Shrinky Dink Magnets

When I was younger, my aunt gave me a Shrinky Dink kit for Christmas. Back then, just watching how the plastic shrinks in the oven was pretty awesome. My inspiration to revisit my childhood activity of making Shrinky Dinks occurred when I was browsing around Urban Outfitters and found these little mustache magnets that sold a pack of 8 for $8. Deciding that they were too expensive, I realized I could make them using my old leftover supply of Shrinky Dink and magnet strips. 

Beaded Wrap Bracelet

I couldn't believe how much these types of wrap bracelets at the store cost! What I didn't realize was how simple they were to make! I bought some beads at the store, but I also found some old beaded bracelets lying around at home and thought I could give them a much needed makeover.

Wrapping Paper Shoeboxes

The last two weeks I've been busy cleaning out and organizing my room. Two years ago, my mom told me to pack all of my stuff away because she wanted to change the carpet in my room to hardwood floor. So before I left for school, I did what she asked. Months later, she decided to just rent a carpet cleaner to wash the carpets (which didn't require me to pack everything)! I hadn't found the time to unpack all my things until now. And I also had all the boxes that I was moving back from my apartment room. So I guess at one point, my entire life was in boxes, as my friend had pointed out so accurately.

Printed Canvas Tote

The past two summers, I've been working with a great group of first generation college-bound high school students. Our goal was to introduce them to engineering and science through a whole bunch of projects, design competitions, and lab tours. We had originally wanted to give them tshirt gifts on the last day as a way to remember us, but several days before, we had run into some administrative problems that left us with nothing! Feeling a little bummed out, I tried to look for printing companies that would be willing to help us on short notice. Some rude phone calls later, I reluctantly decided that it was a lost cause.

Maybe it's some sort of problem of mine, but a few restless hours later, I realized I could not just give up there.  I searched ways to print my own tshirts and stumbled upon iron on transfer papers. Worried that the ink will just fade after several trips to the washing machine, I ended up settling on the idea of making canvas tote bags. But settling ended up turning into something even better! 

Portuguese Egg Tarts

Being away from the Bay Area definitely has its downside--I miss my yummy Chinese foods! More importantly, there are no sweet and crispy egg tarts to buy. Egg tarts are my one of my favorite childhood treats, so I decided to try to make them! I adapted the recipe from Rasa Malaysia and it yields 16 tarts. 

Mod Podge Canvas Picture

A good friend of mine took the time to teach me how to make my very own canvas pictures using Mod Podge. The canvas pictures are really simple to make (almost foolproof!), but they end up looking like you spent a whole lot of time and money. But that's the thing, it didn't! Calculating the cost for all of the supplies, it took me roughly $5 to make each picture. 

Marshmallow Fondant: First Attempt!

After watching countless episodes of Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss, I wanted to try my hand at cake decorating. It was my friend Jin's birthday, so I decided that since I had some time, I could try it out. Since he's so into photography, buying new cameras every so often, I thought it would be fitting to put on his cake a replica of his favorite vintage film camera. Since this is my first attempt using fondant, I decided to play it safe and stick to a 2D rendition instead of the whole 3D shebang as I didn't want to completely butcher his birthday cake. 

Almond Jelly

My club was selling food at a fair to fundraise last weekend. By the time we started to clean up, we still had a big can of fruit cocktail leftover. After contemplating for awhile about what we should do with it, I finally thought, I could make some almond jelly! A nice cold bowl of almond jelly is a refreshing dessert, perfect to eat during that typical hot summer day. 

Chocolate Pretzel Buttons

It would be a true statement to say that I have increased web browsing activity during midterm week. It would only make sense that, with my increased web browsing activity, I would stumble across more recipes that I want to try. Last week was no exception to this logic. If I had to learn one thing while studying for midterms, it was how to make these chocolate pretzel buttons. 

Strawberry Margarita Jello Shooters

           

For my friend's 22nd birthday, I tried making these cute strawberry margarita jello shooters using the recipe I adapted from Bakers Royale. They are a little time consuming to make and the coring of the strawberry requires a bit of skill--I only had about a 50% efficiency rate. But in the end, the ones that survived turned out to be a big hit!