Teabag party favors

It's been a long time hasn't it?? I am sorry for the lack of posts. I have been making and crafting things all this time but have failed to document it.

My latest project was a collaboration with Pauline Bakes. She was making tea bag cookies for a tea party bridal shower and wanted a cute way to package it. I have seen some great ideas on pinterest that packaged the cookies in the shape of a tea bag but wasn't quite what I had wanted. So, I set about to make my own template and created my own little favor packaging for this tea party theme bridal shower.

Here is a step by step tutorial!

The supplies! A scoring board is very useful for creating precise lines for folding. It allows for a clean straight line making your final product look much cleaner. 

1) Cut a pattern paper of your choice in the size of 4" by 8.5"

2) Score along the dashed lines at the size indicated

3) Cut as indicated by the white lines on the picture. The angle of the top of the tea bag is your choice. I chose to angle it by 0.5" from the end.

4) This is what your template should look like before you start putting it together.

5) Overlap the sides and glue. It should stand on its own like this

6) Using the small hole puncher, punch a hole on top of the teabag and thread your twine through. (Before tying off the string, put your cookie or treat of choice at this time before closing it off) 

7) On a small square piece of paper, stamp any cute image. I chose this little tea cup to stamp.

8) Tie to the twine to finish your teabag look.

Choose any fun pattern paper to match the theme or color of the party. You can add it to a tea cup as a party favor gift for a touch of fun!

Grounds for Sculpture

This is just a couple of shots that I took at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. It's an awesome 30+ acre land with all different kinds of sculpture and art exhibit. Weather was in the mid 70's so it was a perfect time to wander around and see some of the interesting art. Looking back on the pictures I took though, I realized that in the end I love taking pictures of people way more than inanimate objects. Funny how that ended up so. :P

Aaron's 1st birthday

A couple months back, a dear coworker of mine was planning her son's 1st birthday party. In Korean culture, the first birthday (dohl) is a big celebration in a child's life. Historically, dohl celebrated a milestone for children during a time when many kids did not live to their first year.

For this big celebration, I helped out in decorating the party with the them of winter ONEderland in mind. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how mild this winter would have been.

Glued white wooden sparkly letters from Michaels onto dowels to create a unique cupcake topper spelling the birthday boy's name!

Blue frosted chocolate cupcakes with handpiped chocolate snowflake courtesy of PaulineBakes!

Vanilla cupcake with frosting coated with sprinkles. The cupcake topper with more sparkly snowflakes  to add to the theme.

Mini vanilla cupcakes with blue frosting and a pearl accent by PaulineBakes

Our doljabi/welcome table. Six cups representing different items were placed for a raffle guessing which item Aaron would pick. The wish tree was a DIY project made by spray painting branches in white and hanging ornaments and snowflake photo frames on them. These were also centerpieces for the table

Snowflake personalized gift bags with dduk (korean ricecake) for adults to take home. The frame holds the invitation for Aaron's birthday

Dessert table. Sparkled the snowflake I found hanging in the background myself. The ones I ordered were plain silver foil and the silver glitter spruced it up. The birthday bunting banner on the bottom reads Aaron's 1st birthday!

Snowflake fondant 2 tiered cake with a bunting banner on top. Amazing work!

I wish I had a better picture of the whole room but unfortunately people started coming in before I was finished decorating :P Nonetheless, all that work pulled together nicely and I am pleased with how everything turned out!

it's 2012!!!

I had written a blog post but when I tried to publish it, it deleted everything! It's extremely discouraging to finally get the energy up to write something down and then have it deleted :(

Anywho!!

My absence in no way indicates a lack of craftiness happening in my life :P I have been crafting but unfortunately I have not been documenting it. But we shall get back on the horse!

A couple of months ago, I received a text from a friend:

"Song! Make me one!"

Which of course I couldn't say no, especially since I own the book :P The cute robot amigurumi is from  Crobots by Nelly Pailloux. 

Here is just the head

This is pre-assembly. As you can see the arms are missing. I saved it for last because I was not a fan of the muscle arms the original pattern called for but I wasn't sure what I could do to remedy that.

The finished product! Ultimately I went with a simple tube arm. The actual size of the crobot is small: the size of my hands. It took about 4 hours from start to finish and its definitely a project you can complete in a day. 

I must admit that there were certain parts of the pattern that was confusing. It felt like certain steps were missing and I had to make guesses. I'm not sure if that's my inexperience reading patterns or a flaw in the pattern writing. Nonetheless, the 20 different robot designs are original and extremely creative and worth picking up! 

Watercolor Macarons

I used to take art classes when I was younger. Real art classes with oil paints, water colors, pastels, charcoal etc. I really enjoyed the process and found that I can copy really well but have a difficult time coming up with original art. shrug* Nonetheless, I gave up art after high school and lost interest (as I did with piano and all the other things my mom had signed me up for) but recently after seeing an an adorable water color painting of a cupcake at Pottery Barn Kids, I was *inspired* to dabble my hands in watercolor again!

Which prompted a trip to AC Moore with Pauline Bakes* and bought myself two brushes, and a set of watercolor tubes. I bought the cheapest set I could find since who knows when I might lose interest in this hobby too :P

Using my new set, I took my love of pastries (looking at them, not eating them) and tried out painting some macarons. I find that my macarons come out perfectly when I'm painting them. Baking it is another story. I also threw in my first attempt at watercoloring with my new set of the cupcake. :T scrumptious!