My Darling Penguin Contest 2010

Here are the entries for the My Darling Penguin Contest 2010! :D Thank you to everyone who participated and sent in your awesome photos with your penguins! This is definitely going to be one tough competition to judge. Please look through all the photos and vote for your favorite! :)

What would you do with your Darling Penguin?

Entry #1: Chef Penguin by Kaori

I would teach my penguin how to bake and watch him closely so he won't make any mistakes.

Entry #2: Hiking at Echo Mountain by Katy

Finally made it to the top, what an exhilaration!

Entry #3: Knitting Penguin by Linda

Knitting buddy of course! :)

Entry #4: Milo the Penguin by Seth

Milo is a very adventurous, curious, eco-friendly, and friendly penguin. Milo loves fishing. He is wearing his lucky green fishing hat with a gold fish on the front of it. He is wearing an eco blue t-shirt with the recycle sign on it and a fishing pole in his hand with his name on it. He has such a big heart!

I would name my penguin Milo. I would make him clothes, accessories, and give him a little area to chill out and play. I would take him everywhere with me, but no matter what I would take him on adventures with me, field trips, and when I travel I would take him no matter what! I would love Milo with all my heart just like he was a real penguin.

Entry #5 "Will you marry me?" Penguin by Tammy

Where I would take my penguin is still a toss-up between the park or to Carrabbas (our favorite restaurant), so instead, I took a picture of my penguin cut-out illustrating what I would do with the penguin: I would use him to help me propose to my boyfriend.

My guy and I have been dating for over a year now, we met through eHarmony!, and marriage is something we both know we want, and with each other. I can tell he is extremely nervous about proposing, so I'm going to surprise him and pop the question myself! Knowing him, he will still purchase a ring for me for our engagement (I'm positive he will say yes, that's how in love we are with each other), so I haven't actually gotten him an "engagement ring". Instead, in the photo, you see a ring that does hold a lot of sentimental value to me: a national championship ring that I earned in high school, which I will give to him also, along with the penguin (if I do win one). He would get such a kick out of that!

Entry #6: My Big Daddy by Tommy & Erin

A Big Daddy penguin for Brandon's birthday. It's a mix-up of Brandon's Bioshock 2 stuff and Akiyo's My Dear Darling penguin. Plus, he's going to be a Daddy.

The FAN FAVORITE winner will receive a Let's Get Personalized Penguin T-Shirt! The OFFICIAL WINNER will be announced next Monday! (contest info)

Favorite My Darling Penguin Entry?

Voting ends Friday, April 30th at midnight PST.

MDD Personalization: Penguin in Cupcake Hoodie

Jade Penguin wearing a lavender hoodie with a cupcake

from A to her daughter Jade for her first birthday

Hope Jade had a memorable first birthday! :D

Fan Moments: Party for Dr. JC Penguin

Look at this awesome penguin party! :D L sent these in last week and I was ecstatic to say the least. That penguin cake looks crazy good! She said, "The penguins were molded out of marzipan and hand painted with food dye. It was a raspberry mousse cake covered in white chocolate shell." *drool* I love the jello details too! I'm sure Dr. JC was pleased with the party decor. Congrats, again! ;)

And thank you L for sharing these awesome photos!

My Darling Penguin Contest Sample

Yes! This is the last week to send in your photo for the My Darling Penguin Contest! ;D If you'd like a chance to win an original penguin plush or a penguin tshirt, enter by this Friday! Good luck and have fun! Next week, we'll have a poll for readers to choose their favorites so be ready to vote. ;)

I took my pink paper penguin out yesterday to the park with Katsu. But the photos came out silly since Katsu was too eager to play ball. He kept knocking over the paper penguin and begging us to throw the ball already. Lol. So the above photo is what I chose as a sample entry with Katsu's big smile and below are a couple more shots that I just wanted to share.

Have a lovely Monday!

101 in 1001: #79 Bake a Pie

This morning I woke up from a dream about cheesecake... and guess what? Now I'm craving cheesecake like no other. :p I think I'm wanting too many baked goods during this pregnancy, which is somewhat good since I get to cross things off my 101 in 1001 list!

On Easter Sunday, I was wanting to bake a pie. So of course, I called up my chef sister and asked her, which is the easiest pie to bake? She answered blueberry but I wasn't in the mood for blueberry so she suggested apple. (I regretted this later.) So instead of asking her for a recipe, I YouTubed a video and clicked on the first one since they mentioned the word "easy." After I gathered the list of ingredients and was about to start baking, only then did I decided to read the comments of what people thought about the recipe. There were a couple posters claiming they were "chefs" and how ridiculous the instruction in the video was that they didn't bake the bottom piecrust first before putting in the filling. I panicked and called up my sister, "What do I do?" and she simply said to just bake the bottom crust for a little before doing the rest of the steps. DUH! Lol, she didn't say "duh" but she did make fun of me for YouTubing the recipe. She then sent me her friend Nicole's apple pie recipe so I decided to fuse that one with the one I found. (Since hers called for homemade piecrust and I had bought the Pillsburry readymade piecrust.) I started prepping the apples... this is where I realized I shall listen to my sister from now on, since peeling, coring and slicing about 10 apples was not the easiest nor a fun part of baking. But I got through it and finished my pie at around 10PM. My husband apparently LOVES apple pie (did not know this until he was drooling over the finished goods and asking, "So can I eat it now?" like a kid). The instructions said to wait 2 hours so he waited 1.5! Hahaha. Which is why I couldn't take a photo of the whole apple pie. :)

After he finished the entire pie by himself in three days (I'm not much of a pie person so I only had a couple bites here and there), his eyes widened and he asked, "What pie are you gonna bake next!" Lol, I haven't answered him but we'll see... ;)

Maybe you could suggest a pie for me to bake... What's your favorite type of pie?

Shout Out - You Byun

I was going through my Google Reader, trying to catch up on all the blogs, and came across artist, You Byun, through Share Some Candy. I love all her illustrations with different textures and colors. They remind me of classic European inspired Japanese children's books that I used to read when I was a kid. Don't they make you smile? :) The whimsical setting in each illustration is so merry, you can't help but smile when you look through them!

Photos: AWindy Day, Bells and Whistles

MDD Personalization: Penguin in Apron and Cake

Penguin wearing a Dr. JC Apron and a cake decorated with pink flowers

from L to Dr. JC for graduating from her PhD program

Congratulations to Dr. JC! :D

note: I just received a couple photos from L so I'll be sharing those with you next week!!

p.s. - the place i live

source: chloe fleury found: design for mankind

I am so inspired by these awesome paper posters of San Francisco by Chloe Fleury! :D

Darling Moments: Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Boy, was Mini super excited last week when we made triple chocolate cupcakes together! :D

edit:

recipe for courtney :) ...and whoever else would like it

triple chocolate cupcakes

makes 6

from the book Perfect Cupcakes

1 cup self-rising flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

*Preheat oven 350 degrees & line a muffin pan with paper liners.

*Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cocoa. Stir in the sugar, all of the milk chocolate chips, and half of the semisweet. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, and butter. Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened.

*Divide the batter evenly among into the prepared cups. Bake until the tops spring back when lightly touched, 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*Meanwhile, put the remaining chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in short bursts in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Using a teaspoon, swirl the melted chocolate thickly over the top of each cupcake.

My personal note: If you wait until the chocolate on the top of the cupcake hardens, the cupcakes taste yummier. :D

My Darling Penguin Contest Sample

Hello to the new week. :) I've started out today by updating the SFEtsy team blog with the new graphics. Check it out and let me know what you think! Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. Hehe.

Today, I wanted to share a sample for the My Darling Penguin Contest that I made. Basically a step by step instruction on what you COULD do:

printed out my paper penguins

colored the blank penguin

cut out my paper penguin

glued a bow on the colored penguin

You can do what you'd like with yours. This is just a sample of what you could do. :) Next week, I'll post a sample photo of where I would take my darling penguin. :) I hope you're brainstorming creative ideas!

Remember to submit your entry by Friday, April 23rd! :D

p.s. - jazz

source: wilkiecoco

I was wondering what you listen to throughout the day. Pandora radio and podcasts (not ours, of course) have been the source for most of my listening pleasure while I work. I usually go through phases of what kind of genre I listen to from pop to country to classical, etc and lately I've been in my Jazz mode. I found this French Classic and Jazz radio on iTunes and have been loving it. Every song makes me smile. :)

What have you been listening to lately? Any recommendations?

Darling Moments: White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake

Last week I baked white chocolate raspberry cupcakes for husband. :) Mini had a bite but wasn't too sure what to think of it. I think he's more of the triple chocolate cupcake type.

My Darling Penguin Contest

Are you ready for this? :) Because I am! Today is the official start of the My Darling Penguin Contest!

Brandon and I watched Amelie and Up In The Air a month ago and I loved how they would take photos of the gnome and cut out of the couple in different locations. It reminded me of all the Fan Moment photos I've received so far and the idea of this contest was born!

Click photo to download My Darling Penguin Contest PDF

From now until Friday, April 23rd, you can enter the My Darling Penguin Contest. Take a photo of your paper penguin showing what you would do or where you would take your darling penguin plush! Be creative and have fun! :D There will be two winners: a Fan Favorite and an Official Winner. BUT! If there are many entries, we will be choosing more winners and giving out more prizes... so tell your friends to join in! ;)

PRIZES:
FAN FAVORITE will WIN A LET'S GET PERSONALIZED TSHIRT!
OFFICIAL WINNER will WIN AN ORIGINAL PENGUIN in the color of their choice!
*note: the more entries, the more winners and official winners will be ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. prizes may vary.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Download the My Darling Penguin Contest PDF.
2. Print the PDF.
3. Color your own paper penguin or skip to 4.
4. Cut out your paper penguin.
5. Take a photo of your paper penguin showing what you would do or where you would take your darling penguin plush!
6. Submit ONE photo to Submit AT MyDearDarling DOT com.

RULES:
*Follow the directions of the contest.
*Will not accept entries for My Darling Penguin Contest after Friday, April 23rd (PST).
*Keep it clean.
*One entry per household.
*Must have a valid address.
*If you do NOT follow these rules, you will automatically be disqualified.
*Do NOT Photoshop your penguin in a photo.
*Contest rules and details may change without notice.

JUDGES for OFFICIAL WINNER:
Brandon and Akiyo

Let's see where you would take your penguin! :D

...to a baseball game?

...to the park?