut my vegetables into wonky flowers? Probably not.

April A to Z Challenge!

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A few days ago, I discovered the April A to Z Challenge. Essentially, it’s a daily challenge where you write a blog post each day in April (except Sundays, for a little break) focusing on a topic beginning with a letter of the alphabet. Unfortunately, I missed the official sign-ups but I can still have fun participating.

I know I’ve said I’m not going to do daily challenges here, but since this isn’t going to be a coordination every day and I have no other commitments all month (thank you social distancing!), it felt like a good way to keep my mind occupied. There will definitely be kitsuke posts but there will also be DIYs, knowledge posts, and other fun things. Hopefully this will give us all something to look forward every morning in this strange and unstable time. 🙂

Picrew.me Kimono Avatar Creators

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If you’ve spent any time on any large social media platform lately, odds are you’ve seen avatars made using the Picrew.me site. It’s an enormous repository of avatar creators that started in Japan but has since spread worldwide. No matter what kind of avatar you want to create, you can find something for it.

However, it is quite large and a bit overwhelming to browse, especially since the interface and a lot of the creators are all in Japanese. Fear not though, I’ve gone through and found all of the best kimono-themed ones for you to play with, and a few little extras at the bottom!

How to use Picrew.me

If you’re new to Picrew and feeling overwhelmed by all the Japanese text and buttons, don’t fret! The interface is very straightforward, and here’s a little mini-tutorial that will hopefully help you out.

  • 1. Confirm/begin your avatar
  • 2. Scroll through here to see all the options to customise
  • 3. Choose item colour (if applicable – this one isn’t always available)
  • 4. Choose item style
  • 5. Save/complete your avatar
  • 6. Randomise – The first pink button randomises all features, the second pink button randomises the feature you’ve currently selected. The grey button at the bottom cancels all randomisation, the yellow button at the top confirms them.

For organisational purposes, I’ve separated these into female avatars, male avatars, and other things. I realise this gendering isn’t ideal, but the list got overwhelming without it. However, I do encourage you to use whichever avatar creator you like best!

Female Avatars

[wptb id=11268]

Male Avatars

[wptb id=11270]

Other

[wptb id=11272]

I hope you had tons of fun playing with these amazing kimono avatar creators! I would love to see what you make with them. 💖

Tea Time – DIY Floral Tea Blend

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Today I have something a little different for you guys! You all know I love tea, and I love flowers, so this nifty DIY floral tea bag project on the FTD By Design blog was right up my alley. This is a great way to make a custom tea blend that’s perfectly suited to your tastes. With Mother’s Day coming up here in North America, these would make a really unique gift!

The post has some great selections of food-safe dried flowers to work with. I actually had a harder time finding some of them than I anticipated, oddly enough. I’d suggest hitting up bulk food stores and organic speciality stores.I chose to start with a base of the wonderful organic sencha tea the lovely folks over at Tea Forte sent me, and added dried rosebuds and hibiscus blossoms. I remembered we had some dried lavender from our garden and decided to add a little of that too.

The DIY includes incredibly thorough instructions on how to make your own tea bags using items you probably already have at home, and offers some super cute printable tags. Personally, I’m in favour of loose tea, and prefer not to create more single-use waste, so I chose to print one of the adorable tags and package the tea in a mason jar. However, if you’re taking it to the office or offering it as gifts, the DIY bags would be a fantastic idea.

The tea blend I made was really nice, the florals didn’t overpower the earthiness of the green tea but they were definitely noticeable. It also turned a really pretty pink colour. I’m glad I made a bunch of it, and I can’t wait to steep myself another cup.

Thank you to FTD for sharing this tutorial. I hope you check it out and have fun as well!