All posts filed under: Celebrate.

brigadeiro.

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Chocolate dessert craft time! I purchased an Easter Egg decorating kit from Tiny B Chocolates in South San Francisco. The kit came with everything I needed to fill an Easter egg chocolate shell with brigadeiros! Popular in Brazil, brigadeiros are like fudge bonbons. They are bite-sized pieces of decadent, rich chocolate covered in various toppings like sprinkles or nuts. The Easter Egg kit came with the brigadeiro filling, three ‘filler’ chocolates already in piping bags, assorted sprinkles and candies, and a handpainted Easter egg chocolate shell, plus instructions. Look at these eggs! First, I filled the shells with chocolate, then used the different pastry bag tips to add texture with the yellow and red chocolates. I rolled the brigadeiros into small balls and covered them with sprinkles. This got a little messy, but it was definitely the most fun step. You can make about a dozen brigadeiros with this kit. I decided to decorate the eggs with just a few brigadeiros, so I had plenty left over for snacking. To finish off I dotted with …

sushi cake.

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Need an alternative idea to cake? Why not a tower of sushi! You could take this a step further and make your own sushi, but if you have a favorite sushi spot, you can whip this ‘cake’ up in five minutes or less! When it comes to celebrating Hubby’s birthday, I get excited when I come up with a new cake alternative. (Remember the sandwich cakes?) For this sushi cake I picked up some of our favorite rolls from Kyoto Sushi in Berkeley. This was the first time I had created such a cake so I had a hard time visualizing how many rolls I’d need. I ended up getting enough sushi to make two cakes (~6″ at the base and 4 tiers tall), but no one is mad about extra sushi. I used about 35 pieces of California with and without roe, smoked salmon, and mackerel rolls stacked on a 6″ cake stand*. For the base I used the bigger rolls and for the top tier the smaller rolls. I topped the whole thing …

pastry picnic.

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Park hangs idea! Pick up pastries. Invite friends. Have a pastry picnic. To make things simple we kept it local with pastries from the farmer’s market, then a stroll to a nearby park. Friends can join for either or both parts ~ the picking out and the consuming of yum yums! I set up with a 6-foot folding table, tablecloth, heart plates (from Target, of course), and brought cuttings boards and a knife so we could each try a piece of all the pastries. Oh, and alcohol-based hand rub because hand hygiene is the cornerstone of public health. Your pastry picnic pack list*: The outside is calling. Are you ready for a pastry picnic? *This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases made via linked items at no additional cost to you.

tiny hearts.

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Valentine’s Day is my favorite crating holiday. Here’s a super simple DIY to adorn your home, your love day tree (that should be a thing!), or a gift. Materials: Create tassels to your desired length and thickness (See tassel tutorial for detailed instructions.) Use a non stretchy cord for the hanging string. To attach to the heart, thread the two ends of the hanging string through the heart’s bottom point, front to back. Bring the two strands around to the front and tie a double knot. Use a craft needle to sew the loose hanging string ends into the top of the tassel. Trim excess hanging string. Alternatively, you can simply trim the hanging string, or leave the hanging string as is and allow the strands to blend in with the rest of the tassel. For the top string, cut a 12” piece of non-stretchy cord (can be the same cord you used for the tassel or a more decorative cord like Baker’s twine). Fold the cord in half and loop it onto the top …

birthday parfait.

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For Bebe’s actual birthday we celebrated at home with a “Birthday Parfait” (keke) and a balloon arch photoshoot! Here’s how you can throw a birthday parfait of your own. Birthday Parfait For our birthday parfait I gathered: For funsies we also crumbled chocolate scones (leftover from our Outside Party!) on top. Sprinkles would be fun to add, too; it is a birthday parfait after all! Balloon Arch After learning about balloon arch strips*, I was hooked on making balloon arches! They make the balloon arch creation process so easy. And now there are so many balloon arch kits *, too; you don’t even have to think of a color scheme. For the balloon arch I used*: How to: Use a balloon pump to fill 100+ balloons. I recommend choosing multiple sizes of balloons to get a varied look across your arch. For more variation, fill some balloons ‘all the way’ and others ‘not all the way.’ I like to keep the balloons in more of a round shape; to achieve this look avoid overfilling your …

outside party!

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Bebe is two! For birthmonth we celebrated with an outside party, which is just a fun way to say a party at the park, because Bebe absolutely loves the outside and often exclaims ‘Outside!’ when he needs some fresh air and room to run. The sun sets so early, so we opted for an AM celebration and served breakfast snacks. I splurged and gave in to my dream of having utensil sets (IKEA for the win!) and (uniform) cloth napkins* for the occasion. We set up a mini pancake bar, breakfast burrito tower (catered by Cafe 9ine!), fruits, chocolate scones, and a kale and cabbage slaw (a la Trader Joe’s). We had Third Culture mochi muffins delivered to create a muffin tower in lieu of a cake. Friends also brought treats to share – donut and cronut holes, mochi donuts! For after snacks, I prepared some nature-inspired activities (a scavenger hunt and a decorate-your-name-with-nature art station), set up coloring pages, and had my Instax camera for folks to snap hard-copy memories. Favors were filled with …

highlights and sneak peeks.

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Happy New Year! I’m kicking off this year’s posts with a Top 4 highlights from 2022 + sneak peeks to some 2023 posts! You ready? In no particular order… 1. Reinstated (low key) birthmonth activities. If you’ve been following along you know I enjoy multiple smaller celebrations throughout the month to accommodate schedules and to do new things with friends. Last year I threw a pastry picnic and a park pizza hang with a birthday white elephant gift exchange. Will definitely share more on both of these activities to jumpstart picnic season! 2. Attended online crafty workshops. I miss in-person workshops, but I also like taking virtual workshops in my loungewear. Here’s a snap of my kit for a mushroom embroidery workshop. I’m looking forward to more creative projects for 2023! 3. Reinstated plane travel – with a toddler in tow! I flew to Colorado for a work conference and brought the family along for the adventure. It was my first flight since 2019. I actually felt prepared to travel with Bebe, but I was …

sunshine baby.

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My Bebe turned one (ahem, in November) and we threw a little party. We were still (and still are) in keep-away-from-people times so we kept our celebration to just immediate family, but of course decorated like there was a crowd (why not!). We went with a first trip around the sun theme to inspire the photo backdrop and birthday outfits, plus You Are My Sunshine was on Bebe’s top song list. I had two ‘major’ projects for the occasion: a balloon arch and a birthday cake. Balloon Arch I’d made a small balloon arch just to experiment with making balloon arches a few years back. Bebe’s balloon arch was a much more involved, larger project with over 100 balloons. I found a balloon arch kit online; it came with balloons, a long plastic strip with holes to place the filled and tied balloons, plus sticky dots (like Glue Dots). That plastic strip is a total game changer! If you’re planning a big balloon project I also highly recommend getting a balloon pump and balloon tie …

skeleton.

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#tbt to last year’s Halloween festivities! I learned how to create a skeleton look during one of the online Yelp events. I was never big on face paint – something about sharing a palette with others and germs grossed me out – and also I was never sure of safe make up or how to remove it all afterwards (now I know – coconut oil for the win!). This was the perfect class for me because I didn’t have to share a palette and I learned some pro tips! Sabrina Lopez of Rabbit Rye based out of San Antonio, TX led the make up tutorial. Before the event she provided a list of make up and tool recommendations. She’s the pro so I got all the things on her list. I gathered a cream-based make up palette, paint/make up brushes, and make up sponges. Plus, I opted in for face glitter – I had been looking for an excuse to purchase body glitter! Here we go! First, we felt around our face to find our …

paper bag.

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It’s the easiest Halloween treat bag ever! If you’re pressed for time or need something foolproof for Halloween crafting, look no further. All you need to create these treat bags are Paper bags – Size will depend on what you plan to use for filling. I found these smaller bags at Daiso. A black marker Treats – I picked a few types of candy and stickers. Optional materials: Brown or green felt for the stem (You can also use paper.) Fabric scissors (or paper scissors if using paper) A stapler Work on a flat surface. Fold ~1 inch of the top of the paper bag to the backside. This helps with centering your jack-o-lantern drawing. Next, draw a jack-o-lantern face with marker. If you’re using a permanent marker (or thin paper bag), consider using a piece of paper or cardboard inside the paper bag to prevent the marker from bleeding through. You can write a note on the backside of the paper bag, too. Then fill with treats. If you’re adding a stem, cut out …