Minecraft Inspired Birthday Snack Bags

My little man is celebrating his 10th birthday tomorrow.  His birthday happens to fall on a school day.  He's excited to spend his special day with his classmates.  As a simple way of celebrating his 10th birthday, Yohan will give snack bags to his classmates.

Yohan is such a big fan of Minecraft so his dad and I thought of making custom-made Minecraft bags. We bought green fabric bags and printed a pattern of the Minecraft Creeper.  Jules traced the pattern on an illustration board and used a cutter to define the significant parts.  With a bit of black spray paint, we managed to mark each bag with a Creeper's face. 

A snack bag won't be complete without goodies. We're going to fill each bag with chips, biscuits, pretzels, chocolates, and juice. Every bag will have a tag to mark Yohan's 10 birthday.

 

Yohan's Gift

I was so touched when Yohan gave me this stuffed toy giraffe last Saturday.  He won it at Shakey's Fun Zone. 

After lunch, Yohan asked me for some money to exchange for game tokens.  He usually plays his favorite car racing arcade game but he told me later that when he spotted "The Claw" in one corner of the room, he suddenly thought of me.  He gave up his favorite game and used his tokens to win me a stuffed toy. 

I named her Mara. It's a long story but the name is not inspired by the soap opera Mara Clara. ha!ha! Anyway, I will always cherish this sweet gift from my son.


 

How to Make an Easy Diaper Cake

A diaper cake is a lovely and creative gift for expectant mothers. It's perfect for baby showers. A diaper cake looks like a traditional layered cake but instead of cake and icing, it makes use of baby diapers and other baby essentials.

I took some photos of my first experience in making a diaper cake.  Let me share the following easy steps in making one.

Ingrdients for the diaper cake:

• 47-50 newborn baby diapers (This will depend on the number of rings and layers that you will make. I used less than 50 diapers.)
• regular rubber bands
• large rubber bands
• 1 or 1/2 inch wide decorative ribbon
• cardboard or plastic cake holder (You can buy this from baking stores or you can make your own using an illustration board.)
• 1 8-oz baby bottle
• 1 4-oz baby bottle
• long wooden stick
• assorted baby things for cake decoration

Step 1 - Roll the diapers tightly (see example below) and secure each one with a regular rubber band. Make sure the decorative part of the diaper can be seen.

Step 2 - To make the 3rd (lower) tier, get the cake board or holder and place the 8-oz bottle in the center. Then place around 7-8 rolled diapers around the baby bottle and put a large rubber band around the the circle of diapers.  This will serve as the inner ring.

*Don't worry about following the exact number of rolled diapers because it may vary depending on the thickness of the diapers.

Step 3 - Next form the outer ring by surrounding the inner ring with 14-15 rolled diapers. Secure the entire circle of diapers by putting a large rubber band around it. 

* If you have a bigger cake board, you can make 3 rings to surround the baby bottle but you will need more diapers.

Step 4 - To make the 2nd tier, make another inner ring. Surround the topmost part of the baby bottle with 

 around 5-6 diapers then put a large rubber band around it. Make an outer ring using 10-11 diapers and secure it with a large rubber band.  

*The diapers used in the 2nd tier were rolled tighter compared to the lower tier.

Step 5 - To make the 1st tier, position the 4-oz bottle on the center of the 2nd tier. Surround the baby bottle with around 6-7 rolled diapers and put a large rubber band around it.

Step 6 - To attach all 3 tiers, insert a wooden stick in the middle. Make sure the stick is long enough to reach the lower tier.

Step 7 - Decorate your cake. You may add baby things like baby spoon and fork, pacifier, bottle cleaner, socks, rolled onesies, rattle and others.

Add a topper of your choice. For my diaper cake, I chose a small Ernie plush toy. Make sure that you secure the topper on the baby bottle cover peeking through the 1st tier using a rubber band, string or ribbon.

Cover the rubber bands with decorative ribbon. You may cover the whole diaper cake with a big cellophane or netting before giving it to the expectant mother.

This is the finish product. 

Photo Hunt :: Colorful

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My son had a fun 7th birthday celebration in school a few weeks ago. My husband and I brought some food for the kids and gave each one a personalized birthday token. In lieu of the usual loot bags filled with candies and chocolates, we gave them these colorful miniature pots with wooden animal clips. We had the kids' names printed to give the giveaways a nice touch.

Kimono Doll Pens

I love my Kimono Doll pens. I got them for only P19.75 each at Clipper. I was smitten by their cute little faces and chinky eyes. Now they even inspired me to make a haiku ...

Wind touches her hair

As refreshing as sunlight

Love that breezy smile

Yohan is Featured in K-Zone Magazine

Yohan loves reading K-Zone. He has a bag filled of old K-Zone magazines at home that he likes reading every now and then. I always make it a point to buy him a new one every month and I even cover each one with plastic.

Several months ago, he asked me if it was possible for him to be featured in the section Birthday Bits. I said it was possible but I told him not to have high hopes. I made it clear that the magazine can only choose one celebrant for that section each month. I didn't want him to be disappointed in case they choose another July celebrant instead of him.

I helped Yohan send an email to K-Zone with his picture and short details around 3 months ago.  We didn't get any reply or feed back.

The K-Zone July issue is now out. I grabbed a copy and I was so happy to see my little boy in the magazine. Yohan was thrilled when he saw his picture.

I'm grateful to K-Zone for featuring my son. It's a nice advance birthday gift for him. Yohan's picture appeared again in the magazine's July calendar sheet. :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, hubby and all the wonderful dads around the world! I would like to share this Father's Day card that Yohan made for his Dad. As you can see, he was inspired by the FIFA World Cup.  Hubby is a big fan of FIFA. He stays up until the wee hours of the morning watching the games on TV.

Durian candies

My brother-in-law recently went to Davao on a business trip. When he went home, he gave us assorted Durian goodies as pasalubong. Keats gave us Durian pastillas, Durian candies and Durian yema. I'm not too fond of the Durian fruit but these Durian sweet treats are delicious.

Photo Hunt :: Half

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My dear friend gave me a box of assorted Toblerone triangles. It was a treat trying all 5 varieties of Toblerone namely Milk, White/Milk, White, Dark and Praline.

Without the wrappers, you can easily spot the two-toned Toblerone triangle. It stands out because the lower half is milk chocolate and the upper half is white chocolate.

Everyone in the family has a favorite Toblerone. Hubby likes Dark, Yohan likes Milk while I prefer Praline.

I therefore conclude that chocolate bliss is easily achieved when there is no chocolate conflict.  ha!ha!

Tagged :: 7 Red Things At Home

I love red! I was tagged by Dexie to do this meme. This is long overdue. Sorry Dexie.

Here are 7 red things I have at home:

1. Planner - It's where I keep contact info of family and friends (including birthdays).
2. Shoulder bag - My mom gave this to me a few years ago as a birthday present.
3. Shoes - I love this pair. It's very comfortable and ideal for walking.
4. Babushka dolls - I saw this at the mall and made a hint to hubby that I like it. He didn't mind buying it for me.
5. Christmas stockings - I hang our personalized Christmas stockings every Christmas and Santa fills them to the brim. :)
6. Vanity kit - Perfect container for my face powder, lipstick, lip gloss, comb, small cologne and hand sanitizer.
7. Baby spoon - This is very special to me because it was my son's spoon when he was a baby. It brings back happy memories.

This tag is open to everyone. Please let me know if you decide to join the hunt for red things at home. :)

Friends From Down Under

Three years ago, my former colleague and dear friend decided to take a chance in Australia with her family. Her husband landed a job in a restaurant and the contract gave him the privilege to bring his family with him. They had some challenges along the way but I'm glad that they were able to overcome every hurdle. Now they are happy and comfortably nestled in Australia. In fact, they just bought a new home.

My friend together with her husband and three kids are here for a short vacation. I was so happy when they went to our house yesterday for a visit. True friendship always remain strong despite the distance. We had fun exchanging stories and catching up with one another. Our kids had a wonderful time bonding.

My friend's daughter also happens to be my goddaughter. She has grown up since I last saw her. I gave the kids some gifts. When my son saw me give the gifts, he was inspired to give his own gifts too. He asked my permission if he could give some small toys to his friends. I gave him the go signal and it was nice to see him happily share his toys.

My friend and her family also gave us some gifts. They are still as sweet and thoughtful as before.

Thank you Anton and Cris for the wonderful gifts.

I like this cute personalized brush.

The Art of Biting Into Dark Chocolate :)

Weekend Snapshot #82 - Yohan's 6th Birthday

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Yohan turned six years old last July 18. It has been six meaningful and wonderful years. Jules and I are grateful to God for giving us such a fun loving and sweet son.

Below are some photos of Yohan's birthday celebration at home...

Yohan's Transformer Cake

Hubby cooked all the food for the birthday dinner ...

Birthday celebrant with a big smile

Carbonara

Chicken Fingers

Mixed Tempura (shrimp, crab stick and assorted veggies)

Kamameshi Rice

California Maki

Tamago (Japanese omelet)

Apple in Red Wine with honey and nuts

Blowing of the birthday candles ...

Yohan's Tito Norman lighting the birthday candles

May your wish(es) come true.

Dinner time

One of the highlights of the evening was the game Yohan prepared for his grandmas, aunts and uncles. The game was called "How well do you know Yohan?" I helped my son prepare simple questions about himself and numbered them accordingly. I prepared small pieces of paper with nos. 1-14 and Yohan asked each guest to draw a number.

Yohan served as the Game Master. He read the questions one at a time. Each correct answer was equivalent to one prize. The prizes consisted of small practical items like mug, foldable hamper, lotion, powder, cologne, post-it pads with pencils, hand sanitizers, cellphone holder, chamois, etc. Guests who provided wrong answers were asked to return the numbers inside the container. There was a second round of question-and-answer for those who didn't make it on the first one. At the end, everyone got a prize. It was a simple yet fun game. Everyone had a great time especially the Game Master himself.

Two possible answers: Optimus Prime and Bumblebee

Jules preparing the last dessert for the evening.

Chocolate Salami served with Kapeng Barako (Batangas coffee).

Yohan was very happy with the gifts he received that night...

Transformers and Ben 10