Back from the Holidays!

Happy new year everybody! I cannot believe it is 2011 already! Time does fly by fast when you get older. I need to sit back and appreciate the moments and cherish the people in my life.

I love the holidays. I love the festivities, the foods, the season of giving, relaxing, rejoicing, and celebrating, and I love the opportunity to see people you rarely see during the year!

During the holidays, I love to give gifts. I love picking out the prefect Christmas gifts, wrapping them, and hearing their joy and appreciation from the gift. I also appreciate it when they are honest and need to return or exchange my gift-- that helps me refine my mental gift giving list for next time.

In return, I also receive ton of gifts! I love opening gifts!I want to share some of the ones that will contribute to this creativity blog in the future:

(A gift from my sister, who found this treasure in the Dollar area of Target. Not a chocolate fan, but this book might inspire me to try to work with chocolate!)

(Tons of paper supplies for scrapbooking, handmade card making, notekeeping, and more! I know where's a fancier word for this stuff, but it's late and my mind can't think that deep right now. Thanks to Linda and Jeremy's mom for the creative materials!)

(I've been wanting a fancy and cute apron for a long time, but I never find much use for an apron. Normal clothes is fine with me when cooking. This gift is perfect because it's something I want, but won't by for myself because I don't need it. Thanks to Sonya for all the trouble she went through to find the perfect apron!)

(Thank you Amy for getting my the Bakerella Cake Pop book! Amy and I are huge fans of the Bakerella website and creator. I love looking at these amazing projects, but always feel threatened to attempt them. I can't wait to try some now.)

(Fun cupcake accessories from my sister's boyfriend Jack and his family. These items are by David & Goliath, which carries the cutest stuff, and from Urban Outfitters.)

Some gifts to aid my creative side that are not pictured includes tons of baking supplies like candy melts, a new brush and whisk, a ginormous cupcake and cookie carrier, and Sprinkles cupcake and icing mix. Many thanks Joanna, Jack, Amy, and anyone else I may forget!!! Love you all!

Simple Christmas Wreath

I never planned on making a Christmas wreath. It all started like this:

One day, I wondered into my local Michaels in search for some supplies (I think I was looking for brads, glue gun sticks, etc...) and I noticed this LONG line for the register! I have never seen a line wrapped around a Michaels store before! That's when I realized Michaels was having a huge sale on all their Christmas decor and supplies. Curious, I wandered into the holiday section and saw the most beautiful ready-made Christmas wreaths hanging on the walls! They were all 50% off and I knew I wanted to get some for my house (since every year I'm in charge of decorating the entire place).

After looking at the different ones available, I couldn't find the *perfect* wreath-- I wanted something traditional, medium size, and has a nice big bow. I figured that I can buy a plain wreath and individual decoration pieces and create my personalized wreath! I spent nearly an hour searching through Michaels' crazy bins for matching leaves, color schemes, and ornaments. Once I decided my color scheme and my "look", I bought everything (half off!) and was so excited to go home and start.

My wreaths includes a bunch of "Hidden Mickeys" and are traditional in their red, green, and gold colors. I wanted simple, yet Christmas-y!

I love my wreath! I think the entire thing cost a little less than $10... neat, huh?

(plain fake wreath with a wired plaid bow)

(golden and red leaves and acorns with green, red, and gold mini ornaments for decor)

Materials: plain wreath (real or fake), wired ribbon for the bow, mini ornaments, glittered leaves and branches, metal wires (for tying everything onto the wreath)

Mickey Mouse Ornaments

First off, I want to give thanks to the *super* talented Desperate Mousewife of MouseWait. She is always posting incredibly cute ideas (most Disney-related) and I've been itching to try to mimic some of her crafts.

If you have recently walked through any Disney Stores at your local mall or World of Disney at Downtown Disney, you might noticed the beautiful Mickey ornaments on sale for the holidays. After admiring them, you will notice that these babies are not cheap. You can't get away with buying just one because who wants to put only one Mickey ornament on a tree?

DesperateMousewife (DMW) was kind enough to posted these pictures and instructions on the MouseWait lounge:

Directions (from DWM on MouseWait):

How to make a Mickey ornament. Buy plastic ornaments, one large and two smaller. Instructions top to bottom:

1) Measure and mark on each side the same distance that looks good for ear placement. I marked at 1" down. Remove the hook caps from the two smaller ornaments.

2) Use a high temp glue gun tip to press into the ornament to form a hole big enough for the top of the smaller balls.

3) Add some hot glue to the top of the smaller ball and then press inside the hole. Hold until secure. Repeat on other side.

4) Done! You can glue other embellishments on it as well.

This is the story of my attempts to try to recreate these Mickey Mouse Christmas ornaments:

The instructions given by DMW seemed so simple that I ran out to the nearest Dollar Tree and bought some beautiful matching small and medium size red ornaments. They didn't have much of a selection there and I settled for simple red ones.

I was so excited I came home, pulled out my ruler, sharper, mini glue gun, and ornaments to start working. After about 10 minutes of trying to burn a hole with the glue gun into the ornament, I realized I made a mistake-- I was using a low-temperature glue gun! Frustrated, I drove out to Michaels to pick up a high-temperature glue gun since I didn't own one. Luckily, I found a mini one for pretty cheap. (Mistake #1)

Drove home, got with my high-temp glue gun in hand, I was ready for some ornament creation time, but after about 15 minutes to began to realized that even my high-temp glue gun was not going to burn a hole through this shiny, stubborn ornament. Thinking I was just a complete failure (just kidding, but I was bummed and confused), I went back to DMW's post on the MouseWait Lounge and reread the instruction, I realized another mistake-- I had bought shiny, beautiful GLASS ornaments! I was supposed to pick up some plastic ones. Lesson learned: never to skim over instructions, no matter how simple things may look. (Mistake #2)

Because my Dollar Tree doesn't carry uniformed colored plastic ornaments, I had to search far and wide and finally stumbled upon some blue ones at the local dollar store (Viva Bargain is the name). I bought a set of blue (plain and glittered mixed) medium size ornaments and small ornaments, which came out to be only $2.00. Score!

After all that work and purchasing, I finally had some time in my busy Christmas schedule today to attempt to make these cute little guys (while watching old X-Men: Volume 1 episodes).

What do you think?

The first one I made was okay, but the ears were too low on each side.

(Too lazy to rotate picture: top is the initial Mickey ornament-- noticed that the ears are too low on each side; bottom ornament was on the second try)

After that initial try, the rest of the ornaments came out perfect, both the solid blues and the glittery ones!

Success!! Now what to do with them.... currently, they are all hanging out in the pretty Victoria's Secret bag, waiting. My tree is fully decorated and I already handed out gifts... Any suggestions?

Materials: medium plastic ornaments, small plastic ornaments, high-temperature glue gun, additional glue gun (with glue stick) in case you need extra adhesive for the ears, and puffy paint/stickers to decorate the ornament (optional)

Disneyland Snacks: Buttered Popcorn and Coke

If there is one thing you need to know about me when it comes to food, it is that I prefer savory over sweets. Strange huh? I kind of enjoy baking, love to decorate, but I do not like eating sweets! I create, then give away. Once in a while I have to satisfy my sweet tooth, but savory over sweets for me!

One of my favorite snacks at Disneyland is their regular buttered popcorn. There is something magical about Disneyland popcorn that I cannot recreate at home (almost as magical as movie theater popcorn, but that's besides the point). The price of popcorn has risen over the years and now sits at the expensive price of $3, or is it $3.50? Either way, it is expensive for a regular size popcorn. Don't even get me started with their delicious caramel popcorn or kettle corn...

What better way to wash down some buttery popcorn with an ice cold bottle of Coca Cola aka Coke? A coke also cost a hefty $3 or $3.50 at the parks, but at least it is a 20oz bottle, although I do prefer drinking my Cokes from an ice cold can.

Popcorn just got more popular at the parks due to two major holiday money-makers: adorable Mickey Mouse popcorn buckets!

This past October, Disneyland introduced the Mickey Ghost popcorn bucket and Mickey lovers everywhere went crazy over these guys! Due to unexpected popularity, these buckets sold out and quickly became the newest hot commodity! Disneyland cold not keep up with park-goers high demands. Luckily, I was able to snatch one up the minute they became available (and quickly unavailable) again. These things were $9 and came with regular popcorn.

Disneyland quickly realized how much money they can make from selling these things and when the winter holidays rolled around, so did Snowman Mickey popcorn buckets!

(insert pic)

Rumors of release dates began flying around and once the date was settled, I was ready to snatch a few up (one for myself and two for a friend). Got to Disneyland early and took these babies home with me. I have to admit, the Snowman ones are not as cute as the Ghost Mickeys, but I am a sucker for Disney trends. Selling for $11 each, Disney was well-prepared this time around. They seem to have ordered plenty and park-goers do not have to fear these little guys being sold out. Another start thing was that people can buy the Mickey buckets inside specific stores, not just at popcorn stands like previously done. When you buy your bucket in store, you get the empty bucket and a popcorn voucher so you can pick up the popcorn later. Great idea, Disney.

(Chilling inside the Emporium Store)

(Free popcorn voucher with bucket purchase if bought from a non-vendor)

Popcorn locations: regular buttered popcorn can be found at outdoor vendors through both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks; caramel and flavored popcorn are only available at DCA

Mickey popcorn buckets: can be both at outdoor popcorn vendors at both parks; can also be found inside Emporium store on Main St., U.S.A. inside Disneyland

Thanksgiving-- Pies All Around!

Apparently I'm known as the "dessert" queen at my "in-laws" house and have unofficially been giving the job of bringing dessert during holiday gatherings. I need to declare something: I am learning as I go. There is no way am I a baker or a decorator-- this is just all fun and new to me!

So Thanksgiving comes along and I was giving the job to "pies" for my boyfriend's Thanksgiving feast. Instead of being adventurous, I opted for a simple apple pie (because I've made that one before) and pumpkin pie (because the recipe seemed easy to follow). I also made some pumpkin spice cupcakes too, but I'll go into more details about that later.

Apple and Pumpkin Pie (recipes are linked)

I should have written this post right after Thanksgiving because my memory is fading and I can't think back to what I did! The apple pie I created was exactly the same as the one I created last year for Christmas so that was simple enough. The pumpkin pie was a bit harder because it was a first time for me! I think I copied this recipe and everything turned out okay! Sorry, if I am being lazy with my post, but I really cannot remember much from that day. I just remember baking ALL DAY LONG and being covered in ingredients and smelling like pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice with Pecans Cupcakes (see recipe below)

I got the idea of creating cupcakes that are designed like pies from this nifty book I have:

I also stole the pumpkin spice cupcake recipe from my awesome Betty Crocker cupcake cook cook.

I added my own little twist to the cupcakes though: instead of using colored candies to create the image of a blueberry or cherry cupcake, I sugar-coated and roasted from pecans and topped them off on the cupcakes! Now, my cupcakes resembles pecan pies! The sweet roasted pecans added a great taste to the pumpkin spice cupcakes! Yum!

Blueberry Cobbler, Apple Pie, and Derby Pie

My sister and her boyfriend were a bit more adventurous in their baking and decided to try make some new pies! By the end of the night, my kitchen was filled with delicious smells and covered in used bake ware, sugar, and random ingredients. The clean up was NOT fun, but luckily we were smart and wash/clean along the way.

I only got to taste the apple pie and blueberry cobbler, which tastes delicious! The blueberry cobbler was very yummy and the apple pie was perfect with French vanilla ice cream. I didn't even touch my pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice cupcakes because I was tired of the pumpkin smell from baking it all day and night.

Baking can get really tiring! I/We made four pies, a cobbler, and a batch of cupcakes in one long day. Whew! I think I'll hold off on the Christmas baking for awhile!

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes (from Betty Crocker "Just Cupcakes")

-Ingredients: 1box yellow cake mix, one 15oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix), 1/2cup water, 1/3cup vegetable oil, 4 eggs, and 1 1/2tsp pumpkin spice

-Heat oven to 350degrees; place baking cups

-Large bowl, beat eggs, cake mix, pumpkin, water, oil, ad pumpkin pie spice together; divide batter evenly into baking cups

-Bake 20-25mins

*Again, I added chopped pecans, which I roasted on a nonstick skillet with sugar and used tinted (brown gel) buttercream frosting for the pie-like details

Red, White, and Blue!

Happy Independence Day, America! Every year, families across the country celebrate the fourth of July by gathering together and having picnics, BBQs, lighting fireworks.

This year, the days surrounding this holiday were very busy and hectic for me. I wanted to create fun cupcakes (either along the BBQ theme, fireworks, or fancy American flags), but in the end I only had time to whip up some simple red, white, and blue cupcakes.

I started with simple French vanilla (or some would say, white cake) and with 1/3 of that batter, I had the white cupcakes. The other thirds were dyed red and blue. In the end, I easily created red, white, and blue French vanilla cupcakes.

They look so pretty!

To top off the cupcakes, I just swirled simple white cream cheese frosting and added either red sugar sprinkles, blue sugar sprinkles, or white pearls to match the color of the cake.



Last, I laid the cupcakes on my rectangular cupcake carrier so it looks like the American flag! I didn't think of this idea until after the whole baking process or else I would have made mini cupcakes (easily to create the flag with 24 mini cupcakes than with only 12 regular size cupcakes).



Simple. Patriotic. Happy Fourth of July!

Cupcakes: French vanilla cakes tinted red, blue, or no tint with whipped cream cheese frosting topped with either red or blue fine sanding sugars or white sugar pearls.

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to throw something simple, easy, and fun together to surprise my mommy-friends on Mother's Day. Luckily, I only know a couple of mommy-friends so I can do this for them... in a few years, I won't be able to keep up with all my friends and their mommy-hoods! Haha!

I bought these SUPER cute cupcake boxes from Michael's and was so eager to give them to my friends for this special occasion.

Made simple fudge chocolate cupcakes. I was going to use some fancy cupcake liner, but I got lazy. Haha. I was going to buy fancy fondant stencils for spell the word "mom" but they didn't have any in stock and I didn't feel like making another trip to my favorite, yet wallet-shrinking, store. I did however find some pretty pearl sprinkles!

I was planning on ordering some online, but I was happy to find them in stores! It took all my power (and then some) to stop myself from buying the gorgeous sugar pearl in every color.

Ta-da! Simple, yet to the point!

Cupcakes: chocolate fudge cake with whipped cream cheese frosting, fondant decor pieces, and fabulous sugar pearl sprinkles