Maribel's Blog

Monday, January 23, 2017

Angelynna's 6th Birthday

Angelynna was celebrating her 6th birthday on Dec. 30, 2015. On that day, she was really sad because she felt nobody remember her birthday. She asked me if she could go with me at work. I granted her wish to come to work on that day because I knew what she felt and thought that nobody cares to mention or sing a birthday song.

I observed her the whole day, she tried to smile and pretend to be happy. At her age, I thought she cried that easily and also thought that she forgot her birth date but I was totally wrong.

At 5:20 PM, when the children in my care and I went to the other classroom waiting for their respective parents to pick up, I never seen Angelynna nowhere in the daycare, I became so worried. I thought, she followed us! I went back to the classroom when I heard somebody's crying inside. My heart melt as I saw her crying on the corner of the classroom. I asked her what what had happened, she simply said "nobody love's me" she sobbed... I told her how much I love her, the reason why I did not prepare her a birthday party because I was working however, I will make it up the next day on the 31st. By saying it, she stopped crying and started to smile and hugged me so tight.

One more she requested was the Clawdeen Monster High Birthday Cake. Although, this time she had no visitors but I can feel how happy she was.

Here's the video of her 6th birthday celebration.

Angelynna 6th bday by KSerye

Sunday, January 22, 2017

3-Tiered Yellow 80th Birthday Cake

bhelle 8:09 pm 0 Comments

Three Tiered 80th Birthday Cake with yellow fondant roses

This cake is one of the best cakes I ever made so far. Hehehe, I am so proud! This was heartily baked and decorated for my loving aunt Mama Eda for her 80th birthday on the 20th of September. It was really my honor to make the cake. When my cousin contacted me to do this craft, I was so happy. For me this was just like more than a gift because making this huge cake made me realized that truly I can do cake decorations and experienced a new way of creative thinking. Well, of course I did some researched on how to stack the cakes, making flowers and the figurine.

The roses were made of mixed fondant and gumpaste. I made all of those ahead of time to make it hard. The figurine was made of just fondant. I'm having a hard time making that figurine; it took me a while to figure it out how to make a granny looks. The lovely granny figurine that holds flowers setting on a lovely fondant chair surrounded with yellow flowers added to the great looks of my cake which made me very proud. The butter cream icing grass made the cake stand out.

The flavors of the cake were mocha and buko pandan as my cousin Criselda requested. I never had a taste on it but I heard comments from my cousins and some other guests. At the party, one of the guests who seated beside me said to the woman beside him (Ithought is his wife), he doesn't like chocolate cake, so he pushes the cake away from him. While I was listening at their conversation, the woman told the guy, just taste it! So the man tasted the cake a little bit and his reaction made me so happy and content because he liked it then he asked for more cake LOLz...

Mama Eda was very happy when I presented the cake for her and so I am very happy too.

Elven Gold - Play and Make Real Money

bhelle 6:42 pm 3 Comments

Elven Gold - Play and Make Real Money in the Best project ever! $1 bonus for registration!: Elven Gold is The Best innovative investment project, Quick and Easy Money all around the World!

Update: I received my first payment January 23, 2017. I just tried if it is not scam, indeed it is not, now I love this game. I hope it will last long...

Amazing game to try!!!

#gamepamore

#goforgold

#withdrawwithpayeer

Saturday, January 21, 2017

An Amazing Piece of Art

bhelle 6:52 pm 0 Comments

This was my midterm project in my Artistic Expression course last semester. This was made of homemade play dough. Accompany with this project is an essay.

Here's my Essay

An Amazing Piece of Art

One of the most prominent competitions here in Montreal is a horticultural art. This year’s 2013 exposition theme is “Land of Hope” where the main objective is to let everyone know the importance of preserving the richness of life on earth and the Mosaiculture were displayed at Montreal Botanical Garden that lasted for three months. These sculptures were created using steel and aluminum forms that were wrapped in a metal mesh, filled with earth and planted with flowers, ivies and grasses to provide textures and colors. Since, I went in the museum late there were only a few that I’ve seen and among of the arts that I totally amazed was “The Man Who Planted Trees”. It was a giant sculpture. This was created by the group of horticulturists in Montreal and a member of Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal, an organization who made the event possible. The sculpture is being honoured to a shepherd in a story who planted trees and bring back the life of the ruined landscape of the abandoned valley in France in the early 20^th century. This amazing piece of art I’ve chosen consists of 800,000 individual plants according to the man I had spoken on the site and the flowers that were planted were mostly in the Alternanthera plants family with different colors from the hat to his back, arms, hands, legs except the neck line and in the middle of the vest which I thought were silver falls and silver mist plants. His beards were Stipa tenuissima plants, I am not really sure but what I am pretty sure, those were grasses.

The actual sculpture at the Botanical Garden Montreal

As I look closely to the giant sculpture I was fascinated every detail and the beauty of it. The elements of arts were widely distributed throughout the creature which provides a jaw-dropping piece of arts. What are the elements of arts? These are the visual component which artists used in order to emphasize their creativity, analyze, communicate and become realistic.

The elements are;

Ø Shape – I may say that the sculpture have a dominant patterns since the artists used shaping techniques. It consists of geometrical and irregular figures. Like for example, the hat has circle and cylindrical figure, I can see triangles and rectangle in his arms, straight line and some irregular patterns in some parts.

Ø Light – Since this was a plant sculpture, the light was being expressed by shiny part of the plants and the plants itself.

Ø Color – The color of this sculpture were mostly green and mixed with red, yellow and brown.

Ø Texture – The surface have both soft and rough since the plants used were mostly Alternanthera where in some leaves of this plant has rough and some have smooth.

Ø Space and mass – It is by default that this sculpture has both space and mass, because these are three dimensional piece of art.

Ø Line – Pertaining to this element I can say yes I can see lines. The artist emphasized clearly the edges that for me those were lines.

This giant and mounting living artwork was a really beautifully made. The artists or horticulturists who created this huge flower sculpture were trying to convey a message to everyone about the significant in flower gardening aside from promoting great attractions. The group of horticulturist were motivated from the story about the man who planted trees during the 20^th century. They tried to bring back this kind of motivation to everyone that there is nothing impossible if we are determined to do things for the environment. Thoughtful eco-awareness was being imposed and brought as the artist’s skillfully interpreted that our ecosystem is endangered and that we need to protect them by planting more trees and flowers. The horticulturists retell the story through creating this jaw-dropping piece of arts that there’s always hope in everything.

My feeling towards the art was I am really mesmerized when I looked at this giant creature. I can never imagine how much hard work they put in it. The details of this piece were totally awesome and skillfully designed and planted very carefully and thoroughly. I stayed there for at least half an hour, analyzing and relating myself how this creature helped in promoting the theme. Did the artists relay the message correctly? Did the people understand what it meant? I asked two persons who were on site that also fascinated the arts like me about their opinions and we end up of the same feelings, idea and understanding about the art. The art represents hard work, motivation, love and dedication towards the environment.

Birthday Cake Basket Weave Design

bhelle 4:16 pm 0 Comments

Birthday Cake Basket Weave Design

My friend (Jean) ordered this basket weaved design birthday cake for her mother in law. This was made in a rush hour. I felt so worried that she may not like the cake but I got a good feedback that the celebrant liked the cake very much.

The cake was Vanilla cake filled with strawberry jam. I got the recipe from cake boss website. Anyhow, this was the second time I tried the Basket-weave technique in decorating cake. Looking at the design, its looks very simple and easy to do however, it’s not really easy, it really need more careful because you might forget whether vertical or you are already in the horizontal line. As new to this technique I forgot several lines but I managed to hide it with some decorations like the flowers or the leaves on it or around it.

The flowers I made were a combination of butter cream icing, royal icing and gum-paste. In my experienced, it is really not good idea to decorate cake in a rush because if you make mistake there will be no time to fix it. Fortunately in my case I have made several royal icing flowers and gum-paste flowers so it turned it very handy.

By the way, thanks to my friend Jean who trusted and gave me an opportunity to explore my creativity.

Baby blue dress and Long sleeves

bhelle 4:06 pm 0 Comments

This is my latest dress creation, made with love especially for my daughter and son. I decided to sew this dress and long sleeves when they got invited for a birthday party. The theme for that party was "Winter Wonderland". The celebrant made a request that all her guests will wear baby blue or white.

It was really a short noticed so I do not have time to shop for the suit and besides I didn't have much money to buy. I went to Fabricville store and I found out that day I can buy material for less.

My daughter Angelynna likes it very much and very proud. This is the 5th dress I made for her and I am very surprised that she knows how many dresses I made for her when my friend Jovelyn asked her how many dress mommy sewed for her.

This long sleeve is for my eldest son and of course he is happy and proud too. This is one of his favorite.

One thing that made my stress away is when I made my children smile and happy for every little thing I made for them. Apart from that, it saves me money also. Savings is great!

I am hoping for another time to sew another suit for my kiddos.

Here's the material cost:

For dress ribbon zipper	$9.69 $1.00 $2.00
long sleeves buttons	$4.99 $2.00
Total	$19.68

Friday, January 20, 2017

My friendship cake

bhelle 11:11 pm 0 Comments

This cake was made on the day when my friends and I had gatherings. It was also the day when my friend Rick and his girlfriend announced that they are going to get married this coming November 8 of this year.

This is also the first time that they taste my newly found way of making icing and the filling I put in the cake. I was so happy with the comments I received from my friends.

LOL... I named this cake as a friendship cake... even though, this was done in a hurry but I baked and decorated it with all my heart.

Personalized Pillow

bhelle 8:34 pm 0 Comments

I am bored I can think of so many things to do to avoid boredom and sewing is one of them. I am not an expert for this skill however I know the basic steps in sewing. I learned and I started to like when I was in high school. My mother of course taught me the very basic of sewing and then I learned some of those steps during my second year high at school.

Making pillow is very easy to do. For the love of my children I decided to sew a personalized pillow for them. The picture above is a personalized embroidered yellow pillow case for my eldest son "DJ" and the pink one is for my daughter "Ynna". It was my first time for embroidering yet I managed to finish it like pro hahaha! Well, it's not perfect but for my children who appreciate everything I did for them was amazing!

I made these pillow cases because my son and my daughter always fight whos who the pillow is. Since the name is on it there is no more fights. Problem solved!

Their reactions after I finished sewing the pillow cases, were overwhelming!

Bridal Shower Naughty Cake

bhelle 8:23 pm 0 Comments

Bridal Shower Naughty Cake for Greta Francisco

LOL! I really do not want to make a naughty cake however my friends requested it for our friend Greta for her surprised bridal shower.

I made this cake out from the sight of my children but they saw it when they got up in the morning and to their surprised, my eldest son asked what is that white on top? I replied, that was only a decoration like a flower. Then, my daughter told me that Greta will be mad at me why I made a penis on top of her cake. She said, that is bad mommy!

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Purple Rossette Cake

bhelle 7:39 pm 0 Comments

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Wow... I never thought I can make this beautiful cake decoration. Whee, I love my own creation!

This is Wilton Method of basic cake decoration. Well, what can I say I love my own work! Yeppeyyy!!! Love it, love it and love it. Every time, I look at this picture it reminds me how I started to bake and decorate cake. My first and second attempts were all failed and were like a disaster however, I never gave up. It was my daughter who keeps on telling me I could do it because other people know how to do it.

This picture I attached is really true "Never give up! Set a goal and Go for it!" At this moment, my baking was still not perfect because I had to bake three times. My first and second were like a rock! Those cakes ended up in the garbage hahaha! I feel ashamed of myself, but what can I do? I followed the recipe but it turned out no good.

The third one was okay, not the best but was okay. My children enjoyed having a treat for their supper. I feel amazing looking at my creation. My eldest son cannot believe at first that I did decorate the cake but convinced and believed later on.

Well, even me I never thought I could do it myself. In my entire life I was only dreaming to bake cake and decorate yet it was really impossible to accomplish that was I always thought. But here I am, very proud of what I did. The best one so far.

Purple Velvet Birthday Cake

bhelle 6:52 pm 0 Comments

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Wonderfully done! Good job to me... hahaha...

Another great achievement and experienced given to me from a good friend Jovelyn who believes my talent. Thank you for your trust. Well, I bugged my friend a little bit just because I just wanted to do it, I really want to make more experiment. Purple and golden yellow are my favorite color, so, I really insisted. This was another Mocha cake dressed with beautiful and sweet purple fondant decorated with golden yellow ribbons and white roses.

As a beginner, covering square cake with fondant is difficult, this is because of the corners and of course I am not use of using fondant to cover the cake, I still prefer buttercream coated cake. For the ribbons and the roses, I made them ahead of time, since it needs to be dry. Actually, the original feature of the cake was not planned like what the picture showed.

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My friend sent me a picture to follow however when I stacked the cake together,I didn't like the outcome. I felt like there is something missing piece on it. It's true indeed! The original cake was 3-tiered but my friend wanted to have 2-tiered cake. This was the reason why I changed the position of the cake a little bit and added happy birthday on the side of the cake on top. I also added two hearts with the celebrant names and two love birds.

I really love the result, it was really worthy the efforts. The contentment in my part was really wonderful. The price of the cake is $150 but the happiness and the moment itself when I saw my sweet arts is far beyond that. I almost cried that for the first time making this cake is almost perfect.

Before I forgot, the flavor of the cake is Mocha as per request of my friend.

AristoCat Birthday Cake

bhelle 6:34 pm 0 Comments

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Aristocat (Cute Cat) Birthday Cake for my friend Sarah's one and only daughter Amira on her 23rd birthday last January 23, 2014.

One of the best cake I'ved ever made. LOL'z, Well I can say it is! My Friend Sarah asks me if I can bake and decorate a cake with cat on it because she wants to surprise her daughter. I was hesitant at first because I didn't have a clue how to make a cat.

As a new to my craft, I did not make a promise to her since I know myself it would be difficult to do. If I would make it this will be my first because I never done this before. Yet, I told my friend yes I will try to make it for her.

To make a fondant cat is not easy. I did tried so many times with no success so I need a help from Mr Google. I made several research online and in YouTube on how to make a fondant cat. I am very much happy that I found this tutorial and I was able to follow the steps. Of course, the first time I did was not really nice looking, so I also made several attempts until the picture above was the result.

My friend Sarah had called the next day asking not to continue the making of the cat because she feels it very difficult for me. However, everything is already made but I never said anything to her that it was done. I just told her that it was okay.

The day when she picks up the cake she was like an awed... and really amazed how the cake turns out. She thanks me for so many times and paid more than the amount I asked for.

This is the link I used for making my pinky kitty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbCaI5ToGX0

💝😉Thanks Sarah for giving me this opportunity.

My Little Pony Castle Cake

bhelle 6:26 pm 0 Comments

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"My Little Pony Castle Cake"
Angelynna 5th Birthday Celebration (Dec. 30, 2014)

It was lovingly baked and decorated for my one and only daughter Angelynna on her 5th Birthday.

My Little Pony Castle Cake was one of my daughter's dream to have on her 5th birthday. She requested this cake three months before the celebration. When I searched online and viewed different styles of Castle cake. I said to myself O gush! how could I do that? that's so difficult to do, I really thought that it is difficult to do, so I made an option to her to buy from the store but she refused, she insisted that I know how to decorate it and she believed that I could do it.

I told my daughter, it was difficult to make but I will try because I want her to be happy. She told me that she will be going to invite her friends in school and so, she wants to show to them her castle cake. So then, I tried my very best and I am glad and satisfied that this was the result of that efforts. She was so proud and pleased! I decorated the cake to the last minute in order not to spoil the surprise. When she woke up that morning, she couldn't believed what she saw on the living room, the cake that she really wanted! "My Little Pony Castle Cake". She was ecstatic and cried of happiness. The best feeling when the mother fulfilled her daughter's wish on her birthday is the "hug and thank you".

The cones (the top of the castle) were not too dry but good enough to stand out this were also because of the pieces of card stock which served as the support of the cones to prevent for collapse. At the very top of the cake castle was a tea candle to brighten up the top.

Puto Cheese

bhelle 6:23 pm 0 Comments

It is called "Rice Puto" these are mini rice cake in Filipino version. These are delicious mini rice cake from the Philippines sweet delicacy.

However, my children protested "NO!!!" well, I said you can call them whatever you want. LOLz.

The recipe that I followed is from the Goldilocks recipe that I found online since year 2006. But at this time I cannot find the recipe I was using. The recipe posted below... I found it in other site. http://www.filipino-food-recipes.com/puto.html

INGREDIENTS

§ 3 2/3 cups Rice Flour (or 1 pound bag)

§ 1 can Coconut Milk

§ 3 cups hot water

§ 4 teaspoons Double-Acting Baking Powder

§ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence(optional)

§ 1 1/2 cup Sugar

§ 1 stick butter, softened

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes plus 1 1/2 hour for letting the mix rise.

COOKING TIME: 35 minutes

1 Mix together the coconut milk and rice flour. Add the sugar and softened butter.

2 Heat up the water and add to the rice flour mixture. Strain and let it cool down thoroughly.

3 Add the baking powder and vanilla essence and set aside for an hour and a half.

4 Pour the mix on a lined muffin pan up to 2/3 full.

5 Steam for 25 - 30 minutes or until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6 Let it cool down before taking out of the pan.
When I cook this yummy snacks I do not put cheese as per request of my kiddos, they love it without the cheese on top.

Source: Lutong Pinoy

Princess Birthday Cake

bhelle 6:19 pm 0 Comments

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For everything, there's always first time so here we go, my first ever baked and decorated birthday cake for my one and only daughter Angelynna

On December 30, 2014 was her 4th birthday. She requested just before her birthday to have a Princess Birthday cake. I told her that yes e have to buy her birthday cake on the store same as we usually did in her previous birthday and her brothers however, she wanted me to bake a cake for her, with of course decorations.

I was speechless because the fact that I have no idea in decorating cake and also not good in baking. I remember one time I baked a cake and it was a big failure because the result was like cement. huhuhu! Really a problem for me.

Well for my daughter I am going to try again, who knows maybe this is the time. I tried to bake two weeks before her birthday, my first attempts was a big failure. I followed the instructions but I really didn't know what happened why the result is a big fat "F". After five times of attempt, I am glad I did it. Wohooh! A big success really I was happy.

Then the decorations, well, I knew it was not perfect but my daughter was really happy.

Pork Adobo

bhelle 6:15 pm 0 Comments

One of my favorite dish is Pork Adobo. I learned to cook this dish from my mother.

My husband sometimes called this dish as sour pork, hehehe! because I remember when I first cook adobo, I accidentally put a lot of vinegar then I also added lemon. So, when it was cook and tasted, it was so sour. Then, I practice and practice cooking. Although, it is still not perfect but at least good enough for my family.

Pork Adobo is a Filipino dish and one of the most favorite for all Filipinos around the world. The pork meat is slowly cook with soy sauce and vinegar. This dish is so simple and very easy to cook but the taste is just so delicious and everybody can't resist to taste it. Weeh di nga? hahaha....

I really have cravings for pork adobo since last month because its been a while that I haven't cook this dish. Tonight, I decided to cook pork adobo as a treat for my family and of course for me. My family loves this dish. They really enjoyed the supper.

Hmm yumyum tsalap!

Ingredients:

§ 2 lbs pork belly (you can also use the other part of the pork)

§ 2 tbsp chopped garlic

§ ½ cup soy sauce

§ ½ tbsp whole pepper corn

§ 3 - 5 pieces dried bay leaves

§ 4 tbsp of vinegar

§ 1 or 1 ½ cup water

§ 1 pack of NamNam flavoring

Instructions:

1. Combine pork meat, soy sauce, and garlic together.

2. Marinate the meat for at least 1 hour.

3. Put the marinated pork belly inside the heated pot and cook for at least 10 minutes.

4. When meat is slightly cook, add water, whole pepper corn, and dried bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Put in the vinegar and again simmer for another 12 to 15 minutes.

6. Add salt to taste as you desire.