O Christmas Tree

It seems that I have not updated anything on my blog for a little while.  I have been very busy for the last few days (or weeks); I will share more with all of you about what I was busy for in the next few posts. 

I made these cute Charlie Brown Christmas toppers and some matching gift tags last week.  They are now for sale on my Etsy shop.  One night I was driving home, and I didn't know why I kept thinking about the Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.  Yup, I know, it is the most unusual Christmas tree (click here to see what's the story behind this famous Charlie Brown's Christmas tree) you ever seen.  The tree looks so alone with one ornament hanging there (glad that Linus put his lovely light blue blanket around the tree to make the tree not so lonely)... 

Christmas tree remind me of my childhood with my family - my family and I always enjoyed of decorating our skinny plastic-y Christmas tree each year.  Even I have not gone home for Christmas for a while and my parents stopped putting up the Christmas tree ever since my sister and I moved to the States (good that my parents are here in the States for Christmas for the very first time), the memory of decorating the tree is still fresh and valuable to me.

I wish you all have a safe, warm and wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.  No matter you are decorating your house with your kids, baking ginger bread man cookies with your mom or watching the classic movie, the Christmas Story with your brothers and sisters.  Remember, these memories will stay with you for a long time...or forever! 

PS:  If you are interested in buying a Charlie Brown's Christmas tree or want to be different this year, here is a list of online stores I found online.  I also saw the tree at Urban Outfitters Store too. 

 

Halloween Cupcakes

America should make Halloween as a paid holiday for everyone since this is one of the favorite holidays for most Americans (kids and adults) in the States.  When Halloween is around the corner, I know a lot of bakers are going to create some amazing cakes/cupcakes inspired by this holiday within this month.  I watched a lot of baking and cake decorating books, most of the cakes/cupcakes are inspired by the traditional Halloween images, such as black cat, spider/spider web, pumpkins, vampires...I wanted to do something a little bits untraditional for my Halloween cupcakes.

Few of the main characters from Gegege No Kitaro

I got inspiration from this Japanese manga.  Japanese manga (comic in English) and cartoons have impacted my artworks and my visions about art in many ways.  These cupcakes are inspired by one of my favorite Japanese anime, Gegege No Kitaro.  Not too many cartoons (for kids) would talk about ghosts or evil spirits, this one does.  And somehow this cartoon has managed to have great balance of the scary scene and still remain kids friendly.  I loved this show when I was a little kid.

I remember one year my parents took us to New Zealand to visit my dad's sister and her family during summer.  We stayed at my auntie's house for few weeks.  My parents left my sister and I at my auntie's house for few days because they wanted to have a little honeymoon themselves in Australia.  My sister and I, plus my two younger cousins were watching this show for few days during my parents' "honeymoon".  We even had a role play at my auntie's front yard.  Of course, we didn't see any ghost, but this few day role play memory and the 24-hour Gegege No Kitaro scene stay with me forever.  When I thought about this cartoon, I thought about the time my sister, I and my cousins in New Zealand; it was a great summer.

Kitarō is a yōkai boy born in a cemetery and, aside from his mostly decayed father, the last living member of the Ghost Tribe(幽霊族 yūrei zoku).
He is missing his left eye, but his hair usually covers the empty socket.
He fights for peace between humans and yōkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter. 

Ittan Momen is a flying yōkai resembling a strip of white cloth. Kitarō and friends often ride on him when traveling. The original ittan-momen is a spirit from Kagoshima Prefecture myth which wraps itself around the faces of humans in an attempt to smother them.

Nezumi Otoko is a rodent-like yōkai-human halfbreed. He has been alive for three hundred and sixty years, and in that time has almost never taken a bath, rendering him filthy, foul-smelling, and covered in welts and sores. While he is usually Kitarō's friend, Nezumi Otoko will waste no time cooking up vile schemes or betraying his companions if he thinks there's money to be had or a powerful enemy to side with. 

Neko Musume, a normally quiet yōkai girl, who transforms into a frightening cat monster with fangs and feline eyes when she is angry or hungry for fish.
Predictably, she does not get along well with Nezumi Otoko.
She seems to harbor a slight crush on Kitarō, who sees her only as a friend.  

Medama-oyaji is Kitarō's father. Once a fully formed adult ghost, he perished of a disease, only to be reborn out of his decayed body as an anthropomorphic version of his own eyeball.
He looks small and fragile, but has a strong spirit and a great love for his son. He is also extremely knowledgeable about ghosts and monsters.
He enjoys staying clean, and is often seen bathing in a small bowl. He has a great love for sake.  (That's why I put him in a bowl).

Kitaro with his eyeball dad

If you have never watched this cartoon, you missed out.  It's such a great cartoon!

There is a Gegege No Kitaro Theme Park in Japan.  Here are some pictures from the Hong Kong Yahoo.com.  It gives me one more reason to visit Japan *again* (yes, if I went to Japan again, it will be my third visit to Japan.)

Medama-oyaji at the theme park

Neko Musume  transforms into a frightening cat monster with fangs and feline eyes.

Kitaro train at the theme park

Kitaro with his dad (hey, he really likes to take a warm bath in a bowl.)

South Park Cupcakes

I am back from my wonderful vacation!  I have been "kind of" consistently working during my vacation though, such as receiving emails, answering questions about ordering, promoting our business, and doing research here and there about ideas for some potential clients...but well, I still had fun of doing it while I was enjoying my vacation.

Before going on our vacation, I took 2 order requests.  One of them is a South Park themed cupcakes; the client specify asked for certain characters from the cartoon (the 4 main characters [Stan, Kyle, Kenny (my favorite character) and Cartman], plus Butter and the Chef).  I made 2 different expressions for each character.  They came out so cute and I had fun of doing them.  The client was telling me that they LOVE them and didn't even want to eat them!  But o well, they killed Kenny!  LOL

If you have any idea in your mind, please send me an email at c4cupcakecupcakery@gmail.com.  We could help to come up with ideas to fit your theme.

Moomins Mini Cupcakes

After a long work today, I ditched gym and headed straight back home to decorate some cupcakes. 

I got an inspiration from a viewer of my blog from Finland.  I check who visited my blog every once in a while, and I got some viewers from a lot of different countries, U.S., London, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany and even Finland.  When I am thinking about Finland or northern Europe, I could not stop thinking about this cartoon I watched when I was a kid (thanks to the Japanese, who introduced this cartoon to us).  I know a lot of American don't know who Moomins are, they probably think just a hippo-look-alike strange characters:

Here is a brief abstract I found from the Wikipeida about The Moomins:

The Moomins (Swedish: Mumintroll, Finnish: Muumi) are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts^[2] in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends.

The Moomins' stories are very different from the typical American cartoon.  They story are very slow and very laid back.  No extreme scene or storyline you are going to see in the cartoon.  All the characters are very cute and have their own personality.  Like our Disney, there is a Moomin World in Finland.  My cousin just came back from there, and I saw her pictures, and the park looks very cute. 

Moomin and his girlfriend, Snork Maiden

Alice in Wonderland Themed Cupcakes

There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger!

Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter.

---from the Mad Hatter in 2010 Alice in Wonderland's Movie.
Over the weekend, I made a set of Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes.  They are just too cute to look at.  I recalled when I was a little kid, one of my uncles always called me Alice...I did seriously think about changing my name to Alice in the past, but well, I think my name suits me better though! 

Tell us what your favourite characters are and we might do a set of themed cupcakes and post it here just for you and your "eyes" to look at!

The Mad Hatter's hat

Solder of Queen of Heart

Drink Me!

The Cherish Cat

Aren't they cute?!

The clock is ticking...

Alice fell in the black hole.