DIY Picture Flower Pot

We had a great Mother's Day celebration with my husband's family the past weekend.  Besides my own mother and my grand mother (too bad these two very important women are not with me in the States this year), another very special woman I appreciate the most is my husband's mother.  My husband and I concluded - the best mother and mother-in-law we could ever ask for!  And how funny is that my husband was telling me when he was looking for a serious relationship; he always wanted to look for someone just like his mom.  And not for long he found me and my personality is just like his mom.

I always love to hand make something speical for the people I love and treasure the most for their special day.  Sure, we could always spent some money to buy a nice gift and a beautiful bouquet from the mall or at the store.  But in my stubborn mind, I truely want these people to know how important and special they are and how much I love them by making them something they won't see it at the store; and hopefully, they will remember the gift forever.

Last year, my mother-in-law left an old picture album on their dining table.  I causally flipped through it and found a lot of great and valuable pictures of my husband.  I snapped some pictures by using my iPhone and I knew that right away one of these days, these lovely pictures will become handy for me to make some great art works or crafts.  When Mother's Day was approaching, I was thinking to make my mother-in-law something nice to appreciate her love, care and support to my husband and I the entire time; what better than something she could eat, something she could laugh about and something she could add to her office desk?  So here the idea was arised - a pot full of memories and "Cupcake in a Tube"!

I editted the pictures to make them looked brigher and sharper before printing them out from a color printer.  Then I stick the paper on a thicker paper and cut them out.  Next, if you have some left over gift tags from Christmas, you could add them behind the pictures to make a little talking bubbles.  If not, you could always buy a paper puncher from any craft store and make your own talking bubbles.  If you don't like the talking bubbles idea, just simply leave the picture alone.  I added the bubbles because I wanted to add some humors (my husband and I are both very goofy and funny persons, and that is totally our style *laugh*).  Now they are ready to put on a lollipop stick (could be purchased from your local craft store).

Then, I went to the craft store to get a flower pot and some ribbons for decorating.  As soon as I saw this turquoise colored pot; I knew that I didn't need to look any further=p.  The turquoise color reminded me of my husband and my wedding ceremony (deep brown and turquoise were our themed colors).  I wanted to make my pot chic and still girly.  So I picked up a roll of skinny black with white polka dot ribbon and a turquoise colored ribbon to make my pot modern and chic=)  I also designed the "We L<3ve You" label by using a design program; and cut it with my cutting machine.  Now,  everything is ready, and I could use my glue gun to glue everything on the pot. 

There are multi different ways to put in the pot for securing your "photo" flowers.  I have a great and inexpensive way to put your "photo" flowers/cake pops/cake in a tube, pretty much anything on a stick format - go to your local 99 cent store to get a pack of elbow macaroni and filled in the pot (cheap and easy!).  Of course, you could always buy a styrofoam and cut it to fit in the pot; however, I found my way to be faster, cheaper and easier=)

The day before heading to my in-laws' house, I made our new product - cake in a tube to put in the pot (cake is pound cake with strawberry and whipped cream in between)!  I decorated the plastic container with the ribbons I bought from the store to tight the pot and everything else together.  And I wanted to give my mother-in-law a little surprise when she eats the cake. I cut the strawberry into a heart shape and put on top of each "cake tube"<3.  This gift idea is not only good for mother's day.  You could use it for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, or any other special occassions you could think of.

DIY Cupcake Toy for Your Kid

I found this creative DIY matching cupcake toy from Naptime Crafters website.  It is a smart way to teach your little one about colors through playing the game.  Remember when we were little kid, our parents were a lot more creative than us.  They made things for us to play or encouraging us to make our own toys. 

Also, a lot of kids grow up in a world, which filled with technology.  I don't know it's 100% a good thing for the parents or for the kids (I guess this is a too serious topic to discuss on this blog=p).  If I had kid in future, I just wanted them to have a simple childhood with less technology toys involved.

OK, back to the topic - if you are interested in how to make this cute matching cupcake toy for your little one, go and check out the Naptime Crafters website. 

Picture from Naptime Crafters

Picture from Naptime Crafters

If you are new on crafting and sewing, and want to have a easier instruction of making your toy cupcakes, here another website, you might be interested.  The website calls "Hoogli Art", they have step by step tutorial and easier way to make your cupcakes.  Below is their final production.

Picture from Hoogli Art



Inspired by the Fair - Deep Fried Koolaid

Smoked giant turkey leg, grilled corns, stuffed chili with cheese, giant hot dog, giant corn dog, funnel cake, and deep fried everything...hm...I smell OC FAIR! 

Mr. G and Mrs. G went to the fair over the weekend.  We always enjoy going to the fair because that's the only time we don't need to care about the calorie and nutrition information listed on the menu (because there is none of this information at the fair.  Eat at your own risk!)  And we did a lot of eating and cardio at the same time (hey, we walk around the whole fair.).

We have tried a new item this year - deep fried Koolaid!  We at first thought that it might be another gross item among all the deep fried stuffs.  Surprisingly, they taste amazingly good!  Mr. G's cousin and his girlfriend obsessed with this new treat, and they even went home to make their own deep fried koolaid.  I would like to share their recipe with everyone, so if you missed this new item at the fair, no worries!  DIY (Do It Yourself) at home!

Ingredients for Deep Fried Kool Aid:

3 Eggs
2 Cups of Milk
1/2 Cup of Sugar
3 2/3 Cups of Flour
1/2 Teaspoons of Salt
1/2 Cup of Cherry Kool Aid
2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
Vegetable Oil For Frying

Making The Batter:
Beat the eggs and the sugar together in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the milk while beating slowly. Add all of the dry ingredients, and beat until the mixture is slow and creamy. The batter should be a bright pink color. Add more kool aid as desired.

Cooking Directions:
Cook in hot vegetable oil for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the hot oil when the fried kool aid batter is golden brown and is crispy.

Allow the Deep Fried Kool Aid to cool a bit before eating. They will burn you badly if eaten too soon. Fried Kool Aid taste best with a fresh glass of Kool Aid!