Ladybug cake pops

Over this past weekend, I've made up a batch of ladybug cake pops. What are cake pops, you might ask? They are cake balls on a stick. They are getting more and more popular at parties these days, thanks to the creator at bakerella.com. The ingredients require one box of cake mix, one third of a can of icing, lollipop sticks, styrofoam block, sprinkles, and chocolate chips or candy melts of various colors (optional: markers with edible ink). The ingredients can all be found at baking supply stores. Basically to make it, bake the cake according to the instructions on the box; after the cake has cooled, crumble the cake to fine pieces by hand. Mix the cake crumbles with icing, keading the mix until the mix starts to stay together. Then mold the cake pieces to desired shape and refrigerate for 2-3hrs to make the cake balls firm. Next, the fun begins! Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl (approximately less than a minute, too long will cause the chips to burn and will not form a good coating later on), stick a lollipop stick into the ball and dip the ball in the chocolate to coat the ball. Let excess coating drip off the cake ball. Set the lollipop on the styrofoam. Decorate the cake ball when the coating has hardened. Enjoy!

On a side note, what if there are no chocolate chips with the color you want? A lady at the baking supply store told me you can just get those white chocolate chips or candy melts and powder (not liquid or paste) form of food coloring to mix it together to get the desired color coating!

Here is another cake pop set I've made in the past:

Ta da~~my latest craft project

Here is my newest completed craft, a pair of beaded crystal birds cuddling together in a little bird cage. The first time I made it was for my good friend Sara (visit her site and craft shop at: kittiwake design) during a craft swap. I had liked it since so I've decided to make one for myself too. I have been suggested to make these as the less traditional wedding cake toppers, so I am going to keep this option available when I do find time to make more beaded items to sell. Keep your eyes peeled =)

another year older..

birthday weekend coming up!! :D i wonder what's in store for me?

Here comes an alpaca!

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on this little fella here. It's an alpaca made with seed beads. In case you are wondering what alpacas are, they are related to llamas but smaller in size and cuter (they make the most adorable humming sounds that sound like "mmm? mmm?"). I've got the beading instructions from a Japanese crafts book, but somehow my alpaca ended up facing the opposite way as indicated in the book, but it's still just as cute. I've been wanting to start a craft shop of my own selling beaded things like these for awhile now. I'll post up some more pictures later on of the beaded animals I've completed for a sneak peak of what'll be available in my future shop :)

A new message for the new year!

It's been so long since I've posted anything here, and since I missed the opportunity to write one earlier last month, now I'll have one just in time for the Chinese new year! =)

I was away for vacation back in my home country Taiwan and did lots of sight seeing around various parts of the island. Here are some photos I've taken from the trip:

Taroko national park



stained glass art in metro station



San Fort Dominigo


Taipei 101



During Chinese new year, we sometimes make something special for the occasion, such as the "year cake" (made from sticky rice, can be made sweet or salty, steamed or fried, both delicious). This time, my mom made a dish called "Buddha jumping over the wall," which is a soup dish consisting of over 10 different materials. The typical ingredients for the dish are Nappa cabbage, quail eggs, seafood (shark fin, abalone), and taro. My mom's also added pig knuckles, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, chestnut, and short ribs. The ingredients are all cooked together in a ceramic pot over low heat for several hours. The result: delicious; hence the name of the dish--it's so good that even the vegetarian Buddha will jump over a wall to eat it! :p

And one more thing, here is a stone I picked up at a beach in Taiwan. I love the pattern on the rock, it makes it look almost like a little bird, doesn't it? :) I can't believe that I got it right on the first few picks too, I was lucky I didn't have to look to hard among the many hundred pieces of rocks scattered there on the beach!

Chinese Mid autum festival :)

Here's my touch for the Mid autum festival celebration--rabbit themed dessert set! (unfortunately, this is not edible)

Story of a rock

While I was on my trip to Arizona a few months ago, we came up with a game of story telling while we were out on the road. Each person had to take turn to come up with a word to make up the story, and here is the masterpiece :)

Once there was a rock in a place that needed to do dancing. So suddenly a frog leapt sideways and went "ribbit". Under the ground, the fly flew so far above the stream that he couldn't stop until the rock blocked the fly. However, Froggie then rolled, rolled, pushed the door. Suddenly, there was thunder. A fairy appeared behind the thunder and sang a melody of celebration of Bryce Canyon while they gathered rocks and including furry woodland frogs, rabbits, and mice. Unfortunately, the fly noticed slimy and bubbly ooze on the fairy and meanwhile the meadow turned into the disco that smelled so pungent that everyone had to cover their eyes and sniffed flowers. Spinning and tumbling crickets chirped. The furry mice held onto crickets tiny paws and swing berries around the tree. Finally, Froggie ribbit smacked his face against the fairy so slime covered that rock and all furry animals. They danced slowly and happily ever after.