Happy 4th birthday - Dora and Diego party

Little Guy turned 4 just the other day! Past years had a Sesame Street Party (2nd), a Thomas & Friends Party (3rd) and this year we decided to have a Dora and Diego party (they are his current favorites as written in this post). I found lots of inspirations on Pinterest, such as the "Swiper No Swiping" sign (to which I added Swiper's picture myself) and the favor bags that looked like Rescue Pack. I originally planned to make Backpack favor bags for the girls and Rescue Pack for the boys but unfortunately I couldn't find orange bags that were the right size. I used this template for the favor bags. Instead of printing in colored paper, though, I had Little Guy color the eyebrows and the mouth, adding a little personal touch from the birthday boy. The colors were not perfect but I liked it better. It turned out to be a really good idea to have him on board to prepare for the party. We had a lot of fun together and Little Guy seemed to have gotten more excited about his upcoming party. One thing I couldn't make it work was this idea where you draw eyes and a mouth on a cheese stick to make it look like the map. I couldn't find a pen that could write on a cheese stick wrapper. Too bad. It looked really cute on the picture on pinterest. And I used this recipe for the cupcakes, which were frosted with whipped cream with some orange and green sprinkles to match the theme.

The baby jaguar on the table was a present from us, like Diego's best friend :)

I prepared a few activities for the kids, suc as Dora & Diego masks, bubbles, origami paper, Dora & Diego coloring pages. One of these coloring pages, I rolled it and draw eyes and a mouth to make it looke like the map and put it in the favor bag. We also had some toy animals hidden in a room and gave the kids some toy telescopes (like the "spotting cope" that Diego has) to find the animals. But alas they didn't really play with these things, preferring to play with Little Guy's other toys they found in the play room. Oh well, as long as they had fun, that all matters. 

All in all we, both the kids and the parents, had a great time. Little Guy's so pround of being a big boy that he tells everybody he meets that he's four years old now. So cute. 

I compiled more ideas and inspirations for a Dora and/or Diego party on my "birthday party ideas" board on pinterest, some of which I didn't use for our party but still seem like a great idea. Please check it out if you're interested.

Happy 3 Year Old!

I hope all of you are having a joyous holiday season :)

Our family celebrates one additional event during this fun but busy season, which is Little Guy's birthday! And he turned three! He's so proud he's three now and telling everyone he meets that he's three years old using his three little fingers. so cute.

If you've been following my facebook page or instagram account, it's quite apparent that Little Guy LOVES Thomas and his friends. So naturally this year's birthday theme was set to Thomas and his friends. I found a few Thomas themed cakes on pinterest, but Little Guy liked this one the most so we decided to make one. It turned out really fun and cute! 

Following the original picture, I used graham crackers and mini oreos for the trains to carry the cupcakes, a whole piece for the top base, two quarter pieces to connect the mini oreo wheels. Differently from the original, I used melted chocolate to connect all the pieces (and this was super yummy).

Little Guy's new train buddy, Stephen. Looks like he's quite a popular guy among Thomas fans. I heard a few boys saying "Look! Stephen!" when Little Guy was carrying Stephen while shopping.

For the main meal, I used this train onigiri kit we found on our recent trip to Japan to make some sushi to keep the train theme.

And a couple of train sandwiches, cut out by train shaped cookie cutters.

Little Guy loved his birthday so much that he kept saying "I love my birthday!" for the next few days. We're so happy he liked his birthday party. Happy Happy Birthday Little Guy.

Koi Fish Cookies for Children's Day

Many of you may be celebrating Cinco de Mayo today, but here at Crafty Mochi's house we're celebrating Children's Day that's held also on May 5th in Japan! As the name suggests, Children's day celebrates children's healthy growth and happiness. Typically koi fish streamers are displayed to celebrate this day, like the ones shown in the wall hanging below. And I made some koi fish cookies too!

I've made these koi fish cookies last year too with only chocolate icing, but this year I decided to make them more colorful. The green icing on the top koi fish uses matcha green tea. Isn't that a beautiful color? 

Little guy can't get enough of these cookies. Last year he was still too small to actually eat cookies (although his eyes were telling me he wanted to eat them. hehe.). What a difference one year can make!

Here's how I made the koi-shaped cookies. It's fairly simple.

Step 1: Make cookie dough following your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Roll out the dough. Cut the excess around the edges and make a rectangle. Cut in half lengthwise and cut also crosswise to make small rectangles. I just eyeballed the size of each rectangle but you can of course measure to make them precise. (I hear bakers tend to be precise. not me lol)

Step 2: Cut off a small triangle from one side of the rectangle piece to make a fish tail. I used my star-shaped cookie cutter to trim off the tail side but you can use a knife too. Don't put away these small triangles just yet (see step 3).

Step 3: Using the triangles cut off from the tail side of the rectangle piece, make a small ball and attach it to the head side of the fish. This will become the fish's eye. I made 2-3 eyes from one triangle piece.

Step 4: Bake according to your recipe's direction. Cool the baked cookies before starting to decorate.

Step 5: Now the decoration time!

Place a drop of your icing onto the center of the eye and write a "W" on the body. Pretty easy!

You can also spread clear or white icing over the fish and decorate with sprinkles too, like the third koi fish on the first photo. I used coloring pens for the second fish. I love the convenience of these pens! 

oh-so-sweet Valentine's card, cupcakes and Mochi

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day, whether you have a partner or not. I used to celebrate the Valentine's day with single friends when I was a single too, hehe. I'd also think cuddling with your furry friends would make a lovely Valentine's day too.

theme: Just like the plants need rains to grow, rainy days actually help one's relationship strong
and of course, chocolate & candy because it's Valentine's day

Mochi trying to steal my Valentine's day tulips lol

I love tulips. I think roses are pretty but I love tulips more.