Welcome to Emma G.’s Inspiring Space
Where art design and parenting collide and spark, this blog captures the creative chaos of juggling both worlds.
Recent Posts
My Son Wanted to Be an Author. We Didn't Wait.
We were at the library when Charles looked up and asked if his book could be on these shelves one day. I told him we didn't have to wait! We can make a real book! That conversation became Pizza Shop! Comic — Book 1. By the time I finished formatting it for print, he was already drafting Book 2: Muffin Shop!
Birthday Piñata
We used to buy piñata but when the “design demand” is getting crazy I thought we could make one of our own (more fun and economical too). Last year we made a rectangular Minecraft Creeper and this time it's a round-shaped soccer ball!
Garfield Pumpkin Carving
A different challenge this year but manageable after all - adding pumpkin extensions? Outlining the pattern looks surprisingly good and suits the animation style but how to add more pieces to the pumpkin head?
Playroom Transform - Creative Zone
After a long story of learning appreciation of what we have, we spent the morning decluttering the playroom and made our “creative zone”. Kids are excited playing a combination of magnet tiles and blocks. Best part is they quickly filled up the wall and happily showcased their drawings!
Before they learned and show their appreciation, no ipads for now.
Glass Fusing
First time experiencing “Glass Fusing”, the kind of creation of Lego in 2D, but in irregular shapes!? The art pieces of the workshop look so pretty that I couldn’t resist to take on this challenge.
Secret Base
Summer break has officially started and they came up with an idea of building a secret base, like a hole in the wall!? I gave them an alternative to create a space in the existing room instead of breaking the wall through😂 They accepted the option and drafted a floorplan. We got all we needed on a budget in IKEA.
Mother's Day
Thought to frame their words for me for this year's mother's day❤️
Adobe Express - Friday Singalong
My first Adobe express video edit - transforming our Friday night karaoke night into a fun theme!
My Free Version of Creativity
Inspired by some random Lego post and thanks to boys' leftover blocks, here comes my free version of creativity😉
Pokemon Cookbook Practice
All this hassle began from the library book I happened to see and suggested we could try it for fun!? The results are not bad but I'm still not doing school lunchbox this way lol
Halloween Inflatable Brightness Enhancement
I was stunned by seeing these two-year-old inflatables being so dimmed this year (before the one hour transformation - Viola in the video) so I quickly searched YouTube for solutions. Didn’t think it’s actually quite manageable to replace the LED lights inside the tree and the dinosaur. I don’t mind spending a little on the new lights ($1/ea) moving forward for having our front yard Halloween party keep going!
Pokemon the Ultimate Pumpkin Carving
Not sure how I had that courage taking the three-pumpkin-at-a-time challenge AND Pokemon per request. All the chaos began with Mick’s purchase of three pumpkins…
Moon Cake Birthday Cake Tower
This year I took the advantage celebrating my birthday with Moon festival (lunar calendar) because they are just two days apart. Can't be more proud of my cake tower design with the actual "Moon" by reusing my son's cupcake illuminating stand.
Guest Bedroom Upgrade
I’ve been tackling this window in our guest bedroom for it's unique size and bright lighting for being on the second floor. Issues such as:
Too small for custom made shades, like our other cordless pull-up/down shades.
Dark window film still reveals bright lines around it and the lines from cut are just NOT straight!
Hanging Plants Restyle
Started with the idea of self-watering device/pot and then realized how tough it was to untangle and rearrange the plants!
Year of the Dragon 2024
Started with school's Festival of Cultures, we made together this harder-than-I-thought paper dragon craft. Turned out it’s a really good investment because later on I used them to decorate the house for Lunar New Year and added on some string lights for Lantern Festival! For the years to come, they can be hand-held dragon dance for new year celebrations Woo-hoo!
My Taiwan Sticker Design
For the second year of school Festival of Cultures, I wanted to improve passport stamp format by using customized stickers! I found some designs I liked online but I ended up designing my own for trying to avoid the intellectual property issue. It took me a while to figure out how to use the cutout sticker and manipulate the image adjustment. Finally I uploaded to Amazon to make 120 pieces of 1.5 inch stickers for $24 dollars. Can’t wait to see the results!
Halloween Pumpkin Carving
Mick secretly bought a craft rotary tool kit for pumpkin carving this year. Of course it’s for me to try different techniques and advance my skills!?
First Trunk-or-Treat 2023
Again just like school's cultural event, I signed up to host a trunk the last minute! I made sure I could get all I needed from Amazon (bedside the inflatable dinosaur we already have) within next three days: lighting spiderweb, lighting hats and magnets for sticking the decorations to the car.
My First Custom Tailored Halloween Costumes 2023
Sewing machine on sale! That’s what triggered the following two weeks of pressure catching up sewing progress. Started with zero experience operating a sewing machine even though I'm a bespoke tailor’s daughter🫣. I went through the manual and started picking up the basic operation skills through practice on old fabrics. After a big shopping at Joann’s (costume patterns, fabrics and accessories), here we go! First policeman jacket and then dragon scale shirt.