Now we can cook

I bought a toy kitchen set consisting of pots and pans a few months ago so that Emma could play with it when she came to visit.  Since I could not afford to buy a toy oven, I obsessed for months about making one.  I finally recently found the right cardboard box to make into an oven.  With a little help from acrylic paint and silver duct tape I was able to transform it into this:

The oven door opens up too and is kept closed by the magnetic lock cleverly designed by my husband.

Total cost of materials = $20

Emma's delight when she saw it = priceless

Small is cute

I saw a fascinating exhibit of miniature paintings once at the Paper Mill Playhouse.  I was enthralled by them and I got inspired to make some myself.  Here are two samples I made as birthday presents for my two friends.

This one was for Debbie, my beach-lover friend.  I called it Heaven on Earth.

This one was for Robin.  That's her walking her dog on a cool autumn morning.

Recycling

Inspired by a craft book I bought about making stuffed animals out of old socks, I ventured to make a lady cat made out of Eric's old sock and Ana's old pink dress.  I wanted it to look like Sunshine (except for the fur) with big beautiful green eyes.

Here are the green eyes:

Beach buddy

My friend Debbie loves to go on beach vacations.  I think I made this floral arrangement for her on one of her birthdays.  I really can't remember, she's pretty young : ).  I tried to make it beach-themed using the sunglasses, shell necklace and woven straw bag.

Emma's Tangled birthday

For Emma's third birthday, she wanted a Rapunzel-themed cake (the Disney movie Tangled had just come out in the theaters and she loved it).  She loves all Disney princesses!  This was the most challenging cake I've made so far and I'm not totally proud of it.  It's too imperfect but Emma loved it! And that's all that matters to me.

And there's my dear Emma...

Legal Drinker

When my dear Ana turned 21, I made a beer mug cake to celebrate her reaching the legal drinking age... although she has probably consumed more alcohol than I have in my entire lifetime.

Oh the peanuts look fabulous, don't they?  Eric made them.  My kids are amazing.

Giant sushi for my sushi boy

My son Richie just loves sushi.  For his 19th birthday, I made this sushi cake and (as it has become a family tradition) brought it to his college.  We had a nice sushi dinner nearby and then had this sushi impostor for dessert.

My own Frosty

When life brings you lots of snow, make a snowman.  This was not really very creative but it took hours to put it together... not to mention I was all achy afterwards.

Emma's 2nd birthday

My niece always insists on a theme.  For Emma's 2nd birthday, she picked Abby Cadabby (the Sesame Street fairy character).  It was not easy but I enjoyed making it anyway.

Ed and Ted

My oldest son Eric made up these cartoon characters, Ed and Ted (twin brothers), way back when he was in grade school.  For his 22nd birthday, I tried to make them come to life through this birthday cake.  I borrowed the concept of the transmogrifier from his favorite comics Calvin and Hobbes.

Harry Potter Mania

My daughter Ana practically grew up with Harry Potter.  After watching so many episodes of Ace of Cakes and Food Channel's Cake Challenge, I knew I had to make her a Harry Potter-themed cake for her 20th birthday.  No one's ever too old for Harry Potter.

Rubik's Cube Wiz

My youngest son Richie is a Rubik's cube wiz.  He turned 18 on the first week of freshman college.  So I made a rubik's cube cake for him and brought it to his dorm.  Richie claims this cake meant a lot to him - it helped him make a lot of new friends on his first week away from home.

Emma's first birthday

My niece's baby Emma was turning one and the theme was farm animals.  I had a ball making these fondant animals while watching a Monk (detective series) marathon.  I actually copied this design from another baker's blog.

More ladybugs

Of course, a ladybug-themed baby shower calls for some ....

ladybug cupcakes

and

a ladybug diaper cake.

My first mural

My niece Jacque wanted a ladybug-themed nursery for her baby girl.  I (with the help of my 3 kids) painted the mural of the Sesame Street-inspired ladybugs' picnic.

My son Eric got so inspired with this apple.  It looks very realistic compared to the rest of the objects on the mural.

My first stab at being a florist

I made topiaries as centerpieces for my niece Jacque's wedding back in 2006.  This was my prototype.

I made this floral arrangement for the church.

My first blog ever

Welcome to my blog.